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Adrien Cugnasse evaluates some of the young French-based sires who are making an early impression, and tells the story of the Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs

AT THIS YEAR’S CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL, French-bred horses won 11 graded races (48 per cent), compared to ten (43 per cent) for the IRE-suffixed runners and just two (nine per cent) for Britain.

It is an impressive figure especially if considering that the horses bearing an“FR” suffix only made up 37 per cent of the runners in these races, and represents just 18 per cent of runners across the jumps season in the UK.

All while the NH foal crop in Ireland is twice that of France!

Despite what is often suggested in the press, not all the good French-breds are exported outside their country of birth. Last February, Willie Mullins remarked: “Maybe it is a cyclical thing but what amazes me is that the French produce a small number of NH foals compared to Ireland, the winning ratio is huge.”

The figures seem to prove him right. Nonetheless, from a breeding perspective there are two situations that are difficult to explain: why, when the victories come, they do so and what is wrong when they don’t…

Nobody would appear to have an obvious and easy explanation for the success of the ‘FR’ over jumps.

If there is one thing that France does better than its neighbours, it is that there is a programme with plenty of depth for young horses, which is a huge asset for breeders.

The races for three and four-year-olds are, in general, those targeted by the majority of breeders, and they are easy to analyse. There is no need to have an inside line, as with Irish point-to-pointing, for buyers to come to the correct conclusion.

Take stallions, for example. If a young stallion can produce promising three and four-year-old winners, especially at Auteuil, it is an evident pointer to the quality of his stock.

And succeeding at this highly selective track requires innate jumping talent.

The first crops of Saint Des Saints (Cadoudal), Poliglote (Sadler’s Wells), Voix Du Nord (Valanour) and Doctor Dino (Muhtathir) all showed quality at the age of three. At four, the first signs of success were seen from the freshman crops of Network (Monsun) and Blue Bresil (Smadoun).

There are jump races for young horses throughout the year in the hexagon, with the first three-year-old races starting in March. At the time of writing, already around 40 three-year-olds have run over the French hurdles.

Stallions, who are now standing in Ireland, Sumbal (Danehill Dancer) and Mekhtaal (Sea The Stars), have each had a good runner that has placed on debut over hurdles from their first crop of three-yearolds.

There has yet to be a runner from the highly anticipated Beaumec De Houelle (Martaline), Cloth Of Stars (Sea The Stars) or Tunis (Estejo).

It is still therefore too early to be drawing any conclusions on this generation of stallions, but it should be interesting to revisit them in two or three months and see what progress has been made.

Stallions who retired to stud in 2018

Unfortunately, Pastorius (Soldier Hollow) has recently died, nonetheless, we can expect to see his progeny continue on an upward trajectory.

He first retired to stud in Germany, and his first jumps-bred French foals were born in 2019, and so are now four. Nearly half of his runners to date are winners, and a significant number of these will be competitive in the good conditions races, such as Josubie, Jabuse Machine and Joue Contre Joue.

The best of his progeny include the precocious Zenta, who was third in the Triumph Hurdle (G1), and Bolero, third in the Prix Cambacérès (G1).

The manner in which a jump sire is selected by a breeder is noticeably different on each side of the Channel.

In France, the first criteria is a pedigree that has proven jumping ability. The French breeder takes a chance on sires of diminutive size such as Poliglote, chestnuts (Doctor Dino) and those who ran themselves over jumps, a list that include sires such as Saint Ses Saints and Kapgarde as their pedigrees are resplendent with jumping performance. On the other hand, it is difficult to launch a son of Galileo or Dubawi on the French market as neither of these great sires have a great reputation with French jump breeders. This said, rules are made to be broken. Both Zarak (Dubawi) and Galiway (Galileo) are currently two of the leading young French sires over jumps.

Unfortunately for the jump breeders, they are both also extremely successful on the Flat, which means the former is standing at €60,000 and the latter at €30,000.

They are therefore completely priced out of the NH breeding market.

Zarak’s first crop are now four-year-olds, and he already has two black-type performers over jumps as well as the promising Bo Zenith in Britain.

As an aside, the first generation by Galiway are six-year-olds, and he is already the sire of eight black-type performers over jumps, including Vauban and Gala Marceau.

Ectot (Hurricane Run) has the type of pedigree that French jump breeders rave about with Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells), Linamx (Mendez) and jump performers in his close maternal pedigree. His first foals were born in 2019 and from the start, despite being marketed for the Flat, Ectot covered jumpbred mares. French stallion masters have no problem accepting non-Flat mares.

Four of his offspring have run over hurdles, including two winners. Louvetot has landed a smart conditions race and is highly regarded by his trainer Arnaud Chaille-Chaillem, while Sultan Pierji has progressed to win on his second try over hurdles.

Already reputed for producing tough racehorses, The Grey Gatsby (Matercraftsman) also covered jump mares in his first season. A straightforward filly on the Flat, his daughter Grey Val won a Listed hurdle at Doncaster.

For the moment his runners over jumps in France have not shown the same quality as those on the Flat, who are a cut above average.

Stallions who retired to stud in 2017

These sires have two generations of runners to their name.

In France the rising star in this age group is Karaktar (High Chaparral), who stands at Haras de Cercy for €4,500.

He was purchased for only €110,000 as a four-year-old, this former Classic prospect has the perfect profile for the French breeders with a brother Group 1-placed over hurdles, and both High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) and Kahyasi in his pedigree.

He received 74 mares in his first season; a rarity in France for a new sire who was just a Group 3 winner. Although his statistics are not hugely different to that of his peers, what makes Karaktar stand out is that he has already sired two Group winners at Auteuil, including the champion Il Est Français.

Unsurprisingly, the sire is now in high demand and his book was filled early on in the season.

Following the success of Network, sons of Monsun (Konigsstuhl) have been highly sought after at stud, but many of them did not go on to become established jump sires. However, Triple Threat (Monsun) has enjoyed a solid debut. Just over a third of his runners are winners, including the useful Pacific One (Triple Threat), who has been Listed placed at Auteuil, and the tough Sans

Following the success of Network, sons of Monsun (Konigsstuhl) have been highly sought after at stud, but many of them did not go on to become established jump sires. However, Triple Threat (Monsun) has enjoyed a solid debut. Just over a third of his runners are winners, including the useful Pacific One (Triple Threat), who has been Listed placed at Auteuil, and the tough Sans Bruit, who is already a Grade 3 winner.

In Britain, Gary Moore looks to have a promising four-year-old by the sire in Spirit d’Aunou.

The stallion’s popularity has taken a sharp rise and he covered over 100 mares in 2022, a big number for a young French sire, especially as he stands for just a small fee of €4,500 at Haras du Mont Gouber.

You would not necessarily expect a son of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) to succeed as a jump sire, yet Martinborough (Deep Impact) despite not seeing books of particularly good mares, could yet do so.

He is already the sire of six black-type performers, as well as this April’s impressive Autueil three-year-old winner Majborough.

Breeders are beginning to take notice –his books are progressively changing, and he is now receiving jump mares of some quality.

Fly With Me (Beat Hollow) received little support from breeders, and has had just nine runners over jumps. However, five of these are already winners, notably Jereviendrai, who won a Listed race at Auteuil.

Sires who retired to stud in 2016 Chœur Du Nord boasts a superb pedigree –he is by Voix Du Nord (Valanour) and out of a Cadoudal (Green Dancer) mare and is from a strong female line. Unsurprisingly, the stallion has been strongly supported since his debut at stud.

He has not yet produced a stand-out winner, despite having two runners Grade 1 placed, but he has produced a lot of winners and French breeders retain the faith.

He stands at Elevage Lassaussaye Guillaume for a reasonable €5,500 fee, and he will once again cover a big book of mares in 2023.

This is also the case for the Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed Bathyrhon (Monsun).

He is a very popular sire who produces plenty of winners, including at Auteuil and at black-type level.

Highly sought-after, he is just missing a top-flight individual, able to compete at Grade 1 level in France, Britain or Ireland – that would add another dimension to his career.

The story of a Gold Cup winner

HUBERT BUNEL, the breeder of Galopin des Champs, is 90 years old, and thanks to his 15 foals bred each year, he has produced Group-level trotting horses.

Like many trotting breeders, he explored breeding thoroughbreds, but without really knowing much about the breed. Things did not go to plan and, unfortunately, success did not come.

However, when the trotting jockey-driver Damien Bonne came to visit Bunel, as he did each year on a purchasing mission, a foal in the field caught his eye.

Without even looking at the pedigree, just looking at his conformation, Bonne bought the youngster for €6,000; Galopin Des Champs was the trotting man’s first thoroughbred purchase.

Bonne also took the opportunity to negotiate the purchase of the full-sister for €5,000, and he returned later to buy the dam.

At the time Bunel confessed that he was relieved to be rid of these thoroughbreds that had been such an unsuccessful experiment.

The 2023 Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs with trainer Willie Mullins after the victorious homecoming parade through the village of Leighlinbridge

Back at his training center, Bonne broke in the youngster as if he was a trotter, and his children were the first to ride him

The horse was sent to trainer Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé, who rang him less than a month later to report that Galopin Des Champs seemed to be a phenomena.

Strapped for cash at that time, Bonne immediately put the horse up to a number of French jump owners: they all refused to even come and see him.

At four, Galopin Des Champs posted an impressive debut win in May at Auteuil, a victory which caught the eye of Willie Mullins and Pierre Boulard, who bought the gelding for owner Audrey Turley.

Bonne reportedly sold the horse “very well”, and the money allowed him to save his business.

Manon Des Champs did not produce another foal, but Galopin Des Champs’s Listed-winning full-sister Flute Des Champs is due to Doctor Dino.

She is owned by Bonne and the resulting foal will be for sale.

When the racing press look at the pedigree of Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs (Timos) they are most likely to suffer “blank page syndrome”.

His sire Timos (Sholokhov), who died crossing the border of Lybia and Tunisia, was a well-bred German horse who covered very few mares (60 foals in seven years in France).

Perhaps there are still some offspring in Tunisia, should anyone wish to check!

He did win at Listed level, and was most likely a better horse than his form suggests.

He was given a chance at stud as his sire Sholokhov at that point had produced some smart horses from his first crop.

Although Galopin Des Champs is Timos’s only Grade 1 winner to date, a number of horses by him have shown quality over jumps.

Manon Des Champs won five small races, but more importantly is a daughter of Marchand De Sable (Theatrical), who is making a name for himself as a top dam-sire, and has produced two other Grade 1 winners (Sceau Royal and Taquin Du Seuil) in the sphere.

The grand-dam of Galopin Des Champs is a daughter of Mont Rouge (Shirley Heights), a four-time winner at Auteuil in the mid1980s, and two of those races are now Listed class. Mont Rouge stood in East France, not far from the German border, which was a form of exile for French stallions.

In the history of French breeding, dozens of horses who ran over jumps have retired to stud and this is no recent phenomena.

And their importance in the French bloodlines cannot be underestimated.

Take, for example, the pedigree of a horse such as Energumene. His sire Denham Red (Pampabird), was an extremely tough racehorse who won at Group level at Auteuil, and who outperformed a modest book of mares.

Denham Red crossed well with daughters of sires who had some Flat class – Un De Sceaux and Energumene are out of dams by April Night, while Oculi’s dam is by the Group 1 two-year-old winner Saint Cyrien).

Energumene’s granddam was a daughter of Pot d’Or (Buisson d’Or), winner of the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris (G1) in 1971 and a leading jump sire.

The limiting factor in the thoroughbred is jumping ability not Flat class. Any Group winner on the Flat can bring quality to a NH mare, and there are many on the market. Inversely, the jumping ability is harder to find. Either you need to be lucky with a Flat horse whose progeny can jump or use sires who were top class over jumps themselves.

With sires that have performed at Auteuil and a well-developed program for mares, the French bloodlines have decades of well-nurtured jumping aptitude on which to draw upon.