Grande Course de Haies: Un de Sceaux enters Dragon's den

The jumps season has one final treat in store when a raiding party from Britain and Ireland, headed by Un de Sceaux, crosses the Channel for France’s most important hurdle, the Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil. But standing in their way is a formidable rival in the form of Blue Dragon, not just the outstanding French hurdler of the current season but the best in France for years.

Willie Mullins, who has won the Grande Course de Haies four times, no doubt had a few names pencilled in for this race at the start of the season but it’s doubtful Un de Sceaux was on his shortlist back then. So how does a top-class two-mile chaser end up going for a race over hurdles over nearly three and a quarter miles? His natural ability has taken him to the top as a chaser, but jumping fences – he’s not the biggest - has looked a bit of a struggle for Un de Sceaux a times. He fell at Leopardstown in December and there were mistakes in his two defeats to Sprinter Sacre this spring, a bad one three out at Sandown ending any chance he had. The return to the smaller obstacles made plenty of appeal therefore, especially as he had won all seven of his starts over hurdles.

Two of those wins had come at Auteuil in the spring of 2014 when he’d beaten some of France’s best hurdlers, including a dual winner of this race Gemix, albeit in receipt of weight. Un de Sceaux therefore returned to Auteuil three weeks ago for the Prix La Barka, the main trial for the Grande Course de Haies, in which he had no fewer than six of Sunday’s field behind him in keeping his unbeaten record over hurdles, looking as good as ever in winning easily by eight lengths.

The La Barka is over twenty-one furlongs, the longest distance Un de Sceaux has tackled to date. Formerly quite headstrong but more tractable nowadays, Un de Sceaux went on approaching the fifth before establishing a clear lead on the final circuit and winning unchallenged. That success made the Grande Course de Haies the obvious next step, but, crucially, it will require Un de Sceaux to stay another half mile or so.

Stamina is also the big unknown where Blue Dragon is concerned as all his races have been at short of two and a half miles. Narrowly beaten on his debut in a bumper in the Provinces, he has won all ten of his completed starts since (he fell at the last when clear here in March in his other race), proving head-and-shoulders above the other leading French hurdlers. Two of his last four wins, for example, have been gained by thirty lengths, his races typically won by establishing a huge lead and maintaining it.

That wasn’t the case last time, however, when he won the Prix Leon Rambaud at the end of April by only three lengths, but he returned a dirty scope after that race and missed the Prix La Barka as a result, though is reportedly in good order again now. Besides home advantage, Blue Dragon could have the edge in freshness therefore over Un de Sceaux, but not least in his favour is the weight allowance he receives as a five-year-old, something he wouldn’t be entitled to if taking on Un de Sceaux in the British Isles.   

It will be fascinating to see how this unfolds tactically as it will be in the interests of neither Ruby Walsh on Un de Sceaux nor David Cottin on Blue Dragon to take each other on up front with both going into unknown territory distance-wise against some proven stayers, yet both horses are also confirmed front-runners. Even so, Blue Dragon has long appealed as the winner of this race, and he’s hard to oppose now.

The La Barka runner-up Le Grand Luce looks the most solid each-way proposition. He was runner-up in the 2014 Grande Course de Haies and despite an eighteen-month absence before returning this spring, he looked right back to his best when chasing home Un de Sceaux three weeks ago. The longer trip should also prove no problem for the La Barka third Alex de Larredya who’s looked an improved hurdler of late after a spell over fences.

Two of Willie Mullins’ victories in this race came courtesy of Thousand Stars in 2011 and 2012 and the twelve-year-old is back for a sixth time. Although only ninth in the La Barka last time, he was still good enough to finish runner-up under Katie Walsh (who rides him again on Sunday) in this twelve months ago, and more recently snatched a last-gasp win from Aubusson (a respectable fifth in the La Barka) in the Grand Prix d’Automne here in November. Willie Mullins’ other runner Whiteout won the Mares’ Champion Hurdle at Punchestown but she doesn’t look in the Annie Power or Vroum Vroum Mag league and has a stiff task here.

This also looks a tall order for the Gary Moore-trained Ubak, winner of a Grade 3 handicap at Aintree, but Paul Nicholls, whose Zarkandar was third in the last two runnings, has places chances again with Ptit Zig and Silsol. They finished one-two in a listed hurdle at Sandown on the final day of the British season and there’s little between them on form, though the latter’s a more proven stayer having won at around this trip at Kelso in the spring. Ptit Zig was fourth in the La Barka and was a Group 1 winner here as a four-year-old when beating Le Grand Luce and Un Temps Pour Tout who went on to win last year’s Grande Course de Haies.

Recommendation:

Back Blue Dragon in the Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil