Clement Seeks First Breeders' Cup Victory

By Michael Adolphson

Veteran conditioner Christophe Clement is considered by many to be one of the best when money is on the line.

To fellow trainers, he is widely respected for his horsemanship and keen eye for placement. To bettors, he is the rental car insurance of the exotics. He costs them extra and does not often represent any value, but they will be sorry if they do not use him.

Such anxiety-laden regard is well-earned high praise for the winner of 221 graded or group stakes since saddling his first winner in 1991. With such a record, it is difficult to believe the Paris native is winless in Breeders' Cup World Championship races. Thirty-one times the son of revered French conditioner Miguel Clement has stood in the winner's enclosure in grade I events, but never has he raised the chiseled bronze Torrie in victory in the heart of autumn. 

Such is not to say the winner of more than 1,700 races and former assistant to Shug McGaughey and Luca Cumani has not had some close calls—he has actually felt the anguish of some of the worst. In 2009, Gio Ponti  —the pride of the Clement barn for multiple seasons—looked like a winner in mid-stretch of the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I), holding such phenomenal racehorses as Twice Over and Summer Bird at bay.

But then... Zenyatta. The orca of a mare and national darling swallowed the race whole in the final yards and swept to victory to the roar of the Santa Anita Park crowd.

"Let me tell you something—when you take the lead at the sixteenth pole and think you're the winner in the richest race in America and the whole grandstand is cheering for Zenyatta to pass your horse—that's an experience," Clement reminisced. "We even thought we had won the race, but it was just not meant to be." 

Gio Ponti was not an isolated unlucky incident. In the 1999 inaugural running of the Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT), Coretta turned for home looking like a winner before race favorite Soaring Softly out-kicked her in the final sixteenth.

In 2013, Za Approval put forth the effort of his career only to run into Wise Dan, the swiftest steamroller to ever eat hay. Clement has also seen bang-up efforts from Flag Down (third, 1997 Turf), Forbidden Apple (second, 2001 Mile, gr. IT), Dynever (third, 2003 Classic), and Red Vine (third, 2015 Dirt Mile, gr. I) that have kept the 51-year-old keenly aware that Breeders' Cup glory is within reach. 

Overall, Clement's charges have earned checks in 19 of 29 Breeders' Cup starts—including five seconds—amassing him $3,863,600 in Breeders' Cup earnings, which is more than $1.2 million clear of the next winless conditioner and superior to 13 other trainers who actually own Breeders' Cup victories. 

"It would be nice, of course, to win one," he said. "It can be a bit frustrating when you get very close, but that happens. The three I have this year all deserve to be there and we are so far, so good with them. They are sound and working well."

If there is ever a year Clement could give himself such a well-deserved birthday gift it is 2016. With three horses entered, he holds an enviable hand.

Nov. 5 he sends forth Patricia Generazio's Pure Sensation, the 5-1 morning-line favorite in the $1 million Turf Sprint (gr. IT) on the merits of three consecutive turf sprint stakes victories from four 2016 tries. The son of Zensational will try to improve upon an eighth in last year's event.

"Pure Sensation is simply a very good horse and has been a bit unlucky in the past," Clement explained. "He is difficult to keep sound, but when he is right he is absolutely top class. Obviously going down the hill (of Santa Anita's unique, about 6 1/2-furlong turf course) is a question mark, but we have no plan except to win. He proved he does not need the lead and can be placed anywhere."

The career winner of 19.7% of his races also has a pair of juvenile fillies who each appear live in their respective events. China Horse Club's Yellow Agate is undefeated in two starts, including the Frizette Stakes (gr. I) over a one-turn mile last time out at Belmont Park, and goes to post in the 14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies (gr. I). The long-striding Gemologist   filly drew well in post four and is 8-1 on the morning line.

One day prior, Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider's Lull—who hails from the immediate family of Classic winner Saint Liam—is 15-1 in a wide-open renewal of the Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IT). A winner of the Exacta Systems Juvenile Fillies two starts back at Kentucky Downs, the well-regarded daughter of War Front   clipped heels and fell as the 6-5 favorite in the Bolton Landing Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 17, but recovered one effort later to win the aforementioned event and then finished a game second in the JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Keeneland last out.

"Yellow Agate is very talented and I think the two turns will be fine," Clement said. "She's done everything right so far and is sound and working well.

"Lull is a filly we have liked since the beginning, and she won first time out at Belmont," he continued. "She had a terrible fall at Saratoga and that was very scary to watch. Luckily she came out of it in good shape and then ran impressively at Kentucky Downs. She's a galloper and is very fit. I know it's a tough race, but she's good enough to compete with those fillies and is training well. The firm turf should be to her liking, as well, and I'm delighted to have Joel Rosario riding her."

The lull may, indeed, be over for the winner of nearly $6.3 million in purses so far this year and victor of the 2014 Belmont Stakes (gr. I), as all three of his competitors have arrived at Santa Anita in good order and trained forwardly in recent weeks. 

"I'm not going to let not having a win yet bother me too much," Clement concluded. "I just try to win races and do the best I can with the horses I have."