€80,000 Qatar Prix du Petit-Couvert (Gr3): Pradaro, forever fast

Sunday, September 15, 2024, ParisLongchamp Racecourse (Paris). - In a well-contested 5f dash, the €80,000 Qatar Prix du Petit Couvert (Gr3) resulted in a blanket finish: the first eight horses finished within a length of each other. The most tenacious in this sport was the Belgian gelding Pradaro (Penny's Picnic), offered at 50/1 after finishing 3rd in the Prix du Gros-Chêne (Gr2), behind Ponntos (Power), the favorite here but less incisive, and Mgheera (Zoustar), this time fifth, very close. Second place went to Electric Storm (Night of Thunder), 2nd in July in the Prix de Ris-Orangis (Gr3) over 6f, and more clearly beaten since in Ireland. The best 3-year-old at the finish was the 4th-placed Grand Gray (Havana Grey), whose didn't have the clearest run.

In other words, everything will have to be done again in three weeks at the time of the Abbaye de Longchamp (Gr1).

Pradaro is a 9-year-old gelding, the oldest in the field along with Batwan (Kendargent), who was unplaced here, and both are bred by Guy Pariente. He was running his 56th race here, according to the France Galop data. He has now won eleven races and nearly €500,000 with the premiums. He also won the Prix du Gros-Chêne in 2021.

Pradaro has gone through the Deauville sales ring twice, where he reached €42,000 as a yearling. His Samum brother was sold for €16,000 at the Deauville sales in 2019. He won a claiming race over hurdles at Auteuil.