This year’s Crystal Cup got underway with a race that allowed the handicapper to congratulate himself, the horses finishing near enough in handicap order, little more than 10l from end to end.

Lucas Zuliani steered Speed Emile to a 1 1/2l winning margin over the 2024 winner Placenet, with Captain du Berlais in third place, to provide a clean sweep for French trainers in this opening stage of the Crystal Cup.

Speed Emile has the legs on his rivals in Flanders big chase ©JCB Photo

A disappointing turnout of just seven runners had cause to thank the sporting Czech owners, Scuderia Aichner, for delivering two runners, who finished fourth and fifth, 7 1/2l behind the leader. Trainer Josef Vana, who has been in the vanguard of recent Crystal Cup challenges, had better luck in the preceding €40,000 handicap hurdle, in which his le Petit Nice went down fighting by just a length.

Crystal Cup races come thick and fast in the autumn, but this early success by the Macaire-Lageneste stable should come as no surprise. The Royan yard is well placed to take prominence in the Crystal Cup with horses like Iloa Conti, Ivresse d’Estruval, Fraga Has and Uniketat, all of whom have already run well or won in France’s domestic cross country championship, the Trophée National du Cross.

However, the strength in numbers approach by Vana and Quinton, the leading proponents of the past two seasons, ensures that despite not winning, they are well up with the pace of this year’s competition, both within 2pts of the leader at this early stage.

Smiles all round after Speed Emile’s victory in the ING Grosser Prix de Flandres © JCB Photo

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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.