Fine Prichard ride headlines British success in France

Despite the lack of British-trained runners at France’s premier Autumn Jumps meeting this weekend, there was still plenty of British success over the two days. 

Bryony Frost got the ball rolling on Saturday when guiding the outsider Miss Des Boullats to success in race two, a handicap hurdle for three-year-olds.

The following race saw former Champion Jockey James Reveley win the Grade Two Prix Congress aboard the hugely exciting three-year-old Nador. On his first run in his new colours having changed hands for €200,000 just last week, the Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm-trained gelding was making it three wins on the spin over the Auteuil fences. He broke the track record earlier this year and looks set for even bigger things.

That same trainer and jockey partnership were on the scoresheet again 35 minutes later when Goliath D’Aunou made it two from two by winning the Prix Oeneas, a conditions hurdle over 2m2f.

There was further success for British-born riders on Sunday when, in the first race, Charly Prichard put in a fine front-running ride aboard the David Cottin-trained Karre D’As to win by a remarkable 14 lengths over odds-on favourite Kilt Ecossais in the opening Grade Three, a 2m6f chase for five-year-olds.

This was an incredible performance, especially given the context. Karre D’As had been off the track for a year and a half since finishing fifth in the Grade One Prix Ferdinand Dufaure Chase. Prichard was booked to ride her that day, but a fall earlier on the card in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris meant she was missed the ride through injury, with Rachael Blackmore drafted in as a late replacement to ride the David Cottin-trained filly.

Welsh-born Prichard, whose brother David landed the Welsh Grand National, is no stranger to success in France; she won the Grade Two Prix des Drags at Auteuil in 2023, but she had enjoyed a stop-start 2025 season until recent weeks where the wins have picked up.

Formerly attached to the stable of Guillaume Macaire, she then went freelance and is now based with last year's Champion Trainer Arnaud Chaille-Chaille, who trains on a dual licence with Francois Pamart in the South-West of France at Royan.

Speaking to me after her three rides in Paris on Sunday, Prichard said: "Karre D'As broke down the last time she ran, so she has been on the long way back to recovery. I go regularly to David Cottin's to ride and school so I had done some bits of work with her. She has calmed down a little bit, she still has to go out in front, because she isn't the easiest, but she is calmer than she was and that really does help in this ground."

Prichard said options remain open for the five-year-old mare going forwards. "There is a mares' only Graded race in a few weeks time, but she could go down to Pau for the Winter season, or she may be put away [until the spring].

"It has been a difficult enough year for me personally," she added. "I changed yards after the Pau meeting [over the winter months] and initially went back to my first boss Guillame Macaire but it didn't really work and nothing really came of it, so I went to ride out for Arnaud and Francois in August.

"They say another person's bad luck is another person's fortune, Gaetan [Masure] got an injury so there was an opening up of rides after I arrived and some nice horses I might not have ridden otherwise."

In the third race of the day, an eventful running of the Prix Cacao, a handicap chase over 2m6f, saw the six-year-old Cokoriko gelding Jolimay run out a wide margin winner for trainer Louisa Carberry in the colours of Lord Daresbury.

The Carberrys have punched well above their weight for some time from their relatively small base in Sennones in North-Western France. They have won three of the past six renewals of France’s biggest Jumps race, the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, so it was no surprise to see them on the scoresheet on the big stage yet again.

There was more joy for the Reveley/George/Zetterholm team later in the card, this time in a Grade One in the Prix Renaud du Vivier, a four-year-old hurdle in which Lulamba was originally entered for before being scratched in the week.

In testing conditions, Reveley’s mount It’s Win O’Clock held off Grade One winner Sain D’Esprit to win by three-quarters of a length, the pair filled the same positions in the trial for this race last month, although it was much closer this time around.

The big race of the day, the €540,000 Prix La Haye Jousselin, or ‘French King George’  followed, and it was Reveley who had to settle for second this time. Riding the favourite Kolokico, another horse carrying the colours of British owner Lord Daresbury, he did well to finish as close as he did after several jumping errors, with Toscana Du Berlais running out the six-length winner and the admirable Gold Tweet a length behind the runner-up in third.

The winner’s stablemate Kaadam, a Grade One winner on this card 12 months ago, and part-owned by British owners Andrew Peake and Simon Macauley, looked to be cruising when falling two fences from home. The five-year-old was a huge market mover in the race, having been available at 25-1 in the morning, yet was as short as 6.3 on the PMU come post time.