HOPE FOR FRENCH RAIDERS French trainers were given a glimmer of hope regarding sending horses to the Cheltenham Festival when their authorities gave the go ahead for racing to resume in their country. France Galop boss Louis Romanet said: 'The signs are more positive than yesterday. We have to be more hopeful of our horses going to Cheltenham now.' Chantilly-based Francois Doumen will be the biggest sufferer if the travel ban continues. He is responsible for leading Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup challenger First Gold as well as Royal & SunAlliance Novices` Hurdle favourite Baracouda and Elite Racing Club Triumph Hurdle contender Bilboa. Guillaume Macaire, another French trainer beginning to make a name for himself in Britain, is hoping to run the Triumph Hurdle favourite Jair Du Cochet. Their plans were thrown into turmoil when the French acted to prevent the possible spread of foot and mouth disease with tough measures including a ban on the transportation of horses. But after discussionslast night and today the authorities have come up with a strict code of practice to allow horses to go to the races. 'We have had to call off a meeting at Enghien because there was a suspected case 10 kilometres from the course,' said Romanet. 'But with the special regulations that have been brought in we are able to hold a trotting meeting tomorrow and will stage a Flat meeting on Thursday.' He stressed, however, there was no word from the authorities regarding taking horses abroad. 'We have had suspicious cases but there`s been no confirmed cases of foot and mouth disease here which has to be encouraging,' he said. 'But this is a difficult situation and anything could happen yet. The trainers might not know one way or the other until next Monday. 'The chief vets of all the EU countries are meeting in Brussels today and we will be monitoring closely what happens there.'Hopes that French-trained horses would take part in the Festival were later dealt a blow,however, with the news that Europe`s veterinary experts tonight have banned all livestock markets in the fifteen member states and imposed restrictions on the movement of animals across EU borders.
