THE decision taken by France Galop, the governing body of French racing, to spend a large chunk of its promotional budget on staging a ground-breaking free admission open-air event in the centre of Paris looks to have paid off as the two-day ‘Horses In The City’ exhibition attracted a reported 35,000 people last Friday and Saturday.

Staged at the Place de la Concorde, which on normal days is a busy roundabout at the opposite end of the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, Horses In The City centred around a huge temporary post-and-rail enclosure in the style of a racecourse paddock.

This staged parades, stunt riding displays and D.J. sets while, outside the ring, the general public was encouraged to take part in numerous activities, such as feeding carrots to the 13-year-old triple Group 1 hero and Ascot Gold Cup runner-up Vazirabad, interacting with aspiring riders from the AFASEC jockey school, dressing up in racing silks and sitting on the weighing room scales or discussing the care of thoroughbreds both during and after their racing careers.

Guillaume de Saint-Seine, president of France Galop, pronounced himself thrilled with the popularity of the event, which attracted more than three times the target attendance of 10,000.

A joint venture with the Ministry Of Agriculture designed to be a ‘close up immersion into the world of racing’, with the goal of ‘reinstating our sport into the hearts of the French people’, Horses In The City is set to be rolled out across the country in 2026 and become an annual event in its current location.