Undefeated Feed the Flame (GB) (Kingman {GB}) will be supplemented to the June 4 G1 Prix du Jockey Club, confirmed racing manager Gerard Larrieu, who purchased the colt for €270,000 at Arqana August on behalf of Jean-Louis Bouchard.
Named a TDN Rising Star following an eye-catching 5 1/2-length victory going 10 1/2 furlongs at ParisLongchamp on Apr. 9, the Pascal Bary trainee returned to make it two straight with a victory at that same venue on Apr. 27.
Christophe Soumillon, who was aboard for both of the colt's prior wins, is slated to ride in the French Classic.
“The foal turned out to be very late [Apr. 4] but Pascal Bary has always loved him,” Larrieu told Jour de Galop. “He thought he would run as [a] 2-year-old, then he grew a lot and we gave him time. We didn't consider him for the Classics because we thought, at the time of registration, that it would happen too quickly. But he has developed very well in a short time. It's rare to see a foal able to change so quickly. Feed the Flame is still very immature and he will face the Jockey Club with several questions. We don't know what he has beaten. But the visual impressions [of his prior races] were magnificent. They can be subjective but his [limited body of] work has been excellent. We don't know what it's worth, so his limits are unknown.”
Hoping that history will repeat itself, Larrieu recalled another late foal that took the G1 Prix de Diane in June following only two prior starts.
“And if the Jockey Club becomes a kind of preparatory to the [G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe] as was the case for Treve (Fr) [Motivator (GB)], that's fine with me!”
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