by Thomas Hedlund

The $397,000 Prix de Paris over 2.6 miles was held at Vincennes racetrack in Paris on Sunday afternoon and as has been the case this winter, Jean-Michel Bazire dominated the show.

Belina Josselyn (Love You) won Prix de France 2018 and Prix d’Amérique earlier this year, so to fullfil her trophy collection from the Grand Prix races, she needed a victory in Prix de France.

It is proving to be both her year and Bazire’s.

The top French driver found a perfect spot in second over with Belina Josselyn and when stable mate Looking Superb put hard pressure on leader Bahia Quesnot with a lap to go (approximately 5/8ths of a mile) everything worked out perfectly for Belina Josselyn.

Looking Superb reached the front position with 1,800 meters to go, which forced Belina Josselyn to race without cover for the rest of the show. But that didn’t stop the chestnut 8-year-old mare. When Bazire pulled the plugs with a half-mile to go, Belina Josselyn seemed more courageous than her opponents and Bazire steered the race however he wanted.

In the end of the last turn, the duo left leader Looking Superb behind and Bazire looked quite pleased when he understood that his mare had collected another Group 1 win in her career.

Tony Gio finished strongly from third over to second place and Carat Williams held to third place after a cover trip behind winner Belina Josselyn.

The mile rate was 1:59 for the winner.

Bazire made a trip to the French Riviera on Thursday night and he had his aim on the $90,500 Prix de Joinville le Pont with his Prix du Luxembourg winner Cleangame (Ouragan de Celland). The duo left third over with a mile to go and landed outside leader Cavalleria shortly thereafter. It looked almost ridiculously easy when Bazire controlled the game over the home stretch. Cleangame won in a mile rate of 1:57.1 over 1.8 miles and Bazire also secured the runner up spot, too, since Ble du Gers and Alexandre Abrivard took the silver medal.

Bazire’s domination is total wherever he shows up in his home country for the moment and it will be very interesting to see if he sends some of his best horses (Aubrion du Gers, Cleangame, Looking Superb, Belina Josselyn) to some of the biggest races in other European countries this spring.

Prix de Paris replay

Prix de Joinville le Pont replay