“THERE’S now one question journalists won’t be able to ask me anymore: when are you going to win the [Grade 1] Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris?” said François Nicolle with a smile, just seconds after his charge Diamond Carl (Diamond Boy) captured France’s most prestigious jumps race on Sunday at Auteuil.

The renowned trainer had never previously won this race, despite a résumé filled with victories in all of France’s other top hurdle and chase events. Winning rider Clément Lefebvre, stepping in at the last minute to replace the injured Bertrand Lestrade, rode a textbook waiting race, sweeping past his opponents between the final two fences, and opening a decisive gap that only grew on the run-in.