22 February 2019
Last highlight of the last day of the winter meeting at Cagnes-sur-Mer, the Grand Prix du Département 06 (L) is a little "Rivera Arc". First round of the Défi du Galop, it is run over a mile and a half on the turf. Nine horses and geldings - no mare in sight - will be starting around 3:50pm for the € 37,500 promised to the winner. It could be more if the favorite Silverwave (Silver Frost), who was bred in France, won again this Winter after his American journey.
Owned by the American Martin Schwartz, trained by the Belgian Fabrice Vermeulen and ridden by Pierre-Charles Boudot, Silverwave was bred in Mayenne by Marie-Laure, Jean and Marylène Collet, which gives his owner the right to a bonus of € 11,812 for Frenchbreds!
The 7-year-old returns from the United States, where he has not pleased his connexions all around. Winner of the Prix La Force (Gr3) for his first trainer Alain Couétil, then the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Gr1) with Pascal Bary, he did not bloom at Chad Brown's. Back in France, but on the Côte d'Azur where the team of Fabrice Vermeulen awaited him, he won for his return on all-weather, ironically -he was racing over turf in the States. He bounces back where we used to fit: black type races.
His best rival in the ratings is Falcao Negro (Canford Cliffs), from Germany, although he recently finished fourth in the last prep race behind Max la Fripouille (Panis), Good Question (Manduro) and Sarendam (Excelebration), all lined up again on Saturday.