David Menuisier

King George In The Cards For Sunway

Group 1 winner Sunway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) is pointing for the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot at the end of the month, according to trainer David Menuisier. A winner of the G1 Criterium International in his final start at two for Guy Pariente, Thomas Lines and Qatar Racing, the full-brother to Group 1 winner and young sire Sealiway (Fr) ran second in the G3 Prix Greffulhe at second asking at three. Seventh in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, he rebounded to take second, by...

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Seven Days: The Legend of Camelot 

It's all about Camelot really, isn't it? Twelve years on and some of us are still not over him being denied the Triple Crown, but every new Group 1 winner he sires helps to ease the pain a little.  Though this column doesn't like to hear a word against him, it is fair to say that Camelot has his detractors. His latest Classic winner Los Angeles (Ire) doesn't look the most relaxed of horses but once the colt's mind is engaged in his primary job of galloping then it is...

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Menuisier Maps Out Plan For “Best Staying Filly In Europe” Caius Chorister

David Menuisier is ranking Caius Chorister (Fr) (Golden Horn {GB}) as "the best staying filly in Europe" but the trainer says he is keen to avoid bumping into her Gold Cup conqueror Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) any time soon. Owned by Clive Washbourn, Caius Chorister is likely to head to Goodwood next, but which race she lines out in has yet to be decided.  "She's as bright as a button," the trainer said. "She clearly just didn't stay [in the Gold Cup] but she has come out of the race...

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Fourteen Set For Sunday's Prix de Diane, Tamfana Draws Gate Four

Fourteen 3-year-old fillies will head to post for Sunday's €1,000,000 G1 Prix de Diane Longines after final declarations were made Thursday morning. David Menuisier representative and likely favourite Tamfana (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}), who was last seen running fourth in Newmarket's G1 1000 Guineas, has been allocated stall four. His Highness The Aga Khan's G3 Prix de la Grotte winner Candala (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) is towards the outside in 12 while Godolphin's Andre Fabre trainee Rock'n Swing (GB) (Camelot {GB}) was drawn next door in 13. Godolphin is double-handed with...

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New Bay's Devil's Point Takes The German 2000 Guineas

Making all under an enterprising ride from Silvestre De Sousa, Clive Washbourn's Devil's Point (Ire) (New Bay {GB}--Hairy Rocket {GB}, by Pivotal {GB}) took Cologne's G2 Coolmore St Mark's Basilica German 2000 Guineas back to Britain on Monday. Last year's G1 Futurity Trophy runner-up, who had enjoyed a confidence-boosting win in a Goodwood conditions event earlier this month, was needing the line as Penalty (Ger) (Frankel {GB}) closed in down the centre of the track and it came in time for the David Menuisier-trained colt to prevail by a neck,...

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Menuisier Says Sunway Will Be Ready To Shine In The French Derby

David Menuisier says he has full confidence in star colt Sunway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) showing his true colours in the Prix du Jockey Club. Always held in the highest regard by connections, Sunway finished ahead of 2,000 Guineas runner-up Rosallion (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) when second in the Champagne S. at Doncaster last year before going on to end his two-year-old campaign with a Group 1 triumph in the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud. Having blown away the cobwebs at ParisLongchamp in the early part of the 2024 season, the three-year-old...

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Prix De Diane Up Next For Improving Tamfana

Tamfana (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) will attempt to gain compensation for her luckless run in the G1 1,000 Guineas when she makes her next appearance in the G1 Prix de Diane at Chantilly on Sunday, June 16. Trained by David Menuisier, Tamfana confirmed herself a high-class filly when finishing fourth at Newmarket, passing the post less than a length behind the winner and looking unlucky not to get closer still having endured a troubled passage. Now all roads lead to Chantilly and the next stage of a plan which has...

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Observations: Devil's Point Looks For A Confidence Boost at Goodwood

13.30 Goodwood, Cond, £30,000, 3yo, 8fT DEVIL'S POINT (IRE) (New Bay {GB}) is dropped in class by trainer David Menuisier following a lacklustre return when a distant third in the G3 Prix Djebel last month. Entered in the G1 Commonwealth Cup, Clive Washbourn's G1 Futurity Trophy runner-up has only two to beat and should be able to get back on track. 13.50 Newmarket, Mdn, £40,000, 3yo, f, 10fT MAGIC DREAM (IRE) (Shamardal) bids to build on her highly encouraging debut second at Newbury last month in this maiden won 12...

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Menuisier: 'I Wanted to be in a Niche Where Nobody Else Was'

One test of a visit to a racing yard is whether you come away wishing you owned a horse to send there. David Menuisier's set-up is one such place. If you like patient trainers with strong opinions who pride themselves on being self-made while displaying a virtuoso's touch, Dancing Brave's old home near Pulborough in West Sussex could be for you. Menuisier, a Frenchman in love with British racing - despite the inferior prize-money - is L'Etranger of the training ranks. One translation of that label is somebody who isn't...

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Team-Building at the Core of Menuisier's Sussex Haven

The first thing you pick up on at David Menuisier's yard in Pulborough, West Sussex, is a feeling of calm or harmony. Veterans of training ground visits will recall stepping into authoritarian mini states, ruled by fear, or at the very least by hierarchy. A lifetime in sport teaches you one thing above all: teamwork, which sounds abstract, but really isn't, is the most vital component in success. Collective effort is born not of motivational mantras stuck on walls but the way people actually treat each other. This isn't a...

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'Show Us Your Money': Effervescent Washbourn Lands Pinatubo Colt in Some Style

NEWMARKET, UK -- "Get in there!" There's nothing like a bit of football chanting from the terraces of Tattersalls to wake up a slumbering press bench at the end of a long day, and there is no better man for that job than the irrepressible Clive Washbourn. "Two hundred, show us your money," yelled the owner and breeder as Lynn Lodge Stud's colt by Pinatubo (Ire) circled in the ring below him.  "Have you anything to say on the back wall?" enquired auctioneer Simon Kerins of Anthony Stroud, who had also...

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Seven Days: Breeders' Cup Sees Out the Season in Style

So long has this column been disrupted by sales and travel that this final instalment for a Flat season that seems to have whizzed by faster than ever should perhaps be renamed 28 Days. That's not to say that we are giving you four times the value, however. The last week or so has been spent in California at the 40th running of the Breeders' Cup. Any racing event which draws some of the best racehorses from a variety of nations is a treat, and with its 14 Grade 1...

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