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PROFILE
RELATIVE VALUES
LAURENT VIEL Rise of a French National Hunt racing star Laurent Viel is part of a young generation of trainers who are making their mark on the French National Hunt scene. Based at Sennones-Pouance, he has finished in the top 15 for the last two years.
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HE Viel family is a familiar one in racing circles, and Laurent is the fourth generation to be involved in the industry in some way. Growing up near Craon racecourse in the north west of France, his father’s principal occupation was farming, but he also held a permit, riding and training his own horses. “My Grandfather also rode in races, so it is a long tradition,” Viel says, before adding, “I started off by riding my father’s horses at the age of 16, coincidentally riding my first winner at Sennones a year later over the crosscountry course, before setting out to work for some other trainers.” At the end of the 80s, Viel then went to work for leading trainer Rene Cherruau, where he crossed paths with the likes of Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris (French Gold Cup) winner Oteuil as well as talented performers such as Le Pontif and Fil d’Ecosse. “The time I spent there are some of my best memories,” Viel says. After another period of time spent with Jacques Bertin in the Paris region, he returned to the west as first jockey to Gerard Margogne (uncle to current leading National Hunt trainer Yannick Fouin), where he won 40 races in a season. Despite his achievements in the saddle that saw him become third leading jockey
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WORDS: ISABEL MATHEW PHOTOS: APRH
in the region, Viel had eyes solely on becoming a trainer, which became reality in 1995. “I rode as a jockey because I had some success and I was competitive; however this was never the aim. I always wanted to set up on my own.” By chance, or indeed such was the memory of Viel’s first victory as a jockey at Sennones, the racecourse then became his training base. “Before going there I looked around for a place in the area with natural sandy soils to be able to construct a gallop, however I quickly realised that I didn’t have enough money to buy a farm and build one.” The next best thing was to rent some boxes at the racetrack, which had become a training centre. “I began with four horses – three
“I rode as a jockey because I had some success and I was competitive; however this was never the aim. I always wanted to set up on my own”
leased, and one of my own.” It didn’t take long for the 46-year-old to get his name on the board when one of these won on the flat at Lisieux the following year. Following further successes on the provincial circuit, which progressed to double figures, Viel began to expand. “As I received more and more horses I had to rent boxes all over the centre, which became difficult. Eventually I bought some land just beside it and constructed a yard myself, which is where we are today.” Viel currently counts nearly 70 horses under his care, and in 2012 recorded an all-time high of 57 wins with horses running throughout France. “The advantage of Sennones is that it is situated in the heart of horse country, 20km from Craon, 70km from Angers, and just under four hours from Paris. “A new training centre was constructed in 2001, which is fantastic, and originally this was one of the reasons why I set up here because I knew about the project. When I started there were four or five trainers here and we all used the one available gallop, but now there are at least 30.” These include top trainer Eric Leray, a good friend of Viel’s. In 2011, the Frenchman made the top ten in the trainer’s championship for the first time, recording over €1.7 million in prize