12 November 2022
Photo scoopdyga.com
November 12, 2022, Auteuil Racecourse (Paris). – Three runners were sharing the public's favours going into the 93rd Grand Prix d’Automne Hurdle Race (Gr1), now also named Prix Serge Landon, as the late quadruple winner of the race Galop Marin is now gone. Between L’Autonomie (Blue Brésil), looking for a last-gasp victory, the favoured Hermès Baie (Crillon), recently beaten after a tremendous seasonal comeback, and the ever-rising star Thélème (Sidestep), who beat them both for his return last time out, the audience couldn't quite make a pick.
The race's conditions were quite different from those of the Prix Carmarthen Hurdle (Gr3), the trio's last encounter, as L’Autonomie was not giving weight anymore while the distance was extended from 2m3f to 3 miles. Yet, the verdict stood! Held at the rear until the last turn, Thélème held off Hermès Baie, who'd always travelled in the leading group by the inside, while L’Autonomie took every opportunity to lean on the outside, leading most of the race. She made a bad mistake at the 2nd last, which could have had her gone, but she recovered and finished a brave third for what would be her last ever public appearance. She finished 3.5 lengths behind the leading duet, nine lengths ahead of Folsom Prison (No Risk at All), bumped by an early faller and yet always spotted behind the champion mare.
It was a third Gr1 success for Thélème after the Cambacérès 3yo Hurdle and the Renaud du Vivier 4yo Hurdle.
Thélème races for James Gordon's JDG Bloodstock Services. Bred by SCEA BIssons, he's out of Utopia Jem (Okawango), a mare sold for € 5,000 in December 2019 at Deauville. Theleme was unsold at €3,000 at the Osarus yearling sales, and his dam's 5th foal, a Whipper filly born in 2021, was sold at the Deauville Arqana breeding sale for €15,000 to Bertrand Le Métayer, representing JDG Bloodstock last December. The dam is for sale at the Arqana Autumn sale on November 17th, in foal to Goliath du Berlais, along with her Doctor Dino weanling.