Victor Giminez has an eye. Behind a white barrier, on a lawn as impeccable as his navy blue suit, the young man of 19 carefully observes the horses parading in front of him. This calm place of the 16e district of the capital, away from the track of the Paris-Longchamp racecourse, is called in horseracing jargon “the round of presentation”. It attracts the curious public and insider bettors, ten minutes before the start of the race, like this student in the first year of a law and political science degree at the Catholic Institute of Paris. “I rely mainly on the results of previous races. But the behavior and appearance of horses are also very important to know if they are in good shape. I check if their hair is silky and I also pay attention to their morphology. »
When you grow up in Chantilly (Oise), the capital of horses, it is difficult to escape the very prestigious Qatar Prix du Jockey Club and the Prix de Diane which are organized there every year in June. But as a child, Victor Giminez was never at a racetrack. It was only very recently, when he was of age, that he discovered an appetite for horse racing.
A first meeting for the less surprising, on which he would surely not have bet. “My subject for a major oral mathematics exam in terminale was ‘why are we losers at horse racing bets?’ After writing this text, I began to apply the techniques I had learned. » In a year and a half, he has visited the Chantilly or ParisLongchamp racecourses a dozen times. “It doesn’t always work, but sometimes I leave richer than I arrived! »
This Thursday, May 25, he came accompanied by two comrades from “the Catholic”. “He is the connoisseur”, willingly recognize Evan Michel and Thomas Petit. The race will soon begin. The three friends head with a determined step towards one of the betting machines. At each race, they bet between 10 and 20 euros. The atmosphere is relaxed, far from the pressure they feel on a daily basis at university. Tonight, no BU until 10 p.m. The fear of not succeeding in their studies, of disappointing their parents or of disappointing themselves, remained at the gates of the hippodrome.
Trendy Afterworks
Letting go of the horses after a day’s work is what the JeuXdi by Longchamp offer, organized by France Galop, until July 6, with a closing party on July 14. Since the reopening of the racecourse in 2018 – after its renovation by the architect Dominique Perrault –, the company that organizes gallop races has relied in particular on these trendy afterworks to win over a new audience. “Today, we have an image issue, which involves promoting races to young people”, explains Delphine Violette, Sales and Marketing Director of France Galop.
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