If you haven’t attended a race in its natural setting, a racetrack, you have certainly seen horses fighting for victory on a television screen. For the owner of the horse, it is a question of winning the challenge thrown to the competitor. For the rider, it is about displaying his talent. For the horse, it is a way to find the best one for reproduction to transmit its qualities to its descendants, used for centuries as a means of transportation and tools for war. Races therefore have a triple function, recreational, sporting, and economic,
This is far from being new in France. Men have been publicly challenging each other, by horseback, since March 9, 1775, when Queen Marie-Antoinette and members of the court witnessed a meeting between two horses on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne on the Plaine des Sablons. In doing so, France was following the example of England where racing had spread under the reign of Charles I who, as early as 1634, offered cups to the winners. But on the other side of the Channel, game and sport are privileged. “Undisputed masters of the seas that guard their natural borders, the English will only need an elite cavalry to keep the vast territories they have conquered in the East.” It is different in France: “The whole history of the horse goes through that of the cavalry, its needs, its requirements.”
In Great Britain, racing took root in the middle of the 18th century and the echo of the prowess of a mythical horse, the invincible Eclipse (18 victories in 1769 and 1770) crossed the Channel to the point of deciding the younger brother of Louis XVI, the young Count of Artois, his cousin the Duke of Chartres and a few companions to import horses from England to compete at the Sablons, in the park of the Château de Vincennes or near Fontainebleau. The spur of these races is the game. The extravagance of betting between courtiers displeased the king. However, Louis XVI recognized the economic interest of the competition and agreed to offer prizes for the winning mares in races whose rules were signed by his minister Bertin in 1780. On their lands, a few lords then undertook to breed horses, worthy by their identity and their performances, to carry the title of “thoroughbred” like the thoroughbred from across the Channel.
Horse racing in France
The French Revolution aborted this attempt to introduce horse racing in France. What’s worse, the Constituent Assembly, by decree of January 29, 1790, voted the abolition of the “prohibitive regime of the stud farms”, closed the stallion depots (about fifteen at the time), sold the horses at a low price and dispersed the staff.
The torch was passed to Napoleon I who had to reconstitute the national horse breeding to meet the heavy demands of the army. Although the Emperor was Anglo-phobic, he recognized that competition led to progress and that racing had allowed the English horse to flourish. Thus, he will be the real founder of racing in France. Through different decrees and rules (the first one dates to 1805), he re-established state stud farms, stallion depots and instituted races, reserved to horses born and raised in France, in some departments. The winners will meet in the fall in Paris on the Champ-de-Mars to compete in a “Grand Prix”. The rules are rational and complete but without being a failure, these races will have little echo. The actors are rare because the breeders are insufficiently motivated to produce and the spirit of competition which reigns on the other side of the Channel, thanks to the game and the bets, is absent.
It is in the almost general indifference that the administrative races start again in 1819, under the Restoration which takes over the Napoleonic work. However, at the same time, competitions were held in the form of private bets, in the Bois de Boulogne. The reasons for such challenges? The return of peace with England inspires the practice of sports riding and the desire for games, which were firmly rooted across the Channel. And some new breeders were interested in the production of racehorses, such as Nicolas-Joseph Rieussec in Bue and Lord Seymour in Glatigny, near Versailles. The good example is given to them by King Louis XVIII himself who, to create a stud farm, allocates a few acres of land located at the foot of the Château de Meudon to the Duke of Guiche. The latter, back from exile in England, asserts “the necessity to resort to the thoroughbred horse to improve the breed of our light horses”. Passed on to his brother Charles X (the former Count of Artois), the Meudon stud farm found a new owner in 1830 with King Louis-Philippe who donated it to his eldest son, the Duke of Orleans. It is under the colors of this one that the pupils of Meudon will know their most beautiful victory in 1839.
Horse racing in the 19th century
Indeed, it was under the July Monarchy that thoroughbred breeding and racing were baptized in France. A link between them was established in 1833. A title of nobility was granted to the steed, but with the obligation to justify it on the racetrack. Thus, on March 3, 1833, Louis-Philippe signed an ordinance prescribing the establishment of a matriculation register for the registration of purebred horses born in France or imported. This is the “French studbook” inspired by the British one.
And thanks to the grace of 12 friends gathered on November 11, 1833, the “Society for the encouragement of the improvement of horse breeds in France” was founded. These young people were “struck by the increasing decadence of horse breeds in France and jealous to contribute, by raising them, to create in this beautiful country a new element of wealth. […] It is difficult to uproot certain prejudices in France, since we are unfortunately forced to recognize that all the old prejudices against the methods used in England, and in particular against horse racing, have not yet disappeared”. They were supported by two honorary members, the dukes of Orleans and Nemours, sons of Louis-Philippe. They chose as President Lord Henry Seymour, a rich Englishman living in France, passionate about sports and particularly horses.
The Encouragement Society immediately set to work. It published rules and regulations and collected the necessary funds from subscribers to organize races. The first ones took place in Paris, on the Champ-de-Mars, on May 4th, 1834. But for the first time, on May 15, the horses were racing in Chantilly. The lawn, framed by the forest and the large stables of the castle, offered a remarkable ground. The princes residing at the castle gave their support. As early as June, the Journal des Haras, the organ of the equestrian world, commented: “We applauded frankly the project of an association whose aim is to improve the horse breeds in France. Like her, we believe that the thoroughbred horse alone possesses the regenerating and preserving power of the breeds; like her, we therefore wish that the thoroughbred horse be used exclusively for this regeneration so desired and so vainly sought until now in France”.
And shortly after, the same organ published the point of view of an anonymous breeder: “Beauty is hypothetical, goodness is not! The appreciation of the one is arbitrary; the test is the measure of the other. In a word, on the racetrack one does not obtain justice… one does it to oneself. You don’t ask for your rank… you take it! No prize if you don’t place first!” Taking advantage of the observations gathered in England over the last three hundred years, the Encouragement Society took as its model the Newmarket Jockey Club born in 1752 and which governed racing across the Channel. Its code was copied, and the name of Jockey Club was given to the prize that the Society created in Chantilly in 1836 in the image of the Derby (held at Epsom since 1780), the supreme test for the selection of thoroughbreds. In addition, the circle that the Society opened in 1834 was soon to be commonly known as the Jockey Club.
The first Prix du Jockey Club, held on April 24, 1836, was won by five horses. The winner was Frank, who was bred at Glatigny. He wore the colors (orange coat, black hat) of Lord Seymour who won the race again the following two years and a fourth time in 1841. In 1839 the victory went to Romulus, a student from Meudon wearing the colors (scarlet cap, big blue hat) of the Duke of Orleans. In 1840, the first Norman success with Tontine, bred at the Victot stud, under the colors (white coat, green hat) of Eugène Aumont.
With the Duke of Orleans, who died accidentally in July 1842, an ardent supporter of racing disappeared. It is true that the Chantilly meetings lost the prestige that the young sons of Louis-Philippe had brought to them, but the quality of its grounds was such that Chantilly was the best tool for selection. Thus, in 1843, the Prix de Diane was created for 3-year-old fillies. Its heroine is Nativa, wearing the red coat of Prince Marc de Beauveau. Her trainer and jockey were Henry and Tom Jennings, two young brothers who had come from England, like all the staff of the stables at that time.
The mission of the Encouragement Society was a difficult one, but the determination of its founders was great. The maintenance of the course will be the permanent concern of their successors who will sit on the committee according to the principle of co-optation. The seed sown will grow slowly. Isn’t the gestation period of a brood mare eleven months? But quantity and quality will be there. In 1834, 68 thoroughbred products were born in France. In 1857, there were 325 thoroughbred broodmares at stud, a figure that rose to 800. In 1853 at the Jockey Club, the French filly Jouvence (winner of the Prix de Diane-Prix du Jockey Club double in the spring) was congratulated on her success in the Goodwood Cup. This success was repeated shortly afterwards by Baroncino (1855) and Monarque (1857).
Horse racing under the Second Empire
At the fall of the July Monarchy, which suppressed the support of the royal family, the races had fortunately found a new support in Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. No other French sovereign or head of state was as interested in horses and racing as Napoleon III. The Société encouragement is indebted to him for two creations, the sources of its development. With the support of the Duke of Momy, the emperor’s brother-in-law, it acquired a permanent racecourse in Paris in 1857: Longchamp, which allowed it to abandon the defective Champ-de-Mars grounds. And thanks to the same good offices, in 1863, it was able to create an international race, the Grand Prix de Paris, whose 100,000 F prize money attracted many British competitors.
But that’s not all. The Second Empire saw the opening of another Parisian racecourse, Vincennes (1863); the birth in 1864 of the ” Encouragement Society for the Improvement of the French Half-Breed Horse” (Society for the encouragement of the improvement of the French half-blood horse); the first races at Deauville (1864); the introduction of military races; the opening of riding and dressage schools (necessary for the training of grooms and for the breaking in of horses); the foundation of the Société Hippique Française, guardian of horse racing. Of course, all this was due to the economic boom that France experienced during the Second Empire. But none of this was achieved without the emperor’s approval, enlightened by his first equerry, General Fleury, who was appointed Director General of the Haras at the end of 1860. The latter, noting “the number of racecourses and allocations which had doubled in the last six years, […] the zeal of the societies constituted to organize meetings, […] the eagerness of the public, […] the financial resources, […] the favor enjoyed by the institution in the country”, recommended decentralizing and restricting the function of the Stud Service to purely organic provisions. Thus, a capital reform in the history of racing was carried out with the decree of March 16, 1866. The State delegated the technical power to three Parisian societies called “mother societies” for each discipline: the Encouragement Society for the flat, the Société des steeples for the jumping and the Société du demi-sang for the trotting. For the 33-year-old Encouragement Society, it is the recognition of its beneficial action in favor of the selection of breeding stock through racing, according to the English model.
Moreover, the pupil had learned the expert’s lesson so well that the latter was moved. In 1864, the French filly Fille de l’Air, winner of the Prix de Diane, went to Epsom and won the Oaks. And the following year, the Derby, which had been unbeaten for eighty-five years, was won by Gladiateur, another Frenchman. On the English side, it was a shock to the national pride. In Paris, people were ecstatic. For some, Gladiateur was “the avenger of Waterloo”. And when, eleven days later, he confirmed his supremacy by winning the Grand Prix de Paris, it was reported that Longchamp welcomed 150,000 people. An unimaginable crowd, attracted by the star horse but also by the possibility offered on the racecourse to satisfy a desire to play. The last novelty was the centralization of bets “at the hen” proposed by an agency, that of Joseph Oiler. The races, previously known to a public of initiates, were discovered by a population in search of gambling.
As for Gladiateur, he revealed to the French their real possibilities in terms of racehorse breeding, possibilities only perceived by a few bold pioneers. Skeptics were confounded and hesitators were stimulated by this Gladiator, nicknamed the modern Eclipse, who was to be made into a statue at Longchamp. Like Fille de l’Air, Gladiateur was bred at the Dangu stud farm in Normandy and wears the colors (blue coat, red sleeves, and hat) of Count Frederic de Lagrange. He is the archetype of the great international owner. He has a premonitory vision of competition beyond the borders. He knowingly accepted the risk.
The development of horse racing
The severe damage caused by the 1870 war to French breeding was quickly compensated by the vigorous action of new breeders. The old Aumont (Victot), Lagrange (Dangu), Lupin (Viroflay), Delamarre (Bois Roussel) were joined by the Rothschild family (Meautry), the Baron de Schickler (Martinvast), Cl.-J. Lefèvre (Chamant), Pierre Donon (Lonray) and a little later by the young Edmond Blanc (27 years old), first at Bel Ebat (1883) and then at Jardy (1890). They did not hesitate to buy quality breeding stock from overseas, often at high prices, mainly broodmares, which they recognized as playing a vital role in the establishment of a breeding operation. Without reaching the heights of Gladiator, the success of French horses in England continued. And in 1886, after 24 editions, the Grand Prix de Paris prize list reveals a draw: 12 French winners and as many foreigners, i.e., 10 English, 1 Hungarian and 1 American.
If the races are surely developing, the main concern of their managers lies in the frantic betting that they generate. A decision of the Court of Appeal of June 4, 1869, had assimilated the “chicken bets” to prohibited lotteries. Without waiting for the court’s opinion, Joseph Oiler had the idea of proposing “pari-mutuel betting” in 1868 by substituting the player’s personal choice for chance. The bettors who chose the winning horse share the stakes after deducting a commission reserved for the organizer. The organizer has no particular interest in the victory of one horse rather than another, his remuneration being always the same. An uncertainty: the possible winnings of the bettor remain undetermined until the registration of the bets is closed.
At the same time, fixed odds betting appeared on the racetracks, called “by the book”, offered by bookmakers. The eventual winnings are fixed when the bet is taken. Too bad for the bettor if the odds go up later, so much the better if they go down. Two disadvantages arise. The first one: run or pay; if the horse played does not run, for whatever reason, the bet is not refunded, it is lost. The second is that the dealer may have an interest in the loss of the horse chosen by the bettor.
The ruling of the Court of Appeal, which did not openly target them, left the field open to pari-mutuel betting operators and bookmakers, who were not concerned. However, as racing flourished again after the 1870 war and developed with the opening of Auteuil, the public prosecutor’s office became concerned in July 1874 about the feverish activity of the “racing agencies” (the name given at the time to the betting agencies). The public prosecutor’s office therefore prosecuted the agencies under the charge of running a gambling house. From then on, there were permanent conflicts between the State and the betting entrepreneurs, whatever the form of the latter. The battle did not end until the State decided to take over the monopoly of betting on races. To do so, it chose the pari-mutuel betting which is unambiguous.
Thus, on June 2, 1891, the law “regulating the authorization and operation of horse racing” was enacted. In short, this law forbids betting on horse races, except and only in the form of pari-mutuel betting and on racecourses, in return for a 7% levy divided between the State and the organizing company.
The success of pari-mutuel betting was immediate. This fundamental law triggered the explosion of racing in France and subsequently of thoroughbred breeding. The 908 thoroughbreds racing in 1887 were followed by 1,234 in 1891, 2,242 in 1900 and 2,607 in 1911, an increase of 187% in a quarter of a century. The multiplication of the births of English thoroughbreds allows this phenomenon. From 914 subjects registered in the French stud book in 1891, the record figure of 2039 was reached in 1906, i.e., a growth of 123 % in fifteen years. During this time, on the other side of the Channel, it is stagnation with 2934 births in 1906 both in the United Kingdom and in Ireland.
A market for young horses (yearlings) was created at the end of the century in Deauville where two sales companies, Chéri and the French Tattersall, were established at the gates of the racetrack. The demand absorbs annually some 250 subjects, even if the offer is sometimes doubled, the profession of breeder-seller having proved to be seductive. The market quickly became international, a consequence of the attraction exerted by Paris at the end of the 19th century, on American families enriched by the extraordinary industrial development. W.-K. Vanderbilt, grandson of the railroad magnate, opened a model training facility at Saint-Louis-de-Poissy in 1896 and created the Quesnay stud near Deauville in 1911. On the yearling market, his trainer William Duke provided him with 4 Prix du Jockey Club winners. This was an incentive for other foreigners to set up their stables and breeding operations in France, while new measures prohibiting betting on races came into effect in the United States in 1908.
Vanderbilt proved to be a serious competitor for Edmond Blanc who became the standard bearer of French breeding at the end of the 19th century. Even if the horses wearing his colors (orange coat, blue hat) had to be satisfied with second place three times in the Derby at Epsom, Edmond Blanc proved to be a worthy successor to the Count of Lagrange. He gave French breeding the impetus to shine throughout the world. The seven victories of his horses in the Grand Prix de Paris are for Edmond Blanc a reference that allows him to export breeding stock throughout Europe and South America.
If the races are in a rudimentary state in the provinces, they have become an institution in Paris. Without any competition from sports shows, they thrive there, with a wealthy public at the weighing area and a simple and picturesque population on the lawn. Two racecourses were modernized, Maisons-Laffitte (1899), Longchamp (1904); two others were created, in Saint-Cloud (1901) and in Tremblay (1906). At Auteuil and Longchamp, during the big Sunday meetings, the women put on a show of elegance with the help of the emerging dressmakers who made a profit from it. In 1908, thanks to the revenue from pari-mutuel betting, the prize money for the Grand Prix de Paris was raised to 300,000 francs. It is the richest race in the world. Thus, when the crack horse Sardanapale won the Grand Prix on June 28, 1914, his owner, Baron Maurice de Rothschild, pocketed more than twice as much as the owner of Durbar, winner of the Epsom Derby, a French horse bred in Normandy at the Haras du Gazon by an American, H.B. Duryea. He was a hero, his success coming almost half a century after Gladiator’s in the most coveted British event. However, on June 28, he proved to be clearly inferior to Sardanapalus in the Grand Prix, which was held a few hours before a bombing in Sarajevo. One month later, the First World War broke out.
Horse racing during the war
Two years without races (even if they are followed by two years of “selection races”), without public and without betting, cause serious injuries to the breeding of thoroughbreds in France, while the British turf did not experience any interruption. But, as after 1870, the reaction was quick, especially since the public was crowding the racecourses (record: 166635 paying entries at Longchamp on June 27, 1926) and a new clientele of owners, rich foreigners, was revealed, who made fabulous bids on the yearling market in Deauville. Among them were Argentinians (Edouard Martinez de Hoz, Simon Guthmann, Saturnino Unzue), Americans (Joseph Widener, Ogden Mills, R.B. Strassburger) and even Hindus (Prince Aga Khan, Edward Esmond).
To mark the rebirth of racing, the Encouragement Society wanted to offer a showcase for French thoroughbred breeding. To this end, in 1920, it created an international race at a favorable time for an inter-generational meeting, at the beginning of October. This is the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe which, in the middle of the century, will be recognized as the supreme test for thoroughbreds.
But soon the situation deteriorated. The effects of the 1929 stock market crash dealt a heavy blow to the French breeding industry. In 1930, the turnover of yearlings sold at Deauville collapsed by 45%. Thoroughbred births fell by 47% between 1931 and 1936. On the racecourses, the number of starters was getting scarce. To counter this, the Encouragement Society obtained the sponsorship of certain races in 1933, created the Nuits de Longchamp (1934 to 1939) and, from 1935 onwards, organized sweepstakes with the Loterie Nationale, a sort of lottery in which the awarding of prizes depended on both a draw and the result of a prestigious race.
But the most efficient remedy turned out to be the creation in 1931 of the urban pari-mutuels, the P.M.U. By deleting 6 words, “exclusively on racetracks”, from the law of June 2, 1891, the deputies finally allowed the public to bet outside the racetracks. It is the way chosen to fight against the clandestine bookmakers to whom, for forty years, those who could not attend the races unless they gave up gambling, were obliged to entrust their bets. It was an immediate success, even if part of the stakes were realized at the expense of the bets registered on the racecourses, which also saw their clientele decrease, attracted by new leisure activities.
During the thirties, the Parisian racecourses are the scene of a severe competition between two stables: that of the title holder since 1919, Baron Edouard de Rothschild, breeder at Meautry (Calvados) and holder of the family colors (blue cap, yellow toque) and that of the contender, the holder of an orange cap (like Lord Seymour and Edmond Blanc but, accompanied by a gray toque), Marcel Boussac who established his breeding operation at Fresnay-le-Buffard (Orne) in 1920. Each of the two stud farms produced its best offspring: for Meautry in 1931: Brantôme; for Fresnay in 1936: Pharis. It is this one that finally allows Marcel Boussac to take the first place of breeders and owners from Baron Edouard in 1939.
As for the level of French breeding on the international level, it can be said that it is close to the British one, as shown by the success of the French Bois Roussel in the Epsom Derby in 1938, even if the Italian breeding is involved. Two of its nationals won the Arc de Triomphe (Ortello in 1929, Crapom in 1933) and a third confirmed his invincibility by winning the Grand Prix de Paris in 1938. The name of this real champion is Nearco.
In the fall of 1940, Brantôme and Pharis were sent to Germany. 664 thoroughbreds left France for Germany or Hungary. Some of them will not come back from this deportation affecting especially the israelite stables. The foreign owners evaporated. The requisitioned oats made it difficult to feed the horses. Thoroughbred births collapsed to 930 in 1942. Only the public abounded, forced to stay because of transportation difficulties. On the Parisian racecourses, he no longer counts the victories acquired by the wearers of Marcel Boussac’s orange cap, rid of his main opponent who’s stable had been decimated by the occupying forces.
A year after the end of the war, in the spring of 1946, Marcel Boussac, following the examples of the Count of Lagrange and Edmond Blanc – with the help of the airplane – launched his steeds at the British racecourses, dragging in his wake other bold owners. Their audacity was immediately rewarded beyond all expectations. At Epsom, the Derby was won three times: by Pearl Diver (1947), My Love (1948) and Galcador (1950). The latter wore the orange coat of Marcel Boussac who, that year, took over three of the five English classics. In the fall of 1946, the Société d’Encouragement decided to open French racing to foreign horses, who had only been allowed to compete in 60% of the races since 1939, after having seen their participation restricted to 20% in 1914 and then increased to 30% in 1920.
The Fresnay-le-Buffard stud is at its peak. Another of its pupils, the filly Coronation, had just won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1949 by outwitting her 27 rivals. To live up to its ambition – to bring together the best European horses – the race had seen its allowance quintuple, reaching 25 million francs, thanks to its reunion with the National Lottery and the sweepstakes.
If not so overwhelming and numerous, the success of French horses will continue across the Channel. An ideal test, at Epsom the Derby went to Phil Drake (1955), Lavandin (1956) and Relko (1963). And in 1965, exactly one century after Gladiateur, the tenth victory of a colt born and bred in France was recorded thanks to Sea Bird. He is a champion. Like the horse of the Count of Lagrange, he overcomes his opponents, both at Epsom and at Longchamp, where he wins the Arc de Triomphe by 6 lengths, a race that had never brought together such a high-level international elite.
The horse races today
This victory will be the last in the Derby of a horse born and raised in France. The breeding of thoroughbreds is changing profoundly. The situation has already changed. America has made up for its delay on Europe thanks to imports of high quality European breeding stock, which began in the 1930s. Thanks to a flourishing economy, racing prospered on the other side of the Atlantic, while in Great Britain and France, large breeders were weakened, more or less obliged to part with champions that the Kentucky studs were fighting over. On the other hand, America sends us quality products which impose themselves on our racecourses, especially thanks to their precocity and their speed, the two weak points of our breeding.
At the same time (the 70’s), the introduction of social laws hit the irreplaceable workforce of stud farms and stables with heavy charges. The additional costs, insufficiently compensated by the allowances, cut the ranks of the French owners and breeders who do not have the innate taste of the horse like any Englishman or any Oriental. To replace them, foreigners (protected from the appetite of Bercy) are coming in, many of them with their supplies of young subjects, descendants of a fabulous stallion, Northern Dancer (1961).
Foreigners appreciate the “French gallop”. It is based on serious foundations: selective racecourses monitored by filmed control (1959), equipped with starting stalls (1964). Its leaders were the first in the field of sports to prohibit doping (1903). Its selection program has proven itself. It values its winners. It has nothing to envy to the British program. It offers the most selective race in Europe: The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. The prestige of the Arc and some other races allows them to receive the sponsorship of large firms or brands, happy to associate their image with competitions appreciated by an international public.
For the “French gallop” it is a significant additional income that improves the basic resources coming from pari-mutuel betting. The impartiality of the latter is indisputable. The major basis of the games is the combination bets successfully introduced in 1954 in the form of the tiercé, skilfully relayed by a new game launched in 1989, the Quinté + (offering both large prizes and consolation prizes) which has attracted a new clientele of bettors. Thanks to a judicious extension of betting (since 2000 in front of the television with decoder, soon by Internet), betting on races, games of reflection, are doing well in front of games of chance such as draw games, scratch cards and slot machines. And this despite the levies on the stakes for the benefit of the insatiable State. Some of these levies ensure the preservation or existence of other horses, such as draught horses, sports horses, and hobby horses.
Today in France, the great owner-breeders maintaining the tradition are only a handful: the Wertheimer brothers (continuators of a stable created in 1911), the young Edouard de Rothschild, the Head family (Quesnay stud farm), Daniel Wildenstein champion in the 3 disciplines (flat, jumping and trotting). Since the 70’s, they have been joined by the Marquise de Moratalla, Jean-Luc Lagardère (in Ouilly), the Niarchos family (in Fresnay-le Buffard). It is up to them to stop the waves of assaults launched by the Americans (constantly renewed), the Irish breeding of the Aga Khan, and for the last fifteen years, by Arabs as rich as they are passionate, whose leaders are the Maktoum brothers from Dubai and the Saudi prince Khalid Abdullah.
The stables and the breeding farms of average importance, solid bases of the French gallop, disappeared after the war. From their debris, small craftsmen with limited means have emerged. Some of them are valiant and have the knowledge. They can testify quality is not the prerogative of the big breedings. Fortunately! Even with a reduced number of horses and at a lower cost, it is possible to win the prize, like Jean Delbart with Carling (Prix de Diane 1995) and Georges Sandor with Ragmar (Jockey Club 1996).
A small company too, the one launched in 1993 near Autun by Jimmy Goldsmith. Of course, his fortune is immense, and he does not hesitate to pay a high price for his studs. But it is with a reduced number of broodmares that he gave birth to Montjeu, hero of the Prix du Jockey Club and the Arc de Triomphe in 1996 (one year before his death), best thoroughbred in the world in 1999. Of course, he is a son of Saddler’s Wells, the best European stallion. But his mother does not have an international pedigree. You must look very closely to see that, devoid of varnish, the maternal family (bred in France since 1921) is nevertheless a rock. It was with a magnifying glass that Jimmy Goldsmith discovered these favorable clues from which he was able to make the most of them.
At the beginning of the third millennium, French breeding of galo-fear does not have to fear globalization. It is already experiencing international competition. It has been widely open to competition for half a century and has a real potential based on a long tradition. The French thoroughbred is renowned. It is exported very well. What it lacks now are entrepreneurs, big and small, with passion and patience, these qualities that are indispensable to create the right horse and that allow to face difficulties.
When the British began to challenge each other at the full gallop of their horses four centuries ago, they launched a sport and a game, but also discovered the way to improve their indispensable tool of transport. To the pleasant, they joined the useful. In practice, the ideal improver turned out to be the English Thoroughbred, heavily impregnated originally with Arabian blood. This galloping thoroughbred has made it possible to create or improve many varieties of light horses such as trotters, jumpers, saddle horses and competition horses which can only be used after dressage.
Unlike the horses adapted by man for these different disciplines, the thoroughbred remains natural. He runs as fast as he can without constraint, like wild horses galloping in nature. Thus, only the flat course to which the thoroughbred is subjected is close to the gallop of the wild horse. This is why the selection established thanks to the classic flat gallop races is a necessity. These races have a dual role of conservation and improvement.
Such races are now the responsibility of France Galop. Since 1995, at the request of the State, the organization of races in France has been provided by two parent companies, France Galop for galloping and “Le Cheval Français” for trotting. France Galop was born from the merger of the Société d’encouragement (parent company of the flat, created in 1833), the Société des steeples (parent company of the obstacle, created in 1863) and two other Parisian racing companies.
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