Elie de Beaufour the logical favourite

La Capelle, Wednesday, 21 September: The Hippodrome in La Capelle is the venue for eight trotting races today. At the centre of the action is the Grand Prix Federation Regionale du Nord (7th race/15.35/100,000 Euro/2700m), a Group 3 race for older horses.

Two of the nine participants are provided by Jean-Michel Bazire, who himself is conspicuous by his absence. His first chance is called Elie de Beaufour (Alexandre Abrivard), who only 18 days ago decided a similar task in his favour in Paris. The eight-year-old easily won the Prix de Beaugency (Group 3) against Decoloration (Gabriele Gelormini), who had nothing to fear for second place ahead of the surprising Jerry Mom (Matthieu Abrivard) and Rebella Matters (Nicolas Bazire). Before that, Elie de Beaufour won the Grand Prix du Conseil Municipall (Group 2) despite allowance. Decoloration celebrated his last success in Enghien, where he put the higher rated Gangster du Wallon (Alexis Collette) in his place in the Prix de la Manche (Course A). Fakir du Lorault (Francois Lecanu) will have a large following with his strong finishes in the first half in the Critérium de Vitesse (Group 2) and the Prix des Ducs de Normandie (Group 2) behind Gangster de Wallon and ahead of Elvis du Vallon (David Thomain). Euro du Chêne (Jean-Robert Declercq) will still have to practise on his seasonal debut, as will Duel du Gers (Pierre Abrivard), who has not been on the course since his place of honour in January.