Blake Fitzpatrick talks to French training legend Thierry Duvaldestin while dual Prix d'Amerique champ Ready Cash looks on.
Top Aussie reinsman Blake Fitzpatrick has secured a dream drive today at Vincennes during Prix d’Amerique week.
“It will be a once in a lifetime, something you will never forget,” says the New South Wales horseman Fitzpatrick who is in France with Victorian trainer Ross Graham and trotting owner and stable client Pat Driscoll.
The trio are on a whistle stop fact finding tour of France taking in some of the top training and breeding estabishments and a week of some of the word’s best trotting action which culminates in the Prix d’Amerique on Sunday.
Fitzpatrick will be aboard Visconti du Home who is trained by France based Swede Anders Lindqvist in the Prix de Mons, a race for 5YOs for 22000 euros over 2850m and race 5 on the Thursday programme at the Hippodrome de Paris.
Fitzpatrick has been blown away by the popularity of the sport in France.
“It is amazing how much publicity the sport receives. The trainers and drivers are like rock stars and the horses. Completely different to what we are used to.”
Although Fitzpatrick is a group one winning trainer and driver in Australia, he admitted the thought of driving in the Temple du Trot was a daunting one.
“It’s a different style of racing and driving, especially the starts. They are completely different to what we are used to. It’s going to be difficult that is for sure,’ Fitzpatrick said.
“So I’m quite anxious but It’ll be a great experience, just to say I’ve driven at VIncennes It has a lot of history and a very famous track. I can’t wait.”
Fitzpatrick has visited some of the very best training and breeding establishments in Normandy over the past few days and has been observing first hand how superstar trotters such as Ready Cash, The Best Madrik and Un Mec d’Heripre are put through their paces.
“I’ve been very lucky we have met racing royalty over here,” says Fitzpatrick. “On the first day we spoke with Thierry Duvalsdestin and then Mr Jean-Etienne Dubois today and we saw Fabrice Solouy work his horses yesterday. We really learnt a lot, they have been very welcoming.
“There are probably no one better to get advice from and that gives me a head start.”
And the New South Wales horseman was also impressed by Vincennes when he visited it last Saturday to view the Prix de Cornulier.
“The track has a lot of history around it and is quite unique. Firstly the facilities are first rate. As far as the track goes it is quite unique in that it is undulating, beautiful 2000m track with the starting shuts and the smaller track on the inside, the surface is the most appealing part of the track for me - it is the perfect track for horses.
“It will be a once in a lifetime, something you will never forget.”
He has also been absorbing some very valuable insights from some of the very best trotting and breeding establishments such as the Haras de Sassy, Haras de Ginai, Haras de la Perriere and Haras de la Sauvageres.
One of the things which really stuck in his mind besides the professionalism of each outfit was the attention to the horse’s health and wellbeing and most importantly the mind and attitude of the horse.
“Every trainer we have spoken to has made mention of the horse’s state of mind,” says Fitzpatrick.
“It is shown by the variety of training they have that it is obviously a big thing. I’d say the majority of the horses are trained from the paddocks here. Everything is kept very natural for them.
“Their training methods, the horse’s mind is kept fresh because every day they are doing something different.”
And he has been struck by the calm nature of the racehorses, many of whom are left entire, with so few top opportunities for geldings in France.
“Their temperament is just amazing really. I have never seen anything like it.
“The stallions are like a quiet old gelding, they are very well mannered and I think it has something with the way they are kept. They are just kept out in paddocks and very natural- they don’t have them locked up 24/7 they are treated like horses.”
And the other thing he has been impressed with is the emphasis on interval training and he has lapped up the candid exchange of ideas and pointers from the likes of J-E Dubois and Thierry Duvaldestin.
“ I will be experimenting with that when I get home. I find the shoeing of the trotters here very interesting as well. A lot race barefoot, and the different types of shoes they wear, it’s completely different to what I am used. They are natural trotters.”
