Bearing the name of the first king of the francs, Clovis du Berlais is an open book on the great history of Auteuil. Himself double winner and placed in a group on the Butte Mortemart, he comes from an extraordinary strain which gave 3 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris winners: Chinco, Metatero but also the legendary Mandarin who won with a broken bridle!
The great thing about breeding racehorses is that you can always find a better specialist than yourself, capable of giving you a shattering revelation on an issue that you thought you knew inside out. So, did we not almost fall from the chair in the kitchen of Christian Lacorie when this little AQPS breeder close to Pompadour told us that the stallion Clovis du Berlais was a cousin of crack Métatéro ! Proof in support, he then took out a complete binder rich in archives, pedigrees, photos and press clippings.
Chinca is the 3rd dam of Clovis du Berlais
And indeed, there is the horizontal pedigree type “family book” which demonstrates the ramifications between Clovis du Berlais and the aforementioned cracks. In truth, the family of Clovis is so rich under the 3rd mother, Chinca, that no one except Christian Lacorie (Goumareix breeding), an enthusiast of the great lines of obstacle, had not gone higher.
See the recent pedigree of Clovis du Berlais.
Christian Lacorie and his famous binders
Winner of 4 races including the Prix de Saint-Sauveur at Auteuil, Chinca is therefore a sister of the unforgettable Chinco, the 1st crack of Jean-Paul Gallorini, an iron-willed dwarf who won the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris in 1979. But she is also a cousin of siblings from Métatéro, a legendary horse for all racing fans in the West. Indeed, this giant trained by Gérard Margogne in Feneu near Angers has won everything from start to finish in France, winning twice in 1981 and 1982 the Gold Cup, the former championship of the Grands Steeple-Chase de Province. Faithful to the method of his trainer, who would hardly ever run in Paris like most professionals in our countryside at the time, he nevertheless won the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris with a magnificent demonstration. “ I was in the stands of Auteuil that day, next to some Parisian racers who debated their respective game with a strong banter“, says Alain Peltier, president of the Lion d’Angers racecourse.” One of them announces that we should nevertheless be wary of the gypsy … There was no horse called Le Bohémien at the start. But I understood that they had given this nickname to Metatero because he was on the go all the time! “.
Metatero, ridden by Bruno Jollivet
Metatero had therefore won everywhere, except the Grand Steeple-Chase du Lion d’Angers where he was beaten against all odds by White Flower, an officially white mare. But Gérard Margogne preferred that his horse do his last preparations for the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at the Parisian training center with an outline. And it was when he returned from his victory in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Nancy that Metatero was deposited in the stables ofAndré Fabre, at the time the champion of the obstacle. In addition, André Fabre had the advantage of having as the 1st jockey Alain Chelet, which was also the privileged partner of Metatero. And yet, the latter was injured shortly before the Grand Steeple! It was then replaced by Bruno jollivet, a young genius still installed in the provinces and able to shine at the same time on the flat and over jumps. And this is how André Fabre was able to align 4 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris consecufive to his prize list (Founder, Isopani, the 1st AQPS, Metatero and Jasmin 2) between 1980 and 1983 just before going on the flat with the success that we know.
Bruno Jollivet and Gérard Margogne with Metatero after the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris 1982.
But Métatéro’s trainer remains Gérard Margogne. And to think that he had bought it for a handful of cherries in Deauville, but only after his passage in the ring. He had offered a higher bid of 2000 francs (300 €) to buy the horse back from his neighbor in Gray-Neuville André Foucher the same evening when the latter had been awarded it. The latter was glad he had done a little somersault in such a short time, but he regretted it bitterly for years afterwards.
Mandarin jockey, Fred Winter recounts his victories in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham and in the Grand Steeple-Chase in Paris, with the illustrative images (at the end) the close-up on the broken bridle at Auteuil!
Son of’Orvillers, Metatéro certainly did not have a recent pedigree but came from the same strain as Mandarin. Trained in England, the latter had won the Gold Cup at Cheltenham but above all recorded his name in history for having won the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris sen 1962 under the saddle of Fred Winter while his bridle had broken shortly after the departure ! The 2 cracks were descended from the same 5th dam. This family also already 2 winners of the Republic Prize (Melik II in 1944 and Mateo in 1949), a double winner of the Prix Murat (Maik in 1942 and 1949), a winner of the Prix Alain du Breil (Mirrick in 1961) but also in a radically different style of a champion of the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (Mackwiller in 1926).
In memory of Xavier Bougon, if we find rare families with 2 Grand Steeple winners (Al Capone II and The Fellow, Hyères III and Haroué, Spoon and Jamin II, Arenice and Ucello II, Huron and Pot of Gold, Lindor and Cousin Pons, that of Clovis du Berlais is the only one with 3 winners with that of Katko and Kotkijet which is the same as Body to Body.
Clovis du Berlais
This family came into the bosom of Jean-Louis Lucas when he bought Pretty girl, a daughter of Badayoun in the fall of 1991. ” I remember going to see her at the Carpenter family. She had won the Wild Monarch Prize and had just ended her career following an injury. It was his trainer Jean-Paul Gallorini who called me to advise him to buy it as soon as possible. “ Everything starts well when the following 2 products from his mother Chinca (also a daughter ofOrvilliers), named Gaburn and Chic Laurel, are required at the highest level. At Stud, Chica Bonita will become an exceptional matron. Carlita, Bonita, Byzance, Athena, Kenzo, Karoo and Drunkenness are all the great winners of Berlais who descend from it, without forgetting of course the best of all: Bonito du Berlais.
Clovis du Berlais, in the foreground, fighting with his cousin and rival Bonito du Berlais in the Prix Amadou (Gr.2) – Photo APRH
The latter was born the same year as his cousin Clovis du Berlais … to his great misfortune. They both fought for power in the Prix Amadou (Gr.2) at 4 at Auteuil. But Bonito was an alien even though he suddenly disappeared afterwards.
Son of the great chief of English race King’s Theatre, to whom Jean-Marc Lucas had sent his mother in 2010 when we never traveled abroad with jumping mares at the time, Clovis is the very 1st stallion of this great line.
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