€135,000 Pépinvast 4yo Hurdle Race (Gr3): Kingland enters crown war

Saturday, 6 April 2024, Auteuil Racecourse (Paris) - With Léon du Berlais, the easy winner of the season's first high-level meeting for 4-year-old hurdlers at Auteuil, the Prix d’Indy (Gr3), out of the way, seven contenders lined up for the €135,000 Pépinvast 4yo Hurdle race (Gr3), the second stage of this division.

Having long travelled outside the leaders, Karakta (Karaktar) and Losange Vert et Bleu (Night Wish), 2nd in the "d’Indy", the AQPS Kingland (Cokoriko) pulled away from his rivals in the final straight to secure victory by fifteen lengths ahead of Sultan Pierji (Ectot) and Losange Vert Bleu. Second going into the 2nd last with plenty in hand, Bon Garçon (Masterstroke), 3rd in the d’Indy, fell at the penultimate hurdle.

Bred by Thierry Cyprès in Nièvre, Kingland races for Ecurie Lynne McLennan, in partnership with Thierry Cyprès, Paul-Étienne Carrillon, and Renaud Lavillenie.

A winner of the Finot 3yo Hurdle Race (L) on debut last autumn, he immediately stepped up to the highest level and finished 3rd in the Cambacérès 3yo Hurdle Race (Gr1). After being pulled up in his return in the Prix d’Indy, he showed a completely different form here.

He is the 6th foal of the unraced Annaland (Saint des Saints), also the dam of the very talented Figuero (Yeats), winner of the Maurice Gillois 4yo Chase (Gr1) and La Haye Jousselin Chase (Gr1). Recently, she also produced an unraced 3-year-old in training with Isabelle Gallorini, a 2-year-old filly by Doctor Dino, and a The Grey Gatsby colt.

This is the family of Cumberland and Embiez, progeny of Kingland's 4th dam, Queensland IV (Citheron).