2 February 2020
Archive picture of Easysland at Compiègne : scoopdyga.com
The Pau racecourse claims to have welcomed more than 8,584 acegoers for the last Sunday of its winter meeting, with three Listed races on the card including a much aticipated Grand Cross de Pau Reverdy (L), the Prix Gaston de Bataille.
Favorite of the race despite his young age - he is 6 years old - and the fact that he had not had a run at Pau this season, Easysland (Gentlewave) was amongst the most prominent runners from the start. Trained by David Cottin and ridden by the gifted Jonathan Plouganou, he was going straight from his Cheltenham win on December 13. Purchased sinc rthen by Irish owner JP McManus, he was racing for the gold and green silks for the first time but it didn't prevent him from keeping 9-year-old Blason d'Or (Nidor) in check, winning by three lengths ahead of the flawless Net Lady (Network) and the veteran Disco d'Authie (Discover d'Auteuil).
Easysland must now be prepared to cross the Channel again to Cheltenham for the Festival's Grand Cross, on March 11.
Easysland is an AQPS bred in Mayenne by Marinette Avril and Marie-Laure Labbé. He won his sixth consecutive cross on Sunday after a series of three falls between November 18 and last January! Until his victory at Cheltenham, he was owned by Chris Edwards, David Futter and his trainer. He was bought for € 20,000 at 3 at Tattersalls Ireland by Yorton Farm, the stud farm managed by Edwards and Futter where Gentlewave, the sire of Easysland is based.
It was also on Sunday at Pau that the 133rd edition of the Grande Course de Haies de Pau (L), the Prix Max de Ginestet, including the title holder Forthing (Barastraight), who has once again disappointed after his Grand Prix (Gr3) failure. The second best on the ratings, 6-year-old Highway to Hell (No Risk At All) sprinted home to keep Staunton Street (Martaline) at two lengths. Highway to Hell is trained by Richard Chatel for the Scottish owners Lynne and Angus McLennan. He had just finished third in the Prix Léopold d'Orsetti Chase (Gr3) at Compiègne, a race he had won a year earlier. He too hadn’t had a run at Pau this winter, or antime before as a matter of fact.
Highway to Hell won his first four races over the hurdles of Fontainebleau and then Compiègne (three times) before being beaten for his first attempt at Auteuil in the Prix de… Compiègne Hurdle (Gr3). Beaten twice again at the best level on the Parisian racecourse, he therefore returned only once to Compiègne, his favorite racetrack, before this Pau premiere.
Bred in the Lot -a region affectionated by British expats- by Laure Giethlen Cadiergues and Didier Giethlen, Highway to Hell is out of the unraced mare Rodika (Kapgarde). His 3rd dam La Main Heureuse is also 2nd dam to the good Oculi, Balko, Piraya and the sire Jeu St. Eloi. Rodika also gave Irish Dance (Irish Wells), winner of a Pau chase and also a broodmare now, and Five o'Clock (Cokoriko), placed at Auteuil and now trained by Willie Mullins - he won his first race in Ireland on January 30!
In the Prix Antoine de Palaminy 4yo Chase (L), Prix STH Hippavia, Gamin d'Oudairies (Kapgarde) easily confirmed his two previous wins of the meeting. Bred by his owners, Michel de Gigou and Guillaume Macaire, he is out of Une d'Oudairies (Discover d'Auteuil), winner of four flat races in the West and placed on Fontainebleau Hurdles and the Pontchateau steeplechase. Gamin d'Oudairies is her first foal before a 3-year-old colt by Masked Marvel, a 2-year-old colt by Saddex, and a filly by Buck’s Boum born last year.
The Pau meeting ends on February 4, six days before the Northern jumps season resumes at Angers, then at Fontainebleau on February 13, Angers again on February 17, then Fontainebleau again. Auteuil will resume racing on February 24 with the Prix Robert de Clermont-Tonnerre Chase (Gr3), the first Parisian step on the road to the "Grand Steeple"!