ENGLISH TEXTS
knowing if you’ d get a foal. There, you paid once the foal was born. I tried to use stallions that suited our breed. It worked.
G. How do you calculate that?
J-P. D. The conformation, first. We had big mares, so we needed small, fast, early-developing horses.
G. You have a reputation as a risk-taker …
J-P. D. I lost sleep sometimes, but I was never really scared.
G. Are you religious?
J-P. D. Very. I thank heaven every day for my family, my health. I knock on wood. There’ s definitely something out there. I’ m interested in all religions. What hurts me most is seeing people suffering in the streets.
G. What encounters marked your career?
J-P. D. So many! Hard to name just a few. In flat racing, I met Alec Head— sadly too late. A great horseman who loved trotting horses. So many others.
G. And your close friend Pierre-Désiré Allaire?
J-P. D. Our houses were sideby-side. Before Normandy, I’ d hang around his yard. He was a genius. An incredible expert. A top horse dealer. We couldn’ t hold a candle to him. I admire his son Philippe too.
G. How did you choose your racing silks?
J-P. D. I took my grandmoth- er’ s colors. She liked De Gaulle, so I added the Cross of Lorraine( laughs).
G. Did you always keep an eye on flat racing?
J-P. D. Yes, I always had a few gallopers— small horses. Jean-Philippe rode at Longchamp, won at Auteuil. When he was young, we’ d go to Deauville on the last day and buy a cheap horse or two. One time, I bought one from Jean Gabin. As I was leaving, he laughed and said:“ You gonna hitch that one up or what?” But we won with her! A good mare called Switch Line.
G. When you entered flat racing, what was your goal?
J-P. D. You had to be crazy. Normally, we had no chance. If there was a Wertheimer horse in the race, we usually finished second. But we were happy to be beaten( laughs).
G. Was Mr. Wildenstein a key figure?
J-P. D. Oh yes. He bought in, and we organized things after. He had tried harness racing three times with no success. I said:“ We can try again, but maybe you’ re just unlucky.” He didn’ t like that( laughs). But it worked right away. You had to explain things clearly— he wasn’ t one to joke. It was incredible: he almost knew what you were going to say before you said it. He had never won the Grand Steeple. I joked:“ That’ s because we never had the horses together.” He laughed and at the end of the meal said,“ Let’ s try— sometimes fools get lucky”( laughs). We bought ten horses from Montesson. One of them was Kotkijet.
G. Tell us about his Grand Steeplechase de Paris win.
J-P. D. I was nervous— Mr. Wildenstein was superstitious. If he lost, he didn’ t want the same person near him again. I watched the race from across Auteuil, in my car. When Kotkijet won, I rushed over to congratulate him.
G. Which stallions and mares will you remember?
J-P. D. The first broodmares— the ones who allowed me to reinvest and keep going.
G. Do unkind words bother you?
J-P. D. No. I don’ t care. Everyone’ s entitled to their opinion.
G. The doping accusations?
J-P. D. That did upset me … especially since in the end, there was nothing. It got serious: a plane was sent to Geneva the same day to retest in a human lab, where there are no errors. And there was nothing. I always tried to give the best care.
G. What’ s your view on declining betting turnover?
J-P. D. The PMU needs people who really understand betting— serious players.
G. The Dubois family: quite a saga?
J-P. D. I’ m lucky they’ re passionate— but they didn’ t
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