“I am too old for the jockey profession and too young to stop my professional life.
These words of Ervan Chazelle perfectly summarize the trajectory of great sportsmen, starting with his own.
He was for seventeen seasons (from 2002 to 2019) obstacle jockey, a profession for which the racing code does not impose an age limit.
It is the body which dictated its law.
On May 12, 2019, he ended his career.
The accumulation of injuries is the cause of its arrest.
"I would have liked to continue for a while," admits the 36-year-old man.
Unfortunately, I lost the mobility of my arm, which took away all hope of being able to renew my license.
"
"I stopped before taking too much"
Fortunately, not as long as that of his victories (350 with the successes acquired abroad), the list of his setbacks remains very impressive: a dozen fractures, dislocation of the shoulder, removal of the spleen and trauma. repetitive cranial.
Incomprehensible to ordinary people, such is the lot of these exceptional athletes who have chosen, out of passion, this profession of the highest danger.
“To be completely honest, I was a little fed up with taking hits.
I stopped before taking the extra one, ”admits the young retiree from the pelotons.
But this profile of a fighter, a calm and thoughtful man caught the attention of Julius Le Tutour, manager of the two racetracks in Lyon.
The former pilot joined the Lyon-Parilly (Rhône) maintenance team on October 19.
His new boss welcomes it.
“The recruitment of Ervan was not motivated by the fact that he was a high level jockey.
His stable temperament, his modest character ready to start again from the bottom of the ladder seduced me.
His integration into my very invested team happened quite naturally.
"
In return for this confidence which is granted to him with an indefinite contract, the new employee makes a point of honor to make his former playground, an irreproachable place.
He trims the hedges, cleans the boxes, prepares the round of presentation, clears the brush and prepares the tracks.
“I realize it's a hell of a job.
Now I know why the slopes are good and vice versa in the event of bad terrain.
I understood that when nature is against us, as a “gardener” we cannot work miracles, even by doing the maximum.
"
"I want to do the same course as him"
Working in the great outdoors and in an environment that he knows perfectly well, while meeting regularly with his former colleagues, brings him great satisfaction.
However, at the start, Ervan aspired to be a handicapper (a person responsible for assigning a value to each horse).
“It would have interested me greatly, but due to a lack of knowledge in office automation, France Galop replied, it was refused.
" Never mind.
From now on, he discovered with curiosity all the techniques of preparation of the slopes.
"Which fertilizer to use, learn to harrows, master the very careful watering of the PSF tracks and, even more new for me, the work on the courses reserved for trotters" constitute his new challenge.
But Ervan does not intend to stop there.
The ambition is still well anchored in the soul of this competitor.
If his gratitude is eternal towards Thierry Civel, Louis Baudron, Christian Scandella, Robert Collet but also Pascal Marsac, who today runs a tapas bar in Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), so many men who helped and supported him when he was a jockey, Julius Le Tutour's route was added to his references.
"Like a student, Erwan must continue to study his subject"
“I want to do the same course as him.
After having been a great show jumping rider, he too was forced to retrain following falls.
He relaunched by starting by filling the holes on the Saint-Cloud track before finding himself at the head of two major racetracks.
"Enough to open up great prospects for Ervan Chazelle's development in his new job.
“He still has to brake his brakes a little before climbing the ladder.
Like a student, Ervan must continue to study his subject in the evening once he gets home, ”however advises him Julius Le Tutour.
This reconversion also allowed him to get closer to his family.
“I had to leave Lamorlaye (Oise).
Here I am back on my native land, closer to my mother ”, appreciates Ervan Chazelle who impatiently awaits to be joined by his wife and his two children by the Christmas holidays.
So that happiness is complete.