Amy Murphy – Thinking Outside the Box

Equuis Photography / Jason Bax

Article by Katherine Ford

“I’m a bit choked up; this horse means the absolute world to me…” Amy Murphy was close to tears at Auteuil in March as she welcomed stable stalwart Kalashnikov back into the Winners’ Enclosure with Jack Quinlan aboard. It was a first success in almost four years for the ten-year-old, although the intervening months had seen the popular gelding performing creditably at Graded level in campaigns interrupted by injury. Connections pocketed €26,680 for the winners’ share of the €58,000 conditions hurdle; but the satisfaction far surpassed the prize money. 

“An awful lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into getting him back, but don’t get me wrong: if at any point we thought that he wasn’t still at the top of his game, we’d have stopped because he doesn’t owe us anything.” Runner-up in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the 2018 Festival and a Grade 1 winner at Aintree the following season, Kalashnikov put Amy Murphy—with her refreshing enthusiasm and undeniable horsemanship—on the map from the start of their respective careers. 

“He is very much a people’s horse. He was campaigned from the early days at the highest level, and he had some real good battles as a young horse; and I think that those types of horses that don’t go down without a fight, people lock onto them and follow them.”

From veterans to juveniles

Equuis Photography / Jason Bax

While the achievement of keeping a ten-year-old on form and identifying a winnable race at Auteuil for his French debut is considerable, the success was all the more notable as it came just three days after Myconian had earned connections €15,000 for victory in the Prix du Début at Saint-Cloud—the first juvenile contest of the Parisian season. It is rare to find a trainer with success at both ends of the age spectrum, in two different disciplines, but when you add in the fact that Amy Murphy had crossed the Channel to complete this unusual double, it demonstrates a laudable versatility. 

“We try and work with everything we get sent. We’re in a fortunate position where we’ve got the best of both worlds with lots of lovely young horses; but Kalashnikov, Mercian Prince and some of the old brigade have been with us since we started. I started training six years ago, and they were two of the first horses in my yard so they’ve been a big part of my career and still are.” 

Twelve-year-old Mercian Prince has racked up a total of 13 wins for Amy since arriving in her fledgling yard from France in 2016, with three of these coming in the past 12 months and including one in Clairefontaine last summer. As with Kalashnikov, patience has reaped rewards with this veteran. 

“Mercian Prince is very tricky to train at home—he has a mind of his own, and everything’s got to be on his terms. We do lots of different things with him. He will go three or four times during the year to the beach at Holkham, which is about an hour down the road. It keeps him mentally active. I’m a big believer in freshening them up. I like to string a couple of races together and then give them a week or ten days out in the field at the farm—things like that. It’s fine if you’ve got two-year-olds and it’s a short-term game; but with older horses that you know are going to stick around, you’ve got to keep them fresh.”

From pony-mad to the youngest trainer in Newmarket

Ambitious and determined, Amy Murphy spent her childhood on her father’s Wychnor Park Stud in Staffordshire. “My dad bred National Hunt horses as a hobby. I always had ponies and hunted and showjumped until I was about 16; then I started riding out for local trainers and got bitten by the racing bug. I spent all of my weekends and holidays riding out for as many people as would let me in. My dad wouldn’t let me leave school without any qualifications, so I went to Hartpury College and did a diploma in equine science. The day after that finished, I was in a racing yard.” 

After a stint with Nicky Henderson, Amy’s now-characteristic adventurous spirit led her to Australia and an educational season with Gai Waterhouse. “Australia was where I learnt more about spelling horses. Their horses will only have three or four runs together and their seasons are split up so they can campaign them with breaks in between the different carnivals. Gai is obviously brilliant with her two-year-olds and does lots of stalls work with them, and that was another important thing I learnt with her.” 

On returning to the UK, Amy joined Tom Dascombe as pupil assistant at Michael Owen’s Manor House in Cheshire, which opened the doors to France for the first time, overseeing his satellite base in Deauville during a summer. Her racing education was completed with four years at Luca Cumani’s stable in Newmarket before setting out on her own in 2016, at age 24—the youngest trainer in Newmarket. 

“One of the biggest things I learnt from Luca was making sure a horse is ready before you run. As you become a more mature trainer, you relax more into it; you learn that patience pays off. If you think something needs a bit more time or something’s not quite right, then nine times out of ten, you need to be patient.” 

Patience is a virtue

Amy with Pride Of America & Lemos with Miss Cantik.

Amy Murphy may have learnt patience with her horses, but she is impatient with a system that she has had to seek and find alternative campaigns for her horses due to low prize money in the UK. “As William Haggas said to me the other day, I’ve got off my rear end and done something about the situation.” She continues, “It’s very hard to make it pay in England, sadly, so it’s either sit here and struggle or do something outside the box.” 

Amy’s first Stakes success came in France in just her second season training, thanks to £14,000 breeze-up purchase Happy Odyssey, winner of a juvenile Listed contest at Maisons-Laffitte and who quickly added more profit by selling for €300,000 at Arqana’s Arc Sale just days later. “From very early on, we’ve targeted France. To start with, it was just the black-type horses; but once I got to know the programme a bit better, we started to bring a few of the others across too.”

The ”we” referred to includes Amy’s husband, former Brazilian champion apprentice Lemos de Souza, whom she met when working for Luca Cumani and who now plays a vital role at Amy’s Southgate Stables. “He’s a very good rider and a very good judge of a horse, and is a great asset to have with the two-year-olds. It’s nice having someone to work with and bounce ideas off. He has travelled all over the world—Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong—for Luca Cumani with all of his good horses.”

French flair

Tenrai & Jade Joyce.

Last year, the pair widened their horizons further with the decision to take out a provisional licence in France, renting a yard from trainer Myriam Bollack-Badel in Lamorlaye. “We were going into the complete unknown. My travelling head girl Jade Joyce was based out there along with another girl; and we basically sent out twelve horses on the first day and between them, they had a fantastic three months. The two-year-olds were where our forte lay and what we tried to take advantage of, whereas we had never had horses run in handicaps in France. So, we had to get the older horses handicapped, and the system is completely different. 

Amy with racing secretary, Cat Elliott.

There were plenty of administrative errors early on, as my secretary Cat Elliot was doing everything from in Newmarket; so there were plenty of teething problems and plenty of pens being thrown across the office… For example, I didn’t know you couldn’t run a two-year-old twice in five days, so I tried to declare one twice in five days … little things like that. It was all a learning process, like going back to square one again.”

The operation was declared a resounding success, with eight wins and 15 placed runners during the three-month period, amassing a hefty share of the €276,927 earned by the stable during 2022 in France. Among the success stories, juvenile filly Manhattan Jungle was snapped up by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners after two wins at Chantilly and Lyon Parilly and was later to take Murphy and team to Royal Ascot, the Prix Morny and the Breeders’ Cup. Meanwhile, another juvenile filly, Havana Angel, earned black type in the Gp.3 Prix du Bois, entered Arqana’s Summer Sale as a wild-card and changed hands for €320,000. 

The sole regret is that France Galop only allows trainers one chance with the provisional licence. “We tried to apply again this year but sadly got turned down. Moving over full time is not out of the question in the future.” 

Vive la Difference

During her stint at Lamorlaye, Amy had the chance to observe some of the French professionals; and although she stresses, “I wasn’t up at Chantilly so didn’t get to see the likes of André Fabre…,” she also notes, “The gallops men would be very surprised by how quick our two-year-olds would be going regularly. The French seem to work at a slower pace, whereas we are more short and sharp; and we use the turf as much as we can. We would work our two-year-olds in a last piece of work with older horses to make sure that they know their job.” 

Impressed by the jumps schooling facilities in Lamorlaye, Amy was also complimentary about other aspects of the training centre. “I like the way that you can get the stalls men that work in the afternoon to come and put your two-year-olds through in the morning. That’s all very beneficial to both the horse and to the handlers because they know each other. Another big thing which I love over in France is that when the turf is too quick, they water it so that you can still train on it in the mornings, even at the height of the summer.”

Even without the provisional licence, Amy Murphy’s name is still a familiar sight on French racecards. At the time of writing in late May, her stable has earned €117,446 in prize money and owners’ premiums in 2023, from 18 runners of which four have won and eight placed. 

To reduce travel costs, organisation is key. “I had a filly that ran well in a €50,000 maiden at Chantilly recently, and she travelled over with a filly that ran and won at Saint-Cloud three days later. They were based at Chantilly racecourse for the week and moved across to Saint-Cloud on the morning of the race and then came home together on Friday night. It takes a bit more logistics but financially it makes sense to send two together.” As for the owners, they have made no complaints about seeing their horses race further afield. “Plenty of my owners have been over to France; they love it. I haven’t had one person say they don’t want to go to France yet, anyway!”

Defending an industry

Closer to home, a subject dear to Amy’s heart is horse welfare and the image of racing. On her social media accounts, she promotes the cause and has invited the public to visit her stable to see for themselves the care that racehorses are given. “I’ve had a couple of contacts but nowhere near as many as I’d like. As an industry, we have to show that this image that so many people have of racing is just not true. The only way we can do that is by getting people behind the scenes and letting them see just how well these animals are loved and cared for by all of the girls and guys in the yards. Events like the Newmarket Open Day, when we get thousands of people in to visit the years, are the kind of thing that we need to keep pushing. I want to be in this sport for a long time, so I want to do anything I can to help promote it.” 

With advocates like Amy and a generation of motivated young trainers, the sport of horse racing can count on some highly professional, hard-working and modern ambassadors, in the UK, France and beyond. 

A new mission for Criquette Head

Article by Katherine Ford

Five years after retiring as a trainer, the handler most famous for the Arc double of Trêve wintered in the Bahamas where she devoted herself to caring for her mother Ghislaine during her final months. A figure in French and international racing and bloodstock alongside her late husband Alec, Ghislaine Head was influential in the running of the Haras du Quesnay. Her colours were carried notably by Arc heroine Three Troikas and homebred Prix du Jockey-Club winner Bering; and she passed away peacefully at age 95 in early June.

Horses were far away in the flesh during this time in the Bahamas but still close to Criquette’s heart and very present in her mind. “When would be a convenient time for a chat?” I texted Criquette Head to arrange this interview. The reply pings back, “You can call me at 11.30am French time; I get up at 5am (EST) here every day for my first lot.”

So it is 5.30am in the Bahamas, and Criquette is in fine form as ever with plenty of ideas to discuss. “I’m always wide awake at this time. I can’t get it out of my system. Of course there are no horses here, just water and boats.” When Criquette retired, she announced a plan to sail across the Atlantic in her yacht, named Trêve. However, in typical altruistic style of the former president of the European Trainers Federation, the adventure has been on hold. “My boat is here, but I haven’t done the crossing yet. I will do it one day, but for the moment, my priority is taking care of my mother. I will stay at her side as long as she needs me.” 

While she had no physical contact with horses in the Bahamas, and no imminent trans-Altantic sail to prepare for, Criquette has been devoting time and energy recently to the association CIFCH (Conseil Indépendant pour la Filière des Courses Hippiques, or Independent Council for the Racing Industry), which she created with long-time friend and associate Martine Della Rocca Fasquelle some three years ago and now presides. 

Senator Anne-Catherine Loisier & Martine Della Rocca Fasquelle.

“The idea came about because I found that our politicians didn’t understand the racing world. I said to myself that as I have some spare time, I would create a little association, and I would try to ask our politicians, those who vote for our laws in the National Assembly or the Senate, to understand what racing means. We are completely separate from any official organisation, and we don’t interfere with France Galop or Le Trot (French harness racing authority). I just want to show the decision makers what racing is all about. I have met a lot of people and invited them to the races. That’s all… I try to make them realise the importance of the racing industry, and the reactions have been very positive.”

An eclectic membership 

The CIFCH counts 140 parliamentarians among its membership and supporters, which is a varied panel composed of racing and non-racing people, from a wide professional spectrum. 

As Martine Della Rocca Fasquelle explains, “Our aim is to share ideas and knowledge, and everyone contributes what they can, depending upon their area of expertise.” Criquette adds, “We wanted to surround ourselves with competent people who are all volunteers. They all like horses, not necessarily racehorses but the horse in general, and the association works in favour of the entire equine sector. The VAT issue is an important one for the CIFCH. If we manage to reduce the rate for equine activity to 10%, the entire horse industry will reap the benefit.”

A key supporter is Senator Anne-Catherine Loisier, vice-president of the CIFCH and who notably assisted in opening the doors of the National Assembly for a meeting with French mayors. Criquette continues, “A year ago, we wrote to all the mayors in France with a racecourse in their municipality with a questionnaire, and most of them very kindly replied to us. However, it’s a shame that the mayors with some of our most important racecourses didn’t respond. We asked them about the economic importance of the racecourses for their municipality; and then we organised a meeting at the National Assembly, which was very productive.” Martine Della Rocca Fasquelle adds, “This was the first time that mayors have been heard singing the praises of racing. We were surprised as we received reactions from very high up, including Emmanuel Macron, who congratulated us for the results of the racing industry.”

Spreading the word

Senators Sonia de la Prôvoté and Valérie Letard and spouses with Criquette Head, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe 2021.

The CIFCH compiled the responses from 27 mayors, representing communes ranging from Chantilly and Cagnes-Sur-Mer, several municipalities in the West of France (which is a hive of activity for both trotting and gallop racing, training and breeding), to the homes of tracks organising just one or two meetings per year, into an album “Une Ville, Un Hippodrome: les maires ont la parole.” (towns and racecourses, in the words of their mayors). The brochure, which has been distributed to members and interested parties, is an advocacy of the benefits of racing to local communities. 

Naturally, Isabelle Wojtoviez, mayoress of Chantilly, underlines the significance of the racecourse and training centre for the town, “It is impossible to imagine Chantilly without horses. The animal is at the centre of our economy, a pillar of our history and a vital tourist attraction...” 

Bertrand de Guébriant, mayor of 5,000-inhabitant Craon in the West of France, where the racecourse hosts 10 meetings for a mixture of jumps, flat and trotting action, says, “Craon is one of the most popular provincial tracks in France, and we welcome 25,000 people for our ‘Trois Glorieuses’ festival each year, making it a major tourist attraction. The notoriety of our racing means that the town has a riding centre and a nearby training centre for employment with horses, whose most famous graduate is certainly (leading jump jockey) Clément Lefebvre. During racing periods, Craon enjoys visibility in the media, and finally, the community receives a share of pari-mutuel turnover, which is a real plus for our budget.”

With 80 meetings per year in the three disciplines, the racecourse at Cagnes-sur-Mer plays an important role in the town’s economy. And with its Côte d’Azur coastline, charming old town and proximity to Nice, it already has plenty of advantages.

Mayor Louis Nègre explains, “The image of Cagnes-sur-Mer is intimately linked to the racecourse, especially on an international level. The opportunity for visitors to enjoy racing in a spectacular environment overlooking the Mediterranean represents a unique experience, which contributes to tourists returning to the town. The economic activity connected to the racecourse and training centre is important year-round, while hotels, restaurants and the property markets benefit notably from racing during otherwise quiet periods of the season (during the winter flat and jumps meetings).”

Senator Anne-Catherine Loisier, vice-president of the CIFCH with Criquette Head and Deputy Géraldine Bannier, vice-president of the CIFCH.

The virtuous pari-mutuel model

For Criquette and her fellow CIFCH members and supporters, it is vital to spread positive messages such as these in order to preserve the favourable French system. “Racing has a colossal impact on the economic and environmental state of our country, and this is thanks to our PMU system which must be protected at all costs; however, I get the impression that it is being destroyed. When I see that (online betting operator) Ze Turf has been bought by (lottery and sports betting operator) La Française des Jeux, I fear that racing punters may be tempted away to bet on poker or other markets. We need the PMU and its financial input, which represents our livelihood and that of our regions, our studs and stables. My aim is to valorise and protect this ecosystem which is an example across Europe. France has by far the highest prize money in Europe, and that needs to be preserved. Our system also brings money in for the state; it’s a win-win system. Indeed during the Covid pandemic, the PMU registered good results because the football and all other activity was stopped. We were lucky that the state understood the need for racing and breeding activity to continue. This is a good demonstration of the importance for government to understand the depth of the racing activity and that it is not just a sport like football, for example.”

Racing across Europe and further afield is faced with issues of perception, either from the general public or government representatives. “An association like the CIFCH would have a role to play in other countries,” says Criquette, “but things are more complicated in nations with bookmakers. If you look at the rising powers in world racing nowadays, such as Hong Kong and Japan, they have adopted the pari-mutuel model. I think that the World Pool is a very good concept, which can contribute to promoting the tote system and help racing to raise its level on a global scale.”

“The CIFCH doesn’t get involved in specific debates such as the whip. Personally, I am in favour of limiting the number of strokes, but we must be careful not to overreact. Those who are against racing are people who have never been close to a horse at the races or in training; and one of the missions of the CIFCH is to demonstrate that horse welfare is at the centre of our profession. We are pleased to show newcomers behind the scenes and the quality of care which racehorses receive.”

Opening doors for future owners

After a series of visits, debates and conferences with decision-makers, the CIFCH is set to widen its contacts further in 2023, when a major focus for the committee will be a two-day event in June in Normandy, aimed at business people and potential owners. 

Criquette explains, “We will invite entrepreneurs and business people who have nothing to do with racing to come and spend time at a stud farm and training centre in Normandy. Like a lot of people today, all they know about horses is that they have four legs, a head and a tail… Throughout my career I always welcomed people into my stable to discover the horses, and the reactions were invariably positive. Many of these [people] went on to become owners, not necessarily with me; and I was always pleased to see them develop their interest. I was brought up to be very open and welcoming, and now [that] I have free time, I want to continue to help people find out more about racing.”

Always renowned for her generosity with time and explanations, Criquette inherited these and many other qualities from her late father, the great breeder and trainer Alec Head who passed away last summer at age 97. 

Criquette and fellow CIFCH members at a meeting in Chantilly, 2021.

“He has left us with a fantastic legacy, and I owe him my success. He always loved his profession and defended the racing industry; and along with Roland de Chambure, he was a precursor in opening up the market with the USA. One thing which struck me when I was younger was that he used to say, ‘You should always try to read your horse. Once you have understood your horse, then the horse will tell you what they are capable of’. I used to say the same thing to all the young assistants who came to work with me and who are now trainers. I told them to pick just one horse and ignore the 80 others; study that one horse, and then tell me what they observed as the horse developed. For me, that is the basis of training. Like people, no two horses are the same, and so you cannot follow the same recipe with them all. You can lose horses by rushing them, and during my era, we were fortunate to have plenty of time. Last year, once again, the examples of Flightline and Baaeed proved that it can be beneficial to wait.”

The family dynasty continues

Criquette’s brother Freddy Head called time on his illustrious training career last year, and the family name is now represented in the profession by his son, Classic-winning Christopher and daughter Victoria. “Papa would have been very proud to see Victoria win her first race recently, and Christopher’s success. Christopher spent time working alongside his father, and two years with me, and Victoria worked for much better trainers than me! She was with Gai Waterhouse, Aidan O’Brien and André Fabre, as well as with her father. We have (French racing channel) Equidia in the Bahamas, so I’m often in front of my TV at 6am here! I keep an eye on everyone, not just my family…” 

In addition to owning horses or shares with a range of trainers in France and former assistant David Menuisier in the UK, Criquette also maintains her interest in breeding, despite the heart-wrenching sale of the family’s celebrated Haras du Quesnay last year. 

“There were a lot of us—five including my mother—and we didn’t all have the same ideas, so it was a family decision to sell. I love breeding, so I will continue with five broodmares. My grandson Fernando (Laffon-Parias) wants to be an agent and is interested in breeding, so this year I planned all the matings with him. I did consider buying a farm myself, but finally my mares will stay at the Quesnay as the new owners are taking in boarders and have kept on all the old staff under manager Vincent Rimaud. So, I decided to stay, and I will enjoy returning to the stud. It will be a very different feeling for me to visit, with no pressure or concerns about managerial issues. I will just be able to go and admire my mares and foals!”

As ever, with Criquette, the love of horses shines through in her words. “We talk endlessly about the people involved with the horses, which is logical in a way, but in the end, everything depends upon the animal. At all levels, whether in breeding, training or racing, the horse always has the last word.” If Criquette has her way, this would also be true for politics! 

How the Chehboub family has become a major player in the French breeding and racing industry

Article by John Gilmore

Kamel Chehboub and Sealiway at the Haras de Beaumont

The Chehboub family have started an exciting new breeding development in Normandy, through purchasing the Haras de Beaumont stud. The deal also included a part of the adjacent Haras du Quesnay land, which is being sold by the Head family in two parts. The other part is being bought by Businessman Stephane Courbit. “We will know in a few months whether Haras du Quesnay will continue as a stud,” indicated Freddie Head. The stud, which was made famous by his father Alec Head, was originally bought by his grandfather William Head in 1958.  

Buying Haras de Beaumont and part of the neighbouring Haras du Quesnay has certainly created the environment for Kamel Chehboub to develop his racing and breeding interests. His daughter Pauline Chehboub is responsible for day-to-day operations.

The Chehboub family have for the past eight years, owned the Haras de la Gousserie, in the Loire region of France. That farm is due to be sold, with all the mares and stallions being relocated to Haras de Beaumont. As a result, the Chehboub racehorses, which previously ran under the name of Haras de La Gousserie, will now be changed to ‘Ecurie de la Gousserie.’

Rougir

Overall, it’s been an eventful past couple of years for the Chehboub family. Their filly Rougir, winner of the Gp 1 Prix de L’Opera, went through the ring at the Arqana Breeding stock sale December 2021 as a 3-year-old for a record €3m, selling to Peter Brant’s White Birch farm and Coolmore partnership.

Rougir is now trained in the United States by Chad Brown and has since justified the high price tag, with a first time out three-length facile victory at Belmont when capturing the Gr3 Beaugay Stakes in May and stepping up in October to take the Gr1 EP Taylor Stakes at Woodbine Canada.

Rougir’s sale was certainly a jackpot pay day for Kamel Cheboub and his Haras de la Gousserie breeding and racing enterprise. Rougir was bought as a yearling for €55,000 at the Arqana yearling sale, after previously being sold as a foal through the same auctioneers for just €11,000. 

Sealiway

The 2021 Champion Stakes winner Sealiway, which the Chehboub family owns in partnership with Guy Parente, will be a major attraction at Beaumont. His stud fee has been set at €12,000.

 Additionally, another high-profile Gp1 winner Intello, who the Wertheimer brothers own and previously stood at the Haras du Quesnay, will be transferred next door to take up stud duties at Beaumont for an €8,000 euro. 

“We thought it was an appropriate stud to place Intello, as Champion Stakes winner Sealiway will certainly be popular, which could also add interest from breeders to our 2013 Prix du Jockey Club winner, stabled in the same place,” said Pierre-Yves Bureau Breeding and Racing manager for the Wertheimer brothers.  

Sealiway was originally a €62,000 yearling purchase at Arqana. Both Rougir and Sealiway’s performances on the racecourse have certainly put Haras de la Gousserie on the map. They have also expanded their racing presence through acquiring a new yard at Chantilly, in addition to their other main training yard in Marseille. 

It’s a far cry from those early days more than 30 years ago for property businessman Kamel Chehboub, which first sparked his initial interest in racing. “My father first started going to the racetrack with friends who were punters and gradually began to enjoy the sport himself”, explained Pauline Chehboub.

“After a while, my father began to take shares in racehorses sourced from claiming races. The first was Onegar in 1987, bought out of Andre Fabre’s stable.” The big breakthrough came with the filly Lavayssiere, who was placed 5 times in 13 runs on the flat but proved a revelation at stud. Lavayssiere produced 5 Black Type horses from 8 runners, including her second foal Gp1 winner Spirit One, born in 2004.

“Spirit One and jockey Ioritz Mendizabel’s enterprising all the way win in the Gr1 Arlington Million race at Chicago in August 2008, trained by Philip Demcastel, was a tremendous boost to my father’s racing operations-enabling him to start developing the business and buy more racehorses.” The €403,504 pot of prize money for the Arlington Million victory, boosted Spirit One’s career earnings to €974,269, which included winning 5 races from 19 starts. 

Spirit One entered the Haras de Lonray in the Herault southern region of France and later relocated to Sablonnets in the Sarthe department (western France) from 2013. The best of his 36 winning offspring was Eleuthera, who won the Gp3 Prix de Royaumont in 2013 and was subsequently purchased by Teruya Yoshida. Spirit One sadly died of a tumour at Haras des Sablonnets in April 2016.

Pauline Chehboub

Pauline Chehboub has been working for her father and Uncle Bouzid Chehboub’s racing interests for the past 7 years, after obtaining her commercial business licence. Previously in her youth she rode in show jumping events to a high level. “I was show jumping champion of France at 16 years old and have been riding since I was a child. So working within the horseracing industry was always something I wanted to do, especially as my father was very involved in the industry.”  

She added, “My father has had more than 20 years’ experience in this business, through regularly going racing, visiting the sales, and observing the training. Over the past few years, he has taken the trouble to pass on this valuable knowledge to me, concerning key points of what to first look out for in a racehorse and their development through observation, physique and origin.”

Pauline Chehboub is now manager of the family racing and breeding operations, which operates two training yards in Chantilly and Marseille, plus stud activities. She is often seen at the racecourse and regularly on the early morning gallops in Chantilly.

“It’s a seven-day-a-week job, with 35 horses in training at Chantilly, and a further 20 at Calas-Cabriès training centre in Marseille. Apart from keeping tabs on the racehorses, there is also the stud. Not forgetting the administration side, which includes discussing the well-being of the racehorses, future race entries with the trainer, accounts work, buying yearlings, horses to sell and the breeding nominations.” 

“In September 2021, we bought the yard in Chantilly on the Chemin des Aigles as we thought it was important to have a presence for all the main meetings in the Paris region, as well as in Marseille. In this way we can cut down on travelling, through having yards both in the North and South, with the better horses generally based in Chantilly.”

Marseille-based trainer Cedric Rossi trained for a number of different clients, including the Haras de la Gousserie up until December 2021. The subsequent revelation of alleged doping and stopping horses’ investigation by the police three days after Rougir went through the ring, concerning several people including Cedric Rossi, was a major shock for French racing. 

“Cedric Rossi was our principal trainer at the time, and after the alleged doping investigations, we transferred our horses to other trainers, with many at the time going to Richard Chotard and Sealiway to Francis Graffard at Chantilly,” said Pauline Cheboub.

“We transferred Sealiway to Francis Graffard’s stables in Chantilly this season, because his record shows the trainer has a lot of talent. Sealiway has not really had conditions in his favour this season. His best races have been when coming off a fast pace and on soft ground conditions, as in the Champion Stakes.” After a disappointing run in this year’s Arc de Triomphe, Sealiway was subsequently retired to stud.

The Haras de la Gousserie racing and breeding business has worked in a certain tried and trusted way. The stud was bought eight years ago; after the Haras de Lonray, in the South of France Herault region, where the Chehboub breeding stock was previously lodged, went into financial difficulties. Finally they chose to purchase Haras de la Gousserie in the Loire region because it also offered pre-training facilities. 

“We do not sell many of our breeding stock at the sale, as we breed to race. Each year we buy around 20 yearlings at the Arqana August and October sales, looking for French-bred horses with precocity and the possibility to win as two-year-olds, and not by yearlings with expensive leading stallion pedigrees.”

“The objective is to find some good horses each year to eventually add to our breeding stock. Those that turn out to be not future breeding prospects may end up in claiming races to be claimed, or sold through the in-training sales. We like to keep around 20 broodmares to breed from.” 

Now they hope to continue to develop and progress, after transferring their entire breeding stock to their new stud venture in Normandy.

It is clear the Chehboub’s racing and breeding operations has been developing over the past decade, through its policy of buying more and better quality yearlings at the Arqana August and October sales, that has borne fruit as results on the track clearly show. 

In 2013, just 19 racehorses won €573,853  in prize money and premiums; and last year, 41 racehorses earned €2,107,125—nearly 4 times as much. 

They have now progressed to be one of the top ten racehorse owners in France, finishing 9th in 2021; and in early December, nearing the end of the 2022 season, they were once again in 9th position.

It would seem the Chehboub family name has now been firmly established, to become a major player in the French breeding and racing industry. Next year (2023) looks set to be another milestone year.

Haras de beaumont

Investing in All Weather racing

Article by Catrin Nack

The European ‘all-weather’ racing scene has come a long way since racing on an artificial (non-turf) surface was first introduced in the UK at Lingfield Park in 1989. Today, ‘all-weather’ racing accounts for 23% of the French racing programme; and in the UK, racing has recently benefited from a major ‘all-weather’ prize money boost.

‘All-weather’ racing is enhancing the opportunities for those connections wishing to keep horses in training across Europe over the winter months.

But what are opportunities like on a country by country basis? Which countries are investing in ‘all-weather’ racing?

France 

While trotting is still the main racing sphere by some way in France – and all their racing is on dirt tracks – all-weather in France has been gathering momentum for over a decade now. Of roughly 5,000 races run in France in 2021, 1,149 were staged on an all-weather surface, thus comprising some 23% of the race program. 

Prestigious tracks such as Deauville and Chantilly have all-weather circuits; in total there are seven all-weather tracks in the country: Deauville, Chantilly, Pornichet, Lyon-la-Soie, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Pau and Marseille-Vivaux.

In contrast to other racing nations, where usually the whole raceday will take place on one surface, French tracks have mixed cards and use the all-weather (all with a Polytrack surface) in summer also.

While diversifying the programme, it also takes pressure off the grass tracks, with rising temperatures in southern Europe providing new challenges in turf maintenance. French racing has eight Listed races run on its all-weather surfaces, Cagnes-Sur-Mer stage two, Chantilly one and five at Deauville. A review to enhance the Black-type programme is on the way, but plans are in the very early stages. French tracks are part of the All-Weather Championships programme to qualify for the finals on Good Friday in the UK – something French raiders did to good effect in 2022. 

French racing receives the majority of its income – read prize money – from its betting turnover, as the PMU (the French Tote) has a monopoly on betting. The rise in all-weather racing has naturally seen a rise in betting turnover in this sphere – roughly 18% of all PMU-flat races are run on the all-weather circuit. Recent results suggest that the betting public is gradually switching from traditional jump-races to all-weather racing. 

According to Adrien Cugnasse, all-weather racing also caters well for a new type of owner. With syndicates still very scarce in France, a new type of ‘middle class’ owner has been emerging over the last couple of years – much needed new blood, but a type of owner that relies on a more regular income through prize money. 

UK

It's Year 10 since the creation of Arena Racing Company (ARC) backed All-Weather Championships, and racing on this surface does continue to increase in volume. Six racecourses in Britain stage all-weather racing, on either Polytrack (Lingfield, Kempton, Chelmsford) or Tapeta (Newcastle, Southwell, Wolverhampton); roughly one fifth of all flat races are now on a synthetic surface.  

Huge investments have been made by the operator ARC across their four all-weather racecourses to improve the surface. With Southwell being the latest course to convert to a Tapeta surface (from Fibresand).

Mark Spincer, managing director of ARC’s Racing Division says that “changing the surface, particularly at Southwell, was the right thing to do and the feedback from trainers and owners has been very positive so far.” 

The creation of the All-Weather Championships 10 years ago can only be viewed as a major success story; the series now incorporates races from Ireland, France, Dubai and even races in Saudi Arabia, as well as the enhanced Fast-Track-Qualifying system. 

The switch of Finals day from Lingfield to Newcastle two years ago was followed by the creation of “All-Weather Vase Day” at Lingfield Park last year, also staged on Good Friday. 

A day that traditionally saw no racing at all now has two high-profile all-weather meetings taking place – a definite illustration of the rise of racing on this surface. Along with geographically diverse racing in the north and the south, All-Weather Vase Day naturally comes with added prize money, the whole raceday is worth around £390,000. 

No fast-track-qualifying here, but at least three runs are needed akin to Finals Day, thus creating additional incentive to run on the all-weather. Even the quickest of glances at any given fixture list on the all-weather does reveal the extent to which these races are contested now; with even the choicest-bred horses from big yards coming under starters orders. 

While headline names to race synthetic surface will forever include the mighty Enable and Stradivarius, Godolphin recently raced a half-brother to Guineas hero Coroebus to name just one. Tracks learn about the adaptability of the surface all the time, with the recent extreme temperatures providing a new challenge. “Without all-weather racing, there wouldn’t have been any racing in the recent cold snap,” remarks Mark Spincer.

2022 saw two ARC initiatives to increase the quality of racing their tracks, one of those aimed specifically for (winter) all-weather racing. The mother company of Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Southwell and Wolverhampton announced a further bonus of over £1,000,000 not just added to prize money, but to reward connections of the most consistent performers during the winter months. 

“While it is early days, some eagle-eyed trainers have already seen the chance to bag a bonus, of course we would love to attract more horses and their connections to our four all-weather tracks. We know that, for many, jump-racing is the winter focus in the UK, but all-weather racing during this period has a wide fan base both domestically and abroad,” concludes Spincer.

Coinciding with the exact timeframe of the All-Weather Championships, the bonus aims to reward consistency in given periods, no matter what the rating of the horse. Points scored go towards a “Horse of the Month” prize with rising extra money paid out from February onwards as well as £700,000 in bonuses for the horses with the most points at the end of the season.

The scheme clearly aims to enhance field sizes. Giving trainers, owners, jockeys as well as stable staff monetary reasons to race on at ARC tracks. 

Germany

Germany's all-weather racing scene was quite vibrant at the end of the last century, but it has been in steady decline for some time now. 

In 2019, Neuss racecourse closed its doors for the last time, and along with 144 years of turf racing went the second of the all-weather tracks. 

Winter racing is now taking place at Dortmund racecourse only. Dortmund has a grass and an all-weather track, thus providing racing literally all year round. 

However, the all-weather surface is a dirt track, Germany does not have any tracks with an artificial surface. The surface has not been renewed for some time now and has a huge kickback. 

Racing takes place on roughly 14-day intervals, at time of writing eight meetings are planned this winter. Races are part of the French PMU funding and receive other subsidiaries. Generally, there are six-race-cards, the quality being no better than class 3 handicaps – Germany's second lowest class, with some sellers thrown in for good measure. 

Prize money is at basic level for these types of races, meaning total purses per race do not exceed €5.500. Broadly speaking, all-weather racing in Germany caters for the very base level of the sport, with major trainers and owners very rarely venturing into this sphere.

Racing on the sand does count towards the Trainer and Jockey Championships in Germany, and this might lure the odd runner from the bigger stables. Plans for a second track with a synthetic surface have been mulled over by Deutscher Galopp for some time, but along with the general dire financial situation of racing in Germany, it remains only a very distant possibility at the moment. 

Ireland

All-weather racing finally reached Ireland in 2007 with the remodelling and re-opening of Dundalk Stadium. It’s the only track in Europe to combine horses and dog-racing and judging by online reviews. This has been a huge success with fun-loving Dubliners. 

From October till March, the track stages some 43 meetings, with at least once a week racing – mainly on a Friday night with floodlight and dog-racing following. Racing on the Polytrack continues sporadically throughout the year. 

While the quality of handicaps is clearly not premium class, the track does stage a fair share of quite decent 2yo and 3yo maiden races, and these are contested by even the biggest yards in the country.

In addition, Dundalk stages two Gp.3 and three Listed races. Plans for the second Irish all-weather track have been developing for a number of years now, with planning permission for a new track at Tipperary expected to go ahead in early 2023. 

This clearly points to an ever-increasing demand to stage flat racing all year round, largely independent from weather influences. In fact, many races on Dundalk's cards continue to be oversubscribed and operate with reserves – a further pointer to huge demand. 

Smaller yards definitely target horses for Dundalk races and have owners who buy horses for this sphere. While larger yards may pick and choose their races at Dundalk, smaller trainers rely on the extra income to keep the yard going through the long winter months. 

As jump-racing starts losing its tag of catering for the ‘small man,’ the domination of just a few trainers and owners is becoming more and more blatant by the year. All-weather racing gives a different type of trainer and owner a new lease of racing life. 

With added entertainment around the product, Dundalk has created a largely vibrant scene; being in a prime spot no doubt helps, but all-weather racing with regular consistency is clearly a success story in Irish racing. 

Jérôme Reynier - The French horseman’s pathway to success

Article by Katherine Ford

Take a look at the French trainers’ standings in September, and hot on the heels of the Classic powerhouses of Rouget, Fabre and Graffard in fourth place was Jérôme Reynier. Based in his native Marseille, still a couple of years shy of his 40th birthday, the discreet yet determined professional has climbed step by step to racing’s top table, and his ascension is far from over. 

I met Reynier at Deauville during the August meeting and interrupted his breakfast with half a dozen staff. “We have a family atmosphere and a good relationship. I’m not a difficult boss, but if there are decisions to be made, that’s my job. I don’t want anyone else to take initiatives without consulting me first. That’s why I’m always available in case there’s a problem,” Reynier admits.

What is striking with Reynier is an attention to detail, whether that be in the organisation of his training regime, his assiduous desire to answer any queries from any quarters, or his true passion and almost encyclopaedic knowledge of bloodstock and racing. Going back to the origins of his love of racing, he explains, “I caught the virus from my father who was an architect but passionate about racing and breeding. I was born in 1985, and that was the year that he bred his first horse, called Shaindy.” 

Reynier goes on to recount in great detail the destiny of Shaindy, who was bought back as a yearling and ended up Group-placed as a juvenile and winner of the then Listed Prix Djebel. It is easy to forget from the vividness of the description that at the time he was still in nappies and has no direct memories of the time. “It was magical, for a first homebred, carrying my grandfather’s colours. That caused a snowball effect with my father who bought more mares. He was lucky, but then you make your own luck.” 

Learning the trade

Just a few years later Reynier’s father sold all his burgeoning thoroughbred interests when his son was still too small to remember, in order to devote more time to his wife and family. 

However, the marriage broke down and his son remembers, “My parents separated when I was 12, and I went to live with my father who took me to Deauville sales to see if I took to the bloodstock world. It was all new to me, but I loved it and thought of nothing else from then on. 

“At school, I put sales catalogues inside my textbooks; so during lessons I was engrossed in the pedigree pages. I had never touched a horse in my life—my experience all came from books as there wasn’t even [French racing channel] Equidia at the time.”

At 15 years old, Jérôme Reynier had his first hands-on experience during a summer at Alain Brandebourger’s Haras de Chartreux, and the following summer his father sent him to Newmarket to learn English. “I spent two months with David Shekells at Old Mill Stud. He had two yearlings for Deauville sales, but I was only tiny and not strong enough to hold a yearling weighing 400kg. They were both monsters—a Nashwan and an Unfuwain—so my job for two months was to walk behind them to keep them moving forward. 

“Then during the journey from Newmarket to Deauville, I had to travel in the back of the horsebox at their heads all the way to stop them from fighting. It was a real test of my enthusiasm!”

Full marks for effort

Jérôme passed the test with flying colours, and his enthusiasm remained intact, more so than his academic career, which suffered from his obsession with thoroughbreds. “I failed my Bac [baccalauréat], and things weren’t easy then as I had no qualifications, contacts or references. When I went to the races at Deauville, I didn’t have access to any of the reserved areas; I saw racing as a very closed environment. For me, it was unattainable. During that summer, I worked at the Forien’s Haras de Montaigu to prepare the yearlings. After that, I applied to do a season at Coolmore, and they took me on from January to June in 2005; so I went to Ireland and passed my Bac as an external candidate.”

A fascination for pedigrees

Jérôme Reynier has stars in his eyes as he remembers his stint at Coolmore. “I worked in one of the small yards with barren or maiden mares, so there were no foals but some amazing pedigrees, and we took them to stallions like Sadler’s Wells, Galileo and Montjeu. I got to see the stallions and how the system worked. I was always more interested in the pedigrees and breeding aspect than the racing in the afternoon.” 

The Irish National Stud course followed in 2006 and while there, the determined and precocious Jérôme applied for and was accepted onto the Darley Flying Start programme. “I didn’t waste a minute!” he remembers. “In 2008 I was 22 years old and found myself with qualifications from the Irish National Stud and Darley Flying Start. The problem was that I was overqualified for my age. I needed work, but everyone considered that I was too young to take on the jobs in the breeding industry that I was qualified for. At the same time, my father fell ill so I went back to Marseille and as nobody would employ me, I set up my own business as a bloodstock agent. But I soon realised it was very difficult to earn a living without a large volume of trade. I knew a few people, but I didn’t have a network of clients. I was young and based in Marseille, so I didn’t tick the boxes…” 

It was therefore by default that Reynier began his successful training career, initially as a private trainer for the Ecurie Camacho Courses. “I was employed to train around 15 horses for them at Marseille, and in two years we had 38 winners and €800,000 in earnings with modest horses. It was a great way to start off, but after two years, I wanted my independence.” 

Starting from scratch

From four horses at the outset in March 2013, the ambitious professional soon made himself noticed and his stable grew. “I was getting good results, including in the Parisian region where I could find favourable entries and make a name for myself, rather than focusing on local races at Marseille. I’ve always tried to look beyond my immediate horizon. I had horses of a limited quality, but my passion was to find winnable races. I was back to what I loved—really hands on, mucking out in the morning, going to the track, driving the horses to races myself. I wouldn’t hesitate to make a long journey for a made-to-measure entry. I think that was the best period in my career as a trainer.” 

Reynier was hit hard by the untimely death of his father in November 2014 and doubled down to bury his grief in work, “to make him proud from where he is now.”

He was satisfied with his 40-capacity stable but in 2018 received a career-changing offer from powerful local owner Jean-Claude Seroul, whose orange and grey colours were a familiar sight in Marseille. They are now known far beyond, thanks notably to the exploits of prolific top-level winners Skalleti and Marianafoot.

Reynier took on the job as private trainer to Seroul’s 50-55 strong string, based just across the road from his own yard at the Calas training centre, 30km north of Marseille, “Mr Seroul has his own stable, his own horses and his own staff; it didn’t affect my own structure. They are two separate operations, and the strings don’t go out at the same time; so instead of having four lots with 30 riders in each, I have eight lots with 15 riders each time. It’s much more manageable as I like to give each rider precise instructions for including the exact position of every horse in each lot. All the details are indicated on the list, which is sent out the previous evening, and that organisation now allows me to delegate more; and for instance to spend the month here in Deauville where we have an allocation of 14 boxes and a rotation of horses. If we win six races here and a few places, it will be a good result.”

That August target was achieved with the highlight being a Listed victory for the Seroul-owned filly, Rose Premium.

Calas ticks all the boxes

The conversation moves back to Calas, described by Reynier as a “perfect” facility with a main 3km round track, which gives the opportunity to work left- or right-handed depending upon the day. It also offers an incline for interval training, as well as turf, sand and jumps schooling tracks. “We have all that we need, and the results are proof of that. I will never abandon Calas because it is a good training centre with a wonderful climate, and it allows us to create a very progressive programme for the horses. We all—Christophe Escuder, Fabrice Vermeulen and myself—like to run our horses as much as possible rather than over-train them, so we provide a lot of runners for the PMU. Our owners want to see their horses at the races, so as soon as the horse is ready, whatever his level, I find a race for him. I find the French programme clear and simple, with opportunities for all categories.”

Marseille was rocked in late 2021 as dawn raids saw three members of the Rossi family among several professionals taken into police custody under suspicion of the use of forbidden substances and conspiracy to defraud and fix races. Frederic, Cédric and Charley, who were responsible for around 150 horses at Calas, are currently suspended from training and under police investigation. Reynier comments, “It saddened me because I know Cedric and Charley (Rossi) well, and I am sure that they are not cheats. It’s been a tough time for the region to be in the spotlight for negative reasons, and there is also the risk that if we don’t generate enough runners for turnover on the PMU, they will reduce the number of races at our tracks.” 

The city’s best racecourse, seaside Marseille-Borély, is already under threat of closure and Reynier adds, “The lease has been extended until 2024. It’s perfectly situated for development, but it will be a disaster if it is lost; so that’s why it is important to keep an open mind geographically. I wouldn’t exclude creating a small satellite yard in Chantilly to start with to avoid too much travelling for some of the horses. Then why not extend the Chantilly stable to have two bases… But it is certain that the future lies in Paris, or maybe abroad.”

Plotting a path to success

Jérôme Reynier has always had the opposite of a blinkered approach and loves to see a well-made plan come to fruition, as his first stable star Royal Julius, winner of the inaugural Bahrain International Trophy, demonstrates. “When Bahrain created the new international race, the prize money was very generous. And the conditions were optimal for Royal Julius, who was a true right-hander who loved a fast surface and ten furlongs, so I set out to prepare and qualify him for that race. He needed to keep a high rating, so I sent him to Italy where it was easy for him to do well in Stakes company; whereas if I’d run him in a Gp. 3 in France and he’d finished fifth, his rating would have dropped and I would never have been invited there or to Qatar. He was a great horse for the stable, as was Master Spirit who was a “second hand” horse we received; and from being a handicapper, we managed to take second place in the Grand Prix de Deauville with him. I’ve been lucky to train some good horses, but it’s important to take good care of them to age well.” 

More recently, flag bearers Skalleti and Marianafoot have rewarded the patience and skill of their handler, along with Thunder Drum who joined Reynier for owner Lady Bamford. “It was particularly satisfying for me to receive beautifully bred horses for Lady Bamford and exceptional to win the Prix du Royaumont (Gp. 3) last year on Jockey-Club day with Thunder Drum, who couldn’t win a maiden in England as a juvenile. We had intended to run her in the Italian Oaks that weekend but made a last-minute change of plan due to a modest field and rain in Chantilly; and it worked perfectly! As for Skalleti and Marianafoot, they both had their best seasons last year at six years old, which is amazing. In fact, I was the leading French trainer on Gp. 1 wins, with the three victories of that pair. Cédric Rossi and André Fabre had two each!”

Prize money for happy owners and trainers

“We don’t have a star this year, but a lot of horses are earning their keep and that keeps the stable going. Take the example of Happy Harry, a son of Zarak that we claimed in January; in six months, he has earned €70,000 (the gelding boosted his earnings by a further €14,000 in prize money and owners’ premiums for a handicap win days after our interview). If I have 50 Happy Harrys, I’m happy! The French system makes this possible if you have a healthy horse who can run regularly. In England, if you have a decent horse, you either try and win some good races or you try the commercial route, win on the debut and then sell it on. It’s impossible to earn money with prize money in England, and I couldn’t train there. It’s a different policy. The French way of constructing a career is with a horse that might be just 80 percent ready for his debut and he will progress as he races. So, we can think of the long term rather than the short term. As long as we can keep our system in France with the PMU and decent prize money, we are privileged. We are the best country for racing in Europe or maybe in the world, but a whole generation of punters is on the way out, and I don’t see many young people betting on racing, so I often feel pessimistic.”

Despite his concerns, Jérôme Reynier is, as always, aware of upcoming opportunities and a changing of the guard, which may enable him to move even further up racing’s top table. “There is a whole older generation of trainers in Chantilly who are on the way out, so there will be opportunities. The new trainers who are there now and setting up soon will create a new dynamism. Maybe I will be a part of it and maybe I won’t…” 

One thing is certain, whatever Jérôme Reynier does or doesn’t become a part of will depend upon a carefully constructed plan, leaving little to chance and attracting more good luck his way. 

Vive La France - Why is France becoming the fashionable place to train?

By Katherine Ford

The French racing industry has always attracted an international profile of professionals and continues more than ever to do so in the 21st century. The Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was once again crowned Longines World’s Best Horse Race for its most recent edition, and the very sport of horse racing as we know it was brought to the country by an English lord two centuries ago. 

Indeed Chantilly’s destiny as the headquarters of French racing was shaped in the 1800s by the arrival of British training families such as the Carter’s, Cunnington’s and Jennings’. Brothers Tom and Henry Jennings still hold the record for the number of wins in the Chantilly Classics with respectively 10 Jockey-Club successes for the former and nine Diane victories for the latter, whose family tree descends directly to Alec Head and his offspring Criquette and Freddy. 

While the Head family is now firmly “tricolore”, British influences continued until recently in Chantilly with Gp. 1 trainers such as Jonathan Pease, Richard Gibson and John Hammond. It is interesting to note that the only British-born trainer currently active in Chantilly is Andrew Hollinshead, although top jumps jockey James Reveley has purchased a yard in the town and declared his intention to train there once he retires from riding. 

Today, with the best prize money in Europe and top-class facilities, France has become a destination for trainers from all corners of the globe; and in Chantilly alone, the profession’s ranks span five continents and fifteen nationalities. 

Close neighbours Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium are represented by a number of professionals such as Carlos Laffon-Parias, Mauricio Delcher-Sanchez, former professional footballer Markus Munch and Andreas Schutz who chose the location at the end of his stint in Hong Kong. Other Europeans include recent Greek arrivals Giorgios Alimpinisis and Attilio Giorgi, and Scandinavian couple Pia and Joakim Brandt. The young and ambitious Irish pair Gavin Hernon and Tim Donworth have both chosen Chantilly to launch their respective careers, and the American continents are represented by former International Herald Tribune journalist-turned-trainer Gina Rarick and young Argentine handler Sebastian Caceres. Add to the mix Japanese duo Satoshi Kobayashi and Hiroo Shimizu, plus Tunisian Hedi Ghabri, and it must be near impossible to find a more cosmopolitan racing centre. 

Expat experiences

After generations of domination in Italy, the Botti dynasty spread to Newmarket with Marco in 2006, and two years later his cousin Alessandro set out in Chantilly, initially as assistant, then in a joint licence with father Guiseppe. 

Maisons-Laffitte

The popular Italian was all smiles after saddling a quickfire double in the opening two contests on a Chantilly all-weather card in February, in the process pocketing €32,720 in prize money and owners’ premiums. He remembers, “I spent time with my cousin in Newmarket before deciding to come here. I didn’t speak a word of French, but we thought it would be a good idea to have a Botti presence in France! To start with, everything was complicated. We were a Classic stable in Italy, but it wasn’t easy to adapt to the right level of horses, the organisation and of course the language. One of our staff members spoke French, so in the early stages he helped a lot with translating; but I had to learn French to take my trainers exams. I’m perfectly at home here now and after all, France is quite similar to Italy!” 

From a racing point of view, the prize money and prestige are in contrast to the current situation in Italy and crucial for attracting owners, which for Botti include some of football’s biggest stars such as Champions League winning manager Carlo Ancelotti and top striker Javier Pastore. “I’ve had connections with the football world for a long time as the racehorse training centre at Milan is next to the stadium, but it’s much easier to attract footballers to racing in France where they find the whole package more exciting. Carlo Ancelotti has been an owner with us for 10 years, and now the challenge is to find him a horse to be as successful in racing as he has been in football!”

Parlez-vous anglais? 

Joint license holders Pia & Joakim Brandt’s Chantilly Stables

Another well-established European in Chantilly is Pia Brandt, who now operates as a joint licence holder with husband Joakim. Pia, who has won a pair of Gp. 1 victories in her adopted homeland (Grand Prix de Paris with Mont Ormel and Criterium de Saint Cloud with Mkfancy), remembers, “I came here at the end of 2005 because I wanted the best. An owner was supporting my move, and I could have picked any location in Europe. I chose Chantilly for the quality of the training facilities, the proximity to the airport, and of course the French prize money. I already spoke some French as I had spent time riding out here when I was younger, and the father of my son is French.” Pia says. “However my French wasn’t very academic, and I remember that utilities companies would often hang up on me when I asked if it was possible to speak in English! I think that things have improved in that aspect since then, and English is spoken more here now. At the time, the rules were that if you had had a licence for five years in another country in Europe, you didn’t have to take the trainers exam here, so I just had to follow a few modules at the racing school.” 

One unexpected complication for Pia Brandt was a succession of moves before taking the plunge to buy her own establishment with husband Joakim. “During the first 10 years, I was renting and moving stables seven times! At Chantilly, unlike at Maisons-Laffitte, all the stables are privately owned, so with changing requirements as my number of horses varied and owners selling the stables I was occupying, it was an unsettled time. We’re settled now since buying our yard, and although I have no regrets about coming to Chantilly, I am not sure that I would make the same decision if I had a second chance. It’s the most competitive and most expensive place in France to train. In a parallel world, if I had my chance again, maybe I would choose the French provinces or Deauville!”

The place to be

Tim Donworth with girlfriend Lavinia

A recent addition to the Chantilly trainers’ ranks, Tim Donworth saddled his first runners last September and ended the year with impressive statistics of five winners plus five placed horses for fifteen outings. 

The Godolphin Flying Start graduate and former assistant to Nicolas Clement and Jean-Claude Rouget is adamant that Chantilly is the best choice. “I have an international clientele, and this is where they want to be in France”, Tim says. However just a few years ago, the ambitious young Irishman had not even considered France, nevermind Chantilly. “It was all a bit of a mistake, or an accident in any case… I had spent time with Tom Morley in America during the Flying Start and loved it over there, so my aim was to go back. Christophe Clement offered me a role but he didn’t need me until six months later. He arranged for me to work for his brother Nicolas in the meantime, and that’s how I ended up in Chantilly.” Tim goes on to say, “The timing worked out well as while I was there, his assistant Laura Vänskä left [the Finnish national and Flying Start graduate is set to add another nationality to the Chantilly roster when she sets up in the town this spring], so Nicolas asked me to stay on. Wonderment had won a Gp. 1 in the same week, so he managed to twist my arm! 

“After a couple of years I decided to take the trainers course, although in all honesty I didn’t expect to pass. I tell people that it’s a fluke that I did pass, but to be honest I worked flat out for two months to prepare. The exams are definitely harder here in France than in Britain and Ireland; although I haven’t been through the process there, I have plenty of friends who have done. The language barrier is huge, but even for a fluent French speaker, the exam is hard. There are various subjects including the rules of racing, a big part on equine health, and then business planning which requires reams of Excel documents. The business plan is presented to a panel of assessors selected by France Galop stewards, including retired and active racing professionals, stewards etc.; and they give you a good grilling!”
Tim Donworth admits his French was “really shockingly bad” on arrival with Nicolas Clement, and although he progressed enough to pass the France Galop exams, he hit a real learning curve when deciding to further his racing education with Jean-Claude Rouget. “I thought that if I was going to train here, I should get more experience and see more of the country. I was in at the deep end as Rouget didn’t speak a word of English to me”, Tim says. “But I loved it at his yard in Pau—at the Cagnes sur Mer meeting and at Deauville—and got on really well with the boss as well as his assistants Jean-René Dubosc and Jean-Bernard Roth who I regularly ring for advice. I also met my partner Lavinia Brogi in Pau. She’s Italian, the sister of trainer Simone Brogi, and is a great help riding most of my gallops.” 

Despite enjoying this period in three of the four corners of France, Chantilly was where Donworth wanted to be, and he now rents part of Nicolas Clement’s yard plus boxes for his juvenile fillies in Pia and Joakim Brandt’s stable. “I’m really fortunate to have my horses stabled in two Gp. 1 yards. Nicolas is like family to me and is a great help. For instance, his head lad François works for me for an hour a day and is fantastic for keeping things in order. I did the trainers course with Joakim Brandt and was delighted when he and Pia offered me the space in their yard, which is just across the street and very convenient.” 

Tim Donworth is well on his way to becoming an adopted Frenchman, and his only reserve concerning his situation is opportunities for certain categories of horse. “The programme kills me for older horses, which have arrived from abroad. Those which aren’t up to stakes level are really difficult to place as you have to almost have a Listed horse to be competitive in Class 1 and 2 races. It’s tricky, but knowing the programme book is key to having winners.”

Results so far bode well, and Donworth has high hopes for the future. “I’m really pleased with my two-year-olds and I intend to run them early. They’ve been rocking and rolling for a while now, and I bought precocious ones as I haven’t many older horses and need to get the results to get noticed.”

Chantilly’s rising sun

One Chantilly trainer who has been noticed on the international stage already in 2022 is Hiroo Shimizu, whose Pevensey Bay came with a sweeping run to lift the Gp. 2 Cape Verdi Stakes at Meydan in January. The mare was one of a handful that the unconventional Japanese trainer inherited from the recently retired John Hammond, whose stable he now occupies. “I was present for the win in Dubai, but I don’t get excited or emotional. I soon move on to think about the next challenge.” 

Shimizu doesn’t fit the mould of your regular trainer. Dressed in scruffy, baggy trousers and sporting a thick woolly hat with earflaps, which looks more appropriate for Arctic exploration than nurturing blue-blooded thoroughbreds, he quietly indicates some of his Classic hopes turned out in the stable paddocks. 

When he arrived in France in 2008 to work as a stable lad for Pascal Bary and then Fabrice Chappet, making race entries—nevermind Classic entries—was far from his mind. “I knew [fellow Chantilly trainer] Satoshi Kobayashi and [Japanese specialist bloodstock agent] Patrick Barbe, which is why I chose to come to France; but I hadn’t considered training.” 

It was discussions with francophile Japanese training legend Katsuhiko Sumii—a regular in Chantilly whether with Arc runners or for a busman’s holiday which encouraged him to take the plunge, and contrary to many of his colleagues—he found the France Galop exams a mere formality. “They were very easy!” Shimizu admits. “I went to one of the best schools in Japan and so I am used to learning. I finished the exams with plenty of time to spare! When I first came to this country, I didn’t speak any French but now I can manage well with a Japanese accent. I think it’s a question of respect for the local population that expatriates should learn the language.” 

Hiroo Shimizu with jockey Gérald Mossé

In addition to the language, Shimizu has plunged into the programme book and specificities of the French racetracks. “In Japan all racecourses have similar ground conditions, whereas here, there is more diversity in the surface and track profiles. As for the programme, in Japan there are 2000m races for two-year-olds in June; but here you have to wait with longer distance types. In Japan people tend to be very disciplined and can sometimes lack initiative. I like the outlook here where you can do whatever you want!”

Back to school

Whatever you want… within reason and within a strict framework as far as the obtention of the official licence is concerned. France Galop delegates the organisation of the trainers’ course and exams to their educational arm, the AFASEC, and training coordinator Pierre-Henri Bas explains, “There are two sessions each year for applicants to obtain a professional licence. The training takes place during a five-week residential course, which includes 175 hours of lessons and terminates with three written exams and an oral and written presentation of the candidates’ business plan. The business module is a major part of the course and covers subjects such as management, accountancy and social legislation. We also study the rules and regulations of racing, matters concerning horses’ health, feeding and sporting performance and finally communication.”

With some general knowledge and English language thrown in for good measure, the procedure represents a real “back to school” experience for aspiring trainers who are expected to study hard. “Over recent years the success rate has been around 80%”, continues Bas. “Our aim is to evaluate the competences of individuals for the challenges involved in being a professional trainer. We have no interest in handing out licences for the trainer to fail just weeks or months later. Indeed we have a follow-up scheme whereby two of our representatives provide advice and guidance to newly qualified trainers, and they must complete an assessment after two years of activity.” 

As for trainers who hold a licence in another country and wish to transfer to France, Darius Zawiejski who is responsible for France Galop’s licensing department confirms, “These requests are examined on a case-by-case basis. We look at the professional’s CV and experience in his or her home country and some may be exempt from passing certain modules or parts of the exams. Derogations do occur, but they are quite rare; and foreign applicants, from whichever country, are treated in exactly the same way as French applicants.” So any trainers hoping to take advantage of France’s enviable prize money and excellent facilities should be warned: They will need to be willing to put their heads down and study, en français!

Staying power - is the French staying race division running out of steam?

By John Gilmore

The European Pattern Committee's decision that three French Gp2 middle distance races and the Gp1 Criterium de Saint Cloud for two-year-olds risk to be downgraded in 2021, should come as no surprise to anyone.

A major problem has been the lack of quality middle distance horses being trained in France over the past few years, which the country was once famous for. Most of the better stallions like Galileo, Dubawi, Sea The Stars and Frankel are based in Ireland or England, which wouldn't in itself be a problem if the majority of the foals born from French mares who cross the shores to be mated with them, ended up finally being trained in France. The truth is many don't, and it's a pattern that's been getting worse over the years with foreigners from around the globe, buying all the commercially bred top-priced yearling horses. 

Earthlight winning the Prix Morny. The only French trained Group I winner at Deauville last August

Arqana can be well satisfied with last August's three-day yearling sales. Overall turnover rose 14.8% to €42,789,000 from 228 yearlings sold, two less than how many went through the ring the previous year. But whether it's also good for French racing is highly questionable. Once again Ecurie Des Monceaux led the way with 28 yearlings, which sold for a total of €9,975,000, including the two highest Lot 147, a Galileo colt , sold to Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida for €1.5m and Lot 148, a filly by Dubawi, bought by Godolphin for €1.625m. Emphasising the studs’ trusted formula of mating, the majority of their mares with top Irish and English stallions. 

Of the 20 horses sold through the ring for €500,000 or more last year, all were bought by foreign buyers and only three sired by French based stallions: Siyouni, Shalaa and Le Havre for €650,000, €600,000 and €500,000, respectively. As most of the horses are unlikely to be trained in France, it's hardly positive for maintaining a healthy quality number of racehorses in France and as a consequence is somewhat negative for the future breeding industry, when needing to replace breeding stock in the future. 

Significantly, all but one of the American bloodstock agents present were GENERALLY buying only top quality fillies for their clients, not only for racing but also with future breeding in mind. This is a  trend that has been increasing at European yearling sales over the past few years to top up the short supply of turf-bred quality US mares.

The negative quality of top-class horses in France is evident looking at French track results over the past few years with British and Irish trained horses taking a large slice of the Group races in France.

At Deauville in August last year, only the André Fabre-trained Earthlight (Shamardal) prevented a clean sweep of the five Gp1 races run there by English and Irish trained horses. French trained horses won their five Classic races in 2019, but ended up winning only 12 of the 28 total annual Gp1 races in France with foreign-based horses taking the rest. This was inferior to the previous year when the French won 14 of the 27 Gp1 races held that year. 

The extra Gp1 in 2019 being the Prix Royallieu run at ParisLongchamp over the Arc weekend, which was upgraded to Gp1 status and its distance extended from 2,500m to 2,800. In the past two years the race has been won by a British- and Irish-trained horse. It broke a six-time winning sequence of French-trained horses, who had also won 15 of the previous 17 runnings since 2001.

Roman Candle winning the Prix Greffulhe Group 2. The race is under threat for downgrading in 2021.

In fact there has been a notable descending trend of French-trained Gp1 victories since 2011, when they won 22 of the 27 races on their soil. For the full picture of all Group races, it's a similar pattern, with French-trained horses victorious in 93 from the 110 on offer in 2011, down to 72 out of 115 Group races last year.

All in all, it's not too much of a surprise that the European Pattern committee is looking to downgrade the Prix Grefulhe Gp2 French Derby trial, which admittedly was won by the Niarchos families Study of Man two years ago, winning easily in a small field. The colt subsequently went on to capture the Prix Du Jockey Club but has not done much since. Last year the race was won by Roman Candle, who later finished 5th in the Jockey Club and 4th in the Grand Prix de Paris. Downgrading is not the only major issue here, but more so the weak fields, notably in the past two years, shows the lack of depth in quality middle-distance horses in France. 

When you consider that in the past, both the Prix Grefulhe and Prix Du Jockey Club were won by the likes of Peintre Celebre, Montjeu and Dalakhani who all went on to win the Arc de Triomphe and Pour Mol completed the Grefulhe and English Derby double before having a training accident. All horses had one thing in common: they were all owned by owner/breeders. 

The key factor is even owner/breeders who can take more time with racehorses have adapted to the change in the Jockey Club distance from 2,400m to 2,100m in 2005, which has led to them copying the commercial market and breeding shorter distance horses. Notably, French owner/breeders like the Aga Khan and Wertheimer, by their own high standards, have not produced a top classic middle-distance performer in the past few years. It is hardly a coincidence that since 2005, the winner of the Prix du Jockey Club has never gone on to win the Prix De L'Arc de Triomphe. By contrast, in the previous 13 years, three horses: Peintre Celebre 1997, Montjeu 1999 and Dalakhani 2003 did the double.

It would appear the prophecy made by the late French journalist and historian Michel Bouchet in May 2016 rings true. “It was a grave mistake to shorten the distance of the Prix Du Jockey Club race for the French breeding industry as it’s now possible to win the Poule D'essai des Poulains over 1,600 metres and Prix Du Jockey Club with the same horse.” Three did it: Brametot, Lope de Vega and Shamardal. “All the trainers I know will regret the change, and it will only encourage breeders to produce fewer middle-distance performers." 

This emphasis on the commercial markets’ influence on breeding increasingly shorter-distance horses can be clearly shown by last year's Arqana August yearling sale over the three days. …

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Chantilly - Looking ahead to the next generation

By Giles Anderson

Racehorses have been trained in Chantilly since anyone can remember. It would be fair to say that the horses are part of the fabric of the town, perhaps just as much so as the bobbin lace, which Chantilly was famous for in the 17th century.

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Matthieu Vincent, Trainer Centre and Racecourse Director and Marin Le Cour Grandmaison, Assistant to the Director, have the responsibility of managing the racecourse and training grounds.

Surrounded by forest and located some 30 kilometres from Paris, Chantilly is the iconic home of French racing and training. Managing the hectares of training grounds and the racecourse is no easy task, but the responsibility lies in the hands of Marin Le Cour Grandmaison and his boss Matthieu Vincent, who splits his time between Chantilly, Deauville, and Maisons-Laffitte. They see themselves as ambassadors for racing in Chantilly, evangelical about what the town has to offer and keen to expand the centre’s reach to up-and-coming young trainers.

Spending time in their company, it becomes clear that their primary focus is to give the trainers the tools they need to train horses better.

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Site plan of Chantilly Training Grounds

Take Montjeu, who according to Vincent was not only his favourite horse but quite a quirky customer to train. “The horse was difficult and John (Hammond) did a great job with him. We would have him working at the racecourse at 5am. One day Cash Asmussen came to the racecourse to ride but John didn’t want him to gallop, just trot. He wanted him trotting for 500 hundred metres. But after 20 metres Montjeu wanted to go. So John stopped him and we ended up opening the racecourse to repeat the exercise five or six times and eventually he relaxed. We would do that for any trainer and it wouldn’t make any difference to us if they wanted to do something special at 5pm in the evening, we are here to help our clients.”

Chantilly is home to 110 trainers and approximately 2500 horses, of which 250 are jumpers (National Hunt). “In 2010 we had 2400 flat horses and 600 jumpers here and the average trainer was maybe 60 years of age,” says Vincent.

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“If we compare Chantilly and Newmarket, Newmarket is more of a dream for some owners because they have a lot of classic younger trainers -- that’s good, the young. We need to have younger trainers, we want to help the young trainers here. It used to be every trainer’s dream to train here. Now we have the provinces, look at Jean Claude Roget: in 2005 he started to have classic horses but he’s not from Chantilly. So some said, ‘Maybe you can be a good trainer anywhere in France.’”

Chantilly Racecourse used to open for 12 days a year, but with the advent of all-weather racing in 2012 that number has jumped to 45. “But we have less and less horses in training in Chantilly since 2012. The track has helped us retain horses. It helps the trainers. Twenty years ago it was so quiet here and horses were just walking and trotting, but now with the all-weather tracks we’re training every day.”

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The all-weather track has proven to be a good investment for the local economy, partly funded by the town, which put in €1,500,000 of the €5,000,000 cost. The annual tax income runs into a healthy seven figure sum. On top of that, the town is home to 2000 workers whose income comes from the racing industry, with a staggering 50% of the workforce being stable staff or riders. Who knows what the shrinkage would have been like if the all-weather hadn’t happened.

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Christophe Ferland - A man with a plan

First published in European Trainer issue 58 - July - September 2017

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When Christophe Ferland is talking to you, you have his full attention. 

He might need to break off the interview for a few moments to deal with something at the yard or on the phone, or to look at a horse, but he will resume exactly where he stopped, without missing a beat. Is this ability to concentrate 100% on what he is doing one of the ingredients in the recipe for the success of French Flat racing’s rising star?

With a jockey-turned-head-lad for a father, Ferland cannot remember the first time he saw a horse. “But I do remember going racing with my father, although he was no longer a jockey at the time, and loving it!” he says now.

So, after a few years riding out in the morning for several renowned trainers including David Smaga and starting in a dozen races as a gentleman rider “without much success or passion, as I really lacked competitive spirit at the time,” he decided that training really captivated him. His mind was made up: he would be a trainer.'

“You have to keep searching – why something went wrong and how to correct it, what could still be improved even when things go well... Never take anything for granted.”

GALLERY

Relative values - the Clement brothers

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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - EUROPEAN TRAINER - ISSUE 43

Grand Designs - Creating the perfect training centre

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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - EUROPEAN TRAINER - ISSUE 42

Laurent Viel - Rise of a French National Hunt racing star

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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - EUROPEAN TRAINER - ISSUE 41

Jean-Paul Gallorini: the true master in the art of success

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(European Trainer - issue 36 - Winter 2011)

The French Model - Keeping ahead of the racing game

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(European Trainer - issue 33 - Spring 2011) 

Jean-Claude Rouget, the leading French racehorse trainer, in profile

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(European Trainer - issue 31 - Autumn 2010)

Nicolas Bertran de Balanda - the young French trainer

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 (European Trainer - issue 25 - Spring 2009)

Eco Trainers - converting manure to electricity

By Katherine Ford

Trainers at the main French training base, Chantilly, have gone green and are soon to be the envy of their contemporaries around the world with a ground-breaking manure-disposal project. Faced with piles of manure, the bane of all trainers' lives, Chantilly professionals are working together to launch a pioneering scheme which looks set to solve all their problems and at the same time reap both environmental and financial rewards. The 10-million euro project, which should be operational towards the end of 2009, is at the cutting edge of technology and consists of using a process of methanization to convert the waste into electricity which will then be sold to the EDF (French Electricity Board), and into heat which will be used locally.

With some 2500 Thoroughbreds currently in training in and around the towns of Chantilly, Gouvieux and Lamorlaye, the region is France's leading training center and among the most prestigious sites for preparing racehorses in the world. A further 700 polo ponies and 800 riding horses are stabled in the area to make a grand total of 4,000 equine inhabitants. Slightly less glamorous than the haul of Group 1 victories which the four-legged stars of Chantilly bring home each season is the waste they produce. Each horse creates one ton of manure per month. The muckheaps of Chantilly are overflowing and a solution is urgently needed.

Dual-purpose handler Richard Crépon was one of the first to react to the issue, and in early 2006 he became president of the Lamorlaye Bio-Resources Association. "We started to research ways to deal with our large quantities of manure and initially came up with the idea of converting it into compost, or incineration. Local farmers made a small contribution by spreading shavings-based manure on their land. But none of these systems were perfect and we realized that we needed to take control of the situation ourselves." It was then that the current CUMA (Co-operative for the Utilization of Agricultural Material) was born, again under the presidency of Crépon. All of Chantilly and the surrounding area's hundred or so license holders, as well as the towns' riding school, livery and polo proprietors, have been invited to invest the modest sum of 100 euros to join the co-operative which, as Crépon explains, "needs manure in order for our project to be feasible."

The CUMA'S methanization project offers a mutually-beneficial solution to a relatively new problem. Until recently trainers had been able to rely on the abundance of mushroom producers in Chantilly to dispose of their troublesome "by-product." The farmers had chosen Chantilly for its combination of an unending supply of the horse manure necessary for their fungus to grow, and the geological characteristics of the surrounding area. Chantilly is built on valuable limestone which has been excavated over the centuries, notably to construct the spectacular Grandes Ecuries and Chateau which give such charm to France's Classic racecourse. The quarrying left vast underground caves perfect for mushroom cultivation and thirty years ago the area was home to around 25 mushroom farms. "They used to pay us to take away our manure. Nowadays, the industry has largely moved to Eastern Europe, leaving only 4 mushroom producers in Chantilly. We have trouble to get anyone to empty our manure pits and it costs more and more." In Chantilly it now costs 15 euros per ton for trainers to dispose of their organic waste.

Aside from the purely practical inconvenience of evacuating the tons of waste produced weekly, fellow trainer Tony Clout, making a regretful gesture towards a steaming skip full of manure, comments, "we don't realize it, but we contribute to the greenhouse effect every day with all this manure." Clout is another board member of the French Trainers' Association who is an active player in the CUMA. Like all his trainer colleagues, he is primarily concerned by another form of pollution. "Horse manure is officially considered as a waste product and we are responsible for it until it has been completely destroyed. At the moment we have no control over where it ends up. In the current crazy situation, our manure is transported the length and breadth of France. It is always worrying to see piles of manure left standing in fields across the countryside, as they could easily have originated in our stables. There is a real risk that effluent from the waste will pollute the ground water in these instances and the trainer will be held liable and fined."

The increased environmental awareness on the part of the authorities, aside from making them more likely to take trainers to task for inadequate disposal of their waste, has another more beneficial side for the CUMA. "The timing has been ideal for us," explains Crépon. "We started to think about environmentally-friendly ways to recycle our manure at the same time as the government was creating grants and finance schemes for exactly this type of project." One such policy is that proposed by EDF, who pay a special tariff of 140 euros per megawatt hour (compared to usual rate 60 euros MW/h) for electricity produced by renewable sources. This price operates on the basis of a 15 year contract, which the CUMA has secured. "All this is possible thanks to our contract with EDF," states Clout.

Although the finer details have yet to be settled, the principle behind the Chantilly project is the same as that used in Germany by around 4,000 methanization plants for pig slurry. Nevertheless this will be the first time the technology has been used for horse manure. Bruno Battistini, consultant to the Lamorlaye Bio-Resource Association, explains, "We are setting a European and worldwide precedent. The pig manure operations are common in Germany and function in the same way as sewage processing plants as the slurry is highly-concentrated and in liquid form. However this is the first time anyone has attempted the process with dry matter, although it is similar to that used for household waste." In France there are two such plants, in Calais and Lille, for recycling household waste but there remain a number of unknowns concerning Chantilly's innovative project and the CUMA is still conducting research in conjunction with the INRA (National Institute for Agronomic Research) of Narbonne. "Our primary concern is to verify that our horse manure is compatible with the anaerobic breakdown process. We must also be sure of the levels and composition of the biogases produced, and finally that the equipment will stand the test of time." At the current time, around 18 months before the project is due to leave the starting stalls, Battistini and the trainers are certain that the process will work with straw-based manure and are expecting confirmation from the INRA that shavings will be able to be recycled in the same conditions.

Methanization is an anaerobic fermentation process through which the waste is decomposed by bacteria in an air-free environment. The manure will therefore be collected in giant sealed silos, where it will ferment to give off biogas consisting largely of methane and carbon dioxide. These gases will in turn be used to drive turbines which produce the electricity destined for EDF. "While EDF is our guarantee of income," explains Battistini, "we have a legal obligation towards them according to which, in order to benefit from their favorable rates, we must not waste potential energy." The latent heat generated during the methanization process therefore becomes a secondary resource. In addition to its utility in heating the plant's reactors, which need to be maintained at an operational temperature of 131°F, it will also be sold locally for heating purposes.

A 3 ½ acre site has been chosen for the plant, on land owned by the Institut de France and subsidized by France Galop. Its central location at Mont de Po, between the training centers of Chantilly and Lamorlaye, while being practical for trainers, is of vital logistical importance for the sale of the heat. Within just a few hundred meters of the site are the AFASEC jockeys' school and the Bois Larris Red Cross Hospital, the two major clients whose heating systems are to be supplied by the warmth created by the turbines. Their proximity means that a minimal amount of heat will be lost during transfer.  Another bonus with the location is that there is already a 20,000 volt cable running underground across the site to cater for the hospital, which means that no unsightly pylons will be required.

After the three-to-four-week methanization process has been completed, around 60% of the initial volume will remain as biologically stable residue. "Our profitability is also dependent upon the use we make of this residue," says Battistini. "The heat we sell to the hospital and the AFASEC will be running at 100% of its potential in December and January, however that will be reduced to 10% in the summer months. This seasonal issue will affect our global efficiency and in order to qualify for the subsidies on offer, we need to prove that we utilize at least 75% of the energy produced."  The solution to this final conundrum is to recycle the residue a second time to create fuel briquettes. The latent heat which is surplus to requirements over the summer will be used to dry, and then carbonize, the waste from the digestors at temperatures of up to 752°F. The resulting matter will be compressed into briquettes for use either in households or possibly by the AFASEC or the hospital if their boilers could be converted to use this type of fuel. The CUMA are also keen not to leave the remaining mushroom-growers in the lurch and are working together to determine whether the farms can make use of the residue.

The project is expected to cost in the region of 10 million euros. "We have yet to finalize a finance plan as we are still awaiting the various technical validations from the INRA. When we have these we will be able to make an accurate evaluation of the cost of the plant and then source funding for our operation." However Battistini does not have any concerns on this score. In addition to the EDF contract, a whole range of grants and support dedicated to the development of biomass projects and the recycling of waste are proposed on regional, national and European levels, including Grenelle Environment and Brussels. The scheme is supported by the government ministries of agriculture and environment as well as by Finance Minister Eric Woerth, who is Mayor of the prestigious racing town. Indeed the town of Chantilly itself, thanks to its status as a Pole d'Excellence Rurale (Center of Rural Excellence), is eligible for European money dedicated to this type of project. Another source of income could quite simply be a bank loan. This may be more simple than it first appears, as Battistini confirms, "According to a law which was passed five or six years ago, all the major French high-street banks offer loans called ‘Sofergies' which are dedicated to the financing of this type of equipment. The interest rate is negotiable but the real advantage of the idea is that banks must give priority to innovative projects such as ours which will produce renewable energy." In the future, carbon credits may be recuperated by the CUMA, although there is still work to do on this front as they are currently only available for porcine and bovine schemes. Battistini intends to change this state of affairs. "We are lobbying the CITEPA (Technical Interprofessional Center for the Study of Atmospheric Pollution) to convince them to change this ruling and hope to benefit from carbon credits within a year or two."

Richard Crépon and Tony Clout aim to have written off the cost of the factory within seven or eight years, whereas Battistini offers the slightly more conservative estimate of ten years. Whoever is right on this minor issue, the CUMA seems assured of success on both economic and ecological levels. "Once we have repaid the cost of the plant, the trainers, who are the shareholders in the CUMA, will reap the financial benefits," says Clout. "In the future we should be able to return to a situation in which trainers are paid for the removal of their manure, and not vice versa." While the renewable energy supplied to EDF and local services will make a small impact on country-wide electricity production, the project is also advantageous in cutting down on primary pollution which currently originates from the currently steaming muckheaps of Chantilly. The CUMA will seek to standardize manure storage for all the region's trainers so that all waste is kept in covered pits or containers prior to transportation to the plant's closed fermentors, thereby considerably reducing current methane emissions.

While the project is far from completion, the ensemble of favorable circumstances mean that the members of Chantilly's CUMA can be confident of a cleaner, cheaper future in which they will be in control of the manure their horses produce. Their progress will be followed with interest by trainers around Europe and the world.

Alec Head & Criquette Head Maarek - we talk to the extraordinarily successful father and daughter

The Head family has a history steeped in horseracing, just as horseracing has a history steeped in Heads. Their dominance began in France in the late 1800’s with Alec’s jockey-turned-trainer grandfather Willie, a British expatriot. Alec’s father, also Willie, was a highly successful jumps jockey and dual purpose trainer in France. Willie trained six individual classic winners as well as Le Paillon who won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and was second in the 1947 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham when ridden by Alec. Alec stopped race riding that same year and transitioned into five-time leading trainer, breeder and owner extraordinaire. Say what you will: the clichés are plentiful, the headlines unoriginal, but the claim that the family is “at the head of the class” has been consistently accurate for over a century.

Their story is inextricably connected to the land on their idyllic Haras du Quesnay near Deauville, France, which has equally been at the epicentre of racing for many generations. During the tenure of W.K. Vanderbilt, the undefeated Prestige was France’s leading sire in 1914. An influential resident when the stud was owned by Kingsley Macomber was Rose Prince, the sire of Belgian Triple Crown winner Prince Rose who was in turn the sire of Princequillo.
World War II interrupted the tranquility of Normandy, and the Germans seized Quesnay only to flee when the Allies landed. To put it into context, Rose Prince’s son Prince Rose was killed 75 miles up the road from Deauville in the 1944 bombings. Although Deauville was spared from the fighting, Quesnay bore signs of occupation, so its American owner abandoned it and the property remained vacant until after his death. Chantilly-based Alec Head, with the eye that later enabled him to spot the potential in Lyphard and Riverman, found Quesnay and, with his parents, bought and restored it to beyond its former glories. The list of horses bred, raised at and/or retired to Quesnay is extensive – among the first was French Derby winner Le Fabuleux, trained by Willie Jr. – but Alec and Ghislaine Head (a member of the van de Poele racing family) also reared their four children in the idyllic 16th Century chateau. Three of them – champion trainer Criquette; champion jockey Freddy, now a trainer; and Quesnay’s manager Martine, who oversees the stud careers of Anabaa and Bering, among others – went into the family business.
At the conclusion of the 2007 French racing season, the Head’s homebred colt Full of Gold, sired by Quesnay’s stallion Gold Away and trained by Criquette, won the Group I Criterium de Saint-Cloud, in a now-typical display of family unity: when Criquette was a fledgling trainer, she conditioned her mother’s filly Three Troikas to win the 1979 Arc under Freddy. That was Freddy’s second Arc, after Ivanjica, trained by Alec, in 1976. Alec-trained Beaugency lost the 1969 Prix du Jockey Club by (what else?) a head to Goodly, trained by Willie and ridden by Freddy. With this family, there is a myriad of these examples.
From racing as well as historical perspectives, sitting down with the father-daughter team of Alec Head and Criquette Head-Maarek at Quesnay is a humbling yet singular experience.

Criquette, what kind of difficulties have you met in becoming the most successful woman flat racehorse trainer in the world?
Criquette: Well I’ve never had any problem. I was born with all my background so it was easier for me. Even after I started training for the Arabs, you know, being a woman, it’s unusual. I still train for Prince Khaled Abdullah, who is a fantastic owner, and until the death of Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum I had horses for him and it was the same, it was absolutely fantastic for me. I think they see you as a trainer and not as a woman if you win races, and I was lucky to have good horses. So, that’s all. But I was the first licensed female trainer in France.

And the first to win a classic race in France, and officially in England, and the first to win the Arc…
Criquette: Of course, because I started before the others. You need horses in this job. If you have good horses it helps you a lot. I had good teachers in front of me. My father, my grandfather – they taught me everything I know and that I’m doing today.

After returning home to France from Spain you started in bloodstock and bought Three Troikas, who you trained to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, as a yearling in 1977. Was that a big turning point for you?
Criquette: I came back because I was missing horses, and then I was a bloodstock agent for a while and I started training when I bought Three Troikas at Newmarket, that’s the year I started training. It was lucky. It’s like the link of a chain. If everything goes together it’s easy. So that’s how I started. At the beginning I won’t say they didn’t say, “Ah, it’s the daughter of Alec Head and he’ll be behind her all the time,” so I just plugged my ears. I didn’t want to listen to them. I knew what I was doing. I knew that I was training my horses and whatever people would say I didn’t mind, so it didn’t bother me.

Either way, it’s not a bad thing to have Alec Head there behind you.
Criquette: Exactly. Yeah, that was a big help. On top of that, when I was making a mistake they wouldn’t say anything to me because they thought Papa was making the mistake. You need time when you start training. You can’t be a super trainer in one or two years even if you have good horses so you need a bit of time, and it did help me to get through everything because people were thinking that my father was the trainer. So for me, it was easy.

And you’ve probably reached the point now that when something goes wrong they don’t look at your father anymore.
Criquette: Well no, no, they still look at my dad. In November when I won the Group I, with Full of Gold, we won on Sunday and Papa had come back on Friday. He’d been away for nearly six months because my mother was sick. And people said, “Ah, we can see you’re back,” you know, like they were saying that was why we won…I don’t mind. For me, I am so pleased when I win races for him or for any client of mine of course, but when I win races for Papa and my mother it’s something special for me, absolutely. When I see my brother, or [son-in-law] Carlos [Laffon-Parias] winning, it’s rewarding.

I think it’s fair to say the Heads have had quite a monopoly in the French horseracing ranks for many, many years.
Criquette: Well, I’m not sure, but we’ve been very close together and we’ve worked together for a long time because Freddy was a jockey. He was the jockey for my grandfather – he started with my grandfather, then my father, then me. It’s a big help when the family is all close together.

How does winning the Criterium de Saint-Cloud with homebred Full of Gold last year compare with Three Troikas in the Arc?
Alec: That was nice. I was delighted. So was Criquette! But he is not Three Troikas yet. You couldn’t compare because Three Troikas, she didn’t run much as a two-year-old.
Criquette: She won just a maiden, by a nose at St Cloud.

Not so much the horses themselves, but as proud moments in Head racing lore.
Criquette: Oh but you are always proud when you have horses like that. To win with a horse that you raised is fantastic. I think it’s better than to buy it.
Alec: Of course. It’s your baby. It is your baby. It’s like your children.

Full of Gold brings everything full circle, in a sense. Criquette trained his sire Gold Away who now stands at Quesnay, and Alec, you trained his grandsire Goldneyev and won the Arc with Goldneyev’s dam Gold River in 1981. Your family also bred and raced his broodmare sire Sillery and was involved with Full of Gold’s first five dams spanning 50 years. Full of Gold is 4x4 to Riverman and his dam is 4x3 to Lyphard, probably the two best horses you bought. Just about the only horses in the pedigree you weren’t involved with were Nureyev and Blushing Groom!
Alec: I was underbidder on Blushing Groom when he was a yearling.

Ouch!
Criquette: As you say, ouch. And Vaguely Noble, and Arazi – Arazi as a foal and as a yearling. Remember, Papa?

Has training changed much since the days of your grandfather?
Alec: I don’t think so. Maybe a little bit in the way of feeding horses. I don’t think there’s been much change in the training. There may be a lot of changes in the veterinary world. That’s improved quite a lot, but the training itself is more or less the same I would say.

And the horses?
Criquette: Maybe they’re more fragile than before, Papa, no?
Alec: Yes, possibly. The cross of the American breeders brought us more fragile horses, that’s for sure.
Criquette: And maybe because of the medication they can use over there.
Alec: Yeah of course. You get unsound horses that go to stud because of medication and they will produce their problems.
(Watching as a horse sells for a big price at the ARQANA sale)
Alec: I’m getting to know less and less in this business. I suppose that at one age, the thing is, you go up, up, and then when you get to a certain age you start going down. And I’m halfway down – not completely. I wouldn’t give 300,000 euros for that. I understand less and less!

I wonder if, since you’ve been breeding your families for so many generations, you have less of these problems, the fragility, unsoundness?
Alec: It’s difficult to know where the lightning is going to strike, in every way. I know I’m lucky. If you’re not lucky in life you’re in trouble. You need a bit of luck, but you’d better help it. We’ve all got a bit of it, but some pick it up more than others. And that’s the point.

So I gather you’re anti-medication.
Criquette: Ah yes, that’s terrible. That’s one thing that we have to fight in this country. You can’t give any medication, and that’s very good. Nothing.

And when you do get a bleeder you have to send it somewhere like America, where it can race and will usually go to stud afterwards.
Criquette: Yes, it’s like that. It’s terrible for all the matings. Here in this country we’ve got less stallions maybe, but they’re all sound. We’ve got much more sound horses than they do in the States. I think they should be stricter on medication. Mind you, they race on dirt, and it’s hard on horses to train on dirt. Without any medication they would have no runners. But me, I’m in favour of no medication. I think a trainer should train. The trainer shouldn’t be a chemist. I’m against everything. A lame horse shouldn’t run. A sick horse shouldn’t go on the racecourse. It’s so simple – those horses should not run.

Where does the breeding industry stand today?
Alec: I’m a bit sad at the moment to see these two big operations. That’s what Miss Kirsten Rausing said the other day in a speech. In my opinion she was right, because it’s not good when you have too big a monopoly. There’s a lot of other breeders that would like to buy a stallion and try to make a living. They cut them off, and they don’t have a chance.
Criquette: That’s why there’s less and less breeders.
Alec: Luckily, for the moment in America, it’s such a strong country you have other people. You need people to spend and buy. That’s our problem today in France, we don’t have many young new breeders to come in. We used to have quite a number. Now you can count them on one hand. It’s like breeding those stallions to 200 mares. It stops other horses from having a chance to make it.
Criquette: And it’s bad for racing. It’s no good.
Alec: Everybody criticised [Rausing]. I congratulated her. I said, “You had the courage to say what you thought.” She didn’t say anything bad. It’s not because you say that it’s not good that you’re saying anything bad.
Criquette: It’s like me saying the bookies are bad for racing. It’s true. The bookies, they won’t agree with me. I had a call from England saying, “How dare you say things like that?” and I said, “I’m going to say it again and again and again.” I can have that opinion, that I think they kill racing. But Rausing said what she felt.

As the newly elected Chair of the European Trainers Federation you will have to deal with many touchy agendas. I know the bookie situation you just referenced is very important to you.
Criquette: I’m very against the bookmakers and I’ll do everything I can to stop them. The system that we’ve got in France, the pari-mutuel, is very well organised and it gives a lot of money back to racing so it helps a lot of the people who work in racing. We don’t want to see the bookies taking all the money from us and not giving anything back.

So what can you do?
Criquette: I don’t know, but we’re going to fight. I’ve seen things, where the bookies have a big horse with a lot of money on his back and you find that horse doesn’t run exactly to what was expected, and you could always think that something was funny. In Germany there’s no racing because of them, in Italy racing’s gone down, in Belgium there’s no more racing – all because of the bookies. They came in very nicely saying they would help, and then after time they took everything from them, so I think it would be unfair to force a country to change. It’s unfair to try to put everyone on the same level. There are 34,000 people working directly from racing and 162,000 people working around racing. So that’s a huge amount of people, a huge amount of money goes into your country for your country. You’ve got the proof all around that every country who has them went down, and we’re not going to let the country go down because, the EU internal market commissioner, Mr McCreevy wants to have everyone on the same level. It’s impossible.

And the tie-in with the prize money?
Criquette: In England the prize money’s going down, it’s getting worse and worse. In France we’re going up, and they’re going down and down, and we don’t want to see that. In France we haven’t got all those sponsors who put money in. In England they’re better off because they’ve got big sponsors, and that’s not our case; here the money goes back because the pari-mutuel is organised like that and it puts all the money in. We’ve got premiums for breeders, for French owners, for French horses even if the owner is from America or wherever. They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t have the money, and the day the bookies come in it’s over, there won’t be any more money. We won’t drop in one year. It’ll take time, but it will decline completely and we’ll be like all those other countries. Look at America: they’ve got the pari-mutuel. That’s why it’s working.

What about other problems, like home-grown staffing shortages?
Criquette: We’re not allowed in this country to bring people in like they do in England. It’s hard to find people. Our government is trying to make us employ French people who haven’t got any jobs, but it’s difficult to find people who are good enough to work with horses, so it’s quite complicated. We’re going to ask the government to let us import people from countries where they like horses. So far in France we’re not allowed to employ them. It will change, I suppose, in 2008. They’ll open something to let us bring people to work in France.

Alec, you yourself have overseen some major changes or improvements during your time as a trainer.
Alec: My jockey was the first one to wear goggles in Europe. There were big headlines in all the papers about the French jockey wearing goggles. I think in the States they were already wearing them. It’s like the helmet. That came gradually. I used to ride with a helmet over jumps in my day, but we didn’t used to have them on the flat. I was one of the ones who got the French to use the starting stalls. I pushed very much for that. We used to have a couple of jockeys that were better than the others at the start, so it was important to bring the stalls in. It was a big fight because lots of trainers found excuses, they were against them. There’s always somebody.

This year marks 50 years since you bought Quesnay. How did you acquire it?
Alec: I bought the farm with my dad. He was away because he used to go down to the south of France with his horses in the winter, and I bought the farm in December or January. I did the whole deal, and he said, “Okay, I’ll go in with you.” So we bought it together and he came back from the south in February. And of course the first thing he said was, “Let’s go and see that farm we’ve bought.” We opened the gates, drove in and he said, “You must be crazy. We’re going to ruin ourselves in this place.”

So you didn’t tell him the extent of how what bad condition it was in when you asked him to go in on it with you?
Alec: No, no. No! My mother was a lovely lady, and when I asked him, she said, “Listen, if he buys it, let’s go, it must be okay.” I told them when we bought it, “It’s in bad shape. We’re going to have a lot of work to put it back to being a good looking place.” So he said okay but he didn’t realise it was that bad. Imagine a farm untouched for ten years, the roof, trees, broken fences.
Criquette: Since the war, Papa, there was no one there.
Alec: In 1940 the war broke out. We bought it in ’58. It was in a terrible state, my God.
Criquette: Going up the main alley the grass, the weeds were very tall. It was incredible.

How did the farm survive its Nazi occupation duing World War II?
Alec: We didn’t have any fighting in this area because the Allies went straight to Paris. And when the Germans started retreating they had to get out quickly, because they were all going to be trapped. That was very lucky because the German general commanding the whole of Normandy used to live in the house. It was camouflaged, the whole place, the yard, everything. In the boxes you can still see some of that green stuff. We found the bunkers that they built. I blew up quite a number of small ones, but there’s three big ones we couldn’t. We’d blow the whole place up. They’ve got walls as wide as this table.
Criquette: And they’re very close to the house.
Alec: It was lucky because behind what Vanderbilt built there were still a lot of good things that the Germans couldn’t break up.

What has been your greatest success?
Alec: On the racecourse, the greatest success was Three Troikas, because she was owned by us, trained by my daughter, ridden by my son. You can’t do much better than that, unless the stable boy that looks after it is your grandson or something. That was a great thing.

The biggest challenge?
Alec: To try to keep on top in this business. That’s a big challenge, because it’s tough to be always near the top. I’ve had my bad days and my problems. I had a great jockey who died in my arms. That was a very sad moment. Terrible. On top of it all he was a nice fellow. I had to call his wife to tell him that her husband had been killed on the racecourse. And that’s no fun. That was one of the worst times of my life. I sold the horse straight away, and I changed my colours. They were my grandfather’s colours.
Criquette: You wouldn’t like to see those colours again on someone.

And you Criquette, your biggest challenge? The cancer?
Criquette: Yes, yes of course.

Another battle you won.
Criquette: Yes, I hope so. You never know if you win it really. But anyhow, that could be one but let’s think about things nicer than that.

Your greatest success, then.
Criquette: I don’t know which one. There’s a few. Let’s say the first horse you win a Group I with. That was Sigy in the Prix de l’Abbayé. She was very, very fast. When she won the Abbayé she was a two-year-old [against older horses]. I think the first Group I is something that you remember always. And the Arc of course, and then all my wins, I would say, all the wins I can get. It’s a big achievement, whatever you win, a small race, a big race. You remember the big ones, but it’s hard to bring a bad horse to the racecourse and win with it.
Alec: You know what I say, a winner a day keeps the doctor away.

How do you stay so young?
Criquette: He works hard, that’s why.
Alec: No, not these days I don’t work very hard. I don’t know. Good genes.

What do you want to be your lasting legacy?

Alec: The one thing I’d like to be remembered for? That I raised a nice family. I mean, that’s the best thing in the long run, all the family – the children, the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren, because I’ve got quite a number of them.

Guillaume Macaire - champion jumps trainer in France for many years

Guillaume Macaire is the current champion jumps trainer in France, a title he has held since 2003. He is based in the Charente Maritime region of France at La Palmyre racecourse. In 2006 he ran 231 different horses and regularly campaigns horses across Europe.

In 2006 he wrote a regular column in Paris-Turf in which he provided insight into his runners, discussed current issues in the racing world and would provide his opinion on sensitive subjects.

Guillaume, tell us how you came into racing?

I was born in Compiègne in 1956, I frequented the racecourse at an early age. My family wasn’t involved in racing but when I went, I fell in love with it. The pictorial, timeless side of Compiègne’s racecourse certainly had a big impression on me. After a short career as an amateur rider, I started training a few horses in Compiègne, exercising my horses on the forest’s sand gallops. I then moved in Maisons-Laffitte for 2 years, then fate drove me to the south-west of France, where races were well-attended,  I went to La Roche Chalais (Dordogne), I won races regularly, improved my results every year and discovered La Palmyre where I moved to12 years ago.

What are the advantages of training at Royan-la-Palmyre?

The variety of the region attracted me, as well as the track on the racecourse, there’s the nearness of the sea with big beaches, a pine forest and its paths in sand.
When I arrived, the racecourse’s sand track wasn’t really exploited; some trainers had worked on it, one of them Martial Boisseuil (well-known in Arabian racing) had had a certain amount of success from 1975 to 1990 without however leaving the borders of the Southwest of France. The facility has several jump tracks, hurdles, steeple-chase fences and cross-country jumps, and now English fences and hurdles, also the addition of sand in order to have a testing gallop reminds me of the English up-hill gallops. Here, horses must maintain their rhythm and use their back. This allows me to work in good conditions and to make really good jumpers.
I’ve trained in different places and always used the same basics, I adapt to the facilities offered by each place. Here, in La Palmyre, I use the quality of the sand as natural ground and make the best of it. But what is positive here would not be anywhere else, all the methods are good but it’s necessary to adapt oneself. Good horses make the difference.

Could you explain to me your training methods, what do you consider very important?

All the horses intended to work here are pre-selected on their pedigree, on their appearance and on their movement, as only these criteria will allow them to improve their technique in order to be more fluent and more successful. Due to this selection I quickly have an opinion about each horse, if it has “attached legs and a welded kidney” it’s not worth working any more.
I’m talking here about the horses I choose, those for which I assure an “after-sale service”; there are exceptions, other horses I wouldn’t have chosen are brought to me and they are still able to win races. According to the proverb “the good horses make the good trainers”.
I like some of my horses to come to training several times and go back to the fields to recover or simply to grow if needed. They arrive for the first time in the winter as 2 or 3 year olds. Before that, they are broken in and pre-trained by people I know, who know the way I want my horses to be worked. I like to do interval training, as I mostly train jumpers, it allows to build the horse’s fitness without killing it (it’s used a lot with humans anyway); I put bandages on all of them, they help the horse’s back to carry a rider in the right way and they help for the animal’s submission and relaxation.  In their first month of training, I school them 3 or 4 times a week in a closed arena with 4 hurdles and deep sand. Indeed my inspirational mentor Baron Finot, (a leading jumping trainer in the 1880’s) whose methods I adopted and adapted to our time and whom rich painting (gouaches and watercolours) I admire had said: “the good jumpers are those who are used to jumping when they’re young”.

The arena is compulsory to me, I say it’s like a pianist is nothing without his scales, he has to practice, so the jumping technique is the main point for a jumper’s career and we have to practice. Then, depending on the horse’s behaviour and its physical ability to bear the training it will either run in the spring of its 3rd year or it will go back to the field to take advantage of the spring grass and will return in the autumn stronger.

Just as each person is unique amongst the universe’s inhabitants, my jumpers are individuals. I train each one of them regarding how it responds in order to get a certain standard, the horse’s quality will do the rest. My work is to form them as studious pupils. The trainer’s art is to find good horses and to find quickly enough if they’re worth it or not. 
Feeding is of prime importance in a racehorse’s life; it’s important to respect nature. For this I have all my horses on shavings and the racks are always full of hay (from the area of Crau) which avoids them to be bored in their stable and is a great help for proper digestion. They also eat oats and in the morning and bran mash in the evening (they have it even when they’re away racing, as I own several pressure-cookers).
Another essential thing to me is the horse walker, it replaces the lunging work that was formerly used a lot when people had time. I was the first trainer in France to buy one. It is surely not an economy of staff, but allows the horse to work muscularly and mentally freely without a direct constraint from the rider’s weight and hand.
The walker is used daily for different purposes, a horse that needs to let off steam before concentrating on the work for the track, a horse with a back problem or a horse that needs to recover after the races.
 I use a scale, horses are regularly weighed, especially before and after a race in order to know their exact condition. The optimum weight is a precious indicator of the state and health of the horse.
The work list is my puzzle for every day, adapting every horse with his/her rider then adapt them to each string according to the work required. I have as well to adapt to the new horses, their progress whilst keeping their objectives in mind.
No one can imagine how much the quality of a regular and constant work made in the morning is related - and improves - the final result.

Tell me about your staff?

My team consists of about 30 people; it’s a pyramid system whereby each person has their place and their function from the bottom to the top. In the summer we attract English, Irish and now Swiss riders who combine their holiday with a French racing experience. Noel Williams, Alan King’s assistant, spent some time with us last year and seemed pleased by what he discovered here and by the French racing customs, it complemented what he already knew. It is interesting for everybody to exchange different points of view as each country has its own habits.

You like to run horses in England, why?

I consider the level of competition is very high in Great-Britain, our best horses are sold and cross the channel when they’ve shown really good things there. There’s a conquering side in winning races abroad! It is the circumstances that brought me to England with Jair du Cochet, who won a Group 1 race (the Welsh Finale Junior Hurdle at Chepstow) first time out there. He didn’t pass the vet twice, so, pricked in my pride I wanted to show he was a good horse in order to prove my honesty. He adapted very well in England and ran only there, with a certain success. It is impossible for a horse to run everywhere all year through - except for The Fellow who was an extraterrestrial as he had won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand Steeple Chase de Paris. I take an outstanding pleasure running in England as this for me is the homeland of the jumping races, a consecration for every trainer to win over there. But I want to go there only with a first class chance or if an English owner of mine wants to see his horse run over there. If I have good entries for a horse who knows Auteuil I’ll stick there.

What are your hopes for 2007?

I hope we can continue where 2006 left off and to find more time for my favourite hobby – painting horses. 

The European gambling scene – which way for horseracing?

The war is over: so said France Galop director general Louis Romanet a year ago, after he had put his name to a ground-breaking deal with British bookmakers Ladbrokes. For the first time, live pictures of all French races – Flat, jumps and trotting – were being made available to show in UK betting shops, via a new broadcasting service known as Ladbrokes Xtra. A unique, dedicated channel, Xtra is now in all Ladbrokes’ 2,140 shops in Britain and Ireland, and is there to provide extra – hence the name – opportunities for punters, over and above the traditional daily mix of horse and greyhound racing, virtual reality racing and numbers’ betting. Xtra needed product to make up its programme, and French racing was an obvious target, provided the old enmity between the parties could be overcome. The French racing and betting authorities have generally abhorred fixed-odds bookmakers for a century, ever since their like were driven out of the country by legislation that strengthened the national pool-betting monopoly. For their turn, Ladbrokes, which has a well established business in neighbouring Belgium, had engaged in court battles against the French for at least the past 20 years, seeking to break the mould so that it could take its product into fresh areas. Suddenly, peace had broken out between the two old adversaries. More specifically, pragmatism had prevailed. Ladbrokes needed betting opportunities to fill the gaps in its new service, and the French had them in abundance, even if the idea of putting money on the outcome of a trotting race still seemed slightly alien to UK viewers. On the other side of the counter, the French could see an opportunity to enhance its betting take, because as well as allowing for the delivery of live pictures, the deal enabled Ladbrokes to put bets straight into the PMU pools, for a fee, of course, which generally works out at three per cent of turnover to the host provider. One year on, the two sides are more than happy with the arrangement. Ladbrokes has a guaranteed product to put before its customers, and the French PMU has another source of income, as well as a useful driver for increased pools. Romanet says: “The arrangement is progressing well, better than we expected, and we have very good relations with Ladbrokes, which will grow. The more people that are part of the pool, the more interesting it becomes. “French racing is benefiting, and it is good for Ladbrokes, because with pool betting the bookmaker doesn’t mind which horse wins.This is a proper deal, worked out between the racing authority and the bookmaker on proper terms, which is very different from what other betting operators, such as the exchanges, have suggested. They came to us and said they would give us 0.25 per cent of turnover. We said No. We are not beggars.” So there we have it; the new enemy is revealed. The betting exchanges, with their low-margin operation that cuts into the traditional market, have taken the place of the British bookmaker as the bad guys. But the exchanges are not the only target, and nor is France – the Ladbrokes deal aside – the only European country taking a stand, though its policy towards private betting and gambling operators is considered among the most restrictive in Europe. The real storm has been whipped up by the pervasive phenomenon of the internet, which has turned the European gambling scene into a maelstrom. On one side are the state-controlled monopolies, generally making their money from lotteries and hanging on to their status for dear life under national law. On the other is the European Commission, steeling itself to intervene under EU legislation. And in the middle are the private betting operators, prodding governments into short-term legal action with the long-term aim of getting to the European Court of Justice, where they anticipate a wider, more liberal ruling. For betting operators, it may prove to be a case of taking two or more steps back before they can make a half-step forward, but if the mood among European Commissioners is any guide, they will get there, some day. In September, the internal market minister Charlie McCreevy took to nine – Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy and Sweden - the number of national governments against which the EC is opening infringement proceedings for restricting the provision of sports betting (including horseracing) and gambling services. The EC is following the line that under EU law countries can curb private gambling operators but only on grounds that are “non-discriminatory, proportionate and consistent”. A country cannot justify restrictions simply to protect its gambling or lottery monopoly, it says. Fellow commissioner Malcolm Harbour, who represents Britain, adds: “Member states cannot, on the one hand, incite and encourage people to participate in national lotteries, while at the same time invoking customer protection as a reason to suppress sports (and horserace) betting.” The testing ground for these views is being laid out even as some national governments continue to bear down on unwelcome betting operators, and as is the way with such issues, the workings of the law will grind away slowly, and expensively. Meanwhile, and perhaps ironically, two countries on McCreevy’s hit list – Germany and Italy – are moving towards deregulating their betting landscape from inside. Spain, too, is gently opening its arms to fresh possibilities, and emerging areas of eastern Europe will not be far behind. Major British-based bookmakers have worked out the angles, and, inevitably in view of their vast experience at putting on a fixed-odds show for their customers, they have made strategic alliances or are looking for individual representation. Stanley International, based in Liverpool, has been operating through agents in Italy for around five years. Its legal challenges have been an irritant for much of that time, but they have produced important legal decisions. Now Stanley is looking to advance through being awarded some of the 17,000 licences – 7,000 for sports betting shops and 10,000 for horserace betting – that are being opened up to commercial competition in Italy. In September, Ladbrokes paid €1.3m for a joint venture with local betting company Pianeta Scommesse and is promising to spend €100m over the next five years on a betting-shop project. “There is clearly unsatisfied demand in Italy,” says Ladbrokes chief executive Chris Bell. Gala Coral already operates in Italy through Eurobet and is bidding to expand, while William Hill can hardly afford to be left out, though its main thrust into Europe will be through Spain, which is moving towards a degree of sports-betting deregulation, and then Greece once it treads softly into liberalisation. Spain, which has new legislation on the stocks in three of the country’s 17 autonomous regions, is also the target for Betbull, a polyglot of an organisation, since it grew out of Austria, is based in Gibraltar and run by Simon Bold, who first made his name as a bookmaker in Liverpool. Bold says: “The Spanish retail market is immense, and will embrace the concept of sports betting in comfortable outlets that combine high-level technology with leisure and catering facilities”. So, where does all this to-and-fro activity leave horseracing? That’s the million-euro question for authorities running the business and individuals practicising within the pursuit, who see their rewards diminishing and wonder if, or how, they can hang on to the tail feathers of the golden goose of betting. Steve Fisher, British co-founder and director of Stan James Bookmakers, is as close as anyone to the central attractions. He was among the first to spot the potential of online betting, and has known days when his firm will offer nearly 400 separate markets on a multitude of sports, but he also supports horseracing to the hilt, including sponsoring both the Guineas on the Flat and the King George VI Chase over jumps. “Aside from lotteries, the gambling market in Europe is dominated by gaming – casinos and slot machines – and fixed odds can never compete for profitably per square metre,” he explains. “Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy may be the dominant horseracing countries, but betting has to compete strongly with other sports, and horseracing is a minority activity even in such as Germany and Italy. Spain is a worry for any operator because it does not have a history of betting. Its gambling is based on lotteries, numbers, bingo and slot machines, so expansion will not happen overnight. In central and eastern Europe they predominantly bet on football and other sports, from basketball and cycling to darts and ice hockey, so these are also markets that do not instantly lend themselves to horserace betting. The point about sports betting is that most European countries bet on events in other countries, as well as their own. Taking horseracing into another country is not easy. It would be no good the UK, or anyone else for that matter, simply saying, ‘Here is our wonderful horseracing, you must have it.’ To betting people in most other countries it’s just another horserace, and there is a huge barrier if the commentary is in a foreign language and the odds are not up to date.” Gloomy for horseracing, or what? Fisher sees the picture as it is. “I have a betting shop in Moscow, using the latest Finsoft software to provide a Russian translation, and we show virtual horse and greyhound racing every five minutes,” he says. “No live racing, because I cannot get the pictures. But even if I could get live racing, I’m not sure how much interest there would be. If I was marketing a betting product to eastern Europe, for example, I would have more success with a virtual greyhound race than a live horse race. It’s easier for customers to understand. Of course, I want to be enterprising, and am keen to promote horseracing. But you would need a lot of co-operation from everybody, and that includes pricing. Horseracing should not think there is lots of money to be made out of its product, because that is not the case. And that’s not pessimism. It’s realism.”