roguet issue 31.qxd:Jerkins feature.qxd
19/8/10
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JEAN-CLAUDE ROUGET
better was to come as Le Havre went on to lift the Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby) and the fillies recorded another one-two in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks), this time thanks to Stacelita who finished ahead of Tamazirte. French racing channel Equidia’s footage of Jean-Claude Rouget witnessing this Chantilly Classic double shows the pure ecstasy he felt at the time; on the film the pressure lifting from his shoulders after achieving his long sought-after goal is almost tangible. A year on, the excitement has diminished but the pride will never fade. “To win a Classic was a major accomplishment for my career. I’ve been training for 32 years and some of my colleagues have won these kind of races after just one, two, or three years in the business. I think that the longer you have to wait, the more special the victory feels.” Classic victory is even sweeter for Rouget as, combined with a first trainers’ championship, it finally and undeniably vindicates his belief that the great Paris/Province divide is just a myth. “Being champion trainer had been my goal since the 1980s. I wanted to prove that the English system, where trainers based the length and breadth of the country can have a Classic stable, also applies in France. I had set myself this challenge when I bought my yard in Pau. I couldn’t move, and indeed I had no desire to move to Chantilly, and so the challenge started there, through hard work and consistent results. Little by little, prestigious owners gave me their confidence. As the quality of our horses improved and we kept the same high work standards, the results gradually followed to reach Classic level.” Putting Pau on the map Traditionally, the French racing system has been a two-tier operation. The Classics were reserved to powerful Chantilly yards housing blue-blooded thoroughbreds belonging to elite owners, while the more bread-and-butter operations training further afield were regarded with disdain. Rouget was the first to break this taboo in 1994 when Millkom arrived at Longchamp after a trademark provincial preparation, racking up six wins at the local tracks of La Teste de Buch, Bordeaux le Bouscat, and Toulouse. Millkom cruised home in the Group 3 Prix de Guiche and then went on to stun the Parisians with victory in two Group 1s: the Prix Jean Prat and Grand Prix de Paris. Later in the season he became Rouget’s first representative in the Breeders’ Cup Classic but did not appreciate the dirt surface and finished last. Millkom capped his racing career with success in the Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park, still under Rouget’s care. More important than his trio of top-level wins was the symbol of what they
Jockey Christophe Soumillon talks to trainer Rouget about his ride on an Aga Khanowned horse
represented, and Rouget has an almost toldyou-so attitude as he remembers, “Millkom really made me believe in my project and finally convinced owners that it was no harder to produce Group horses in the provinces than in Paris. For me it was a huge source of pride to have been proven right. You’ll have to ask the Parisians what they thought about it!” The Parisians had been beaten at their own game, and after 2009’s timely reminders of Rouget’s talents, he will never again be underestimated. Today Jean-Claude Rouget is no exception to provincial success on centre stage. Provincial racing and training has earned respect across the board and the likes of fellow “palois” François Rohaut, HenriAlex Pantall, and Eric Libaud from Western France and Deauville-based Yves de Nicolay have all contributed to disproving Chantilly’s exclusive claim to classicism.
When Rouget took out his trainers’ licence in 1978, Pau was renowned as a winter jumps destination, and this is still the case today as the racecourse holds a twomonth festival each winter while Auteuil is closed. The mild climate which allows jumps action to take place with the stunning backdrop of the snow-covered Pyrénées mountains was a major factor for Rouget. “I hate cold weather and love the sunshine. In between stints learning the trade in Chantilly and with Paul Cole and Ian Balding in England, I had the opportunity to work for my father who sent a string down to Pau for the winter meeting. I spent three winters there and felt quite at home. I liked the region and decided to make Pau my base.” Following the example of his father Claude, who put another provincial training centre, Senonnes in Western France, on the
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