George on the lookout for Francais confidence builder

Il Est Francais could have his next race in France, as Tom George searches for a suitable option to rebuild confidence in his out-of-sorts stable star.

The eight-year-old has made his name on the continent and won a Grade One for the Slad handler in late 2022, before switching to son Noel and training partner Amanda Zetterholm to continue his career at their base close to Chantilly.

A further three Auteuil victories would follow, but Il Est Francais really hit the headlines with his Christmas raids on Kempton, winning the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase in emphatic fashion in 2023 before returning a year later to give a bold sight when agonisingly denied back-to-back festive victories in the King George VI Chase.

Returned to the care of Tom George with another tilt at the Sunbury track’s Boxing Day showpiece the aim, the gelding was pulled up on his Ascot return and after a similar fate followed in the King George itself, connections are now pondering their next move with options in France proving tempting.

George explained: “We’re just going to work out what is best for him now, he’s a young horse who loves life and still has plenty of enthusiasm. The problem is getting him in a race where he can be competitive and unfortunately there are not those races in England but there might be in France.

“He’s in great form and has come out of the King George well. It is obviously well documented his previous issues, but there was none of that and it might just be he has lost the fight at the moment when he is coming under pressure which is understandable having had a few hard times.

“We’ve thought about getting him back in a couple of conditions races to try to get the ball rolling again and it’s hard for a horse like him to get back on track when there is no easy options.

“He needs to be against a lower level of horse and get competitive again and then we can see where we are after that and there’s no options for him to do that really in England.

“It’s not definite and we may end up considering another race over here, but we do want to find something easy for him to get his confidence back. He’s lost his confidence and when he’s under pressure he’s just folding up a little bit.”