Wednesday’s French banker is an unexposed three-year-old who could do better now gelded.
Rakhim – R4 Toulouse – Prix Jean de Tauriac – (Jerome Reynier/Cristian Demuro)
- First start since undergoing a gelding operation
- Unexposed three-year-old
- Trainer has an excellent strike rate at the track
There could be plenty more to come from the nicely-bred Rakhim in this afternoon's ten-furlong Class 2 conditions event at Toulouse.
A homebred of Sumbe's Nurlan Bizakov, Rakhim is out of the Listed-winning and Group-placed mare Rasima, making him a half-brother to the two-time scorer Rakhman.
Having shaped well when third on debut at Chantilly earlier in the season, the son of Le Havre battled on strongly to get off the mark second time out over this trip at Lyon-Parilly.
The form of that Lyon-Parilly success has some substance to it, with the runner-up scoring in maiden company since, while it's easy to upgrade his latest third-place finish at La Teste given he pulled too hard in the early stages.
There's every chance he should settle better having undergone a gelding operation since his last outing and it wouldn't be surprising if he had plenty more to give.
It's also worth noting that top handler Jerome Reynier, who is no stranger to success on the biggest stage, has sent just eight horses to Toulouse in the last year, three of which have found the winners' circle to yield an impressive 38% strike-rate. His latest Toulouse contender will need to improve on his last outing in this class but could well do so to enhance his already impressive strike rate at this venue.
