THIS article should have been about the last important flat meeting of the French season and the possibility of Aidan O’Brien taking his record number of Grade/Group 1 wins to 28.

Sadly, last Sunday, the afternoon turned into a fiasco after the first race when a group of owners, breeders and trainers called “Sauvons le Galop” (Let’s save racing) blocked the entrance to the paddock. They were protesting by what they considered to be an unfair cost cutting budget which was to be voted on the following day at a France Galop board meeting.

French racing has had to cut its cloth following several years of poor pari-mutuel turnover so €25 million needed to be trimmed in the 2018 budget to balance the books. This mainly concerned owners and breeders’ premiums while prize money escaped to a large extent.

It was a sad day and a bad one for the reputation of the French sport as the feature races were the Group 1s Criterium de Saint-Cloud and the Criterium International and they have now been abandoned although there is a lobby to have them reinstated. There are some discussions on going that may result in some of the travel expenses being reimbursed.

LEADING CHANCE

O’Brien sent five horses for the meeting and others came from Harry Dunlop, James Tate, Karl Burke, William Haggas and Ed Walker.

In addition, the French hope in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud, the Irish-bred Luminate, had a leading chance and 25 members of the Highclere Thoroughbred Racing had come over to watch the filly. The French could have made it a Group 1 double with Sacred Life in the Criterium International so one can imagine the fury of Jean-Louis Bouchard and his team.

It is worth taking a look at the financial aspect which led to the problems last Sunday. France Galop had a deficit of nearly €46 million in 2015 and almost €34 million the following year. A shortfall of €28 million has been pencilled in for the current year.

Back in 2011, the Pari Mutuel Urbain (off course tote) financed racing to the tune of €876 million, which is roughly shared equally between the gallopers (France Galop) and the trotters.

This contribution has fallen every year since and worked out at €796 in 2016 but turnover is now picking up so an important corner has been turned. To help with costs, the Equidia Life equine channel has been dropped but the racing channel Equidia Live continues as before.

It should also not be forgotten that France Galop has invested €130 million in ParisLongchamp which is due to open next spring.

At the board meeting last Monday, the budget cuts were voted unanimously but they had been tweaked a little to satisfy the majority of the racing fraternity.

Quite why this could not have been hinted at during the confrontation at Saint-Cloud last Sunday remains a mystery.

The cancellation of the main events is estimated to have cost French racing €2.1 million!

Fou fires for Hayes

ANNE-Marie Hayes won a nice prize at Chantilly last Monday with her Knocktoran-bred Fou Rire (Giggles). The daughter of Iffraaj picked up €20,680 when landing the six and a half-furlong Prix du Puits on the all-weather track and she appears to prefer sound surfaces. It will be interesting to see where Fabrice Chappet runs her next.

And while on the subject of Irish owners, Theresa Marnane has now totted up over €820,000 or nearly €1.14 million when French-bred owners’ premiums are taken into account.