Ladbrokes Kauto Star Novices' Chase: Il Est Francais brilliant winner

Part-owned by an Englishman in Richard Kelvin-Hughes, ridden by one in James Reveley and trained jointly by another Englishman in Noel George, he was representing France in no uncertain terms.

Still only five, Il Est Francais had carried almost all before him in France and from an early stage had most of his rivals under pressure with his cruising speed and accurate jumping.

Whether meeting fences on a long or short stride, the 13/8 chance made only one semblance of an error over the three miles and Reveley, son of former trainer Keith and a multiple champion jockey in France since moving there, always knew what he had underneath him.

Paul Nicholls’ Hermes Allen briefly looked a threat but once Il Est Francais was asked to put the race to bed, he soon opened up a distance between them again and in the end won by 11 lengths.

George trains in partnership with Amanda Zetterholm, while the winner is jointly owed by Haras De Saint-Voir, who also bred the gelding.

Unlimited race replays of all UK & Irish racing

Access to exclusive features all for FREE - No monthly subscription fee

Log in with your existing Sporting Life, Sky Bet, or Sky Games account. If you don't have any of those, it's completely FREE to register!

Sky Bet slashed the winner to 4/1 from 16s for the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at Cheltenham. Betfair and Paddy Power are 6/1 from the same price.

Relief for winning team

George said: “I’m just delighted that he’s been able to come over here and show everyone just how good he is. It’s great for French racing to come over here and prove we can be competitive at the top level.

“He made a couple of mistakes today but he was very, very good otherwise and he has an incredible cruising speed… He takes my breath away every morning on the gallops.”

George continued: “It is not very nice to watch as you always have your stomach in your throat. When you see him in the morning and I say he takes your breath away, he does. I was just nervous him coming over here and showing how good he is. I know he is the real deal.

“He doesn’t have to go in front, he has just got that cruising speed. I never work him in front at home as he does too much. He always sits in behind and quickens past them. He is a horse with so many different options. The dream this season is to win the French Gold Cup as his breeder, who owns half of him with Richard Kelvin-Hughes, he did everything he did to keep him trained in France to win a French Gold Cup and that is our main aim this season.

"A French Gold Cup then a King George here next year is very much what we would be thinking, but whether we go to Cheltenham we would have to see. The first day we schooled him over a French fence he did it like an old handicapper. He adapts so easily. I was pretty confident, but you are never 100 per cent sure when you come across the Channel.

“Now we can dream that he is a real superstar. One of the reasons why I love being out there is the breeding and the youngsters and the horses and materials we start with. To see all these horse coming to Cheltenham for the English and Irish stables that are all French bred. This was a French superstar that we managed to keep in France and prove they are the real deal.

“Richard Kelvin-Hughes invested a lot of money in this horse, and trusted us, and his dream is to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup and if we could do both that would be amazing. We take each step as it comes. It is his first trip across the Channel and he has shown everyone how good he is which is great.

“He jumped off and I thought Christ James you are going to quick, but the horse is just in his comfort zone. I’ve been watching all the replays of this race for I don’t know how many years. The speed he goes around Auteuil on heavy ground is quicker than the speed they go in this race. The big thing with the French horses is their jumping. He made a few little fiddly errors but he will learn. It is the way he takes lengths out of them with his jumping that is just phenomenal.

“This is our first year training as we got our licence in January. The horse won a Grade One under dad’s name in November, so officially it is our first Grade One so it is huge.”

The previous two French-trained winners of the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase were Francois Doumen’s Djeddah in 1996 and the Guillaume Macaire-trained Jair du Cochet in 2002.

Reveley faith rewarded

Reveley added: “We all had high hopes for this horse as we thought it would suit him around here, but he had to come and confirm it. I was just walking the course earlier and I was glad that we didn’t bring him last year as it would have been a big ask for a four year old. He is now a lot older and wiser and now was the right time to bring him over and he did it well.

"He pings off that good ground. Harry (Cobden on Hermes Allen) was fairly close to me early doors when I was thinking I was going quite a good gallop for three miles. My lad was just tanking the whole way and pinging his fences.

"He got one a little bit wrong down the back, but he was clever to be fair. I could have gone out there with a plan to take a lead as he would have settled in behind, but I thought today, in a small runner field, he is happy dominating and he has got a good cruising speed so I thought I would make use of him as that is what he is good at. He was really pinging them for the first circuit, but I wanted to get him to pop one or two as I thought we can’t ping everything, and if he gets tired he was going to need to get in deep, but he is good at getting in deep.

"Harry came to me at two out and I just asked for him to lengthen. He didn’t quicken, but he lengthened nicely, and there was still a bit left in the tank. He wasn’t fully wound up for today really. Noel has just been keeping him ticking over from his last race. I think there is a lot more to come.

“That is ticked off my list to ride a Grade One winner in England. I’ve not had a winner in England since 2016. It is great to come back in front of a big crowd and get all the congratulations. He is potentially the best I’ve ridden, but he has to go out there and prove it. So French has won two Grand Steeple-Chase (de Paris), but for me potentially he is the best.” (Graham Clark)

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org