Roi Mage, a standing dish in Crystal Cup races this past 18 months, is set to be retired in the New Year as he reaches the gallant old age of 14.

The 13 year old is still burning up the gallops in preparation for a second tilt at Craon’s listed Louis de Guebriant Cross Country on September 7th, a race he won last year under James Reveley. His preparation included a return to Corlay at the end of June when he found Horus d’Aubrelle 6l too good, a second consecutive runner-up position in this race after rubbing up against Gold Allen in ’23.

James Reveley is all smiles as Roi Mage becomes the first Irish winner of Craon’s big cross country

Roi Mage has been a stalwart of staying chases since James Griffin brought him over from France in February 2022, finding easier pickings in the cross country route as a means of qualification for the Grand National, in which he finished a 14l seventh in 2023 to Corach Rambler, and a 25l 9th to I Am Maximus the following year.

Fifty races and 10 victories to date have generated over £350,000 plus overseas earnings bumping that total well north of £400k, and at 13, he still merits a rating of 147.

James Griffin, whose father Paddy holds the licence, has pioneered Roi Mage’s international travels. “At 14, I think he’s earned his retirement,” James remarked. “He’s primed to return to Craon, then probably back to Compiegne in early November, then we’ll see.”

Roi Mage’s longevity is testament to Griffin’s assiduous management of his racing career, but also an illustration to others of how a cross country regime takes less out of a horse than the distance and variety of obstacle might lead one to believe. Although races are generally in excess of 3 miles, the tendency, at least among the 200 or so French races, is for a manageable pace with a sprint finish, so the dour stamina of an old-fashioned British long distance chaser is not necessarily the optimal candidate.

Despite a partisan crowd at Craon, Roi Mage is likely to carry some domestic support, in his effort to be the first dual winner since Balthazar King in 2014.

Seven runners go to post for the I N G Grand Steeplechase de Flandres on Tuesday following final declarations, and with the withdrawal of the sole British representative, the race looks to be a showdown between the two leading Crystal Cup rivals of the past two seasons, Josef Vana and current title holder Patrice Quinton.

The €100,000 handicap launches a series of 12 high value cross country races that comprise the unique Crystal Cup, and the pursuit of bonuses worth €35,000 to the winning owner (2024-5 Scuderia Aichner CZ) and €10,000 to the winning trainer (2024 Patrice Quinton).

Vana, who in recent years has campaigned horses in France in greater and greater numbers, has declared 8 runners across the four Jumps contests at Waregem, all owned by Scuderia Aichner in an effort to play the French at their own game, with French-breds with impeccable jumping credentials.

His best chance appears to be with 8 year old Chez Demonmirail, who comes here fresh from winning a Group I at Merano in June, and a fourth in a shorter 3,900m chase at the same venue earlier in the month, a race he won in 2024. Jan Kratochvil takes the mount.

Second string, but only a half kilo lower in the weights, is 9 year old Grand de Thaix, second to his stablemate in the Group I at Merano, but who reversed the placings in the second race, where he was runner-up.

Quinton fields 3 in the race, but none jumps out as a clear favourite. Morlaix winner Captain du Berlais was well beaten in a Clarefontaine handicap in late July, but carries a 5kg lower weight in this race which may well play in his favour. Thomas Beaurain takes the ride.

Premier Vert hasn’t won since 2020, and his weight reflects that. A stronger case can be made for Gino des Dunes, runner-up in this race 12 months ago, and now receiving 6kg from the top-weighted Speed Emile. Felix de Giles, France’s cravache d’or, is in the plate.

Vana and Quinton are not the only show in town however. Placenet won this race a year ago, and has since changed stables to Robert Collet. He showed his limitations when a 17l fourth to Gran Diose in the Prix de la Haye Jousselin at Auteuil last November, and the drop in class to handicap is to his advantage. However, he has struggled to find the same form that won him this race 12 months ago in the intervening period.

Top weight Speed Emile had a curtailed 2024-5 season after winning Merano’s Gran Premio, a Crystal Cup qualifier, last September. He reappeared to launch the second half of this year in July at Chateaubriant, losing out by 15l in holding ground in a pipe-opener over hurdles. He’s sure to strip fitter for that run, and his weight is not prohibitive. He deserves to be top of the handicap on previous form, and looks the pick of the bunch.

Last Spring’s winning Cheltenham Gold Cup trainer, Gavin Cromwell, is cueing up another stable star in this year’s Crystal Cup. Stumptown, winner of both Cheltenham legs in December and March, is an intended runner at this October’s €200,000 Velka Pardubicka before returning to Cheltenham, a move that is sure to put Cromwell in the frame for Crystal Cup honours.

The news, released via Cromwell’s stable sponsor, bookmaker William Hill, will add a keen international flavour to a race that has been attracting Irish interest these past few years, yet without success. The last British-trained winner was It’s A Snip, in 1995.

STUMPTOWN and Keith Donoghue (green) clears the water at Cheltenham December 2024
© Photograph by Grossick Racing Photography 0771 046 1723

Coko Beach and John McConnell’s Streets of Doyen both ran up with the pace last year before unseating four out. Up front, the race enjoyed a unique dead heat for first place between Dalibor Torok’s Godfrey and Martina Ruzickova’s Sexy Lord.

Keith Donoughue, who has struck up a great partnership with Stumptown, rode Coko Beach last year, so has experience of the track. A promising run would put Cromwell in the frame for leading Crystal Cup honours as four of Stumptown’s last five runs have been cross country successes.

It’s an exciting fillip for the series, and a coup for Pardubice, which is attracting a higher class of entry from those outside the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, the statistics present a challenge: winners over the course hold a distinct advantage.

Entries closed today for the opening race in this autumn’s Crystal Cup, the ING Grote Steeplechase Vlaanderen, a €100,000 handicap over 2m 7f. The 25 entries are led by last year’s winner Placenet, owned by Caroline Tisdall and Geoffrey Thompson, who has failed to repeat that success in the intervening 11 months and reverted to a hurdle campaign from this March for new trainer Robert Collet.

Expect the forfeit stage to thin out the field give the two leading protagonists in the Crystal Cup this and last year are mob-handed in their entries. Patrice Quinton has entered no less than 10, including Flavius, who won here over a shorter distance at the corresponding fixture last August, Gino de Dunes, and Premier Vert, second and fourth in the race a year ago.

A further five entries come from Josef Vana, still smarting from having been pipped at the post in the race to the Crystal Cup earlier this Spring by Quinton’s 1-2 in the Anjou-Loire Challenge at Lion d’Angers. Having led the challenge up to that point, he recognized that Quinton could field a larger volume of runners, which, indeed he did, to carry off the trainer’s prize.

Vana’s best hope may be his six year old mare Vezzana, a winner at Cagnes in January, and placed since at Pardubice and a fortnight ago at Bad Harzburg. The nine year old Volkov Jelois has also been running well since winning at Strasbourg in March, whilst Grand de Thaix has been placed second in a Grade I at Merano this summer.

Either way, both trainers look determined to create an early lead in this first of 12 Crystal cup events, which offer a cumulative €850,000 in prize money and a further €50,000 in bonus payments.

Our opening race at Waregem is not a fait accompli however for the two protagonists.

Top weight Speed Emile comes here from a Grade I success at Merano last September for the Lageneste/Macaire stable, but was a distant 15l second in a hurdle pipe opener at Chateaubriant in July. Nine year old mare Motu Farone hasn’t shown a great deal for Dominique Windrif, whilst Caligramme is similarly unexposed for Daniele Mele.

A stronger case can be made for Gabriel Leenders’ King d’Alene, winner of two of his last 3 starts at Lion d’Angers and Nancy since the Spring. Felix de Giles will likely take the ride. Hugo Merienne’s Dear Weaver is also on the upgrade, a winner of his last three starts, the most recent a handicap steeplechase at Clarefontaine.

Jerome Planque fields Espion de Guye, a winner at Corlay in June, but this looks a step up in class.

The entries are completed by Philip Peltier’s 6 year old gelding Melgarry, beaten a short head at Lion d’Angers in April and runner-up again there in a similar class contest earlier this month, and a British contender in Sophie Leech’s Mount Tempest, a winner for Dan Skelton last December at Sandown before changing hands. He may well appreciate the drop in class, but his French form to date offers little by way of encouragement.

An eventful edition of the France Sire Anjou-Loire Challenge saw cross country king Patrice Quinton deliver a memorable 1-2 in France’s longest steeplechase, and with it, steal the trainer’s prize for the Crystal Cup from under the nose of long time leader Josef Vana.

Fourteen runners faced the starter in front of packed stands and a boisterous Ascension day holiday crowd at Lion d’Angers for this 7,000m (4m 4f) challenge of no less than 50 obstacles. Jumping is very much the name of the game here, with the variety of fences typified by the Piano, a sharp stepped incline unique to this particular course, and traversed in both directions, up and down.

The crowd sent off Gabriel Leenders’ Gentilhomme favourite on the back of his win in Fontainebleau’s Grand Cross back in March, but he, along with eventual winner Gold Allen, were anything but prominent until late in the race. The early running was made by Hawax, with the hard pulling Bingo de l’Aunay, and Irish challenger Vital Island handy. But experience shows this is the sort of race where winners are consistently dropped out for the first two-thirds of the race.

Gold Allen has the legs on Shawinigen to land the Anjou Loire Challenge 2025 © JCB Photo

Of the strong foreign contingent, Gap Pierji was the first to call time, falling at the sixth, the two Irish challengers pulled up at 36th and 40th. From just after midway, Damien Thomas kicked Espoir into the lead, and course winner Miss Laura took closer order with 2023 winner Shawinigen.

Heading out on the final circuit with just six fences remaining, Espoir set sail for home, Hawax, Wal Cassandre, Shawinigen and Gold Allen in touch, Miss Laura having unseated Matthieu Chailloleau at the final bank, the 44th.

And t looked like the gallant 11 year old might hold on as they entered the final straight, but Gold Allen and Clement Lefebvre came with a wet sail to pick off the leader approaching the second last, running on to a comfortable 10l win over stablemate Shawinigen, Wal Cassandre a further 3l back in third.

The challenges of the two Irish runners never materialized, although initial entry Subset looked to have made a good call in opting for the shorter Prix Georges Bonsergent, where he was held a length to second place by Poker Ballon.

The Quinton 1-2 turned the Crystal Cup leaderboard upside down. Scuderia Aichner were assured of the leading owner prize by dint of their runners in more than half the races, and Gap Pierji’s win in Wroclaw. However, their trainer, Josef Vana, winner of the Crystal Cup in 2024, had led to the very end, and Quinton needed 9pts from his two runners to topple him. That he did this in style with the first two is typical of the stable, who do so well in this unique European challenge. The final standings give the Frenchman a 3pt cushion over Vana, who will surely be back to try again from August this year.

Patrice Quinton receives his trainer’s prize from the crystal Cup committee (L to R Guillaume de Saint-Seine, President France Galop, Frederic landon, Jean de Cheffontaines, Unknown and Andre Martin, President of Lion d’Angers© JCB Photo