BOOKDiscover a spectacular sport!
The 48 Heures de l’Obstacle is a weekend bursting with top-class racing action, with 8 hurdles races and 7 steeplechases on the schedule.
It is a veritable celebration of jumps racing, with a programme that showcases the expertise involved in this elite sport.
The highest category of horse race
This two-day event at Auteuil boasts four Group I races, the highest category of horse race: the Grand Prix d’Automne on the Saturday, and the Prix Maurice Gillois, Prix Cambacérès and Prix La Haye Jousselin on the Sunday.
- Hurdles races:
Hurdles races include a minimum of 7 obstacles to jump. These 7 “hurdles” are identical and are 1.10m high.
- Steeplechase races:
In this discipline, various different obstacles (walls, water jumps, etc.) are dotted along the course. Steeplechase obstacles are higher and more challenging than hurdles.
Steeplechase jumps vary from one race to another, and also from one racecourse to another.
DIFFERENT OBSTACLES
Rail Ditch and Fence, also known as the “Juge de Paix”: 1.60m high by 4.10m wide, this obstacle requires the horses to leap 5 metres across.
Rivière des Tribunes: 1 metre high and 5.50m wide, this obstacle needs plenty of speed, as the horses have to leap more than 8 metres across.
Brook : This obstacle, measuring 0.80m high by 3.45m wide, requires the horses to jump 4 metres across.
Saturday 3rd November – Grand Prix d’Automne
A Group 1 race, the highest category of horse race.
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One of the most important events of the autumn, reserved for Europe’s best hurdlers aged 5 and over.
This race is run over a distance of 3 miles punctuated with 16 hurdles.
The horses must be able to tackle the obstacles without losing momentum in between hurdles!
GALOP MARIN and his jockey Morgan Regairaz won the 2018 Grand Prix d'Automne!
Sunday 4th November – Prix Cambacérès
A Group 1 race, the highest category of horse race.
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This race is the most important hurdles race of the year for 3-year-olds, as it unveils future hurdling champions. The horses must tackle 11 hurdles over a distance of 2 miles 2 furlongs.
In 2018, Beaumec de Houelle took the laurels in the Prix Cambacérès - Grande Course de Haies des 3 ans!
Sunday 4th November – Prix Maurice Gillois - Grand Steeple-Chase des 4 ans!
A Group 1 race, the highest category of horse race.
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This steeplechase race reserved for four-year-olds is run over 2 miles and 6 furlongs and includes 18 different obstacles to jump. The winner of the race is named as the best steeplechaser of the current 4-year-old generation.
Cicalina and her jockey Bertrand Lestrade won the 2018 Prix Maurice Gillois - Grand Steeple-Chase des 4 ans!
Sunday 4th November – Prix La Haye Jousselin
A Group 1 race, the highest category of horse race.
A second crack of the whip for horses that failed to win the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris in May, the Prix La Haye Jousselin is run over a distance of 3 miles 3 ½ furlongs and is dotted with 22 of the racecourse’s most challenging obstacles.
The Rivière des Tribunes, which requires the horses to jump an astonishing 8 metres across, must be tackled twice during the race!
This is the most thrilling race of the whole weekend!
In 2016, Milord Thomas, a horse trained by Dominique Bressou for American owner Magalen Bryant, became the third horse in the history of racing to win the Prix la Haye Jousselin three times!
In 2018, Bipolaire sealed a double victory, as well as a first Group 1 win with jockey Jonathan Plouganou!
