ON the flat, Andre Fabre’s domination continued unabated in 2019, while over jumps a new François Nicolle dynasty is being forged.

Fabre will be crowned champion flat trainer for a remarkable 30th occasion after he enjoyed one of his best seasons. With a total of €8.8 million in prize money, his margin of victory (over Jean-Claude Rouget) will rival the biggest ever recorded, the €3.4 million he finished clear of the same rival in 2015.

Fabre has just celebrated his 74th birthday, and he began the campaign with wins in two of the first three Group 1s. And though his Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner, Persian King, had to settle for second behind Sottsass in the Prix du Jockey-Club and was not seen thereafter, a fine bunch of two-year-olds, headed by Earthlight and Victor Ludorum, meant that the title was all but assured prior to Fabre extending his lead as the most prolific Arc-winning handler with an eighth success via Waldgeist.

In terms of strength in depth, the Arc was the race of the year – the first four were clear yet the fifth-placed finisher, Magical, beaten a total of 10 lengths, lost no time in franking the form by landing the Champion Stakes at Ascot less than a fortnight later.

The midsummer championship race for juveniles, the eight-runner Prix Morny, deserves a mention too. Its fifth, seventh and eighth-placed finishers went on to win two Group 2s and a Group 3, while its winner, Earthlight, followed-up in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, and his three closest pursuers all achieved subsequent Group 1 placings.

Visitors plundered

Although Irish and British visitors plundered over half of the Group 1 programme with four and 11 victories apiece, a young French trainer to hit the headlines was 42-year-old Francis Graffard, who landed his first classic, the Prix de Diane, with Channel just five days before Watch Me gave him a landmark Royal Ascot success in the Coronation Stakes.

On the riding side, Maxime Guyon will finally get his hands on the cravache d’or (golden whip) awarded to the nation’s top jockey after finishing second on no less than six previous occasions. Dual champion Pierre-Charles Boudot, runner-up for the second straight year, enhanced his global reputation with a fabulous Arc Weekend six-timer.

Pierre-Charles Boudot - a fabulous Arc Weekend six-timer / Healy Racing.

Over jumps, François Nicolle confirmed his second trainers’ championship with a late-season six-timer of his own, a November Friday meeting at Compiegne which saw him collect an incredible weekday prize money haul of €286,000.

Nicolle, who went 23 seasons with a licence before landing his first Grade 1 in late 2016, landed three top level contests including a third Prix La Haye Jousselin with Bipolaire, to see him finish almost €3 million clear of the 13-time champion, Guillaume Macaire.

Betrand Lestrade will become champion jump jockey for a fourth time despite missing three weeks owing to a suspension picked up when a brain fade saw him take a wrong turn when clear aboard the odds-on favourite in a €250,000 chase at Merano in Italy in September.

Racecourses

The number of racecourses in the Paris area continues to contract as the cost of living in the capital puts a squeeze on the sport. Evry shut down in 1997, jumps venue Enghien was lost in 2016, and now Maisons-Laffitte has not been allocated any 2020 fixtures, though local activists are hopeful that racing could yet return to the site, which is unsuitable for development thanks to its flood plain location.

France Galop’s decision to close it down looks more sensible after the track was hit by waterlogging and drought over the past two years – a prolonged dry spell meant that its flagship contest, the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin, had to be transferred to Deauville in July.