How the Paris winter meeting played out
by Thomas Hedlund
The French winter meeting in Paris came to an end last Saturday (Feb. 28), and here is a brief recap of how the season unfolded.
Eric Raffin enjoyed a very strong meeting and finished as the leading driver at Vincennes. Meanwhile, Mathieu Mottier proved to be the most versatile figure of the winter, ranking among the top three in all three categories — driver, rider, and trainer.
DRIVERS
Name — Wins
Eric Raffin — 61
Benjamin Rochard — 48
Mathieu Mottier — 40
RIDERS
Mathieu Mottier — 31
Alexandre Abrivard — 22
Benjamin Rochard — 19
TRAINERS
Nicolas Bazire — 54
Mathieu Mottier — 39
Thierry Duvaldestin — 31
GROUP 1 WINNERS DURING THE MEETING
Horse (sire) — Race
Mack de Blary (Face Time Bourbon) — Prix Ready Cash
Moustik la Govelle (Discours Joyeux) — Prix de Vincennes
L’Ecrin d’Or (Bird Parker) — Prix Jag de Bellouet
Keengame (Express Jet) — Prix Bilibili
Liza Josselyn (Ready Cash) — Criterium Continental
Epic Kronos (Muscle Hill) — Prix Tenor de Baune
Iguski Sautonne (Village Mystic) — Prix de Cornulier
Liberte de Choisel (Captain Sparrow) — Prix Bold Eagle
Maestro Vrie (Village Mystic) — Prix Ourasi
Hokkaido Jiel (Brillantissime) — Prix d’Amérique
Kapaula de l’Epine (Discours Joyeux) — Prix de l’Ile-de-France
Iroise de la Noe (Tornado Bello) — Prix de France
Nocive du Choquel (Face Time Bourbon) — Criterium des Jeunes
He And Me (Bird Parker) — Prix de Paris
Je M’Envole (Joyau d’Amour) — Prix Henri Desmontils
Maitre Jacques (Rolling d’Heripre) — Prix de Sélection
Kobayashi (Face Time Bourbon) — Prix des Centaures
GRAND CRITERIUM DE VITESSE NEXT
After the first scratching stage, 14 horses remain entered for Sunday’s (March 8) $230,000 Grand Criterium de Vitesse, including last year’s Elitloppet winner Go On Boy (Password). Unsurprisingly, Go On Boy attracts the most attention among the entries. This will be his fourth attempt at capturing the Riviera’s biggest race. He finished fifth in 2023, third in 2024, and last year Romain Derieux’s star made a costly break. Also lining up is this year’s Prix d’Amérique winner Hokkaido Jiel (Brillantissime), as well as Iguski Sautonne (Village Mystic), the powerful closer who captured the world’s biggest monté race, the Prix de Cornulier. The race, contested over a one-mile distance at Cagnes-sur-Mer, traditionally marks the unofficial start of the spring campaign for the older elite following the conclusion of the Paris winter meeting.
ENTRIES — GRAND CRITERIUM DE VITESSE
Horse (sire) — Trainer
Fellow Wise As (Maharajah) — Nicolas Bazire
Mateo di Quattro (Bird Parker) — Johan Untersteiner
Largo de Castelle (Golden Bridge) — Henk Grift
Lightning Stride (Twister Bi) — Antti Ojanperä
Jongleuse de Lune (Cash and Go) — Kevin Leblanc
Gold Voice (Jag de Bellouet) — Thomas Levesque
Fakir Merite (Uaukir) — Nicolas Ensch
Harley Gema (Bold Eagle) — Marc Sassier
Executiv Ek (Face Time Bourbon) — Alessandro Gocciadoro
Frank Gio (Face Time Bourbon) — Sébastien Guarato
Iguski Sautonne (Village Mystic) — Matthieu Abrivard
Inmarosa (Amiral Sacha) — Laurent-Claude Abrivard
Hokkaido Jiel (Brillantissime) — Jean-Luc Dersoir
Go On Boy (Password) — Romain Derieux
RIORDAN MOVING TO ITALY
Jerry Riordan is leaving Sweden and returning to Italy.
There he will take on a role as private trainer for Mauro Biasuzzi, while also keeping a small number of horses in training for other owners.
“I will move soon,” Riordan told Swedish media. “On March 16 I’m scheduled to be in Italy, so there’s a lot to organize right now. I have always been able to return, either to Italy or to the United States. But the situation and the atmosphere in Sweden became such that I feel this is the right decision.”
Riordan was recently cleared to return after serving a six-month suspension, but he has now decided to shut down
his training operation at Halmstad Racetrack and relocate to Italy.
