Francky Du Berlais Grand National Wins
Francky Du Berlais has never won the Grand National.
Their best finish to date was in 2023 where they came 16th. They were ridden by Ben Jones and trained by Peter Bowen.
French-bred runner Francky Du Berlais has developed into a long-distance runner, and given his handicap mark and class, that eventually led him to the Grand National for the first time in 2023.
The Peter Bowen trained horse, who was foaled in 2013, began his racing career with Bowen, and it was him that got him to the standard required for the Aintree showpiece. In his first attempt at the Grand National, the horse was midfield for around half of the race before slowly dropping through the field towards the rear, failing to really stay the distance but still managing to complete the course and finish in 16th place.
Full Results
| Year | Result | Prize Money | Handicap | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 16 | - | 10-2 | Ben Jones | Peter Bowen |
Francky Du Berlais’ Early Years
Although a French-bred, Francky Du Berlais began his racing career in the UK for Peter Bown, making his racecourse debut in September 2017 in a national hunt flat race at Worcester. He ran well to finish third of seven runners but failed to win any of his flat runs.
He would then go over hurdles, finishing second on his hurdling debut before winning his third start, a run that would be his final of the season. In that season, he would pick up a novice hurdle win, but ultimately, both that year and the one after saw the horse run well but fail to win too often.
By the end of 2019, the horse had run a total of 19 times, on the flat, over hurdles and over fences, winning just two of those races, so the signs for this horse were not there early, he certainly took a while to really get going.
Later in his career, chasing did bring out much better from him, and one of the other changes we saw was that he was running over a little longer in distance at this point too. Between January 2021 and July 2021, the horse won four chase races out of six, improving his handicap mark by 25 lbs and taking his first big race as part of that run.
Francky Du Berlais’ Big Race Wins
During his career so far, Francky Du Berlais has had two big race wins to his name, and they’ve actually come in the same race in back-to-back years. The race which he won was the Summer Plate at Market Rasen, a race that is a Grade Three handicap chase and always hotly contested by horses who are running during the summer.
Francky De Berlais first won this race in Just 2021 and did so in very impressive fashion. He won the race by seven and a half lengths, doing so off a handicap mark of 137, showing himself to be far better than that mark.
Twelve months later, he was back at the same race for more, delivering the same outcome, but this time with a little higher rating to contend with and, ultimately, a smaller winning margin too. Sent off as the 5/1 favourite to win the race again, Francky Du Berlais landed the Market Rasen showpiece by just a neck in 2022, running off a mark of 139.