He took the lead three hurdles from the finish but was soon overtaken by Istabraq and lost second place to Theatreworld in the closing stages. French Holly met Istabraq for the third time in the Aintree Hurdle over two and a half miles in April a race which also attracted his half-brother Deano's Beeno. Starting second favourite again, he took the lead three hurdles from the finish and landed in front over the last but was overtaken by Istabraq soon afterwards and finished second, a length behind the favourite. In the early summer of 1999, French Holly was sent to compete in France where he was based with Murphy's daughter in Normandy and reportedly enjoyed excursions to the beach at Deauville. In the Prix La Barka 4300 metres on soft ground at Auteuil Hippodrome on 30 May, he was matched against some of the leading French hurdlers including Bog Frog and Earl Grant, the winners of the last two runnings of the Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil (French Champion Hurdle). He took the lead at the final hurdle and won by three lengths from Kimbi, with a gap of eight lengths back to Mon Romain in third. A reportedly "ecstatic" Murphy said that "the whole purpose of bringing him here and running him over the bigger obstacles was to give him the experience he needs for a chasing campaign next season and we want to win the Millennium Gold Cup". French Holly returned to France three weeks later for the Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil over 5100 metres. His cause was not helped when he collided with another runner at a practice hurdle and unseated Thornton before the race. Restrained by Thornton in the early stages of a slowly-run race he stayed on in the closing stages but finished fourth behind Vaporetto, Mon Romain and Asolo. Murphy felt that the firmer ground and slow pace had contributed to the horse's defeat. In the autumn, French Holly began his career as a steeplechaser in a novice race over three miles and a furlong at Wetherby Racecourse. Only two horses appeared to oppose him and he started at odds of 2/11. He made some minor jumping errors but soon went well clear of his rivals and won by eighteen lengths from Monsieur Darcy despite being eased down by Thornton on the run-in. Murphy commented that the horse "wasn't a natural jumper in his early days over hurdles, but he has learnt all the time.