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When I had the idea for A French Country Escape I wanted a storyline that was a little different and initially – because I love horses – I thought of including horse racing as a small subplot. But research proved to be difficult! There is a lot about Irish, American and English horse racing history but very little about the beginning of the sport in France – well none I could find readily on line anyway! And then I remembered the French love of the sport of Horse Trotting which originated on the shores of Cherbourg, Normandy France in 1836.
The French Trotter is a breed of horse bred for racing both in harness but also for being ridden and received official recognition as a breed in 1922. These days over 120,000 people are involved in the trotting ‘business’ and the annual Prix d’Amerique race, created in 1920 and held in late January at the Paris-Vincennes racetrack is the biggest trotting event every year. Total prize money is a jaw-dropping one million euros. Horses are allowed to enter in this race based on lifetime earnings or on their performance in six qualifying races. There are several trotting race tracks throughout France including one at Cagnes-sur-mer down on the Riviera, which I’ve passed so many times but never got to see an actual race. Up here in Brittany there are several smaller, low key tracks, where enthusiastic farmers and agricultural workers are keeping the sport alive locally. I placed my fictional Château du Cheval, built in the late nineteenth century, at the heart of the French Trotter breeding and racing scene from the beginning of the twentieth century to the nineteen-fifties. In the course of my research I unexpectedly found this vintage poster for a race in 1937 at the closest racetrack to where I’d set Château du Cheval in the Brittany countryside. Serendipity or what?
At the time of my story, neglected stables and a damaged marble statue of ‘Merlin’ the famous horse in Château du Cheval’s heyday is all that remains of its glorious past involvement in the rise of the French Trotter horse. Most of the château land has been sold off and there is only one horse currently in the wonderful stables with their wrought iron stalls and cobbled floors. Whilst the French Trotter horse does not play a major part in the storyline of A French Country Escape, its presence definitely still lingers in the air and the ‘route de galop’ around the château. And as the château begins to come to life again in the twenty-first century, secrets and connections from down the years are discovered.
Pictures from Pixabay.