'If France is enjoying better results, it's due to its long-term good health'

If the story of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe has inevitably been one of a major fall in revenue for racing, then France is in a better position than most to withstand the pain and advance quickest towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

The country with the most generous prize-money across the continent – and arguably the most centralised system of racing governance – has had more levers to pull than Britain and Ireland.

However, even allowing for such structural advantages, to see the country boast a 2.5 per cent rise in its population of horses in training, as well as targeting a returning to 2019 prize-money levels, leaves neighbouring jurisdictions falling further behind economically than before the pandemic struck.