French Champion To Make Festival Debut

France's 15-time champion jockey Christophe Pieux is set to have his first rides at the 2008 Festival after trainer Francois Doumen today confirmed that he would have at least one runner in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle.

Doumen has entered last year's fifth Kasbah Bliss and Millenium Royal in the Grade One event and confirmed that Pieux, who has had a handful of rides at Cheltenham away from The Festival, would be in the saddle.

'I was a bit surprised by Kasbah Bliss's under-par performance in the BGC Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot. He came out of it in splendid condition and he's perky and well. The ground wasn't too soft at Ascot, but it was quite tacky, and that's a possible reason for his poor run,' said Doumen, who won the Ladbrokes World Hurdle in 2002 and 2003 with Baracouda.

'But normally when it comes to Cheltenham in March, we are looking at ground which good as opposed to too soft, which would suit Kasbah Bliss down to the ground. He really doesn't like soft ground at all. He's definitely matured since last year's Festival, and he put in two very good performances at Auteuil before running at Newbury. He's the highest rated hurdler in France at the moment, and he's won races every year since two. We like the horse a lot, maybe because we bred him, but we still like him a lot. He will be entered in the Byrne Group Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham on January 26, but it really depends on the ground and he won't run if it's soft.

'If the ground is soft then we could run Millenium Royal in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle. He didn't enjoy the good ground at Cheltenham when he ran in the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle in December, and he wasn't lucky in running. In terms of ability, there is not much between Kasbah Bliss and Millenium Royal, and the ground at The Festival will decide which one we run in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle.

'Christophe Pieux will definitely ride one of them at The Festival and he would be very upset if I chose another jockey. He's a man with a lot of experience, having been French champion jockey 15 times. When he won on Millenium Royal at Haydock, we were still in a taxi during the previous race, he didn't have time to walk the course and still gave a great ride on a tricky horse.'