ENGLISH VERSION morning, when he came to the yard, he would tease me, and we had a lot of laughs. I once drove with him from Pau to Cagnes-sur-Mer. The day before, he said to me:“ Pompon, you’ re coming with me in the car.” I said:“ OK, no problem.” He drove as far as Montpellier, then I took the wheel. We talked about sport, politics, social issues. He loves sport, but we talked about everything, as if he were a mate. When you see him at the races, he’ s in his bubble, because there are huge expectations around him and he can’ t afford to“ play the fool”. Several times I did him favours, went to his house – there was mutual trust between us. We shared some great moments together. If I had to do it all again, I’ d be back at his yard at 6am tomorrow, without hesitation.
ITW
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CORALIE PACAUT
BY LOÏC STECHER CHOCRON
“ I CAN NEVER THANK HIM ENOUGH!”
She won the Cravache d’ Or in 2019 with 71 victories, some of them for Jean-Claude Rouget. Coralie Pacaut had arrived at the master trainer’ s Deauville yard somewhat by chance a year earlier – the very year he opened his Normandy base.
And as luck would have it, she stayed. A look back at a partnership which, she says,“ changed her life”.
GALORAMA. How did you react when you heard that Jean- Claude Rouget was retiring?
Coralie Pacaut. It was very sad and hard to learn that his training career was over. But for the sake of his health, I think he made the right decision – the decision to think of himself. For Deauville, I think his stopping was also a loss. As a boss, he was a dream to work for.
G. Can you describe him in a few words?
C. P. Generous – very generous, in fact. Jean-Claude Rouget has a way of passing things on easily. Why? Because I think he’ s confident in himself, in every area. He gives you that confidence and he trusts you too. He never put pressure on the jockeys.
G. Do you have a particular memory with him?
C. P. Oh yes, and it was neither on the gallops nor at the races, as we were at Coolmore together. One day, he asked me if I was free for a day. I asked my agent, and the answer was yes. That’ s when we flew to Coolmore in Ireland in his plane to choose some young horses. That was his real passion – picking them out in the paddocks while they were still“ raw”, with mud on them. I think the horses in question had just been weaned. I remember it was quite cold. And our tour ended in the stallion yard. Mr
Rouget asked for Galileo to be brought out for me. Those were magical moments!
G. How did your career with Jean-Claude Rouget’ s team unfold?
C. P. It started in 2018. I was working for Mr Castanheira at the time, and I wanted to try my luck at the August meeting in Deauville. I asked Mr Rouget if I could ride out two lots every morning. He agreed. To be honest, I secretly hoped to ride for him in races. And it happened sooner than expected. I arrived on the first day of the meeting, and after a week I was riding his horses. Together, we had quite a few winners that month.
G. You’ ve talked about the start of your partnership – tell us about the end.
C. P. Once the closure of his Deauville base was announced publicly, everything happened very quickly, and on a human level it was extremely hard. With the team in place, we had known a yard full of horses that had won two editions of the Qatar Prix de l’ Arc de Triomphe – it was a gem. After Mr Rouget’ s illness was announced, the horses left by the lorryload. There were only about ten horses left. The last runner from the Deauville yard was Iznik, in the Prix de Flore, in October 2024. She finished second in that Group 3 with Christophe Soumillon. A page was turned that day.
G. In your view, which of
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