Another French-trained winner of the Champion Stakes on the horizon?

Strong French challenge nothing new

For middle-distance horses, all roads in France lead to Longchamp and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the autumn. That’s fine for the mile and a half performers of course, but with the French programme offering little for their top mile and a quarter horses at this time of year, a cross-Channel trip for the Champion Stakes is required.

That goes a long way to explaining the success of French-trained horses in the race which since 2011 has been the centre-piece on British Champions Day at Ascot.

The French had a long history of success in the Champion Stakes at its former home of Newmarket with nine wins alone in the period between 1980 and the final running of the Champion Stakes at Headquarters in 2010.

In the 1980s, the most notable French-trained winner was the top-class and supremely tough mare Triptych who won successive Champion Stakes for Patrick Biancone, in 1986 and 1987, both times showing her potent turn of foot to particularly good effect.

In the following decade Andre Fabre landed his two Champion Stakes with Tel Quel and Dernier Empereur, and between those wins Hatoof, ridden by Walter Swinburn, was successful for Criquette Head whose father Alec had won the race twice in the 1950s.

There were two more wins for French-trained horses in the first decade of the current century with Christophe Lemaire winning back-to-back renewals on Pride and Literato for Alain de Royer-Dupre and Jean-Claude Rouget respectively in 2006 and 2007.

Cirrus builds up fine Ascot record

The first running of the Champion Stakes at Ascot in 2011 also had a French-trained winner when Cirrus des Aigles beat the Irish Champion Stakes one-two So You Think and Snow Fairy in track-record time.

The placed pair had also made the frame in the Arc beforehand but, as a gelding, the Arc wasn’t an option for Corine Barande-Barbe’s top-class performer who went on to contest another three Champion Stakes, finishing runner-up to Frankel and then Farhh in his next two tries.

Cirrus des Aigles’ rider Christophe Soumillon fell foul of the recently amended whip rules in Britain when successful in 2011 but five years later had little need for the stick aboard another top-class winner Almanzor who provided Rouget with a second Champion Stakes when beating the Arc winner Found.

Signed, sealed, delivered

The latest French-trained winner of the Champion Stakes came in 2021 when three-year-old colt Sealiway, who’d been runner-up to St Mark’s Basilica in the Prix du Jockey Club earlier that season, caused something of an upset at odds of 12/1 against a field that included Derby and King George winner Adayar and Juddmonte International winner Mishriff.

But less than two months after that victory, Sealiway’s trainer Cedric Rossi was among several family members arrested and subsequently banned from racing while investigations were carried out into alleged doping cases perpetrated from their base near Marseille.

While Rossi is no longer training under his own name, his ban has been partially lifted and, according to information published last month by online racing magazine Jour de Galop which has understandably raised some eyebrows, he is now employed as head lad to Patrice Cottier, trainer of the current favourite for this year’s Champion Stakes.

Horizon looking good for magnificent seven?

Horizon Dore races in the same yellow and green colours as the 2021 winner, part-owners Haras de la Gousserie also having a 50% stake in recently retired Arc winner Ace Impact.

A former jump jockey, Cottier is enjoying much his most successful season with a training license and currently occupies fifth place in the French trainers’ championship with earnings of €2.3m and an impressive 76 wins from 59 horses. Another member of his increased string this year as a result of joining forces with Rossi is the tremendously tough three-year-old filly Sauterne who became Cottier’s first Group 1 winner when successful in last month’s Prix du Moulin at Longchamp on her ninth run of the year.

Only last weekend, the stable won another big prize when two-year-old filly Classic Flower won the Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte at Chantilly.

Horizon Dore has been another notable successful story for the yard and goes to Ascot as the winner of six of his eight starts. His only defeats came in his first two runs this year, both of those races won by Big Rock who went on to finish second in the Prix du Jockey Club behind Ace Impact. While Horizon Dore couldn’t contest the ‘French Derby’ himself – he was gelded before he’d ever run - he has taken full advantage of the programme that is open to him, winning his last four races, including Group 2 successes in the Prix Eugene Adam at Saint-Cloud and the Prix Dollar at Longchamp.

Horizon Dore’s latest win at the Arc meeting was his best effort yet. Taking on older rivals for the first time in the Dollar, he came with a strong late run from towards the rear under a confident ride from Mickael Barzalona, also the partner of Sealiway two years ago.

The smart British-trained four-year-olds Jack Darcy, Ancient Rome and Checkandchallenge took three of the next four spots behind Horizon Dore but none of those are Champion Stakes horses and another step forward from Horizon Dore will be needed on Saturday if he’s to become the latest French-trained winner faced with potential rivals such as Mostahdaf, King of Steel and last year’s winner Bay Bridge.

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