Joumba de Guez and Éric Raffin, or the perfect alchemy between youth and solid experience. Since 1950, the heroine of the day is only the fifth female to triumph at the age of 6, after Month (1962), This Story (1974), Gueridia (1978) et Beautiful France (2017). She thus gave a facelift to the prize list of the queen event of mounted trotting, after several seasons of domination by the glorious elders. As for the five-time Etrier d’Or from Vendée, entering its 44th year, he entered his name there for the fourth time, after Jewel of Love (2003) et Roxane Griff (2014, 2015), to which, a bit visionary, he compared Joumba de Gueztwo weeks ago.
“The older we get, the more we realize the importance of this race and we enjoy it more, admitted Éric Raffin in front of Christophe Meyer’s camera after receiving the traditional champagne shower in the locker room. Eight days ago, I told my wife and children that I was considering stopping my jockey career if I won this Cornulier. They told me I had to continue, so I’m going to do it a little longer (smile). In any case, this is how I dream of ending. I put a lot of pressure on myself and am really very happy to offer a first Cornulier to Jean-Mi (Bazire) as well as‘to the Guezille family.”
The late photographer Jean-Paul Bertrand would certainly have appreciated the style of Joumba de Guez. “Its main quality is its hardness, continued the jockey with nearly 1,400 victories in the specialty. I climbed the hill quite hard and I admit to having a moment of doubt in the straight, but she took off perfectly when I put the whip on her butt about a hundred meters from the post.”
The lucky star by Nicolas Bazire
Until now, the best ranking obtained by the training of Jean-Michel Bazire in this group I was the second place of Did you digeon? in 2017, already edited by Éric Raffin. This is a masterstroke on the occasion of the first attempt of his son, Nicolas (24 years old), in this column on the programs, as it was on the occasion of the Prix d’Amérique won by Davidson du Pont in 2021. The person concerned did not show false modesty when Michel Burgio met him. “I didn’t start from nothing; I am aware of being very lucky to take on a little more responsibility each year in a stable that has been “in place” for a long time. The name change took place this winter, but we work as before in the morning with my father.”
About Joumba de Guez, he had previously confided to Christophe Meyer: “The mare has been perfect for a month. Unshoeing all four feet gave her an advantage, as did being able to move forward, unlike many of her opponents. Eric knows it by heart and didn’t tremble. At the start of the straight, she pushed out a little and I admit I had a moment of doubt but, like the great mare that she is, she was able to give the reins again.”
-Joël Hallais second again
In the scales, René Guezille and “Monsieur Cornulier” congratulated each other. Like last year with Rib Swallow, Joël Hallais almost won his ninth title in the event via Ina du Rib, which he was able to bring back to the top after tendinitis in the spring. “It’s annoying to fail so narrowly, but these are the races… I regret thatSwallow or galloped off, because the mare was really good. In any case, I would like to congratulate the winning breeder-owner, who has had horses for years. He deserves it.”
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Breeding side: Joumba, worthy heir of Quoumba de Guez
If the mare of Jean-Michel Bazire’s heart, Quoumba de Guez, did not win group I, she amassed nearly 1.2 million euros in winnings and beat multiple champions such Royal Dream, Commander Crowe, Roxane Griff, King of Lupine, Santa Rosa France and others.
For the anecdote, she presented herself in a mounted trot only three times, including one with Éric Raffin on her back (4th). Joumba de Guez embodies, by far, its best product, as it is also for the stallion Carat Williams, n°1 of the continuators of Prodigious at stud, to which she offered a new group I after the Prix Jag de Bellouet 2023, already on the 2,700 meters of the main track and in the same kilometer reduction (1’12”3). Note thatIdylle Speed had been the first product of Carat Williams winner of group I, driven by…Jean-Michel Bazire in the Critérium des 3 Ans 2021.
Last month, in a Grand Interview written by David Fricaux, René Guezille confided on the subject of Quoumba de Guez: “HAS 20 years old, she remains a valuable broodmare of our breeding. She has a yearling of Face Time Bourbon at breaking in, a foal ofTrue Italian, and will give birth toIdao de Tillard This year.”
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