French racehorse owners and breeders

Étienne Balsan (February 11, 1878 – 1953) was born in Paris, France, as Fulcran Étienne Balsan.

Alec Nathan Wildenstein (August 5, 1940 – February 18, 2008) was a French-born American billionaire businessman, art dealer, racehorse owner, and breeder.

Simone Del Duca (18 July 1912 – 16 May 2004) was a French businesswoman, a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and major philanthropist. Married to French publishing magnate Cino Del Duca, on his death in 1967 she was left with a considerable fortune. Although she remained on the board of directors of her late husband's companies, Simone Del Duca devoted a great deal of her time to philanthropic causes. In 1969 she established a prestigious literary prize in her husband's name. The Prix mondial Cino Del Duca provides a substantial cash prize and was made open to qualified persons from anywhere in the world.
Simone Del Duca's charitable activities increased to where in 1975 she created the Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation. The Foundation's primary involvements gave support for scientific research and after being made a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1994 she funded two major prizes in visual arts and music awarded through the Académie. Simone Del Duca's philanthropic work was recognized by the government of France who made her a commander of the Legion of Honor.

Marcel Boussac (17 April 1889 – 21 March 1980) was a French entrepreneur best known for his ownership of the Maison Dior and one of the most successful thoroughbred 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 Christian Dior's new Paris fashion house that became one of the most famous clothing and perfume marques. In 1951 Boussac expanded into the newspaper business with the acquisition of L'Aurore.
An avid horseman, Marcel Boussac acquired the Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard horse breeding farm in Neuvy-au-Houlme in Lower Normandy and the Haras de Jardy in Marnes-la-Coquette. As part of his breeding operation, Boussac bought and sold horses from across Europe plus from the United States. He acquired the U.S. Triple Crown winner Whirlaway and sold the mare 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 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Boussac's horses also won the prestigious Epsom Derby, Epsom Oaks, 2,000 Guineas, St. Leger Stakes, Ascot Gold Cup and others in the United Kingdom.

With the Fall of France in the Second World War, Boussac paid a British Royal Air Force officer on secret business to fly him from Paris to the UK. This caused the officer Sidney Cotton to be removed from his position. During the German occupation of France in World War II, 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 Fanny Heldy. They are buried together in the Cimetière de Montmartre in the 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.In his honor, the Prix Marcel Boussac, a Group One Stakes Race, is run annually at the Longchamp Racecourse.

Jean-Luc Lagardère (10 February 1928 – 14 March 2003) was a major French businessman, CEO of the Lagardère Group, one of the largest French conglomerates.
Jean-Luc Lagardère was a Supélec engineer. He began his career in Dassault Aviation. CEO of Matra in the 1960s, he became famous with success in Formula One and Le Mans. He later built a large media and defense conglomerate that bears his name. He was a member of the Saint-Simon Foundation think-tank.
In 1981, with his friend Daniel Filipacchi, he purchased Hachette magazines, which included the French TV Guide (Tele 7 Jours), and the then-struggling Elle magazine. Elle was then launched in the U.S., followed by 25 foreign editions. Filipacchi and Lagardère then expanded Hachette Filipacchi Magazines in the U.S. with the purchase of Diamandis Communications Inc. (formerly CBS magazines), including Woman's Day, Car and Driver, Road and Track, Flying, Boating, and many others.
He was married to Bethy Lagardère, whose birth name is Elisabeth Pimenta Lucas, a socialite and former Brazilian model who settled in France.