Prix du Jockey Club triumph for Lope De Vega and Haras de la Morsangliere as Look De Vega strikes

The unbeaten Look De Vega appeared a star in the making for the red-hot Lope De Vega with a clear-cut win in the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly on Sunday. 

Leading home the fellow Lope De Vega-sired First Look, the Carlos and Yann Lerner-trained colt was making it three from three after a Fontainebleau win at two last November and then a Longchamp conditions race score last month. 

The bay was, notably, providing the Ballylinch Stud resident and fellow Prix du Jockey Club scorer with his 21st top-flight winner and second French Classic success of the season after Rouhiya's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches triumph for the Aga Khan.   

Lope De Vega's latest star was bred by owner Haras de la Morsangliere alongside Ecurie des Charmes and had been a private €160,000 sale from Arqana's August Yearling event in 2022. 

Intriguingly, Haras de la Morsangliere is renowned for raising showjumpers but has now stormed into the racing world in some style. Look De Vega's dam, the winning High Chaparral mare Lucelle, was the first thoroughbred mare Joelle Mestrallet bought, having been picked up at the 2013 Arqana August Sale for €85,000 by Meridian International.

Mestrallet said: "It’s a wonderful story of friendship and encounters. I met Monsieur Urano and bought Lucelle, this colt’s dam and the first thoroughbred I bought. That was only ten years or so ago. I fell in love with her at Madame O’Reilly’s just before she was due to be sold. 

"Then I was introduced to Monsieur Lerner, who bought half. It was also a chance to meet Ronan [Thomas, jockey], who has done some fantastic work with the horse and had such confidence in him from the start. He might not have had as much experience as would be ideal for this level of race, but he did it nonetheless."

Look De Vega: winner of the Prix du Jockey Club Credit: Scott Burton

Comparing racing to the showjumping arena, she said: "When you are in a showjumping competition – and I have a mare who won at championship level for her age group [seven-year-old] – it is a long haul and it is more about suspense, and the way the emotion builds to a crescendo. This is intensely stressful to watch."

Look De Vega is the fourth foal out of Lucelle and is a half-sibling to three winners, including the useful Titian, by Iffraaj, as well as Wootton Bassett's three-time-winning daughter Alma Bella. Lucelle has a two-year-old colt by Almanzor.

Lucelle is out of the winning Cape Cross mare Larceny, making her a half-sister to Lancashire Oaks winner and Ribblesdale Stakes third The Black Princess. Larceny is a close relation to another Prix du Jockey Club winner in Lawman, as well as a half-sister to Prix de Diane winner Latice and Satri, winner of the Prix du Palais-Royal and second in the Prix Maurice de Gheest. 

Wertheimer homebred Aventure made it a good day for Irish-based sires when streaking to success in the following Group 3 Prix de Royaumont. 

The filly, who picked up black type when second in last season's Prix des Reservoirs and also runner-up this term in the Prix de la Seine, hails from one of the bluest-blooded Wertheimer families. 

The daughter of Gilltown Stud's Sea The Stars is out of Singspiel mare Balladeuse, winner of the Prix de Royallieu. The 19-year-old half-sister to Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Plumania and Group 1-winning producer Dancequest is also the dam of Prix Vermeille winner and black-type producer Left Hand and Romanciere, third in the Prix Jean Romanet.

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