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Vive la France! Can French-breds steal the show at the Cheltenham Festival?
Kitty Trice runs the rule over some of the contingent heading to Prestbury Park
![Vauban (Paul Townend) wins the Grade 1 2m juvenile hurdle.Leopardstown.Photo: Patrick McCann/Racing Post05.02.2022](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com%2Fprod-media-racingpost%2Fprod%2Fimages%2F169_1008%2F76e74ba3f692-105854.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Vauban: son of Galiway one of several strong French-bred fanciesCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)
There is no such thing as a certainty, Honeysuckle included, but the chances of the suffix FR not following the names of a few winners at Cheltenham is remote,
It hasn’t always been like that. From 1988 to 1993 there was just one French-bred festival winner from 58 runners, Rolling Ball in the 1991 Sun Alliance Chase.
In 1994 there were five French-bred scorers, but it wasn’t until the noughties that the number of French-bred runners, and therefore winners, began to soar.
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