Family Labour Of Love At Haras Du Mesnil

Over the previous six January trips to France for La Route des Etalons, the one stud I'd always longed to see but never made it far enough south to visit is the historic Haras du Mesnil. This year, with two TDN colleagues also in Normandy, the perfect opportunity arose to plough a lone furrow towards Le Mans to spend a morning with Henri and Antonia Devin at the 2,500-acre property which, says Henri, has been in his family “only since 1850”.

In truth, it wasn't a completely solo venture as I was accompanied by Darley's Newmarket-based Head of Nominations, Dawn Laidlaw, as well as Keeneland's European Representative Ed Prosser, each playing a key role as navigator/co-driver (Dawn) and back-seat comedian (Ed).

La Route des Etalons not only provides a vital function for breeders in providing access to around 80 stallions in one weekend but it also acts as a living history lesson of France's many beautiful stud farms. In this regard, Haras du Mesnil is hard to rival. The farm, one single stud throughout the tenure of Henri Devin's grandparents Jean and Elisabeth Couturié, was split between their two daughters into what are now the Devins' private stud and the neighbouring Haras de Maulepaire, which is owned by Henri's aunt, the Comtesse de Tarragon, and managed by Pierric Rouxel. 

The stallion yard at Mesnil has been in operation since 1908 and has housed some notable names, not least Madame Couturié's outstanding homebred Right Royal (Fr) (Owen Tudor {GB}), the winner of the 1961 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey-Club among his six Group 1 victories. Right Royal's grandam Barberybush was gifted to the family by leading American owner-breeder Joseph Widener, who kept mares at Mesnil during the first half of the 20th Century.

These days, Englishman Peter Spiller is the only outside mare owner among the closed herd at Mesnil, but plenty of day-visitors will start to appear later this month as the covering season gets underway. The Devins lost long-time resident Kaldounevees (Fr) (Kaldoun {Fr}) last year at the age of 24 and for a time he was represented on the roster by his son Ange Gabriel (Fr), who is now retired but remains at the farm. His daughters also in residence include Just As Good (Fr), a full-sister to the late Terre A Terre (Fr).

During a memorable two-year period, Ange Gabriel and Terre A Terre, both of whom were born at the farm (the latter bred and raced in partnership with Veronica Ashbrooke), notched a remarkable five Group 1 victories between them and took their owner-breeders to Dubai, Japan and Hong Kong. “They took us all around the world. Once you have a good horse it keeps you going. We took our four children with us everywhere. Now we have to do it again,” says Antonia Devin.

The next big thing may be not be too far away. Last year, Physiocrate (Fr) claimed the runner-up spot in the G1 Longines Prix de Diane just six weeks after making a winning debut on soft ground at Chantilly. She too is a terrific advertisement for the land around Haras du Mesnil, with its lime-rich springs, as she is very much homegrown, being a second-crop daughter of resident stallion Doctor Dino (Fr) (Muhtathir) out of the Kaldounevees mare Affaire de Moeurs (Fr).

Her trainer is also a product of sixth-generation Mesnil breeding as he is the Devins' Chantilly-based son, Henri-Francois. And if the trainer doesn't already have the filly's game plan finalised for this season, his father certainly does. He states simply, “The plan is to win the Arc!”

And with Physiocrate's starts to date at Chantilly resulting in two wins and a Group 1 second, the fact that France's biggest race has been moved there from Longchamp this year is grist to Henri's mill. “Everything is in her favour, she loves Chantilly,” he adds.

Physiocrate is not the only filly keeping the Devin family dreams alive, however, as she has been joined in Chantilly by Terre A Terre's 2-year-old sister, Terre Et Ciel (Fr). “She's the last produce of Kaldounevees and Henri-Francois thinks very highly of her,” says Antonia, a native of Co Kildare who grew up at her family's Ardoon Stud, and whose father Frank Feeney raced the 1968 G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Mistigo (Ire). 

She says of her son's training career, which is now in its third year, “We were pleased but quite nervous for him. He started with five horses of ours and now he has 38 in training but he has kept us to five! 

“He's also passionate about breeding, and our two daughters, Sophie and Victoria, have already invested to put horses with him. He has the whole family behind him.”

The back-to-back G1 Hong Kong Vase winner Doctor Dino typifies the breeding programme honed by the Devins over the years, which has enabled them to breed top-class winners on the flat and over jumps. Not only is Physiocrate a high-profile representative on the level but he has the promising young hurdlers Sceau Royal (Fr) and Ardina (Fr) ensuring that his name is becoming known in National Hunt breeding circles. Furthermore, the Comtesse de Tarragon sent her Turgeon mare Alliance Royale (Fr) the short distance to visit Doctor Dino with the result being the unbeaten bumper winner La Bague Au Roi (Fr), whose last of three wins was in listed mares' race at Huntingdon.

“We breed to race, not really to sell. We're not very commercial,” says Henri Devin, while his wife adds, “Doctor Dino covered 108 mares last year. In France, the premiums are so fantastic that if you breed to race you can go to sires who aren't so commercial but you can still make a profit between the owners' premiums and breeders' premiums.”

She continues, “When we first got married we always wanted to have our own stallions and we've carried on like that but it's worked out for us and has been good fun.”

One stallion who can almost certainly be considered a member of the family having been at Mesnil throughout his lengthy career is the redoubtable G1 Irish St Leger winner Turgeon, who is now 30 and is about to embark on his 23rd stud season. “He came straight to us from Jonathan Pease on retirement from racing,” says Antonia of the George Strawbridge-bred son of Caro (GB).

“He has bred great stock for us. His son Shannon Rock (Fr) has been second four times in the 'Grand Steeple' so we're hoping that 2016 will be his year.” Henri adds, “He must be the oldest stallion still covering. Every season I say it will be his last but he still looks really well and he comes out to cover his mares like a 5-year-old.”

The Devins profess an equal love for flat and jump racing. “We just enjoy competition anywhere – as long as we are in front,” says Henri. He continues, “It's a passion. We only ever spoke about horses at lunchtime and at dinner with my grandmother.”

Madame Couturié may have been well regarded in the racing and breeding world for producing high-class racehorses but her legacy also extends to a nurturing role among some of the industry's leading participants, and not just in her own family. Among her 'pupils' at Haras du Mesnil were Henry Cecil, Arthur Boyd-Rochfort, Lord Suffolk, Jeremy Hindley and Francois Boutin. Henry Cecil's time there is immortalized by his etching of a horse and jockey in cement at the Chausée stableyard within the Maulepaire grounds. 

Henri explains, “My grandmother was so passionate about the whole business and she loved to have young people around her. It really stimulated her and she was so stimulating herself as she discussed everything with them, from clients to matings and feed, breaking in. She'd ask them lots of questions in the evening when they came in from work. She learned from her pupils as much as they learned from her.”

One of France's foremost trainers, Alain de Royer Dupré, also cut his teeth at the farm. “He worked as the stud groom for a while and then my mother built stables and a track on the property for him to start training,” recalls Henri.

Dominic Sepulchre now trains from part of the property, while a three-mile natural sand track through the farm's dense woods is used to pre-train the homebreds before they go off to their trainers, which include Jean-Paul Gallorini and young rising star of the French jumping ranks, Louisa Carberry. 

Completing the stallion line-up at Mesnil is Saonois (Fr) (Chichicastenango {Fr}), who is mischievously introduced by Henri Devin to Darley's Head of Nominations with the words, “Here is Dubawi.” 

The compact bay, who stands at just 15.1 hands, is not dissimilar in looks to Darley's star and, as the hero of the 2012 G1 Prix du Jockey-Club, is also a Classic winner. He has it all to prove now he's at stud, with his first yearlings set to appear in French sales rings later this year. As with all the Mesnil stallions, he will benefit from being mated with members of the Devins' broodmare band and it would be surprising indeed if those homebreds don't help him on his way to wider patronage.

Madame Couturié stated in her touching tribute to Right Royal, who is buried under a willow tree at the stud where he was born and died, “I can't help but think that with horses it is the same as with mankind, it is the qualities of the heart that count the most.”

Luck and sound judgement play their part in any breeding operation but it's plain that the labour of love is also behind many successful generations of Thoroughbreds at Haras du Mesnil.