Press Release Longines Global Champions Tour – The French are in a good vibe here, in Bagatelle. After the novice Harold Boisset earlier this afternoon, it was time for the experimented Julien Epaillard to ring the Marseillaise on the Plaine de Bagatelle in the Prix Oddo (49 riders). Starting in 3, he signed a time of 57”51 with Cristallo A LM that was never going to be catch, over even get close to… even by Roger-Yves Bost, second of the class with Pégase du Mûrier (60”72!).
We call that “killing the game”: “Well I don’t know. I rode at the beginning of the class, and I just went for it… True I took a lot of risks, particularly at the start, I tried to gallop a little bit cooler at the end, but yes, I was kind of “make-it-or-break-it”!” smiled the Laiterie de Montaigu’s rider. Cristallo A LM is mostly known for shining in Grand Prix, and a little bit of ranked in a speed class, the exercise is a little bit easier, so: a reconversion for the 12y gelding? “No, not at all. Last week he was in the LGCT Grand Prix of Monte-Carlo where it did well (one small fault in the first round, ndlr). Today I was lucky to have other horses to help him on the five stars and it’s good for his mind”.
This Plaine de Bagatelle that replaces this year the Champ de Mars, where there is the Euro 2016 fan zone seems to be a location as much as liked by the riders: “It’s a great place, but the organization of the Paris Eiffel is perfect wherever the site is. It’s two different backgrounds. The Eiffel Tower is obviously charming, but indeed, the conditions here are ideal, with a big arena and space. Here we have the countryside in the city. But I don’t have any preferences, I like both sites”, conclude Julien Epaillard. We will see him again tomorrow in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Paris with Quatrin de la Roque, whom we saw win this year the Grand Prix of Lummen.
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Source: Press Release Longines Global Champions Tour
