Critérium International History: A look at the future
Photo scoopdyga.com
October, Saint-Cloud
CRITÉRIUM INTERNATIONAL
Created in 2001
2023 Winner: TWAIN (c2, IRE by Wootton Bassett ex Wading by Montjeu), owned by Tabor, Smith & Magnier, bred by Coolmore Stud, trained by Aidan O'Brien, ridden by Ryan Moore.
Race Record: 1’27’’19, by Royal Meeting in 2018
The race will be run for the 24th time in 2025
The 2024 Edition
Sunday, October 27, 2024, Saint-Cloud Racecourse (Hauts-de-Seine). – The French favourite in the Critérium International (Gr1), Maranoa Charlie (Wootton Bassett), led the race by a wide margin and began to shorten stride at the entrance to the straight. In his wake, Twain (Wootton Bassett) was the first to challenge, and he kept his stablemate Mount Kilimanjaro (Siyouni) at bay to win by more than a length. Apples And Bananas (Wootton Bassett), who was having his fifth start and was looking for his fourth consecutive victory, finished third. He had already accumulated more than £500,000 in earnings.
Twain was bred by Coolmore Stud and had won on his debut just eight days before this first top-level victory. His dam, Wading (Montjeu), a Group 2 winner and granddaughter of the great Urban Sea (Miswaki), has also produced the talented Just Wonderful (Dansili). She has been bred to Frankel for the last two years.
History
This is one of the most recent races in the French Pattern. It was created in 2001. A Critérium International was created in 1893 and ran over the 1,100 meters of the Longchamp straight course until 1910. It then offered its winner 25,000 francs, or nearly €100,000 today. Among its eighteen winners are the names of future classic horses, such as Perth (1898, Poule d'Essai, Jockey Club, Grand Prix), Semendria (1899, Poule d'Essai, Diane, Grand Prix, Vermeille), Gouvernant (1903, Poule d'Essai), Jardy (1904, 2nd Epsom Derby), Azalée (1908, 2nd Poule d'Essai), and Marsa (1909, Diane).
This new version owes its birth to the significant changes made to the 2-year-old racing calendar at the beginning of the 21st century. These changes, which followed the Prix de la Salamandre cancellation, are explained in the article about the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère-Grand Critérium.
The first Critérium International, new version, over 1,600 meters, was won in 2001 by Act One, carrying the colours of his breeder Gerald Leigh, trained at Chantilly by Jonathan Pease and ridden by Thierry Gillet. He finished half a length ahead of the Irish-trained Landseer. Both attested to their high quality in 2002. Act One won the Prix Lupin and was narrowly beaten in the Prix du Jockey Club by Sulamani, the champion 3-year-old. And Landseer won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains.
This promising start was confirmed in the following two years with the victories of Dalakhani (2002) and Bago (2003), who reached the summit by winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Then, the level of the race weakened considerably in the following years when the victories of Hélios Quercus (2004), Carlotamix (2005), Thewayyouare (2007), Zafisio (2008), and Jan Vermeer (2009) were recorded. Nevertheless, the classic level was reached with two Irish winners, Mount Nelson (2006), future winner of the Eclipse Stakes (Gr1), and Roderic O'Connor (2010), winner of the Irish 2,000 Guineas (Gr1) at age 3. In 2011, the French-trained French Fifteen, who won ahead of three foreign runners, confirmed his quality at age three by finishing second in the 2,000 Guineas (Gr1), beaten by the champion from across the Channel, Camelot. The winner of the 2016 edition, Thunder Snow, went on to win the Dubai World Cup twice.
In 2015, the distance of the race was reduced to 1,400 meters to better fit into the European calendar. The race was cancelled in 2017 due to a protest by a group of industry professionals. It was held at Chantilly in 2018 to preserve the ParisLongchamp tracks for the spring. It was increased to 1,600 meters again from 2020 onwards.
Foreign Runners
After 23 years, the French camp has eight victories, the other victories going to English (6), Irish (8), and German (1) stables.
Leading Owners
Susan Magnier/Michael Tabor/Derrick Smith & associates (7 wins): Mount Nelson (2006), Jan Vermeer (2009), Roderic O'Connor (2010), Johannes Vermeer (2015), Van Gogh (2020), Proud and Regal (2022), and Twain (2024).
S.A. Aga Khan (2 wins): Dalakhani (2002) and Carlotamix (2005).
Godolphin (2 wins): Thunder Snow (2016) and Royal Meeting (2018).
Leading Trainers
Aidan O'Brien (6 wins): Mount Nelson (2006), Jan Vermeer (2009), Roderic O'Connor (2010), Johannes Vermeer (2015), Van Gogh (2020), and Twain (2024).
André Fabre (2 wins): Carlotamix (2005) and Thewayyouare (2007).
Jonathan Pease (2 wins): Act One (2001) and Bago (2003).
Saeed bin Suroor (2 wins): Thunder Snow (2016) and Royal Meeting (2018).
Leading Riders
Christophe Soumillon (4 wins): Dalakhani (2002), Carlotamix (2005), Thunder Snow (2016), and Royal Meeting (2018).
Thierry Gillet (2 wins): Act One (2001) and Bago (2003).
Lanfranco Dettori (2 wins): Alson (2019) and Angel Bleu (2021).
Ryan Moore (2 wins): Johannes Vermeer (2015) and Twain (2024).