By Tom Frary
Demonstrating a precocity that belies his title, the Wertheimers' Atlast (Fr) (Farhh {GB}–Pitamore, by More Than Ready) mastered more experienced rivals in Sunday's G3 Prix la Force at ParisLongchamp to exit to the sound of Classic talk. Coming into the nine-furlong test with two juvenile runs at Chantilly to his name and one win over 7 1/2 furlongs on the Polytrack in October, the 11-2 shot was content to track the leaders under Maxime Guyon throughout the early stages. Sweeping to the front with 1 1/2 furlongs remaining, the Christophe Ferland-trained homebred asserted to score by 1 1/4 lengths from Mondo Man (GB) (Mondialiste {Ire}).
“He is obviously a very nice horse and it's nice to start the season like this,” Ferland said. “He had very good promise in his two runs last year and the target is the Prix du Jockey Club. We will see which route we take to get there depending how he comes out of this one. I have no doubt he will stay further, but the French 2000 [Poule d'Essai des Poulains] could be a possibility in between. We'll talk to the jockey to get his view and we'll decide in time. The ground is very testing, but he did it well and now he's proved he can go on this ground. He has trained well on the all-weather, so I have no worries about the ground in the future. He's probably a very good horse who can go on any ground.”
Ferland, who has recently relocated to Chantilly from La Teste de Buch, said of his move,”It was hard to organise and at the beginning of the year it was a bit difficult. I didn't have as many runners as I have done in the past, but we are trying to concentrate on quality more than on quantity and now everything is looking alright.”
Pedigree Notes
Atlast is out of the Listed Prix la Camargo runner-up Pitamore (More Than Ready), a daughter of the GIII Valley View S.-placed Pitamakan (Danzig) who also produced the G3 Prix de Barbeville-winning stayer Funny Kid (Lemon Drop Kid). From the family of the champion Althea (Alydar) which includes the GIII Sam F. Davis S. and GIII Runhappy S. winner Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}), she also has a filly foal by Blame.
Le Prix la Force (Gr.3) revient à 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 !
Plus revu depuis son succès à Chantilly le 12 octobre, le pensionnaire de Christophe Ferland s'est imposé avec autorité.
👉 La casaque Wertheimer & Frere a remporté quatre des six dernières éditions de cette épreuve. pic.twitter.com/doHjGimqiy
— Equidia (@equidia) April 7, 2024
Sunday, ParisLongchamp, France
PRIX LA FORCE-G3, €80,000, ParisLongchamp, 4-7, 3yo, c/g, 9fT, 2:05.13, vhy.
1–ATLAST (FR), 128, c, 3, by Farhh (GB)
1st Dam: Pitamore (SP-Fr), by More Than Ready
2nd Dam: Pitamakan, by Danzig
3rd Dam: Vantive, by Mr. Prospector
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. O/B-Wertheimer & Frere (FR); T-Christophe Ferland; J-Maxime Guyon. €40,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, €66,500. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Mondo Man (GB), 126, c, 3, Mondialiste (Ire)–Moghrama (Ire), by Harbour Watch (Ire). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (€30,000 2yo '23 ARQMAY). O-Ecuries Serge Stempniak , Pia Brandt & Nils-Petter Gill; B-Elwick Stud (GB); T-Pia & Joakim Brandt. €16,000.
3–First Look (Ire), 128, c, 3, Lope De Vega (Ire)–Bilissie (GB), by Dansili (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (€340,000 Ylg '22 ARQAUG). O-Ecurie Ama.Zingteam; B-Haras de la Perelle (IRE); T-Andre Fabre. €12,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 3/4, HD. Odds: 5.70, 11.00, 7.90.
Also Ran: Saganti (Fr), Sunway (Fr), De Sica (Fr). Video, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
