ENGLISH TEXTS the ring shortly after . At 500,000 francs , no one ! I think I bought him for 550,000 francs ! Tipped to be the top lot , and there ’ s deathly silence . Mr . Dabaghi had turned around to say to Fustok : « this one is for me !». What had also happened was that a few days before the sale , the colt had given himself a bit of a knock to a fetlock . Nothing serious but still . We didn ’ t have X-rays in those days , and that had put a lot of people off . The colt went to André Fabre . He was already a cut above many trainers . The best trainer in France and one of the best in the world . He didn ’ t do anything special . He just took his time . André Fabre gave him a career on the quiet , but as we had started very strong then we went to run the Epsom Derby . Piggott wanted to ride him . We celebrated the victory ... the day before in London ! But it wasn ’ t to be at all . It was Shergar ’ s year and we finished a long way off . We don ’ t know what happened . The horse was blowing hard . We never understood . « André Fabre changed the day he realized his power . Because before that , he was a good bloke . We had a good laugh , when we did America together . With him , it lasted ten years . Yes , he was someone who could be funny at the time . He very quickly built up a big stable because I think that ’ s his way of expressing himself . André Fabre is assisted by his wife , of course , but I think he ’ s someone who can very well train a lot of horses .»
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• Bloodstock agent Paul Nataf sent a filly he had bought at the sales in 1982 to be trained by André Fabre , in the fourth year of the stable ’ s existence , and things did not get off to a very good start ...
« I had bought a filly at Goffs in Ireland for the owner Alan Clore , who didn ’ t want her . She had cost me £ 40,000 or £ 50,000 , which was a lot of money at the time , and I put her with André Fabre , who was already having good results . He didn ’ t get that many good yearlings then , but she was still the worst of the lot . She was last in every gallop … So we ended up running her , in December at Saint-Cloud , and a few days before the entry deadline , André saw an advert for Thatching , the filly ’ s sire , in a Coolmore catalogue , and he noticed that he wore blinkers in races . So he declared her with blinkers and Yannick Fouin , who was his apprentice . And she won ! Then she won again on her comeback in a Listed race at Evry , finished 2nd in the Grotte ( Gr3 ) behind Sakura Reiko . I wanted to go for the Saint-Alary , but André wanted the Poule d ’ Essai des Pouliches . He was looking for a rider to go in front and we found Jorge Velasquez , but it didn ’ t work out . I then sold the filly very well and it paid for my flat at the time !»
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• Owner and racing enthusiast Patrick Offenstadt experienced his finest hours as an owner with André Fabre , whom he has known for almost 45 years .
« I came to racing through betting . My father was an owner himself and passed on this passion to me . In 1979 , on the eve of my thirtieth birthday , I decided to become an owner and gamble less . So , at the beginning of 1980 , I thought about my project as an owner and set out to find a trainer . André Fabre ’ s name seemed obvious to me , as his results were so good with the small number of horses he had . His statistics were remarkable . He was about the same age as me , so I went to meet him to explain my ambition to become an owner . I mentioned the name of a horse I was following and intended to claim . I gave him the name of the horse , he encouraged me in this direction , and I asked him for his training fees , which were very reasonable . So , I decided to claim the horse ( Romantic Isle ) and entrust it to him . It was an excellent pick from every point of view , as the horse won 3 tiercés . That was no mean feat , because at that time , these races were particularly sought-after . There wasn ’ t a tiercé every day in the early 1980s . In the wake of this first purchase , we continued along this path and bought other horses . In particular , I acquired a yearling from Mr Lombard , a filly named Zalataia . In 1980 , I believe , André Fabre had only received three yearlings into training . That shows how far he has come and how successful he has been . Zalataia started at the age of 2 , very wisely . Before André Fabre managed to make her a champion ( She won the Prix de Pomone-Gr2 twice , then the Grand Prix de Deauville-Gr2 , before winning at Gr1 level in the USA , editor ’ s note ). With another trainer , I ’ m convinced that the filly would not have had such a career ! She was a fragile , late-developing filly who needed to be understood , waited for and listened to . I remember that on the day of her debut , the filly was shaking like a leaf . She had to be given confidence and made aware of her potential . That moment confirmed to me that André Fabre was an extraordinary guy . I think that in the training profession , the hardest thing is to give horses a voice . He knows how to understand them and listen to them . He ’ s a man who may seem cold , but he ’ s not at all unpleasant . And he ’ s very attentive to the people close to him . I lost my wife in the 1990s and it obviously
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