haras de la gousserie
Looking forward to the 2021 French Classics Jocelyn de Moubray interviews Pauline Chehboub of Haras de la Gousserie, the owner of the top-rated French juvenile Sealiway, 41 horses in training for 2021 and with a new stallion at the farm this spring
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HE GREEN AND YELLOW COLOURS of the Haras de la Gousserie have become familiar to everybody who follows French racing. The racing and breeding operation of the Chehboub brothers Kamel and Bouzid has grown into one of the most significant operations in the country with around 41 horses in training and, in recent years, a growing number of high-class performers. At the beginning of a new season their string includes two of France’s most likely Classic winners – Sealiway, France’s champion two year-colt and the winner of last autumn’s Group 1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardère on Arc weekend, and the filly Rougir. She was also a Group winner and finished third in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at ParisLongchamp on Arc day. The Chehboub family has made some excellent decisions to put themselves in this position – they have enjoyed some luck too – but, aside from their own choices, the rise of Haras de la Gousserie is a reflection of the way French racing has changed in recent years. A sport which for a long time revolved around Paris and its training centres has evolved into a national sport with excellence and high-class horses all over the country, while a new generation of French owners have built important stables and enjoyed plenty of success at the highest level.
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The year 2020 was, among many other things, the year in which Marseille became one of the centres of the French racing business. Among the top ten trainers in France by wins three – Frederic Rossi, Christophe Escuder and Jerome Reynier – are based at the Calas training centre (of the others only two, Andre Fabré and Francis Graffard, are in Chantilly). Two of the top ten owners, Jean Claude Seroul and the Haras de la Gousserie, have the majority of their horses based at the centre. There has been racing in Marseille for more than 150 years and Marseille Borely, along with Marseille Pont de Vivaux, one of the city’s two tracks, was completely rebuilt only 20 years ago. However, until recently racing in Marseille was seen as very provincial and of little interest to those not directly involved, particularly when viewed from Longchamp or Chantilly. The training centre is situated about 20 miles from the city on the way to Aixen-Provence and was first established in the 1970s, but there has been significant investment in the stables and the training tracks and this, together with new trainers and owners prepared to invest, has seen its profile transformed. The Chehboub brothers grew up in Marseille without any direct involvement
Sealiway heading out to work at Keeneland when in the US for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last year. He finished the year as the top-rated French-trained two-year-old of 2020
