Entries closed today for the opening race in this autumn’s Crystal Cup, the ING Grote Steeplechase Vlaanderen, a €100,000 handicap over 2m 7f. The 25 entries are led by last year’s winner Placenet, owned by Caroline Tisdall and Geoffrey Thompson, who has failed to repeat that success in the intervening 11 months and reverted to a hurdle campaign from this March for new trainer Robert Collet.
Expect the forfeit stage to thin out the field give the two leading protagonists in the Crystal Cup this and last year are mob-handed in their entries. Patrice Quinton has entered no less than 10, including Flavius, who won here over a shorter distance at the corresponding fixture last August, Gino de Dunes, and Premier Vert, second and fourth in the race a year ago.
A further five entries come from Josef Vana, still smarting from having been pipped at the post in the race to the Crystal Cup earlier this Spring by Quinton’s 1-2 in the Anjou-Loire Challenge at Lion d’Angers. Having led the challenge up to that point, he recognized that Quinton could field a larger volume of runners, which, indeed he did, to carry off the trainer’s prize.
Vana’s best hope may be his six year old mare Vezzana, a winner at Cagnes in January, and placed since at Pardubice and a fortnight ago at Bad Harzburg. The nine year old Volkov Jelois has also been running well since winning at Strasbourg in March, whilst Grand de Thaix has been placed second in a Grade I at Merano this summer.
Either way, both trainers look determined to create an early lead in this first of 12 Crystal cup events, which offer a cumulative €850,000 in prize money and a further €50,000 in bonus payments.
Our opening race at Waregem is not a fait accompli however for the two protagonists.
Top weight Speed Emile comes here from a Grade I success at Merano last September for the Lageneste/Macaire stable, but was a distant 15l second in a hurdle pipe opener at Chateaubriant in July. Nine year old mare Motu Farone hasn’t shown a great deal for Dominique Windrif, whilst Caligramme is similarly unexposed for Daniele Mele.
A stronger case can be made for Gabriel Leenders’ King d’Alene, winner of two of his last 3 starts at Lion d’Angers and Nancy since the Spring. Felix de Giles will likely take the ride. Hugo Merienne’s Dear Weaver is also on the upgrade, a winner of his last three starts, the most recent a handicap steeplechase at Clarefontaine.
Jerome Planque fields Espion de Guye, a winner at Corlay in June, but this looks a step up in class.
The entries are completed by Philip Peltier’s 6 year old gelding Melgarry, beaten a short head at Lion d’Angers in April and runner-up again there in a similar class contest earlier this month, and a British contender in Sophie Leech’s Mount Tempest, a winner for Dan Skelton last December at Sandown before changing hands. He may well appreciate the drop in class, but his French form to date offers little by way of encouragement.