Vincent Cheminaud wins his weight in cheese in annual ritual
France: Say cheese! Jockey Vincent Cheminaud was grinning behind his face mask as he posed for the post-race photo after riding a recent winner at Clairefontaine.
Except this was a presentation with a difference as the first prize for the winning rider of the Prix Fromagerie Graindorge, the day’s Quinté race at Deauville’s little-sister venue, was the jockey’s weight in cheese.
In Cheminaud’s case this was 56kg of what one Tripadvisor reviewer described as “the best cheese in Normandy”.
For turophiles [cheese connoisseurs] the Graindorge dairy, established in 1910, produces Livarot, Pont-l’Eveque, Camembert de Normandie, Neufchatel.
At the weigh-in Cheminaud described the cheese as “piquant” and then began handing out rounds to a grateful public.
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