Tuesday 2nd March 2010, Enghien. Septland (AQPS - Agent Bleu) out jumped her rivals to win the €44,000 Prix Marise Hurdle (4yo Females-3,500m) by 8 lengths. This unraced filly took the lead on the far straight and then easily kicked clear on the flat."She caught our eye in the mornings", remarked David Berra, rider of the winner for trainer Philippe Peltier. "Everything comes easily to her. Today she over jumped a little, but that's because she lacks maturity." Running in the colours of Jacques Détré, Septland was bred by her joint owner Thierry Cyprès. She is out of Jubyland (AQPS - Kadalko), who is a sister of Cumberland (AQPS - Cyborg), winner of the Prix Maurice Gillois, and Embiez (AQPS - Lute Antique). Jubyland has already produced Réunion (AQPS - Fragrant Mix), placed second in the Prix Al Capone II at Auteuil.

Patiently ridden by Olivier Subileau (for his first ever winner at Enghien), Quart Monde (AQPS - Network) emerged the winner after a hard fought battle with Quocotiep (AQPS - Network) in the €50,000 Prix Fernand Roy Chase (AQPS-4,500m). "He ran badly for no real reason at Pau, analysed trainer François Nicolle. "Olivier gave him a very nice ride, I think it was a good idea to put a jockey with a claim on him because there wasn't much in it at the finish. He is a very good jumper, who already ran well here at the end of last year." Quart Monde was bred by Jacques Cyprès, in whose colours he runs. His dam, In Extremis (AQPS - Quart de Vin) is out of a sister of The Fellow and Al Capone II. At stud she has already produced Oakham (AQPS - Agent Bleu), winner of the Grand Steeple des AQPS at Lion d'Angers, Panique Pas (AQPS - Vidéo Rock), winner of the Prix Samaritain at Auteuil, and Rock In (AQPS - Vidéo Rock), a useful chaser.

Sunday, March 7th 2010 - Auteuil. A 4+ hurdle contest for beginners, the €58,000 Prix Rohan (L - 3,600m) has always been a preferred aim for talented flat horses switching to the jumps, writes Le Frog. The likes of Latin Mood and Questarabad (AQPS) feature amongst the latest winners of the race. Everybody was zeroing on Longchamp winning son of Montjeu's Tsar de Russie to take the honours and it looked as if the Marcel Rolland-trained beast was about to reach expectations when jumping the second last along AQPS 4yo Sans Histoire (AQPS -Blushing Flame). He actually took over the long standing leader between the two last hurdles but the grey halfbred had the last laugh as she edged her thoroughbred rival on the post. Bred and owned by Nicolas de Lageneste's Haras de Saint-Voir, Sans Histoire had started her career well over the flat with a promising 5th place at Lyon in November. She'd finished well there after an easy start.This half sister to Mort de Rire (AQPS - Luchiroverte, his name meaning "Die Laughing" in French), a winner over the chase in Leicester, showed lots of stamina and willingness to score over a more seasoned flat horse. "She had the rail and I like her a lot", quipped her trainer Thomas Trapenard.

Sunday, March 7th 2010 - Auteuil. Unless something wrong happens to him, Questarabad (AQPS - Astarabad) is a certainty for the major hurdle contests this season in France. The Marcel Rolland-trained AQPS 6yo shrugged off his 70 kilos burden in the €130,000 Prix Juigne Hurdle (Gr3 - 3,600m) to come from last to the fore in the back stretch and then jumped the last two hurdles for fun to score by 4 lengths almost walking with Vitray (Morespeed) second over a handicap like bunch of jumpers.

Rider Regis Schmidlin was awed by his mount : "He's become so easy to ride, so much better than the others... I was worried about the pace on such a short distance and I just asked him to come by in the backstretch. He was with the leader within two strides and the rest is history. He's awesome." There is not much to say about the others. Rolland horses showed that the Chantilly-based handlers were able to overcome the adverse weather conditions. On even terms, Questarabad is the best hurdler we've got over here and that's about as much we can say so far.  More news on www.frogsracing.com