THERE was a desperately sad outcome to the Grade 3 Prix Carmarthen (Hurdle) at Auteuil last Sunday.

The Francois Nicolle-trained six-year-old Kingland continued his impressive march towards the top of French jump racing, but his victory will be remembered for the loss of dual French Champion Hurdle winner Losange Bleu.

The seven-year-old held an advantage over Kingland turning for home when he collapsed into the rails.

It left his senior French jockey Johnny Charron in tears as he returned to the weighing room.

The winner is owned by British owners Angus and Lynne Maclennan, and Kingland made it two wins from as many starts on his return from 18 months on the sidelines.

Angus Maclennan said on Racing Post: “You can’t really celebrate a day like today. That is the champion hurdler and we thought we had a chance of beating them at the weights today, then there was going to be the big match-up in November at levels. That now won’t happen.”

Kingland, who won by nine and a half lengths from Theleme, will be aimed at the Grade 1 Grand Prix d’Automne in November with talks of an aim for the Gold Cup at Cheltenham on hold for now.

The winner of 15 of his 27 starts, Losange Bleu was trained by Dominique Bressou to earn more than €1.7m in prize money.

The son of Martaline won five of the seven Grade 1 hurdles he contested, including two Grande Course de Haies (French Champion Hurdle) and the Grand Prix d’Automne.