Francois Boutin

Francois Boutin, one of France's most successful trainers and winner of three Breeders' Cup races in the United States, is seriously ill, his clients and colleagues have confirmed. According to one of Boutin's clients, Boutin has cancer of the lung and liver. He recently was discharged from a Paris hospital and has resumed training his large stable of horses.

Francois Boutin, one of France's leading trainers who also left his mark in the United States with such horses as Miesque and Arazi, died Wednesday in a Paris-area hospital. He was 58. Found to have liver cancer in March, 1993, Boutin had continued working until recently, getting up early every morning to oversee operations at his base in Chantilly.

Allen Paulson, the co-owner of Arazi, got a fax from France on Monday from trainer Francois Boutin, indicating that Boutin wants the 3-year-old colt to run in the $1-million Breeders' Cup Mile on grass Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Arazi, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile a year ago but a disappointment this year, is eligible for the Mile as well as the $3-million Breeders' Cup Classic, a 1 1/4-mile dirt race.

I have not won the tough race, but I have not quit running it yet. --Francois Boutin * As the horses galloped past, Francois Boutin squatted on his shooting stick on the tile apron in front of the track at Santa Anita. The legendary trainer, having arrived from France the day before, was out on a sunny fall morning to watch his two horses prepare for Saturday's Breeders' Cup.

Francois Boutin, one of France's leading trainers who also left his mark in the United States with such horses as Miesque and Arazi, died Wednesday in a Paris-area hospital. He was 58. Found to have liver cancer in March, 1993, Boutin had continued working until recently, getting up early every morning to oversee operations at his base in Chantilly.

I have not won the tough race, but I have not quit running it yet. --Francois Boutin * As the horses galloped past, Francois Boutin squatted on his shooting stick on the tile apron in front of the track at Santa Anita. The legendary trainer, having arrived from France the day before, was out on a sunny fall morning to watch his two horses prepare for Saturday's Breeders' Cup.

At first glance they appear to be worlds apart, these two horsemen, separated by language and thousands of miles. One is a courtly, cigar-puffing Frenchman whose regal bearing is often taken for arrogance. His pristine Chantilly stable is replete with impeccably bred runners, and he can claim several sheiks and some captains of industry among his clients. The other is a soft-spoken, unassuming man whose down-home list of clients includes a doughnut tycoon and a weight-loss entrepreneur.

To Francois Boutin's obvious displeasure, a thick fog covered the opposite side of the turf training ground, blocking his view of the half-dozen thoroughbreds as they began the 7 1/2-furlong workout on a recent frosty morning here. Anxiously, the stocky, irritable French trainer aimed his binoculars at the horizon. But the fog was so thick that he heard the horses before he saw them.

Usually when I talk to a horse trainer, he's wearing a hat that looks as if it were taken off a member of the James Gang, he has lizard boots and, if he's wearing one, his tie looks like a shoelace with a turquoise brooch in it and he speaks in a tongue that's a cross between Kentucky hillbilly and Texas twang. He has a stopwatch in his hand and, maybe, a chaw of tobacco in his mouth and he feels uncomfortable too far away from a barn.

Kentucky Derby favorite Arazi's co-owner says his colt will make his debut as a 3-year-old on April 7 in the Prix Omnium at a track near here. Allen Paulson told the International Herald Tribune the decision to race at Saint Cloud was made by the colt's French trainer Francois Boutin. Paulson, in a telephone call from California, said it will be Arazi's only race before he goes to the United States a week before the Kentucky Derby on May 2.

At first glance they appear to be worlds apart, these two horsemen, separated by language and thousands of miles. One is a courtly, cigar-puffing Frenchman whose regal bearing is often taken for arrogance. His pristine Chantilly stable is replete with impeccably bred runners, and he can claim several sheiks and some captains of industry among his clients. The other is a soft-spoken, unassuming man whose down-home list of clients includes a doughnut tycoon and a weight-loss entrepreneur.

Francois Boutin, one of France's most successful trainers and winner of three Breeders' Cup races in the United States, is seriously ill, his clients and colleagues have confirmed. According to one of Boutin's clients, Boutin has cancer of the lung and liver. He recently was discharged from a Paris hospital and has resumed training his large stable of horses.

Usually when I talk to a horse trainer, he's wearing a hat that looks as if it were taken off a member of the James Gang, he has lizard boots and, if he's wearing one, his tie looks like a shoelace with a turquoise brooch in it and he speaks in a tongue that's a cross between Kentucky hillbilly and Texas twang. He has a stopwatch in his hand and, maybe, a chaw of tobacco in his mouth and he feels uncomfortable too far away from a barn.

Allen Paulson, the co-owner of Arazi, got a fax from France on Monday from trainer Francois Boutin, indicating that Boutin wants the 3-year-old colt to run in the $1-million Breeders' Cup Mile on grass Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Arazi, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile a year ago but a disappointment this year, is eligible for the Mile as well as the $3-million Breeders' Cup Classic, a 1 1/4-mile dirt race.

To Francois Boutin's obvious displeasure, a thick fog covered the opposite side of the turf training ground, blocking his view of the half-dozen thoroughbreds as they began the 7 1/2-furlong workout on a recent frosty morning here. Anxiously, the stocky, irritable French trainer aimed his binoculars at the horizon. But the fog was so thick that he heard the horses before he saw them.

Arazi, who flopped as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, was scratched from his latest comeback bid Sunday. Arazi and stablemate Akiko, both trained by Francois Boutin, were dropped from the $190,000 Prix du Moulin at Longchamp. Track officials said Arazi was injured in his stable Saturday. Arazi has not run since finishing fifth in the St. James Palace Stakes at Ascot, England, on June 15, his only race since finishing eighth in the Kentucky Derby.

One-time super colt Arazi will be given a two-month break after his second disappointing performance in a major thoroughbred race. Arazi, trained in France by Francois Boutin, finished fifth in a field of eight in the St. James Palace Stakes at the Royal Ascot racetrack Tuesday. In May, Arazi finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby as a heavy favorite. Arazi had been regarded as one of the greatest 2-year-olds ever after a spectacular victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile.