If you knock long enough, surely the door will open. David Menuisier is hoping it does just that for Sunway, his Irish Derby runner-up, in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
The Sussex-based trainer may have won a German Guineas with Devil’s Point but Tamfana and Sunway between them have been placed in the 1,000 Guineas, third in the French Oaks, and second in the Irish Derby, all beaten by less than a length. ‘Presque’ is, he explains wryly, what they say in France – nearly.
A bit of luck here and there and 10 years into his training career, we might have been hailing him as the next Aidan O’Brien with three major Classics under his belt by the end of June but he is not dwelling on it. “Things are going great but the stars have not quite aligned,” he says.
“If you look back you can’t help feeling a little frustrated. How many have the chance to compete at that level? It’s bittersweet what we’re going through, fortunate to be competing but you want to win.
“It’s frustrating but also exceptional. We have six horses at Group One level from 60 horses. If you told me that five, 10 years ago, I’d have said that can’t happen, we’re too small but this season not even Godolphin or John Gosden have that many horses at that level.
“The scary part is how will we match this in the future? When we look back in a few months we will be more proud than we are now but at the moment we don’t want to reflect, we want to look forward and make it happen.”
‘No one goes to the races in France, there’s no atmosphere’
Menuisier, 43, is something of an outlier, indeed unique; a Frenchman training in Britain when the accountant’s advice to most British trainers would be to up sticks to France for better prize money.
That is to some extent borne out by his own winnings this season; £350,000 domestically but £450,000 between France and Ireland without winning a race.
But against the constant incoming tide of bad news for racing, Menuisier’s presence is perhaps some sort of affirmation that the sport here still has enough je ne sais quoi to make it the best in the world.
“I don’t think prize money is relevant for attracting owners,” he argues. “A lot of British [owners] went to France but most have come back now. As much as they’d like to make money, it’s a hobby. It may be controversial but, apart from Deauville in August which is exquisite, it’s hard to have a good day at the races in France, no one goes, there’s no atmosphere, it’s like going to a ghost town.
“Unless it’s a big race they give you nothing for winning a race, no momento. The two main owners in France, the Aga Khan and the Wertheimers have been in that position for 100 years, there’s no new blood and once they pass who replaces them? In contrast Britain is always attracting new investment, new superpowers, Wathnan is the latest. They invest a bit in France but it’s mainly here.”
Menuisier trains at Coombelands near Pulborough. The sleepy single track lane leading to it gives little indication of the significance the place has in the story of British racing.
When it was laid out in the late 1960s by Guy Hardwood, who trained Dancing Brave to win the King George 38 years ago and whose Cacoethes pushed Nashwan to every last sinew in the race in 1989, it was state of the art, the first all-weather gallops and the first American barns for stabling horses in Britain. Trainers travelled across the world to look at it and return home with their own ideas.
‘I told my father aged eight that I’d be a trainer’
Menuisier’s route from his parents’ farm and stud in Lorraine, an unfashionable area for horse breeding, to Coombelands began when he was eight.
“JP Gallorini [often likened to the Martin Pipe of France] trained for my parents, he was the emperor of the jumps, such a charismatic person,” he explains. “I was completely smitten, if not by him by his image, he was a bit like Jesus Christ, full of parables. I told my father aged eight I’d be a trainer. I still get a text from JP Gallorini every time I have a runner, he’s retired now but he’s my number one supporter.”
Having graduated in genetic biology, he went into racing aged 23 joining Criquette Head and then Neil Drysdale in California. When his visa ran out, he wanted to join a British trainer. “I met John Dunlop at Tattersalls [Newmarket], we sat on a bench and he asked if I’d come to Arundel. That was a Saturday, I visited the yard on Sunday and as soon as I drove into Arundel I felt at home. I’ve been in the area ever since. I feel like one of the locals.”
When Dunlop retired abruptly Menuisier had not taken his training modules so was not ready to start for a year. “If I could have stepped into his shoes I might have picked up a bit of business but I had to start the hard way with no backer, Kim [his partner] and I gathered together our pennies, and my parents had four homebreds to send and said ‘it’s all we can contribute, have them and good luck.’ It never crossed my mind going back to France.”
‘I’m human proof of the stupidity of Brexit’
Sunway, a Group One winner at two, has been something of a late bloomer at three but he acquitted himself well in Ireland finishing three quarters of a length behind Los Angeles.
“There is a tendency to when you get beat to think you’re unlucky but he doesn’t do anything super quick,” he says. “He quickened once and looked like he’d be a good fourth then went again and finished second but only grinding on the winner. Ascot only has a short straight but it’s stiff and if they get racing before the bend that will suit him very well.”
Menuisier’s passport is, resolutely, still French. “I wouldn’t go as far as to change that!” he laughs. “I will always be French but I feel at home on both sides of the Channel. If I go home I’m happy but ecstatic to the point where I don’t want to come back. Having a foot in both countries – I’m human proof of the stupidity of Brexit!”
