The cloth burns between coaches and France Galop. In question? The third merger of the year, in the dish, of so-called “hollow” races, this Saturday in Lyon-Parilly. As a reminder, the merger of the prices of the castle and the lieutenant, on March 17 in Chantilly, then that of the prices of the Louvre and Machado, this Thursday, had been the subject of a press release from France Galop after the so -called “supplementation” phase, still leaving the choice for the coaches to maintain (or not) the candidacy of their protégés. In our columns (see our April 16 edition), several renowned professionals have expressed their misunderstanding as to the application of article 51 of the racing code (initially intended to remedy the hollow races of 2 years) to the preparatory tests for the classics. The former president of France Galop, Édouard de Rothschild, even split a bitter tweet yesterday (Wednesday) by quoting the article by our journalist Thomas Guilmin and qualifying the merger of the Louvre and Machado prizes “Unthinkable”.
But the situation is significantly different in the case of the merger of the prices of the desire of May and Carrus. On the one hand because it is Maidens (and not classes 2 & 1 during the previous two) and, above all, because the application of article 51 was made, without prior press release, just before the validation of the starters. Indeed, while there were 9 probable runners in each of the aforementioned races, two cancellations occurred in foals (carrus price) and filly (desire price of May). There were therefore only 7 runners left in each event, scenario mentioned in article 51 (see our box) and authorizing the services of France Galop to operate a merger. The desire price of May was thus validated at 14 runners (7+7), allowing multi and 2 out of 4 bets. But in the middle of the afternoon, ten competitors were declared non-starters, the betting for reducing sorrow (simple, coupled and trio order but not the super 4 which requires a minimum of 5 runners). An ubiquitous situation and all the more aberrant as the application of article 51 aims to combat off -peak races.
“A shocking protest movement”
In the early evening, shortly after 6 p.m. this Thursday, France Galop published in the form of a press release a “Message from Arnaud de Seyssel”. The vice-president of France Galop and president of the Plat Council, brother of Olivier de Seyssel, says he is shocked by the sling of the coaches who decided to declare their non-party horses and recalls that “The fight against hollow races is a priority.”
Message from Arnaud de Seyssel
-In view of the next meeting of Saturday, April 19, 2025, at the Lyon-Parilly racecourse, the Prix desire de Mai and the Carrus Prix displayed 7 definitive starters respectively after withdrawals made before the commitments were closed, at 10:30 am. Consequently, article 51 applied automatically.
Arnaud de Seyssel, vice-president of France Galop and president of the Plat Council, addresses this message to the entourage of the horses of these two races:
“The protest movement which is expressed today, through the massive withdrawal of horses engaged in two races in Lyon – nevertheless merged tests in complete legitimacy, in accordance with the provisions of article 51, due to an insufficient number of starters – is simply shocking. I want to affirm that the French Galop program offers, throughout the year, varied opportunities, fruit of rigorous and thoughtful work. From France Galop. is a priority, and we have to find solutions to achieve this goal. ”
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What does article 51 say?
“The competent services of France Galop can also decide that two races of the same meeting having the same special conditions but addressing one to males and the hunges and the other to females, are gathered in a single test open to males, hungar and females, if one or the other of these races records a number of starters deemed insufficient”.
• The test for males and hunges and that for females each bring together 7 definitive runners or less
• One of the two tests brings together 5 definitive or less starters and that the total of the starters of the two races remains less than or equal to 16
The application of article 51 is frames the specialties of the dish and the obstacle, and all the races of all the horses of horses, with the exception of the main races and the events which are not entirely funded by France Galop.
