French Derby

It was a pretty quiet racing week here, so this installment of snippets is a little European-centric. We hope you find it interesting. The Mind Boggles... Tuesday's win in the G1 Cazoo Oaks at Epsom gave Aidan O'Brien a record 41st British Classic winner, including 10 wins in the Oaks. Tuesday was also the 94th Group 1 winner for her sire, Galileo and the second Oaks heroine and third Classic winner for her dam, Lillie Langtry (following Minding and Empress Josephine). Coolmore/Ballydoyle's stats never cease to amaze. Pletch Being Pletch......

"Ca va, ca va, ca va," says one rider after another as they report back to trainer Fabrice Chappet on their respective mounts during a routine Monday morning exercise in Chantilly. Then comes Gregory Defrel, the Martinique-born rider of G2 Prix Greffulhe winner Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). "Tres, tres bien," he says, before gesticulating with the internationally recognised hand signal for 'ok'. That's good enough for the trainer, who remains outwardly impassive as he watches his second lot circle under the trees in the Rond Allez France. Chappet is not...

Jean-Claude Rouget is not prone to hyperbole so, when the decorated French handler compared the unexposed Al Hakeem (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) to his only G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) earlier this week, some people did a double take. Not Benoit Jeffroy, who manages Haras de Bouquetot on behalf of the Al Shaqab operation. Jeffroy has long been aware of the standing in which the multiple Classic-winning trainer has held Al Hakeem and, when the colt won the Listed Prix de Suresnes at Chantilly on...