The police custody drags on. The questions, more insistent, become clearer. It’s rarely a good sign. Jean-Laurent Dubord can clearly see that the brigadier is not convinced by his answers. It has now been a day and a half, in the premises of the Bayonne police station, that the racehorse trainer tells his story. His youth as a jockey. The team he founded in 1998, its four employees and two apprentices. The twenty-seven horses whose training he oversees, while managing relations with their owners. All this for one “little way of life”. Told him to pay himself 2,000 euros net per month. A modest salary for honest work. Because Jean-Laurent Dubord has been hammering it for hours, he has nothing to be ashamed of.
At 51, ” never “ he didn’t dope a horse or violate the rules. ” Never “ he only stung a beast one race day. Moreover, when the day before, March 22, 2022, at 6 a.m., the investigators arrived in front of his house, on the edge of the Mont-de-Marsan racecourse, in the Landes, he cooperated. All the same, he finds it ” completely crazy “, this police raid. So he repeats it: “I still agree to explain myself without any assistance (…). I’m a horse trainer, not a dope. »
Listening coach
Could the presence of a lawyer at his side have avoided the shipwreck that will follow? The policeman is interested in a telephone conversation intercepted a month earlier, on February 16. That day, Moon Dream, a gelding, one of the horses trained by Jean-Laurent Dubord, must race at the Cagnes-sur-Mer racecourse, in the Alpes-Maritimes. His son calls him an hour before the race: “Tell me, did you do her thing at Moon Dream?” » Distraught response from the father: “Damn, I forgot. » And to add: “There, we are dead, it’s over, we’re cooked. » Five minutes later, the father calls the son: “The sting, it’s me who has it, I’m coming. »
The coach does not know it, but, for several weeks, investigators have been transcribing his numerous calls. Paying particular attention to discussions mentioning Diego Usón, a Spanish veterinarian already involved in doping cases on the other side of the Pyrenees. “A legit and very professional guy”, corrects Jean-Laurent Dubord facing the brigadier. He assures him to make a ” overconfidence “. But on March 23, in the Bayonne police station, the dike finally gave way to the flow of questions.
“Did you steal your horse Moon Dream a few minutes from the start of the race in Cagnes, where he finished in fifth position, thus winning an allowance of 1,000 euros? asks the policeman.
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