Why the French lead the field in the jumping game

"We do a bit of that over here but in no way so much as they do. And by the age of three French jumpers have also done a great deal of work on a lunging rein, being schooled in a figure of eight sequence. However, it has its advantages and disadvantages. When their chasers eventually do come over here they tend to need a run or two to get the hang of our style of jumping. It can come as a bit of a shock to their system, as they are used to the French type of fences.

"The big obstacles there are not quite as big as ours and subsequently they can get away with more. They are softer and broader and chasers don't have to get so high in the air. When they arrive here they soon learn to get up off their hocks or they end up on the deck.

"Doumen, with his experience, obviously gave First Gold plenty of schooling over English type fences back home, but he is the exception. Several of the expensive purchases from France have not exactly sparkled on their initiation here before getting their acts together."

There are scores of 'gaffe' tracks in the French provinces which cater for trotting as well as knock-about jumping contests, from which emerge a broad tapestry of National Hunt aspirants to the top two jumping courses of Auteuil and Enghien.

Gallagher has first-hand experience of these two circuits and of the former says: "I think Auteuil, in the centre of Paris just down the road from Longchamp, is a graveyard for good horses because it is so testing. It may produce good ones for a season or so, but I reckon they do not last in the long run.

"The fences there, however, are about three-foot-six high and if you jump up in the air too much you lose ground, whereas ours are four-foot and stiffer and you can't get away with brushing through the tops of them.

"Bring a French horse over here and he is clever because he has been jumping from an early age. He will hit a fence once or twice and then the penny drops that he has got to pick his feet up.

"We buy horses from Ireland as 'store horses' that are not even broken in until four sometimes. They are still learning to trot and canter. As a result they take until six or seven to learn to jump proficiently, whereas the French ones are virtually ready made

"The drawback to the French however is that they have a lot of mileage on the clock by the time they are five and won't probably last as long as an Irish-bred would. If I was to buy a French horse I'd get a hurdler at three and not a chaser at five. The younger horse can be brought along better."

Cheltenham next March will tell us just how good the French connection is. Frogs legs have certainly proved tasty as an appetiser for the National Hunt Festival, but have they got the substance to satisfy on the main course?