YOU might find it difficult to believe now, but up until not that long ago, French-bred jump horses did not have the best reputation on the other side of the English Channel. There was a firm belief amongst trainers and owners that they couldn’t stay up the hill at Cheltenham, that they were too small, not quick enough over hurdles and that they certainly couldn’t go the distance and master the big fences at Aintree.

That all changed 30 years ago, when the François Doumen-trained The Fellow, a French-bred AQPS (Autre que Pursang or French half-bred as they are often known) stormed up the hill to win the 1994 Cheltenham Gold Cup. His victory was received with an odd mixture of quiet consternation and reluctant admiration, but with it too came the realisation that, at a time when Irish National Hunt horses were pricing themselves out of the market, there might be an attractive alternative.

It took a further 13 years before another French-bred horse would propel himself onto the podium of the holy grail in jump racing, but by then Paul Nicholls-trained Kauto Star was already considered a champion in the making and hence went off the firm favourite. By the time the likes of Long Run, Al Boum Photo, A Plus Tard and Galopin Des Champs added their names to the record books of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, seeing the suffix FR behind the victor’s name was no longer a novelty, nor a surprise.

The Champion Hurdle, too, has seen its fair share of French-bred winners, including Hors la Loi III, Binocular, Faugheen, Buveur d’Air, Espoir d’Allen, Epatante and obviously last season’s winner State Man. Trained by Willie Mullins, the 10-time Grade 1-winning State Man is just one of many champions to come out of the Closutton yard that has been relying on French-bred horses for the past decade, if not longer. In fact, Mullins’ yard would be seriously depleted if it wasn’t for the French-bred horses and he, probably more than anyone else, was one of the early pioneers to experiment with the potential of the breed.

State Man has been a remarkable servant to connections, winning 12 of his 15 starts and never finishing out of the first two when completing \ Healy Racing

State Man’s debut in France though was fairly inconspicuous, unless you had a good eye, as recalls Guy Cherel, who bred the son of Doctor Dino and Arret Station for his Irish clients, M L Bloodstock.

Fast finisher

“State Man ran for the first time in the Prix Wild Monarch at Auteuil, which is a race for unraced colts. His jockey had obviously forgotten to put his alarm clock on and completely missed the start. They then finished like a rocket, though without getting to the winner and that is when I sold him. Auteuil is the best place to look for horses. You can’t steal a race in Auteuil, so when your horse is involved in the finish, take notice. Obviously everyone sees the winner, but it’s the second and third placed horses that you need to follow. You have to have an eye for that and that’s what the Irish trainers have. However, I have to admit, at the time, I didn’t think State Man would have such an amazing career, but then again, I’m not surprised. Irish trainers are just incredibly talented.”

He laughs and adds: “Sometimes we have tractors in France and they turn them into machines that run over two miles in Ireland. I don’t know how they do it, but they do!”

Cherel, who used to be a successful trainer himself, but now focuses solely on breeding racehorses, has been buying foals and breeding horses since 1993.

Guy Cherel has produced a host of Grade 1-winning performers over jumps in France, Britain and Ireland

As his partner Daniela Mele, who trains at his private training centre of Gavray-sur-Sienne in Normandy, which was built thanks to the sale of the likes of State Man, says: “Guy was one of the first people in France to just jump into the car and drive up and down the country in search of foals. He knows all about pedigrees and form. In fact, he is always on the computer looking at pedigrees and he is always on the phone with breeders and trainers in Ireland, while I’m more of a horse person. I like to be with my horses all the time and I just run my horses when I feel they are ready, rather than following an exact programme.”

Racing background

Swiss-born Daniela Mele started her life in racing as an amateur jockey, before taking out a professional licence. She rode on the flat and over jumps and even had a couple of rides around Auteuil, France’s premier racecourse, before taking up a position as Guy Cherel’s head lass. It was only in 2019 that she took over the licence to train at his yard and already in 2023, she made headlines when Rosario Baron lifted the Grade 1 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, also known as the French Gold Cup.

It was also Mele who was the first person to saddle State Man on his debut in 2020 and she remembers: “I loved State Man! I would have liked to have kept him. He was so easy! He always did what you asked him. He was calm with a big engine, he was like a giant teddy bear,” she giggles.

Willie Mullins and the prolific State Man, who was produced by Daniela Mele and Guy Cherel \ Healy Racing

“I was sad to see him leave. I mean I’m always sad when any horse from my yard goes, but once they are on the horsebox, I cry for two minutes and then, well that’s it.”

Guy Cherel and Daniela Mele are the perfect team. They complement each other and, while Mele might give the impression that she is the emotional one in the relationship, it is not entirely true.

“This weekend, we are probably running a horse named Kandy Park in the Grade 1 Prix Maurice Gillois at Auteuil,” she explains.

“It’s the Champion Chase for four-year-olds and it’s a big task for a small horse like him. In fact, it’s probably because he is so small that he is still with me, as the Irish always look for bigger horses. And he is more like a pony. But a pony that surprises us each time he runs. He is a real fighter and just so easy to train.

“Anyway, he is out of a mare called Brookdale, who Guy used to train. It’s a family really close to his heart, as he already had her dam and her grand dam, so when Kandy Park wins, he goes somewhere quiet and has a little cry.”

To run their training and breeding operation in Normandy, emotions have to be kept in check. Mele would love to keep all the horses in the yard and admits to having heated discussions with her partner at times, nevertheless understanding the necessity of selling the stock to Ireland and England.

Financial realities

“It’s normal and I accept it, as it is costly to run the training and breeding operation,” she says and adds with a smile: “But it’s great when one gets away, like Jeu De Thaix, who didn’t pass the vet and stayed in France. He had a few little issues, but we succeeded in keeping him in good health and that is magnificent. It’s something to make you cry. We work every day, so that the horses come first past the post. And we watch our horses in Ireland and we are delighted when they win, but it’s not the same, is it?”

Protektorat (right) digs deepest to get the better of Envoi Allen in this year's Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival \ Caroline Norris

Jeu De Thaix is the latest star to come out of the Mele yard. A five-year-old, he is one of the favourites in the Grade 1 Grand Prix d’Automne, a three-mile hurdle race, at Auteuil today.

“Obviously, I’m not happy when a horse doesn’t pass the vet,” continues Mele. “Especially when you know at what price it could have gone. But he redeemed himself. We respected him, as he was fragile and that is why he ran a lot on the flat. I didn’t want to put him over jumps and so we treated him with kid gloves. Today, he is in great health.”

While Mele is preparing her horses for the jumping bonanza at Auteuil, Cherel has locked himself away in the office, where he is watching racing at Clonmel. During the day, his phone alarm will go off at various times, reminding him of another runner.

“Obviously, I want to know what happens to horses I have sold to Ireland,” he says. “I always watch them. Today, I had two running in Ireland. Fakir d’Oudairies, who I sold to J.P. McManus and who is trained by Joseph O’Brien and Solness. Neither won, but Fakir d’Oudairies won I think, what four Grade 1 races in his career? Which is quite something and Solness came third today, which is good.”

He pauses and then adds: “I really like Joseph O’Brien. He is so talented. I love working with him and he has such a good eye.”

High-class graduates

Cherel might not speak a lot of English, but he regularly travels over to the Cheltenham Festival and credits bloodstock agent Seamus Murphy for introducing him to Joseph O’Brien.

Fakir d'Oudairies, another Mele-Cherel graduate, has won four times at the highest level for Joseph O'Brien \ Healy Racing

He has also sold horses to England, like Protektorat, who is trained by Dan Skelton and lifted the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase last season. In fact, some of his sales go back more than 20 years, like Royal Auclair, who went to Martin Pipe, or Sway, who went to Jonjo O’Neill before she produced the Gavin Cromwell-trained 2024 Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase winner Limerick Lace, who - by the way - beat the Willie Mullins trained Dinoblue, also bred by Cherel.

He laughs, though, when asked if he breeds to order and explains: “That’s not how it works. I might get a call from a trainer to find him a jumper and then I go looking, but often it is the trainer or breeder or owner who sees a horse running at Auteuil, in the provinces or on the flat. As I said before, it’s not that hard to find a good horse at Auteuil. The track sorts the good ones from the bad ones and you just need the eye for it.”

He adds: “Don’t think that I sell all my horses to Ireland or England. I obviously also have horses that find buyers in France. Overall, I think in the end, it’s only 20% of my horses that I sell, as not all are good enough and then there are those that don’t pass the vet or are not the right type. I have 50 mares on my farm and I wish they would all produce champions, but that is not the reality.”

Amongst those 50 mares is Arret Station, who produced State Man. He is undoubtedly her most successful offspring and, as Cherel says, the most successful horse he has ever sold to Ireland, but she has a foal this year by Nirvana du Berlais and is in foal again to Doctor Dino, so there is once again excitement in the air.

The farm and its adjacent training centre is a hub of activity at any given time. Recently, Mele also added a yard on the sea front to the operation, where she regularly rehouses about 10 to 12 horses, who are either convalescing, need a change of scenery or simply enjoy a break.

“Galloping on the beach is like a spa treatment for the horses and also for us,” explains Mele, who trained to be a kindergarten teacher before she caught the racing bug that would put her life on a completely different trajectory.

“Sometimes I even load up the horsebox and take all the staff and everyone smiles when they go to the beach. I just love it and wish I had more hours in the day to do everything. We have so many yearlings and have the facilities to do the pre-training ourselves, but it’s not always possible to do everything, as we just don’t have enough staff. But I love educating them. In fact, I am just as proud when I see them in Ireland, as I would be if they ran in France, as it’s us who prefabricated them. I have never been to Cheltenham, but Guy and I share the work as much as possible. He foals the horses and I train them. We complement each other.”

They certainly do. And, with the demand remaining high in the British Isles for French-bred National Hunt horses, there is no doubt that they will be kept busy for many more years to come.