Paris — The seven-year-old French mare, Inmarosa with Leo Abrivard, had not won a race on a French track since 2022 – but now she won the second qualifying race for the Prix d’Amerique – Prix du Bourbonnais on Sunday afternoon (Dec. 7) at Vincennes.
Inmarosa – sired by Amiral Sacha – is trained by Laurent-Claude Abrivard and driven by his son, Leo Abrivard, in races.
This year, Inmarosa has competed in several major international races across Europe – for example, she won Harper Hanovers Lopp at Solvalla during the Elitloppet weekend.
But there hadn’t been any first-place finishes in France since March 3, 2022, at Vincennes, and before today’s race, she had only won five times in 65 starts on French tracks, though she has earned over 1 million Euros!
So it wasn’t surprising that Inmarosa was listed at 475:10 in the betting.
During the race, Inmarosa sat in the middle of the large field of 18 horses, competing over a distance of 2850 meters – or approximately 1-3/4 miles.
Abrivard sent Inmarosa forward behind the favorite Jabalpur with Gabriele Gelormini with 1000 meters to go – but Jabalpur had lost its chance with 500 meters left, and then Abrivard launched his mare in an attack on the leading Izoard Vedaquais with Benjamin Rochard.
Going into the stretch, Inmarosa led by a couple of lengths, and even though she was tired at the end, she won confidently in 1:55.0 (mile rate).
With a strong finish, the five-year-old Keep Going with Matthieu Mottier took second place ahead of Izoard Vedaquais and another mare, Harmony du Rabutin with David Bekaert – Harmony du Rabutin was the horse in the field with the lowest price money earnings.
She is now ready to start in the Prix d’Amerique along with Inmarosa, Keep Going, and Izoard Vedaquais.
The day’s highest-paying race, a Group 1 race for three year olds with a total prize pool of 200,000 Euros, had the Italian Ginostrabliggi (sired by Muscle Hill) as the clear favorite – coming off wins in the Gran Premio Orsi Mangelli in Italy and the Prix Pierre Plazen at Vincennes.
The distance was 2100 meters – 1-5/16 miles – and Ginostrabliggi took the lead early, but when challenged in the stretch by the second favorite, Thierry Duvaldestin-trained Mack de Blary (sired by Face Time Bourbon), Ginostrabliggi had no response.
Mack de Blary, who previously won the Group 1 race Criterium des 3 Ans, won confidently in 1:54.0 (mile rate) driven by Thei Duvaldestin, and there was a tough battle for second place between the Italian Guglielmo Jet (sired by Maharajah) with Alessandro Gocciadoro and the French Maitre Jacques U (sired by Rolling d’Heripre) with Alexandre Abrivard, who finished in that order.
Ginostrabliggi finished fourth.