FRENCH visitors have had a pretty thin time of things at Royal Ascot over recent years. Gallic raiders have been a feature at this fixture for a very long time – this year marks the 150th anniversary of the first French winner in 1874 – but since Qemah landed the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes for Jean-Claude Rouget in 2017, there has been just one successful cross-Channel raid in the last six years, when the 20/1 outsider Watch Me carried off the Coronation Stakes in 2019.

Given the numerous recent French victories at Ascot’s other showpiece meeting, QIPCO British Champions Day in October, that statistic looks like an anomaly and there are a number of indicators suggesting that the Marseillaise may be played in triumph again in Berkshire next week, not least the sheer number of French runners likely to be attempting to end the five-year drought.

The obvious place to start when assessing the strength of the French challenge is the Queen Anne Stakes, since the most recent Group 1 race staged over the straight mile of the King’s racecourse, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes last autumn, witnessed a French 1-2 as Big Rock put six lengths between himself and his nearest rival, with Facteur Cheval going past Tahiyra in the last few strides to end up as best of the rest.

Contrasting trajectories

The pair have experienced rather different career trajectories since then: Big Rock being controversially removed, alongside Blue Rose Cen, from the care of Christopher Head and transferred to the yard of the unheralded Chantilly-based Italian, Maurizio Guarnieri, prior to a heavy defeat in the Lockinge Stakes, while Facteur Cheval has run a huge personal best to see off a stellar international line-up and lift the Dubai Turf at Meydan at the end of March.

Underfoot conditions will play a huge role in deciding the outcome of their rematch, with Big Rock wanting rain to fall, but Facteur Cheval is a horse on the up and his Dubai form has been franked on three different occasions in recent days.

Facteur Cheval’s enterprising young trainer Jerome Reynier is really targeting Royal Ascot this year and is likely to have two further runners: Darlinghust, who beat the subsequent Prix du Jockey Club runner-up First Look when landing the Group 3 Prix de Guiche, in the St James’s Palace Stakes, and the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt hero, Zarakem, in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.

French challengers

Darlinghurst is set to be joined in the St James’s Palace by the shock Poule d’Essai des Poulains victor, Metropolitan, while its female equivalent, the Coronation, is also set to host a two-pronged French challenge as, provided the ground is not soft, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner, Rouhiya, will be seen out again for the first time since that classic success, while Ramatuelle, who looked like the winner of the 1000 Guineas only to get caught close home and relegated to third, is set to try to gain revenge over a round course which may prove more to her liking.

Francis Graffard and the Aga Khan, the trainer/owner combination responsible for Rouhiya, could have three further representatives at the meeting in the shape of the Prix Hocquart victor Calandagan, in the King Edward VII Stakes, the Prix d’Ispahan fourth Dolayli, in the Queen Anne, and, most intriguingly of all, the recent 1m Saint-Cloud scorer Elamaz, in the Royal Hunt Cup.

Horizon Dore and Blue Rose, second and an unlucky fifth in that Ispahan, are choosing to go up in trip to join Zarakem in the Prince Of Wales.

Just a few days ago it was revealed that Wathnan Racing had purchased Prix du Jockey Club runner-up First Look, and he goes for the Hampton Court Stakes at the end of the week, while Jockey Club fifth Mondo Man runs in the King Edward VII Stakes.

A French raiding party that will surely run into double figures will probably also include last year’s German Oaks third, Sea The Lady, in the Duke Of Cambridge and Classic Flower, twice runner-up in Group 3 company already this season, in the Commonwealth Cup.