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And now, here's your host, Emmett Kennedy.

This is the podcast you've been waiting for.

The ex-French horses who are on their way to dominate for the new season.

We are, of course, joined by Total Performance Data's Adam Mills, one of the best in the business when it comes to racing, but the absolute best in the business when it comes to unearthing, these National Hunt gems for jumps racing. And after that buildup, you can't possibly go wrong. Welcome back to the show, Adam. Thanks, Emmett. Glad to be back here for another year, have another go. Talk about the day job here, looking at the French three-year-olds.

It's kind of just, we've had one or two that have run, and one or two that have won on this recruits list. And once that starts, you think, okay, come on, then. Let's get a pecking horse together. Before we start talking about these horses, and there's a lot from the Willie Mullins team, The horses that have shown that little bit of promise in France, over the years you've been very good at refining which of these horses you think are going to be actually able to make the step up from France to Ireland, the UK, and different styles of racing in Britain and Ireland. What are you looking out for this time around? The first thing to say about this year is it's a record number. I always kind of cut my list off on the first of November. I say, right,

once I get to the first November, then we'll start. That's next season as far as I'm concerned.

You've got to draw the line somewhere. But the 75 this year, added a couple more in on the

third of November when I found where they'd gone. I thought, okay, I'll put them in just in case.

So there's a huge number, but there's also a lot of gambling going on.

And what I mean by gambling is we've got 20 or three-year-olds who've had one run in France and been sold.

Although there's loads of potential, and there are certain yards that we all know that do really well with their French recruits,

there's also a huge number of agents and a huge number of trainers, owners, buyers,

who've looked at one piece of form and spent six figures in the hope that that piece of form translates. Now, if you go back to 15, 20 years ago, the likes of Corte staff, for example,

probably a slight outlier, but 10 runs in France, long run, whole season in France before he was

sold. Those days are gone. You can't do that anymore. You can't afford to say, I'm going to sit

on this horse and see how he does on his second and third starts, because you might sit on that

form, someone else will go in. They'll go in and buy, and you can see if you're ever lucky enough

to go to Ortoe, it's like jump racing, but it's so different because there's fewer people there. But one thing you'll notice is if you watch a three-year-old hurdle or Toy, the number of people in the paddock, around the paddock with notepads, with phones to their ears, as these horses crossed the line, deals are being done. People are trying to get

the deal done before the horses even back in the stabling yard. And so when you've got that,

you now have a situation where we're not only having to assess the French form, but you

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