How much poorer would be the recent history of British jump racing without the contribution of François Doumen, the effortlessly charming trainer who used to come over several times each winter and carry some of our best prizes back across La Manche. Had it not been for the particular qualities of Kempton Park, now under threat of development as it prepares to stage the latest running of the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, he might never have had a runner in this country.
Thirty years ago, Doumen was feeling a little frustrated about the prospect of having to keep his star steeplechaser, Nupsala, in his box through the winter months, when the ground at the main French jumps tracks was certain to be far too soggy for a horse who liked decent ground. But he had an enlightening conversation with the British trainer Oliver Sherwood, who had finally given up on trying to buy Nupsala.
“I told him that, nine times out of 10, Kempton has pretty decent ground, unless it rains on the day,” Sherwood recalls. “It certainly doesn’t get heavy like Newbury or Chepstow.”
“It was, I would say, good luck,” says Doumen, his effervescent good humour travelling easily down the phone from his home north-west of Paris. “I didn’t have a clue about racing in England at that stage. I told Oliver: ‘The problem in France is that, after October, Auteuil is such a bog that I don’t have anything to do with that horse.’ He said: ‘Why don’t you go to Kempton Park?’”
Doumen ended up winning the King George five times in the next 13 years, matching what was then the trainer’s record for the race, set by the great Fulke Walwyn. He won other banner events at the free-draining, gravel‑based track, such as the Feltham, the Adonis, the Rendlesham and the Racing Post Chase.
He won elsewhere in Britain and even bagged a Cheltenham Gold Cup but Kempton held its special place in his affections and he even named a dog after the Sunbury course.
“Every time I see Oliver since then, I embrace him,” says Doumen, reflecting on what flowed from that one conversation. “I just don’t know what to do with him. That was lucky. If it had been raining, I would maybe never have been there, we would never have won the King George and I might never have gone back.”
Doubtless there are trainers in Lambourn and the West Country who would have been perfectly delighted had Doumen never set foot in this country but racegoers in the 90s would have been much less entertained and a good few of them would have missed out on some major paydays from the likes of The Fellow, Algan, Val D’Alene and Baracouda.
Doumen had a pretty big payday from Nupsala, thanks to an English‑based owner who owed him money. The Frenchman asked for the sum to be staked on his horse two days before the 1987 King George, when 50-1 was apparently available.
“Believe me, I never dared to bring this money back to France because I was not such a successful trainer and I thought the tax people would get on me. So, as I was going to Miami [for another horse race], I had the money transferred to a bank in Miami like a bloody drug dealer. And I used that money for holidays only, for 10 years.”
The great man, who announced his retirement in August, sounds baffled by the idea that the Jockey Club might be about to close Kempton and use it to build homes. “For English racing, I’m very, very surprised,” he says. “I suppose we have so many economic problems in France and I guess these things can happen in England as well. We already lost Enghien. And you never know, there are talks about some big tracks maybe going.”
There is a sting in the tail for those who are determined to keep Kempton open because Doumen senses that the track’s popularity has been on the wane. “Last time I went, the atmosphere was not at all any more the same. All I knew was Kempton Park, the royal box and the Queen Mother and that enormous buzz that was there for Boxing Day, and the last time I went it was just so-so, it was not at all the same, they were not the same people running the place and I didn’t find it as exciting.”
The Jockey Club made itself unpopular in January when announcing it would seek planning permission to build on the site. Sherwood calls it a “diabolical” idea and “a PR disaster” to close the track that hosted so many cherished Christmas victories achieved by Arkle, Desert Orchid, Kauto Star and others.
Unsurprisingly, the Club now drops the deadest of bats on media inquiries, saying nothing has changed and that it has been “in listening mode” while awaiting the outcome of the planning process, which could drag on for years. All that listening does not seem to have led to a change of mind, however.
Campaigners have been heartened by a recent review of the green belt, which concluded that Kempton fits all the relevant purposes of green belt land. “This is a new confirmation, they can’t say it’s out of date and our QC thinks the methodology is robust,” says Alan Doyle, the driving force behind Keep Kempton Green. “We’ve got a pretty good chance of stopping development. It’s 50-50, which means it’s all to play for. The arguments are all on our side.
“We’re going to fight this and fight this as much as we can. The Jockey Club thought they’d be finished developing by now. This all started about four or five years ago. And we haven’t lost yet. But it’s going to be tough because they will also have some highly paid lawyers.”
