No Risk At All

As is often the case with top class French races, they went a steady pace in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp on Sunday, and the race turned into a sprint for home from two furlongs out. No Risk At All was not well positioned when the sprint began, and he ran a really nice race in the circumstances. He travelled well in rear, he raced in seventh of the eight runners for most of the race, he was in a share of last place passing the 400-metre (two-furlong) marker, and he had little chance of getting involved from there, given they weren’t stopping in front. He picked up nicely with them when they began their sprint finish, but he just had nowhere to go on the rails, he had no room to switch out, and he seemed to finish full of running right on the heels of Cirrus Des Aigles on the inside.

He is five now, but he is still unexposed. He was one of the top French three-year-olds two seasons ago, he got to within a neck of Behkabad in the Group 3 Prix de Guiche, but he didn’t race again at three after he disappointed in the French Derby. Actually, he only ran once last year at four, in November, so there was obviously something quite seriously amiss with him. However, he has been progressing nicely this term, he reversed Saint-Cloud form with Zinabaa here, he obviously appreciated the better ground, and he was probably the most inconvenienced by the way the race unfolded as he was never able to lay down a challenge. He is probably back to where he was as a three-year-old now, if not above it, and he is interesting now. He started 50/1 here and it may just be that he continues to be under-rated by the markets, especially in Ireland and Britain, given that he is not trained by someone who is regarded here as one of the top flat trainers in France. In fact he is trained by a jumps trainer, Jean-Paul Gallorini (he trained Nickname and Kotkijet), a man who has been champion jumps trainer in France 11 times. He obviously knows how to train good horses, though, and he has a good one here.

27th May 2012