philippe decouz
Racing goals
Philippe Decouz is enjoying training for World Cup star French footballer Antoine Griezmann
Trainer Philippe Decouz (left) with owner Antoine Griezmann (centre), who managed to get some time at the races ahead of the World Cup campaign
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meeting last September set up through a mutual friend gave Philippe Decouz the opportunity all young trainers dream of, writes Jocelyn de Moubray. For the first time he had been put in touch with a potential client who wanted to buy some horses and was prepared to invest some money looking for quality. Decouz was in the middle of his sixth season training and was enjoying his best season to date. He ended 2017 with 19 wins, a total which he has gradually built up since starting off with eight winners in 2012. At the end of 2011, Decouz started out as a trainer with two horses in his care at France Galop’s newly opened training centre at Chazey-sur-Ain, which is about 20 minutes
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“Alain believed that having a racehorse would help his son step out of the pressure cooker of football from time to time and have a chance to think about something else
drive from Lyon’s Saint Exupery airport and TGV station. He won stakes races and twice came close to winning a Group race. In 2014, Imperiator was beaten two short heads when third behind Charm Spirit in the Group 3 Prix Djebel and the following year Do Re Mi Fa Sol finished third in the Group 2 Prix de Malleret, closing fast but still a short head and a head behind at the line. Decouz had bought Imperiator as a
