ENGLISH TEXTS before winning the Prix Duc d ’ Anjou ( Gr3 ) and the Prix Jean Stern ( Gr2 ).“
The year of these victories , the Détré silks also won - in one week - the Prix Ferdinand Dufaure ( Gr1 ) with Oculi and the Prix du Jockey Club with Vision d ’ État , a colt that Éric Libaud had bought as a yearling at Deauville for Jacques .
Winner of the Prix Ganay ( Gr1 ), the Prince of Wales ’ s Stakes ( Gr1 ) at Ascot , and the Hong Kong Vase ( Gr1 ) the season after his French Derby , Vision d ’ État propelled the silks into an unexpected orbit and allowed his owner to experience “ absolute bliss “ at Royal Ascot after turning down several million euros for him .
“ Money from horses stays in horses ,“ he explains . “ And thanks to Vision d ’ État , I was able to move from DIY to craftsmanship . The success I had that year allowed me to climb a few steps , and doors opened . I started to partner with Thierry Cyprès , breeder of Bipolaire , for example , at that time and that allowed me to expand my string . I realised that with numbers and variety , you compensate a lot . You take the hard knocks more calmly and you have more time . It was also at this time that my children really started to get passionate in their turn and I knew then that there would be a sequel , that we had to think long term .“
But then the icing on the cake came when Santa Bamba was mated with Vision d ’ État and she gave birth to the champion De Bon Cœur . The best of her generation over hurdles at Auteuil between 2016 and 2019 , she won thirteen races for over a million euros in prize money . The mare was trained by François Nicolle , with whom Jacques rediscovered the complicity of his early years in Royan . “ De Bon Cœur could have lasted longer but she had flat feet ,“ recalls Jacques . “ My main regret with her is not having run the Ascot Gold Cup after her Grande Course de Haies d ’ Auteuil . That day , she clocked a time of 1 ’ 8 “ per kilometre over 5,100 metres . A Gold Cup time . Two days later , I woke up in the middle of the night thinking we could still enter her in the Gold Cup at Ascot . An inspiration . François Nicolle wasn ’ t convinced and when I told him that , he wanted to make some phone calls and some dissuaded him from following my advice . We didn ’ t enter her . I still regret it because it ’ s common practice today . We ’ ll never know what would have happened .“
With the Détré silks , everything seems possible , indeed .
Page 28 Brune d ’ Ex wins the 1992 Prix de Craon , the Arc for AQPS at Longchamp . She would even go on to beat thoroughbreds on the flat !
Page 32 With Monpilou , the late Pascal Hervé , Jacques Ricou and Patrice Détré , the dream team …
Page 34 : Top : Around Saint des Saints , after his victory in the Prix Amadou in 2002 , here are Jacques Détré , on the left , Guillaume Macaire , Pascal Hervé , rider Benoît Gicquel and Nicolas de Lageneste .
Bottom : After the victories of Vision d ’ État in the Jockey Club , « Alone in the world », and the Prince of Wales ’ s Stakes , « A certain vision of France » with the one who is now King Charles , in the columns of the Revue du Galop , the Owners ’ magazine , of which Jacques Détré has kept copies among his many archives .
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RUNNING FRANCE GALOP
An associate member of France Galop since 2019 , Jacques Détré then became Vice-President of France Galop , President of the Jumps Board , for four years .
After working under the presidency of Edouard de Rothschild , he was close to succeed him in 2023 , narrowly failing after a whirlwind campaign from which he has recovered .
This experience in the corridors of power of the institution was very demanding for him , as he only drives from Limoges to Paris , which takes 3h30 , and has retained important responsibilities in his clinic . He is also someone who does not like to do things by halves . The situation of French jump racing was worrying and with the benefit of hindsight , and constant attention to the issues that interested him , Jacques now feels that he has done his duty . “ Jump racing in France is doing better ,“ he believes . “ There are more runners , work has been done and we are seeing a renewal of trainers . Horse racing is facing difficulties in England and Ireland and this can create opportunities here . It ’ s a matter of common sense . It remains to reform in depth , to tackle the unnecessary layers so that spending is more coherent . When the Thémis project was launched with the aim of bringing the institutions together for the sake of economy and synergy , the project made sense , but I then had the feeling that this transformation had been organised by the administrators to lock down the systems . This is still true now and it seems to me that it is likely to prevent real progress . However , I remain committed to France Galop and to the new Auteuil project , which I believe is essential
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