22 September 2021
Photos scoopdyga.com
The 3yo Sealiway will tackle the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Paris-Longchamp on Sunday 2 October. He will be making his comeback in the race, having not been out since his second place in the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club (Group 1), the French Derby, on 6 June at Chantilly. The best French 3-y-old, Sealiway carries the colours of the Haras de la Gousserie, which races him in partnership with Guy Pariente, his breeder. He is trained in the South-East, at Calas to be precise, by Cédric Rossi.
For the Haras de la Gousserie read Kamel and Bouzid Chehboub, two dyed in the wool natives of Marseille! Pauline Chehboub, Kamel's daughter is very involved in the Haras de la Gousserie, where she oversees the stable’s communication strategy. She said: "Sealiway is going to go to the Arc if all goes well between now and the big day. So far we are happy with his preparation. It looks like we are heading for an Arc with few runners. His morning rider has a good feeling: and thinks he's good, if not better than before the Jockey-Club. Sealiway did a gallop at Salon-de-Provence last Friday, where race conditions were replicated, and he was also schooled in the paddock [editor’s note: which consists of doing a few laps of the paddock, like before a race]. That put him back in the zone. He is in good condition. The choice of his jockey has not yet been made. “
Sealiway will be the first Gousserie runner in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, which also applies to his trainer, Cédric Rossi. The colt was the best French 2yo in 2020: as on the day of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, he excelled in the Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (Group 1), which traditionally crowns the best French 2yo. He gave the Chehboub family their first French group 1 win that day... I say French because the Chehboub family had already won at the highest level, but in the US: namely in 2008, when their representative Spirit One won one of the most coveted races of the US calendar: the Arlington Million.