Léon Rambaud Hurdle Race: Hermès Baie flies away

Saturday, April 30, 2022, Auteuil Racecourse (Paris). - Betting against odds-on dual titleholder L’Autonomie (Blue Brésil) before the Prix Léon Rambaud Hurdle race (Gr2) would have sounded hopeless. Yet the François Nicolle-trained mare was not only beaten for victory, but also for second place by two 5-year-old challengers, the AQPS Hermès Baie (Crillon), also trained by Nicolle, and Thelème (SideStep), who snitched second place on the wire.

In a six runners' field, the 7-year-old mare once again. ran close to the pace despite a mistake early on. The two youngsters were also always close to the action, as the Papot family's Hermes Baie was running inside the favourite. Well focused and ridden by Bertrand Lestrade, he jumped perfectly and took off irresistibly in the run-in to score by 5 lengths. A resolute Thelème held on well to take second place by the wire.

The winner was bred by André-Jean Belloir near Mont-Saint-Michel. The winning dam Ludmika (Murmure) had a short but lively racing career with Yannick Fertillet with three outings over the flat for two wins and a third place. She became a great broodmare at stud with seven foals by the only Crillon, including Hermès Baie, the best by a long way of the family with Dress Baie (Crillon), a winner of four races. Hermès Baie's full brother, named I Love My Baie (now 4), was sold for £80,000 at Goffs in Doncaster last May. Exported to Ireland and trained there by Colin Bowe, he won for his debut two weeks ago at Taylorstorn, by 2.5 lengths.

The dam Ludmika has had three other foals. Two fillies by Tiger Groom and a yearling colt by Puit d’Or. She's expected to give birth to a Nom de D’La foal in 2022.