Grand Prix de Vichy

"Come to Vichy," they said. "We'll stop in Deauville on the way, it'll be fun." So began a 60-hour pilgrimage to one of the five days of racing that comprise the biggest week of the year at the Hippodrome Vichy Bellerive, a charming course with delicate touches of Art Nouveau glamour set on the banks of the Allier river.  TDN readers of a National Hunt persuasion (there may be some!) might have felt their interest piqued at the mention of the Allier region, deep in central France and famed for...