29 November 2020
Photo scoopdyga.com
Sunday, November 29, 2020, Auteuil. - The victorious march of L’Autonomie (Blue Brésil) was interrupted by her best enemy, Paul’s Saga (Martaline), in the Grande Course de Haies (Gr1), on October 17th. It was the latter's turn to give up victory in the €245,000 Grand Prix d'Automne Hurdle Race (Gr1) because this time Galop Marin (Black Sam Bellamy) did not give in.
Already twice a winner of this event, and carrying cheekpieces for the first time, the representative of the Papot family pushed back Paul's Saga to the end, while L'Autonomie, whose revenge was expected and who started as the odds-on favourite, gave in in the final turn and had to settle for third place, twelve lengths behind the first two. She had travelled covered by the eventual winner but could not keep up with Paul's Saga when she joined them in the bend, as usual. Yet the grey mare did not manage to steal the outside rail in the home stretch, because Galop Marin was not giving up. She seemed to have kept something in the run-in, but the stout, chestnut old-timer simply wouldn't bend the knee. He won by half a length.
The last hat-trick in the race dates from 1999, the year of Mon Romain's third consecutive victory.
Trained in Dragey (Manche) by Dominique Bressou for the Papot family, Galop Marin had lost his leadership over the elite French hurdlers since the accession of the 5-year-old L’Autonomie and the 6-year-old Paul’s Saga at the top this season. He is one of the very rare high-level performers at Auteuil who was not bred in France. Bred in Ireland by Fleming and Molloy, Galop Marin was bought for € 13,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland mixed sales by FIPS. Now aged 8, he is out of the French-bred mare Great Jane (Great Palm), a sister of the good hurdlers Gaelic Ocean (Urban Ocean) and Gaelic Beauty (Garuda). Galop Marin is approaching 1.3 million euros in earnings and now counts 13 victories over jumps.