The turnaround has been nothing short of astounding; a few years ago, as the amateur rider being put on a few steering jobs by his trainer-father, Noel George was regarded almost as a joke by his professional weighing-room colleagues.
Two years into a training career which has netted £3.7 million in prize-money – an amount all but a handful of British trainers can only dream of – and having sent out nearly 100 winners from an 85-horse yard just outside Chantilly which he runs in partnership with Amanda Zetterholm, the joke is on the jockeys.
George already trains for some of the leading French owner-breeders, the former trainer Francois Doumen, who won the King George VI Chase five times, and a selection of leading British and Irish owners including JP McManus. Meanwhile, the jockeys now swarm around him like bees to a honey pot in the hope of rides.
On Boxing Day, the George-Zetterholm axis runs two of the three French runners in the King George at Kempton; as well as General En Chef, a rank outsider, the stable sends out the brilliant Il Est Francais, who in breaking the novice track record in last year’s Kauto Star Chase went five seconds faster than Hewick’s winning time in the King George.
If Il Est Francais had not broken a blood vessel at Auteuil last time out, he would be odds-on for this race. And General En Chef should not be dismissed – George, usually a non-betting trainer, conceded he had backed the strong-travelling Coral Gold Cup fourth each-way at 100-1 in a race with which France has a strong affinity. He is not just a travelling companion.
At 25, George is not only the youngest trainer in either France or Britain but enjoys the best of facilities on both sides of the Channel. Horses, from foals and yearlings upwards, constantly rotate between his yard and that of his father, Tom, in Gloucestershire, where there is more room for them to be turned out, and they can benefit from Cotswold hill work as opposed to the flat exercise areas of Chantilly.
And while others may like the thought of a €50,000 maiden hurdle in France, they can feel overfaced by the post-Brexit mountain of red tape involved in putting a horse on a ferry across the Channel. He and Zetterholm do it so often it has become second nature.
Racing was always likely to be in his blood. George’s maternal grandfather is John Edwards, trainer of dual Champion Chase-winner Pearlyman among others, while his father is a Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer who has always thought a little outside the box.
In a field beside George Snr’s yard in Slad, the winner of the 2002 Sun Alliance Hurdle, Galileo, grazes in honourable retirement (this is a different horse to the late, great Coolmore stallion of the same name). Galileo, now aged 28, was bought out of a barn in Warsaw, as unlikely a source for a Festival winner as there can be.
After Galileo’s big win, on just his second start in Britain, George Snr was invited to train in Poland by the country’s biggest owner. He did not instantly dismiss the idea and went to look before turning it down. And the French angle was always at the back of his mind, if not for himself, then for Noel.
The kitchen of Down Farm, Slad, where we are sitting, was paid for by a horse called Halley. In 2011, George Snr and another trainer, George Baker, were set a challenge by an owner. They were given £100,000 each to spend on a horse or horses, on the basis that the owner would pay no training fees but would split prize-money half and half.
George Snr bought Halley from France and took him back for a four-year-old chase worth £135,000 to the winner for his second start and duly won it – hence the kitchen which would do House & Garden proud. He hoped that would kick off a thriving cross-Channel business but, until Noel could base himself there, it never happened.
Pairing up with Zetterholm, with whom Noel has a symbiotic business relationship, was a smart move for both. Zetterholm’s marriage to trainer David Cottin was ending, but she still wanted to be involved in racing and yet be able to bring up her two children.
“It was the perfect match and she was integral in me starting up,” says George, who was initially turned down for a French licence because he was not fluent enough in French. “I focus on the training and getting the horses ready, she deals with the office and all the red tape.
“She is brilliant at communicating with the owners and brought with her a big ownership base. She worked for the Aga Khan for 10 years, so she has good connections. She rides out a couple of lots and is then in the office but lets me do my thing.”
Being based in France is not all about the bottom line and the infinitely better prize money, according to George. “It has the best jump breeders in the world,” he points out. “All the good jumpers are coming from France now and through the French system.
“We’re gearing two-year-olds up for the first three-year-old hurdles in the spring. If one is in the first three at Auteuil first time out, we’ll have received an offer for it before it’s unsaddled. Long Run and Kauto Star both ran in March of their three-year-old careers. I’d like to think I know the French system now but my British upbringing also means I know when to stop and take some time with a horse if it needs it.”
The trainer is confident Il Est Francais will put his blood-vessel problem behind him at Kempton. “He has scoped clear in all his recent work,” he says. “I think it has happened only in certain circumstances when he is under pressure and possibly he puts too much effort in jumping the big fences round Auteuil where you have white rails, the wall, the river, ditches and massive hedges. I think the consistency of the British fences and the better ground should play in his favour. He’s exceptionally talented but has a few chinks, but if he runs to 100 per cent on the day, he will be very hard to beat.
“We will ride General En Chef more patiently on Boxing Day than we did at Newbury [in the Coral Gold Cup] where he was still cantering going to the last but didn’t get home. He’s not the strongest of finishers but if he can get to the second-last still cantering, it is a short run-in. It’s exciting to have two runners. Dad was placed in it a few times. It’s an iconic race.”
