Entries for the Gran Premio Merano
Thanks to Giancarlo Fochesato for the following news about tthe entries for the Gran Premio. This race will be run on September 26th. The names of the 29 horses entered are to be found on http://www.meranomaia.it/it/gran-premio-merano-forst/index.asp... Judging from the number and quality of the horses entered by French trainers, it seems that they are seriously intended to capture the race for the French colours again - something that has not happened since 2003. Tempo d'Or was that year's French winner.
Another legendary French (multiple-) winner of the Merano was Or Jack. His trainer, Ortet, has entered for this year's Merano Alarm Call -the winner of the 2009 Gran Steeple Chase d'Enghien, and of a total € one million in his racing career.
Trainer Macaire's choices Rigoureux and Royal Verrie are they too first-class cross-country horses. The former confortably won the Grande Steeple Chase d'Europa at Meran, in June; and runs again in Luzern, Switzerland, on Sunday. The latter finished second in the 2009 Merano, and is now aimed for the Grand Steeple Chase des Flandres 2010 (a race he captured in 2008).
The other French horses entered for the Merano are trained by Cottin, Chaille-Chaille, Chotard and Follain.
Among the Italian entries, Sharpmon and Kandiskij are the best performing horses.
Last, but not least, one cannot help regretting for the total lack of entries from the UK and Ireland.
The residual hope lies on supplementations to materialize (at the cost of € 1,140) before Tuesday, 14th September noon.
Giancarlo leaves it to me to assess the five Czech-trained entries: Budapest, Gilmour, Magic Slipper, Nikodem and Sherento. In fact, most of them have raced more in Italy than here in recent seasons. Budapest won a Listed race at Treviso earlier this season, and Gilmour's best form in Italy would give him a chance of a place. The other three are very useful by our standards but not really contenders for a race like the Gran Premio.
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created 30 Aug 2010 - 07:49, updated 30 Aug 2010 - 14:39