French-breds dominating at start of season - but expect the Irish to fight back

It is fair to say the season has started with a real sense of ‘allez les bleus’, with the four-year-old maiden division seemingly taken over by French-breds in the early weeks of the campaign.

Loughrea played host to the latest example of this when Un Sens A La Vie, trained by Denis Murphy, led home a French-bred clean sweep at the Galway Blazers fixture, filling the first four places in the eight-runner four-year-old maiden.

This is an extreme example of the current situation across the last two weekends, but it was the latest race in the category to have fallen France's way. 

Four of the five four-year-old maiden races for geldings run this season have been won by a French-bred, courtesy of Shabalko D’Herm at Toomebridge, Ksar D’Oudairies at Castletown-Geoghegan and the mightily impressive Kovanis at Portrush, in addition to Un Sens A La Vie.

Colin Bowe’s Sholokhov gelding, Bonapartes Retreat, was the exception when the Irish-bred won the opening split of the four-year-old maiden at Castletown-Geoghegan almost three weeks ago.

It is true to say some point-to-point trainers have been casting their nets wider in recent years as they extend their search for new equine talent beyond these shores, taking in French sales at the likes of Arqana.

Donnchadh Doyle is one such handler whose name has featured in the purchase column at sales in Deauville. However, it is interesting to note all four of the winning French-bred four-year-olds this term have been sourced from the more traditional settings of store sales at Doncaster, Tattersalls or Goffs, a reflection of the increasing number of French-breds available within the domestic sale market.

These latest set of results shouldn't set off alarm bells for Irish breeders just yet, as this eyecatching start to the new campaign looks to be an outlier.

Rewinding to the spring term, Irish-bred four-year-old geldings dominated, accounting for 54 of the 73 victories in the category, with French-breds adrift with just 14 successes.

How that particular battle plays out in the weeks ahead will be worth following, but the trends tell us we should expect Irish-bred horses to launch a strong fightback as we head deeper into the campaign.

Weekend fixtures

Saturday
Loughanmore First race 1.00

Sunday
Peppards Castle First race 1.00
Umma House First race 1.00

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