Day Two On La Route

While we didn't exactly wake to bright skies and sun, at least the lashing rain of Saturday gave way to a more typical Normandy winter day–overcast with mild temperatures–as the TDN squad set out for day two of the annual Route des Etalons, a series of loosely connected open houses organized by the French Breeding and Racing Committee throughout Normandy. While yesterday, we made a large circle through the area west and south of Deauville, today we chose to start with those farms closest to town. The day–or at least my ability to type up a story about it–threatened to be a non-starter entirely. Upon exiting the taxi at the annual FRBC dinner in Deauville last night, TDN International V.P. Gary King gave the door a right slam, smashing my middle finger in the car door and quite possibly causing a hairline fracture. (I mention this not for sympathy, but just in case I was spotted at my table in the Barriere Casino Saturday night, my hand in my ice water, tears streaming down my face. As Lucas Marquardt would say, more on the appropriateness of this later.)

The day could only get better and it quickly did with our first stop at the lovely Haras du Quesnay, about 15 minutes outside of town. Dunkerque (Fr) (Highest Honor {Fr}) was parading when we arrived, always the sire of a healthy percentage of winners to runners from limited opportunity. Next up was Breeders' Cup Mile and Jacques Le Marois runner-up Anodin (Fr) (Anabaa), whose first foals arrive this year. The middle-distance runner Youmzain (Ire) (Sinndar {Ire}), the sire of several black type runners from his first two crops, including G1 Yorkshire Oaks third Sea Calisi (Fr), was also out. Finally, the current star of the yard, Galileo (Ire)'s Intello (Ger), was led out. Intello stood his first two seasons at Cheveley Park in England and now starts a two-year run at Quesnay, before continuing to swap back and forth. At €25,000, he has proven overwhelmingly popular, according to Le Quesnay's manager Vincent Rimaud. “We are very excited,” said Rimaud. “He will have more mares this year than during his second year in Newmarket because people have seen his first yearlings and they are very pleased with what they have seen. He booked 111 mares last year, and we already have booked 125 this year. 30 to 35% of the mares he will cover this year have come from Britain and Ireland. We have heard such good things. I have some here and I have seen plenty at the Wertheimers' farm, and they are very nice. People are very pleased with his first foals, and some people are coming back to him, new people and this is quite exciting.” Le Quesnay was host to 263 people Saturday and looked set to top that number again Sunday. Intello's success is more good news for the French breeding industry, in the midst of a stallion revolution.

Just up the road a bit from Quesnay is the tiny village of St Pierre-Azif, home to both Haras du Thenney and Haras de Colleville. St. Pierre-Azif is notable both for having perhaps the world's smallest “downtown,” which consists only of a town square and a town hall, and some remarkable examples of Norman bocage, or hedgerow, lining the path up to Colleville and Thenney. The Allies lost more men fighting their way through the dense and almost impenetrable bocage than they did in the invasion. I spend some time explaining why this was so to my traveling companion, Gary King, who will no doubt be happy to get home to New Jersey Tuesday, where he doesn't have to hear me drone on about random World War II facts as we drive the countryside together. But, hey, he broke my finger, so I figure we're even.)

Haras de Colleville is, of course, home to the remarkable French success story Kendargent (Fr) (Kendor {Fr}), who started his career with a handful of mares at €500 from which he produced several black-type runners, and is now the leading sire of 2-year-olds in France in 2015, and the leading sire of 2-year-old black-type winners by percentage in Europe since 2011. At €18,000, he has already booked 100 mares for 2016. Joining him in the Colleville stallion barn this year is Galiway (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), who brings the Galileo/Danehill cross to the farm, and who stands for €3,000. Can lightning strike twice for owner Guy Pariente? He will certainly give Galiway every chance, breeding a number of his good mares to the stallion.

Thirty minutes through the countryside brought us to Haras de Bouquetot, the subject of a Kelsey Riley feature back in December (click here) and Al Shaqab's farm in France. As Kelsey wrote, the farm is home to G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Style Vendome (Fr) (Anabaa), represented by his first crop of yearlings in 2016; G1 Prix Ganay winner Planteur (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), also with first yearlings this year; and the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Olympic Glory (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}), who has recently returned from Australia and whose first foals are being born this this year. (The farm is also home to my favorite dog in all of France, Bouquetot's marketing manager Audrey Leyval's Isere, a rangy Malinois named for a French department in the Alps who is always happy to see visitors at the farm and ridiculously well-behaved around the horses. But I digress…) The Al Shaqab stallions will certainly have every chance of success after being supported with some of the finest mares on the property.

After the stallion parade, we were treated to a personal tour of the farm by Leyval (and Isere). The farm has clearly undergone some significant changes over the last few years, and there's plenty more in the pipeline. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the fabulous Treve (Fr) on this occasion, as Criquette Head-Maarek's dual Arc heroine is in Newmarket for a meeting with Dubawi (Ire). We decided noon was a little early for oysters and champagne, so finished our visit by sampling the scallop and leeks. We have been treated to some great French cuisine over the last few days, but the Bouquetot offering will be hard to beat. With a parting goodbye to Benoit Jeffroy we were back on the road.

“Do you want to see the best stallion in the world?” Haras de la Cauviniere's Mathieu Alex asks new visitors. Alex has every right to be optimistic about the future of Cauviniere's Le Havre (Fr) (Noverre), whose first crop two years ago, bred on a €5,000 stud fee, included 13 black-type winners including G1 Prix de Diane winner Avenir Certain (Fr). He covered 199 mares in 2015 at €20,000 and stands for €35,000 in 2016. Those in agreement with the `best horse in the world' moniker at the show we attended was none other than Maja Sundstrom, mother of Coulonces Consignment's Anna Drion, and the breeder of Le Havre, who is rightfully proud of his success. La Cauviniere's up-and-comer Rajsaman (Fr) (Linamix {Fr}), who has covered around 200 mares in each of his first three crops, including 219 from 300 applications in 2015, also drew some attention, and his first crop will be closely watched when they hit the track this year. “His yearlings sold very well, and they were bought by trainers, which is important,” said Alex. (See a feature on la Cauviniere by Kelsey Riley in the December 8 TDN here.)

At Cauviniere, our last stop, we ran into the principals in the extraordinary success story of Coulonces Consignment, Anna and Etienne Drion, and were invited to see their magnificent house and farm, Haras du Grand Chene, about 25 minutes away in the small town of Survie. The farm comprises 65 acres of prime land, with 50 stalls, a walker, lunging rings and paddocks. It's a little bit of Horse Heaven. But, then, that's the story of the Thoroughbred industry here in Normandy, and it is fostered by a friendliness and hospitality which is the equal of that anywhere in the world. So much of the fun on La Route des Etalons is not just seeing the stallions, but being invited into the office or often the breeding shed afterward for a bite to eat or a coffee. The farms take great pride in the spreads they present, and it's not uncommon to see employees or principals from one farm on hand to share a drink with those at another after seeing their stallions. They are all breeders, after all, and one comes away with the feeling that it's a close-knit community, with all oars pulling in the same direction for a common good: the success of the French breeding and racing industry. They say a rising tide lifts all boats. Everyone seems to understand that here in France, and, indeed, the tide continues to rise.