By Emma Berry
“Please, please don't make me cry,” says Gerald Mosse as he is asked to recall his final day in the saddle at Chantilly on Bastille Day.
“When you compete with all the riders, it's like we are a big family,” he continues, remembering the guard of honour from his fellow jockeys as he walked out to take that one last ride for his long-term supporter the Aga Khan.
“We take a risk all together, we travel all together, and when they make something like they did to say goodbye, it was pretty emotional. I received from all my colleagues and family and trainers so much support that it became tough to say 'okay, it's enough.' But I made up my mind; it's done.”
That was then. Now, as we speak, Mosse is in Deauville, and instead of being sequestered in the weighing-room at the racecourse next door, he is at the Arqana sales grounds on the hunt for horses to train rather than ride.
“The good thing is I'm looking forward to the next part of my career,” says the 57-year-old. “So I don't try to think too much about what was, or the happiness to be able to ride worldwide. I have so many things in my mind. I'm already on the next page.”
It is a blank page for now, but not for long. September 1 is the date on which the next chapter of the glorious racing saga of the Marseille-born Mosse will start to be written. The 41 years to have gone before include tales of Hong Kong, Melbourne, Newmarket and of course his home country, and it is back in Chantilly where stage two begins.
The boxes at his stables alongside the famous gallops of Les Aigles have been repaired and refurbished through the summer. Ecurie Mosse – formally known as the Manor des Sangliers – will soon be open for business.
“I decided to start on September 1 because with all the sales it's difficult to start and then not be there. So I decided to come here, having had good communication with all the owners, because there is a concentration of owners coming from all over the world for the sales.
“Of course, I'm lucky to know a lot of people in the business. I used to travel, I used to compete at different tracks worldwide. And I decided to make a turn in my career at a time when I can keep my name in a good spot. It's a business and people can forget you quite quickly.”
Despite Mosse's consternation, it is unlikely that his name will be forgotten any time soon. The winner of 62 Group 1 races in his home country and more than 90 worldwide, he has also notched major wins in Hong Kong, where he spent several stints with the HKJC, Britain, Germany, Italy, Dubai, Canada, and in Australia's most famous race, the Melbourne Cup, aboard Americain in 2010. That horse's trainer, Alain de Royer Dupre, supplied many of Mosse's big winners, particularly during the former jockey's eight-year retainer for the Aga Khan, and he remains an ally even after his own retirement in 2021.
“Experience is something that you can't buy,” Mosse says. “I've been all over the world to ride and I've been next to the top trainers. I will just try to follow what I have seen, what I learned. Mr Dupre is very close to me. When he retired he told me then that he would be very pleased to come to help me. So if I have a man like that next to me, I will feel a little bit more secure from the beginning.”
He continues, “So I think now everything's in place. The one thing I don't know is what the reaction of the people will be. Even if I was [a] professional rider, it doesn't mean that I'm going to be a good trainer. So I am just trying to show people that this is my passion, this is what I love to do and this is probably one of things that I know how to do properly. It's not completely new. And all the owners know me, so I guess they feel a bit more comfortable than [dealing with] someone they have never seen.”
Those famous white gloves may no longer be seen on the racecourse but that does not mean that Mosse will not be putting his expertise to good use on a daily basis.
“I need to ride horses,” he says. “That's what I miss and I will ride out in my stable because this is what I love and I have always been close to them, but I don't miss [race-riding] at all so far because my head is already focused and looking forward to the new chapter.”
That includes the most pressing next step of recruiting horses to fill those boxes. The focus initially will be on horses in training to give the new trainer some ammunition while the yearlings are being broken in and learning their trade.
And if he could have a fantasy pick of just one of those top horses he has ridden to include in his own stable? “When you are able to ride many champions, it's difficult to choose, but one who would come to my mind is Ashkalani,” he says. “He was a superstar who could come from last to first in five strides, and not many horse are able to do that.
“But of course there's Arazi, Americain, Priolo… It's difficult for me to say one. But at least I know how good a feeling it is to be sitting on a horse like that. And I will try to build a few young horses to that level to be able to put one of my colleagues on board and enjoy the ride.”
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