Auteuil, the Bois de Boulogne steeplechase course since 1873

Auteuil racecourse, a jump racing course near Porte d’Auteuil, opened on 1 November 1873. The City of Paris had granted the concession to the Prince de Sagan, president of the Société des Steeple-Chases, after the Vincennes course, where they had raced until then, was damaged in the war of 1870.

The site stretches between the Passy and Auteuil gates, against the fortifications of the day, and Adolphe Alphand laid out its walks. In 1899 President Émile Loubet was struck with a cane here by Baron Christiani. In 1924 new stands and an outer steeplechase track accompanied the equestrian events of the Olympic Games.

The lawns, open to the public since 1873, became gardens in 2013, designed by the landscape architect Michel Péna and open outside race days. Run by France Galop, the course remains devoted solely to jump racing.

Across 33 hectares of the Bois de Boulogne, in the 16th arrondissement, its hurdle and steeplechase tracks, the water jump before the stands and the rail ditch and fence host the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris in May and the Grande Course de Haies in June.