This Sunday, 18 February, Romain Larue will be reining his young protégé Loulou De Mye in the 14-strong Gr.1 Critérium des Jeunes. We asked him about the 3 year-old and his prospects.

What’s the history behind him?

This dates to about 30-odd years ago with the dam of Challenger de Mye. We have always kept a filly from the maternal line, which turned out to be better than expected. And down the line, we stumbled on Loulou De Mye. From his first [victorious] steps on the track, we knew we had a good colt. He has natural class; I haven’t had to do much to get him to this point.

Tell us about his wonderful Gr.3 Prix Léopold Verroken success

We had kept him covered up at the beginning, we didn’t want to overstretch him. With a fortnight to go to the Critérium, I reminded myself that we were running an important race, so I went in front, we were never threatened and it worked out. It’s cool!

How did his last piece of work go?

We did a lot of short pieces on the straight. I was satisfied, and I could even say that he has come on well since his last race.

How will you approach the Critérium des Jeunes?

With a ‘good’ stress. When you condition a group-horse, it drives you to get out of bed in the morning. At a similar age, he’s better than [multiple group-winner] Gelati Cut was. I’d love to finish on the podium, it would be great! Let’s see where we are after 200m.

You’re driving yourself…

I think of the good ones as mine to ‘play’ with. I have a really good one after 20 years of this, so I’m going to enjoy myself on Sunday!