France: Skalleti starts season in Prix Bertrand de Breuil

On Feb. 10, 2019, Skalleti finished eighth in a listed stakes race over the Polytrack at Cagnes-Sur-Mer. The exact date and location seems important because it’s the only loss in Skalleti’s 10-race career.

The nine wins follow a path very rarely – if ever – traveled. Skalleti has won at minor racecourses like Nimes and Vichy, and three wins have come at Marseilles-Pont-de-Vivaux, an all-weather track in the south of France that’s basically a home racecourse for Skalleti, based between Marseille and Aix-En-Provence with trainer Jerome Reynier in Calas-Cabries.

But Skalleti is no mere provincial flash. Last fall, he ended his 2019 campaign with his eighth and ninth career victories, the former in the Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp, the latter in the Group 2 Premio Roma. Monday at Chantilly, Skalleti starts his 5-year-old campaign in the Prix Bertrand de Breuil, a tough Group 3 carded at one mile that drew nine entrants.

The Breuil is the featured third race on a 10-race card that starts at 4:55 a.m. Eastern. Live-streaming video and wagering is available at DRFBets.com, along with a nine-race card later in the day at Marseille-Borely.

Skalleti’s two wins at the tail of his 4-year-old campaign came over 1 1/4 miles, but Skalleti won the straight-course, one-mile Prix Quincey Barriere, a Group 3, last fall at Deauville. That start came over good ground, but the admirable Skalleti, a gray powerhouse by Kendargent, has performed equally well over soft turf, heavy turf, and Polytrack. Pierre-Charles Boudot, who rode Skalleti his last three starts in 2019, has the mount Monday.

Skalleti as of Sunday was co-favored in overseas antepost wagering at 5-2 along with the veteran Plumatic, a 6-year-old horse whose connections had designs on the Breeders’ Cup Mile the last two seasons, though Plumatic in the end has never traveled farther afield than England. Plumatic managed only two starts in 2019, one in May, one in October, and while capable has roughly zero upside at this point in his career.

On the other pole sits Nature’s Colors, who might be very good. The 4-year-old Godolphin color bearer, trained by Andre Fabre, gets his first look in a group race after winning three of his four starts in 2019, his first year of racing. Nature’s Colors, by Poet’s Voice, raced once this year, scoring an impressive three-length win in a listed Polytrack stakes March 6 at Deauville. Nature’s Colors, racing from the back of the pack after pressing the pace in his previous race, was caught three paths wide with no cover on the turn at Deauville and still proved much the best, showing fine acceleration.