Kick-off of the Tingle Creek Festival

Sandown, Friday 2 December: The Tingle Creek Festival at Sandown Park begins today with a six-race programme. The best race of the day is the Winter Novices Hurdle (4th race/15.20pm/60,000 pounds/3980m), with six in-form contenders vying for Group 2 honours.

Henri The Second (Kielan Woods) announced himself emphatically when second in a Maiden Hurdle in October. He is seen as the winner on the betting market, but Man At Work (Tom Scudamore) is also in contention for the front, who enjoyed an easy success at Aintree on November 5, beating Henry`s Friend (Harry Cobden) by over six lengths to finish third. Maximilian (Brian Hughes) has yet to lose a race both on the flat course and over today`s jumps. It remains to be seen how he does against today`s opponents. I`d Like To Know (Tom Cannon) and Park This One (Gavin Sheehan) are also fresh winners but will have to improve considerably.

Granvillaise Bleue against Fantaisie in the Prix Paul Buquet

Paris-Vincennes, Thursday, 1 December: Saddle trotters of the higher winning category will contest the Prix Paul Buquet (7th race/17.20/120,000 Euro/2850 m), which belongs to Group 2, at Vincennes today. Granvillaise Bleue (Camille Levesque) is one of the favourites.

Trained by Pierre Levesque, the mare won her last appearances under saddle and in between she `practised` in front of the sulky, but always ended up unplaced. Among her greatest successes is the triumph here in the Prix des Centaures (Group 1). Currently, the Jag de Bellouet daughter triumphed at Group 3 level ahead of Du Scion (Alexandre Angot) and Chalimar de Guez (Jean-Yann Ricart), who cut a good figure in the next places, while Freeman de Houelle (Eric Raffin) disappointed and no longer seems to be the horse from the first half of the year. Fantaisie (Francois Lagadeuc) immediately stands out with her winning streak. Here she won three times at Group 3 level against Dynasty Peji (Damien Bonne) and Edition Gema (Gaelle Godard), among others. Get Lovely Delo (Yoann Lebourgeois) is hardly worse. The least winning horse in the field has won six of her last nine starts. Clegs des Champs (David Thomain) is an absolute expert in his field, but after a break of more than half a year, he will probably not show everything yet.

Lacuna in the Prix Miss Satamixa

Deauville, Wednesday, 30 November: A black-type test awaits 15 mares in Deauville today. In the Prix Miss Satamixa (4th race/15.40/52.000 Euro/1500 m), Lacuna (Eddy Hardouin), trained by Henk Grewe for Eckhard Sauren, is making another attempt to get her first win of the season under her belt.

The Shalaa daughter, who was successful in the Turf last year, last ran in Rome and did not finish higher than sixth. Queen Aminatu (Maxime Guyon), who is travelling from England, is the one to beat. She currently won easily by two and a half lengths at Lingfield at List level. Sicilian Defense (Gregory Benoist) won a Black Type race here in July and also ran quite decently later at Longchamp when fourth. Joseph O`Brien has to be considered with Voice Of Angels (Dylan McMonagle) and Sistine Madonna (Stephane Pasquier) competing with quite appealing forms. Nano Nagle (Mickael Barzalona) pleases with his good placings, which also applies to Purple Bling (Anthony Crastus) and Subahiyah (Jean-Bernard Eyquem), who even managed to win their latest outings.