By any standard of measure, 2025 was a career-defining year for Francis Graffard; in fact, over entire careers, many top trainers won't accomplish what Graffard did in that one year alone.He set a record for Group 1 wins by a French-based trainer with 14. He finished on top of the French trainers' list for wins and money earned. He won nine Group 1s in France, including the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with Daryz (Fr) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), and also won Group 1s in England and Germany as well as Japan, where he sent Calandagan (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) out to become the first foreign winner of the Japan Cup in 20 years.But it was his first win in a Breeders' Cup race, when Gezora (Fr) (Almanzor {Fr}) came from the outside to wear down She Feels Pretty (Karakonie {Jpn}) to win the 2025 Filly & Mare Turf, that was “right at the top of last year's big racing days,” he says.A big statement, indeed, after a year like that. Graffard, the son of a trainer, grew up watching the Breeders' Cup on t.v. in France.“The Breeders' Cup is a very famous meeting, an incredible meeting,” he said. “When I was young, we organized a Breeders' Cup dinner party to watch all the races. It was a dream to watch the races and these good horses. And I remember (Arqana's) Eric Hoyeau organizing a big event around the Breeders' Cup in Saint-Cloud with a lot of people and a big screen. It's a very special meeting and when I started training, as soon as I had a horse that was able to go to the Breeders' Cup, I never refused. I was so keen to go; it's a meeting you want to be part of and enjoy.”He had run horses in seven Breeders' Cup races-including two races earlier on the card in 2025–suffering through a grueling day of defeat–leading up to Gezora's win losing with Goliath in the Turf and Shalan (Ire) in the Mile, as well as with Temptable (GB) on the Breeders' Cup undercard.“My best performance was with Malavath (Ire),” he said of the filly who finished second in the Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2021. “I took Karar (GB) two times. He was a seven-furlong horse, and unfortunately in Del Mar, he had a very bad draw in the Turf Sprint and it didn't suit him. So I was a little bit unlucky. But I learned. You know what type of horses you need and how to ride them also and so all these previous trips helped me to get my first winner. Malavath was a fantastic second, so that was a great day but I was really waiting for a winner.”Gezora came from fairly modest beginnings, finishing fourth in a maiden at Dieppe in the beginning of 2024. But by the end of the year, she would be a graded stakes winner, taking the Darley Prix des Reservoirs at Deauville. That attracted the attention of Oceanic Bloodstock's Michel Zerolo, who buys promising horses for owner Peter Brant in France.“She came to me over the winter and she was very wintery in her coat and a very light-framed filly,” said Graffard. “It took me a while to understand her. But the first time she raced in the Prix Vanteaux for me (at the beginning of 2025), she was third, but she ran really well. I was pleased with that. And then she won the (G2) Prix Saint-Alary and she really quickened with a beautiful action. So, yeah, it was just a very slow start, a bit of an unknown for me. As I said, she's a light-framed filly so I have never really pushed her in the morning. But I learned her from races.”Gezora wins the Prix de Diane | Scoop Dyga The Prix Saint Alary is a trial for the crowning jewel of a French filly's summer–the Prix de Diane Longines, the French Oaks.“It was a no-brainer to go to the Prix de Diane with her,” said Graffard. “She deserved the chance and Christophe Soumillon gave her a beautiful ride that day.”“Peter (Brant) was there with his family,” he recalled. “It was a beautiful day and it's a very special race. The win was fantastic. We had a lot of emotions, and I think Mr. Brant was very excited and happy. It's a beautiful race to win. There are some beautiful photos of her after the race. She's a smart filly, and she looked so proud.”Gezora was given July and August off, and returned in the Prix Vermeille, where she finished a good second. Graffard debated between the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Prix d'Opera on the same card for her next start.“We decided to go to the Arc,” he said. “Maybe that was a mistake I made, really. She had no chance, unfortunately. She was too far back and the ground was a bit too soft, so it was really a race we had to draw a line through.”Despite that loss, they pressed on to the Filly & Mare Turf.“Peter Brant was planning to keep her in America after the Breeders' Cup,” he said, “so I was keen to go for the race with her, and Mr. Brant was very happy to take the challenge. I took four horses. I had Goliath, I had Sahlan, and the day didn't go well. Goliath went too fast in front and didn't perform well. Sahlan was much too inexperienced and he finished like a bullet for fifth, which was a bit frustrating so Gezora was the last runner of the day and I was thinking it wasn't going to happen. But Mikael (Barzelona) rode her perfectly, and she has a big heart, and the straight was incredible, and when she came on the wire, it was amazing.”Graffard is asked why that moment might have been the most special in the midst of the incredible year he was having.Gezora wins the 2025 GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf | Breeders' Cup Eclipse Sportswire“It was a very special trip because my daughters came to America and they did a tour with Lisa, my wife, and they met me in Del Mar, and I had some friends also with me who came as well. So it was the build-up to the races was great because we just enjoyed Del Mar, going to the track. It was just a fantastic time and the weather was beautiful and all of the branding of the Breeders' Cup around the event makes it very special. Earlier in the day, as I said, I was a little bit frustrated, but in the stretch of the race, you've probably seen videos of me and my daughters shouting and going mad. It was amazing. And the joy Mr. Brant had to see this filly winning, it was very special also for him. And after we had a great party. So it's just a very good memory, because when you have your family, your friends, and you give the owner a lot of good emotions, it's what it's all about.”Was the year almost too good to be true?“I always wonder, did I enjoy it enough?” mused Graffard. “Because it was so amazing, we were going from weekend to weekend after next, just winning all these big meetings. It was just incredible, but I was lucky I had fantastic horses last year, but hopefully I will be able to keep winning these big races. That's my goal. As soon as I started training, I wanted to travel. And be competitive in international meetings. And we seem to be achieving this at the moment. So we need to keep going and now I've already start thinking about my Breeders' Cup potential runners for November. So it's something we target. I was very lucky last year, and hopefully we can reproduce it.”Before completing the Darley Flying Start course, Graffard studied law. His father imagined him as a future Formula One driver. On Breeders' Cup Day, 2025, an alternate version of Francis Graffard could have found himself in a courtroom or on an entirely different kind of racetrack. Did he choose the right path, he is asked?“I think a law degree has helped me in terms of approaching and solving problems,” he said. “I was lucky because my parents, they always supported me, whatever I wanted to do, and they believed in me. I had my competitive side from my dad from training, you have that all the time. I'm really competitive and I love winning. Training a job that produces emotions–good or bad emotions–but at least it makes life fantastic. There are very few jobs that give you that. And I think studying law has been a big help also for my career and being selected in the Darley Flying Start and my law degree helped me with approaching and solving problems. I think I definitely made the right choice. I'm just lucky that I wanted to be at the top level and at the moment, we seem to be competing at the top.”The post Breeders’ Cup Breakthrough: Gezora’s Win Was the Icing on Graffard’s Cake of a Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.