€135,000 Compiègne Hurdle Race (Gr3): Goa Lil leads the way

Saturday, September 23, 2023, Auteuil Racecourse (Paris). – The first autumn meeting for France's best hurdlers, the €135,000 Compiègne Hurdle Race (Gr3), saw seven runners line up, three of whom were almost equally favoured by the punters: La Chenevière (Montmartre), winner of her last two spring races including the important La Barka Hurdle Race (Gr2); the AQPS-bred Goa Lil (Samum), absent since he was pulled up in the Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil (Gr1); and finally, Ine Anjou (Balko), third in the La Barka.

Indeed, these three took the podium places, with Goa Lil decisively asserting himself from the final turn and never being seriously threatened thereafter by the two 5-year-old mares. Representing Nigel Twiston-Davies, he eventually left a brave Ine Anjou trailing by seven lengths, while La Chenevière, always well-placed, only stayed on behind, passing by the post at six lengths.

Felix de Giles, the winning rider, dismounted shortly after crossing the finish line, and his mount returned to the paddock both shoeless and limping at the front.

Bred in Doubs by Jimmy Detouillon, Goa Lil left France at the end of his 3-year-old season after winning his first flat race, an AQPS event contested at Bréhal, while trained by Franck Cheyer. He then moved to Nigel Twiston-Davies for training, who is now also his owner, and ran 31 times across the Channel before returning to France in September 2022.

His dam won at Maure-de-Bretagne, and his second dam is unraced. After Goa Lil, her first foal, the dam Unekaina (Lost World) has produced a Papal Bull filly successful both on the flat and over hurdles in the Centre region, a winner on all-weather at Lyon La Soie, an unraced 3-year-old by Arakan, and her own 2-year-old brother, as well as a Weltstar colt born in 2023.