A DEMOLITION. That is the only way to describe the victory of Il Est Français in the Grade 1 Prix Renaud du Vivier at Auteuil on Sunday.

The Prix Renaud du Vivier is for four-year-olds and run over a distance of 3,900 metres (about two miles, three and half furlongs). It is the winter championship event for four-year-old hurdlers in France, the last Grade 1 of their jumping year, and is also known as the Grande Course de Haies des 4 Ans. The race was first run in 1986 and is named in honour of Renaud du Vivier de Fay-Solignac, who was president of the Société des Steeple-Chases de France from 1968 to 1977.