IT is going to be a challenging year for France Galop. Edouard de Rothschild is back at the helm after a break of four years and he looks much more hands-on than he was for his previous mandates when he was also carrying out a business career as well as finding time for his passion of show jumping.

There is also a new managing director at headquarters and Olivier Delloye took up his duties in mid-March after a previous highly successful 10-year career in a similar position at the sales company Arqana.