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Auteuil Racecourse The Temple of French Jump Racing

Auteuil Racecourse is situated on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne on a 33-hectare site at the Porte d’Auteuil in Paris. It is the centre of jump racing in France and it is where the nine Group 1 hurdle and steeple chase races that take place on French soil are held. Races take place at the beginning of spring and from the autumn until early December. The going can be heavy, a factor that has heavily influenced the relative fitness of French jump horses.

The variety of different tracks and jumps at Auteuil is almost without parallel in Europe. The racing programme at Auteuil brings together the best French horses in a test of their championship mettle, perfectly highlighting the breeding quality of these jump horses, which are exported in quantity to the British Isles.

The racecourse at Auteuil, which was created in 1873, has always attracted large crowds of people. It is the natural environment of an entire population of racegoers who participate in jump racing by watching from one of the three racecourse’s three grass viewing lawns, which are criss-crossed by the numerous tracks.

These three viewing lawns – areas open to the public inside the loops of Auteuil’s figure of eight tracks – were affectionately dubbed Tonkin, Congo and Madagascar during the colonial period. Old photographs show a popular, festive atmosphere, with people lining the banks of the streams that feed the two water jumps – obstacles created out of a hedge and a pond that are among Auteuil’s best known features.

The spectacular nature of jump racing obviously played a big role in its popularity because there is always something going on and the public never misses out.

Even today, it brings together racing enthusiasts from all over France, especially from main breeding areas of the west and the central-east of the country, to take part in the great celebrations that are the International Jump Weekend in November and the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris in May.

How to get there ?

Route d'Auteuil aux Lacs – Paris 75016

Métro

Station Porte d'Auteuil
Racecourse (Line 10) - Station Porte d'Auteuil-Hippodrome

Bus

To Porte d'Auteuil
PC1, 52, 123 (every day)
32, 241 (every day except Sundays and Public Holidays).

Voiture

Boulevard Peripherique exit "Porte d'Auteuil".
Limited parking space available.

Services

  • ATM

  • Gift shop

  • Easy Racing area: Understand racing, learn to bet.

Food service

  • Brasserie Karly Flight, booking: 06 23 18 54 50. Proper attire required to access this area.
  • Snacking: "Cœur de Blé".

Prices

  Internet presale Reduced price (1) Full price

Parking (internet presale)

Parking (D-D)
Weekday, Saturdays 3 € 3 € 5 € Offered Offered
Sundays and holidays 4 € 6 € 8 € 3 € 5 €

Racecourses with the family (L'Hippodrome en Famille)

5 € 8 € 10 € 3 € 5 €
Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris (20 & 21 May) 5 € 8 € 10 € 3 € 5 €
48 Heures de l'Obstacle - (11 & 12 November) 5 € 8 € 10 € 3 € 5 €

For futher information and tickets: billetterie.france-galop.com.

(1) Reduced rate: 12 to 18 years old, students, over 60 years old, jobseekers, accompanying persons for persons with disabilities, beneficiaries of the Club France Galop card.

Free General Admission: -12 years old, person with a disability, PMU card holders (Silver Pass, Gold Pass and Le Club My PMU card).

Main events

  • 20 and 21 May - Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris - Prix Ferdinand Dufaure
  • 11 and 12 November - Les 48 Heures de l’Obstacle (Grand Prix d’Automne, Prix Cambacérès, Prix Maurice Gillois Grand Steeple-Chase des 4 ans and Prix La Haye Jousselin)

Schedule of upcoming races

Date Racetrack Start Races To note Ground Premium
24/03/2024 AUTEUIL 13h28 Obstacle : 8
Prix : HYPOTHESE (Grp. III)
Autre(s) course(s) à noter :
Prix : GAL ROUGEMONT (Listed)
Prix : AIR LANDAIS (Listed)
Prix : LE TOUQUET (Listed)
Premium
31/03/2024 AUTEUIL 12h53 Obstacle : 8
Prix : FLEURET (Grp. III)
Autre(s) course(s) à noter :
Prix : LUTTEUR III (Listed)
Prix : VIRELAN (Listed)
Prix : GEOGRAPHIE
Premium
06/04/2024 AUTEUIL 11h23 Obstacle : 8
Prix : MURAT (Grp. II)
Autre(s) course(s) à noter :
Prix : PEPINVAST (Grp. III)
Prix : JEAN GRANEL (Listed)
Prix : CHAMPAUBERT
Premium
11/04/2024 AUTEUIL 13h25 Obstacle : 8
Prix : ROSE OR NO (Listed)
Autre(s) course(s) à noter :
Prix : NECOR
Prix : ALEC CARTER
Prix : DE SAUMUR
Premium
16/04/2024 AUTEUIL 13h25 Obstacle : 8
Prix : WILLIAM HEAD (Grp. III)
Autre(s) course(s) à noter :
Prix : PH. MENAGER (Listed)
Prix : DE PAU
Prix : WILD MONARCH
Premium

Auteuil in numbers

37 days of races in 2023;

Capacity 40,000 people;

33 hectares, including 18 hectares of turf tracks;

25 possible routes; 25 fences of several different types: bull finch, double-barrier, oxer, small, standard, and large open-ditch, rail-ditch-and-fence, stone wall, water jumps (on the figure of eight and the tribunes) a bank and a brook.

4 tracks:
2 concentric steeple-chase tracks:
Exterior track of 2,239 metres;
Interior track of 2,166 metres;
Hurdle track of 2,418 metres;
Figure of eight track (hurdle et steeple-chase)

History

The ‘Société des Steeple-Chases’ was created in 1863. Before the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, races took place in the Bois de Vincennes. However, the racecourse was very badly damaged during the War, and once peace had been restored, the question of building a new racecourse was raised.

It is in this context that on 18 February 1873, the Paris Municipality granted the Prince de Sagan, president of the ‘Société des Steeple-chases de France’ a concession on land situated on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. It was located between the fortifications and the Mortemart Mound (the name has now become associated with the racecourse), which was formed from the excavated rubble dug out when the ornamental lakes in the Bois de Boulogne that still surround the racetrack were created.

It was here that a racecourse dedicated only to jump racing would be built. The first race was held in driving rain on the 1 November 1873 around a 2,400 metre track with 13 jumps. The course was lined with a stand designed by the reputed architect Walter Destailleur.

With the notable exception of the famous Rivière des Tribunes (water jump), the layout of the tracks and jumps would be changed regularly. During the First World War the site housed livestock, and later during the Occupation, some of the jumps were removed and a flat course laid out. Nevertheless, Auteuil still kept its status as the temple of French jump racing.

New stands were unveiled in 1924, at the same time as the outside steeple-chase track, where the racecourse’s most formidable jump was located – the rail-and-ditch fence ¬– named by the racing press, Auteuil’s ‘Justice of the Peace’.

In 1967, improvement work was started on the tracks and buildings. The construction of the Boulevard Périphérique, which encroached upon the racecourse, forced the modification of the tracks near the corner of the lakes, and the relocation of the stables and paddock. The stands were reconfigured, and a covered swimming pool created in one of the viewing lawns. This phase of development lasted until 1975, but all the time the races continued, because given its special status, Auteuil must always remain open.