8 June 2024
Photo scoopdyga.com
June, Auteuil
Prix La Barka Hurdle Race
Group 2, 5-year-olds and up, 4,300m/21.5f Hurdle Race, €185,000
Created en 1948
Last winner: Jeu de Thaix (g5, AQPS-FRA by Authorized ex Victoire de Thaix, by Voix du Nord), owned by Mrs Patrick Papot, Daniela Mele, bred by Michel Bourgneuf, trained by Daniela Mele, ridden by James Reveley.
The race will be run in 2025 for the 78th time
The 2024 edition
Saturday 8 June 2024, Auteuil Racecourse (Paris). – The favourite, Jeu de Thaix (Authorized), dominated the €185,000 Prix La Barka Hurdle (Gr2), the final hurdling summit of the season at Auteuil, in his first attempt at this level and distance of 2m5f. Winner of the Prix de Craon (Gr1-AQPS) over the flat in September 2023, he remains unbeaten in four hurdle races. Bred by Michel Bourgneuf, representing the Papot family associated with the trainer Daniela Mele, he set a strong pace alongside his rival Jeune Roi Bleu (Buck’s Boum). He maintained his lead to win by four lengths over Le Philosophe (Doctor Dino). Six One (Hunter’s Light) finished well, five lengths behind, along with Haut les Cœurs (Saddler Maker) and Heloy Delabarrière (Chœur du Nord), who made a mistake when the race heated up.
Jeu de Thaix is out of Victoire de Thaix (Voix du Nord), runner-up in the Prix Glorieuse, which is now a Group 2-AQPS race. He is her fourth and best offspring to date. Following Jeu de Thaix, she produced Kent de Thaix (Cokoriko), exported to Ireland, Légende de Thaix (Goliath du Berlais), and Magister de Thaix (Ivanhowe), born in 2022.
History
The first La Barka Hurdle Race was contested at Auteuil on 31 May 1948. The name was given to this new race to commemorate a mare who, in 1941, won the Finot 3yo Hurdle Race, an important hurdles event reserved for 3-year-olds who had not yet run over the jumps.
Originally open to 4-year-olds and over, the La Barka has been reserved for 5-year-olds and older since 1966. The distance has varied frequently from 1 mile 7 ½ furlongs from 1948 to 1959 to 2 miles 5 ½ furlongs between 1989 and 2017 when it moved to the end of June to become a rematch race after the Grande Course de haies rather than the usual prep race. It was then also shortened to 3 miles 3 ½ furlongs, but the distance has been reversed to its original 1 mile 7 ½ furlongs from 2020.
La Barka
Trained by Maurice d'Okhuysen and wearing the colours of René de Rivaud, this bay filly sired by Barneveldt and foaled in 1938 by Ka ou Tcha out of Massine had an inspired racing career. Commencing as a 3-year-old, she showed herself to be one of the finest performers of her generation. In nine outings that season, she claimed four wins, including the Prix Jean Prat, Prix Chloé and Prix de Minerve, and was placed in her five other attempts: second in the Prix Vanteaux, Prix de Royaumont and Prix de Malleret; third in the Prix du Lys and fourth in the Prix Vermeille won by her stablemate Longthanh. Her class and temperament explain her easy victory in the Prix Finot. Three weeks later, she was thrown in at the deep end in an important steeplechase, the Prix Richard Hennessy, where, as a 3-year-old, she faced some experienced jumpers. But she still finished a creditable fifth out of eight starters, and after having won a steeplechase reserved for 3-year-olds, La Barka took on her elders again in the Prix Maubourguet. Only one of them could hold off her challenge… her excellent contemporary Mitrailleur II. As a 4-year-old, La Barka went to post three more times at Auteuil, being placed each time, including second over the hurdles behind Ludovic le More (future winner of the Grande Course de Haies) and fourth in the Grand Steeple-Chase des 4 Ans.
The La Barka and the Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil
Since the 1960s, the La Barka has constituted the benchmark event with a view to the Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil. The double of winning these two races in the same year has been done thirteen times by ten different horses: Santo Pietro (1964), Orvilliers (1968), Le Pontet (1971), Hardatit (1973), Les Roseaux (1976), World Citizen (1982), Dawn Run (1984), Le Rheusois (1986), Le Sauvignon (2000, 2001), Laveron (2002), Mid Dancer (2006), Thousand Stars (2012).
Owners
- Daniel Wildenstein (3 wins): World Citizen (1982), Video Tape (1985), Vaporetto (1998).
- André Lombard (2 wins): Sphinx II (1950), Partisan (1952).
- David-James Jackson (2 wins): Le Sauvignon (2000, 2001).
- Hammer/Trowell Syndicate (2 wins): Thousand Stars (2012, 2014).
Trainers
- Georges Pelat (7 wins): Ertrica (1948), Sphinx II (1950), Partisan (1952), Santo Pietro (1964), Rivoli (1966), Boniface (1974), Great Mist (1978).
- Willie Mullins (6 wins): Thousand Stars (2012 et 2014), Un de Sceaux (2016), Shaneshill (2017), Bapaume (2018), Mr Adjudicator (2019).
- Gérard Philippeau (5 wins): Le Pontet (1970, 1971), Young Serenader (1972), Highello (1979), Tenerific (1992).
- Noël Pelat (3 wins): La Comelle (1949), Kalioussa (1967), Ma Puce (1990).
- René Pelat (3 wins): Honduras (1955), Calvacadour (1957), Hardatit (1973).
- André Adèle (3 wins): Sylvaine (1958), Orvilliers (1968), Schoeller (1977).
- Jean-Paul Gallorini (3 wins): Video Tape (1985), Vaporetto (1998), Roi du Val (2011).
- Jehan Bertran de Balanda (3 wins): Montperle (1996), Le Sauvignon (2000, 2001).
- François Nicolle (3 wins) : Porto Pollo (2020), Polirico (2021), Super Alex (2022), La Chenevière (2023).
Riders
- Bertrand Lestrade (4 victoires) : Mr Adjudicator (2019), Polirico (2021), La Chenevière (2023).
- François Bonni (3 wins): Rivoli (1966), Le Pontet (1970, 1971) ;
- Christophe Pieux (3 wins): Frappeuse (1989), Mid Dancer (2006), Shinco du Berlais (2007).
Three women also rode a winner: Anne-Sophie Madeleine with Mon Romain (1997), Nathalie Desoutter with Portal's Toy (2009) and Katie Walsh with Thousand Stars (2014).