French Recruits - Nathalie Jolie

How do you tell how good a French 3-year-old debutantes hurdle is? Well, the honest answer is you can’t until the form has some substance added to it, but there is one way to tell what others think and that’s to look for the buyers. The first 3 horses to cross the line in this year’s Wild Monarch (Pouliches) have all been sold to the UK and Ireland and whilst this piece focuses on the winner, both Nirvana Star (Willie Mullins) and Tsunawatari (Joseph O’Brien) will feature on the French recruits list later this year. The winning time of 3:41.55 was 5s slower than the Colts and Geldings in the other division of the Prix Wild Monarch, but that race was won by the outstanding Huron Bleu and so I don’t think we should read too much into the difference in time figures. It’s very difficult to test the form given that the principles have been sold and both the 4th and 5th are now taking a break. Mauves (4th) was beaten on her next start in the Prix Bois Rouaud a month later, but she raced towards the rear in a steadily run race that Bryony Frost controlled aboard the winner from the front, so I don’t think we can use that performance to measure this form by.

Nathalie Jolie is a filly by Nathaniel. Her dam, Morena du Berlais (Saint des Saints) was a winner in France over fences for David Cottin, albeit at a lower level in the French provinces at Fougeres. Nathalie Jolie is the first of her progeny to reach the track, but she is a half-sister to Aubusson, Nirvana du Berlais and the G1 Prix La Haye Jousselin winner Toscana du Berlais. Nathaniel has a 40% win rate with his progeny when they go over hurdles, but the case for the Saint des Saints as a damsire does not need to be made given the impact he has had on National Hunt racing. She has a half-sister by No Risk At All who went through the Tattersalls yearling sale for 34,000 guineas and a half-brother who was sold to Jerry McGrath at Goffs in 2024 for £30,000. Nathalie Jolie went through the Goffs ring herself for £13,500 and whilst this was a private sale, I think it is fair to say that it is highly likely that Chauvigny Global Equine made a healthy return on their investment.

An SP of 8.5 PMU would suggest she was at least thought capable of running a nice race on her debut for champion trainer Mickael Seror. After a couple of careful jumps over the first few obstacles, she warmed readily to the task and having been in the middle of the pack for the majority of the contest, she began to make her challenge as they turned for home. Closing on the far side of the field, she was on terms as they jumped the 2nd last. Shaken up by Joel Phelippe, she jumped the last narrowly in front before clearing away under a largely hands only ride to win by 5 lengths. Her time of 17.71s from the back of the last hurdle to the line (MclLloyd Sectional Data) was 0.91s faster than the runner-up and she was comfortably in control of the race once she hit the front. Although she did wear a hood on debut, I don’t think that should be seen as a negative and she appeared to settle perfectly well once the race began.

This has become the great game in French jumps racing. There are so many horses sold to the UK and Ireland with profiles like Nathalie Jolie that buyers can no longer afford to wait and see how the form works out. On the basis that if they don’t make an offer someone else will, horses are sold and exported on the back of a single run. For every purchase like Lossiemouth, there are plenty of horses who barely reach a mark of 110 when they come across. I think Nathalie Jolie has plenty of ability and I liked the way that she closed in the Auteuil straight, so I think that there is a very good chance that she will turn out to be a pattern class performer for her new connections and this race could have quite a significant interest on the Fillies division amongst the juveniles in the 2026-27 season. She has joined Nicky Henderson for JP McManus, so she is certainly in the right hands.