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ONE are the days when Autre Que Pur Sang horses were considered the poor relation of their thoroughbred counterparts. The exploits of dual Punchestown Gold Cup hero Neptune Collonges, the latest in a line of top chasers featuring the likes of First Gold, The Fellow and Edredon Bleu, bear witness to the fact that there is no shortage of class to be found among the nonthoroughbred breed. However this was not always the case and the “Autre Que Pur Sang”, which translates as “Other Than Thoroughbred”, has come a long way since a motley selection of equines, including trotters, cavalry horses and work horses, lined up against each other in informal races going back to before the French revolution. The first official races were organised a century ago and the breed society dates back to 1922. Just four
years later the nonthoroughbred Uncas lifted the Prix du Président de la République (French Grand National), but there was a long time to wait until the AQPS was to become part of the décor at the highest level at Parisian tracks. In 1981 Isopani, trained by future 21-time flat champion trainer André Fabre, was the first of the eleven AQPS horses to lift the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris to date. Of course, the increased success of the AQPS has been accompanied by a finetuning of the breed. To qualify for inclusion in its stud book, which was inaugurated in 2005, an AQPS must possess at least 87.5% thoroughbred blood. The non-thoroughbred influence almost invariably comes from the dam’s side as AQPS mares are bred to selected stallions. These stallions are chosen for their soundness and must have shown
quality on the flat, usually being Group winners over at least a mile or else talented jumping performers, although in reality the AQPS market can provide a second opportunity for sires which may not fill their books in the thoroughbred breeding industry. With the AQPS, the theory of improving the breed through the use of top stallions has less relevance than with the thoroughbred as male produce are destined for the jumping circuit and as such are usually gelded before seeing a racecourse. There are one or two exceptions to this rule, but at the present time only a handful of the 1100 AQPS foals born each year are products of the “inverse” cross, by a non-thoroughbred sire. However as bloodstock agent Hubert Barbe, one of the first to bring AQPS horses across the Channel with the likes of Challenger du Luc and latterly Osana, points out, “The maternal bloodline is
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