ENGLISH TEXTS only at Auteuil or Enghien. Competing in cross-country races, particularly for Patrice Quinton, helped me a lot and allowed me to make a name for myself. I can’ t say that I surpassed my father, but over time the way professionals looked at me changed, and they ended up calling me by my first name.” Passionate about the racing world from a young age, his father did not want him to follow the traditional pathway.“ I was quite heavy and tall as a teenager. At the time, I didn’ t fit the AFASEC criteria. So I started out as a gentleman-rider, after completing a BEP diploma in accounting. I also worked for a year in real estate to see something different.” But you can’ t escape your nature. He returned to racing. In 2007, Thomas Beaurain joined his father’ s stable, by then an established trainer. After three years spent in Lyon, the former apprentice of Nicolas de Balanda, who also worked alongside Emmanuel Clayeux and Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé, set down his bags in the West with Jean-Luc Guillochon and then Patrice Quinton:“ I won my first Group race with Azura du Kalon for his training. We won some great races together: four times the Grand Steeple of Waregem, the Grand Cross of Pau. We really lived through a wonderful adventure.” A freelance jockey since 2015, Thomas Beaurain has experienced highs and lows like everyone else:“ What makes my strength is my experience and my work,” he emphasizes.“ In 2026, I hope to ride the wave of success and continue working with the people who trust me. If I avoid injury, my ambition is to finish in the Top 5 and to win some fine races.”
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SPECIAL
BY PAULINE BOULC’ H MASCARET
It is one of the key events of the breeding season, before everything truly gets underway. Stallions, in their finest array, are presented in front of an audience of enthusiasts and profesionnals who have come to see the newcomers following their exploits on the track, the young generation that will celebrate its first foals, yearlings or twoyear-olds in the paddocks, on the sales rings or on the racecourse, and the proven stallions who continue to post impressive results on their records. Some bloodlines are confirmed, others can be reinvented through discussions and encounters. Welcome to this special feature to( re) live the Route des Étalons 2026. The first miles took us to Ireland for the ITM Irish Stallion Trail, while a week later it was the Norman roads that unfolded for the Route des Étalons, organized at the initiative of the French Breeders’ Federation. And because the Route des Étalons is also a dreamlike moment that celebrates talent, we wished to honor that of photographers through a photo competition. After lengthy deliberation, Edwige Barbier won this edition and graces this opening page with his photograph.
Congratulations!
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JEHAN BERTRAN DE BALANDA
01 JEHAN BERTRAN DE BALANDA, A HALF- CENTURY OF RACES
BY CÉLINE GUALDE
JEHAN BERTRAN DE BALANDA
“ I’ VE BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO ALWAYS MAKE A LIVING FROM MY PASSION”
That’ s it, Jehan Bertran de
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