Parisian Artiste primed for Inter Dominion campaign

Young Bendigo harness racing couple Alex Ashwood and Tayla French are confident their six-year-old trotter Parisian Artiste (Love You) can put his best foot forward in tonight’s (Nov 29) opening round of the 2024 TAB Inter Dominion Trotting Championship at Newcastle.

“He’s in good health and Tayla has been very happy with his work since they arrived up there last Sunday,” Ashwood said.

“Tuesday was fastwork day and he didn’t miss a beat.”

Parisian Artiste, known as “Hector”, around the stables, has drawn barrier two in the second heat of the first qualifying round, timed to start at 9.10pm.

The next round will be run at Bathurst on December 4, followed by the third and last round at Menangle on December 7.

Grand finals for the trotters and pacers will be run at Menangle on December 14.

“The quick back-ups won’t be a worry because he’s a really good doer. Tayla is stabled at Menangle and both Hector and his travelling companion Williams have settled in well,” Ashwood said.

The couple aimed Parisian Artiste for the series months ago and a super impressive win in the Swan Hill Trotters Cup on November 1 (his second victory in that particular feature) showed he was on target.

“We just decided to keep him ticking along after that, and a Bendigo trial win five days before they hit the road for New South Wales was very good,” Ashwood said.

The outstanding trotter was among the first horses Ashwood had in his stable when he began his training career in late 2021. French has been the regular driver since then, winning 12 races and being placed 12 times in 33 starts for the team.

“He’s without doubt Tayla’s number one horse. They get along very well.  His win in the (3yo colts and geldings) VicBred Super Series final at Melton was Tayla’s first G1 as a driver and mine as a trainer so we’ve both got a soft spot for him,” Ashwood said.

French competed with Parisian Artiste in the 2022 Victorian Inter Dominion series, running sixth in the final.

Ashwood said if he had his time over again, he probably wouldn’t have started Parisian Artiste in the that series.

“He was only a four-year-old, but because it was a home Inter we put him in,” Ashwood said.

“He’d probably had too many hard runs leading up to it and afterwards just went downhill – but hindsight is a wonderful thing,” he said.

“He’s a different horse this time. He’s had a lot of little niggles in the past, but we really think he’s ready to go.”

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by Harnesslink Media