David Menuisier had a simple target when he moved into a small corner of the famous Coombelands training estate in Sussex a decade ago. “We started with four horses,” he recalled here this week. “We had no owners, no money, we were living in the [staff] hostel. We were working to survive, and the target was to survive to the next month.”
A decade later, Menuisier can set his sights considerably higher. The 2024 season is already the trainer’s best yet in terms of prize-money earnings, with just over £700k in the bank, but he will shoot well into seven figures if his colt Sunway leads the field home in the St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday. And the money, while very welcome, would be secondary to the kudos attached to a victory in one of Britain’s five Classics.
The rich heritage of the British turf was one of the factors that persuaded Menuisier to pursue his lifelong ambition to train thoroughbreds in the UK rather than in his native France, where he was an assistant to one of the country’s finest talents in Criquette Head-Maarek, or in California, where he had a similar role with a Hall of Famer, Richard Mandella.
“It’s probably not quite the obvious thing to do when the prize money is better in France,” he says, “but there are perks in this country that you don’t find there. I find the programme very attractive, the racecourses, the atmosphere. There are a lot of people interested in racing, and the next global stable is probably more likely to invest in the UK than in France. You get the crowds, and that’s why entertaining an owner in France is very difficult. That’s one thing that the Brits do better than the French, big time.
“So I think it has an awful lot of pluses. In France, yes, the prize money is better, but there is an awful lot of red tape on employment, taxes, all sorts of things.”
Menuisier has now been living and working in Sussex for the best part of two decades, first as an assistant to John Dunlop in Arundel before the former champion trainer’s retirement in 2012, and since 2014, at Coombelands near Pulborough, the purpose-built estate where Guy Harwood prepared Dancing Brave in the 1980s. I’ve always felt welcome here from day one and people have always been friendly, and it is my home,” he says.
“Don’t get me wrong, if I drive to France I feel at home as well, but I feel at home here and I’m happy to come back. I’m delighted to live with one foot on both sides. I don’t want to be talking politics or whatever, but that’s what was hurtful when Brexit came up, because I really think these are sister nations and it’s gut-wrenching for somebody like me who owes everything to both nations. It felt like a bit of a split and it shouldn’t be that way.”
Menuisier has also developed a strong grasp of the local vernacular. “Have you got a chance on Saturday?” a passing punter asked him in the Tatts enclosure on Thursday. “I bloody hope so,” he replied, and despite Sunway having failed to win any of his five starts so far this year, there is plenty in the form book to back up the trainer’s confidence.
Sunway was the only three-year-old in the field for the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July and finished a fine – and brave – fourth after being almost knocked over on the turn for home. His close second in the Irish Derby in June, meanwhile, was even stronger form, and offered every reason to hope that he will see out the extra two furlongs at Town Moor on Saturday.
“We think he’ll stay, but we know as much as everybody else,” Menuisier says. “He looked like he was finishing his races really good in the Irish Derby and the King George, [at Ascot] he almost came down but got back on his feet and was really determined to finish the race well. He always takes a while to pull up, so those are the right signs really.”
It is 38 years since Dancing Brave took the 2,000 Guineas back to Coombelands, but the long wait for another British Classic at one of the country’s finest training establishments could soon be over.
“When John Dunlop retired, I wanted to stay in the area and I was introduced to Amanda [Perrett, Harwood’s daughter]. She was going down in numbers and she was happy for me to rent a few boxes.
“We have everything, the gallops, the peace and quiet, the swimming pool, treadmill, spa but I never thought at the time that it would grow this much and this quickly. We started with nothing, so it’s been a dream come true.”
Sunway can lead way in Leger
Aidan O’Brien is the runaway leader in the UK trainers’ championship and fields three of the seven runners in Saturday’s St Leger at Doncaster, but there is little to choose between them on form or ratings and Illinois, the runner-up in the Great Voltigeur at York, feels like a shaky favourite as a result.
In fact, it would be no surprise if Jan Brueghel, who is unbeaten in three starts in strongly-run races, emerged as the best of O’Brien’s trio, but all three could struggle to peg back the Irish Derby runner-up, Sunway (3.40).
Last year’s Group One Critérium International winner has yet to add to that success in five starts this season, but he was finishing best of all at the Curragh in June and that performance is as good as anything that his six opponents can offer.
Christophe Soumillon is an excellent substitute for the colt’s regular partner, Oisin Murphy, and Sunway’s early price of about 6-1 fifth-favourite of seven looks at least a couple of points too big.
Doncaster 1.50: The beautifully-bred Chancellor – by Kingman out of the Breeders’ Cup-winning Queen’s Trust – is two-from-three and lost a shoe when he was beaten at odds-on at Ascot in July. He got back on track over course and distance last time, easily dispatching a next-time winner, and looks more than ready for this step up in class.
Chester 2.05: The ultra-consistent Al Qareem beat Bluestocking, a subsequent Group One winner, in this race last year and while the form should not be taken entirely literally, it underlines that he is a very effective performer at this level. La Yakel, rated 99 for his latest handicap success, is the obvious danger, but Karl Burke’s gelding has probably been aiming towards this race from a long way out.
Doncaster 2.25: At least a dozen very plausible candidates for a typically competitive Portland, but Shagraan’s form has taken off since midsummer and he arrives off the back of another career-best performance at Haydock last weekend.
Chester 2.40: Gavin Cromwell has half a dozen Cheltenham Festival winners on his record after a double at this year’s meeting, but his stats for runners on the Flat are similarly impressive – 25% strike rate and 28.5-point profit since the start of 2021. His useful mare Vera Verto could well add to the tally here.
Quick Guide
Greg Wood’s Saturday tips
Show
Lingfield 12.55 Smart Charger 1.25 Gold Wild 2.00 Marchogion 2.35 Mc Loven 3.10 Astronomica 3.50 Shamardia 4.23 Salik 4.58 Covert Mission
Chester 1.35 Noble Phoenix 2.05 Al Qareem 2.40 Vera Verto 3.20 Invincible Annice 4.05 Stressfree 4.40 Boy Douglas 5.15 Grey Fable 5.55 Night Breeze
Doncaster 1.50 Chancellor 2.25 Shagraan (nb) 3.00 Lead Artist 3.40 Sunway (nap) 4.15 Paradias 4.50 Scandinavia 5.25 Native Warrior
Bath 3.15 Gearing’s Point 3.55 Hawk Jet 4.30 Nala Star 5.05 Level Up 5.35 Belgravian 6.05 Tap Dancer 6.35 Hawajes 7.05 Time Patrol
Musselburgh 4.10 Believe Me Now 4.45 Antonin Dvorak 5.20 Unmistakeable 5.50 Lady Phoebe 6.20 Marbuzet 6.50 Clasina 7.18 Mrs Bagerran
Doncaster 3.00: The veteran Kinross is always a tough opponent in these seven-furlong Group Twos but may struggle to give weight to the progressive three-year-old, Lead Artist, who won a Group Three over a mile in a strong time at Goodwood in August and promises to be just as effective back at this trip.
Doncaster 4.15: Paradias ran into plenty of traffic problems at York last time but a repeat of earlier winning form at Goodwood could well be enough here.
