Second and fourth in the last edition of the Prix de Cornulier, Rib Swallow et Ina you Rib will cross swords again on Saturday in Vincennes for the Prix Jules Lemonnier. As was the case last winter, Ina you Rib will be associated with Jean-Loïc Dersoir and Rib Swallow to Noé Perron.
“This Jules Lemonnier Prize will be a test for Ina du Rib, explains the Ornais developer. The race will allow us to see where exactly she is. After suffering from tendinitis in March due to a problem in her left knee which caused her to strain her right forefoot, she was stopped for a long time and only returned to work in September. She ran cleanly during the three courses she completed in the harness, but she lacks maneuverability in this specialty and she quickly found herself at the back of the pack. She got closer on the climb, but logically she missed to finish. She worked well on Sunday morning and looks really good to me, but she still needs to run I think. Hirondelle du Rib has a very good physique and a very good mind. She forgets the hard races she sometimes does and she goes back into battle. Unlike Ina du Rib who is a tense mare, she is very cold. Outside of winter meetings, she runs regularly without working hard. She has been getting in shape for a few weeks and she also worked well on Sunday morning. The 2,175 meters won’t be too much of a distance for her on Saturday, but I still hope to see her run well. If all goes well, both will then compete in the Prix du Calvados before starting the Prix de Cornulier in which they should be unshod unlike the two preparatory events.”
Hirondelle and Ina du Rib surround their mentor, quite proud, and strike a pose
© JEAN-CHARLES BRIENS
A good initiative and an abnormal situation
Six days after the big meeting of the “Cornulier Races”, the specialty of ridden trotting will once again be in the spotlight next Saturday in Vincennes on the occasion of this Prix Jules Lemonnier, which should bring together some of the specialists under the saddle . “The day that was proposed last Sunday is a very good initiative, analysis Joël Hallais. I campaigned in this direction when I was on the code and programs committee with Yves Dreux. Promoting our mounted trotting races in this way to create an event is a good thing, as is bringing together the criteriums on the same day, which were sometimes contested amid general indifference. On the other hand, the shortening of the distance of the Prix de Normandie and the Critérium des 5 Ans is regrettable in my opinion. The first hundred and fifty meters, which were taken uphill, were important in these races. I don’t understand this decision. For me, the Prix de Normandie over 3,000 meters was an event that was sometimes more difficult to win than the Prix de Cornulier. It was a real benchmark in a horse’s career. Even if the starting racket for the 3,000 meters was not simple, it could be arranged in my opinion.”
As for the change in the use of the whip, Joël Hallais obviously feels less concerned since he ended his driving career on July 18 after his victory at Mont-Saint-Michel in the sulky of Throw you Rib. “That said, I still find that we are increasingly following the Swedish model. Rather than these new regulations on the whip, I admit that I would have preferred that we respond to the request of French professionals who have been calling on the authorities for almost fifteen years so that the performances of foreign trotters who come to race in France are updates on the Trot website. When a trainer makes a declaration of runners in a European event and wants to see who his horse will race against, he has absolutely no information. He is unable to complete the paper and study the foreign performances of the horses against whom he is going to race. This is totally abnormal. The problem could be simple to resolve. If the concern comes from foreign companies who do not want to communicate to France the performances of the horses which come to race on our soil, then these horses will not be authorized to race there. Quite simply!”
The debate is on.
