Trainer Tom George is offically set to hand over the reins of his exciting unbeaten hurdler Il Est Francais to his son Noel over the next couple of weeks, with the ultimate target the French Champion Hurdle at Auteuil in June.
The Richard Kelvin-Hughes and Haras De Saint-Voir co-owned five-year-old is unbeaten in four starts over hurdles in France for George senior, and is one of the most promising horses seen there in years.
Il Est Francais will now run under the name of Tom's son, Noel, who is about to finish his training modules and be accorded a full licence at the family's satellite yard at Chantilly.
Tom George said: "I think the plan is, from what Noel has told me, he will run under his name in a couple of weeks' time when he gets his licence, and he will run in a Group Three in France. Then he will have two runs before the French Champion Hurdle.
"He is busy away, Noel has a lot of horses over there, a lot of three-year-olds and older horses.
"It has been a very long three years getting there and it will mean I am a little quieter here, but then it will probably reap rewards further down the line.
"He has smart young horses. He has been saying to me, 'we will look forward to that one one day or that one will be staying in France'.
"The good thing is that it has opened up whole new avenues. The whole point is we can win races there with horses who are badly handicapped here and it is all done on prize-money.
"We have so many more opportunities now. Something high in the handicap here, which hasn't won any money for a bit, can go there."
