Baracouda capped a memorable weekend for French trainer Francois Doumen by winning the feature event at Auteuil yesterday afternoon just 24 hours after stablemate Jim And Tonic took the Duty Duty Free at Nad Al Sheba in Dubai. Baracouda, who would have been a hot favourite for the Royal & SunAlliance Hurdle at the postponed Cheltenham Festival, was an impressive winner of the Grade Three Prix Hypothese.

Doumen's son Thierry had JP McManus's six-year-old tracking the leaders before joining the front rank halfway down the back straight in this extended two-mile three-furlong hurdle.

Hitting the front with two flights left, the pair always had enough in hand to hold Gilder by one-and-a-half-lengths, with El Fuego four lengths back in third.

Doumen junior said: "Baracouda loved the heavy ground. We hit the front a bit early and he tends to stop a little when he's out on his own but he felt good."