La Vision Détré N°2 Novembre 2024 | THE BIG JURY

THE BIG JURY

In each edition of our magazine , we will pose four questions to four personalities from the racing world whom we believe can provide different insights on current topics .

Jacques Détré, Owner,
Nicolas Bertran de Balanda, Broker,
Bernard de Croix, commentator,
François Doumen, Trainer,
have agreed to answer us.

- Jacques Détré

  1. It doesn't really have much to do with racing, to be honest. And it's not my first memory that I'm going to talk about, but the first time I took my wife, Marie, there. We had just got married, it was in the early 80s. I was so happy to show her Auteuil and I had booked a table for two at the panoramic restaurant. We ordered and the wine arrived. An hour later, we still had nothing else so... we left without having lunch! And the wine was quite good.
  2. Al Capone, all the same! That burst of speed, that finish, it was really something to see!
  3. I don't have much perspective on this project. It's hard to say. But if we can do it at Auteuil, why not do it at Longchamp? If the project is technically viable! I would agree with any project that would accelerate and facilitate the renovation of Auteuil, to make it a place where we can once again welcome our friends, our clients, and all those who share our love of jump racing. So even an idea as incongruous as an all-weather track at Auteuil will suit me if it goes in the direction of Auteuil's renewal. Today, this racecourse is expensive and if we renovated it, it would be less so, and it would be a virtuous investment. Jump racing probably has good years ahead of it because it has well recovered, because it is once again attracting an international clientele, which is getting frustrated in Great Britain and Ireland. We have a good card to play with Auteuil.
  4. The Arc rating is regularly quite low, and this edition should not catch up with the average. But after all, who cares! You can’t win every time. It was a very beautiful day, like the day before on Saturday, and that's what matters above all. We may not have seen a champion, but all those who came had a great day.

- Nicolas Bertran de Balanda

  1. It’s probably Trypolo, one of my father’s best horses when I was a child. He had been relegated from a Prix La Haye Jousselin, harshly in my opinion, and had won the Maurice Gillois. He was grey, and kids love greys. There’s also Katko, of course.
  2. It’s really a difficult question because there are different kinds of chasers, each with their style and their record. Vautour made a huge impression on me at Cheltenham. In France, I would say So French. He had all the qualities and I adored him. He was very classy. He exuded quality. I also really liked the colors of Magalen Bryant, who has done so much for French jump racing.
  3. Of course, it sounds strange at first, but you need to know the details. A regular at Auteuil, attached to that landscape, might initially reject the idea, but if the project is more feasible at Auteuil than at ParisLongchamp, you shouldn’t close the door. I try to keep an open mind, so we need to consider the pros and cons. If it can contribute to improving the situation, nothing should be off-limits.
  4. The winner was my favorite, so I was happy to see her win (prediction made the day before the race, editor's note). I thought it was a beautiful race, as often in the Arc. There may not have been a great champion at the start, but the winner is certainly exceptional. She’s a magnificent filly and her performances throughout the season have been very good. She handled the distance well, accelerated notably, and fought hard. She’s a good winner. The Vermeille-Arc double is never easy.

- Bernard de Croix

  1. Images, scenes from Auteuil that are now so distant that they sometimes merge between memory and imagination... What is the first of these memories? Perhaps the long queues in front of the ticket offices where, having emerged en masse from the Porte d'Auteuil metro station, racegoers bought their tickets before crossing the track via a sandy path. Or perhaps the three infields, on which life sparkled. There were wooden huts in which glass bottles, white for mint, red for grenadine and yellow for lemon, overlooked a stall of sandwiches with pâté, sausage or herring fillets, a stall on which an antique percolator, a metal pyramid, spouted Viandox, coffee or hot chocolate through a seemingly magical manipulation. Perhaps it was the first time I galloped between the big open ditch and the railing of the central lawn (Tonkin, Madagascar?) to see the end of the race? The little boy at the railing couldn't see much then. It was from the cheers of the crowd in the stands that he knew the horses had just cleared the double barrier, cheers that turned into screams at the landing side of the last hurdle, shortly before the first ones appeared. Perhaps also the first jump of the water jump in front of the stands, this moving suspension with an uncertain outcome? The first return of the horses, sweating and blowing, which then crossed the public between the track and the scales? Or the exit from the racecourse to the shouts of the many Paris-Turf sellers and coach drivers: "Porte Maillot-Place Clichy-Barbès!", "Opéra-République-Bastille!" etc. The memory of a particular horse is less old. Karcimont, with his fine career that seemed eternal to me... The modest Zécil, Pique Puce, Ventôse, probably remaining in my memory because they were grey, and children like greys. Or, distant but so vivid, the memory of Spirou, the first experience of tragedy, at the landing side of the medium open ditch?
  2. Among those who have been frequenting Auteuil for a few decades, there are probably few who will not spontaneously and enthusiastically come up with the name Katko to answer this question. A tall, lanky chestnut, Katko, son of Carmarthen, a stallion who left his mark on National Hunt breeding, and Kotkie, daughter of the tough Rheffic, never raced anywhere other than on a Butte Mortemart that he will have marked forever. Maurice Gillois and Ferdinand Dufaure Chases (at 4 years old, of course) then three Grand Steeplechases de Paris in a row! Katko, on his many good days, raced alone. With his immense action, at his own pace, he gradually distanced his opponents and jumped the obstacles alone. Without being truly impressive, his domination was inexorable. But the most striking image he left me with is that of his jump over the rail-ditch and fence. I don't remember a horse clearing Auteuil's most formidable obstacle like he did. From take-off to landing, Katko seemed to have barely moved. The "Juge de Paix" reduced to the role of a primary school pawn. The big black back bristling with stakes to that of a doormat! Then he crossed the finish line without ever worrying about his opponents. Of course, there was Hyères III before him, Ucello II and Mid Dancer afterwards, but Katko leaves the memory of the absolute jumper. Even in the opinion of his trainer, Bernard Sécly, he had more class than his other famous charge, Al Capone II. The latter, author of a historic series of seven consecutive successes in the Prix La Haye-Jousselin, acquired admiration and affection, while Katko approached heroism. Al Capone II has his -unfaithful- statue near the parade ring, while Katko arouses an emotion tinged with unease when you are in front of his skeleton, at the Auteuil museum
  3. Auteuil with an all-weather track? The tracks of the French "temple of jump racing" surrounded by a sand track for flat horses? Once the surprise of learning about this possibility has passed, the questions and concerns arise. How much land will be left for hurdlers, mainly on the "opposite side" straight? It is an already very busy space, on which all the fields gallop in the same places, unlike that of the steeplechasers. We have already raced on the flat at Auteuil, but exceptionally, during the war, without it causing any problems, it seems to me. But it was on the turf and there were fewer races. For these possible flat races, we assume that the starts will not be given with an elastic start. How then to move the stalls without the tractor and the metal stalls themselves damaging the jumps tracks? In addition to the technical aspect, there is the aesthetic aspect. Sand tracks reduce the green space, when they don't give a racecourse a rather sinister wasteland look (especially when it borders a trotting track). One can imagine that the economic reason -which remains to be specified- could possibly justify the functional taking over at Auteuil. Without enthusiasm.
  4. What will remain in the memories of the 2024 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe? More enthusiastic memories than those of the victories of Carroll House and Marienbard, but certainly less vibrant than those left by Dancing Brave, Peintre Célèbre or Zarkava, among other dazzling winners. The race was played out at the front. Without a dedicated pacemaker, Los Angeles, starting from stall 10, moved "head and rail" to set a regular pace, neither slow nor very fast. In his wake, runners who had started closer to the rail than him: Bluestocking (stall 3), Zarakem (1) and Sosie (6) in particular. On the outside of Bluestocking at the very beginning of the climb, Haya Zark suddenly gave way and caused trouble at the back of the field, which particularly affected Mqse de Sévigné. Los Angeles launched the race quite early, at the 4-furlong mark, where Ryan Moore started to ask him for an effort. Bluestocking and Sosie were following him very freely and launched their attack in the straight, followed by Aventure. Tough in the effort, Bluestocking was only "pushed" to the post by Aventure, Los Angeles keeping third place ahead of Sosie and Sevenna's Knight, the only one of the first seven to have come from the back. The Prix Vermeille form was therefore the one to believe in to have the first two roles of the 2024 Arc. It was quite difficult for many to predict with conviction, even if Bluestocking's entourage had paid a hefty sum to supplement their 4-year-old filly. The still vivid summer images of Bluestocking clearly dominated in Great Britain by Goliath in the King George and then by City of Troy (and Calandagan, followed by Ghostwriter) in the International Stakes, did not impose her as an obvious favourite. It's obviously an excellent filly who, without being a crack, does not tarnish the race record. Three of the first five are out of Camelot, a son of Montjeu -another great Arc winner- who would have won the Triple Crown if he had not found the enigmatic Encke in his path at the finish of the Doncaster St Leger. The other two are by Sea The Stars. The genes for stamina, for resistance in the effort, have spoken.

- François Doumen

  1. It's a bittersweet memory. My father took me to Auteuil to see a horse he had broken in called Mandarin. He had been his first trainer. As he was a late developer, he advised the Hennessys, his owners, to give him a little time. But then Mr Hennessy gave him to his wife and she wanted to send him to Fulke Walwyn and there you go... I was a bit upset but it was also a lesson.
  2. Hyères III, I think. She also won the Grand Steeple three times (between 1964 and 1966) and at that time, there were hardly any mares at that level. I especially remember the kind of invincibility that seemed to characterise her. We only talked about her because the Grand Steeple was still a huge event nationally. She was a big, strong mare who, if my memory serves me correctly, jumped a bit like Ucello. But that's not to mention the horses I've trained. And I've been lucky enough to have a few champions in my yard! The one who will always be my favourite is Algan. People didn't realise what a horse he was. He ran 77 races, compared to 65 for Al Capone II and 54 for The Fellow. I calculated that he had covered 300km in races, from 3 to 12 years old, over ten seasons. He won the Grand Prix d'Automne Hurdle and the King George Chase. That day, Barton Bank was leading when he fell at the last fence, but Algan knew how to finish his races and maybe he would have won anyway. David Nicholson, Barton Bank's trainer, was furious. He was never very welcoming, whereas his colleagues were (and he rode for Fulke Walwyn when he was a jockey, editor's note). Algan lived to be 29 years old, in 2017, near Alençon, where he was born, at François Halgand's, the co-breeder to whom he owed his name.
  3. If we are thinking of building an all-weather track at Auteuil, it's because there is a good reason, which I imagine is linked to the revenue that this project would generate. But beyond the significant investment that this would represent, I wonder if we would know how to organize an event likely to be as successful as the Longchamp Thursdays. It seems to me that we should first see what it would entail in terms of organization for horsemen. Is it worth the effort?
  4. It was a very open Arc and as often in these cases, we end up with a finish that does not seem to be top-notch. Open races rarely reveal great champions. To be continued!