Horse Racing
King George favourite Il Est Francais shortens after comeback win at Auteuil
Joe Lyons is a sports writer with years of experience on reputable sports and gambling websites. Joe has also been published by Nottingham Forest, working with the academy and senior teams to produce content on matchdays. He formerly covered the Premier League and EFL as an on-site reporter during the 2020/21 season for Prost International. He is an expert in a range of sports including soccer, basketball, horse racing and American football. Joe specialises in long form content alongside news, tips and betting. Joe has a keen eye for the sports betting industry in the USA which covers the NBA and NFL, tracking and analysing the market as it changes throughout the season.
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King George VI Chase favourite Il Est Francais shortened to 3-1 for the Boxing Day showpiece at Kempton after his comeback win in .
Following a 175-day break from the track, Il Est Francais returned in style with a seven-length victory in the Grade 3 Prix Richard et Robert Hennessy Chase at Auteuil.
The six-year-old, whose previous day closing price ranged from 5-1 to 8-1 with the best horse racing betting sites, is now the clear favourite for the Grade 1 feature race on December 26th at Kempton Park.
Previously, he had been fighting for favouritism in the market with the likes of Fastorslow, Fact To File and Gaelic Warrior, but a slick round of jumping in has saw bookmakers cut his price to as short as 3-1.
Sent off on Saturday afternoon the 4-5 favourite over 2m6f, James Reveley’s mount soon led after the first fence and made all the running in impressive fashion to extend his advantage and win with plenty in hand.
Il Est Francais is back in business! 🔥
A perfect round of jumping from the Kauto Star king under @JamesReveley to land the G3 Prix Richard et Robert Hennessy at Auteuil for @NGAZracing… pic.twitter.com/pSsnQ6zlqf
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 28, 2024
The son of Karaktar from the yard of t-trainers Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm announced himself on the scene at the Ladbrokes Christmas Festival last year in the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase.
That day he turned over 11-8 favourite Hermes Allen to win by 11 lengths and almost immediately, hype began to build around the horse’s prospect of coming back next year to target the King George.
Following his stable star’s impressive comeback performance, Noel George told At The Races:
“He’s a top-class horse, whatever you ask of him he is capable of doing. He likes to run his races like that and we give him a gap between his runs because he does it the hard way, he’s such an exuberant horse.
“We’ll definitely be going to Kempton. He loved it there last year, it’s definitely his profile of track and then we have to see what we’ll do after that. We’ll take it step-by-step.”
"We'll definitely be coming to Kempton" – @NGAZracing
Il Est Francais is now 3/1 for the King George! 👀 pic.twitter.com/JNIggma1Dk
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 28, 2024