Jockey-Club de Paris the "Hippodrome de Chantilly" is the proving-ground of the best of the three-year-olds, the French equivalent of The Derby at Epsom Downs or the Kentucky Derby in the USA. Until 2004, the course was 2400 meters; since then, it has been run at 2100 meters. In France, only the "Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe" has a richer purse (1,600,000 euros); that race was inaugurated by the Jockey Club in 1863 as the Grand Prix de Paris, and run at the Hippodrome de Longchamp. The racecourse was painted by Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, and Pablo Picasso, among others. Jockey-Club de Paris
Prix du Jockey Club Club was staged at Longchamp in 1941 and 1942, and at Le Tremblay over 2,300 metres in 1943 and 1944. It returned to Longchamp for the following three years, and on the second occasion it was opened to foreign participants. The present system of race grading was introduced in 1971, and the Prix du Jockey Club was classed at the highest level, Group 1. The first foreign-trained horse to win was Assert in 1982. The distance was shortened to 2,100 metres in 2005. Nine winners of the Prix du Jockey Club have subsequently won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.