“It is thanks to them that the horse racing industry lives”: how the PMU pampers its “big winners”

Dressed in his black leather jacket, Marcel (name has been changed)), 63-year-old Marseillais, and his wife are strolling in the middle of the thick lawn of the Auteuil racecourse track, in the west of Paris, still empty on this Sunday morning. Behind his sunglasses, he observes the obstacles that the sixteen jockeys and their horses will have to overcome a few hours later at the start of the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, the flagship event of horse racing. “It’s magnificent!” says the retiree, with his Provençal accent. We are lucky to be there. »