ENGLISH TEXTS
the track at eight o’ clock. We keep very soft ground on all our gallops because the site is really flat, I don’ t have a hill to train uphill. Thanks to the deep surfaces, the horses work without stressing their legs and without having to gallop for too long. In winter, when they come back to the yard, they walk through a stream, which washes and cools their legs. After the second lot, we take a twenty-minute break. After the fourth lot and lunch, I usually go racing. In the evening, I like to walk around my horses with my wife Jackie, generally between 7 and 9 p. m., when everything is calm and we are alone with them. There is no interference and it is the right time to observe their behaviour. My son Patrick is my assistant and handles the“ pairings” of riders and horses, not an easy job, as there are at least fifty horses in each lot and a rider never takes more than four. He is passionate about this task and I am more than happy to leave it to him! David Casey, a former very good jockey, has also been assisting me for more than thirty years. He is particularly in charge of race planning. Dick Dowling has been the highly efficient manager of the site for twenty-five years. In fact, most of my close staff have been working with me for decades.
G. To train two hundred horses, you must rely on a very large team?
W. M. We have eighty people here in Closutton. The whole planet is represented! Besides England and Ireland, we have riders from Eastern Europe, Sweden, Australia, Pakistan … We are lucky to receive many spontaneous applications. There are around fifteen French people on the team, and I must say how much I appreciate their skill, their riding quality and the way they look after the horses. They are calm in the saddle, well-balanced, gentle in their actions. I often tell the directors of our racing schools that they should take inspiration from the French model.
G. France, precisely … we feel you are very fond of it!
W. M. Absolutely! I discovered your country in the 1970s accompanying my father Paddy( ed.: Champion Trainer in Ireland ten times). I rode races at Évry, that racecourse which has since closed. I fell in love with the“ French way” of doing things. You have an incredible number of racecourses and I hope you can preserve as many as possible. Consider that we only have twenty-six racecourses in Ireland, including twenty-three mixed tracks! We do not have a single racecourse entirely devoted to jumping like Auteuil. When my father sent the fabulous Dawn Run ¹ to race in France in 1984, Pierre Boulard was our contact at Jack-Hubert Barbe’ s in Maisons-Laffitte, where the mare was stabled. We have stayed in touch, and when I asked him if he could advise me on buying horses in France, he told me he was just setting up as a bloodstock agent! Perfect timing. On our side of the Channel, we had seen trainer François Doumen emerging with his French horses who looked excellent … My colleagues Martin Pipe and Paul Nicholls started importing them. In Ireland, the prices of stores and point-topointers were exorbitant. We were looking for another market, and turning to France seemed obvious. Pierre is very talented at finding young prospects there. Over time, we have been fortunate to build strong ties with the French jumping world. We have very warm relationships with breeders, trainers, jockeys …“ I have been very lucky with my French horses”
G. What qualities do you look for in French horses?
W. M. I am more sensitive to their performances than to their conformation or their pedigree, although some stallions are a guarantee of quality, like Doctor Dino or No Risk At All. But we have also bought horses by lesser-known stallions who have given us complete satisfaction, like Galopin des Champs, a son of Timos. Of course, when a horse proves its ability, it becomes very expensive to buy. But that’ s the game! I have always been amazed that France produces so many good jumpers from such a small broodmare population. You have been selective and have not sent just any mare to the breeding shed. I also appreciate that you use stallions who have performed over jumps, which is not common here. But I think we will eventually follow that path. I do regret the disappearance of your National Studs. I imagine they were costly for the State, but they offered French breeders an incredible opportunity to access many good stallions at very affordable fees. The National Studs contributed greatly to the quality of the modern French breeding industry.
G. Which of your French horses has impacted you the most?
# 14 156