Top ten of the best and worst moments from a rollercoaster season
Scott Burton looks back at the highs and lows of a year on the Turf
Timing is everything in life and it can't be said that spirits among racing professionals in France are at an all-time high after Sunday's confrontation at Saint-Cloud led to the cancellation of a pair of Group 1s and the unleashing of no small amount of bad feeling on both sides of the argument.
But as the domestic Flat season winds down and this column heads for a winter break, it is time to look back and celebrate the good days as well as the bad – and to look forward to what might yet sneak over the line before 2017 is done.
THE BEST
1. Enable's Arc
French trainers have been under more pressure than ever from their foreign counterparts when it comes to the Group 1 prizes this year and many predicted the Arc was booked for export well ahead of time.
Expectation did nothing to dampen the sense of awe when Enable surged clear of the best field assembled anywhere in Europe this year and even the most partisan of home support will have known they were witnessing something very special.
Chantilly once again played its part magnificently and the Arc remains the race that everyone - well very nearly everyone - wants to win above all others.
2. Cloth Of Stars and Zarak
With no dominant three-year-old emerging in 2017 there was a rare opportunity for two older colts to earn their share of the limelight.
Cloth Of Stars just pipped his fellow four-year-old Zarak in a thrilling Ganay and then ran a huge race to be best of the rest behind Enable in the Arc.
Zarkava's little boy got his Group 1 when returning to Saint-Cloud in midsummer and his connections willingness to share in the road to Chantilly added immeasurably to the big-race build-up.
3. Different League
My candidate for Horse of the Year in France didn't even win a Group 1. But in a season when the French two-year-olds were repeatedly out-muscled by their British and Irish classmates, the daughter of Dabirsim produced a fine performance to take the Albany for Royal Ascot first-timers Matthieu Palussiere and Antoine Hamelin, as well as giving the hugely popular Con and Theresa Marnane their day of days.
Different League proved that was no fluke with placed efforts in the Morny and the Cheveley Park and, as well as promoting her young French-based sire, also shone the light on the provincial tracks at which she had been prepared in Lyon and Angers.
4. Brametot and Cristian Demuro
While they may not have been able to carry their early-season heroics through to the autumn successfully, the sheer will-to-win shown by Brametot and Demuro in pulling two Classics out of the fire produced season-defining moments.
In a year when so much hope in the Jean-Claude Rouget camp evaporated so quickly, one honest and courageous little colt by Rajsaman did much to keep the Master of Pau smiling.
5. Training performance of the year
Pascal Bary learned from one of the best in Francois Boutin and has inherited more than a little bit of the native instinct his mentor was so renowned for.
Bringing Senga to perfect pitch for her first try at middle distances in the Prix de Diane Longines after she failed to deliver in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches – and just two weeks after another defeat in the Sandringham – required a touch of genius (or a Coup De Genie, which coincidentally was the name of Senga's grand dam)
6. New and returning names on the roll of honour
Lamorlaye-based Fabrice Chappet kicked the Classic year off with the success of Precieuse in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, while Martyn Meade enjoyed his trips to France, as Eminent struck at Deauville in August before Aclaim gave both the trainer and jockey Oisin Murphy a first career Group 1 in the Prix de la Foret.
Karl Burke and Didier Guillemin both had a Group 1 to their names already but has each enjoyed a wait of several years before Unfortunately (Prix Morny) and The Right Man (Al Quoz Sprint) got them back on the scoresheet.
THE WORST
7. Almanzor fails to fire
Rouget openly admitted that as recently as the previous Thursday morning he had wondered if any of the horses housed with the infected building would even survive.
Almanzor was struck by the neurological form of equine herpes but thankfully did not suffer its worst effects and, in that context, all those connected to the horse have to be profoundly grateful that they can retire last year's champion three-year-old colt in one piece.
But it is also undeniable that his failure to race more than once was a huge blow to the season as a whole, as well as being poor reward for his owners' bold decision to keep him in training at four.
8. The loss of the Criterium de Saint-Cloud and International
The biggest problem that threatens all trainers and breeders is the financial squeeze put on owners by the raising of rates of VAT enforced by the European Commission. Up until now France Galop has attempted to mitigate the worst effects with extra subsidy but has been doing so at a time when the wider French economy has put downward pressure on betting revenues.
Any attempt to parse the motivation behind which sectors of the racing pyramid were or weren't being targeted by their €25m budget plan seems to me to be wilfully ignoring the biggest challenge of all.
French racing needs both sides of that equation and any solution that doesn't recognise the importance of the risk and investment in yearlings – the older horses of tomorrow – is doomed to long-term decline.
Perhaps the airing of grievances and the subsequent changes to the budget plans will be a good thing in the long run.
In the meantime, my strongest wish for 2018 is for the connections of such horses as Sacred Life and Illuminate gain their delayed Group 1 reward.
But as Highclere's Harry Herbert said on the day: "These opportunities don't come around very often."
STILL TO COME . . .
9. Overseas treats
There are still chances for French racing to shine outside the confines of Europe before the year is out.
A four-strong Breeders' Cup team may be smaller than some years but, while there is no Goldikova or Banks Hill to get behind, both Senga (Filly & Mare Turf) and Zelzal (Mile) will certainly relish the fast ground, while neither Andre Fabre (who saddles Talismanic in the Turf) nor Francis Graffard (Karar in the Mile) ever travels just to broaden the mind.
Tiberian and Olivier Peslier have a more than sporting chance of following Americain and Dunaden into the Melbourne Cup annals, and Tiberian would also be a fascinating contender if taking in the Hong Kong Vase on the way home at a meeting where France could also be strongly represented in the Sprint.
10. Longchamp
Many years of planning and 18 months without a horse on its immaculately manicured piste will come to an end on April 8 when a new era opens at the home of the Flat in France.
Speaking personally, I'm excited already.
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