With 59 victories in 2022, Patrice Cottier produced his best season as a trainer, but just 10½ months on, he has already amassed 76 wins and close to €3.5m in prizemoney.

2023 has been a year of firsts for the ex-jockey from Marseille who, in 2021, counted just 8 horses-in-training and 6 successes. Through various dealings following the retirement of the Rossi’s, Cottier found himself with over 60 horses in his yard the following season, and did not beat about the bush getting results.

2023 also saw him secure a first Gr.3, Showay sealing the deal in the Prix Imprudence during the spring. Just a few weeks later, Game Run went from Listed-placed to Gr.2 winner in the Prix du Gros-Chêne.

The outstanding Sauterne offered Cottier Gr.1 consecration when she beat Big Rock in the Prix du Moulin, having started the year in a conditions event on the Deauville polytrack. Two year-olds also figure highly on his roster, with Classic Flower recently landing the Gr.2 Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte, and Grey Man on course for a rendez-vous in the Gr.1 Critérium International at Saint-Cloud on Sunday.

The meeting he will be focusing most of his attention on this weekend though is Ascot where Horizon Doré puts his reputation on the line in the Champion Stakes, the bookmakers very confident of his prospects. Winner of a Listed, Gr.3, and a pair of Gr.2s in his last 4 starts, Cottier’s gelding takes in a Gr.1 for the first time, just as Cottier himself is represented by his maiden runner abroad. The camp in Marseille is bullish, and owner, Haras de la Gousserie, will be hopeful of a second Champion Stakes success, Sealiway victorious in 2021.