Point-to-pointing’s role as a platform for racing under rules is not confined to Britain – ask Frenchman Nathan Vergne.
Seeking to widen his horse racing experience, Vergne (pictured above) crossed the Channel in 2016 to work for Somerset trainer Philip Hobbs, and in January the following year gained his first spin in a point-to-point. Despite competition for rides in the West Country he picked up further opportunities that season, and in May the following year rode the first in a career total of seven point-to-point winners when scoring on the Charlotte Budd-trained Rien Du Tout at Cothelstone. He also trained and rode Hello George to score at the same track in March 2019, and had two rides for his boss in hunters’ chases.
He describes his time in Britain as “the best four years of my life”.
The intervention of Covid cut short the 2019/20 season, and, after four and a half years with Hobbs, Vergne returned to his homeland where he set up a breaking and pre-training operation near Angers. Building on that he is now going through the process of applying for a licence and expects to be operating from a yard at Maisons-Laffitte on the north-west side of Paris in the New Year.
Last week he was back in Britain attending the Yorton Sale at which he bought a pair of two-year-old stores – a Blue Bresil gelding and Masterstroke filly – to add to his new stable.
He said: “For the past four seasons I’ve been pre-training, handling some 45 horses all year round for different trainers. We’ve handled 80 per cent of horses owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede in France.
“Then last year I decided to move my career onto training and that’s really exciting.”
Vergne was visiting the Yorton Sale for the second time, having noticed that graduates of the sale are well forward and easy to handle due to the education, preparation and loose schooling they receive at Yorton Stud before being placed into the catalogue.
Reflecting on the learning curve he went on when arriving at Hobbs’ yard, he said: “For starters, I learned to speak English, which is a big advantage these days, and also seeing the different types of training. It was a brilliant time, probably the best four years of my life.
Vergne winning on the Tom Malone-trained The Last But One during his spell in Britain
“I had ridden a bit in amateur races in France before I came over, but was getting a bit too heavy – I love food more than anything. Once I came to England a friend of mine, Nick Lawton, said why don’t you look for rides in point-to-points? Nick [who had more than 200 point-to-point rides and 24 winners of his own] became my best friend and is my best man in a couple of weeks.
“I met loads of people during that time who have remained good friends. I learned so much from riding in France and England where the racing is quite different, the training is different and the horses and tracks are different. It was a great experience.”
Vergne is not the first France-based trainer to have benefited from the experience of riding in point-to-points. Noel George, the son of Gloucestershire trainer Tom George, rode in the sport for five seasons and partnered five winners in points and the same number in hunters’ chases.
He also left for France when Covid shut racing down in 2020, and is now based at Maisons-Laffitte where he holds a joint-licence with Amanda Zetterholm. The duo’s top horse is the Gr.1-winning chaser Il Est Francais.