By Serge Okey
If there’s one person who shares Jean-Pierre Dubois’s racing knowledge, it’s undoubtedly Alain Pagès, former driver and race steward, eternal curator of the Trot Museum in Grosbois and a living archive of horse racing.
Galorama. Your first encounter with Jean-Pierre Dubois?
Alain Pagès. He was very young, and I was even younger. It was in Écommoy, back in the 1950s. His first official win. He was already riding with real energy. His horse was named Faon Kairos and he already had American blood.
G. Do you two often talk about the past?
A.P. He always says to me with a twinkle in his eye, “You sure know a lot.” But Jean-Pierre has an incredible memory, an amazing eye for detail. We can have very specific conversations about the people and horses of that era. We share that memory between us.
G. What made him successful?
A.P. He’s a relentless worker, with exceptional stamina, raised “the hard way” by a father who never gave him anything for free. When his father took him to his first race meeting in Paris, it was quite an odyssey. He dropped him off in Joinville with four horses and said: “Figure it out.” He was left completely on his own. I know a guy who worked for him for years—Jean-Pierre once told him: “Take the truck and go pick up horses in Germany. It’s full of gas.” And on the way back, the guy asked? “You’ll sort it out with the Germans,” he said.
G. Quite the character...
A.P. As a kid, he decided to quit school and told his parents: “I’m leaving.” The police found him on the track. He handed them an ID card he had made out of a scrap of paper. At 18, he declared: “I’m setting up on my own.” He left home, bought a horse, tried to improve it, then sold it. He bought difficult horses. He knew how to read them. Kirty was his first real business coup. He’s a very sharp guy.
G. A precocious talent...
A.P. First apprentice in France, quickly turned professional. At 14 or 15, he was already winning at Vincennes. He often says: “I was very lucky.” But he’s a natural horseman, he had the code from a young age. He’s gifted!
G. Quite the personality too...
A.P. A powerhouse of work, skill, and knowledge... We’re not likely to see another man like him. He doesn’t know how to stop. At his place, you nibble a bit of cheese and then go check the foals. When he doesn’t know someone, he tests them. He’s formidable, full of jokes, incredibly diplomatic and extremely charming. He instantly sizes people up. Jean-Pierre always says: “School is my one big regret.” But he’s far smarter than many people with degrees.
G. They say he’s the biggest landowner in the Orne region, is it true?
A.P. Before the Revolution, the Marquisate of Nonant comprised 35 lordships. I like to tease him: “You’re the new Marquis of Nonant. You’ve rebuilt this trotting empire. From Montaigu to Échauffour, the whole valley is yours.” And I’m not even mentioning his properties in Canada, the U.S., Australia... Even with all the money in Qatar and Dubai, I’m certain: there will never be another like him.
G. How does he keep track of it all?
A.P. He works like a mercenary. He has no schedule, keeps an eye on everything, and sweeps you up in his pace, with constant self-deprecation. He makes his own hay, his own grain, he’s built like steel. An incredible force! He adapts to everything. When they were building the southern highway, he trotted his horses right on the construction site. He buys properties nobody wants, and transforms them.
G. His famous visionary streak...
A.P. He’s a risk-taker. Nothing scares him. In the U.S., he bought breeding rights for selected mares with no money in his pocket. He left with an empty suitcase.
G. Can we speak of a Dubois “clan”?
A.P. The Dubois galaxy is a family of pioneers that shook up the French breed. A unique dynasty in two centuries of racing. One night, Jean-Pierre told me: “I didn’t succeed in life, I don’t even know where I come from. No documents, everything burned.” I’m a genealogy enthusiast, and I traced his lineage back to 1830. And then I understood better why he’s a business king: his ancestors raised pigs from father to son. That commercial instinct, he passed it on to his descendants. Louis (Baudron) is the perfect embodiment of his grandfather. Jean-Pierre says: “I didn’t do everything right.” He claims he wasn’t a good father, but his children and grandchildren are his pride. He watches them carefully.
G. A legend that goes beyond France...
A.P. Jean-Pierre feels at home in Italy. He was European before the word had meaning. In Canada, if you say you know him, you get invited to dinner. He’s an international star. With an unbelievable network.
G. Flat racing: his other great passion?
A.P. One day I asked him: “Jean-Pierre, didn’t you ever want to be a flat jockey?” He replied: “I did, but my father chose the trotting path.” His grandfather was a thoroughbred enthusiast. So it’s no coincidence he got into flat racing. His luck was that Wildenstein wanted to win everything, trot and gallop alike. That was a turning point for him. A great anecdote about Kotkijet: Mr. Wildenstein once said, “My trotting trainer is now winning at Auteuil!” Like Pierre-Désiré Allaire, he could win in trotting, flat, and jumps all in the same day.
G. Do you believe he’ll really retire?
A.P. He’ll stop on the day of the sale—and be onto something else the next morning. He’s downsizing, but he still has horses everywhere.