Lucy Wadham has had a quiet jumps season by her standards, but enjoyed a late flourish at Warwick this afternoon, as her two runners landed her a handsome hurdle double.

Last season's 19 winners amassed a personal best haul of nearly £1/4m in prize money - not bad for a yard with such a modest number of horses. This year's season will finish some £40k adrift of that sum, firmly in the mid-division of the Trainers' table, from just 14 winners.

Maiden hurdler Scene One set the ball rolling, justifying 7/4 favouritism from a promising second at Fontwell earlier in the month. The second winner hadn't attracted much interest in the ring, but Regarding Ruth picked up the leader two out and ran on gamely enough to land the spoils with a length to spare. 

Bryony Frost and Lucy are a consistent pairing. Frost has ridden around half the stable's runners this season, and the lion's share of winners. She'll be seeing out the season at Sandown where Frodon lines up in the bet365 Gold Cup under top weight, trying to deny Kitty's Light a quickfire and memorable staying chase double after last weekend's Scottish National.

​British tails were up after the Randox Foxhunter last Thursday when Famous Clermont justified considerable faith by a ready 4 3/4l win over Bennys King under Will Biddick.
Since opening his account at Larkhill on New Year's Day, the eight year old has done little wrong, winning a hunter chase at Wincanton, then the Walrus Hunters at Haydock en route to the Cheltenham Foxhunter, where he finished a 10l sixth to Premier Magic. He was tracking Fier Jaguen in the same Julian Sherriff colours until that horse pecked and unshipped his rider Bradley Gibbs at the seventh. 
Racing tends to run in families, and so it was here too. Trainer Chris Barber was continuing a long tradition in the sport, emulating his grandfather Richard, who won this race 14 years ago with Trust Fund. 
Rider Will Biddick told the Racing Post, "I've been around for 20 seasons now and I think my first ride round here was Le Duc in 2009. I've had a few seconds and I've been knocking on the door. It's a big thing for the amateurs to win this race – here and Cheltenham are our Gold Cups. To do it is massive."
The winner will aim to return to the same race next year, but the 3 1/4m of the Cheltenham Foxhunter appears just a little too far. He looks a more likely candidate for the Stratford Foxhunter over a sharper track.
Of the 27 to face the starter, 17 completed. 

The Point-to-Point season is winding down, and summer fixtures are rarely making the heart beat faster, but a former inmate of Newmarket did British racing proud, when Imperil stayed on into fourth in France's richest Jumps race, the Grand Steeplechase de Paris at Auteuil yesterday.

Recently, this has been a fixture largely ignored by British and Irish trainers, yet with eye-watering prizes and soft ground, it's worth hanging out for. The Irish were as strong-handed as they could have hoped, with Willie Mullins fielding several, Emmet Mullins Noble Yeats and even a Czech runner hoping to sneak some euros.

But the French are at their best against horses they have bred and sold abroad. Daniela Mele became the fourth lady trainer to lift the coveted prize with Rosario Baron under Johnny Charron, whose effort at Cheltenham in the Stayers petered out. It was a tight finish, with another French horse, Gex, runner-up a second year in succession for Emmanuel Clayeux, a neck down at the line. 

Imperil, a graduate from handicap company and winner of France's richest handicap at Auteuil a few weeks ago, ran on to be a creditable fourth. Nick, who has been training in France little more than a couple of years, told France Galop, "What a fantastic horse! I knew he would cope with the extreme distance. I was delighted with his last performance as the distance was too short for him. We'll be back next year! Maybe we'll mount a cross-Channel raid with him!" He chuckled,  "This is great for a young French trainer like me..."

And so it is, Nick. We're dead proud of you.

Former Newmarket trainer Nick Littmoden moved to France less than 2 years ago, enjoying a lifestyle change that is alien to so many British trainers, for whom numbers of horses are the only way to make training viable.

Littmoden, who trains under both codes at Moulins, near Vichy, has already achieved more success than many of his counterparts shifting to France, but came good in spectacular style on Sunday when winning the €225,000 Prix du President de la Republique at Auteuil with Imperil, a race commonly known as the French Grand National, over 2m 7f.

The 7-year-old gelding, carrying 66.5kg, was gradually brought forward to dominate fairly clearly in the run-in a quintet formed by top-weight Ecoute en Tête (Ballingarry), who finished fourth, the finisher Echo de Champdoux (Saddler Maker), third a nose behind Fanfaron de Spécial (Gentlewave), the winner of the 2021 edition of the race and always in contention here. The fifth-placed Motu Fareone (Getaway) briefly looked like he might be in the running for the frame after making good headway on the rail.

Imperil had been claimed for €17,106 €  by Tobiah Jones on behalf of Littmoden at Nîmes, where he'd unseated his rider at the last with the race at this mercy. Moved from Christian Scandella's stable to his current trainer in England, he won twice there and returned to France with Littmoden when the handler moved to Moulins at the beginning of the 2021 season. Since then, the horse has won four races in five outings and amassed €162,690, thanks to the €114,750 promised to the winner of the "President".

It was a first ride at Autueil for Jack Quinlan, who'll surely be looking to return.

​Littmoden, meantime, has an admirable strike rate to date this year, with 5 winners from just 27 runners.