By Black Type Horse Racing
13 May, 2024

On the bumper Gr1 Goodwood Handicap card at Morphettville on Saturday, punters who had done their homework would have found it relatively easy to deduce that South Australian-trained mare En Francais (Puissance de Lune) was way over the odds at $18 in the Gr3 The Cummings Stakes over a mile. Never out of the money in her initial four second-up runs, En Francais had already put the writing on the wall in her first-up run with a commendable fifth, beaten just over 3-lengths in the Gr2 Queen of the South Stakes behind very smart Patrick Payne mare Seonee (Winning Rupert). With the benefit of improvement second-up, the daughter of Swettenham Stud stallion Puissance de Lune (Shamardal) provided her Victor Harbour-based trainer Jake Stephens with a thrilling 1.4-length triumph after leaving the gates last. Looking like a $200 chance at the 300m En Francais sprouted wings and rounded them up like a well-trained kelpie. The sparingly raced 6YO mare now boasts 5 wins and 10 placings from just 20 starts for earnings of $360,955. Her sire Puissance de Lune was highly effective in Black Type races across a swathe of distances, success which was augmented by 5 individual Group 1 placings in Australia from 1400m to 2000m. His eight stakes-performed progeny, headlined by dual Group 1 Oaks-placed Group 2 winner Moonlight Maid, are butressed by the likes of Cyclone Sally and Romary who have each won 10 races. Puissance de Lune is standing the 2024 season for $8,800 inc GST.