25 revealing an outbreak of equine flu at a yard in Lamorlaye which forms part of the wider Chantilly training center No details have been given as to the identity of the trainer nor as to the number of cases or whether any infected horse had raced in recent days.  France's Réseau d'Epidémio-Surveillance en Pathologie Equine—which monitors the spread of contagious disease among the wider horse population—recorded its first cases in December of last year though they were restricted to riding schools and other equestrian establishments France continued to allow runners from other European countries to train and race during the recent outbreak at the yards of Donald McCain and Simon Crisford—cases which led to the British Horseracing Authority suspending racing for six days.  During that time extra biosecurity requirements were introduced by France Galop for racehorses traveling into the country from other European jurisdictions. The only recorded case within the thoroughbred population in France was isolated to a single mare at a breeding establishment in Normandy Feb Sign up for BloodHorse Daily But the fact that there is now a confirmed infection in an area where more than 2,000 horses are trained is bound to be a source of major concern.  The RESPE is yet to give details of the Lamorlaye case while France Galop's statement said simply that "the trainer and their vet have taken precautions to control the infection." For more European racing, sales, and bloodstock news, visit RacingPost.com Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker These old English graves in the Cemetière Bois Bourillon have clearly seen better days Photo: John GilmoreThe Prix de Diane at Chantilly on Sunday is one of the highlights not only of the French racing year the vast pelouse area in the centre of the track also features live music to get the 30,000-plus crowd in the right mood before racing and a disco finale after the event be aware of the incredible and sometimes painful history behind it all in particular of the people who made the race, the track and the Chantilly training centre the spectacular reality it is today The traditional Prix de Diane link to fashion and glamour is a magnet that always attracts thousands from all social classes to the famous racecourse with the dramatic chateau backdrop For those who can be distracted to watch the racing this year’s event looks an intriguing affair with English trainer John Gosden’s Dansili filly Shutter Speed generally 4-6 favourite after winning the G3 Musidora at York last month and having Gosden’s subsequent Epsom Oaks winner Enable back in third at Newbury in April Sistercharlie looked impressive for trainer Henri Pantall when coming with a late run in April’s G3 Prix Penelope at Saint-Cloud to beat fellow entry Listen In a shade comfortably over 2,100 metres But the second favourite (as short as 9-4) is the spectacularly bred Terrakova, a daugher of the world’s top-ranked sire out of the three-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova the filly is trained Freddie Head for the Wertheimer brothers and first time out this season on May 23 posted an easy victory in the G3 Prix Cleopatra at Saint-Cloud Terrakova looks to posses more stamina than her mother who was third to Zarkava in the 2008 Diane and a fine fourth in the French 1,000 Guineas It looks as if the extra 500 metres on Sunday will suit her a large section of the crowd will be oblivious to the fact that the racecourse owes its very existence to the pioneer British trainers stable and ground staff who were first brought over from England in the 1830s The potential for a racecourse on the lush turf in front of the Duc d’Aumale’s Chateau was first noticed by Queen Victoria’s cousin The first race was run in 1834 and two years later came the Prix du Jockey Club The Diane (the French Oaks)  followed seven years later The early pioneer racing families - Carter Palmer and Wetting - quickly established themselves with stables and soon others They quickly had the famous forest gallops built nearby set up training centres in the area and ground staff designed the racecourse that everybody enjoys to this day Their descendants helped establish France as a major racing nation The town and the nearby training areas of Lamorlaye and Gouvieux owe a debt of gratitude to the British for establishing a flourishing racing industry which today has over 100 trainers and around 2,500 horses in training the prize-giving ceremony will take place on the racecourse in front of the winning post The representative of sponsor Longines and France Galop and local dignitaries will be there to have their pictures taken for all the media to see … while the memory of those who made it all possible is decaying In the Cemetière Bois Bourillon not far from the railway station is a section dedicated to the early British racing families and their descendants Many of the graves are in a poor state after years of neglect During the First World War, 13 Englishman from racing families there were killed in action, including famous jockeys Alex Carter, Thomas R Carter and William Planner. Many British families left in a hurry just before the Germans arrived in June 1940 so it’s not surprising their descendants are not near at hand to look after the graves One or two graves currently display the sign Cette concession en Etat d’Abandon fait l’objet d’une procedure de reprise Veuillez vous addresser a la Mairie service Etat Civil (This concession is in a state of abandon and is undergoing a recovery procedure Please contact the relevant Town Hall service.) This is the situation at Thomas Hurst’s family grave trained the winners of the Diane in 1849 and 1851 with Vergogne and Hervine The grave has a beautiful design that should be preserved for posterity but the door to it is dilapidated and the whole thing is in appalling disrepair the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of the Chantilly Mairie (town council) which has been happy to publicise in tourist literature and local information the English racing heritage that made this provincial town what it is today but have not wanted to put their hands in their pocket to preserve all these ancient graves I sent a letter to the Mairie Adjoint (Deputy Mayor) M a fair number of the old graves still standing with around 45 different names of trainers’ and jockeys’ families from the 19th century may disappear in the next 20 or 30 years unless something is done to ensure the evidence of the town’s heritage will not just be confined to books there are plenty of new graves mixed with the old ones The Mairie’s policy is to try to find a relative when the concession runs out to renew it which costs €510 for a further 50 years If no relative is found or the grave is left in a state of abandon the Mairie finds an alternative solution in line with the law by re-selling the plot for a new grave the paths between the graves are kept spotless “The tombs of some of these families in the cemetery are in a bad situation but some of them are correctly entertained but we must also respect French laws in organizing cemeteries burials and acknowledge that they have been abandoned for decades.” I highlighted the gravity of the situation that racing pioneers from England who developed the sport in Chantilly and were buried in the Cemetière Bois Bourillon deserved a lot better than applying French graveyard rules and regulations can trace her racing family routes in France back five generations fled France in May/early June 1940 before the Germans arrived Her story of her grandparents’ plight which happened to many others at this time is a major reason why their heritage in the Bois Bourillon graveyard deserves better “I am directly descended from the Carters and Cunningtons in Chantilly and my mother [also born and brought up there] was one of those whose family fled at the last minute,” said McCartney “I remember my mum telling me how her father who was presented by King George V with an MC [Military Cross] in World War One for outstanding bravery when he was just 18 and enlisted in the SOE [Special Operations Executive in the British Secret Service] in World War Two and grandfather Elijah Cunnington had to get themselves legless before having to shoot their dogs just before they left and managed to sell or give away almost all their racehorses “The family then all set off on a perilous journey before boarding a sea passage from Bayonne [in South-west France] to England.” were not so lucky and ended up spending four years from July 1940 in internment camps - Drancy for the men and Vittel the women “My other great grandmother was quite old and was allowed to stay in Chantilly without being put into a camp,” said McCartney “As she had nursed German POWs during World War One at the Chemin des Dames she used this to her advantage to go round to her son-in-law’s property and persuade soldiers to let her pop in to get some belongings.” The family had left behind a beautiful house and stables and so many family memories “My grandparents’ property [which is still there with its stables] in Chantilly was commandeered by the Germans during occupation and just before the American troops arrived to liberate Chantilly [August 30 1944] they had a party and ended up burning the house down,” said McCartney “During the war years the family lived in York and sadly my great grandfather, Elijah Cunnington died there in 1943 (only comforted in the knowledge that he could be cremated with his ashes buried in his beloved Chantilly) and my grandfather just a few months after his return from a stressful few year in the SOE.  "I have been twice since I put my parents there in 2014 and they used to visit the Bois Bourillon cemetière every year but then we still had relations living there too so it was all part of visiting them.” After the war the family returned to Chantilly in 1945 to try to rebuild their life “Overcoming great financial difficulties had the property rebuilt and the family lived in rented accommodation till it was completed,” said McCartney “It was a very difficult situation as the French did give them some compensation but only after their own money had been spent which brought money in to feed the family and eventually they received a small pension from Richard Johnson’s period in the Army.” But eventually it just proved too difficult and costly to stay in France and the family had no choice but to return once again to England after previous generations of the racing family had been in France for more than 100 years “The family property and stables at 2 Avenue des Chartres was eventually sold in 1955 to Alec Head and exist to this day,” said McCartney “It was originally built by my great grandfather after his horse Cri De Guerre won the Grand Prix de Paris in 1928 His other major training successes were Massine in the 1924 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Mieuxce in the Prix du Jockey Club and Grand Prix de Paris 1936 Carolyn McCartney feels strongly about protecting the historic British section of the Bois Bourillon graveyard the Bois Bourillon is an incredibly important part of our history We have not one but five generations buried there of whom we are very proud To destroy the evidence of all that history would be disgraceful in my opinion So many descendants have moved to far-flung places around the world but don’t speak French which means they cannot maintain the plots even if they wanted to “I do know that many of my relatives from New Zealand and Australia still go to visit there when they travel to Europe I have never understood why some of these early trainers who put Chantilly on the map don’t appear to have any streets named after them.” The contact with the Mairie by myself and others in the English community connected to St Peter’s Church in Chantilly seems to have at least stirred some action The Mairie has now decided to do a full inventory of the English tombs and check the status of each tomb owner a group will meet the Mairie to discuss the possibilities of maintaining or restoring some of the graves and have new concessions to ensure this British heritage for future generations The key issues will be the question of financing restoration work and acquiring concessions and over what time scale in partnership with the Mairie As racegoers on Sunday set out in their finery to walk along that famous passage through the forest from the train station to the track they might like to spare a thought for those incredibly talented trainers jockeys and ground staff buried nearby who had the foresight to construct a fabulous racecourse build the forest training gallops and set up stables that made this town what it is today If there was one subject that could ever truly capture my attention at school it was the monster story that was Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime I’ve admittedly always been a ‘bad reader’ but outside of class I devoured books on the war as a teenager and still to this day there seems to be no end to its disturbing secrets buried beneath history’s hidden rocks I fell into another dark pool of World War II’s repressed footnotes by discovering the details of the Lebensborn breeding program … a story that I would only recommend for those who have that insuppressible desire to learn history’s most uncomfortable truths meaning “fount of life” was an SS-initiated program that encouraged anonymous births by unmarried “racially pure” women who were selected to breed with Nazi officers and secure the future of a “super race” for the German Reich The program expanded into several Nazi occupied countries including Norway resulting in a shameful post-war ostracism of surviving Lebensborn mothers and the mistreatment of their displaced children across Europe after Germany lost the war Frida Lyngstad of ABBA was a survivor of the Lebensborn An estimated 8,000 children were born in Lebensborn institutions in Germany up to 12,000 children in Norway and countless others across occupied countries where “super babies” had been selected become part of the German master race The most famous of the surviving Lebensborn children is Frida Lyngstad of the iconic Swedish pop band Norweigans were regarded by the Nazi regime as especially Aryan the head of the SS and the creator of the Lebensborn favoured Norwegian women for his perverted program and set up the majority of its institutions in Nazi occupied Norway To counteract falling birth rates in Germany leaders of the League of German Girls were also instructed to recruit young women with the potential to become good breeding partners for SS officers Young women who could prove their Aryan ancestry were given incentives for bearing Aryan children including financial support and privileged treatment in maternity homes it became a survival strategy during the war when their country was one of the poorest places in Europe they could also have the option of leaving or donating their children in the Lebensborn’s special homes where the child would receive special nutrition and an upbringing and education which reflected the Nazi way of thinking The Iron Cross award was given to the women who bore the most aryan children Due to destruction and widespread cover-up of Lebensborn records it cannot be confirmed whether young girls were forced to mate with Nazi officers despite strong suggestion that they were (sexual assault was almost official policy within the Third Reich) and recently discovered records show that “some SS men did sire children in Himmler’s Lebensborn program” I took the liberty of pulling up the definition of ‘sire’ : the male parent of an animal especially a stallion or bull kept for breeding membership of the Lebensborn stood at 8,000 Heinrich Himmler pictured with his daughter in 1938 in Berlin Heinrich Himmler had written the following to members of the SS: The organisation “Lebensborn e.V.” serves the SS leaders in the selection and adoption of qualified children The organisation “Lebensborn e.V.” is under my personal direction is part of the Race and Settlement Central Bureau of the SS It is the honorable duty of all leaders of the central bureau to become members of the organisation “Lebensborn e.V.” The application for admission must be filed prior to 23 September 1936 Relationships between German soldiers and Nordic women in occupied countries were strongly encouraged provided both parents were proven to be “racially valuable” The program also accepted women of Aryan descent who were already pregnant or had already given birth and were in need of aid About 60% of the mothers were unmarried and the Lebensborn allowed them to give birth secretly away from home without social stigma but not all were informed that their children would be sent abroad to Germany The first of more than 20 Lebensborn homes opened in 1936 the first institution abroad was opened in Norway a home was opened in the town of Lamorlaye in 1944 where an estimated 200 children were born The building (pictured above) now houses a branch of the Red Cross The Lebensborn facilities included an on-site orphanage and offered adoption services They were often established in confiscated houses and former nursing homes owned by Jews While the program initially excluded children born to foreign women and common (non-SS) soldiers for reasons of racial purity the Lebensborn later expanded into countries with Germanic populations where parents and children were usually examined by SS doctors before admission But in an even darker twist to the Lebensborn program the strict requirements of racial purity were practically abandoned altogether by Heinrich Himmler when he took his mission to unimaginable extremes… Nazis began kidnapping thousands of children regarded as “Aryan-looking” from foreign countries “It is our duty to take [the children] with us to remove them from their environment… either we win over any good blood that we can use for ourselves and give it a place in our people or we destroy this blood” The policy of the Lebensraum had essentially given birth to the Nazi ideology of German expansionism and the regime’s plan for the genocide and ethnic cleansing on a vast scale almost innocent welfare solution for struggling women How easily evil can disguise itself… A Nazi nurse shares the light rays as scientists try vainly to lighten the hair coloring of Super Race children An estimated 200,000 children were stolen from their parents in Poland Russia and several Eastern European regions for the purpose of ‘Germanization’ They were categorised into groups from the “most desirable” to the least Aryan-looking If they couldn’t be of use to help build Hitler’s master race they were discarded and sent off to concentration camps If a child was considered “acceptable” they would begin indoctrination spending time at ‘re-education camps’ before being fostered out to German families or boarding schools where they could become culturally German They were given new German names and forced to forget their birth parents and ancestry Any children who fought against their indoctrination or resisted All records of these mass kidnappings were destroyed in the final stages of the war which made it near impossible to locate and identify children or even know exactly how many were taken The Polish government has claimed that less than 15% of 10,000 children were returned to their biological parents Of the Norwegian children that were born into or indoctrinated under the Lebensborn program the Norwegian government was able to recover all but 80 after the war Local communities who had lived in starvation for most of the occupation sought revenge on both the mothers and children of the Nazi maternity homes where members had received the best treatment available The press reported on the unusually well-fed “super babies” that had received two baths a day ostracized and often sentenced to slave labour The “superior” children who had effectively become German under the Third Reich’s program were considered outcasts and placed in orphanages or even in insane asylums where they would be relentlessly bullied and abused The Norwegian government itself even attempted (unsuccessfully) to deport the Lebensborn children to Germany Sweden took in several hundred unwanted children from Norway including future ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad Her widowed Norwegian mother escaped persecution after the war and took Anni-Frid to Sweden where their personal history could not be traced a group of survivors brought a case before the European Court of Human Rights to fight the Norwegian government into admitting complicity in their mistreatment revealing shameful details of the program’s aftermath The case was dismissed with a compensation offering of £8,000 from the Norwegian government Associations have since been formed to help survivors identify their origins through documents administered by the International Tracing Service and the German Federal Archives There are so many facets of war that have been under-reported swept under the carpet and left out of the history books in large part due to the fact that we find them uncomfortable to talk about I consider this sort of taboo historical knowledge as further education; a most fundamental one that can help us identify dangerous patterns in society and recognise early on when history might be dangerously close to repeating itself Last Updated on April 6, 2017 by MessyNessy Get Evangelical Times delivered to your door Owing to the separation of church and state in France there are no departments of theology in French universities as it means that all the churches have had to maintain their own educational structures outside the state educational system Yet it can be a disadvantage as far as wider academic recognition is concerned In France today there are three Protestant faculties of theology the seminary of the Reformed Church of France formed when faculties at Paris and Montpellier joined together in the 1970s as the Protestant Institute of Theology This institution is modernistic and pluralistic in theology and reflects the general character of the ‘Reformed churches’ in France No truly evangelical or reformed thinker would be acceptable to them the Evangelical Faculty at Vaux-sur-Seine was founded in the 1960s to serve Evangelical and free churches there is the Faculty of Reformed Theology at Aix-en-Provence which has a confessional basis (French Confession of Faith) although its student body is inter-denominational It was established in 1974 to combat the theological liberalism rampant in the Reformed churches its influence on those churches has so far been slight there are several Evangelical Bible institutes in French-speaking Europe the main ones being located at Lamorlaye (European Bible Institute) negotiations are under way to unite Vaux and Nogent in an Evangelical Institute of Theology at a new location somewhere in the Paris area In recent years Evangelical seminaries and Bible institutes have suffered both a drop in their student numbers and financial difficulties Many churches entertain a low view of pastoral ministry Theological training is no longer a priority in Evangelical circles Students from charismatic backgrounds opt for ‘training’ in their own fast track ‘schools of disciples’ Fewer young people are receiving a call to the ministry perhaps due to fewer conversions and a decline of interest in Christian doctrine in the French university Christian Unions (which are often dominated by Pentecostal thinking) It is no exaggeration to say that the fragility of theological education in France is closely related to the weaknesses of the Protestant churches as a whole The situation has become even more complex in recent years Government controls have increased over all religious organisations which have come under increasing scrutiny in a reaction against extreme cultic groups the fact is that during the last half of the twentieth century Bible seminaries managed to swim against the tide The influence of these institutions has been important for Evangelical churches One area of particular encouragement is in the publishing of reformed Christian literature more solid theological books are available today in French than ever before The seminary at Vaux is publishing a series of Bible commentaries and teachers from Vaux and Aix are editing theological titles for students and ministers The seminary at Aix edits a theological journal founded in 1950 by Pierre Marcel of the Calvinist Society in France as well as such doctrinal standards as the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Shorter Catechism is active in publishing Reformed literature a fact apparent to those who have seen French church life at firsthand minister faithfully for years to establish and build up struggling congregations The way forward is to keep sowing the seed should there be no extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit “Teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence.” "Teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence." The bride is the daughter of Rita and William DeBoer of Wantage The groom is the son of Regine and Michel Joyeux of Lamorlaye The bride is a graduate of High Point Regional High School and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Pace University Her husband received his master’s in business administration from the Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales in Paris Those French trainers who remained in Chantilly during the war did a great job in maintaining the racing industry under difficult circumstances keeping things going under occupation and the rationing of horse feed The remaining Chantilly trainers through the war benefited from John Cunnington descended from one of the original British families in the town Cunnington was able to get more horse feed from the Germans and in that way help the other trainers provide for their horses.  Chantilly’s racetrack was closed and petrol was restricted but racing continued under occupation in the Paris region at Longchamp from 1941 until April 4 when a meeting was interrupted by American bombers targeting the nearby Renault factory at Boulogne Billancourt The bodies were removed and the meeting continued but future meetings were cancelled until July 1945 Racing at Parisian regional tracks of Maisons-Laffitte and Le Tremblay continued throughout occupation with Bordeaux and Tarbes taking a percentage of betting to fund their war needs Among those in the Chantilly racing community who played important roles during and after the war were: Irene Sherwood arrived in Paris with her English parents in 1910 when she was just four years old Her interest in racing developed because her father owned four horses trained in Chantilly in the 1920s by Henry Davidson near Chantilly in 1937 and she started working for leading French owner-breeder Marcel Boussac as a secretary A month before the Germans arrived in Chantilly Boussac moved his horses to Arcachon in the Gironde region of South West France to avoid them being taken she managed to escape and made her way back to Lamorlaye She was rearrested on Boxing Day 1940 and was sent to an internment camp for women and families at Besancon in eastern France She spent a harsh winter there with temperatures as low as 12 below zero Celsius Food was scarce and rationed while the barracks were overcrowded The Red Cross did all they could to help with food and medical aid in difficult circumstances Internees suffered both physically and mentally from long periods of confinement she was sent to another camp in Vittel to the north She stayed there until the end of the war.  Irene finally returned to Chantilly in an American army truck in September 1944 Dropped off at the railway station in the dark she borrowed a bicycle and cycled back to Lamorlaye who had also just returned after spending the four years interned at nearby Saint Denis sitting in the kitchen on a box eating his supper by candlelight Irene soon got back into the swing of things returning to her old job with Boussac until he died in 1980 Boussac relied her for the planning of his training operations in Chantilly for more than 100 racehorses and he admitted she was a significant factor for decades behind the huge success of a racing operation that won countless top races in France and England She was responsible for supervising the feed checking and judging horses’ performances Irene was also a much loved - and very generous - member of the local community Peter's Church centre in Chantilly was put up next to the church built in 1865 to serve the large English community Irene donated €50,000 ($67,000) toward its cost The Sherwood centre is named in her honour and a large framed photo of Irene Sherwood hangs there and a picture she painted of a horse hangs next to her photograph worth an estimated €300,000 ($403,000) Flamboyant Chantilly British trainer Henry Count spent the war years in Paris in very different circumstances an internationally renowned former Chantilly horse vet talked just before he died in 2011 at  age 94 about Henry Count and his other war recollections "I remember Henry Count in my youth before the war and used to ride out his horses on the gallops when I was a teenager,”  Lesaffre said “He used to turn at the racecourse at Chantilly in a Rolls-Royce driven by his chauffeur George,” he continued he took up the offer of living in my father’s apartment in Paris and hiding from the Germans for the duration of the war Henry Count came back to Chantilly and just started training again as if nothing had changed.” Animateur de L'Architecture et du Patrimoine de Chantilly Lesaffre was quite a character himself; at 93 and maintained an active membership in the International Horseracing Veterinary Association He recalled helping Winston Churchill buy a French racehorse after the war through his son-in-law and he went on to win 13 races in the next two years Churchill sent me a 24 Havana cigar box every Christmas till he died in 1965 as appreciation,” Lesaffre said.  The most heroic feat during the war at Chantilly has to be that of the Abbé Charpentier (Father Charpentier) who risked his life for his beliefs by giving a memorable sermon on July 25 refuse the collaboration and totally reject the Nazi ideology policies solutions and menaces to the liberty of man,” he implored a packed congregation there was an increase in local resistance activity notably sabotage of trains and railway and telephone lines including Abbé Charpentier and trainer Charles Bartholomew They were sent to Royallieu prison camp near Compiegne most were released - except Abbé Charpentier They were sent to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria The Abbé Charpentier is believed to have died in the gas chamber at Hartheim A sermon in his honour at Chantilly was given in the Eglise Notre Dame on  May 15 had his Chantilly stable requisitioned by the French army in September 1939 He eventually fled south and was picked up by the Germans on July 26 He was sent to Saint Denis internment camp north of Paris He was released by Allied troops in August 1944 after Paris was liberated Having previously been a leading trainer for 30 years he was a disappointed and broken man upon release he didn't have the heart to start training again from scratch despite offers of help from friends He eventually sold up and went to live in Newmarket Things worked out a lot better for Geoffrey Lionel Watson and went to Chantilly to become an assistant trainer to Frank Carter from 1925 to 1930 he took out his first licence and his owners included Baron Edouard and Guy de Rothschild He went back to England at the outbreak of war and served in the Royal Army Corps in North Africa.  he returned to France and picked up where he had left off in 1946 The Rothschilds became embroiled first in a struggle to retrieve their best horses who were taken by the Germans during occupation After eventually winning a lengthy legal battle they faced opposition again with their great French rival owner-breeder who objected to the returned horses being recognised in the French stud book it didn't affect the Rothschild-Watson racing partnership They gradually became a major force during the next 25 years Their record included three Prix de Diane wins and an Arc win in 1963 with Exbury for Guy de Rothschild Watson was the top French trainer with 44 winners The only pre-World War II British trainer in Chantilly who was interned at Saint Denis and then continued training there after the war was Albert Roberts simply retired with his family in Chantilly after four years’ internment both returned to England in 1940 and tasted success Watts won the 1944 wartime 1,000 Guineas with Picture Play But World War II was certainly the end of an era for the British racing community that began in the 1830s Chantilly’s development and construction would not have been possible without the dedication of those racing pioneers from the 19th century and their descendants the numbers of British residents in Chantilly has been steadily climbing once again and some 350 families now live in the area the breadwinners work mainly in business at nearby Roissy Airport or in Paris although increasing numbers of youngsters from Britain and Ireland have moved to Chantilly to work as stable staff - wages are higher in France than at home - and a new crop of British trainers -  Rupert Pritchard Gordon and Jonathan Pease - continue the historic tradition Determined to make a go of it: Andrew and Debbie Hollinshead with Daynawar at their stables in Lamorlaye Photo: John GilmoreBritish racing is riding high after a magnificent Royal Ascot that drew acclaim the world over But for many it’s not like that at all as John Gilmore found out when he visited the stables of Englishman Andrew Hollinshead who sent out nearly 2,000 winners in a renowned 65-year career refugees from the plight facing so many non-elite trainers in Britain The poor level of prize money at the lower reaches of British racing is well known seven of them with a win prize of just £2,911 and one at £2,226 The other flat meeting of the day at Redcar fared slightly better - five races offering a win prize of £3,234 two £2,749.32 and a feature handicap with £6,469 to the winner the racing fraternity in Britain complain bitterly but across the channel in France they are made of sterner stuff When the French Government proposed a controversial pilot scheme to allow national lottery operator Les Francaise des Jeux to offer in-play betting in more than 100 bars on four different sports the French racing and breeding industry protested immediately and in force Concerned about the impact it would have on racehorse betting turnover an estimated 5,500 marched in the streets of Paris on March 29 The Government backtracked immediately and suspended the scheme there are too many meetings offering low prize money Despite efforts to generate more income from other sources racecourses are handicapped by the low betting levy from bookmakers of one percent and change Britain ranks just 38th in the world based on the level of returns to owners from prize money If it wasn’t for the breeding industry and several prestigious international race meetings the industry would be in a far worse state The BHA (British Horseracing Authority) looks set for a windfall this financial year of at least £30 million from the levy on horserace betting now that it will include contributions from offshore bookmakers and betting exchanges who have been contributing nothing from bets taken on British racing A regulation given the green light on April 21 by the European Commission agreed that this meets state aid guidelines within the European Union recognising it is essential for the improvement of horse racing and breeding in Britain without giving rise to undue distortion of competition The new system to include offshore betting is enforceable during the period the country remains within the EU although the British Government has up to seven years to review the system There is also the possibility of a legal challenge from the bookmakers the planned levy expenditure is £73m as against income in 2016-17 calculated to be £60m - depleting reserves by £13m The levy replacement is expected to deliver £85m in the first year (including the offshore betting contribution) A lot has been riding on the European Commission’s decision and even if a certain amount of the extra revenue from a levy on offshore betting is used to bolster prize money at lower levels they will still remain low in comparison to France and other major racing nations With the cost of a buying a horse and training fees in Britain averaging around £18,000 a year it’s easy to understand the trainers’ predicament when winning a race doesn’t even cover a couple of months’ training fees The knock-on effect has seen fewer owners entering the sport and some existing ones throwing in the towel - which ultimately means fewer horses in training But the grass is very definitely greener in France where prize money is up to six times higher for races below listed level chose to move from the family stables in Staffordshire to Lamorlaye stayed with him and continued to buy horses continues to train at the yard in Staffordshire for so long the stables of father Reg Hollinshead who was renowned for nurturing the careers of top jockeys like Pat Eddery Andrew Hollinshead now rents 18 boxes with on-site accommodation at a beautifully located yard at Lamorlaye with easy access to spectacular forest gallops where the only noise comes from birds singing in the trees “I had fancied trying my luck training in France for a long time and didn’t want to look back one day and regret not doing it,” he said “It hasn’t been all plain sailing but like everything else it takes time to adjust and I had the advantage of having previously been to Cagnes Sur Mer in the winter with a few horses I did a semester with [trainer] Olivier Douieb [trainer] John Hammond was a great help with advice and he also put us up in a flat for two months Then Francois Doumen gave us accommodation at his yard We rented some boxes for the horses at Caroline Rondelé’s stables nearby in Lamorlaye for a year before moving into our current Lamorlaye yard with accommodation owned by French racecourse steward Marie France Peltier [next-door neighbour].” Hollinshead’s team arrived with six horses and had five successes in 2015 They had just two winners in 2016 with the horses affected by one or two injuries through the season owned in a 50-50 partnership between Hollinshead and Neville Chapman was bought from the Aga Khan for €8,000 as a 2-year-old at Arqana’s November 2015 sale earning €40,000 in prize money and French premiums from a win and several places in 2016 But Hollinshead has a good degree of confidence for the current season He has added to the strength of the stable buying the Aga Khan’s well-bred Zamindar 2-year old Daynawar owned in a three-way partnership (Chapman 50 percent Paul Shaw 40 percent and Hollinshead ten percent) for €14,000 at the November 2016 Arqana sales and making one or two other additions bringing the stable complement up to eight “We had an unfortunate period with a spate of injuries in 2016 that knocked our confidence a bit but think we are over that now,” said Hollinshead.” The stable has a complement of three staff - Andrew and Debbie Hollinshead and ex-jockey Graham Thomas “Debbie swapped being a housewife for mucking out in the stables and has gone down two dress sizes,” said Hollinshead “I first met Graham Thomas at Cagnes Sur Mer in 2014 when he was working for the German trainer Michael Figge Graham had been living in Munich for 30 years The Hollinsheads are now well settled in and have no regrets about making the move enjoying the much more relaxed atmosphere and working conditions in France “Despite no rent or mortgage to pay on the family stables in Staffordshire and training fees of a basic £28 a day compared to others of £50-£60 we were struggling to compete with the big training enterprises from Lambourn and Newmarket in the south and the likes of Mark Johnson Richard Fahey and Kevin Ryan up north,” said Hollinshead “I was a jack of all trades and master of none always working my backside off with three lots a day we hoped to discover a couple of top-class horses each year as you have to be a seller to survive The forest gallops are maintained by France Galop and all training work is done in the morning and in France this is possible with prize money for maiden races and handicaps being so good horses stay in training far longer with more opportunities for horses at this level to pay their way It’s not such an important factor for some owners to bet on their horses to try to recuperate a chunk of the training fees when the horse is in good form.” with bloodstock agents buying for large owners Andrew Hollinshead is part of the old school in dealing directly with owners His training fees off €50 a day are competitive for the area where some trainers charge up to €15 a day more “I don’t work with any bloodstock agent because I like to use my own judgement for buying horses at the sales,” he said “The process in France for an owner is a bit different and the initial €2,000 needed to open a France Galop owner’s account and paperwork was an initial put-off I am still trying to work out here how a trainer like myself can progress with a lot of French trainers speaking English and seeming to have regular links to various bloodstock agents.” Hollinshead put a large advert in the Racing Post looking for prospective new owners pointing out his winners in France to date money won and highlighting the advantage of up to 64 percent added prize money premiums for French breds subsidised horse transport costs to the track “I received limited response with just one reply that didn’t amount to anything,” he said “I was very disappointed by the lack of interest considering the regular complaints by owners over poor prize money in Britain been getting other sources of income from British trainers like Gay Kelleway who have stabled their horses with us when they have runners at the Parisian tracks for €20 a day [feed not included].” The beauty of French racing is that there are over 250 racecourses around the country split into different regions The Hollinsheads would like to eventually buy a stable away from the Paris region where prices are not too expensive compared to Britain “You can buy a stable in the Normandy region with a lot of land for the same price as a house in Britain and prize money there is still very good,” said Hollinshead The Hollinsheads have started this season with some promise Akkapenko has earned €9,600 plus €5,528 in premiums is expected to earn his keep after running well without being placed in a couple of tough maiden races in May And Calajani should pay his way as a 4-year-old Hollinshead said: “My wife goes back sometimes to England to see her mother The owners like to come over to France from time to time in particular retired couple Neville Chapman and his wife who spent six weeks in Cagnes Sur Mer last year.” as I sat drinking coffee with Debbie and Andrew Hollinshead in their rented yard but the memory of struggling for years with low prize money in England is a big incentive for them to stay put in France and make a go of it The cinema/games room/gym is sure to be a hit with the new owners and their guests Katy McGuinnessFri 28 Aug 2015 at 03:30An indoor private leisure centre with its own heated swimming pool is a rare thing in Ireland an exceptionally large boom-built family home at Back Road Its 17 metre long heated swimming pool complex is decorated in a classical style intended to evoke the atmosphere of Roman baths his and hers changing rooms and a home gym There will be no shortage of friends and relations keen to pay the new owners a visit and luxuriate in the amenities on hand Shadow Glen is a large and lavish family home located just outside the upmarket town of Malahide in North Co The house is situated in a small development on a private road that it shares with two other properties although each house has its own private access and is sited behind its own electronic gates With 6,700 sq ft of living space sprawling over two floors The main entrance hallway is a large and imposing light-filled space with a marble-tiled floor and a sweeping staircase leading to the first floor There is a Romanesque arch leading to the rooms at the back of the house on the ground floor To the right of the hall is the sitting room with fireplace The kitchen window overlooks the front of the house and is kitted out with fitted wall and floor cupboards and an island unit The dining area is adjacent to the kitchen and has comfortable seating and a large television A sunroom off the dining room has access on to a patio area and the back garden while the main living room is the focal point of the ground floor A huge space clearly designed with entertaining in mind it has a large open fireplace and double doors out on to the patio There is also a separate study overlooking the back garden The master bedroom is particularly spacious and has fitted wardrobes and a curved balcony overlooking the back garden As is standard in a house with this level of finish an integrated music system and a security intercom the south-west facing gardens are landscaped to a high standard and are on a scale in keeping with the house itself There are extensive lawns that will take plenty of mowing but will also be able to accommodate a decent game of seven-a-side or an extensive marquee should the new owners have nuptials in mind Malahide feels like a prosperous place - with 38 restaurants and plenty of pubs that appear to be thriving - a sense borne out by the CSO statistic that Malahide has a higher proportion of professionals living in it than any other town in the country with smart boutiques and specialty food stores Shadow Glen is across the road from the 12th Century Malahide Castle with its extensive ornamental gardens and home to the Talbot family for over 800 years The Castle is the focus of an ambitious development plan by Fingal County Council to make it one of Ireland's top visitor destinations and it is a spectacular local amenity with a wonderful playground and its own Avoca store in a courtyard setting with a food hall and café that are thronged with people all day long and Malahide has a well-regarded community school Malahide is associated with maritime activity and there are sailing Golfers have a choice of courses in the area Malahide has good transport links; it is served by the DART there is a bus into the city centre and Dublin airport is easily accessible but now the selling agents are saying that the price is 'on application' indicating that there may be some room for manoeuvre with a 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