Like a wink from fate.
Nicolas Caullery, 42 years old this Saturday, will have, for the first time, a starter the next day in Chantilly (Oise), in the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club (Group I).
Two last words of a prized event that inevitably resonate in his head.
The Jockey Club was the name of the PMU brewery that his parents, Gérard and Marie-France, ran in the 1980s in Fourmies, in the North ...
The rallying point near the station, the exit for lunchtime regulars who had their appointed place.
It was about football, the Greens, but especially the races while Nicolas, tall as three apples, circulated by bike between the tables.
No wonder he caught the virus at a very young age.
“There were no races on TV like now, so we often went with the family, with my two brothers and my sister, to the racecourse of La Capelle, Touquet, Berck, Croisé-Laroche, 'Enghien when we could.
It was more like a trot.
On vacation, we took advantage of the semi-nocturnes here and there, ”says the man who quickly wanted to marry the jockey career.
"I take advantage of every moment, without any pressure"
At 14, he joined the school in Gouvieux (Oise) but his dream quickly flew off: “My growth curve has exploded. After two years, I was already at 60 kg and had not finished growing. I understood that I was not going to become a jockey. It was a disappointment but I quickly bounced back. »At David Smaga, the coach of his beginnings in the middle, before being at the service of Valérie Dissaux then Patrice Châtelain. Without forgetting an enriching experience in Japan, “at Monsieur Yoshida's”.
And here is Nicolas Caullery, who has made a name for himself as a trainer since 2011, present at the start of the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club with
Fort Payne
, on the Chantilly racecourse.
“I love my life, loose the man who stands out for his long hair in a rather conventional universe.
A few days ago, I was wondering what job would have made me vibrate so much?
Even if I go on vacation less than others, I live off my passion, so deeply my thing after starting from below.
In 2007, I lost my 50-year-old mother who probably didn't take advantage of it enough, so I take advantage of it all the time, without any pressure.
"
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Even if the latter admits that his stomach will be a little tied up just before the stalls open this Sunday. “Like someone who is nervous when going on stage, slips the singer in his spare time from the rock group Elektrick Monday which he has assembled with friends. But I will not say to myself:
I must not miss myself
. We are going to savor, it is so much happiness for the whole team with which I work. We did the job, just like the other horses. The horse is at the top. Once the race is on, we'll all try to tap our feet as long as possible. To encourage
Fort Payne
and believe in its success.
His 8-year-old son Charles will obviously have a front row seat, he who was bundled up on the training tracks from an early age before going to nursery. "He will support Daddy as he says," smiles the husband of Marine Henry, also a coach. Now, if
Fort Payne
is better than the others, with a good course, he will win, if not, it will be the life of the races. "
