ENGLISH VERSION my year. He’ s a very loyal person. For all his faults, he’ s someone I’ m very fond of.” Jean-Claude Rouget will surely remain a little active in racing. Pierre Talvard says he hopes to see him again soon and thinks he will keep“ a leg” in a few horses.“ You can’ t walk away completely from horses and the racing world after so many years and so much passion. Racing as an institution already misses him. There’ s no one to replace him. He bought fifty yearlings every year. ARQANA must have noticed it in that price bracket. And then there’ s a lack of competition. That plays into Francis-Henri Graffard’ s hands.” Pierre ends the interview with these words, his voice choked with emotion:“ He’ s greatly missed, by me and by the whole racing world. He was someone who mattered very much to me.”
ITW ÉRIC HOYEAU
BY SERGE OKEY
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“ HIS GREATEST SUC- CESSES WERE BUILT WITH MID-RANGE HORSES”
Éric Hoyeau, the iconic head of ARQANA, looks back with admiration at Jean-Claude Rouget’ s ability to find future champions at very attractive prices in the sales ring. The mark of the greats.
GALORAMA. That formidable eye that is Jean-Claude Rouget’ s trademark: tell us about it …
Éric Hoyeau. Nobody is a fortune-teller. But not everyone has his powers of observation and analysis. He has always liked to choose the horses he had in training. What better way to have good horses than to buy them yourself? He started very early and has always been very present at the sales. He was born into a breeding background, travelled, and learned his trade. All of this gave him a certain aesthetic sense. Beautiful horses that turn out good are more numerous than plain ones that turn out good. And he knows how to judge a conformation, spot the angles that mechanically allow a horse to produce effort and withstand it, and assess the quality of the tissue and the expression, which in many cases reflect intrinsic qualities. Jean-Claude Rouget is the sum of many sound judgements combined with experience.
G. Did you see him rise to the top?
E. H. For a long time, his clients had modest budgets. He sometimes took the risk of buying a horse he had spotted in order to sell it on later. But even when taking risks, he always behaved in an extremely rational way. His greatest successes were built with so-called mid-range horses, while respecting the budgets entrusted to him.
G. Did he favour certain bloodlines?
E. H. Like many, he tended to bet on what had worked for him and to cross off the progeny, families or studs with which he had failed.
G. He has pulled off many masterstrokes …
E. H. He is a man of big coups, that’ s for sure. Ace Impact is the ultimate example when you remember that he bought him as a yearling for just € 75,000. Almanzor and Le Havre, both bought for € 100,000, were his decision. A complete choice. With Le Havre, I remember, not everyone was rushing for his sire( Noverre). Litterato is pure Jean-Claude Rouget. He had re-syndicated him among several clients and friends, including Hervé Morin. His first stroke of genius was of course Millkom, bought for 15,500 guineas at Newmarket in 1992. But there was also Flanaghan Cocktail, who gave him his first Group win the year before. He had bought him for 40,000 francs(€ 6,000) with a group of friends.
G. Did you keep statistics on his purchase prices compared with prize money earned?
E. H. No, we have always preferred the glorious uncertainty of the Turf. But one can easily imagine that he has one of the best ratios.
G. How did he behave at a sale?
E. H. He didn’ t get carried away the way he could at the races. He bought in an extremely cool and considered way. He
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