The 26 entries have whittled down to eight runners for the third leg of the Crystal Cup at Merano tomorrow, and already the battle lines are drawn between the leading contenders in the 12 race challenge.

David Cottin, whose Placenet won the opening race at Waregem a month ago, sends Iceo Madrik, who went down by a head in a class 2 cross country at Craon in June, one of a sequence of narrow defeats at Compiegne since returning from a British campaign for David Pipe.

Josef Vana jnr despatches 3 runners over the Alps from Czechia, including last year’s overall Crystal Cup winner Gap Pierji, a winner of a Grade III chase here in June. He was second in the corresponding race at Merano in 2023.

11 year old Almost Human has been running over hurdles in Italy since his sale into the Vana stable in 2017. Unless he produces an improvement in form over the larger obstacles, he looks overfaced in this company.

A more likely contender is French-bred Laldann, a 3l winner at Merano in August over 5,000m, with Almost Human behind, and also in June, again beating Almost Human.

French cross country supremo Patrice Quinton sends Flavius, a winner of a supporting chase on the Waregem card that featured Placenet’s win in ther Grand Steeplechase de Flandres. Quinton’s runners outside France are select, and the distance from Dragey-Ronthon in Normandy to Merano may tell its own story in terms of his chance.

The field is made up of three others: Imaginaire, from David Satalia, who hasn’t run since a campaign at Pau early in 2023, Piranaya, well-beaten for the Jana Novakova stable at Wroclaw at the start of the month, and the unknown quantity that is Zubiena, from the Ghiotti stable.

There are 26 entries for the third stage of the Crystal Cup at Merano on Saturday September 28th.

Josef Vana has made little secret of his ambition to retain the Crystal Cup for 2024-25. To that end, he supplies no less than 10 of the entries. There are lines of Czech form through several of them, but the most notable are Beau Saonois, a nine year old French-bred, and winner of 2 of his starts over fences, most recently in a cross country handicap over 3,900m at Merano in mid July.

Gap Pierji, the flagship horse that enabled Vana to secure his first Crystal Cup last season, is also among the entries. He has been campaigning largely abroad recently, but won in Merano in June over 5,000m, where he held another Vana entry, Laldann,  before finding the competition a bit hotter at Vittel a month later.

Joint leader of the challenge, David Cottin, has just one entry for his British owner, Caroline Tisdall, but he may yet emerge the winner if he takes his place. Iceo Madrik has been knocking on the door in recent months, with a half length second at Compiegne and went down by just a head at Craon in mid-June over a shorter distance.

Nor should you rule out Imaginaire from Emmanuel Clayeux’s stable, not seen since running at Pau in February.

Another cross country advocate is Patrice Quinton, whose two candidates include Flavius, a winner of a chase on the same card as the Grand Steeplechase de Flandres at Waregem, and Jalousie d’Ainay, for whom this looks to be well within his capability. A 1 1/2l winner of a conditions cross country at St Pierre-la-Cour in mid July, he improved on that at Granville a month later. Although beaten in a better class race at Ploermel a week ago, his record may yet be enough to put him in the frame if he takes his place. His GB rating would be 108.

Final declarations are on September 26th.

Roi Mage, last seen by British racegoers finishing a 25l ninth to I Am Maximus in the Grand National in April scored in splendid style at Craon today under a front-running ride from James Reveley in the 6,000m (3m6f) Listed Grand Cross de Craon.

Two time winner of this race, Bomari, made the early running before falling at the 12^th, leaving the handily ridden Roi Mage in front. In an incident-packed race where 4 of the 10 runners either tipped up or parted company with their rider, Reveley’s position in the front was the safest, and he was able to dictate the pace, and asset again when contenders made an effort to close. The winning distance of 7l belied his authority.

“There were two in the race to be afraid of,” reported trainer’s son James Griffin, who has masterminded Roi Mage’s return to France to race. “Once they were out of it, I was confident we weren’t going to be beaten. We were unlucky at Corlay 6 weeks ago.” Roi Mage will now seek to repeat his victory at Compiegne in November before being aimed at the Irish National on Easter Monday.

This second leg of the 2024-25 Crystal Cup throws down a challenge to French trainers who have tended to dominate in this unique pan-European Challenge. After years of their dominance, their grip was broken by the Czech stable of Josef Vana Jnr last season, and Vana has already displayed his intent to continue where he left off, with a third placed effort at Waregem last week. Griffin’s contribution pushes him to the top of a leaderboard that is validated only when a horse/trainer runs twice or more outside his own country. The leading owner in the challenge is awarded €25,000, the winning trainer €10,000 in addition to the generous prize money on offer in each race.

The Challenge now moves to Merano on September 29^th.

Placenet provided a suitably international launch point to this year’s Crystal Cup in the opening Grand Steeplechase de Flandres at Waregem in front of 35,000 spectators.

Owned by English pair Caroline Tisdall and Geoffrey Thompson, and trained by David Cottin, the winner defied top weight in the handicap to win by 4l, Gino des Dunes, for Patrice Quinton in second, and Czech raider, Volkov Jelois, 2 1/2l back in third.

A promising 22 entries had whittled down to just 7 starters for the €100,000 contest, but nevertheless  provided a thrilling start to the unique Crystal Cup series, which concludes at Lion d’Angers in late May 2025.

Quinton was trying to win this race for a remarkable 11th time, but found one too good in Placenet, who spent last winter competing in England under David Pipe, before returning to France in the Spring, prepping for this race with a 7l third in holding ground at Dieppe in a listed chase.

Josef Vana Jnr, who supplied three of the 22 original entries, has made clear his intention to retain the Crystal Cup he won for the first time earlier this Spring. French-bred Volkov Jelois is one of a team raiding steeplechases outside Czechia, securing him double points for running outside his own country.

Cheltenham-based sports tour operator Venatour has launched a fresh set of racing tours for Jump racing enthusiasts as Official Travel Partner to the Crystal Cup.

The firm has assembled impressive itineraries for short breaks in Belgium, France, and Italy as a precursor to further tours to other legs of the 2024-25 Crystal Cup Challenge.

Aimed initially at British & Irish racing enthusiasts, the tours will encourage a wider perspective on European Jump racing. Marc Blackford, Director of Horseracing Travel at Venatour, remarked, ”We are really excited to have partnered with the Crystal Cup. Not only does this series of jump racing offer fantastic racing and an excellent atmosphere, they are also located in lovely locations offering the opportunity to combine racing with a few days away. Following our hugely successful racing tours to Waregem, Merano and Velka Pardubicka last year, we soon realised the Crystal Cup offers unique experiences that our guests thoroughly enjoyed. We already offer fantastic racing trips around the world and to add the Crystal Cup Series to our calendar is fantastic”.

Peter McNeile has been leading the commercial development of the Crystal Cup with the re-admittance of Punchestown for the 2023-24 season made possible by the cancellation of Cheltenham’s Festival cross country.

He added, “We’re all delighted to work with Venatour to develop a following around these eclectic races. There is more and more interest in racing on the Continent, not least as so many of our horses in training are now bred in France, and many trainers are plying their trade successfully in France, if not necessarily beyond. The variety of steeplechases and venues across our 7 participating countries is wonderful to enjoy, and we look forward to welcoming many guests, and to encouraging as many Continental racegoers to make a return trip across the Channel.”