Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The racetrack of Saint-Cloud, also known as the Val d'Or racetrack, occupies an estate whose history dates back to the ninth century, when the site belonged to the Abbey of Saint-Denis in the form of a beet field. In the mid-19th century, Napoleon III created a model farm of 77 hectares on the territories of Saint-Cloud and Rueil-Malmaison, dedicated to agricultural innovation and breeding. Destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, the farm became a prison colony before being auctioned in 1898 to the breeder Edmond Blanc, who imagined a racetrack there.

Edmond Blanc radically transformed the site between 1898 and 1901, entrusting the plans to architect Léon Berthault for an Anglo-Norman style set: monumental stand, weighing pavilions, and 50-metre wide tracks with wide-beam corners. Inaugurated on 15 March 1901, the racetrack integrates innovations such as starting-gates and a telegraph to disseminate the results. During the First World War, he was requisitioned as a military hospital held by Canadians, an episode commemorated by the Canadian Camp Street. The 1924 Olympic Games even held polo events.

In 1952, the site was bought by industrialist Marcel Boussac, who modernized the infrastructure in 1955 under the direction of architect Eugène Lizero, retaining only the private training centre and home of Edmond Blanc. The latter, restored in 1981, became the Paris Country Club. The racetrack, now owned by France Galop, hosts 32 annual meetings, including the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and the Critérium de Saint-Cloud. Partially listed as historical monuments since 1986 (pavillons, rides, marshalries) and entirely as a classified site since 1998, it escaped a destruction project in 2015 to build 6,000 social housing units.

The estate now combines horse racing, a golf course at the centre of the slopes, and an architectural heritage marked by its Anglo-Norman style. Its history reflects the evolution of equestrian practices, urban issues and heritage preservation in Île-de-France. The traces of the imperial farm, the prison colony and Edmond Blanc's innovations make it a sporting, historic and landscaped site.

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