Daryz, Calandagan and the Thursday Evenings Bringing French Racing to Life

[Wandering Eyes]

Yesterday's piece with a selection of leaders in the French bloodstock community concluded with a teaser regarding the future stallion career of Daryz, the winner of last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for Francis-Henri Graffard and the Aga Khan Studs.

Of course, there is a lot of water to pass under the bridge, and more Group 1s to be won, before a decision has to be made, but it will be a conversation all the same as to whether Daryz takes up residence at the Aga Khan family's Haras de Bonneval in France or Gilltown Stud in Ireland next year.

When the former opened its doors last week for La Route des Etalons, it was suggested to Pierre Gasnier, manager of the French studs for the Aga Khan family, that Haras de Bonneval could have a shiny new attraction to show off when these two days come around in 2027, in the event that the champion colt remains in France for his stud career.

“That's if he does,” Gasnier teased in reply with a smile. “He's the first Arc winner by Sea The Stars and maybe he could be the one to take the mantle of his sire [at Gilltown] – you never know.”

Gasnier went on to stress that such a decision is still a long way off, but clearly the possibility exists that Daryz could follow in the footsteps of his sire by retiring to Gilltown once his racing days are done. Indeed, there is a precedent there already as, before Daryz, the last three-year-old colt to carry the Aga Khan colours to victory in the Arc was Dalakhani in 2003, and he too took up stallion duties in Ireland the following year.

Twenty years on from Dalakhani, French breeders could have been forgiven for thinking 'at last' when it was announced that the unbeaten Arc winner Ace Impact would be joining the burgeoning stallion roster at the Chehboub family's Haras de Beaumont for 2024, making him the first winner of France's greatest race to retire to stud in the country since Sagamix arrived at Haras du Logis for the 2001 season.

It's an opportunity which the domestic industry has seemingly grabbed with both hands, as well as many other breeders from all parts of the globe.

“When you're retiring a horse of that calibre, my job is made slightly easier because mares came from all over the world for him,” said Haras de Beaumont's Mathieu Alex. “We're very, very pleased with the numbers he has covered, as well as the quality of the mares he has covered from all over the world. Now, it's up to him, but we're going to support him strongly again in year three.”

Closer to hand, 2026 will be an important year for another Haras de Beaumont resident in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Champion Stakes winner Sealiway, who is set to be represented by his first runners in the coming months.

“The trainers have been very positive about them,” Alex said of Sealiway's first batch of juveniles. “It's early yet, but they look precocious and they look fast. Time will tell, but for Haras de Beaumont, which is a young enterprise, and also for France, we'd love to be able to have a very good stallion one day.”

He continued, “We need a couple of good stallions coming through in France, but some serious racehorses have retired to stud here recently. We have to wait for them to have their first runners, but a few of them will become good stallions, I'm sure. It's a very, very competitive game, but here in France we're well able to breed horses and train horses. Of course, we have to be concerned about the situation with the prize-money, but we have the product.”

Certainly, few would argue with that final sentiment following what was a hugely successful season for French-trained horses on the international stage in 2025. One such success story was Sosie (Sea The Stars) who, after winning the Prix Ganay and Prix d'Ispahan on home soil, ended the campaign by providing trainer Andre Fabre with a record fourth win in the Hong Kong Vase.

A couple of weeks earlier, Fabre had forfeited one of his many other records when the brilliant Calandagan (Gleneagles) won the Japan Cup to provide compatriot Francis Graffard with a 14th top-level victory of the calendar year – beating Fabre's previous benchmark for a French trainer of 13.

The aforementioned Daryz and Prix de Diane and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Gezora (Almanzor) were among the others to represent the Graffard stable with distinction in 2025, but there is no mistaking who is the current poster boy of French racing. A place at stud might be out of the reckoning for the gelded Calandagan but, for his many followers, there will be the joy of hopefully getting to see him race many more times.

“He has been a very good flagbearer for the French industry,” Gasnier said of the Aga Khan Studs homebred, who was last week crowned Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2025, having also beaten a number of top-notchers in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and Champion Stakes.

“He was bred and raised in Ireland, but he's obviously trained in Chantilly, where we have all of the facilities to train top-class horses. We have the training centres, we have the racetracks and we have the people. This year, we saw it, internationally.”

On the experience of following Calandagan to Tokyo, Gasnier conceded that, despite himself, he couldn't help but feel like the team there was representing France and the tricolour flag.

He added, “You have to feel a bit like this, even though, personally, I'm not really a patriotic person. You know that you have all of the French people watching that horse performing – the Calandafans. The Japanese people are following him now as well, so he's very important for racing because he will stay in training and the people will continue to support him very strongly.”

When Calandagan does eventually bring the curtain down on his racing career, there is little doubt that his presence at Haras de Bonneval would put even more numbers on the door during the La Route des Etalons, should the team wish to have him on the ground as an equine ambassador for the longstanding excellence of the Aga Khan Studs.

Put simply, anything that can increase engagement with the sport and its participants is worth exploring at this stage, in order to try and reverse the worrying trend of falling turnover on the PMU. It brings us back to the same age-old debate that we hear in Britain and Ireland, about the need to find ways to bring more people into the sport, especially among the younger demographic.

“We went from six million to three million gamblers in France,” reiterated Nicolas de Chambure whilst welcoming visitors to his Haras d'Etreham on Friday morning. “We have to do everything we can to attract the public to the races and to come to the farms. Every little event that can help to promote our industry as a whole is always a good thing.

“These two days [La Route des Etalons] are hopefully a little bit of a help in that sense. We should be working a lot closer to the PMU and they should be promoting these two days. We would be more than happy to have some of the gamblers coming to see these champion horses and getting to know a little bit more about what we do.”

“The whole idea of this weekend is that we open our doors to everybody,” added Gasnier on a similar theme. “We make sure that we invite all of our neighbours, so that everybody that wants to be here can come and learn a bit more about what we do.

“France Galop has done a very good job as well with the initiative bringing horses into the city in Paris, and it works. We saw more people going racing in Deauville during the summer, and it was the same at Longchamp, so you have to be hopeful. Of course, you have to worry about the betting, but it will follow if people continue to go racing more often – it will.”

On the subject of attendances, there has most definitely been cause for optimism in that regard. In 2025, the five racecourses managed by France Galop – Auteuil, Chantilly, Deauville, ParisLongchamp and Saint-Cloud – welcomed a record 438,000 spectators, an increase of 8% on the 2024 figure.

One initiative which has consistently succeeded in bringing in large audiences is the JeuXdi events at ParisLongchamp. This year, they will take place every Thursday between May 7 and July 9, bringing together live racing and DJ sets which get underway at the close of the card and go on well into the night.

Another evening fixture which takes on a similar format is La Garden Party, which takes place every year on or around Bastille Day, with the Grand Prix de Paris headlining the action on the racecourse.

“It's one of the best nights in Paris during the summer,” added Gasnier. “France Galop and Longchamp are doing a big party every Thursday evening, and it works. I heard recently of a young lady who came into the industry only because she used to go racing to follow her favourite influencer, and she will be one of many stories like that.”

Another man with first-hand experience of one of the most popular evenings in the French racing calendar is trainer Henri-Francois Devin, who saddled New Ground to finish third in last year's Grand Prix de Paris and now reports the son of New Bay to be a different horse after being gelded during the winter.

On Saturday, Devin was required at his family's historic Haras du Mesnil to assist his mother, Antonia, in welcoming the steady stream of visitors who came in to see the three stallions – Bay Bridge, Doctor Dino and Telecaster.

“The success of these events is very encouraging,” Devin said of the JeuXdi evenings. “They have attracted large crowds of young people, many of whom had little previous connection with racing.

“What is interesting is that the sport itself did not change – the races remained competitive and authentic. What changed was the experience around it: timing, atmosphere and accessibility. It shows that the younger generations are open to racing when it is presented as a social and cultural event, not solely as a betting product. This model deserves to be developed further.”

He continued, “On Sunday, Vincennes welcomed 50,000 spectators for the biggest trotting race in the world, the Prix d'Amerique. Attendances are genuinely increasing, yet PMU turnover is declining. As with the JeuXdi events, it is now possible to attract more people to racecourses than in the past.

“However, the racing authorities and the PMU have not done enough work on the second part of their mission: turning spectators into bettors and racing enthusiasts. On the racecourse itself and between race meetings – media, social networks, etc. – the effort made to convert these spectators is far too limited.”

If there is one person whose efforts cannot be faulted when it comes to trying to reinvigorate the industry, then Benoit Jeffroy must be high on the list. As well as managing the stresses that come with launching a new stallion operation, the Haras de Castillon boss reported that he's also been bending the ear of his fellow stallion masters in an attempt to launch a new bonus system, similar to those that already exist in Australia and Ireland.

In Ireland, for example, the IRE Incentive scheme, launched in 2021, awards a bonus of €10,000 to the owners of Irish-bred winners of selected races across the Flat and National Hunt programmes in both Ireland and Britain. The owners of each eligible winner – those carrying the (Ire) suffix and who are Foal Levy compliant – have until the end of the following year to spend their bonus on Irish-breds at Irish sales.

“For a year now, I've been trying to work with other stallion owners and I'm trying to find a system like they have in Australia and like they have in Ireland,” Jeffroy explained. “The people standing stallions would put money into a pool and that could go towards bonuses that have to be spent on purchasing yearlings or foals to dynamise the market.”

He added, “It's so important as stallion owners to help to dynamise everything – we have to be leaders. So far I've failed, but I'm working hard on it. You have to convince everybody and everybody has to agree to the project, but I think it's our responsibility as well to help as much as we can.”

It would be fair to say that Jeffroy lacks nothing in endeavour, although he himself joked that some have questioned his sanity in opting to launch a new stallion base in such challenging times for the industry.

“I think the English saying is 'God loves a trier,'” he laughed, before striking a more serious note when it comes to the need for the next generation to step up to the plate.

“But if I don't do it, or Pauline Chehboub [of Haras de Beaumont], or Nicolas de Chambure, then who will? We will see what happens, but I think we have to try.”

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