IRISH harness racing took another little step forward when Just In Time, owned by Sean Kane of The Naul, qualified to race in France last Friday at Grosbois near Paris. The four-year-old was the leading Trotteur Français in this country last year with nine wins.

Hi Fidelity, from the Wallace yard, actually qualified in France in 2021 but she broke down shortly afterwards.

Of all the Irish trainers, Sean and his father Ger have really bought into the Le TROT/IHRA scheme. The Kanes fondness for a ‘square goer’ should be no surprise as the family campaigned the Scandinavians Kavalier Hoff, Manab Star, Whenes Dream and Tanno Sensei long before the hook-up with France.

Sean, a fireman at Dublin Airport, has worked in France and driven winners there. Just like Liam Wallace, Sean had bad luck in France when his stable star of 2017, Ella Lou Lou, suffered a career ending injury in that country. However with a mare, there’s luckily a Plan B and the family covered Ella with Aladdin d’ Ecajeul “because his fiery nature might be a good mix with Ella’s laid-back temperament” as Sean explained at the time.

Just In Time is the result of the mating. Sean told The Irish Field: “To qualify a horse in France is a dream come true. His dam broke down over there and we failed with another two horses. I suppose the next dream would be to race, and to be competitive.”

Sean has good contacts in France. The horse is with the Swedish trainer/driver Bjorn Goop in Paris. Eve Saha is the groom. Franck Ouvrie, last mentioned in this column when winning in Lyre, drove Just In Time in the qualifier. “We’d hope to get Franck when the horse races as he has a great pair of hands,” Sean explained.

Public trial

Just In Time won the public trial, although he should as he was only in with three-year-olds and two-year-olds. The clock doesn’t lie and 1.17.6 (or 2.04 for the mile in our money) is a nice clock even by French standards.

Sean went on, “He’s ready to race. The only hold up is that the French insist on a rubber stamp to say he was gelded whereas in Ireland that’s not a requisite. I’m emailing the information tonight and then we’ll look for some soft races in the provinces to start the horse off.” The achievement was a boost for father Ger Kane who has been unwell.

Calvin Broughan of Broughan’s Coaches is part of the team at Mooreside Stables and he could well fill a ‘Naul to Paris Express’ on the first day that the horse gets into a race proper!

“With €28,000 lifetime earnings already, the horse should get onto a card,” Sean added. “In France if your earnings are too low it be hard to fit conditions.”

All at The Irish Field hope that the Kanes can match our racing stars and pick up another nice prize for Ireland.