JEAN LESBORDES

                                             JEAN LESBORDES

 

Desmond Stoneham

 

Jean Lesbordes has only been at Chantilly for just over a year but he is already, considered by many as a sure thing to reach the top of the training profession. Like many of the most talented people in French racing, Lesbordes comes from Les Landes in the south-west of France and he was born at a town called Habas, in 1945. The Lesbordes family had no connection with racing prior to Jean whose father was a doctor at Bordeaux where the young man went through his education. But Lesbordes was taken with horses early on: "As soon as I saw a horse, I wanted to ride him." And during his school holidays, Lesbordes often spent time working on studs. Military service in France is compulsory and to continue his association with the equine race, Lesbordes managed to join a veterinary division of the French army at Compiègne, some 50 miles north of Paris. Prior to his military stint, he had been attached to both Pierre and René Pelat and had worked at the Haras de la Beauvoisinière in the Orne department of France. Lesbordes' first job was as private trainer to Dr. Claude Dumeau and he had his first winner for his patron when La Vida won the Grande Course de Haies de 3 ans at Bordeaux. After Dumeau came Pierre Donzeau at Toulouse and then the young trainer moved down to the foothills of the Pyrenees at Pau where he stayed for fifteen years. He never had more than twenty horses and two of the best were Coquet and Green Printed who both had excellent seasons in 1980.

 

Lesbordes came to Chantilly in 1986 at the request of Monte-Carlo based Georges Blizniansky and the association had begun some six years previously in the Provinces. At his new headquarters, Lesbordes started with 20 horses. On the flat Bliznianski and Lesbordes had their best win to date when Généreux Genie defeated Ibn Alnasr in the Listed Prix de Menneval at Deauville. This victory came just after the announcement that international owner Moufid Dabaghi had decided to transform his string of 23 horses from the yard of André Fabre to that of Lesbordes. This meant the young man from the south- west finding a new training establishment and eventually he was granted a lease from Newmarket-based Olivier Douieb who had recently bought the Freddy Palmer yard.

 

With the addition of the Dabaghi horses to his existing string, Lesbordes now has 60 horses under his control and several extremely useful ones, including the fillies Bint Alnasr and Zoumorrod. After winning the Prix des Reservoirs as a two-year-old, the lightly raced Bint Alnasr went on to take fourth place behind Indian Skimmer and Miesque in the Prix de Diane Hermes and in June Zoumorrod carried the same Dabaghi colours to victory in front of Khariyda and River Memories in the Prix de Malleret. Both these fillies stay in training in 1988 and they should make their presence felt in Group events. Lesbordes has a two- year-old full sister to Zoumorrod and has 12 Dabaghi yearlings, which should give him a good base for two-year-old races next year.

 

Married with two children, Lesbordes' ambition is to win classics rather than a lot of small races and that was one of the reasons he left Pau. A lover of ail sports, especially tennis which he does not find time for any more, and golf, Lesbordes does not have too much time for leisure and, indeed, has not had any sort of holiday for 20 years. A quiet and serious-minded person, Lesbordes looks sure to make the grade at Chantilly, not only with his flat horses, but also with jumpers who are frequent visitors to the winners' enclosure, particularly at Auteuil.