TDN RISING STARS

March 26, 2024 - SAINT-CLOUD, Race 2, Cond, EUR €0, , .0000

Narkez (Fr), C, 3, 2021 by Siyouni (Fr)

1st Dam: Nazym (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Brigid, by Irish River (Fr)
3rd Dam: Luv Luvin', by Raise a Native

Owner: Nurlan Bizakov
Breeder: Sumbe (FR)
Trainer: Andre Fabre

It was only a matter of time before Andre Fabre unveiled a new bright prospect among his 2024 crop of 3-year-old Classic aspirants and it was during Tuesday's meeting at Saint-Cloud that the Chantilly maestro delivered one of the first. Producing a power-packed performance in testing conditions, Nurlan Bizakov's homebred colt Narkez (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}–Nazym {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) earned TDN Rising Star status in the card's often-informative mile conditions event, the Prix Comrade, to prompt Prix du Jockey Club talk.

Sent off the 3-1 second favourite behind stablemate Supercooled (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), the half-brother to the G3 Musidora S. winner Nausha (GB) (Kingman {GB}) who had got off the mark in impressive fashion at Clairefontaine in October was held up in third early by Mickael Barzalona. In front from the turn for home, the chestnut proved relentless as Supercooled arrived for a friendly tussle that was quickly settled. At the line, his margin was 6 1/2 lengths and going ever outwards, with the well-regarded Henri-Alex Pantall-trained course-and-distance winner Kiaro (Fr) (Guignol {Ger}) beaten 15 lengths in total in third.

Mathieu Le Forestier, racing-manager of Sumbe, said of the winner who was second to his owner-breeder's highly-touted Ramadan (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) at Chantilly in September, “He has clearly taken a big step forward during the winter–today the opposition was serious and he did it very well. He's a handy colt, professional and diligent and we'll have the choice of keeping him over this trip or lengthening him now. The options are now open, but we're going to take time to discuss them with the rest of the team. There's no reason why he shouldn't perform as well on good ground.”