Seven Days: France's Tour de Force

It's not easy to write a column while watching the Olympics, especially as Britain attempts to out-battle France for eventing gold at the Palace of Versailles, but here goes.

It was France which had the upper hand at Ascot on Saturday or, correctly speaking, Francis-Henri Graffard, whose return from Chantilly to the Berkshire track with the rampaging Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) should have been eye-popping enough to ensure that his runners are never again sent off at such generous odds in Britain. We can now savour the prospect of once more witnessing Graffard's Riverdance-like jig if Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) can prevail in the Juddmonte International at York.

Our friends at Jour de Galop issued, in their Sunday edition, a warning for the week ahead: “Attention Goodwood, impossible is not French.” So before we bill the Sussex Stakes as a battle of the Guineas winners, let's not overlook the G1 Dubai Turf winner Facteur Cheval (Ire) (Ribchester {Ire}) and the excellent overseas record of his fine trainer Jerome Reynier.

Reynier, like Graffard and his wife Lisa-Jane, is a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start course, as is Laura Vanska, trainer of the G2 Prix Saint-Alary winner Birthe (Ire) (Study Of Man {Ire}), and French-based Irishman Tim Donworth. Farther afield trainer graduates from that course, which began 21 years ago, include Tom Morley, Dan Blacker, Ben Haslam, Jack Davison, Adrian Bott, Brian McGrath, Philip Antonacci, Will Freedman and Jack Bruce.

Graffard was on the inaugural course back in 2003 and he has set the bar pretty high for those following in his wake. He is currently snapping at the heels of Andre Fabre at the top of the French trainers' championship, and it is Fabre with whom the various colours of Germany's Gestut Schlenderhan and the Ullmann family are most readily associated in France, where 2007 Horse of the Year Manduro (Ger) was trained, along with Breeders' Cup Turf and Coronation Cup winner Shirocco (Ger) among others. More recently the G1 Prix Ganay winner Mare Australis (Ger) (Australia {GB}) has flown the flag for Schlenderhan and Fabre, while it was Graffard who gave the owner-breeders their most recent win in the Deutsches Derby with In Swoop (Ire) (Adlerflug {Ger}).

We were paid a visit in the press room at Ascot on Saturday by the Melbourne Cup which is on a world tour (this must be a great wheeze for those people lucky enough to accompany the cup on its travels). Its presence could have been seen as a tip in itself as Schlenderhan provided the winner of that great race in 2016 when Almandin (Ger) became the third son of Monsun (Ger) to win the Melbourne Cup.

Monsun of course raced for Baron Georg von Ullmann, the father of Goliath's owner, Philip. Though he was not a homebred, he played an important role in ensuring that the name of Schlenderhan was revered the world over, along with German breeding in general, during his time spent there at stud.

It is hard not to be concerned with the significant decline in the foal crop numbers in Germany, which has seen production come close to being halved over the last two decades. In 2023, only 653 Thoroughbred foals were born in Germany, compared to 9,659 in Ireland, 4,510 in Britain and 5,334 in France. It is worth bearing in mind though that those last three nations have fairly strong National Hunt breeding programmes, and jumping foals are included in that number. Also, some of the larger German breeders will have sent mares abroad to use non-domestic stallions, meaning that some 'German' foals will be born elsewhere. 

But it is nevertheless an illustration of what the country is up against in fighting to preserve its rich history of Thoroughbred breeding. Every major winner abroad can only serve as a helpful reminder of Germany's might in this regard. Foal crops have been declining the world over, but in Germany it is a particular worry. 

Future of horse sport depends on us

We haven't got far through this column and Britain has already retained the gold medal for eventing – the first gold of the games for the British team, with one of the medallists, Tom McEwen, jumping clear aboard JL Dublin, a horse part-owned by Deirdre Johnston. 

How far the controversy surrounding the withdrawal from the Olympics and suspension of the decorated British dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin has dented the reputation of equestrian sport with the wider public is hard to quantify, but it certainly won't have helped. Racing cannot think that it is separate from this either.

In an age when video cameras are on the phone in most people's pocket, it is of extra imperative that horses, both those used for competition and kept as pets, are treated with the utmost respect at all times. That includes ensuring they have dignity in death, too. 

The latter makes it hard to understand how so many people in racing have been positive in their response to the ITV programme Champions: Full Gallop. The producers of the show proceeded with John 'Shark' Hanlon as the underdog hero of the first episode even after a video surfaced on social media of his Team Hewick-branded horse box towing a dead horse, uncovered, in a trailer through the streets of Ireland. The trainer was not sanctioned by the Irish authorities but Hanlon's  appearance in the series broadcast on Friday evenings on mainstream TV is potentially problematic even so. It is not the only awkward aspect of the programme. 

Also featured in the first episode was Bryony Frost and the top steeplechaser Shishkin (Ire). No mention was made of the fact that Frost has now been effectively driven out of riding in her native country for daring to stand up against the bullying by one of her male weighing-room colleagues. Similarly, the subsequent death of Shishkin following an accident in his box in April was overlooked. Any non-racing fans inspired to Google these stars of the show to find out more about them may be in for a bit of a shock.

First Lady of Deauville returns 

Deauville is now in full summer racing mode and the local heroine Mqse De Sevigne (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) returned resplendent to take her second victory in the G1 Prix Rothschild, the race named in honour of the family of her breeder Edouard de Rothschild.

The statuesque mare, who spent her formative years overlooking the racecourse at Deauville from her home at Haras de Meautry, is rather a favourite of this column. She climbed even higher in regard after her most recent win lifted this scribe from the bottom of the table of a fiendishly competitive 12-to-follow league which includes some fairly knowledgeable members of the racing and breeding industry. I'm not one of them, sadly, and neither apparently is Timmy Hillman of Tattersalls Ireland/Castledillon fame, who has now been relegated to last place. 

Just like last year, however, we are all being shown up by one of the offspring of Luke Barry. His 13-year-old son Alex is the reigning champion, but even he looks in danger of being beaten this time around by his 11-year-old sister Freya. They breed them precocious at Manister House, so it would be wise to check out the stud's consignment at Donny in a few weeks. Talks are already under way in a bid to ban nine-year-old Petra Barry from next year's 12-to-follow competition.

Back to the star of the show, Mqse De Sevigne, who really is an absolute model of consistency. Having claimed her two Deauville Group 1 wins last summer, she found only Inspiral (GB) too good when leaving France to race for the first time in Britain in the Sun Chariot. We may not see her over this way again, with a repeat attempt at the Prix Jean Romanet on the cards, followed by a swansong in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Whatever happens from now on, the five-year-old has already justified her owner's decision to keep her in training as she is unbeaten in three starts this season and has doubled her tally of wins at the highest level to four.

From the Seine to the Touques

While the creators of the extraordinary opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics came in for a little stick, it was a particularly good weekend for French racing, which has seen a number of its stakes races plundered by overseas raiders of late. 

All three European Group 1 races – in England, France and Germany – went to French trainers, with Graffard and Fabre's wins being augmented by the victory of the Carlos and Yann Lerner-trained Calif (Ger) (Areion {Ger}) in the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis in Munich on Sunday. 

That same day in Deauville all four of the group-race prizes stayed at home. The Lerner family had already won the Prix du Jockey Club with Look De Vega (Fr) this season and now has also landed the G3 Prix de Psyche with Zied Ben M'Rad's homebred Almara (Fr) (Almanzor {Fr}).

For those of us watching the opening ceremony on the BBC we eventually saw Clare Balding in the studio with the Eiffel Tower as her backdrop. While her colleagues Hazel Irvine and Andrew Cotter were commenting on the procession up the Seine for hours on end, Balding presumably had time to look up the results of her brother's runners on Friday. She would have been pleased to see that Andrew's 1,999th and 2,000th winners in Britain were both bred by her mother Emma and raced in the colours of Kingsclere Racing Club (which were previously made famous by their original owner, Paul Mellon). 

Emma Balding also provided a double that day for the Derby winner Masar (Ire), sire of the Ascot winner Mount Atlas (GB), and Andrew Balding's 2,000th winner Lady Flora (GB). The pair are both from the same family, which has been within the Balding fold since the 1960s. 

Most appropriately, Mellon's great Mill Reef features as the broodmare sire of Lady Flora's third dam Island Mill (GB) while the sires of her dam and granddam – Dashing Blade (GB) and Selkirk (GB) – were also trained at Kingsclere by Ian Balding. 

Classic potential?

It's never too early to start thinking about the Derby and two colts are now vying for leading honours at the top of the 2025 ante-post market after impressive debuts in the last ten days. First came The Lion In Winter (Ire), a rare son of Sea The Stars (Ire) at Ballydoyle, who roared pretty loudly on the Curragh in summer to win his maiden easily over seven furlongs. 

Five days later it was the turn of Arqana Breeze-up Sale topper Ruling Court (Justify) to score a five-and-half-length win at Sandown for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby. With a €2.3 million price tag just two months ago he really should be winning like a good thing, but that's not always a guarantee. Another from the Norman Williamson school of breezers, he should eventually bid to join War Of Will and Native Trail (GB) on the list of Classic-winning graduates from Oak Tree Farm.