Racing On the Riviera

by Alix Choppin 

America has Florida. Europe has Cagnes-sur-Mer, a sun-bathed, seaside venue nested in an area that legitimately prides itself with offering stunning landscapes, fantastic food…and a winter race meeting. 

Located just a stone’s throw from Promenade des Anglais in Nice, the Hippodrome de la Cote d’Azur is a unique element in France’s incredibly rich fabric of racecourses. The newcomer can only be awestruck by the track’s picturesque backdrop: the Mediterranean on one side, the snow-capped Southern Alps on the other. The racecourse operates virtually every day from December to March, as five weeks of competition over jumps are followed by six dedicated to the flat, with harness fixtures run alternatively over the three months. 

The flat race meeting includes five listed races, some of which can serve as early trials en route to the Classics. This fact is commemorated by the Prix Policeman, a 2000 meter listed contest for 3-year-olds that bears the name of the 1980 G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner, who started his Classic campaign with a pair of wins at Cagnes-sur-Mer. The feat was replicated in 2012, when the plebeian-bred Saonois (Fr) (Chichicastenango {Fr}) scored in the Prix Policeman four months before a rags-to-riches success in the French Derby, and this Saturday sees the first running of the Prix Saonois, a newly-created listed event for older horses. 

Two of the 2015 meeting’s highlights have been run so far this year: the Grand Prix de la Riviera Cote d’Azur, which went the way of German-based Jean-Pierre Carvalho’s 4-year-old Kerosin (Ger) (Tertullian), and the Prix de la Californie for 3-year-olds, which was won by Francois Rohaut’s Growing Glory (Fr) (Orpen), carrying the silks of Spanish owner Safsaf Canarias. 

As the first venue across Europe to host winter racing–initially exclusively on turf, and since 2000 also on synthetic–the Cagnes-sur-Mer meeting has always carried a distinctively international flavor, as stalwart supporter John Hammond recalled. 

“I first went to Cagnes in the early 1980s, when I was working for a British trainer by the name of Patrick Haslam,” said the British-born, Chantilly-based conditioner. “I was sent down there for six weeks with four horses, driving the lorry when I had never been to France before–it was quite an adventure. We left Newmarket in a snow storm, had to make two stop-overs due to the icy conditions, but we had the time of our lives,” he fondly remembered. “The British colony down there was particularly big at the time. John Dunlop had been running horses at Cagnes-sur-Mer since the mid 1970s, and the likes of Robert Armstrong, Simon Dow, James Bethell and Reg Hollinshead followed. Charlie Milbank [trainer of Policeman among others] was also a great supporter, and of course owners absolutely loved coming down. The locals were very welcoming and many a long lunch was had in a number of the family-run restaurants hidden away up in ‘old Cagnes’, the 11th century hill-top part of the town which took you back in time.” 

The many charms of Cagnes-sur-Mer are hard to resist, as they are a rather unique combination at a time of year when the Northern part of Europe is more often than not wrapped in fog and hard frost. As Hammond puts it, “Where else–in Europe–can you be sitting outside in January, looking at the sun bouncing off the Mediterranean sea, quaffing a dozen oysters, while still being at work and winning races?” 

A more recent, yet particularly fervent, convert is Newmarket-based trainer Gay Kelleway. Her father, Paul Sr, had won the Prix Policeman, yet when she took to training following a glittering career in the saddle, Gay’s first idea of a destination for winter racing was Dubai. It was only in late 2011 that the International Racing Bureau contacted her and suggested the listed races in Cagnes-sur-Mer as suitable targets for her highly-rated middle-distance performer Swing Alone (Ire) (Celtic Swing). 

Although the horse only picked up a place from three runs there, connections were hooked. 

“I came down for the big day and was treated so well, and my owners loved it too,” Kelleway remembered. 

“Obviously, prize money is a great part of the appeal–my owners couldn’t believe it the first time” she added. “The following year, I mentioned Cagnes-sur-Mer to one of my owners, [Hong Kong-based] Robert Ng. He knew nothing about the place but told me, “buy me a horse.” So I bought Holy Warrior (Ire) and we came and won the Prix Policeman.” 

Kelleway is now a regular on the Riviera–she secured seven boxes for this year’s meeting, the largest contingent of all foreign trainers–and the French purses are not the only reason for it. “I’m a great believer in luck,” she said. “I’m superstitious with jockeys, with racecourses, etc. Cagnes is one of my lucky places.” 

She added, “There are so many positives about being here; It’s like a working holiday. I used to be champion all-weather trainer in the UK, but it is all so tiring there. You get caught in traffic, meetings get cancelled, you’re running in the evening and getting home at silly hours. I’ve been training 23 years now and I’ve got to a stage where I try to combine training with enjoying my racing.” 

Although Kelleway admitted taking regular trips back to Newmarket to oversee the rest of her string, she is adamant that this is no big constraint, with Easyjet putting on regular flights between Nice–the airport is only 10 minutes from the racecourse–and Stansted airport. 

However effortless though, the whole operation comes at a cost and requires some thorough preparation. 

“You can’t knock the quality of the 3-year-olds who compete at the meeting,” Kelleway explained. “You must be ready to drop down in class a bit in order to get a chance.” 

Experience is the key to making the most of the venture’s financial potential. 

“Now that I’ve come here several years, I know how to select the right horses and the trip is always profitable or at least pays for itself,” Kelleway said. “Horses love it here, particularly the older ones. It’s a nice of change of scenery and the weather sweetens them up. But you’ve got to be aware that you can’t really prep horses here. I try and give them a couple of runs in the UK in order to bring them fit. Then I give them a rest until the summer.” 

Commercial opportunities are another asset. 

“Cagnes is a good place to sell a horse,” Kelleway added. 

The last, yet definitely not the least, of the reasons the Newmarket resident keeps returning to the Riviera lies not so much with the four-legged individuals but with the people who surround them. 

“I’ve met plenty of nice people here,” she said. “I’ve now got a deal in place with [Chantilly-based trainer] Marine Henry. I leave a couple of horses with her all year-round, we race them and try to sell them on. Everyone at the racecourse is also incredibly helpful, and the owners get well looked after.” 

Indeed, extending the warmest of welcomes to owners and trainers from overseas sits high on the list of priorities of racecourse Chairman Francois Forcioli-Conti. The lawyer by trade has been at the helm since 2001 and has made a resolute effort of boosting the winter meeting’s international appeal. 

“Cagnes racecourse always had an international dimension,” he said. “British-trained horses started coming over in the post-war era–the Queen even had runners here,” he noted. “In the 1990s, with the development of all-weather tracks around Europe, the influx of international horses started dwindling, and when I was voted as Chairman, I decided we should try and boost it again. Competition for the allocation of boxes at the winter meeting is always harsh, so I made a rule of saving 10 to 15% of them for foreign-trained horses.” 

‘Harsh competition’ for boxes is a bit of an understatement. There are 455 boxes available for the meeting, and Forcioli-Conti receives over 1000 applications every year. 

“It is a shame we can’t accommodate more horses, but we really can’t stretch the stabling and training capacity any further,” he said. “However, we are pleased to see that our efforts with foreign trainers are paying off.” 

Indeed, the number of horses traveling from overseas to winter on the Riviera has risen steadily over the last decade. In 2007, foreign trainers were allocated 29 boxes, or 6% of the total. In 2014, they had 59 (13%), and this winter, 42 (9%). The largest contingent comes from the UK, with Reg Hollinshead’s son Andrew, John Jenkins and Ian Williams joining their female compatriot, while other represented countries are Germany, Italy, Belgium and Austria. 

“Our whole region has an international vocation,” stresses Forcioli-Conti. “We operate on a truly outstanding site, which has exercised its power of attraction over the entire world for centuries. As part of the mandate given to us by the local authorities [which own the racecourse], it is important that our service is in step with the region’s highest standards, and this means for our racing to remain open and cosmopolitan.” 

There is no denying that, even on non-racing days, Cagnes-sur-Mer and its surroundings are well worth a visit. Think Nice, Cannes, Monaco, St Paul de Vence. Picasso, Matisse, Miro, Chagall, Fernand Leger. For many an owner, this provides the ideal icing on the already delicious cake that is the experience of having a runner at Cagnes-sur-Mer. No one tells it better than Jocelyn Targett, also known as Darley’s advertising wizard, who made three return trips to Nice airport this winter to cheer on his homebred Montalbano (GB). The Christophe Ferland trainee broke his maiden and was placed twice, collecting €21,150 in the process. 

“Win, lose or draw, Cagnes-sur-Mer is one of my favorite racecourses,” said Targett. “I went there for the first time in 2008 to watch one of our horses trained by Mario Hofer,” he recalled. “I flew out on the morning of the race, took a bus to the track, ate a croissant soaking up the sunshine in a cafe on the beach, had a boozy lunch with John Hammond, whom I bumped into by chance, won the race, wandered up the road to Renoir’s house [he wasn’t in], and then met up with my wife Judy, who’d had to take a later flight. We celebrated for a week!” 

No surprise to hear that the couple were thrilled to be given a return ticket this year with Montalbano. 

“We’ve had the most terrific, enjoyable, hedonistic start to the year,” Targett said. “Fueled on crisp Provencal rose, you’re watching your horse slip clear, just the Mediterranean beyond, with the snowy peaks of the Pre-Alps rising behind the grandstand. An intoxicating fantasy-come-true.” 

To such extent that the winter meeting is identified as a priority aim for the couple’s colorbearers, the trainer is handed a rather specific brief. 

Targett quipped, “Christophe [Ferland] knows our predilections well and ensures Montalbano runs on or close to a Monday so we can spend a day in the antiques market on the Cours Saleya, the heart of the Nice old town,” he said. 

Targett also pointed out the Le Safari, Luc Salsedo, and L’Acchirado as must-visit restaurants. For museum enthusiasts, he noted the Musee Matisse and Musee des Beaux Arts as standouts. He noted the ideal evening is capped by “a first glass of Muscadet on a bar on the beach, lit by the last of the sun as it slides behind Cap d’Antibes. [It is] corny, but always a winner. [It is] heaven, especially in January when it’s bright and sunny, and just about everyone is grinning from ear to ear.”