The Il Est Francais team remain none the wiser as to why Il Est Francais failed to perform to anywhere near his full ability when pulled up in the Grade 1 Prix la Haye Jousselin at Auteuil last Sunday.

A superb winner of the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices' Chase at Kempton last year, the Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm-trained six-year-old headed the ante-post market for the King George VI Chase back at the Sunbury venue on Boxing Day heading into his Auteuil assignment.

However, Il Est Francais failed to show his usual zest, and he was swiftly pulled up by jockey James Reveley on the final circuit. 

Il Est Francais was subsequently sent to a top veterinary clinic in France for a full MOT, but nothing has come to light.

"We took him away for tests, he's been scanned and had X-rays on his heart and lungs and everything and it all seemed normal," said George on Sky Sports Racing.

"I haven't got results back from the labs on the samples but obviously something stopped him, and we need to fix it and get him back.

"These horses do have their days off but when he's on song he's very hard to beat.

"For me the horse seems happy in himself, but we won't know until we step up his work as that will tell us when it matters."