French Invasion

Last week, for the first time in 71 years, a French-bred horse won England's classic St. Leger. The winner, by a length, was Marcel Boussac's tall, long-striding chestnut colt, Scratch II. For the British, who have an aversion to invasions, the result was doubly dour since another French horse finished second. For dapper Owner Boussac ("I am delighted, delighted") and Jockey Rae Johnstone, it was the third time this year they had taken the British into camp; they had won the Derby with Galcador and the Oaks with Asmena.

The $39,085 that Boussac got last week for winning the St. Leger made him^the leading 1950 money-earner on British tracks. He was already the French Deader by a country kilometer. Back of his long string of victories is a string of 300 horses including 100 brood mares and eight stud stallions. About 100 of the horses are always in training under oldtime French Jockey Charles Semblat. When they cross the Channel, they travel in a special Bristol air-van.

Brother & Sister. Businessman Boussac, whose Lyon-based textile empire consumes some 70% of all the cotton shipped into France, has a sharp eye for a winner. He backed Dress Designer Christian Dior, got a spectacular, moneymaking result: the New Look. Although he sometimes takes a calculated flier in both the textile and racing business, he prefers to leave little to luck and chance.

At the races, usually accompanied by his wife, onetime Paris Opera Star Fanny Heldy, Boussac rarely bets on his own colors (bright orange jacket, grey cap). After Galcador won the Derby, Queen Elizabeth asked Boussac to tell her his breeding secrets. He maintained that he had none.

There is one simple explanation of his success: instead of running the legs off his two-year-olds, he can afford to race them sparingly, then bring them up to the longer, richer races for three-year-olds & up. At his two stud farms in France, Boussac breeds top race horses by mating successful stallions (like Tourbillon) with proven brood mares (like Astronomie). He has also tried some daring experiments in inbreeding. One was to mate a full brother and sister. The result was Coronation, one of the meanest-tempered horses ever to kick a groom, but winner of last year's Prix de l'Arc-de-Triomphe.

Questions & Answers. Three years ago, on one of his rare vacations, hard-working Marcel Boussac visited the U.S. In Kentucky's Blue Grass country, he saw Calumet Farm's famed Whirlaway, the 1941 triple crown winner. Said Boussac: "C'est pour moi" This summer, he completed a deal to lease Whirlaway for a three-year stud assignment in France.

To American reporters who would like to know what his breeding plans are for Whirlaway, Boussac will politely lift his hat, smilingly extend his hand in greeting. A subaltern will whisper, "M. Boussac thinks you have just paid him a compliment." No matter how well the reporter speaks French, the interview is closed. Four or five years hence, M. Boussac may supply the answer on French, British and possibly U.S. racetracks.*

*Four Boussac horses have been in training in the U.S. since last winter. None are of top stakes quality, and only one has started.

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