ENGLISH TEXTS wetland provides mud for their nests. All this proves the water quality— which isn’ t drinkable, of course, but is clean.” This water is used to irrigate the trotting track.
At Cagnes-sur-Mer, a bamboo obstacle The Côte d’ Azur racecourse has replaced the privet on one of its jumps— the double rail— with bamboo.“ This species is better suited to the climate and landscape and requires less watering,” notes administrative director Thomas Roucayrol. Bamboo also seems easier for horses to brush through and less likely to cause injury. At Caen, gentle pumping A new 800 m ³ water retention basin is under construction at the Prairie racecourse. The idea is to respect rules on pumping from nature.“ The rule is a maximum of 8 m ³ per hour from waterways,” says Rose-Marie Vigorito-Somson, head of the Caen and Cabourg racecourses.“ But our 20 m ³ tankers fill in barely ten minutes! Hence the idea of this 800 m ³ basin, fed by very slow pumping from the nearby river, at 7.5 m ³ per hour.” This gentle pumping, operating 24 / 7 during active periods at the racecourse, should have no collateral victims— plant or fish. The basin should be operational in October, after the municipality installs phytoremediating plants.
At Chantilly, a woodchip training track Marin Le Cour Grandmaison oversees the Chantilly site, which includes the training center whose multiple tracks and bridle paths span two thousand hectares. It’ s impossible to water them all daily.“ We carry out targeted irrigation. We ask our clients to use one route rather than another to get from point A to point B, depending on our watering.” A woodchip training track has also been installed on a trial basis. It has the advantage of requiring 50 % less water than sand tracks.
MEET
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ERIC PUERARI
STABILITY AS A LEITMOTIV
BACK TO THE ARTICLE �
By Emmanuel Rivron
As has been the case for more than thirty years now, Haras des Capucines once again took centre stage at the ARQANA August Sale. A son of Wootton Bassett out of a Group-winning mare, lot 104 in the catalogue, fetched € 2,300,000, to the great satisfaction of Eric Puerari. Co-founder of the stud, the former bloodstock agent takes us through his journey and that of this entity, where stability rhymes with longevity. Nestled in Gouffern en Auge, in the heart of Normandy, the destiny of Haras des Capucines was partly sealed in the skies between France and Florida in the 1970s, as Eric Puerari recalls:“ I met Michel Zérolo on a Paris – Miami flight. We quickly struck up a friendship, Michel was more into bloodstock trading than I was. We then decided to team up on this project. Looking back, since we didn’ t have exactly the same skills or roles, that meeting turned out to be extremely fruitful for Haras des Capucines.” The stud has been reaching for the heights ever since that transatlantic flight, thanks to the complementary expertise of the two men:“ Michel excels on the commercial side while I deal more with management and logistics.” Brought close to horses early on, Eric Puerari grew up following the performances of his father’ s horses, an owner-breeder, such as Sea Hawk, winner of the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in 1966, and Silver Cloud, winner of the Grand Critérium the same year:“ Unintentionally, my father passed on this passion to me when he took me to the races for Rheffic’ s Grand Prix de Paris in 1971, at a time when racing had great prestige and elegance. I’ m not sure that if I discovered it today, I’ d have the same impression …” With little practical knowl-
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