By Brian Sheerin
Monceaux manager Henri Bozo has described Feed The Flame (GB) as a horse with huge potential after the Kingman (GB) colt made it two out of two for Pascal Bary and Christophe Soumillon in a conditions race at ParisLongchamp on Thursday.
Feed The Flame, who was bred by Monceaux, Lordship Stud and Clear Light Sas, was bought by top bloodstock agent Gerard Larrieu for €270,000 at the Arqana August Sale in 2021.
That looks like money well spent after the three-year-old enhanced his reputation with a stylish victory that would suggest Group 1 races are now calling for Jean-Louis Bouchard's charge.
Bozo said, “I must say, I spoke with Pascal Bary a few minutes after the race and he was quite emotional about it all. For a man of his experience, it sounded good to me. Hopefully, Feed The Flame will be very nice and I was quite impressed by him. The favourite [Silver Crack (Fr) (Cracksman {GB}), who could only manage third] is highly-regarded by Jean-Claude Rouget, who knows what he is doing, so it's very exciting.”
Henri Bozo | Zuzanna Lupa
Asked if he was surprised to see Feed The Flame go off at odds of 7-2, Bozo replied, “I think the reason for that was because the horse who he beat easily on debut was well-beaten at Saint-Cloud on Wednesday. I suppose the form of that run and the talk about Silver Crack was very high, so I would say that was the reason why he was 5-1 up until a few minutes before the race. He beat what he had to beat on debut at Longchamp and I thought he was very impressive that day.”
Indeed, Feed The Flame was put forward as a TDN Rising Star following that impressive debut performance that saw him pull over five lengths clear of the opposition earlier this month.
The form may not have been provided with a boost in the interim, but Feed The Flame confirmed that initial promise to be true on Thursday, to the delight of his co-breeder.
Bozo said, “I would say that the connections have big hopes for him. I won't speak on behalf of them but I would say that Jean-Louis Bouchard is not shy and he knows the French Derby well. I am sure they will regroup and see if they want to run him in the French Derby or try their luck abroad. I don't know.”
Monceaux stretched to €700,000 to secure Feed The Flame's dam Knyazhna (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) at the December Sale at Arqana in 2018. At 12 years of age, Knyazhna could still have a number of big years ahead of her on the farm, and is reported to be in foal to Zarak (Fr).
Bozo said, “She has no yearling this year but had a Dubawi (Ire) colt that Mark McStay bought from us at Arqana last year. She had a spectacular filly foal by St Mark's Basilica (Fr) this year and is now in foal to Zarak.
“We had to pay for her. She was a young mare when she went to the sales and her first two foals were quite promising horses at the time. Sacred Life (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) has been a very good horse for the mare, both in France and in America. She also had a Le Havre (Ire) colt [Khagan {Ire}) who showed a bit of ability and was a black-type horse. We had to pay a good price for her and, hopefully, it looks like it could be worth it with this exciting prospect.”
He added, “That's what we do all of this for. We try hard every day and invest a lot of money to try and breed exciting horses like Feed The Flame. This is how we keep having good results during the sale seasons, when we manage to produce horses with the potential of Feed The Flame.
“That is something we need to really focus on, to breed the Group 1 horses if we can. Kingman is a stallion who is able to produce at a very high level. He puts an awful lot of class into his horses and a turn of foot as well.”
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