'I bought the dam of Allaho when I was 15 for the price of a few bags of apples'

Tell us about your background

I'm from a small village next to Le Mans called Lombron. It’s in the north-west of France, next to a few historic stud farms at Savigne-l’Evêque – Haras du Mesnil and Haras de Maulpaire.

My father always had a broodmare at home, and I got involved when I started riding for a neighbouring amateur trainer during my school holidays. That's when I started to buy and sell cheap National Hunt broodmares.

Then, six years ago at the age of 20, when I couldn’t speak English, I left France to go to Ireland and that's where I started to get more and more involved in the racing industry.

You have worked at a wide range of bloodstock operations around the world. What did you learn in each of them?

I've been lucky to work for some of the most successful farms and people, including the legendary Gerry Dilger, who we lost far too early.

Each of those operations have their own way of breeding or prepping horses. But in all of them I learned that if you're passionate, you work hard and are willing to learn, you'll one day be rewarded.

We're lucky we get to travel around the world so much in this industry. Every country and every horse person has different ways of breeding, prepping, training and managing a business. Seeing both good and bad ways helps you to make your own opinion on how to try to breed or pinhook successfully.

One thing I did learn from all my travelling around the world is that you can't wait to get lucky and you have to form your own opinions and take a chance if you believe in yourself.

Can you tell us more about what you'll be doing in your new role at Arqana?

This kind of job has always been my goal. It's a huge opportunity for me, and I'm very proud to be part of the Arqana team.

My role at Arqana is to support the bloodstock team, but I'll be focusing on assembling the horses in training catalogues as well as sourcing young National Hunt horses to offer to clients.

French jumps horses dominate big races in Britain and Ireland – what do you think is the key to their success?

There are many different factors at play. First, the breeding of our mares: I think we have very good broodmares with strong old-fashioned jumping pedigrees and physiques.

Most of the very successful French National Hunt breeders have been breeding from the same families for years, so they have learned over many generations what sort of stallions best suit their mares.

I think most French breeders follow their own opinion and not the fashion. They breed with the intention of getting good-looking and solid horses that will race, and they never really think about fashion or marketing.

That said, in the last few years, breeding for fashion has been growing in France.

The second factor is, I think, the way the French train their horses to jump early, in tandem with a racing programme that helps to build jumping machines from a very young age.

Most French National Hunt two-year-olds already know how to jump perfectly. When they learn to jump so early, the effort becomes a reflex and they use less energy. That’s only my opinion!

Allaho: ace jumper was bred by Thomas Leffray with father EricCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

French jumps horses have consequently become quite expensive for British and Irish buyers. Do you have any tips on how to source them more cheaply?

If you want quality, you have to pay for it! I'm being tongue-in-cheek, but over the last ten years French breeders have become more aware of the success of their stock in the sales ring and on the track overseas, and that’s why they want their share of the rewards.

To source a French-bred more cheaply, I think you have to buy on the strength of conformation and take your own stance on pedigree, paying particular attention to the female family.

My tip would be to look for a good-looking horse, perhaps by an unknown or less exciting sire, but with very strong jumps sires on the dam's side of the pedigree. I particularly like youngsters from old jumping families, especially AQPS lines.

The November National Hunt Sale in Arqana is a very interesting auction for sourcing champions or excellent-value pinhooks.

Can you give us some darker French jumps sires to follow?

There are lots of lesser known but very good jumps sires across Europe, but especially in France. It all depends on the quality of the mares, in terms of pedigree and physique, each of them covers.

France has many less famous sires with low covering fees that are very good-looking – especially now there are more and more National Hunt horses who are not gelded so they can become stallions after their racing careers. A new market for well-bred jumps colts has been flourishing for the last few years.

You and your father bred Allaho, twice placed at the Cheltenham Festival. How did you source the dam, Idaho Falls, and what young progeny does she have?

It's a good story! My father asked me to find him a new broodmare and I found this young mare on the internet when I was 15.

She was for sale a few kilometres from home, and for the price of a few bags of apples. She had a decent pedigree [a Turgeon sister to Thyestes runner-up Tarquinius] and imposing physique, which made us snap her up straight away.

Despite her producing smashing looking stock, it wasn’t easy to sell her first three foals. But each of them became a winner, and two of them were black-type performers.

Both of those black-type horses, Shanning and Allaho, are trained by the master, Willie Mullins. It’s a dream for us to breed a horse at this level, with only two broodmares at home.

We still have the three-year-old full-sister to Allaho who we will race and then hopefully keep as a broodmare.

We also have a two-year-old filly by Spanish Moon – a full-sister to Shanning – and Idaho Falls this year produced a smashing No Risk At All colt who's a full-brother to Allaho.

How has the coronavirus crisis and lockdown affected you and your move to work at Arqana?

Lockdown didn’t affect me that much because I was working the breeding season in the stallion yard at Coolmore and we were lucky we didn't have to stop working.

It didn’t affect my move to Arqana much either, because it was always the plan to go back to France at the end of the covering season.

I got lucky that the border was reopened when I got back to France. I just had to quarantine on the way back from Ireland before I could meet family and friends.

It's hard to believe what’s happening in the world, but we have to all work together in the industry to try to get through these bad times.

Fingers crossed everything gets back to normal as soon as possible.

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