9 minute read
Jocelyn de Moubray chats with Guillaume de Saint-Seine, the new president of France Galop
FRANCE GALOP was created in 1995, just a few years after the British Horseracing Board (now the Authority) took over responsibility for the administration of racing from the Jockey Club. In both countries the aim was to replace the traditional rulers of horseracing, who were more or less private self-electing clubs, with a more modern and democratic institution.
The presidents of France Galop are elected by its board of directors whose members are themselves elected by different professional groups, owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys. The system is a complicated one which provides a degree of representation and democratic legitimacy, but not too much. Insiders and incumbents have a built-in advantage and it is impossible to imagine a revolutionary being elected President.
There have not been many presidents of France Galop – for all but four years from its creation in the mid-1990s until Guillaume de Saint-Seine’s election in December 2023, the position has been held by either Jean Luc Lagardère or Edouard de Rothschild.
Lagardère was one of France’s best known businessmen and also the country’s dominant owner and breeder for some 20 years.
Rothschild comes from a family which has included prominent owners and breeders in France for generations and Edouard himself has been a successful owner and breeder from a relatively early age.
Saint-Seine may not have the same international standing in the horse business of his two predecessors, but he is a familiar figure in the French racing world and has been a successful owner and breeder for many years.
It makes little sense to compare France Galop with either Britain or Ireland’s racing authorities as it is so much bigger, more powerful and controls (together with its trotting partner) the PMU, Equidia, the country’s major racecourses and training centres as well as many other things such as the jockeys’ school and all of racing’s administration.
France Galop and its trotting partner share an income from the PMU of around €830 million a year and give the French state a similar amount.
It is striking that throughout its history, the presidents and the chief executives of France Galop have been people not only with business experience, but also with insider’s experience and knowledge of racing, breeding and the bloodstock business.
Saint-Seine has had a long and successful career in banking and is currently Global Head of Coverage at Naxitis and Chairman of Natixis Pfandbriefbnk.
“This means,” he explains, “that with my team I am in charge of prospecting and managing the accounts of very big companies.
“I started out at BNP Paribas and then worked in mergers and acquisitions before joining Naxitis about 12 years ago.”
His interest in racing goes back further. “My friend Jean d’Indy invited me one Sunday when I was 17 0r 18 to have lunch with his family and go to Longchamp for the afternoon.
“I was immediately taken by the atmosphere, it was the year that Irish River won the Prix de Fontainebleau and for that season I was fascinated by Raymond Ades’ champion and went to watch all of his races.
“For the first time I followed a champion and watched him develop and prove himself against better and older horses.”
For those who were not following French racing in the 1970s, Irish River was an outstanding miler who won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1), was beaten when going further in the now defunct Prix Lupin but went on to win the Prix d’Ispahan (G1), the Prix Jacques le Marois (G1) and the Prix du Moulin (G1) in 1979.
“From then, as it still is today, going racing was my Sunday pastime,” says Saint-Seine, adding: “I would take my mobylette and go to Longchamp or Auteuil. I was never really a rider myself but I loved the spectacle and having a bet from time to time.”
Having started out as a racegoer and occasional punter Saint-Seine went on to become both an owner and a breeder. To date the highlights of his career as an owner are the Group 1 winners Reliable Man and The Right Man.
“I was part of the Pride Racing Club,” he remembers, “and so I owned two and a half per cent of the JockeyClub winner Reliable Man.
“But the biggest thrill so far has been The Right Man’s win in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan. I had enjoyed going racing in Dubai before and it was quite something to be there to watch The Right Man win and to go up to pick up the trophy afterwards.”
Saint-Seine currently has shares in 15 horses, including five with Mario Barrati, as well as the Listedplaced jumper Iceberg Du Large with Etienne and Gabriel Leenders.
Many people have successful professional lives and who enjoy having shares in horses and going to the races on Sundays, not all of them have the appetite to become the voluntary president of such a huge organisation.
“I believe that with my experience of business and management I could bring a different perspective,” he says, “and, while I still have the energy, I want to invest this for the common good of racing in France, to build a team able and willing to change things for the benefit of everybody involved.”
The first step in this process, which began the day after he was elected in December 2023, was to find a new general manager for France Galop in order to replace Olivier Delloye, who had announced his decision to return to Arqana as its CEO.
Saint-Seine’s choice was Elie Hennau who, like Delloye, is the son of a trainer and also an accomplished amateur jockey and the winner of 95 races.
Hennau is Belgian and, having started his career with the accountancy giant Deloittes, moved on to work for 20 years for AXA, the insurance company based initially in Belgium and then in Paris.
Henri Pouret, a long-time France Galop executive, was promoted to be his deputy.
THE NEW TEAM announced its objective in June to “put racing back into the hearts of the French by making its clients, spectators, gamblers and owners its primary concern.”
This may seem to be a relatively innocuous aim, but it marks a shift in attitudes as in the past France Galop has never actively promoted or even shown much interest in those who bet on racing, except, of course, when it came to receiving its share of betting turnover.
“I want to change the conservation,” explains Saint-Seine. “For me there are two groups who form the economic basis for our activity, the owners who pay for the horses, and those who bet on horseracing who through the French system of the PMU monopoly, allow France Galop to offer the best prize-money in Europe.
“It is, of course, in everyone’s interest that we have a programme of racing that attracts as many horses and runners as possible. We work together with the trotting administration on the board of the PMU with this aim.”
Equidia is part of this partnership, too. Equidia shows more live racing than any other European racing channel and now, through its online site, it is possible watch more or less all of the 18,000 Flat, jumping and trotting races run in France every year live.
“I think,” Saint Seinte continues, “the system of racing in France is a very balanced one. Our pyramid has a broad base and yet at the top the selection is still working as it should. At France Galop we are aware of this as we have been paying out more in premiums to the owners and breeders of French-bred horses.
“France has attracted some relatively new and significant owners and breeders such as Alain Jathiere, the Cheboub family and Yeguada Centurion, and I am well aware that every time we see a horse run it represents years of work and investment.
“People such as these start by buying a horse or a piece of one and then end up with a stud farm and supporting people across every sector of the business. I see this as a sign of confidence in the French system.”
For Saint-Seine the way to bring racing back into the hearts of the public is to find out more about the desires and requirements of these two main groups of clients.
“France Galop’s previous team had done a lot of the groundwork with its owners’ group, which had set out to discover what owners are looking for, how we can we work to recruit new ones and keep those we have already.
“And the same is true for those who bet on horseracing – we need to know what they want in addition to competitive quality racing in order to maintain turnover.”
He adds: “The first four months of the year were a difficult period, but, happily, May was a better month and we can look forward to the future.”
Seven months into his four-year mandate SaintSeine sounds as enthusiastic as ever, even if he admits it has taken more of his time than he was expecting.
“France Galop is a big organisation, we have some 370 employees many of whom work in our training centres all over the country. For the last Jeuxdi [the Thursday evening meetings at ParisLongchamp which have proved so successful] all of them were invited and many came which was a wonderful convivial event.”
As anyone, with even a casual interest in the country, knows administration in France is complicated and often full of conflicts and upheavals.
If French racing is going through a period of calm, then this can only be a positive sign for those responsible for its administration.
