After that of Michael Stoute announced a few weeks ago, the world gallop celebrates another great retirement, that of Pascal Bary. This time we are on the other side of the English Channel and the announcement came in a long interview on the French channel Equidia. Bary, 71, puts an end to a career that has seen him saddle horses at every latitude for 44 seasons. His last two pupils, Richard Feynman and Amandine, took to the track on Tuesday at Chantilly, albeit without any appreciable results. However, the man who has guided such important careers as those of Six Perfection, Sulamani, Study Of Man and above all Divine Proportion can retire with a trophy cabinet full of trophies since he is, among other things, one of six coaches to share the record of having won the Prix du Jockey Club on six occasions (only Tom Jennings in the 19th century won more with ten), starting in 1994 with Celtic Arms and ending with Study Of Man in 2018. The top colours for which Bary has been active have been those of the family Many of Bary’s greatest champions were owned and bred by the Niarchos family, for whom he first coached in 1987 and then worked continuously since 1997. Niarchos’ long-time team manager Alan Cooper paid tribute to Bary’s dedication and passion for his work. ‘It has always been great to work with Pascal, as well as his team,’ he said. ‘His enthusiasm for his profession filters through faithfully from all his staff and this is a factor that has contributed significantly to his great success.’ Speaking of the greatest victories achieved with horses trained by Bary Cooper, he added: ‘Without wishing to overdo it, it has to be said that there have been several great days and it is difficult to choose between them. Study Of Man’s Jockey Club would be one, as would all of Divine Proportions’ Group 1s and Senga’s Prix de Diane.
Bary began his career riding for William Clout before learning the coaching trade first with Sir Mark Prescott and then with Francois Boutin. He also won a Grand Prix de Paris with Feed The Flame ridden by our Cristian Demuro.
