FRANCE’S non-thoroughbred register has been the source of many top-class National Hunt horses in recent decades, and it added another Grade 1 star to its ranks last weekend when Vibrato Valtat took the Racing Post Henry VIII Novices’ Chase over two miles at Kempton last Saturday.

Some horses who are registered as being AQPS (autre que pur sang) have quite colourful backgrounds, with a mixture of various breeds, including Selle Français, Anglo-Arabs and French Trotters.