Kick-off in Enghien

Enghien, Friday 11 March: The Enghien summer track kicks off its season today with a seven-race programme. Among the higher-value tests is the Prix Quick Williams (3rd race/20.15pm/44,000 euros/2150m). The yearling comparison between five- and six-year-olds gathers 16 European horses at the start.

The Austrian Derby winner Diamant Venus (Wolfgang Ruth) is making another attempt to gain a foothold in France, which he has failed to do in three appearances so far. Last year he saw the `red card` here and in January he did not get beyond twelfth place in Vincennes. An interesting guest from Holland is Jank Summerland, trained and driven by Hugo Langeweg. Although he did not find his way smoothly around the course in his recent appearance in Paris, he finished a very good fourth here in the summer. Italian hopes rest on Boccadamo (Eric Raffin), whose winning streak will be put to the test. Blue Eyes Bar (Matthieu Abrivard) won a `D` race on New Year`s Eve as a big outsider against, among others, the chanceless Heaven Quick (Adrien Lamy) and Howdy Quick (Gabriele Gelormini), who showed up superiorly one tier below eight days ago. Amour del Ronco (Alexandre Abrivard) is sufficiently recommended by his third place in February ahead of Ariel Ferm (Francois Lagadeuc).