Edmond Blanc: Wally nears the top of his game

April 3, 2021, Saint-Cloud Racecourse. - A fine start of the Spring explains the unusually good ground at Saint-Cloud for this time of year, posted at 3.2 (Good). The matter decided Jean-Claude Rouget, trainer of Wally (Siyouni), to enter him in the Prix Edmond Blanc (Gr3). Indeed, the representative of Jean-Pierre Barjon, the President of the Trotting Association, sold as a yearling for € 130,000 and unsold at the last Arc sale for € 140,000, is considered to be better suited by faster grounds order. The race's favourite, however, The Revenant (Dubawi) showed that he much preferred deeper turfs, as seen when he won the last edition of this race, in 2019 - it was one of the first victims of the first confinement a year ago. In addition, Al Asayl France-owned 6-year-old gelding was giving 3 kilos to the field for winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Gr1) at Ascot late last year. Finally, he had not raced for 168 days, or nearly six months, while the grey, bred by Haras du Cadran, IEI and the Lerners, had increased from four to six the number of his victories during the Cagnes-sur-Mer Winter meeting, and most recently in the Prix Saônois (L), which he took by two and a half lengths ...

All this put together meant that in the last furlong, the talented Wally, whose trainer now considers a Gr1 test, took the upper hand over a brave The Revenant, also containing the good finish of Duhail (Lope de Vega), finally second by a neck only, almost a length ahead of the beaten favourite.