Il Est Francais currently in training with Tom George

The seven-year-old quickly developed into one of the leading chasers in France for the trainer’s son Noel and Amanda Zetterholm and showcased his talents to a British audience with a brilliant success in the 2023 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase.

He returned to Kempton on Boxing Day and ran a huge race to finish second to Banbridge, when looking the likely winner for much of the race.

He was sent to England for his summer holiday and George Senior told Tuesday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “As we all know he’s done unbelievably well in France with Noel and Amanda and it was decided he was going to come to England for his summer holidays. He spent a good couple of months with Lizzie and Richard Kelvin Hughes at Trull House Stud and did really well there.

“Then he came back into light work here and he’s now back in full training. No concrete plans have been made over what happens next but one thing I will say is so many of Noel and Amanda’s horses do come here for breaks and holidays and one of our big pluses is we are just doing what we can and what is best for each individual horse.

“Noel and Amanda have won an enormous amount of money with this horse and done incredibly well. I think the races are probably just running out for him in France, I’m not sure at this stage of his career he wants to be going around Auteuil on very heavy ground.

“There are not many races at Compiegne so you start to run out of options with him. He does have a preference for going right-handed which is another thing, both of those tracks in France are left-handed. I don’t think it’s essential but he certainly prefers it that way.”

Il Est Francais has had issues in recent seasons including breaking blood vessels and George admits a change of scenery could potentially help him.

“The change of training at the moment might have helped him, he’s started to get used to going on the hills and a bit of a break and as we say we’re just doing what’s right for each individual horse.

“A change of scenery, a different style of training might help him, the vets are doing a lot of work on him, the French vets and English vets are in contact with each other, the farriers are, the physios are, Noel, Amanda and I are.

“It’s very much a team effort and we’re just trying to do what’s best for the horse and his owners and we’ll have a meeting later on to work out what programme we should set with him.”

The King George is likely to be his main big-race target if all continues to go well.

“We know how much he enjoys Kempton and that’s probably his target but there’s a long way to go to get him there, we’ve got to overcome some of the issues that he’s had and just start building him up but we couldn’t he happier with how he is. We all know where we are with him and whether he’s running from France or England hasn’t been decided yet but he’s in great shape.”

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