Back from a bit of sun

Ah, we got lucky on the Cote d’Azur. The sun was shining on Nice and a balmy 16 celcius helped turn last week into a frozen memory. Lunch yesterday on the terrace of a great restaurant overlooking the Grande Casino in Monaco, confit de canard for dinner and now back to Paris…where it’s rainy, but thawing.

I got a look at the brand new Polytrack in Cagnes sur Mer, and it looks very inviting. The first meeting was run on it yesterday, and the track got rave reviews from trainers and jockeys. I’m sorry I’ve got nothing to bring down, but that’s life. If I take horses to Cagnes, I jeapardize my spring/summer season, and it’s just not worth it. This is the first Polytrack used for racing in France; the other two are the training tracks in Maisons-Laffitte and Chantilly stolen from Evry when Sheik Mo pulled out. I’ll be watching the rest of the racing down there to see how it wears. I suspect Deauville will have to pull up stakes and replace theirs this spring, too.

6 Replies to “Back from a bit of sun”

  1. The poly track, is that installed at Hippodrome de la Côte d’Azur? I’m trying to understand the various venues in France. How many horses are you currently training? Is your home stable at Hippodrome Deauville-La Touques and when the meet ends there do you move on to another track?

    The Turk. Bonne nuit et merci

  2. Turk (and Little Turk) The polytrack is indeed at the Hippodrome de la Cote d’Azur, located in Cagnes sur Mer, just next to Nice. Deauville, in addition to the turf track, has a synthetic track made of something called Viscoride. I am based at a training center in Maisons-Laffitte, near Paris, where I have six in the yard now (and needing 12, so spread the word!). Horses in France are generally not trained at the track, but trucked in on race day. Winter is an exception, because there are trainers who head south with with some horses for Cagnes, and Deauville also doubles as a training center, so there are horses based there. But Chantilly and Maisons-Laffitte are the two major training areas.

  3. Thanks for the reply. Please keep us posted on your six charges. The romantic in me likes the idea of a trainer with just enough horses that they can actually care for all of them themselves and not though a series of assistant trainers. I don’t understand the economics so thats again just a romantic notion of trainer and horse, one on one.

    I’m enjoying Gallop-France

    your Ami….Turk

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