“He was a very good individual, who loved racing. “Michel Dabouis, 56, remembers the singer and composer Christophe, who died in April 2020 and whom he dated as a teenager. In the early 1980s, the artist owned a racing mare, trained by Roland, Michel's father. “My parents had sold a horse some time before to Joël Rive, Christophe's former guitarist. Passionate about racing, he then became a trainer and sent us a mare, Lord, which belonged to Christophe ”, explains the one who was 15 years old at the time.
If the creator of hit hits like “Aline” was riding the wave of success, he was above all a “lovable” person. “We sometimes went to the races together, to have a good time,” continues Michel Dabouis. With his notoriety, we asked him too many things, like autographs, and it bothered him, he preferred to stop. Above all, he liked to come to the racetrack to have a picnic with us and have a good time. “
But it's above all in the privateness of the Grosbois space (Val-de-Marne), the place the Dabouis household had settled, that the present trainer of trotters skilled unforgettable moments: “He often came to the house. , where he liked to eat a jar of rillettes with us and drink a good glass of red. He was very happy like that. He got into the sulky a bit. He loved racing, but wasn't too keen on leading (Editor's note: a horse). Sometimes he came with artists, like Corynne Charby. She had come home before she went out Pinball Ball. When you're young and you know someone like that who's so sweet, that's great. “
If the passion for racing animated Christophe, that for beautiful cars was also in him. “He was a collector… He had a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari. Lots of cars, and beautiful ones! He stood out when he arrived at Grosbois. When I was 18, when I got my license, I even believe he lent me one of his cars to go to Vincennes. And there were no worries for him ”, remembers Michel, who misplaced sight of Christophe after the profession of the mare, Lord. “It's a shame,” he concluded, “he was actually an enthralling individual. “