ENGLISH VERSION long-standing owner with the Rouget stable. It was he who would introduce him into the inner circle at Pau.“ Every week I read Jean- Claude’ s columns in Paris-Turf. I looked forward to them eagerly, because they were always spot on and full of humour,” explains Bernard Benaych.“ Thanks to Bernard Weill, we started to become friends. I’ d had horses a long time ago, but it was in 2007 that I registered my own colours. Jean-Claude bought me a first horse, for € 37,000, who gave me some good moments. A genuine friendship was born.” The owner of a small string year after year, alone or in partnership, Bernard Benaych has enjoyed some fine successes, such as that of Port Guillaume, winner of the Prix Hocquart( Gr. 2), who arrived unbeaten at the start of the Prix du Jockey Club( Gr. 1), in which he would finish fifth.“ Port Guillaume was our greatest story. He raced in the colours of Claudio Marzocco, whom I knew from Monaco. Jean-Claude had bought him as a yearling in October at Deauville. After his first races for our partnership, we sold him on to Australia. And then I was able to be involved in another good colt. His name was Mouillage. He won a Listed race after being placed at black-type level several times. He too was sold, to the United States. I could also mention the good Aubevoye, Mon Bel Canto and Keira( Editor’ s note: Port Guillaume’ s dam).”
Beyond the results, Bernard Benaych and Jean-Claude Rouget share a love of the good things in life.“ He puts friendship first. I’ m not a billionaire, and yet I was able to join his stable and have horses there. I was truly struck by the man. I was able to go to Pau – it was our very own Disneyland! He had a way of entertaining, and he always brought out a good bottle of wine. Jean-Claude is a character straight out of a novel, and he always tells the truth. I was also able to experience his greatest victories from the inside, such as his two‘ Arcs’. Moments like that stay with you.”
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JEAN-CLAUDE ROUGET, PHD IN YEARLINGS
BY PIERRE CHAMPION
To say that Jean-Claude Rouget was a great buyer of young horses is almost an understatement. Very early in his career, he took to the yearling sales, not only in France but all over the world, and reaped remarkable rewards from them, for himself and for his owners. His budget was limited at first and he adapted to the situation, buying cheap but buying well, convinced that one did not rule out the other. His exceptional eye and his feel for a horse had a lot to do with it. As he points out earlier in his interview:“ Physique and expression are important criteria when buying, as is the action, of course.”
KNOWLEDGE AND INTUITION That said, a great deal of work went on beforehand, backed by an unfailing knowledge of racing and pedigrees. Jean- Claude Rouget liked to say, in essence:“ When the sale catalogues arrive, I pounce on them and go through them from A to Z. I love it.” First comes the scouting, ticking the pages that catch the eye the most, then the work on the ground, examining the horse in detail, its strengths and weaknesses, standing still and on the move, and, above all, as the man himself stresses, looking it in the eye, in search of a sign, a clue …
CHAMPIONS AT REASONABLE PRICES And at this game, as we have said, Jean-Claude Rouget was very good. All the more so as he did not always have a free hand in terms of how much he could invest.“ For a long time,” he told Paris-Turf in an interview on 3 October 2026,“ my wallet dictated my choices. I didn’ t have access to what I really liked.” Bought at the Newmarket sales for 15,500 guineas( Editor’ s note: less than € 20,000 in today’ s money) on behalf of the Gour family – the Gours, whom he got to know through his father, were Jean-Claude Rouget’ s first major clients, at the dawn of the 1990s – Millkom was there at the start of the adventure. He would be followed by many
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