France Galop is the governing body of flat

Flat racing

Flat racing is a form of Thoroughbred horse racing which is run over a level track at a predetermined distance. It differs from steeplechase racing which is run over hurdles...

 and steeplechase

Steeplechase (horse racing)

The steeplechase is a form of horse racing and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside...

 horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It was founded on May 3, 1995 as the result of the amalgamation of four different industry organizations. Prominent owner/breeder Jean-Luc Lagardere

Jean-Luc Lagardère

Jean-Luc Lagardère was a major French businessman, CEO of the Lagardere Group, one of the largest French conglomerates....

 was elected the organization's first president.

As of 2007 France Galop has a membership of more than 9,500 horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 owners, trainers

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

, jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

s, breeders

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

, and officials. The organization is run by a 12 member Board of Directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 and an oversight committee of fifty representatives.

Each year, France Galop organizes more than 6,500 races at racetracks throughout France and operates Longchamp Racecourse

Hippodrome de Longchamp

The Longchamp Racecourse is a 57 hectare horse-racing facility located on the Route des Tribunes in the Bois de Boulogne at Paris, France. Built on the banks of the Seine River, it is used for flat racing and is noted for its variety of interlaced tracks and a famous hill that provides a real...

, Auteuil

Auteuil Hippodrome

The Auteuil Hippodrome is a horse racing venue on Route des Lacs in Paris, France. The 33-hectare race course opened November 1, 1873...

, and the Saint-Cloud Racecourse. The organization also organises steeplechase racing at Enghien Racecourse in Val d'Oise. In addition, France Galop operates the racecourses and manages the training centres at Chantilly

Chantilly Racecourse

Chantilly Racecourse is a Thoroughbred turf racecourse for flat racing in Chantilly, Oise, France, about north of the centre of the city of Paris....

, Maisons-Laffitte

Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse

The Hippodrome de Maisons-Laffitte at 1 avenue de la Pelouse in the northwestern Parisian suburb of Maisons-Laffitte in France is a turf horse racing facility and track for Thoroughbred flat racing...

 and Deauville-La Touques and Deauville-Clairefontaine

Deauville-Clairefontaine Racecourse

Deauville-Clairefontaine Racecourse is a horse race track located in Tourgéville near Deauville in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie région of France...

.

France Galop also focuses on promoting the improvement French racehorse breeding. Along with the harness racing

Harness racing

Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait . They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, although racing under saddle is also conducted in Europe.-Breeds:...

 association, Société du Cheval Français, France Galop controls the voting rights of the PMU (pari-mutuel urbain) who manage track and off-track betting

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 operations on their behalf.

Edouard Etienne de Rothschild

Edouard Etienne de Rothschild

Édouard Etienne Alphonse de Rothschild is a businessman and part of the French branch of the prominent Rothschild family. He is the son of Guy de Rothschild and Marie-Hélène van Zuylen van Nyevelt .-Background:Édouard de Rothschild studied law in France and in 1985 graduated with an M.B.A...

, owner of Haras de Meautry

Haras de Meautry

Haras de Meautry in Touques, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France, is a thoroughbred horse breeding farm. It was acquired in the 19th century by horse-racing enthusiast Alphonse James de Rothschild who passed it down to his offspring so that today it is in the hands of Edouard Etienne de...

 stud

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 farm in Toques in Basse-Normandie

Basse-Normandie

Lower Normandy is an administrative region of France. It was created in 1956, when the Normandy region was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy...

, is the current president of France Galop. He was elected in 2004 to a four-year term.