French Affair
A shrewd new chapter - and a glorious first day out!
French Affair
French Affair arrived from the Tattersalls July sale with an excellent profile, having previously been trained by Richard Hannon, and began an exciting new chapter in the shrewd yard of Jennie Candlish.
Throughout his career, French Affair has shown plenty of natural ability, but detailed analysis suggests his optimum conditions have not been fully exploited. His races over 7 furlongs have consistently shown a tendency to race too enthusiastically through the early stages, leaving him vulnerable late on.
However, his stride data strongly indicated that dropping back to 6 furlongs (the distance of his sole victory to date) would play much more to his strengths & allow him to travel more efficiently and finish his races with greater effect.
With this in mind, our immediate target was the prestigious Charlton Handicap at Glorious Goodwood—a valuable £40,000 Class 4, 0–80 handicap over 6 furlongs for three-year-olds and upwards. It was an ambitious place to start, particularly so soon after the sale, but we firmly believed this race was his perfect first target and a fantastic opportunity to showcase his ability under more suitable conditions.
Thankfully, French Affair delivered the plan to perfection, fully justifying the faith we had in him, and giving his owners an even better first day out than we had dared hope for.
A truly Glorious day to remember!
Debut Win:
What a way to start!
Goodwood
29 July 2026
French Affair made a dream debut for PV, landing the Coral Charlton Handicap at Glorious Goodwood on his first run for Jennie Candlish. Slowly away and caught behind a wall of horses in the 26-runner field, Billy Loughnane stayed cool, switched him back to the rail and when French Affair saw daylight he flew home, getting up close to the line to win by a neck at 14/1.
It was a career-best performance, a brilliant ride from Billy and a first Goodwood Festival winner for both Jennie and PV — as well as the perfect beginning to our new training partnership!
3 year old
Age
1
Wins
£20,616
Total Prize Money
Why Jennie?
TRAINER
Jennie Candlish is a Staffordshire-based dual-purpose trainer with a growing reputation for running a hands-on, progressive yard.
She comes into this new chapter off the back of her best season to date on the Flat, sending out 40 winners from a team of around 30 horses, including the remarkable seven-time winner Alzahir.
For French Affair, the attraction was a smaller, more bespoke set-up: a trainer in form, a sensible cost structure, and a fresh environment where he can receive the individual attention we feel he will thrive in.
