France: Look de Vega does everything right in winning Prix du Jockey Club

Look de Vega on Sunday morning was a twice-started colt yet to run in a race of any consequence. By Sunday afternoon he was a Group 1 winner after winning the Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby, at Chantilly Racecourse.

Look de Vega’s brief career and lack of high-class racing were of no consequence: The colt did everything right, looked like a winner a long way from home, and was much the best posting a two-length victory in a 14-runner field.

Look de Vega raced once at age 2, winning by seven lengths at Fontainebleau in late November, and did not show up again until May 5 at Longchamp, where he easily won a conditions race over just four rivals. Yet his entry in the Prix du Jockey Club was far from audacious, Look de Vega going off the 5-1 co-second choice on the North American tote.

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The father and son team of Carlos and Yann Lerner train Look de Vega and are part of an ownership team that includes his breeders, Haras De La Morsangliere and Ecurie Des Charmes. Look de Vega went to the 2022 Arquana Deauville August Yearling Sale, but was bought back by the Lerners for $164,000. Carlos Lerner trained Anabaa Blue to win the 2001 French Derby, and Yann Lerner in the days leading up to Sunday’s contest expressed strong confidence in the Look de Vega.

One can see why. Look de Vega broke alertly in this 1 5/16-mile contest and jockey Ronan Thomas settled him into a stalking position just a few lengths off the lead. Fast Tracker, the tepid favorite, set the pace but was not doing it kindly, over-racing from the start and never relaxing for his new jockey, James Doyle. Look de Vega occupied the opposite pole, cantering along in the bridle and poised, awaiting his rider’s cue. Thomas had little trouble getting Look de Vega out into the clear, in great part because his mount was traveling so strongly, and once Look de Vega lengthened his stride, the race was over.

Andre Fabre trains the second and third horses across the line, longshot First Look edging the better-fancied Sosie by a neck. The English shipper Ghostwriter finished fourth, with Fast Tracker sliding all the way back to 13th.

Look de Vega clocked 2:09.81 over a course rated “heavy,” and the colt has yet to race on turf any firmer than “very soft,” though he moves like a horse who will adapt to firmer going. Look de Vega is by Lope de Vega out of Lucelle, by High Chaparral, and English bookmakers cut his odds to a general 8-1 for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. With this kind of performance in just his third start, Look de Vega just might be that kind of horse.

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