French Jumpers

A half-sister to the very useful Goshen, a dual Grade 2 winner for Gary Moore, Delmegan has already won two Grade 2 hurdle races at Auteuil. You might call her lucky that Leopard Du Berlais fell in the Grade 2 Prix Amadou in April, but she confirmed her ability when finishing second to the Willie Mullins-trained Selma De Vary in the Grade 1 Prix Alain du Breil, the French four-year-old Champion Hurdle. Incidentally, Leopard Du Berlais finished third that day. Trained by Elisabeth Allaire, she has only run four times this season and seems equally effective on any ground. Following her summer break, she was beaten by the Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm-trained Guadalquivir in the Grade 3 Prix de Maisons-Laffitte, but the Anglo-Swedish training partnership has had all its horses ready to run following the break, whereas Delmegan may have needed the race. She has never finished outside the first three in 10 starts, and I think she can still improve further.

What a difference a summer break and a change of tactics can make. Ridden towards the back of the field on his debut in a 1m7f hurdle race at Auteuil in May, Flonis looked awkward, green and ill at ease. In the end, he was pulled up with two hurdles left to jump. On his return to Auteuil after the summer break, he went straight into the lead in the 2m1½f Prix Mid Dancer and never looked back. With his ears pricked, he clearly enjoyed every jump before pulling away from the rest of the field as they approached the winning post. It was a really impressive performance on only his second start, particularly against horses that had already made their seasonal reappearance. It is difficult to say just how good he is, but his trainer Yannick Fouin, who handled Lossiemouth before she joined Willie Mullins, knows how to get the best out of his horses, and I think there is still plenty of improvement to come from him.

As the winner of the 2025 Prix Murat, a 2m6f chase, it was only natural that Goliath Du Rheu went into last year’s Grade 1 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris as one of the leading contenders. However, as they entered the final stages of the 3m7f race, he paid the price for his early efforts and faded to finish a distant tenth. His aggressive racing tactics were blamed for the heavy defeat, and Goliath Du Rheu did not return to Auteuil until this month. Ridden patiently at the back of the field this time, he made a winning return in the Grade 3 chase over 2m6f. His trainer François Nicolle was delighted with the victory after 19 months on the sidelines and is now aiming to run him in the Grade 1 Prix de la Haye Jousselin. He will probably have one more start beforehand, perhaps in a race such as the Grade 3 Prix Héros XII, but his main target is the 3m3½f Grade 1 in mid-November. Following his return to winning ways, there have been questions about his ability to stay in a race such as the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris and the Prix de la Haye Jousselin, but his trainer is convinced that stamina is not the issue and that racing tactics are the key. He certainly deserves another chance in the big one, and I think he is an interesting horse to follow.

The Papot family have owned some of France’s best National Hunt horses, including Losange Bleu and Sel Jem, winner of the 2022 and 2025 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, and it looks as though they have bred another future star in Huron Bleu. Trained by Dominique Bressou, the three-year-old son of Maxios is unbeaten in a trio of starts over hurdles at Auteuil. Already promising on his debut in April, he was even more convincing when winning the Grade 3 Arqana Prix Aguado by six lengths. Settled in midfield behind his leader Naruto Banbou, he travelled smoothly before quickening clear after the final hurdle. He kept finding more all the way to the line and, when he returned after the summer break, showed that he had improved yet again. His target is now the Group 1 Prix Cambacérès, which takes place at Auteuil on 15 November. Of all the horses to have run at Auteuil this season, he is the one who has caught my eye the most.

The Dominique Bressou-trained dual French Champion Hurdle winner is a horse who has to feature at the top of the list of anyone who loves jump racing and, more importantly, anyone who loves a horse that delivers time and again. A winner of 15 races from 25 starts, the son of Martaline has hardly ever finished outside the first two. As with all good horses, his performances are always analysed in great detail, and some people felt that his victory in the Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil in May was not particularly impressive because the British raiders, including Joseph O’Brien’s Cheltenham Stayers’ Hurdle hero Home By The Lee, had performed below par., I don’t agree with them. Over the 3m1½f course, he made not a single mistake as he beat former champion hurdler Theleme by seven lengths. At just seven years old, Losange Bleu is very much in the prime of his career and there is no reason why he shouldn’t win the French Champion Hurdle, which is run in May, again. In the meantime, though, he will be prepared for the Grade 1 Grand Prix d’Automne, which takes place at Auteuil in November and which he won last year, beating Jet Blue. He made his mid-season comeback the other day when finishing third after his jockey had been overconfident and allowed him to go to sleep. I’m sure, though, that it won’t happen again.

It’s a bit of a theme this season with all the “Blues”, but no matter how much you try to avoid them, if you are looking for progressive three-year-olds, the Papot family seem to be holding all the cards. Lune Bleue only made her debut in September this year, which is considered rather late for a French-trained three-year-old. Most of the fillies she met in the Group 3 Prix de Chambley, a 2m2f hurdle race, had therefore already had several runs, but despite their greater experience, they never got close to Lune Bleue, who won by an astonishing 20 lengths. Now, the opposition was perhaps not the strongest, but she could only beat what was in front of her. What speaks massively in her favour, though, are the sectional times, which were faster than those recorded by her stablemate Huron Bleu, who ran on the same day. Lune Bleue’s victory in the Prix de Chambley came too late for her to be entered in the Prix Cambacérès, so she will instead be directed towards a Group 2 race. That might prove to be a blessing in disguise, as it will give her a gentler climb up the ladder.

Trained in the southwest by Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé and François Pamart, this filly really came into her own once she was switched to chasing. A winner on her first start over fences at Auteuil, she was severely hampered by a faller on her second start in a 2m1½f Listed chase, again at Auteuil. She fought hard though to stay in the race and eventually won by a head. She was then stepped up in class in the 2m6f chase Prix Ferdinand Dufaure, a Grade 1 where she came up against Metronomique, equally one of my 12 to follow. Ridden patiently towards the back, she made her move around the final bend and was closing in on the leader and eventual winner Metronomique when she fell at the second last. It was really frustrating because she just got the footing wrong on reception. It was a stupid mistake, which left everyone wondering what might have been. In fairness, despite giving her 2kg, Metronomique was always going to be hard to beat, but she had made such a strong move in the final bend that you have to wonder whether she could at least have given him a good run for his money. I can’t wait to see her after the summer break, and I believe the only way is up.

The Tom George and Amanda Zetterholm-trained Metronomique was unbeaten in three starts over hurdles and fences at Compiègne before he was entered in the Grade 3 Prix Fleuret at Auteuil. There is a theory that not every horse who does well at Compiègne performs equally well at Auteuil, and vice versa. A theory he seemed to confirm when he fell on his first start at Auteuil in April, before returning to the winner’s enclosure at Compiègne. Nevertheless, when he lined up for his second start at Auteuil in the Grade 1 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure, he was the hot favourite, a role he embraced wholeheartedly as he romped home authoritatively under James Reveley. In fact, the three-time French champion jockey hardly had to move on him, and there can be no doubt that the four-year-old son of Cloth of Stars has an extremely bright future ahead of him. Making all from the front, it was an impressive display of his ability, and he still looks to have plenty of room for improvement. As there are only nine Grade 1 races in France, this was a significant test for a relatively inexperienced horse, and Metronomique passed it with flying colours. Not only that, after his summer break, he added the Grade G3 Prix The Fellow to his growing record, once again winning convincingly. He is now going into the Grade 1 Prix Réné du Vivier as the firm and deserving favourite.

I’m taking a bit of a gamble with this three-year-old. Nom d’un Chien is a full brother to Grade 3 winner Matin Midi et Soir, who used to run in the Simon Munir and Isaac Souede colours. He was subsequently sold to Ireland, where he is now trained by Henry de Bromhead. So when Nom d’Un Chien joined the François Nicolle yard, there were plenty of expectations when he made his debut in the 1m7f Prix Grandak for unraced horses at Auteuil in March. And he didn’t disappoint, winning by eight lengths. Naturally, I expected him to run well again after the summer break, but that did not happen. He finished stone cold last in the Group 3 Prix Robert Lejeune, which Huron Bleu won by 17 lengths. However, I believe that run was too bad to be true. Something must have been seriously wrong that day. The François Nicolle yard did have a virus earlier in the year, so perhaps he was one of the horses affected by it. In any case, I think he deserves another chance.

The Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm training partnership has some exciting three-year-olds in their yard this year, and the Alain Jathiere-owned Stalky is one of them. He was the winner of the Prix Finot, a race for unraced three-year-olds that has produced the likes of François Doumen-trained Kasbah Bliss, a Group 3 winner on the Flat and fourth in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham behind Big Buck’s. It also produced the Guillaume Macaire-trained French, who won the 2017 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris. Alain Jathiere was determined to add the Prix Finot to his record and Stalky was more than ready to deliver. He won by four and a half lengths from the Papot-owned Narvick Sween. One has to wonder how much more he can improve from that performance, given that this race was very much his target, but he looks a solid individual. The Prix Cambacérès could now be on the cards for him.

Not one of the “Blues”, but still owned by the Papot family and, once again, trained by Dominique Bressou. I wish I could include other trainers and owners in this list, but they really do have a very strong hand this season. Varsovie has enjoyed mixed fortunes in his still young career. He was going well on his debut when he stumbled and fell on landing after jumping the last. On his next start, he jumped the last hurdle well, but then hung badly to the right, causing interference that resulted in one of his competitors falling. The stewards subsequently disqualified him. His third start, following the summer break, finally produced the desired result when he won the Prix des Platanes very convincingly. A horse with a big stride, he is still a little weak, and while he will run in the Group 1 Prix Cambacérès, he might be more of a horse to follow in the spring.

In 2023, Zarakhan won twice over 1m4f on the Flat and was even placed at Listed level before successfully making the transition to hurdling, where he has excelled. In 11 starts over hurdles, from 2m1½f to 2m5½f, he has never finished outside the first two. In fact, the only blemish on his jumping career came when he was pulled up in last year’s Grade 1 Grand Prix d’Automne. As he is from the same generation as Losange Bleu, he is unlikely ever to start favourite when he meets the Dominique Bressou-trained superstar, but he will always give his best. Since finishing in that Grade 1 last year, he has been given much easier assignments, away from Auteuil, at Bordeaux-Le Bouscat and Compiègne. Following his mid-summer break, he made a successful return to Auteuil in a 2m3½f hurdle race, which he won despite carrying 3kg more than his rivals. Trained by Etienne d’Andigné, I’m not saying he will beat Losange Bleu when they meet again in the Grand Prix d’Automne, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him finish in the first three.