Winner of last November’s G.1 Prix Maurice Gillois, Amy Du Kiff makes his seasonal return this Sunday at Auteuil in the 3900m G.3 Prix Hypothèse over hurdles.

He touched a lot of hearts in 2023. After coming bridesmaid more than once during the spring, the 4 year-old’s autumn ended on the highest of notes with Maurice Gillois (4yo champion chase) glory at 15/1, in the process securing a maiden Grade 1 for his jockey, Léo-Paul Bréchet.

As for 2024, he will make his comeback in the Hypothèse on Sunday, a race with quite the list of winners over recent years. Thélème in 2023, L’Autonomie’s triple from 2020-2022, and De Bon Coeur in 2018 & 2019. Trainer, Gabriel Leenders, fills in some of the blanks.

“He’s 5 and he had a heavy 2023. We would like him to have an easier spring. We’ll run the Prix Hypothèse first and then we’ll see. Either we keep him over hurdles where we know he’s good enough to run at Grade level. Or we send him straight to the Prix Ingré [recognised Grand Steeple prep] and then on to the Grand Steeple.

“We have a number of options and we’re not under any pressure, the horse will guide us. He will quickly tell us where he is at, but what we’re really looking forward to is preparing for the autumn.

“He had some real scraps last year, between the Quinté’s, which are always tough, and the black-type races. He’s still a young horse and we’ll have to keep an eye on not only his physical health, but also his mental wellbeing, which is essential. He’ll let us know quickly if he’s still enjoying Auteuil, and we can adapt our plans if we think he needs something different.”