€80,000 La Coupe: West Wind Blows over Longchamp

Sunday, 11th June 2023, ParisLongchamp Racecourse (Paris). - The favourite for the €80,000 La Coupe - Fondation Claude Pompidou (Gr3) after concluding his 2022 campaign with a third place in the Prix Dollar (Gr2) and starting this year with another third place over 1m4f in the Jockey Club Stakes (Gr2) at Newmarket, after which he was gelded, the English raider West Wind Blows (Teofilo) dominated the race convincingly. Placed behind the frontrunning Pride of America (American Post), he took over in the final straight and surged forward to win by almost two lengths ahead of Hooking (Lope de Vega), who came from far behind in a long single-file field. Also held up but not far behind, Pleasant Jane (Pivotal) finished third, at another 3.5 lengths...

West Wind Blows won his first two races before finishing ninth in the Epsom Derby (Gr1) last year. He returned to the winner's enclosure immediately after in a Listed race over 1m3f, and then in the Group 3 Prix Prince d'Orange (Gr3), a success for which he didn't have to carry any penalty here.

He is the eighth foal out of the classic mare West Wind (Dubawi), winner of the Prix de Diane (French Oaks, Gr1), and the best one to date. Another Teofilo colt, still unraced, was born in 2020. A West Wind Blows maiden sister was registered and withdrawn from the Tattersalls sales in 2021.