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Murat Chase History : A Spring Gold Cup

8 April 2022

Sel Jem et Johnny CHarron remportent le Prix Murat (Gr2), le samedi 9 avril 2022 sur l'hippodrome d'Auteuil, à Paris.

Photo scoopdyga.com

Created in 1902 in memory of the president of the first Société des Steeple-Chases de France, Prince Joachim Murat, it is an Auteuil classic. The Murat Chase is a dress rehearsal designed to prepare the Grand Steeple-Chase of Paris, the only Group 2 on the way to the Blue Riband of Auteuil.

Avril, Auteuil

Murat Chase

 

Group 2, 5 year-olds and above, Steeple-Chase, 4,400m / 2m6f, € 210,000

Created in 1902

Last winner: Sel Jem (g5, FRA by Masked Marvel ex Ile des Saintes, by Saint des Saints), owned by Mrs. Patrick Papot, bred by Florence Lormand, trained by Guillaume Macaire & Hector de Lageneste, ridden y Johnny Charron.

The race will be run for the 117th time in 2023

 

The 2022 edition

April 9, 2022, Auteuil Racecourse (Paris). - The prestigious silks of the Papot family have now won two of the three legs of the Grand Steeple-Chase Masters thanks to Sel Jem's victory in the Murat Chase (Gr2). The five-year-old landed the third leg in fine style, following up on his superb performance in the Troytown Chase (Gr3) three weeks earlier. he's now eligible for the €150,000 bonus offered to the connections of the Grand Steeple winner having won two Masters on his way there.

France’s leading owners since 2012, the Papots claimed the first two places home in the Murat Chase, with Sel Jem getting the better of Dream Wish. With his trademark finishing kick, Sel Jem once again accelerated clear of his rivals and cemented his place as the likely favourite for the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, which is on the 22nd of May back at Auteuil! If he does happen to land the biggest race on the calendar, Sel Jem will offer a seventh success in the race to his co-trainer, the Charentes-based Guillaume Macaire, who recently linked up with Hector de Lageneste. If successful in next month’s showpiece, then Macaire will break the record of wins in the race, which has stood since 1874. Johnny Charron, Sel Jem's rider, has never won a Gr1, so to break his duck in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris would be the ultimate crowning of his career! The Papot Family claimed the race in 2013 with Bel La Vie and in 2018 with On The Go. Dream Wish, who finished second in the Murat Chase, is trained in Dragey, in the Manche region of Normandy, by Dominique Bressou.

 

History

Created in 1902 to commemorate the memory of the chairman of the first Société des Steeple-Chases de France, this race was not run between 1915 and 1919. Its distance has varied frequently from 2 miles 3 furlongs to 2 miles 6 ½ furlongs, and 2 miles 6 furlongs since 1971. In 1926, a dead heat was recorded between Valdubar and Gaspard de Besse.

Ever since its creation, the Prix Murat has brought together some excellent horses. Its first winner Verdi won no less than nineteen steeplechases that year and would surely have been victorious in the Grand Steeple if he had not thrown off (at the Rivière du Huit) his jockey, who managed to remount but had to content himself with second place just behind the grateful Gratin.

Only six horses have ever succeeded in winning the Prix Murat twice: Ingré (1937, 1940), Maïk (1947, 1949), Petit Fontaine (1980, 1981), Ubu III (1993, 1995), Chamberko (1996, 1997) and Mid Dancer (2006 and 2009).

Run in the spring over a demanding course, the Prix Murat constitutes a useful staging post en route to Auteuil’s premier event run in the summer. Indeed, the Prix Murat-Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris double has been done no less than seventeen times. Eighteen horses have won both races, ten in the same year: Coq Gaulois (1920), L'Yser (1923), Ingré (1937), Kargal (1943), Boum (1945), Orléans (1954), Farfatch (1955), Jasmin II (1983), Katko (1988) and Kotkijet (2001). Four have won the Murat after the Grand Steeple: Saint Caradec at 5 (1910), Air Landais at 7 (1977), Oteuil SF at 9 (1989) and Polar Rochelais (2011). Six have won the Murat first: Millionnaire II at 5 (1931), Ucello II at 5 (1991), Ubu III at 7 (1993), El Paso III at 7 (1999) and Remember Rose at 5 (2008). And one horse has won the Murat before and after the Grand Steeple: Mid Dancer as a five-year-old (2006) and again as an eight-year-old (2009).

The Prix Murat-Prix du Président de la République (French National, Gr3) double is a rare one. Only six horses have achieved it: Violon II (1905-1904), Coq Gaulois (1920), Jean Victor (1934), Rameau (1950-1948), Quo Vadis (1957-1956, 1958) and Ouragan Collonges (1987).

The lowest number of starters (5) was recorded in 1909, 1920, 1921 and 1925. 26 lined up on 31 March 1963, for the "Prix du Centenaire, Prix Général Prince Murat", as the race was dubbed that year to honour the centenary of the foundation of the first Société Générale des Steeple-Chases de France. To mark the occasion, the purse for the race was raised to 200,000 F and it was run as a handicap. The winner was the favourite Blaps, carrying the top weight (72 kilos). Owned by Baron Henry de Blonay, he was trained by André Adèle and ridden by Claude Drieu.

The Murat family and jumps racing

Joachim, the 4th Prince Murat (1834-1901), a grandson of Napoleon I’s famous marshal and cousin of Napoleon III, was entrusted by the latter with “encouraging the production and breeding of service and war horses through racing". This is enshrined in Article 1 of the regulations adopted on 2 January 1863 by the Société Générale des Steeple-Chases de France which, on that day, elected as chairman Prince Murat, a career soldier who would be appointed general in 1870. The Société was to organise its jumps races on the Gravelle plain in the Bois de Vincennes, where the emperor wished to carry out an embellishment programme as he had previously done successfully in the Bois de Boulogne, where Longchamp racecourse had been created in 1857. Vincennes opened its doors on 29 March 1863 with an offering of three steeplechases for a curious public who came in their numbers - 100,000 of them, to be precise! The Franco-Prussian war (which had begun in July 1870), followed by the Commune, was to cause considerable damage to Vincennes racecourse, rendering it unusable. On 25 March 1873, the Société des Steeple-Chases de France, chaired by Prince Murat, was dissolved by a decision of its committee. Five days earlier, on 20 March, a general assembly had been held to form a new racing body named the "Société anonyme des Courses d'obstacles", chaired by the Prince de Sagan. It was this body that created Auteuil Racecourse, officially opened on 1 November 1873. On 24 December 1878, the decision would be made to replace the official name of Société anonyme des Courses d'obstacles with the new title of Société anonyme des Steeple-Chases de France.

In March 1887, Joachim, the 5th Prince Murat (son of the above) was appointed to the committee of this second Société des Steeples (as it is still known today). Born in 1856, he spent a part of his youth in the Court of the Tuileries as a companion of the imperial prince, his contemporary. Until 1886, he was a cavalry officer, before the law prohibited descendants of ruling families from carrying out active service within the armed forces.

His red and blue-striped silks first made their appearance on the racetrack in 1883, soon becoming a regular fixture. His stable was a large one, put together through purchases at public auctions and courtesy of the produce of the stud farm set up by the prince at the family property of Chambly (Oise) where, as a keen huntsman, he also kept a crew. This highly active stable obtained only modest success over the jumps (main victory acquired by Trinidad in 1889 in the Grand Prix de Nice), but distinguished itself on the flat through star performers like Golden Sky (Grand Critérium 1908) and Friant II (son of the house stallion Champaubert), winner of the Prix du Jockey Club in 1912.

Having been appointed vice-chairman of the Société des Steeples in 1903, Prince Murat became its chairman on 18 March 1908. Before long, Prince Murat was wearing three hats, as he was also chosen as chairman of the Association des propriétaires de chevaux de courses au galop, founded in 1912, having already been made chairman of the Nouveau Cercle in 1906.

For a quarter of a century, Prince Murat served as chairman of jumps racing’s governing body. By the time he passed away on 2 November 1932 at the age of seventy-six, he had become a venerated chairman "whose immense goodwill radiated amongst all those who encountered him… whose proposals were greeted with unanimous acceptance… and whose initiatives were always dictated by the concern he had for the interests entrusted to him." During his chairmanship, he had to contend with the long interruption to racing caused by the First World War, the sport’s difficult resumption in 1919 and the essential renovation of Auteuil Racecourse completed in 1924.

One of his sons, Prince Charles Murat, would also become a member of the Société des Steeples, from 1932 to 1973.

 

Owners

  • Arthur Veil Picard (4 wins): Saint Caradec (1910), Meisonier (1925), Ingré (1937, 1940).
  • Charles Liénart (3 wins): Scoff II (1914), Coq Gaulois (1920), Vimy III (1921). 
  • Daniel Wildenstein (3 wins): Air Landais (1977), Décisif (1985), Kotkijet (2001). 
  • Marquise de Moratalla (3 wins): Ucello II (1991), Ubu III (1993, 1995). 


Trainers

  • Charles Bariller (4 wins) : Désopilant (1912), L’Yser (1923), Barboteur (1939), Kerfany (1941)
  • Maurice d’Okhuysen (4 wins) : Javelot II (1930), Ménès II (1936), Kargal (1943), Jalgreya (1944)
  • Jean-Paul Gallorini (4 wins) : Décisif (1985), Kotkijet (2001), Turkish Junior (2004), Remember Rose (2008). 
  • Jean Lieux (3 wins) : Coq Gaulois (1920), Vimy III (1921), Brave (1922). 
  • Valère Péraldi (3 wins): Rameau (1950), Le Phare (1952), Orléans (1954). 
  • Georges Pelat (3 wins): Tréport (1951), Rivoli (1969), Air Landais (1977). 
  • André Adèle (3 wins): Lotus III (1953), Blaps (1963), Parandero (1968). 
  • Noël Pelat (3 wins): Frascati (1956), Hunorisk (1958), Tereda (1971). 
  • Henri Gleizes (3 wins): Malotru (1959), Vaugirard (1960), Cacao (1967). 
  • John Cunnington père (3 wins): Pink Vale (1962), Novio (1964), Fire Control (1973). 
  • Jean Laumain (3 wins): Sapin (1966), Samour (1972), Furlevant (1975). 
  • Jean-Jacques Beaumé (3 wins): Chic Type (1974), Porto Rafti (1976), Le Jarrier (1978). 
  • André Fabre (3 wins): Petit Fontaine (1980, 1981), Jasmin II (1983).
  • Bernard Sécly (3 wins): Katko (1988), Al Capone II (1994), El Paso III (1999). 
  • François Doumen (3 wins): Ucello II (1991), Ubu III (1993, 1995). 
  • Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé (3 wins): Mid Dancer (2006, 2009), Or Noir de Somoza (2007), Perfect Impulse (2018). 
  • Guillaume Macaire (3 victoires) : As d'Estruval (2016), So French (2017), Sel Jem (2022, avec Hector de Lageneste)


Riders

  • Christophe Pieux (5 wins): Chamberko (1996, 1997), Mid Dancer (2006), Remember Rose (2008), Mail de Bièvre (2010).
  • William Head (3 wins): Scoff II (1914), Coq Gaulois (1920), Brave (1922). 
  • Max Bonaventure (3 wins): El Hadjar (1932), Ingré (1937, 1940). 
  • Paul Péraldi (3 wins): Rameau (1950), Lotus III (1953), Orléans (1954). 
  • Antoine Yglésias (3 wins): Frascati (1956), Poussin Bleu (1961), Sapin (1966).