Burke steps up for Il Est Francais ride

Auteuil date for Noel George-trained star.

Jonathan Burke will head to Auteuil on Sunday for the plum ride on exciting prospect Il Est Francais, who continues his French Champion Hurdle preparation.

The Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm-trained five-year-old is already a Grade One winner and is unbeaten in five attempts over hurdles.

With regular partner James Reveley sidelined with a broken leg, Felix de Giles came in for the ride on the gelding when he won by a length and a half from Kapteen earlier this month, who renews rivalry.

Il Est Francais is set to take on six rivals, who include Arnaud Chaille-Chaille’s crack hurdler Theleme, in the Prix Hypothese, a Grade Three contest over an extended two and a half miles.

Going two furlongs further than when landing the Grade Three Prix Juigne at the same track, George is anticipating it will be a tough assignment.

He said: “He is running and Johnny Burke is coming over to ride him. I just thought we should give him another run.

“He has come on a lot for his comeback run. We are taking on Theleme, who is one of the best hurdlers in France, so it is not going to be an easy task, although he’s got to give us four kilos as well, so hopefully we can keep our unbeaten record.

“But the main objective is in May (French Champion Hurdle).”

Il Est Francais, winner of the Grade One Prix Renaud du Vivier at Auteuil in November, could represent owners Richard Kelvin-Hughes and Haras De Saint-Voir at the Cheltenham Festival next year, should he progress as hoped.

Yet George and Swedish-born Zetterholm, who owns the yard at Avilly Saint-Leonard on the outskirts of Chantilly, are taking it one race at a time with the strapping gelding who takes a bit of work in order to get him cherry-ripe.

George added: “He might have another run before the French Champion Hurdle after this. We will see how he comes out of it.

“To be honest, he is not easy to get 100 per cent fit, because in the morning there are not many who can go with him.

“It is quite nice to get a few runs into him before the big race, but we will see. He is a nice horse.”

British race-fans won’t have to wait too much longer before finally getting to see Il Est Francais in the flesh.

“Hopefully he will be in England in autumn when we go novice chasing,” said George.

“He will probably run in a French chase first and then maybe come over at Christmas-time, for something at Kempton or something like that.

“Hopefully we will be at Cheltenham next year for a novice chase I think.”

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