By Sue Finley
After a quarter century at the helm of the French division of the Aga Khan Studs, Georges Rimaud will step down from that role at the end of December, making this Deauville December Sale his last. Rimaud leaves the stud stronger than ever, with four homebred sons standing at the farm, including the best sire in France, Siyouni (Fr), the best young sire in France in Zarak (Fr), and two promising newcomers, Vadeni (Fr) and Erevann (Fr).
We surprised Rimaud as he was having lunch in the stud's traditional marquee on the Arqana grounds, asking him to talk about his life at the stud and what comes next for him. For Rimaud, it has always been all about the horses, and he was surprised that anyone would want to read about such things. But after some arm-twisting, we persuaded him to relent…reluctantly.
SF: Nobody in racing really retires, do they?
GR: It seems so, because I've rarely seen so much attention to something fairly random.
SF: That must tell you something then about the regard that people have for you.
GR: Well, obviously you read kind words and it is great to hear them, but one thing I learned is to be very humble in this industry, and towards the horses and the people in it. This exercise is obviously not quite something I would be very used to anyway. We do it only once in one lifetime, so I suppose it's okay. But it is embarrassing. You just get on with your job, and you try to do the best you can every day.
SF: Do you plan to actually retire?
GR: Retire is a word with many definitions, I suppose. I'm retiring from my job as the manager of the Aga Khan Studs in France, because that happens when you reach this age in this country. You can opt to stay, but as you all know, I have some mobility issues and to be honest, with my work I need to be out there, which I can't do as well as I have, so, in view of my age, I think it's time that I do something else. But it's not to say that I'm just going to get away onto an island and just not be around to annoy a few people any more.
SF: What will you do? Describe your future life to me.
GR: I don't quite know, really. I have other interests than just horses, strangely enough. Some people in this industry have no other interests than horses. I like reading. I like politics. I have several centers of interests. I also have to take care of myself, so I will be doing some things like moving house and will do some work in it and things like that. As you grow older, you have grandchildren to mind and I'll maybe travel a bit. I will do some of these things that people do when they retire.
SF: If you're going to travel, what will your first trip be?
SF: What will you miss the most about the job?
GR: The horses. Simply the way of life with the horses. I think that is what drives everybody in this industry, at least everybody with the job that I have.
SF: What will you not miss about having a daily job?
GR: Truly, I really enjoyed every bit of it. I've been very lucky to do a job, or have an occupation, actually, a life for which I'm being paid for. But, actually, the thing that I will not miss is having to call or inform my superiors or people of bad news. God knows we have enough bad news in breeding horses, and that is one thing that I really did not enjoy.
GR: I don't know if I'm proud of anything specific. I think maybe I should be satisfied. It looks like people tell me I should be satisfied with what has been done by this organization, the Aga Khan Studs. In the past few years, it appears that we've experienced a certain amount of success. I'm really proud, if that's the word you want to use, to be part of it, to have been part of it, to have worked for His Highness the Aga Khan, his daughter, Princess Zahra, and to have been able to work with these people who have high standards, and apparently to have done a satisfying job. It has been very enjoyable.
SF: In your 24 years here, what has been the best change you've seen in the French breeding industry?
GR: I think the thing that has changed in the recent years has been the importance of stallions in France. We have been lucky at the Aga Khan Studs to have provided some good stallions for the French breeders and European breeders. I think stallions that have marked the European book of racing, breeding and racing, to have them stand in France at a high value I think has been a change, a very good change. It needs to be continued. It's not easy. Some people are investing in stud farms and stallions to stand them in France, which is rather encouraging, especially in those years where you could wonder what's going to happen, but people are quite resilient and making good efforts to keep the stallions. That's the major change I think that I can see in the last 20 years.
SF: That's not true anywhere more than at the Aga Khan Studs, though, isn't it? You're leaving with the best stallion in France, the best young stallion in France, and two very promising newcomers.
GR: We do have some lovely horses. We were very fortunate to be able to breed those horses ourselves. They were bred on the farm, which is something to be very satisfied with. If we've helped the French breeders in general, then that's great. I think that has been one of the objectives of His Highness. It has been great to have these horses and for the French breeders to be able to have them, to use them, and to improve their stock. This was the great thing about working for this organization, and the people following me in this job believe that there's the means. I'm not talking just about financial means, but the envy of doing the utmost to succeed in whatever project is in place, whether it's racing, whether it's breeding, or standing stallions. We try to do everything so we can do it well. Everything is given to us as employees to do these things. Obviously it has helped me and the team to be able to have experienced a certain amount of success.
SF: You are still chairman of the board at Arqana, so you can continue to work toward those same goals, can't you?
GR: Yes. Staying with Arqana is obviously very satisfying for the moment. I think it's important to not just leave everything. It is great that I was there at the outset of it with His Highness and all the participants in the company, and it's great to be able to continue. The team here has been wonderful in making this company progress. There are challenging years coming ahead of us, I suppose. There have always been challenges, and you think the next challenge is going to be even worse than the past one. But there's a very good team in place. May it go on for a good bit longer.
SF: Are you at all conscious as you sit here that this is your last sale? Does it feel a little melancholy, as in `this is the last time I'll be doing this?'
GR: No, no. I'm not really that conscious of it. But I'll probably come in here (next year) and give some orders and people here will be saying, `What's this old man saying?' I'm not melancholy about it because, as I heard once in Kentucky, `if the devil don't bother me too much' I will still be here next year, and maybe they will let me come into this room and have a cup of coffee. Time goes on and things change. I think the team in place has loads of energy and knowledge and young minds, new ideas. You can feel it after so many years, your ideas are there and you have your ways of doing things, but there are just so many new ideas coming in. And Pierre Gasnier is coming in. He's been here with me for two years, and I'm not sure he's learned a whole lot from me because he had a lot of knowledge himself coming in. But he's adapting his ways into our own ways, and I think it's working terribly well. It's great to see that it can be done without you. You have a sense of having left something to work with in reasonably good shape. I think there's good years ahead.
SF: Last question: we haven't seen you in anything but a green coat for 20 years. Will you go out and buy a coat that's not green?
GR: Funny enough, I've gotten used to wearing this. I might go ahead and keep this for a while and try to support the colors.
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