02.12.2019

AN OVERVIEW OF THE 2019 FRENCH PA GROUP RACING SCENE - A tale of the (almost) all-consuming dominance of Thomas Fourcy

The French PA Group season ended at Bordeaux-Le Bouscat on October 31^st, and it heralded the victory of Khataab (Amer) in the French Arabian Breeders 'Classic - H.H. Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Gr1 PA).This horse is trained by Thomas Fourcy, whose 3-year-olds proved to be a big hit, a success story spearheaded by two horses in particular.

The horses of Thomas Fourcy cleaned up in eight of the ten French PA Group races open to three-year-olds! Amyr du Soleil (Amer) and Lady Princess (General) between them accounted for five of these wins, having mopped up in the two leading events. For this read the Qatar Arabian Trophy des Poulains and the Qatar Arabian Trophy des Pouliches

(Gr1s PA) at Saint-Cloud. The three other wins by the Royan professional in this sector were recorded by: Meethag (Dahor de Brugère) in the Qatar Coupe de France des Chevaux Arabes (Gr1 PA); Ryme Al Cham (Af Albahar) in the Prix Razzia III (Gr3 PA); and Almajdah (TM Fred Texas) in the Prix Nevada II (Gr3 PA).

On the stallions’ front, Amer (Wafi), together with his sons and grandsons, were again at the top of the pile. Amyr du Soleil provided his illustrious sire with three wins. The Amer ‘connection’ also manifested itself in the form of four other PA Group wins. The sire General (Amer), for one, sired Lady Princess. Dahor de Brugère (Dahess) – the sire of Meethag – did his bit, as did Af Albahar (Amer), the latter being responsible for Ryme Al Cham. To sum up, a total of the seven PA Group races in the three-year-old sector were annexed by Amer and his descendants. As in 2018, TM Fred Texas (Burning Sand) was responsible for two wins, and he is steadily carving his niche as a producer of the younger generation.

In the owners’ domain, the Al Shaqab Racing division of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani, proved to be the big winners, thanks to the likes of Amyr du Soleil, Meethag, and Min’ha. They have assumed the leadership of this category, having taken over the baton from the 2018 winners, and namely the Yas Horse Racing operation of H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani, whose dominance last season was underpinned by performers such as Deryan (Mahabb) and Marid (TM Fred Texas).

Regarding breeding matters, Lisa Deymonaz can bask in the adulation of having brought

Amyr du Soleil (three wins) into the world. Al Shaqab enjoyed an equal amount of wins,

but with three different horses: Meethag, Almajdah and Shadad (TM Fred Texas).

Every PA Group winner during the season carried the 'FR' bred suffix with the exception of the British-bred Amyr du Soleil.

A TABULATION OF THE GR1 PA RACES FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS IN 2019

The breeding operation of Sheikh Mansoor again tops the older horses’ division

Regarding the older horses’ category, there has been no change at the top compared to last year. As Yas Horse Racing and, consequently the breeding division of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, again proved to be very successful, and this in spite of registering one less than victory compared to 2018, which translated into four wins as opposed to the five of last season. The winning quartet proved to be: Deryan (Mahabb), Taymour (Mahabb), Bayan (Munjiz) and Hayyan (Munjiz). The latter made his mark in the Qatar Derby des Pur-Sang Arabes de 4ans (Gr1 PA) at Chantilly.

It didn’t go unnoticed that the colours of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani distinguished themselves at the very highest level, and this thanks to the exploits of his flagbearer, Ebraz (Amer), whose two wins comprised the Qatar Arabian World Cup (Gr1 PA). His success was also underpinned by the François Rohaut-trained distaffer Raahah (Asraa Min Albarq), in the Qatar Arabian Trophy des Juments (Gr1 PA) on the eve of the Arc de Triomphe.

The Sheikh Mansoor stallions, Mahabb (Tahar de Candelon) and Munjiz (Kesberoy), were responsible for two wins apiece in the French Group PA season. However, Amer and his son Asraa Min Albarq, annexed six of the 14 races reserved in the older horses’ division. The duo made their mark, of course, thanks to Ebraz and Raahah, in addition to the Alban de Mieulle runner Tayf (Amer), successful in The President of the UAE Cup - Coupe d’Europe des Chevaux Arabes (Gr1 PA) in the colours of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani; without forgetting the two wins of the 'Fourcy' runner Khataab, which included the French Arabian Breeders Classic - H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan (Gr1 PA).

The two wins of Al Ryma Monlau (Runner), bred by Robert Bourdette and trained by Olivier Trigodet, enabled the little known sire Runner (Tahar de Candelon) to become a PA Group winning stallion. For the record, his French production line currently numbers just six horses.

Lastly, in this particular fourteen PA Group race division, only two winners don’t carry the French-bred etiquette. They are Ebraz, whom Al Shahania bred in Britain, and Jaazmah Athbah (Jalnar Al Khalidiah), born in the same country and very much a graduate of the Athbah Stud.

A TABULATION OF THE GR1 PA PRIZES RUN IN FRANCE DURING 2019