Why are the French proving so strong in breeding NH horses?

A

Absurdistan

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Question for the experts.
Seems to be a conveyer belt of top horses coming from France.
Why?
I don't remember this always being the case.
 
Without having the facts and figures to hand I would say it's a cyclical thing.I can remember when Cyfor Malta first appeared on the scene the talk was of APQS horses being tougher as a breed and how they would dominate over the next few years.
 
I think it's partly the way they're prepared ie. schooling and handled from a relatively early age (compared to the British/Irish store horses) and as Luke says part of it will be cyclical.

Worth noting that a lot of the best prospects in France have some sort of form in the book in the various incarnations of listed hurdle events that Auteuil stage from March to October or so for 3yo's in particular so you know roughly what you're getting involved in and it wouldn't take a genius to workout that something that 17HH that's finished runner-up in a listed hurdle is likely to be half-decent.

They're also joining the very best of the best - Mullins, Henderson, Nicholls etc. kind of like a lot of the best p2p winners going to the same yards, there's little chance of one of the best prospects in France ending up at a smaller yard.

Would add that Banjo, Eudipe, Cyfor Malta, Champleve etc. were among the first bunch to come through and that was largely on the back of the likes of The Fellow doing well over here for Francois Doumen.

Martin
 
So what part in it all does the eye of the beholder, so to speak, have?

The law of averages would suggest that they can't all be good so the people who buy for Ricci, Hales etc are obviously very good at sorting the wheat from the chaff.

What do they see in the horses they look at? That's what fascinates me!
 
Re the French they have had steady success right through the twentieth century in top races Grand National (Lutteur), Gold Cup,( Fortina, the only entire to win ) and with sires Vulgan, Le Bavard et al.
When a horse like Le Paillon can be runner up in a Champion Hurdle before winning an Arc they have a history of developing their flat and NH breeds together in a lot of cases.
Value was had and the Doumen factor opened a lot of peoples' eyes to their worth.
Breaking and schooling their horses younger made for a different type of animal.
Supply and Demand laws then helped.
As for what they see , looking at WPM's bumper winner pre race last Sunday f**ked if I know!
 
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