The Prix de Cornulier promised a spectacular race.
He kept all of his promises.
This Sunday, in Dantesque conditions, where snow, rain and cold succeeded one another on the Paris-Vincennes racecourse,
Bahia Quesnot
, 10 years old, delivered one of his best performances to go for victory in the World Mounted Trotting Championship.
The prize-giving :
TROT.
The award ceremony for the Prix de Cornulier with the entourage of BAHIA QUESNOT.
pic.twitter.com/O1k52zVoPQ
- Le Parisien Turf (@leparisien_turf) January 24, 2021
His first victory at Paris-Vincennes
As surprising as it may seem,
Bahia Quesnot
had never won in the temple of trotting.
Never mind, Junior Guelpa, his mentor who signed his first Group I in France, the second of his career, and Matthieu Abrivard, his jockey, started off confident.
As many.
Except that they were right since at the end of a long waiting race, their "iron lady" managed to outflank the favorite,
Flamme du Goutier
, who had initially taken the best from her in the last corner. .
"I should have taken the back of
Bahia
instead of accelerating in the last bend," regrets his jockey, Antoine Wiels, as soon as he dismounts.
Fifth "Cornulier" for Matthieu Abrivard
Mad with joy when crossing the post, he, Matthieu Abrivard (35) did not hesitate to raise both arms to the sky, as he had done in 2006 and 2017 in this same event in the saddle on
Jag de Bellouet
and
Bellissima France.
"Because winning the" Cornulier "provides special flavors, he slips on his return to the stables.
I'm starting to get old (sic) and I'm not gonna ride forever.
“Whatever, the man has already marked the history of racing by winning the Prix de Cornulier five times.
Lower stakes, almost logically
Contested on a track not conducive to speed, hard at the start of the meeting then dirty because of bad weather, certainly the cause of some of the seven disqualifications, the Prix de Cornulier will not leave lasting memories for the organizers of the Trot.
Nor to PMU teams, moreover, since the “Tiercé-Quarté-Quinté +” block recorded a 24% drop in stakes to € 5.8 million.
But remember that the 2020 edition took place before the first confinement, this largely explains that.
The video of the quinté:
#GPCornulier #Trot # Monté #Quinte
🏆Exceptional, Bahia Quesnot (J. Guelpa - @MatAbrivard) won at 10 the biggest mounted trotting race, the Prix de Cornulier (Group 1) at @vhpofficiel
🥈 Flamme du Goutier
🥉 Etoile de Bruyère pic.twitter.com/k9AsQAVyRp
- Equidia (@equidia) January 24, 2021
The reaction of the beaten:
Antoine Wiels
(2nd with
Flamme du Goutier
): “I should have taken back the back of
Bahia
instead of accelerating on the last bend.
I have regrets ”.
Adrien Lamy
(3rd with
Etoile de Bruyère
): “Great, the mare stretched out well to finish to take third place.
We could have been better, but it's a good result.
"
Luc Roelens
(4th with
Jerry Mom
): “It's very good.
We had put a pair of bells on him because of the condition of the track and David (Thomain, his jockey) told me that he must have secured the last 150 meters.
Otherwise, he could have finished third, but it's already a very good result.
"