FESTIVAL NEWS FOCUS ON FRANCOIS DOUMEN:CHELTENHAM MIGHT be renowned for its history of Anglo-Irish rivalry but with Kasbah Bliss expected to start a red-hot favourite for today's Ladbrokes World Hurdle there is set to be more than a touch of Gallic panache on show that everyone can get behind.
It is hard to crab the outstanding credentials that the French star brings to the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, the Day Three feature.
Outstanding in his warm-up race at Haydock, Kasbah Bliss also has Grade 1 flat form competing against star names like Yeats. It’s fair to say most of his opposition today couldn’t get within shouting distance of Inisfree against such a horse on the level.
However one doubt that will encourage those who want to oppose him is the presence of the veteran French champion jockey Christophe Pieux on his back. Though he was tactically spot on at Haydock and has had huge success around Auteuil over the years, those holding their noses about Pieux will deliver the “Cheltenham is different” spiel. It’s just as well then that he has François Doumen on his side.
The trainer of Kasbah Bliss has been through this many times since he first registered on the National Hunt psyche in these islands with a 25-1 victory for Nupsala over the mighty Desert Orchid in the 1987 King George.
Since then there have been four more King George victories and a Gold Cup for The Fellow in 1994. Other festival successes include a brace of wins in today’s big race for Baracouda (2002-2003) as well as a Triumph Hurdle for Snow Drop in 2000.
The latter two horses were ridden by his son Thierry who encountered regular scorn for his riding style. But to Doumen it is all water off a duck’s back.
“These criticisms are so banal. They are not well informed and not well thought out,” he once sniffed dismissively.
It’s impossible not to imagine such a comment being delivered with a classic Parisian shrug and there is plenty to back up the view of Doumen as the epitome of Gallic suavity.
Plenty of tweed has been on view at Cheltenham this week but none will be better cut than that of the 68-year-old. With a temper that has been known to combust when riled, Doumen simply is French jump racing to an awful lot of people.
But the cartoon cliche doesn’t do justice to the man. Born just three days before the Wermacht arrived in Paris, his father was a trainer but François didn’t slavishly follow in the family footsteps. Instead he studied veterinary science before managing an import-export business in South Africa. Only then did he return to Paris to take out a licence in 1977 with his horizons significantly widened.
So much was obvious with his raids on the top British races and also when First Gold landed the Gold Cup at Punchestown six years ago.
He has also tasted top-class success on the flat with Jim And Tonic who was a four-time Group 1 winner. Through it all he has been determined to do things his way.
Baracouda was a horse in a lifetime for many trainers, but Doumen viewed him with a detachment that would be alien to some of his more earthy colleagues on this side of La Manche.
“The Fellow and Snow Drop were very sensitive to me but not this one. I have enormous respect for Baracouda but it is difficult to become attached to him. I’m afraid he has no personality,” he once said sadly.
The same could hardly be said for Baracouda’s trainer who trains at Bouce in Normandy, just 40 miles south of Caen, and who commutes to a satellite yard in Chantilly outside Paris.
A polo enthusiast as well as a proficient skier, he is not one for entertaining fools which means his lack of profile among his compatriots at home hardly keeps him awake at night.
“Unless it is the French betting system of putting the first three, five or seven in the right order in some flat handicap, they are not interested.
“It used to annoy me but now I feel more sorry for the French betting public. They are missing out on a fantastic sport,” he said recently.
Instead any ego-boosting recognition from the general public is usually reserved for raids across the channel.
Provided Monsier Pieux gets it right, there should be quite a lot of it around this afternoon.
