Il Est Francais team still stumped by Auteuil flop

Nothing has come to light so far as the mystery surrounding the performance Il Est Francais at Auteuil on Sunday remains unsolved.

Trainers Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm have carried out a full MOT on the six-year-old, who had been favourite for the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day prior to his disappointing display.

His participation in that race is now in grave doubt with George admitting he is still at a loss to explain the performance.

“We took him away for tests, he’s been scanned and had X-rays on his heart and lungs and everything and it all seemed normal,” he told Sky Sports Racing

“I haven’t got results back from the labs on the samples but obviously something stopped him and we need to fix it and get him back.

“These horses do have their days off but when he’s on song he’s very hard to beat.

“For me the horse seems happy in himself but we won’t know until we step up his work as that will tell us when it matters.”