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.