Chance and Science a Winning Combination for Classic Breeder Mestrallet

“What is important for a man can only happen in spite of him,” writes Marcel Proust in In Search of Lost Time. This cherished quote sprang to mind after contacting Joelle Mestrallet to ask if she would agree to an interview for the TDN in the wake of the awesome victory of Look De Vega (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) in the Prix du Jockey Club. Without knowing her well, I was aware of her modesty and the fact that she enjoys keeping a low profile. As much as this personality trait tends to make me more comfortable with people, in this particular situation I was worried that the whirlwind weekend she has just been through would have left Joelle feeling overwhelmed with media solicitations and my request could appear as a nuisance. 

Then her answer popped up on my telephone screen: “When an exceptional event drags you out of anonymity in spite of you, you must make yourself available to share your experience.” I suddenly felt grateful to the world for carrying such a charming person.

And indeed, as we chat on a sunny terrace facing the Deauville beach, the joint-breeder and owner of an unbeaten Classic winner, whose racing colours were first carried by this horse's dam only nine years ago, proves consistently prompt to dismiss any credit for Look De Vega's faultless path. 

“I haven't had a linear trajectory,” she starts. “It has only been made of encounters. My husband and I were low-key leisure riders. Our children did the pony club circuit, and one of our daughters became a very keen rider. At some point we moved to Belgium due to my husband's professional commitments.”

Gérard Mestrallet, a graduate of France's most prestigious engineer and public administration school, was in the top-tier of management of water and gas supplier Suez, later renamed Engie, for 30 years. He acted as CEO from 1995 until his retirement in 2018. 

His wife continues, “I had been working as an engineer in the oil and gas sector for 15 years. It was a very technical and slightly dry job. When my husband's career took us to Belgium, I resigned and found myself with more spare time on my hands. I brought my mare with us, a lovely eventer with whom I had some fabulous rides. I was keen to get a foal out of her, and this is how I first got interested in breeding. After multiple attempts, she wasn't getting in foal and I ended up spending a lot of time in veterinary clinics. With my scientific brain, I wanted to understand why it wasn't working out and I had the chance to meet some very kind vets who were very good teachers. It was scientific curiosity that got me started.” 

When an exceptional event drags you out of anonymity in spite of you, you must make yourself available to share your experience

Far from restricting herself to the sanitised atmosphere of veterinary hospitals, however, Mestrallet also became very hands on. 

“My daughter Caroline was in high school and competing at international level in showjumping, so I got more closely involved. I took out my heavy vehicle driving licence, went inspecting horses for her, looking up vet checks, etc.” 

In hindsight, such a trajectory looks an extremely wise way of establishing grass-roots foundations for a breeder's career, yet the unassuming Mestrallet prefers to praise coincidences. 

She says, “Everything happened as a succession of encounters and opportunities. I wasn't even that passionate in the first place. It really came gradually.”

Another of these in-spite-of-her opportunities happened on New Year's Eve 2002. 

“We were celebrating New Year's Eve with my daughter's coach Thierry Paillot and his family, at their Haras de la Morsanglière,” she recalls. “My daughter had spent many holidays there to train with her horses and our families had become close. Upon our return to France, we had settled in Oise [the Chantilly region] but I was short of land to keep my Warmblood mares and couldn't find a property to buy. And then Thierry Paillot told me 'We are moving to Switzerland, the farm is up for sale and it would make me very happy if it went to someone we are close to.' Six months later, we moved in at La Morsanglière. I tell you, It is all about encounters, always.”

As a breeder of showjumpers, Joelle Mestrallet made it to the highest level, notably producing Obiwan de Pillière (Diamant de Semilly) who won an epic renewal of the Nations Cup at CSIO5* Calgary in 2011. And yet, she would soon feel some frustration, which would eventually prompt her transition to thoroughbreds. 

Look De Vega powers home in the Prix du Jockey Club | Scoop Dyga

“Breeding showjumpers didn't quite satisfy my scientific, rational brain,” she says. “When you are looking to build from solid foundations, access to information is a struggle. Stallions keep breeding after they die, there is no registry of broodmare progeny, etc. On the other hand, when I stepped into Thoroughbred breeding, between the databases of France Galop and Arqana, I thought it was heaven on earth! It is like having France's national library to yourself. Frankly, I find that Arqana does an outstanding job. It must be very tedious work, but the information they produce for breeders is invaluable. You have a multitude of data to make your decisions, which for a scientist if very satisfying.

“And of course,” she adds with a smile, “careers are shorter, which as I was getting on in age was an asset.”

Yet again, she pays tribute to an encounter and the assistance of others for the switch. “My husband has a very close friend who races trotters and is friendly with Lucien Urano [who operates Ecurie des Charmes, a prominent breeding and racing operation in both harness and thoroughbred racing]. 

“One day he told me, 'Joelle, you can see that breeding showjumpers is complicated and doesn't make economic sense. You should meet Lucien Urano and look into Thoroughbreds.' He introduced me and we bought three yearling fillies together. Everything started from there. I was extremely lucky to stumble upon such an outstanding mentor.”

Among these initial purchases was a High Chaparral (Ire) filly bred by the late Lady O'Reilly from the family that had produced the Classic winning siblings Latice (Inchinor) and Lawman (Invincible Spirit). 

“I was quite clueless with Thoroughbred pedigrees and the whole selection process, so I got help from [Ecurie des Monceaux's] Henri Bozo,” she says. “It was him who introduced me to Lady O'Reilly when we went to inspect her yearlings ahead of the sale, and I became very fond of this particular filly.”

The filly, Lucelle (Fr), was the first foal out an unraced half-sister to Lawman's dam Laramie (Gulch) and cost €85,000 at the 2013 August yearling auction. Sent to Jean-Claude Rouget, she was the first horse to race in the colours of Haras de la Morsanglière, winning three races and achieving a mark of 90. When she retired to the lush paddocks of La Morsanglière, the family had gained extra black type thanks to Lucelle's half-sister The Black Princess (Fr) (Iffraaj {GB}), who won the 2017 G2 Lancashire Oaks and G3 Prix Allez France.

“Initially we tried to reproduce the mating that had resulted in The Black Princess by sending Lucelle to Iffraaj and his sons,” Mestrallet recalls. 

The mare's first foal, a colt later named Titian (Fr), was sold for €195,000 to Avenue Bloodstock at Arqana. He won two races for William Haggas and as a six-year-old gelding won at Ripon just two days before his little brother propelled the family into a radically different league. Next came the Ribchester (Ire) filly Graine De Pastel (Fr), who was knocked down to Meridian International for €85,000 as a yearling. She went on to win a couple of races in the care of François Rohaut, achieving a personal best of 85. In hindsight, her owners Laurent Dassault and Carsten Baagoe-Schou probably feel quite relieved to have taken her back home after bidding on the four-year-old stopped at €22,000 at last year's Arqana December sale.

“For Lucelle's third mating, we thought we would give her a proper chance and send her to a top-tier stallion,” Mestrallet says. In the spring of 2019, a nomination to Lope De Vega cost €100,000. Mestrallet remembers Look De Vega as a handsome foal with a strong temperament but says, “As soon as he started the yearling prep, he accepted the authority and became a very well-behaved colt.” 

This is when an even more coincidental encounter took place, involving someone who carries the same surname as Joelle. 

She explains, “Back in the 1990s on a pony trials eventing competition in Belgium, my daughter came up to me and said, 'There is another Mestrallet in the line-up.' This is how we met Julie Mestrallet and her mother Francine. We never quite dug out the family tree but my father-in-law reckons we are cousins. Julie and my daughter Caroline became best friends, and I became close to Francine. When we bought La Morsanglière, Julie had already set up her operation Haras de l'Aumonerie, and we started working together. She preps all our yearlings for the sales, and we have a few mares together. She is also a genuine encyclopedia when it comes to breeding, which helps me a lot.”

When Look De Vega walked into the ring at the 2022 August Yearling Sale, consigned by Haras de l'Aumônerie, his winning dam could claim to have produced two winners from as many foals of racing age. Still, the page would appear slightly light in black type to the most demanding buyers and the colt's reserve wasn't met. 

“I remember walking back to the box a little disappointed, and then Carlos Lerner, whom I had never met, came up and said he would be interested in buying 50 per cent of the colt. I rang Lucien Urano and the deal was done.” Unsurprisingly, the father-and-son combination of trainers join the long list of professionals whom Mestrallet feels blessed to have come across on her winding path. 

“Carlos and Yann Lerner have been another beautiful encounter”, she enthuses. “I love their work ethic, they are extremely caring to their horses. It is a great sense of security for an owner.”

When asked if partnering with a trainer is their common policy with unsold yearlings, she pauses for a moment and remarks, “But it hadn't happened to us many times before. We are only small breeders and were lucky that almost all our previous yearling offerings had sold.” And indeed, Look De Vega is only the second colt to have raced in the Morsanglière colours, having been led out unsold at a yearling auction. 

That slight disappointment has now turned into disbelieving relief that Look De Vega didn't change hands as a yearling. 

“It is quite extraordinary,” Mestrallet says with a smile. “It certainly wouldn't have been the same feeling if I had 'only' been in the breeder's position. I am very conscious that some people try for years before they can taste such unique emotions, and I feel like I am a very lucky person.” 

A scientist who leaves room for chance is how she views her journey with horses. 

“Everything in life is useful. There is always something you can learn out of every experience,” she says. “But you need to be patient, and not necessarily try to control everything. This is the golden rule for a scientist: accepting that there are things that you can't turn into an equation.”