Gallante Shocks Soggy Grand Prix de Paris
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Coolmore and partners' Gallante took to the rain-drenched course at Longchamp July 13 for a 62-1 surprise over favorite Prince Gibraltar and French Derby victor The Grey Gatsby in the Grand Prix de Paris (Fr-I).
Prince Gibraltar closed from 300 meters out to finish a short neck behind Gallante, who led with 200 meters to run and stayed on strongly for the win. It was Gallante's first stakes victory and his group I debut. Jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot also enjoyed a first group I triumph with the Andre Fabre trainee.
"My horse had a lot of energy when the race started in earnest but I didn't ask him for everything straight away," Boudot told Racing Post about Gallante, who covered 2,400 meters (about 1 12 miles) in 2:41.76 on turf labeled very soft. "When he did pick up he really accelerated well and I was always happy I was holding off Prince Gibraltar."
Teletext , who was group III-placed at Chantilly last time out, was well-beaten in third, finishing 2 1/2 lengths behind Prince of Gibraltar, who was third in the Prix du Jockey Club (Fr-I, French Derby). The Grey Gatsby never was in contention over the testing conditions and finished sixth in the 11-horse field.
Gallante came into the Grand Prix de Paris off an allowance at Longchamp June 12, a victory that followed his second in the Prix Hocquart (Fr-II) in May and a third in the Prix Noailles (Fr-III) in April.
A son of Montjeu, Gallante has 3-0-2 record from five career starts. Bred in Ireland by Lynch Bages Ltd. and Camas Park Stud, he is out of the winning Machiavellian mare Crazy Volume.