14 March 2020
Photo scoopdyga.com
The second main step on the road to the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris (Gr1), the Troytown Chase (Gr3) took place on Saturday, March 14, 2020, behind closed doors at Auteuil. It gave Ebonite (Khalkevi) an opportunity to win her first graded race, against the males, for owner Andrée Cypres, the mastermind behind the famous Decize AQPS show.
Second last November in the La Haye Jousselin Chase (Gr1), the mare followed the leaders of the race up to the Stands' River before relaying Cobra de Larre (Discover d'Auteuil) and Amour du Mathan (Saint des Saints), who would lose her rider at the rail-ditch-and-fence. There were four of them at the end of the backstretch, three jumps out, as Ebonite, Poly Grandchamp (Poliglote), Cobra de Larre and On The Go (Kamsin) were still competing there. However, the first three took the upper hand in the last turn and the mare looked the easiest going of them all. She kept off Poly Grandchamp, second at four lengths, three weeks after his Robert de Clermont Tonnerre Chase (Gr3) win on February 24. Cobra de Larre stayed on in third at ¾ of a length while Jubilatoire (König Turf) took an excellent fourth place after a long wait and a bad reception at main open-ditch, in the first lap.
Ebonite is a 6-year-old AQPS trained by Emmanuel Clayeux. She was on the podium after each of her last eight outings. She is out of Tamise (Sleeping Car), an unraced mare also bred by Jacques Cyprés and Laurent Couétil. Ebonite is her first foal before Gironde (Network), her already winning stablemate, Hillary (Gris de Gris), a 3-year-old filly also in training with Emmanuel Clayeux, and a 2-year-old colt by Cokoriko.
Tamise's dam is Gold Cup (Quart de Vin), who ran only once and was unplaced, but has given many winners and has for a dam a full sister to the great The Fellow and Al Capone, named Countess Fellow (Italic).