Vadeni ends seven-month break with Prix Ganay on Sunday
The first Group 1 race of the European flat-racing season came up a first-rate contest.
Vadeni ended his 2022 campaign with a second-place finish in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and begins his 2023 season Sunday at Longchamp in the Prix Ganay. An Aga Khan homebred by Churchill out of the Monsun mare Vaderana, Vadeni finished second by a half-length to Alpinista in the Arc following a third in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes and wins in the Group 1 Eclipse in England and the Group 1 French Derby.
He seeks to become the fifth horse this century (Bago in 2005, Dylan Thomas in 2007, Waldgeist in 2019, and Sotsass in 2020) to begin his year winning the 1 3/16-mile Ganay and end it with victory in the Arc.
Trained by Jean-Claude Roget, who also trained Sotsass, Vadeni coped with very soft Longchamp going in the Arc and is expected to race over similar ground Sunday in his first race back from a break of nearly seven months. While Vadeni clearly rates as the best horse, all things being equal, Bay Bridge should be a worthy foe over this type of going. Fifth behind Vadeni on much firmer footing in the Eclipse, Bay Bridge capped his 2022 season with a half-length win over 2021 Derby winner Adayar while racing 1 1/4 miles on a very soft Ascot course. Excluding a debut defeat at seven furlongs, Bay Bridge, trained by Michael Stoute, has won all three of his starts run over ground with “soft” somewhere in the course conditions.
The 4-year-old Andre Fabre-trained filly Place du Carrousel also likes it soft and has quality to contend. Hitting a career peak while returning from a 14-week break, Place du Carrousel defeated high-class Nashwa last Oct. 2 in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera, run the day before the Arc over similarly soft turf. Briefly considered for a Breeders’ Cup race, Place du Carrousel instead was put away for the season to aim for a 2023 campaign that starts this weekend.
Post time for the Ganay, one of three Group races on the Longchamp card, is 9:50 a.m. Eastern.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.