I never realised until yesterday that Criquette Head-Maarek is not actually “Criquette”. In the Longchamp racecard, the piece looking at the Prix Vermeille kept giving her name as Christiane, so I put her name in Google and sure enough Christiane ‘Criquette’ Head-Maarek. Anyway, it would appear that she was right about Treve being better on a right-handed track...
She was wrong going to the start Toppy and should have been withdrawn. Lost all respect for Dettori after that. Note, he was never allowed on her again
Winning the Prix Vermeille by an official four-and-a-half lengths (it looks further on the photo), Treve returned 1/2 on the PMU and 2/5 on the British industry prices. On the PMU all three places returned the minimum 1/10. Looking at the PMU returns, the book was 120 per cent over round thanks to the big rake-off and the runner-up Candarliya was the second favourite at 6/1 with sixth home Arabian Queen 14/1 third best – the pacemaker was the outsider of the field at 89/1. On Arc Sunday, with half of France piling on to Treve in the Tabacs and cafes, it might be realistic to expect her to return 30/100 or worse. The problem for New Bay punters will be that if Flintshire turns up they will be coupled as Khalid Abdullah owns both; as will the Aga Khan’s runners and potentially Coolmore’s runners. Depending on what gets placed, the place returns may be pretty poor as many will ignore the win betting, including the Brits and Irish at Longchamp.
Do you get the feeling that a lot of people will be forced into having a few shekels each way on some bolter they really don't fancy?
Cyc, it depends where you are betting as to what options are available. To Monsieur Le Public in France, the PMU monopoly is the only choice. To bet each-way is two bets – one in the win pool, one in the place pool. I am starting to wonder whether there will be twenty runners this year so the place pool may not offer much value and I think it is almost guaranteed that Treve to place will pay 1/10 as she has only failed to make the frame once in her career so place only sharks cannot profit like they do on the Tote in the UK. If you are a foreign punter with options of betting with bookmakers, the “betting without the favourite” market may appeal. Personally I never back anything that I do not think is going to win; and I only bet each-way when the place part of the bet is better than Even money (e.g. 12/1 or more at 1/4 odds; 16/1 or more at 1/5 odds). As it is I only have one ante post bet running – Postponed at 20/1 each way after he won the King George. I only ever bet one horse in a race, so I will be doing nothing else unless he defects.
QM; did you not point out to myself and others that there are two PMU pools; one for the Tabacs and other outlets and another which only considers bets placed at Longchamp? I do not disagree that we are looking at a 'mini Deep Impact' on the PMU on Arc Sunday.
The ‘other’ PMU return on Treve in the Prix Vermeille was 6/10. I quoted the 1/2 return because that is the one that was reported in the British racing media; and the one that British bookies would pay out on if you did not take their prices. On Arc Sunday, I expect there to be a much larger proportion of French racegoers (and hardly any Japanese this year) because of the publicity that I saw. In the Arc Trials Day racecard there was a France Galop advert page for Treve and I saw the same ‘poster’ in a couple of underground stations and at the Gare Du Nord. I think it is going to be really crammed even in comparison to the normal Arc crowds.
I hope France Galop are on top of the problems which could arise from a much larger crowd than usual, particularly governed by the 'Treve' factor for the locals plus an increased UK/Irish invasion due to the renovation and possible non-attendance at Chantilly in 2016. If I was attending my first target would be a strip of PMU windows which seem fairly quiet; upper tiers of stands a possibility?
Apparently a "technical error" led to the winning distance being reported as 4.5 lengths, this has subsequently been corrected to 6 lengths. http://www.racingpost.com/news/hors...ht/1955501/top/#newsArchiveTabs=last7DaysNews
Pity they don't correct the winning distance of Ribot's second Arc (8.5l, but recorded as 6l). Maybe because he wasn't French
It was the most impressive she has been since she was a 3yo, if she does that again it will be hard to get near her never mind beat her, she was made for the Arc. The only worry for me is a performance like that so close to the big one. I had one of my biggest bets on her for her first Arc, had an antepost on her last year that I thought for sure was beat. I wont be backing her at the prices this year but whatever happens, she is one of the great fillies of all time, she is on a par with Zarkava in my book but nowhere near as elegant! I expect a massive run from Jack Hobbs but wont be too bothered if Treve goes out on a high.
I wanted to post these two photos from Arc Trials Day as embedded images but to do that they need to be on the Internet somewhere so that I can supply a URL. I tried opening a Google+ Photos account but that only shares them using cryptic GUID-based links with various devices rather than just plain old public images. Anyway, the Prix Vermeille photo was taken about 400 metres before the winning post because that was the only way to get anyone but Treve in it. I was still able to get some of the opposition in closer to the post with the Prix Niel, with the new French wonder jockey having time to take a leisurely look behind him to see where they had gone. As New Bay beat better opposition with some ease, he should not be ignored as a solid prospect to collect the Arc for the Classic generation.
Beautiful picture. Pre Juddmonte though, would we have expected anything less than Treve being 10L in front of something like Arabian Queen? Times mean little but interesting that Treves visual spectacular was slower than Postponeds effort. However, we know she was eased down and has more gears and pulled her way up front, so there is, scarily, potentially more to come.
