Tag Archive for: Auteuil

Mullins mounts strong challenge on Auteuil highlight

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Willie Mullins is preparing for a French foray at Auteuil this weekend as he ponders targeting Galopin Des Champs at the meeting in the future.

The trainer was once again crowned Irish champion for the 2022-23 season, as well as enjoying multiple victories at the major spring festivals.

Though both the Irish and English seasons ended last month and are in a relatively quiet spell as the Flat takes over, there are still significant prizes to be won across the Channel.

This weekend Auteuil hosts the Grand Steeple-Chase De Paris meeting and Mullins is sending a strong squad of nine runners.

Two of those travelling, Franco De Port and Carefully Selected, will contest the ‘Grand Steep’ itself, with other familiar names such as Kilcruit, Haut En Couleurs, Klassical Dream and Asterion Forlonge entered in the supporting events.

Willie Mullins at Punchestown
Willie Mullins at Punchestown (Brian Lawless/PA)

Mullins faces tough opposition in the headline contest as his nephew Emmet Mullins has entered 2022 Grand National hero Noble Yeats, but the race has long been an aim for the Carlow trainer and he is keen to take the trophy home at some point in his career.

“There’s a great challenge from Ireland this year with Noble Yeats, he’s my nephew’s horse and he’s going to put in a big show there,” he said.

“It’s something I want to win, I’ve been trying to look for a horse that’s good enough to win it.

“I should have probably targeted it before now because I have so many French horses,  I’m just going through my runners here and seven out of the nine horses are French.

“I should have done this before, however, we’ve always concentrated on Cheltenham and Punchestown, so to get one cherry ripe over this trip at the end of the season is a bit tougher.”

Galopin Des Champs winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup
Galopin Des Champs winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup (David Davies/PA)

Auteuil was at one point the intended target for Galopin Des Champs, a fantastic winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup who then re-routed to the Punchestown Gold Cup where he was second.

Though his campaign eventually headed in a different direction, Mullins still has the meeting in mind for the French-bred chaser.

He said: “I’d love to bring Galopin Des Champs over and indeed he was probably en-route there, but after winning the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, we decided he’d probably better come back to Punchestown and after that I thought I should give him a break.

“He’s done everything right for us this season, possibly some other year we might bring him over. He’s a horse I’d love to see over there.”

Hewick gearing up for French Champion Hurdle challenge

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Hewick will head to the French Champion Hurdle at Auteuil next Saturday with Shark Hanlon keen for his chasing star to continue his globetrotting exploits.

Last season’s winner of the Galway Plate, American Grand National and Oaksey Chase at Sandown, the eight-year-old will line up in the Racing TV Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil next weekend with Rachael Blackmore continuing to deputise for Jordan Gainford.

Trainer John ‘Shark’ Hanlon is hopeful he will make the cut for the three-and-a-quarter-mile race.

He said: “We are going to Auteuil. I think the race suits him. He will stay all day, so the trip won’t be any problem and the fences are like the hurdles in America.

“The only reason I don’t run him on soft ground over fences is that the fences look so big for a small horse and it is hard to get out of the ground.

“Hopefully he will get in. There are 20 entries. I should imagine we’ll be OK, as a few might come out and they ran 13 in the race two years ago.

“The pot is €390,000. That’s the reason we are going there and the reason we went to America – because of the pot.

“It is lovely to have winners in Ireland and England, but when you have a horse like him, you try to make the best use of him you can.”

Having been bought by Hanlon for a bargain €850, the TJ McDonald-owned Hewick has picked up almost £440,000 in prize money, having shot to prominence when taking the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown last April.

Though a faller when in contention for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, a return to Prestbury Park is on the cards in 2024 and Hanlon hinted a trip to Japan for the Nakayama Grand Jump is a possible target next April.

Hanlon said: “Nakayama could be on the agenda for next year. You don’t mind travelling because he is a very good traveller.

“Sometimes you can’t travel with horses because they don’t like it, but he does. You could put him in your pocket and bring him with you!

“We will go to Auteuil and the Galway Plate is on the cards again. We’ll probably go back to America, and then maybe he’ll get a break.

“We will do something like last year, maybe give him a run at the Dublin Festival in February and then to Cheltenham in March again.

“People are saying to me, ‘are you going to give him a break?’, but he’s only just off a break.

Jordan Gainford will keep the ride on Hewick
Jordan Gainford will keep the ride on Hewick (Nigel French/PA)

“While all the other horses were racing in the winter, we were on a break. He just loves his racing and he was very good at Sandown.”

Blackmore, who powered Hewick to success at the Esher track, will keep the saddle warm for Gainford, who has not ridden since being unseated from the Gordon Elliott-trained Perfect Attitude in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Hurdle at Punchestown on April 26.

Hanlon added: “I feel very sorry for Jordan, because he made the horse for me.

“I have a very good sub. Rachael started with me and we have a long-term relationship. I’m very lucky and delighted to be able to get her.”

Burke steps up for Il Est Francais ride

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Jonathan Burke will head to Auteuil on Sunday for the plum ride on exciting prospect Il Est Francais, who continues his French Champion Hurdle preparation.

The Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm-trained five-year-old is already a Grade One winner and is unbeaten in five attempts over hurdles.

With regular partner James Reveley sidelined with a broken leg, Felix de Giles came in for the ride on the gelding when he won by a length and a half from Kapteen earlier this month, who renews rivalry.

Il Est Francais is set to take on six rivals, who include Arnaud Chaille-Chaille’s crack hurdler Theleme, in the Prix Hypothese, a Grade Three contest over an extended two and a half miles.

Going two furlongs further than when landing the Grade Three Prix Juigne at the same track, George is anticipating it will be a tough assignment.

He said: “He is running and Johnny Burke is coming over to ride him. I just thought we should give him another run.

“He has come on a lot for his comeback run. We are taking on Theleme, who is one of the best hurdlers in France, so it is not going to be an easy task, although he’s got to give us four kilos as well, so hopefully we can keep our unbeaten record.

“But the main objective is in May (French Champion Hurdle).”

Il Est Francais, winner of the Grade One Prix Renaud du Vivier at Auteuil in November, could represent owners Richard Kelvin-Hughes and Haras De Saint-Voir at the Cheltenham Festival next year, should he progress as hoped.

Yet George and Swedish-born Zetterholm, who owns the yard at Avilly Saint-Leonard on the outskirts of Chantilly, are taking it one race at a time with the strapping gelding who takes a bit of work in order to get him cherry-ripe.

George added: “He might have another run before the French Champion Hurdle after this. We will see how he comes out of it.

“To be honest, he is not easy to get 100 per cent fit, because in the morning there are not many who can go with him.

“It is quite nice to get a few runs into him before the big race, but we will see. He is a nice horse.”

British race-fans won’t have to wait too much longer before finally getting to see Il Est Francais in the flesh.

“Hopefully he will be in England in autumn when we go novice chasing,” said George.

“He will probably run in a French chase first and then maybe come over at Christmas-time, for something at Kempton or something like that.

“Hopefully we will be at Cheltenham next year for a novice chase I think.”

Noel George doing father Tom proud, as Il Est Francais flies the flag in France

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Il Est Francais is a step closer on his French Champion Hurdle quest as the George continental foray continues to prove fruitful.

The five-year-old has become a flagbearer for the father and son French venture, winning three times under Tom George’s name before switching to a joint-licence held by his son Noel and Amanda Zetterholm.

Having landed a hat-trick of hurdle contests that culminated with a Grade One success in the Prix Renaud du Vivier in November, which he won by eight lengths, Il Est Francais then stepped out of his age group to take on the Grade Three Prix Juigne at Auteuil on Sunday.

Running for the first time under the name of his new trainers, the gelding was an authoritative length-and-a-half winner for Felix de Giles as usual rider James Reveley was ruled out after a fall.

The French Champion Hurdle – the Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil held in May – is the ultimate target and he may take in another outing along the way.

“I was delighted, he had to step up his game when going from his age group to open company but he did it impressively,” George said.

“He’s definitely going to improve for the race, he’s a very exciting horse for the future.

“He won’t be coming to the UK until the autumn, the French Champion Hurdle is the main plan. Whether or not he’ll have a prep race for that – there’s one in three weeks or one in six weeks – we haven’t really decided.

“He is bucking and squealing in the field today and we’ll see how we go over the next week or so.”

The Prix Juigne serves as something of a trial for the Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil, with Il Est Francais defeating 2022 winner Hermes Baie at the weekend and prior champions such as L’Autonomie and Paul’s Saga contesting the race en route to the summer Grade One.

“It’s the first big prep race for the Champion Hurdle in the programme at Auteuil and he managed to keep his unbeaten record in it, which is great,” said George.

“It was the first time Felix had ridden him and he got off him and said that he’s a very, very smart horse that’s going to be even better when he jumps a steeplechase fence. It’s very exciting to hear that when someone gets off.”

The horse is proving George’s French enterprise has been a worthwhile pursuit and is helping establish a family operation that runs on both sides of the channel and can open new avenues for horses handicapped out of contention in Britain – with the French-style hurdles also acting as a middle ground between smaller British hurdles and steeplechase fences.

“For horses that end up being badly handicapped, the programme out here is based on how much money a horse has won, a lot of horses can have won races in England and not picked up any money,” George explained.

“Also, for example, we ran a horse round Auteuil under dad’s name and he’d got a bit scared over English fences, but we ran him here and he just fell in love with it again.

“It gave him lots of confidence over those French hurdles rather than the high tempo of the chases we have in England.”

Prize-money is another great draw, with Il Est Francais the winner of over €300,000 in prize-money and premiums during his career so far.

“At the end of his four-year-old year he’d earned nearly €250,000, for what he’s won you’d have to be winning Grade Ones in England to be honest,” said George.

“It’s a great programme in that he’s been able to run against his own age group for a certain amount of time and he’s only just stepped into open company.

“It’s taken a few a years, I’ve had to learn the language and move away from home to a completely different lifestyle.

“To bump into a horse like him so early on has meant it’s not a difficult decision at all, these are exciting times and hopefully he can attract new owners and prove that horses are able to do it on both sides of the Channel for myself and dad.”