French Affair Delivers a Glorious Goodwood First!

There are days in racing that go even better than you dared imagine. French Affair’s victory at Glorious Goodwood was certainly one of those.

Just a few weeks after joining Pompey Ventures, and on his very first start for Jennie Candlish, French Affair produced a thrilling late surge to win the £40,000 Coral Charlton Handicap in the final strides.

It was PV’s first ever runner at Glorious Goodwood, and the beginning of a new relationship with Jennie, Alan and the team at Basford Grange.

To come away with a winner was everything we had hoped for - and then some!

Finding French Affair

French Affair had been on our radar before he entered the Tattersalls July Sale.

The more we looked, the more there was to like.

Although he had been racing over seven furlongs, we believed that a strongly run six could play to his strengths. His finishing efforts suggested there was plenty of speed there, particularly if he could be ridden patiently and delivered late.

When he came through the ring at Tattersalls, we secured him for 55,000 guineas and sent him to Jennie Candlish and Alan O’Keeffe at Basford Grange.

Almost immediately, our attention turned to one particular race.

An ambitious first target

The Coral Charlton Handicap at Glorious Goodwood looked an obvious opportunity on paper: a valuable six-furlong handicap that we felt could suit French Affair perfectly.

There were, however, plenty of reasons to be cautious.

We had owned him for only a matter of weeks. Jennie and Alan had barely had time to get to know him. It was a fiercely competitive 26-runner field, and there was no guarantee he would even make the final line-up.

It was undoubtedly an ambitious place to begin, but where's the fun in taking the easy route!

We believed the race suited him, and Jennie and Alan had been pleased with everything he had shown them at home. He had settled into his new surroundings immediately, approaching his work with the relaxed and willing attitude that has already become one of his most noticeable qualities. There was no reason not to take our chance.

But first he had to get into the race. Even making the final line-up came down to the wire. He initially looked set to miss out, but unused stabling elsewhere on the card allowed Goodwood to accommodate two additional runners in this race. That meant we scraped in at the very bottom of the handicap—quite literally the last horse into the race.

A ride worth waiting for

By the time Billy Loughnane, a familiar and successful rider in the PV colours, climbed aboard French Affair, he had already enjoyed an extraordinary afternoon. Less than an hour earlier, he had produced a brilliant ride aboard the unbeaten Bow Echo to win the Group 1 Sussex Stakes. Billy was understandably buzzing, riding with complete confidence and he clearly had no intention of stopping at one Goodwood winner on the day!

The plan for French Affair was clear: allow him to find his feet, hold on to the back of the field and trust him to finish strongly.

With 26 runners thundering down the Goodwood straight, executing that plan was never going to be straightforward.

Billy found himself trapped behind a wall of horses, with French Affair still towards the rear and seemingly nowhere to go. For a few uncomfortable seconds, it looked as though the gaps might never appear.

Billy remained patient.

Once an opening emerged, he threaded French Affair through and switched towards the rail. From there, the response was immediate.

French Affair began to gather momentum, picking off runners with every stride. He continued to close all the way to the line, getting up in the final moments to defeat Under The Twilight by a neck at odds of 14/1.

Remarkably, he was the only winner on the entire eight-race card not to start favourite. Seven market leaders obliged during a great afternoon for punters, with French Affair the sole exception.

It was a wonderful ride from a jockey operating with complete confidence—and an equally determined performance from the horse beneath him.

Better than we dared hope!

Although we had chosen the race and believed French Affair could run well, plans in racing rarely unfold quite so perfectly.

For a newly purchased horse to win a race of that nature on his first start for his new trainer was special enough. For it to happen at Glorious Goodwood, with PV’s first ever runner at the meeting, made the occasion even more memorable.

It was also Jennie and Alan’s first Goodwood winner and provided the perfect beginning to our partnership with the yard.

Alan was particularly complimentary about French Affair’s attitude, describing him as laid-back at home and willing to take everything in his stride. That temperament, combined with the ability he showed on the track, gives us plenty to look forward to.

The celebrations afterwards were everything you would hope for from a day like this. A new group of owners had arrived at Goodwood hoping to enjoy their first day with French Affair and see him run a promising race.

They went home as Glorious Goodwood winning owners.

We always believed this was the right race with which to begin French Affair’s new chapter and he delivered the plan to perfection, fully justifying the faith placed in him and giving everyone involved an even better first day than we could have dreamed of.

It was one of those days that reminded us exactly why we do this.

A truly Glorious day to remember 💙🖤