Leading European horse feeds manufacturer, Baileys, will support the Crystal Cup for the 2026-27 series, collaborating to encourage overseas runners in the 12 race series.

Built around title to the Leading trainer award, which offers a  €15,000 bonus to the trainer accumulating most points from runners in the selected races, Baileys will underwrite travel costs for owners of British, Irish, Czech, Polish and Italian horses running outside their own jurisdiction (French trainers already receive travel reimbursements from France Galop).

Irish and Czech trainers have been notably successful in the pan-European Series this past 12 months, with Roi Mage winning at Craon, Stumptown at Pardubice, and Gap Pierji in Merano and Wroclaw.

Hugues Crosnier, President of the Crystal Cup Association, remarked, “We’re delighted to welcome Baileys Horse Feeds as a partner of the Crystal Cup. We share similar attributes in the pursuit of excellence, and I hope together we can accelerate overseas participation in this unique series.”

Mark Buchan, Exports Manager for Baileys Horse Feeds, added, “The Crystal Cup offers an imaginative way for our European distributors to engage their current and prospective racing clients. We’re delighted to be playing our part toward the Entente Cordiale among nations that practise jump racing across Europe, and look forward to making new friends and customers across the piece.”

King of the Cheltenham Cross Country, Gavin Cromwell, has never been afraid to spread his wings internationally. A string of good cross country winners at Cheltenham have shifted the balance of power in this particular genre of the sport away from Enda Bolger, for so long the only man to follow over the banks.

Cromwell has an outstanding record over Cheltenham’s cross country races through horses like Stumptown, and more recently Final Orders, winner in January and March. Stumptown was imaginatively sent to the Czech Republic for the Velka Pardubice last year, and ran out a 1 3/4l winner of the 4m 2f marathon – the first ever Irish winner.

Speaking to sponsors William Hill, Cromwell reported, “We’re planning to head back to Pardubice this year with Final Orders. It looks like there will be a good chance of getting proper good ground there and we know he enjoys that. He has proven himself on the cross-country circuit, so he deserves his chance at this.

“Stumptown is in good form at home but we’ve been there and done it with him, so we’ll take a different route with him this year.”

An international flavour is a major fillip for the Czech steeplechase on October 11th, which is bucking the trend of small fields for Jump racing. The race has been the domain of Czech trainers until last October with the gallant Gentleman de Reve also prominent for some time, now under the tutelage of Peter Maher.

There was no disguising the joy among connections of Sweet David, who held off Klitcho de Belair in a rousing finish to the centrepiece event of les Trois Glorieuses at Craon, the Grand Cross Super-U, led by an ebullient Gabriel Leenders.

Sweet David passes the post ahead of Klitchko de Belair under Theo Demouch © Adrien Seite

The six runners all represented live chances for this memorable contest that is much revered among those that send runners to France’s 200 or so cross country steeplechases: Sweet David and Klitchko de Belair looking to stamp their authority on the genre; Roi Mage hoping his 14 years would see no loss of appetite for the fight; Caroline Tisdall seeking a Grand National candidate and a second Crystal Cup success within a week after her Waregem success; Gemini d’Ax looking to lose the perpetual bridesmaid tag.

In sweltering heat, the penetrometer going description of Tres Souple belied good ground, but this is a perfectly maintained racecourse, all the better for the current president’s achievement in persuading the town to divert the road into Craon to avoid the two road crossings. Fifty years on, the verdant green of Craon’s running surface is now uninterrupted by vehicle crossings and is all the better for it.

Roi Mage gave notice that a hat-trick was not to be on the cards at the start. A regular front-runner, he planted as the starter called them in, but with assistance from fellow rider Felix de Giles to lead him in, he led the field to the first at a pedestrian pace, stood off too early and gave himself and James Reveley a fright. With ears pricked heading for the second, he ignored Reveley’s urging as he refused at the open ditch – and dumped Reveley out the front door: no dream third year here, alas.

Klitchko de Belair took up the running with Iceo Madrik in close attendance under a false pace, even for a 3m5f race, the lead changing again up the hill to the sixth as Jean-Yves Toussaint sent Gemini d’Ax on.

At halfway, as the runners passed the stands to applause more commonly restricted to Cheltenham and Aintree, there was little change, Gemini d’Ax and Iceo Madrik leading, the pretenders Sweet David and Klitchko de Belair stalking the front pair, Pepite Bleu the back marker.

As they crossed the talus, fence 21, Theo Demouch on Sweet David had dropped to the rear, but he’d made ground again by the contre-haut (26) with little more than a mile to run. Gemini d’Ax cried enough as Klitchko de Belair and Iceo Madrik made their way home.

It pays to know this course, with its twists and turns, and Iceo Madrik did himself no favours in running wide after the 27th of the 31 fences, allowing Sweet David and Klitcko de Belair several lengths. Kilian Dubourg had the advantage turning in by 3l, and as both leaders came across to the stands rail, Dumouch switched to the outer, making up ground over the last and in the final stages to snatch a 1 3/4l success.

This success was all the sweeter for Sweet David having been a 7l second to Roi Mage 12 months earlier. If that was the dress rehearsal, this was merely an act in a play that has plenty to run. Leenders cleverly skirted his domestic peers last November to put the English and Irish in their place in Cheltenham’s cross country, and it begs a question of whether to return with a decent handicap mark for a tilt in March. Neither he nor runner-up Klitchko de Belair would be underestimated in the Cotswolds after this thrilling effort. Neither horse will be short of options back home either.

This was also a rare breeding success amidst this genre of race for a British breeder. Bred in England by David Futter at Yorton Farm, the son of Clovis de Berlais is a product of the British breeding scene that was sold to France, not the other way around.

Happy connections of Sweet David go one better than their runner-up berth in 2025 © Adrien Seite

But this also felt like a passing of the baton to a younger generation of horses who will carry the torch for cross country racing. Two seven years olds fought out the finish, and the older generation bowed out.

See full result here

Dual winner of Craon’s Grand Cross Country Steeplechase will never have a better (or indeed another) opportunity to record a third consecutive win in the Mayenne racecourse’s marquee race, facing just five other starters in a summer marked by small fields for cross country races.

However, even now, the race is a tough ask, with a clutch of emerging talent, and an age range of nine years from five to Roi Mage, who topped 14 this January. That he has appetite for the fight is not in doubt; he has been carefully nurtured through the latter part of his career, and specifically aimed at this race. Indeed, it will be his first run in 2026, and a victory would add a strong poignancy to a family who lost licence holder Paddy at 84 only last month. Son James has pioneered his exploits back in France with great panache and no little skill.

Ranged up against the veteran however is an impressive array of previous Crystal Cup winners. Klitchco de Belair had top class cross country horses like Gold Allen and Miss Laura behind when winning by 2l at Fontainebleau in March, but ground conditions here are as chalk to cheese, that being heavy ground. And he was beaten by the youngster in the field, Pepite Bleu, in Corlay’s Grand Cross on good to soft in June. He doesn’t look an obvious choice on ground not best suited to him.

Iceo Madrik created chaos when refusing at the trou de loup at Compiegne last November, but after extensive schooling, that waywardness looks behind him. He ducked a showdown with stable mate Placenet at Waregem on Tuesday to come here, and Placenet won handsomely. A 2l win over L’Irlandaise here in June over a shorter distance is a perfect prep and with the assistance of cravache d’or winner Felix de Giles, he will be a strong fancy.

Gabriel Leenders fields Sweet David, who has run sparingly since running out a 6 1/2l winner over perpetual bridesmaid Mister Coffey in Cheltenham’s opening cross country last November, thus swerving an appointment with tougher opposition the same weekend in France. His only outing in 2026 to date was a 1 3/4l third in a pump primer hurdle at Senonnes at the end of July, so assume he is primed for the task. He won well at Cheltenham indicating that whilst a handicap, he is more than capable against this opposition.

Which leaves two remaining. Gemini d’Ax has drawn a blank from 4 runs so far this year, and was a distant fourth in the Anjou-Loire Challenge at lion d’Angers in May. He showed some sign of winning form when a 3l second at the same course last month, but others appeal more.

Pepite Bleu finishes this preview. As the youngest horse in the race, he is stull subject to improvement, but he comes from a long line of cross country horses trained at Dragey-Ronthon by Patrice Quinton, who already leads the Crystal Cup leaderboard after Waregem, and could assert a further advantage here. Five year old Pepite Bleu comes to this race on a hat-trick after a convincing debut over cross country obstacles at lion d’Angers and a short head victory in Corlay’s Grand Cross, in which Klitcho de Belair was found wanting. The Corlay race was a tight finish, so positions could readily be reversed, but he more than deserves to be in the field, and may yet prove the best.

A race to savour then, in which the heart will favour the veteran Roi Mage, the head Pepite Bleu.

Full race details here

Around 30 minutes west of Waregem sits the charming town of Ypres, centre of one of the bloodiest battles in human history, where in four long years between 1914-18, nearly half a million British, Commonwealth and German soldiers lost their lives in winning  pitiful yards of ground. The acute human loss is commemorated each evening in front of some 500 tourists at the Menin Gate in the centre of the rebuilt town in a poignant and highly moving ceremony.

Battle of a different kind was joined yesterday at Waregem’s annual steeplechase meeting in front of a monster crowd of some 30,000 at an event that is to Belgian racing what Cheltenham is to its British equivalent. Seven runners representing stables in France and the Czech Republic joined battle for the ING -sponsored Grand Steeplechase of Flanders, a €100,000 handicap such as will not be found in Britain or Ireland for at least another month.

2024 winner and runner-up 12 months ago, Placenet, under the forceful riding of veteran Johnny Charron for David Cottin and octogenarian British owner Caroline Tisdall, made light work of his six rivals to win by 2 1/2l from Fan d’Apples, one of three runners for Patrice Quinton, attempting to win this for the 12th time.

Tisdall, who sent Placenet and stable companion Iceo Madrik to Cheltenham in January as a precursor to a tilt at the Festival cross country race, has horses in Britain, Ireland and France, and a recent acquisition in Irish National winner Soldier of Milan, who will be aimed at Aintree next Spring. Her joy at winning this quirky contest was a joy to behold, surrounded by fans signed up to her sporting nature.

Caroline Tisdall greets the return of Placenet and Johnny Charron

Charron had Placenet handy from the off, too the lead before 3 out, and a decisive advantage which he was able to maintain at the line, chased latterly by the late-finishing Fan d’Apples and Heraliste, who continues to improve.

The two Czech contenders, running in the Aichner colours that have won the Crystal Cup previously, were gallant fifth and sixth without ever managing to land a blow on the winner. But then this is a racecourse that needs a little knowing; a tight track where it pays to be handy.

First blood then to France in the first of the 12 legs of this Crystal Cup. Tisdall has Iceo Madrik entered at Craon this weekend, with every intention to capitalize on her lead in the Series.

For the full result, click here