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

Follow this link to see full result.