Four Rossi Family Members Arrested In France

[Wandering Eyes]

Group 1-winning trainers Frederic, Cedric and Charley Rossi were arrested in Marseille on Tuesday morning along with Charley's wife, the jockey Jessica Marcialis, according to a report by Le Parisien newspaper. 

The four were among a larger group of around 15 people from the Marseille and Paris regions, including vets, to be placed in police custody as part of an ongoing investigation into equine doping and forgery. Following the arrests, police have been searching the Calas training centre near Marseille, working on information gathered from surveillance and phone-taping over a number of months.

The Rossi family has long been at the forefront of racing in the south of France. Frederic's father Henri Rossi was a leading jockey before becoming a trainer. Frederic and his elder brother Jacques both followed in his footsteps. Jacques, who is no longer training, is president of the Societe Hippique de Marseille, which oversees racing at the two local courses of Borely and Pont-de-Vivaux as well as the Calas training centre, which is home to 27 trainers. Jacques is the father of Cedric and Charley Rossi.

The family has gained wider prominence in world racing in recent years. In 2020, Frederic Rossi, who also has a satellite stable in Chantilly, trained his first Classic winner, the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches victrix Dream And Do (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), as well as G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Sealiway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}). The Arc meeting of 2020 proved a highly successful one for the family, as Charley Rossi landed the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac with Tiger Tanaka (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}), handing Jessica Marcialis a memorable first Group 1 win in the saddle. Third in that same race was Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}), trained by his brother, who would go on to star on the same weekend this year when winning the G1 Prix de l'Opera. 

On Saturday, Rougir topped the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale in Deauville when sold to Peter Brant's White Birch Farm at a record-breaking €3 million. Shortly before that, the 2-year-old Purplepay (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}), also trained by Cedric Rossi, fetched €2 million to race on in America for Lael Stable. 

Dream And Do has not raced since her Classic success but was sold privately last year to Katsumi Yoshida of Japan's Northern Farm. Tiger Tanaka went through the ring at last week's Tattersalls December Mares' Sale, selling for 450,000gns. 

Sealiway was switched from the stable of Frederic to Cedric Rossi this summer and went on to run fifth in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe before winning the G1 QIPCO Champion S. He remains in training and may be aimed at the Saudi Cup in February. 

Frederic Rossi is currently lying in fifth in the French trainers' table for 2021 with 94 winners, and Cedric Rossi is in tenth place. 

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