21 May 2017
photos scoopdyga.com
So French won the French Gold Cup for the second year on Sunday in Auteuil, beating his training neighbour down in Charente-Maritime Perfect Impulse. It is also in the Royan region that the two first home in the Ferdinand Dufaure 4yo Chase, Srelighonn and Dalia Grandchamp, both trained by Francois Nicolle, are based.
6-year-old gelding So French (Poliglote) won Sunday's Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris (Gr1) for the second consecutive year after a long duel against 5-year-old mare Perfect Impulse (Poliglote).
The first two are trained on Royan La Palmyre racecourse, in the Charente-Maritime region.
If they have probably galloped at the 
same time on Royan's gallops, it was their first encounter on a racecourse. Trained by Guillaume Macaire for American owner Magalen Bryant, who was at Auteuil to welcome her champion once again, So French was bred by veterinarian Benoît Gabeur. As for Perfect Impulse, she was bred and is still owned by Richard Corveller, who happens to be a business partner to Benoît Gabeur (picture opposite) in the veterinary clinic of Meslay-de-Maine in Mayenne!
Guillaume Macaire welcomed his fifth success in the French Gold Cup, and he now koins Wallace Davis (between 1904 and 1913), André Adèle 1958 and 1977), Léon Gaumondy (between 1964 and 1985) and François Doumen (between 1991 and 1998), who also won the race five times. Like last year, So French was ridden by the English jockey based in France, reigning champion rider James Reveley.
The Ferdinand Dufaure 4yo Chase (Gr1) also provided the 7,000-strong crowd with a breathtaking duel in the final stages as the two contenders trained by François Nicolle, also near Royan in Charente-Maritime, namely Srelighonn (Martaline) and Dalia Grandchamp (Kapgarde), fought each other right to the end. Srelighonn finally prevailed by a short head and gave English owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede another big French win. Out of the race due to a sprain, the leader of the promotion Edward d'Argent, another son of French sire Martaline, also wears the colors of Munir and Souede.