'I’ve trained some fabulous horses, worked with some excellent riders - maybe I have brought a little bit of talent to the table as well'

There seems to be a chill wind blowing through Chantilly this autumn, with familiar names gradually disappearing from racecards. 

Already in 2024 Olivier Peslier has gone from the French weighing room, while Gerald Mosse has exchanged the trademark white riding gloves for a pair of binoculars; among the trainers Myriam Bollack-Badel has retired, soon to be followed by Carlos Laffon-Parias and David Smaga. 

Pascal Bary sent out his final two runners on an anonymous Chantilly all-weather card at the beginning of November and now, sitting in what is still technically his office, he can reflect on a career that has far exceeded anything he could have realistically expected when striking out on his own at 28 with one horse – and briefly no horses, after his very first runner won and was immediately claimed.