Marcel Boussac

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Marcel Boussac
Born(1889-04-17)17 April 1889
Châteauroux, France
Died(1980-03-21)21 March 1980 (aged 90)
Paris, France
Occupation(s)Businessman:
Perfume manufacturing
Newspaper publishing
Racehorse owner/breeder
SpouseFanny Heldy

Marcel Boussac (17 April 1889 – 21 March 1980) was a French entrepreneur best known for his ownership of the

race horse
breeding farms in European history.

Born in Châteauroux, Indre, France, Boussac made a fortune in textile manufacturing. In 1911 he acquired the Château de Mivoisin, a 36 square kilometre property located 1½ hours south of Paris in Dammarie-sur-Loing, Loiret.

In 1941, Boussac was made a member of the National Council of Vichy France.

In 1946, he financed

L'Aurore
.

An avid horseman, Marcel Boussac acquired the

La Troienne to Edward R. Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky
who became one of the most influential mares to be imported into the U.S. in the 20th century.

Boussac's horses, carrying Boussac's signature orange silk and grey cap, dominated French horse racing from the 1930s through to the 1960s making his stable the leading money winner fourteen times and the leading breeder on seventeen occasions. In addition to being a six-time winner of France's most important race, the

St. Leger Stakes, Ascot Gold Cup and others in the United Kingdom
.

Marcel Boussac's signature colours : Orange, grey cap

With the

Nazis seized some of the best racehorses in the country. They shipped more than six hundred of them out of the country, some to Hungary but most back to Germany for racing or for breeding at the German National Stud. Among them was the champion Pharis
, owned by Marcel Boussac.

He was married for many years to the Belgian opera singer

Montmartre Quarter
of Paris.

On his death in 1980, Boussac's estate was liquidated and L'Aurore sold to Robert Hersant who merged it with his Le Figaro newspaper. The property itself would eventually be acquired by Stavros Niarchos. The Aga Khan IV had purchased the bulk of the Boussac farm's breeding stock in 1978 when Boussac's companies were declared bankrupt.[2]

In his honor, the Prix Marcel Boussac, a Group One Stakes Race, is run annually at the Longchamp Racecourse.

References

  1. ^ "Air Force News :: Top Stories". Archived from the original on 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  2. ISBN 0718121767
    .
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