France: Skyward takes on elders in Prix Bedel

Just as in April you might have started looking at Fonner Park form for the first time, a swing through the race card Friday at Lyon-Parilly could keep a dedicated American horseplayer going through the morning hours Friday.

Lyon-Parilly puts on a 10-race program starting at 5:15 a.m. Eastern, a program that even features a listed stakes race, the Prix Bedel over 1 1/2 miles on ground rated very soft as of Thursday. Only one other European racecourse has a Friday program, with Munich, Germany, running its first card of 2020.

That nine-race program, featuring a 1 7/8-mile staying race (the 4th), begins at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. You can live stream and wager on both Lyon-Parilly and Munich at DRFBets.com.

Lyon-Parilly sits in east central France, not far from the Swiss border, and other than 1,000-meter straight-course sprints, racing is conducted left-handed, as in North America.

Skyward is the antepost betting favorite in the Bedel, despite the fact he’s racing against older horses for the first time, and his three-start career includes two Polytrack races and a start on good ground at Saint-Cloud. Skyward, however, is unbeaten, and he easily handled a class rise as well as moves to turf and a distance as long as 1 1/2 miles capturing the 3-year-old restricted Saint-Cloud start by three lengths.

Fabrice Chappet trains Skyward, a son of Camelot, and Stephane Pasquier, who has ridden him twice, takes the call.

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Pappalino should have a solid chance to defeat Skyward, however. Pappalino, a 4-year-old, started three times earlier this year before Covid-19 halted racing in France in mid-March, and in his most recent start he was a decent third behind victorious Simona. Simona returned Monday at Longchamp and finished third, beaten just a length, while edging French Derby winner Sottsass, in the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt.

Pappalino, who should have no trouble coping with soft conditions, has raced at tracks all over France but never at Lyon-Parilly. One entrant with racecourse experience is 10-year-old Mille et Mille, who was second to the high-level Silverwave in the 2019 Prix Bedel and won the race’s 2017 renewal.