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Facteur Cheval set to run in the Qatar Sussex Stakes

26th July 2024

Jerome Reynier confident that Facteur Cheval can bounce back in Qatar Sussex Stakes

Horse Racing
Horseracing
QGF

Facteur Cheval finishing second to Paddington in 2023.jpg

Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong for Jerome Reynier’s Group 1-star Facteur Cheval at Royal Ascot last month. However, connections have not been deterred by that unfortunate trip to the UK and will return to the Qatar Goodwood Festival in a bid to give Reynier a first success in Britain.

Reviewing the Queen Anne Stakes, Reynier said: “I was very happy with the way the horse was prepared but unfortunately the ground was too fast, he lost a shoe and was on the wrong side of the track so everything went wrong.”

“All you can do is just to try and forget about the race and have a lot of trust in your horse. I think that next time out everything will be back to normal because he was never out of the first four in his life before that and so we can't be blaming the horse. It just wasn’t his day.”

Prior to Royal Ascot, Facteur Cheval was a model of consistency racking up almost £2.5m in career earnings and was placed in four consecutive Group 1 races including the 2023 Qatar Sussex Stakes. This was his first run outside of France which was described by Reynier as “a great experience”.

He added: “He ran really well (in the Qatar Sussex Stakes last year), I was very happy with him. The conditions were horrible with a lot of rain, but he never lets you down. He's a lovely horse. I had never been to Goodwood and if you just watch it on TV you can see that there are a few tricky parts but once you get there and you are on the racecourse, you cannot imagine how it is on TV. You have to be there to just realise that you're almost on top of a mountain and it's a weird place to have a racecourse. It was a great experience.”

The second half of the season could involve more travelling to Ireland and even America for Facteur Cheval after the Qatar Sussex Stakes, with his trainer keen to step him up in trip to 1m2f for the first time given the options that could bring.

Reynier commented: “I would like to stretch him up to 1m2f so the Irish Champion Stakes over a left-handed course. If you can stretch to 1m2f, and he's so good going left-handed, we could be aiming for the Breeders’ Cup Classic to switch him to the dirt. I know his connections would love to see him in Del Mar running in this race.”