Ignore the joyless critics, this weekend proved racing is a team game after all

Horseracing can feel a bit parochial at times but here was a truly international weekend, with the Scots winning at Ascot, the Irish winning in the US, the English winning in Ireland and Germany and, most remarkably of all, the French winning in France. Of course, each of these successes could probably be claimed by people from various nations because racing is a team game, whatever the joyless critics who chuck brickbats at the Shergar Cup may say.

Ebro River's talent has always been obvious but his self-destruct button is about a mile wide. He can blow the start, over-race and hang dramatically, so it was really something to see Shane Foley explaining to him in words of one syllable that he was not going to be allowed to muck up their chance in the Phoenix Stakes. There are other big days in the chestnut, if the guidance from the saddle is similarly uncompromising.

Freddy Head aside, French trainers have long had a hard time winning the Maurice de Gheest, and more recently they've had a hard time winning any of their own Group 1s, but Jerome Reynier came to the rescue on Sunday with victory for Marianafoot. Reynier is having an amazing year with a couple of high-flying six-year-olds, Skalleti having finally made good on his longstanding promise.