France's former champion trainer Jean-Claude Rouget has announced that he is to cease operations at the end of September, according to a report published in Paris Turf.Rouget, 73, informed his staff on Tuesday morning that his company will be placed in liquidation if no takeover bid is received before September 25.The prolific trainer, who started out in Pau in 1978 and for some years also ran a hugely successful satellite stable in his native Normandy, has been crowned champion in France five times. He first topped the table in 2009, the year he won the Prix du Jockey Club for the first time with Le Havre. Further championships followed in 2016, 2020, 2022, and most recently in 2023, the year of his brilliant, unbeaten Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Ace Impact. In May 2024 it was announced that Rouget was to take a break from training after being diagnosed with lymphoma. Later that summer came news of a potential training partnership with Jerome Reynier from the start of the following year, but this idea never came to fruition and by the autumn Rouget had shut down the Deauville wing of his training empire. This story is being updated.The post Jean-Claude Rouget to Cease Training Next Month appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.