The wife of Alec Head, who died a year ago, Ghislaine was represented on the racecourse by, among others, the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Three Troikas (Fr) (Lyphard), who was trained by her daughter Christiane (Criquette) and ridden to victory by her son Freddy, who was later a successful trainer in his own right.

Alec and Ghislaine Head bought Haras du Quesnay just outside Deauville in 1958 and set about making it into one the country's most famous breeding and stallion operations, with its resident sires over the decades including Le Fabuleux (Fr), Anabaa, Highest Honor (Fr), and the homebred Bering (GB), who was another to race in Head's colours to win the 1986 Prix du Jockey Club.

Paying tribute to her mother in JDG, Criquette Head said, “Mum and Dad were an incredible pair. If Dad took care of the horses, Mum managed all the administrative aspects, in Chantilly as in Quesnay, which was not an easy task, and relations with customers.

“She was a woman of character, very active, undoubtedly ahead of her time. She was also the real pillar of the family…She has always supported us, her children. She has done more than raise us, I would say that she has elevated us.”

Christopher Head, grandson of Alec and Ghislaine, is the trainer of the favourite for Sunday's Prix du Jockey Club, Big Rock (Fr).

Ghislaine Head is survived by her children Freddy, Criquette, Martine, and Patricia, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

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Though only 23, he is already a familiar sight on the bloodstock circuit either side of the ocean. He was born to the game, as son of trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias and Criquette's daughter Patricia. And his nascent agency, Fernando's Horses, already features Real Madrid full-back Alvaro Odriozola among its clients. Lately, moreover, he has been shadowing a paragon of his chosen profession, David Ingordo, round the American sales in completing his education with a stint at Lane's End.

Except, of course, with such a background Laffon understands perfectly well that one's education with Thoroughbreds is never “complete”. Though he will always stand out from a crowd, elevated by those long limbs, Laffon scrupulously renounces any entitlement through pedigree or upbringing. If anything, in fact, that's where he does have a “Head” start: in grasping that horses are ever here to keep us humble.

“I really have no expectations whatsoever,” he insists. “Because I've been taught not to have any; that any good surprise is a good surprise. I'm the last of my siblings, so have always been among older people. But in no way, shape or form am I any wiser than anyone else my age. I just try to keep quiet, be observant, and be respectful to everyone I work with. And, if I can, to make my way through the industry qualitatively and maturely.”

That said, the industry in question is entirely predicated on the principle that breeding and upbringing will show in performance-and sometimes that can apply on two legs, no less than on four. Laffon was only 12 when his father saddled Solemia (Ire) (Poliglote {GB}) to win the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, compounding the extraordinary race record of his maternal family. Criquette won the next two runnings with Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}); and had earlier won with Three Troikas (Fr) (Lyphard), one of four Arc winners ridden by her brother. Freddy duly matched the quartet saddled by their father, whose own father William had in turn trained two.

“I feel very lucky to have been raised in the centre of racing: Chantilly,” Laffon acknowledges. “Growing up, I never really grasped the importance of my great-grandfather's name. His daughter became my mentor, but first and foremost she was my grandmother. But by the time I got out of college, and knew what area of the industry I wanted to be involved in, I started to realize how critical he had been, and who he was, and the love for the animal that he had. And as the years goes by, I'm sure I'll also find myself looking back on things that my dad has said or done, things I heard or saw as a kid falling into place with my own experiences. I'm going to have to make my name for myself, as obvious as that is. But those memories are always going to be there, in the back of your mind, giving you an edge.”

That kind of heritage, admittedly, can sometimes prove a double-edged sword. In this business you often see successor generations losing their way because they never sampled different ways of doing things elsewhere. So it feels very wholesome that Laffon has broadened his horizons, not just at Reading University/Henley Business School (plus a desk job in Geneva), but in taking the Irish National Stud course and learning the agency ropes under Tom Goff. He feels a huge debt to both; and now here he is in Kentucky.

“It's definitely something you have to do: experience different schools, understand the different ways that horses are managed, land is managed,” Laffon says. “From the very early morning training routines I once knew, growing up, it's so different over here. And I really acknowledge the privileged situation I'm in here, with the Farish family, it's an absolutely fantastic organisation.”

And the timing could not have been better, allowing such a young man already to have been on neck-slapping terms not with just Treve but now also with Flightline (Tapit).

“Oh, everything that's happened since I got here is a blessing, really,” Laffon enthuses. “Joining at such an important time in the farm's history, in any horseman's career really, was really something special. Being able to witness greatness, and the upcoming path for him, is so exciting.”

Given Alec Head's example, it would be fitting if Laffon could build on this transatlantic foundation to renew the kind of genetic transfusion so culpably neglected in recent times.

“Yes, my great-grandfather brought a lot of pedigrees over here and, most importantly, brought them back to Europe as well,” he agrees. “When he was surrounded with stallions such as Riverman and Lyphard and Anabaa and Mr. Sidney, it was all about exposing them to different markets, different methods of racing. And that's kind of been lost. People now want certainty, whereas before it was a gamble that either paid off or didn't.

“But now that we're seeing such improvement in the way Americans look at turf racing, I think there are definitely opportunities for working both continents at once; in fact, I intend to do so. And also for reconciling the racing, acknowledging that horses here are definitely different, they're bigger, and speed out of the gate is crucial. And the nutrition program is completely different. However I was shocked by the amount of European pedigree I have found, both on the farms and at the sales. So these horses can be super versatile, and exposing myself to both is a necessity.”

But you certainly learn fast in the Bluegrass. Laffon equates trying to keep up with Ingordo, round a single September Sale, with three full years on the European circuit. Again, it's about keeping humble–and keeping eyes and ears open.

“I've been raised in a very traditional manner,” Laffon emphasizes. “I just want to do right by me, and my clients, and the people I work with. Because in the end it's a game of honesty and trust. My end goal has always been to breed, which is something I've undertaken already back in Europe, with fillies in training and newly purchased mares.”

The commercial yearling represents a valuable new dimension for Laffon, the clienteles of father and grandmother alike having largely been owner-breeders.

“It's helped to evolve the way I see things,” he says. “You're not looking at the perfect horse, only at a certain stage of maturity, and asking yourself what improvement you can get from them. And I think that comes down to just understanding that every individual in your barn has different qualities. Spotting those is what sets apart trainers like my father and grandmother from others.”

With that old school background, it feels positive that Laffon should have joined forces with another young man from a very different world. For Odriozola, equally, it must have been refreshing to encounter someone who knew so much about racing, and plenty about rugby, but very little about soccer. They met when Odriozola, attending the Arc, was invited (as a fellow Spaniard) to visit his father's yard.

“Alvaro has sure made an impression, since the beginning,” Laffon says. “He's so eager towards the game we all love, passionate and knowledgeable. He and I are just on the same wavelength, we're friends before anything else, and both happen to share this unconditional love of the horse in its entirety. Spain is a small country, racing-wise, but any horseman or racing fan must experience Madrid La Zarzuela racetrack, architecturally it's one of the most beautiful in Europe. The quality of racing is without a doubt picking up. And that's one of the beautiful things I admire about Alvaro, that he's willing just to give back to the industry he so loves, in his country. He wants to breed, so has bought a few young fillies for racing: with Ramon Avial in San Sebastian, in Chantilly with Dad, but also at Joseph O'Brien's in Co. Kilkenny.”

Since establishing that link with Odriozola, a couple of years ago, Laffon has also assisted his grandmother in matings and stud management, and meanwhile built a few partnerships among friends and clients.

“I want a very close relationship with anyone I work with,” he stresses. “To me, it's not about putting yourself out there and buying the most horses you can, but about building trust with those you want to buy for.”

We're plainly talking to a pretty cosmopolitan young man here. Laffon went to school in England, his genes are French and Spanish, and he has embraced a career where his surname resonates internationally at Hall of Fame level. Yet he knows that he has barely scratched the surface; that even in our narrow walk of life, there's a whole world out there waiting to be discovered.

“I think the world is both a big place and a small place,” he suggests. “I want to go to many different places, discover many different cultures. It's such a short time that we have to experience everything. And that's what this industry gives us. One day you're in Keeneland, the next you're at the Magic Millions. It's a beautiful thing. We're so lucky to do what we love. There's no words to describe it: how this job that takes every single day of every week, every single hour of every day, but makes us proud just to be waking up and working hard.”

And perhaps it is that precocious insight–as much as any connections, any inherited lore–that represents Laffon's most precious family legacy.

“Yes, of course, having an 'in' is a positive,” he accepts. “In terms of the way I can look at and understand the animal, it's been great to have been brought up with a 'second nature' type of outlook. But one of the things I love about this industry is that it's really open to any hardworking person. If you have the drive, you can go anywhere: people will never overlook you. And that's why I wanted to come here. In America people are very outgoing: starting out in business, they get themselves heard. Obviously my great-grandfather did a lot here, and his name is very well regarded. But I really wanted to make my own way, a fresh start.

“In breeding, there's always progression. Change will always occur: not only in the way I do things, but in the way everyone does. So it's about adapting. A breeder has to be a seller, has to understand how the market works and how it may change. That's why coming here, and being exposed to all this, it's really the best thing I could do.”

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Since 1958, the Head family has been raising champion Thoroughbreds at Haras du Quesnay, just a few kilometers from the Arqana sales ring. But now, with the passing of the family patriarch, Alec Head, and the sale of the historic nursery, the family's colors will fly for the last time at the December Breeding Stock sale, with the complete dispersal of the Heads' bloodstock interests.

Le Quesnay will offer 48 broodmares, fillies and foals during the sale.

“It's a big bunch of horses, and it's sad to see them going,” said Vincent Rimaud, Quesnay's Stud Manager. “On the other hand, it's nice to look after them. A decision was taken to sell them in Arqana because we're here, we're in France. We're 10 miles away from the site, and we've always sold there. And while a lot of these horses will stay in France, a few of these mares will attract international clients.”

In fact, the first through the ring, lot 31, Perle d'Auge (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), figures to be one of the stars of the dispersal. She is a half-sister to the 2022 G3 Prix Minerve winner Eternal Pearl (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Her third dam Pearly Shells (GB) was the G1 Prix Vermeille winner, who produced the dam of G1 Matron S. Winner Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Her 2022 filly by Intello (Ger) is also being offered as lot 329.

“Three years ago, we bought Perle d'Auge as a maiden in Arqana and we got her in foal to Intello (Ger) and she gave us a beautiful filly that we would sell. And the pedigree has moved a lot since we bought this mare with Eternal Pearl and with Pearls Galore.”

An emotional sale figures to come with the last foal from Trevise (Fr), the dam of two-time G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Treve (Fr), who died during this foaling. The filly by the late Le Havre sells as lot 166 on Saturday.

“Of course, we have Treve's family,” said Rimaud. “We have the sister to Treve by Le Havre and she's a very nice filly. She's a good mix of Le Havre and her dam. The mare died this year, giving birth to this filly, so she was raised under a nurse mare, and of course, Le Havre died also. So, it's a bit of a sad story, but there's also very beautiful potential there as a broodmare and hopefully a nice race mare before that.”

Treve's half-sister Toride (Fr), who has already produced the black-type runners Lady Day (Fr) and Maximus (Fr), is offered on Saturday as lot 197 in foal to Zarak (Fr), Europe's leading second-crop sire, who stood this year at Haras de Bonneval for €60,000.

“We have Toride, which is a sister that has already produced two black-type horses and she's in foal to Zarak, and it is the right time to be in foal to that stallion to go to the sales. She's a nice mare. And we are also taking down her fifth foal, which is a Persian King (Ire) colt, a very nice colt, and we've been very fortunate with this family.”

The exact future of Quesnay remains unclear; part of the land has been sold off to create the new Haras de Beaumont across the road from the main section of Quesnay, and Rimaud says that there will still be Thoroughbreds raised on the remaining land. But after 20 years of working for the Head family, he admits there will be more than a bit of sadness when the hammer falls on the final lot through the ring on Tuesday.

“There are plenty of people working here and some of them have been working here for a very long time,” he said. “And I think that we will have two different feelings. If they sell well, if they go with nice breeders into good hands, we will be happy about the job done. And I guess at the end of Tuesday night, when we sell the last number, we will feel a bit sad, of course. That will happen. All of these horses that are going to the sales, they were born here in those foaling stables over there,” he says, waving his hand across the iconic Quesnay yard. “And I was there for most of them.”

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The fortunes of the Head family thrived in the years after the second World War. William Head's stable in Chantilly had done well in the inter-war years but in 1947 he found that he had a real star on his hands. In the spring he sent Le Paillon (Fr) over to England to run in the Champion Hurdle at the National Hunt Meeting at Cheltenham and, with the trainer's 22-year-old son Alec in the saddle, he ran a mighty race to finish second to the local champion National Spirit (GB). In the autumn Le Paillon scaled even greater heights, winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Alec Head took out his own training licence that year and it was soon clear that he was a chip off the old block. Before long he was training for two of Europe's most established and successful owner/breeders, the Aga Khan III and Pierre Wertheimer, the co-founder (with Coco Chanel) of the Chanel cosmetics empire. A large batch of the Aga Khan's horses arrived in his stable from England in the autumn of 1951 and there was also a recruit from Italy. The Aga Khan and his son Prince Aly Khan had bought Nuccio (Ity) and this proved to be an inspired purchase. In 1952 Nuccio won the Coronation Cup at Epsom early in the summer before taking the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the autumn, thus allowing Alec Head to emulate his father as a winning trainer of France's greatest race only five years after Le Paillon's victory.

Alec Head was soon providing similar success for M. Wertheimer. Most notably, in 1955 Vimy (Fr) became the first overseas-trained horse to win England's recently established weight-for-age feature, the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot. The following year Lavandin (Fr) won the biggest race of all, the Derby at Epsom.

With the Head family fortunes so buoyant, William Head decided to lay foundations which could take the family's involvement to the next level, by buying a stud. The property chosen was Haras du Quesnay, which had a rich history as one of the premier Thoroughbred farms in France. Its heyday had been early in the 20th century when it was owned by the American millionaire William K. Vanderbilt, who was living in France at the time. During his ownership, two Quesnay stallions became champion sire in France: Prestige (Fr) in 1914 and Maintenon (Fr) in 1917. However, its glory days seemed to be in the past by the time that William Head bought the property in 1958. With the help of his sons Alec and Peter, though, he set about restoring it to its former glory and then taking it to unprecedented heights.

Before long, Haras du Quesnay once again boasted one of the strongest sires' rosters in Europe. Its stalwarts in the 1960s included Prince Taj (Fr), Snob (Fr) and Le Fabuleux (Fr), the last-named being a son of Vimy who had been trained by William Head to win the Prix du Jockey-Club in 1964. Prince Taj and Snob both became champion sire of France, the former in 1967 and '68, the latter in 1969.

Neither of these two champions, though, remained at Quesnay indefinitely. Traditionally, the major studs are owned by extremely wealthy people who can subsidise the operations with money from other sources. The Heads, though, were horsemen through and through. Operating at this level required–and still requires–massive capital and ongoing investment. Hence the business has always had to be run on business-like lines, which sometimes means selling assets when their value is highest. An extremely good offer from America for Prince Taj, who had retired to stud in 1960, had already been accepted by the time that that horse became champion sire; while Snob's success meant that he, too, was the subject of an offer too good to refuse and he thus headed to Japan in 1972.

Alec Head had been the beneficiary of an Aga Khan reorganisation in 1951 but in 1964 a rationalisation by the young HH Aga Khan IV saw Francois Mathet appointed as the principal trainer for the Aga Khan Studs. Head had done very well for the operation, including with the British Classic winners Rose Royale II (Fr) and Taboun (Fr) in the late '50s and with Charlottesville (Fr) in the Prix du Jockey-Club in 1960, only days after HH Aga Khan IV had taken the helm of the family's studs on the death of his father Prince Aly Khan. However, Head's stable was going so well that the loss of the Aga Khan's horses did little to diminish his success. Neither did the death of Pierre Wertheimer in 1965.  The great sportsman's racing and breeding operations were taken over by his widow Germaine (who was to outlive her husband by nine years) and their son Jacques, and the success of Wertheimer-owned, Head-trained horses became ever more notable a feature of top-class European racing.

In the early '70s, two outstanding colts helped to take this alliance to greater heights still. In 1972 the brilliant 3-year-old colts Riverman and Lyphard won five top-level races between them, Riverman taking the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, Prix d'Ispahan and Prix Jean Prat, and Lyphard landing the Prix Jacques le Marois and Prix de la Foret. Both horses retired to Quesnay and both became champion sire of France; and both were sold to America, Lyphard going to Gainesway Farm in 1978 and Riverman following two years later. Each continued to churn out top-class horses, most notably when European racing was lit up in the mid '80s by the outstanding Lyphard colt Dancing Brave and the tough-as-teak Riverman mare Triptych.

Just as William Head had been helped in the development of Quesnay by his sons, so was Alec Head helped by his own children. Freddy, Criquette and Martine all followed their father into the game.  Freddy became a jockey for his grandfather and his father at a young age, riding the first of his four Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners, the William Head-trained Bon Mot (Fr), in 1966 when aged only 19. His third win in the great race came 10 years later when winning for his father on the Jacques Wertheimer homebred Ivanjica. Freddy, of course, subsequently became a very successful trainer, his finest hours in that role provided by the great Wertheimer homebred Goldikova (Ire). It didn't take Criquette long to become a top-class trainer, and she saddled the first of her three Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners in 1979 when the Lyphard filly Three Troikas (Fr) won the great race, owned by her mother Ghislaine and ridden by her brother.

As well as building up one of the strongest sires' rosters in Europe, the Heads also developed Quesnay as one of the most successful nurseries, producing a stream of high-class homebreds for themselves and also rearing many champions for their clients. A classic example of a horse in the latter category was Robert Sangster's 1980 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Detroit (Fr), a daughter of Riverman who was bred by Societe Aland and was bought by Sangster as a foal for a sum reportedly in the region of a million francs. She ended up with the rare distinction of being an Arc winner who bred an Arc winner, her son Carnegie (Ire) taking the great race in 1994. Sangster had previously raced Detroit's older half-sister Durtal (Ire), a Quesnay-raised daughter of Lyphard who had won the G1 Cheveley Park S. in 1976. She too went on to breed a champion: Gildoran (Ire), winner of the Ascot Gold Cup in 1984 and '85.

A subsequent champion who was raised at Quesnay for Ecurie Aland was Ravinella, who won the 1,000 Guineas in 1988 in the Ecurie Aland livery to become the second of the four 1,000 Guineas winners trained by Criquette. In a pleasing echo of the importance which family has played in the Quesnay success story, Ravinella was ridden by the Australian jockey Gary Moore, whose father George had been an outstandingly good stable jockey for Alec Head in the '60s. Five years previously Criquette had won the 1,000 Guineas for the first time when Ma Biche (whose granddam was a half-sister to Vimy) won under Freddy. Ma Biche started her racing career in Ghislaine Head's colours and ended it racing for Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum.

The best horses to carry Ghislaine Head's colours at that time, though, were the chestnut homebred Bering (GB) and the champion sprinter Anabaa. The former was France's outstanding 3-year-old of 1986 when he was an easy winner of the Prix du Jockey-Club under Gary Moore, thus helping his sire, the Quesnay resident Arctic Tern (GB), to secure that season's sires' premiership. Many horses inferior to Bering have won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but he was unfortunate in that the 1986 edition was one of the best ever and he could only finish second, splitting the two aforementioned champions Dancing Brave and Triptych. The Anabaa story is a lovely one, not least for the fact that it reflects great credit both on the Heads and on the late Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum. The latter bred Anabaa and put him into training with Criquette. When the horse was diagnosed as a wobbler with a very pessimistic prognosis, his breeder gave him to the Heads. Miraculously, the colt recovered from this usually incurable condition. When he did so, the Heads, showing typical decency, offered to give him back; but the Sheikh, as ever a true gentleman, replied that a gift was a gift, and the horse was theirs to keep.

Thus Anabaa, owned by Ghislaine Head, trained by Criquette Head and ridden by Freddy Head, became Europe's champion sprinter as a 4-year-old in 1996. In time, like Bering, he became a stalwart of the Quesnay sires' roster (most famously producing the aforementioned Goldikova) at a time when Highest Honor (Fr) was also a long-standing fixture at the stud. The last-named was one of three Quesnay residents to win France's sires' championship during the 1990s, along with Saint Cyrien (Fr) and Green Dancer (who had moved to America by the time that he bred his best son, the 1991 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Suave Dancer).

It would be a big statement to say that Quesnay saved the best until last, bearing in mind how many champions had gone before Treve (Fr). However, one of the most recent Quesnay stars has also been one of the best, and certainly the only one able to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe twice. The mighty Treve, a filly by Motivator (who was standing in England when she was conceived but who subsequently moved to Quesnay) from the Anabaa mare Trevise, didn't attract much attention when sent to the Arqana October Yearling Sale in 2010 so she was bought back for €22,000. She went into training with Criquette and, wearing the red Haras du Quesnay silks, she galloped to Classic glory when taking the Prix de Diane in 2013, beating the subsequent impressive Irish Oaks winner Chicquita (Ire) by four lengths. She was then sold privately to Sheikh Joaan al Thani and won a further five Group 1 races including, famously, the Arc twice. Ultimately she came close to becoming the only treble winner of the great race, Criquette's skilful training enabling her to hold her form long enough so that she was able to run agonisingly well in her bid for that unprecedented third triumph, finishing just over two lengths behind Golden Horn (GB) when fourth in 2015.

One of life's saddest truisms is that all good things must come to an end, and now, five months after the death at Alec Head, arguably the most respected racing man in Europe, Haras du Quesnay is being dismantled. This is the end of a very special era, but the one certainty is that the influence of the Head family and the Quesnay bloodlines will live forever.

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It has been quite the year for Head, 35, who notched his first group win in the G2 Prix du Muguet with TDN Rising Star Sibila Spain (Ire) (Frankel {GB), a first Group 1 in last weekend's Prix Marcel Boussac, and is now aiming at his first major overseas trip. In the midst of all this it was announced that he would take up the reins at the stable of Freddy Head, who will retire at the end of this season following an illustrious career, first as a jockey and later as a trainer.

“When my father made the announcement of his retirement, I wasn't expecting it because he hadn't talked about it,” said the French trainer on a visit to Tattersalls last week. “I learnt of it in the news like everybody else. This is how we are.”

There have been a number of sons, and the occasional daughter joining forces with their father since partnership training licences were introduced in Britain in 2020. However, in France, joint licences have been permitted for much longer, though this was never a route taken by Freddy and Christopher Head, with the latter having started training initially with a handful of rented boxes at Pascal Bary's Chantilly yard in 2019.

Christopher explains, “He always kept his distance with me in the beginning of my training career because he didn't want me to be in his shadow. I hope that it shows in the various things that I have done so far that it wasn't him, and that that can give owners confidence.

“It needed to be done as I wanted to try to make my own stamp on the stable. Now I am buying my father's stable. I've been training three years and now everything is settled and we are jumping onto the next step and having our own yard.”

The portents could not be better as the younger Head steps into this enhanced role having starred on Arc weekend with a smart young filly he will now take to Keeneland in pursuit of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. The daughter of Churchill has been highly tried this season, racing six times from early May for four wins, including the G3 Prix d'Aumale en route to the Marcel Boussac.

“It was really the pinnacle of a programme that I had with various fillies,” says Head as he reflects on a breakthrough Group 1 victory, not just for himself but for Blue Rose Cen's Spanish owner-breeder Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals, who notably made significant investment in broodmares at the sales in America and Europe several years ago.

“To prepare for the race [last] Sunday, we needed for her to kick at the start of the season and race every month,” he continues. “And from the start she really was very sound and very brilliant–a fast learner, and that's why things have been so easy for her. She really has always been so straightforward, leading the string sometimes. It really is an honour for me to train her.”

Despite a busy domestic programme this spring and summer for Blue Rose Cen, Head is adamant that she should take her chance at Keeneland.

He says, “That's the idea. We've been taking inspiration from what they do in Great Britain and Ireland. It's an experiment to see if we are capable of having 2-year-olds at this level, of this quality. What does Aidan O'Brien do? He runs his 2-year-olds.

“Of course I have been looking at all the Breeders' Cup replays from Keeneland to see what we need to do to win. I will prepare her for distance and speed, and of course to go left-handed. Everything will be done to ensure that we get her there in top condition.”

Head, whose younger sister Victoria is also now training, following a long family tradition that stretches back to their great-grandfather Willie Head and includes grandfather Alec, and aunt Criquette, knows that he is fortunate to have been selected by Fernandez Pujals to train some of his first wave of homebreds. The Coolmore-bred Sibila Spain, a full-sister to the smart stayer Master Of Reality (Ire) and from a family laden with black type, was recruited as a yearling at Arqana and also races in his colours.

“He sent me horses that I couldn't even imagine I would get to train,” says Head. “There is a huge gap between my beginning and when I had the chance to train horses for him and I really thank him again for his confidence in my stable. When you're a young trainer to have the confidence of a great owner like him is everything. 

“He was already involved with Spanish [sport] horses but it's only been three years that he has been breeding thoroughbreds and he is brilliant enough to have learned every pedigree and he can go right back into the past with them. It's incredible to have him and to be part of his project. It's a huge project that I believe will have success. He bought a lot of nice mares and it's good for new owners to see that it is still possible to have success like this.”

He adds of the recently retired Sibila Spain, “She was the first horse I had for him, and she was my first group winner, so she is very special. Hopefully I might have the chance to train her offspring in the future.”

While the future looks bright for Head, his one regret is that his legendary grandfather Alec, who won the Arc as both a trainer and breeder, the latter with the dual victrix Treve (Fr), did not live long enough to see his first Group 1 success. The master of Haras du Quesnay died in June at the age of 97.

“It has been a beautiful year but it has also been a hard one too,” he notes. “I wish my grandfather could have been there to see it. Even though he was family, he was also a legend to us, so it was a hard time to think that I would no longer be able to discuss horses with him, because now I think that I am mature enough to do that. But I just hope somehow he saw it and enjoyed it.”

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Prior to his training career which started in 1997, Head was a celebrated French champion jockey, with wins spanning all of the French Classics, a G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and both the colts' and fillies' Guineas in Newmarket.

“I won my first race at 16 and during all these years, I almost never stopped,” the 75-year-old told Jour de Galop. “It's time for me to take some rest and enjoy.”

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At just 25 years of age, Odriozola has already enjoyed a hugely successful career as a footballer and revealed how he adopts a similar mindset to racehorse ownership and breeding by saying “you have to dream big in order to get what you want in life”. 

Already a winning owner in Ireland, after Gaheris won at Leopardstown last year, Odriozola shares the steps he is taking towards becoming a successful owner-breeder in this unmissable interview. 

Brian Sheerin: What is your philosophy to racehorse ownership?

Alvaro Odriozola: My dream is to own a horse of a lifetime. You have to dream big in order to get what you want in life. I have always dreamt big in life and I ended up signing for the greatest football club in the world in Real Madrid so why not? You have to dream it and go for it, so my aim in horse racing is to have a horse of a lifetime. What I am trying to do right now is to focus on the breeding side of things. Normally, the most special racehorses are owner-bred, not bought at the sales, so I am in the process of starting my breeding operation. For me, that is the area I am most passionate about. I just love it. My goal right now is to breed that horse. To create your own horse, from picking the stallion and choosing the right cross, that's the most beautiful thing. I started focussing on buying mostly fillies last year. The plan is to race them and, hopefully, if they are good enough, they will become broodmares. I am only 25 years old so I have my whole life. I have a lot of patience and my end goal is to have three or four very good mares to breed from and hopefully I will get my horse of a lifetime. 

BS: Do you have any broodmares at the moment?

AO: Not at the moment. Up until now, I have only really been buying colts, as it started out as fun. I grew up going racing in San Sebastian Racecourse, which is the town where I come from, and a beautiful place where I would urge everyone to come and visit. I bought my first filly as a foal at Goffs. She's a 2-year-old now and is in training with Carlos Laffon-Parias in Chantilly in France. I bought a Frankel (GB) yearling filly last year and she's in training with Joseph O'Brien in Ireland. I also have a Nathaniel (Ire) filly (signed for by Justin Casse) who is in training in Spain. I bought her at Tattersalls. Those are my three fillies at the moment and they all have beautiful pedigrees so hopefully I will have success with them. I spoke with Joseph and Justin last year and he told me that, if I want to breed, I need to breed with a good racing mare with nice pedigrees. As they say, breed the best to the best and hope for the best. 

BS: Speaking of which, I saw that you were in Coolmore last week.

AO: They are always really kind to me when I am in Ireland. I always say that Coolmore, for any racing fan, is the Disneyland of horse racing. I got very lucky because I got to visit Coolmore last year just one month before Galileo (Ire) passed away. I feel very fortunate to have met a horse like him. They told me that, one of the last photos they took of Galileo at Coolmore was with me, so that is pretty special as he is one of the greatest horses of all time. For me, I love the Classics, so to see Camelot (GB) and Australia (GB) last week was amazing. I am really excited about what St Mark's Basilica (Fr) can achieve at stud as well because he has the pedigree and he has the looks. He was also an amazing racehorse. He was in Galileo's box when I visited so hopefully he can be the next great stallion for them.

“Joseph is my trainer but I have stayed in his house for four or five days this year and I would consider him more as a friend than a trainer,” – Alvaro Odriozola.

BS: What attracted you to have horses in training in Ireland and, more specifically, how did your association with Joseph come about?

AO: I was at the Book 2 Tattersalls Sale in October 2019. At the time, I had spoken once or twice with Joseph's brother Donnacha, and remember congratulating him for winning the 2000 Guineas on Magna Grecia (Ire) through Instagram. I bought a Camelot colt to send back to Spain and Donnacha texted me to see if I had a trainer for him. Joseph won the Derby on Camelot and obviously won the Irish Derby with his son Latrobe. I told Donnacha that this horse was to go to Spain but we bought another Camelot the day after to send to Joseph. That turned out to be Gaheris (Ger), who was our first horse in training in Ireland, and he was also our first winner, as he won a Leopardstown maiden last year. 

BS: How did having your colours carried to victory with Gaheris compare with all of your achievements in football?

AO: It's very similar to winning a match or scoring a goal but I guess it's pretty different. When I am on the pitch, I don't get nervous because I am confident about myself and know that I can do it. Obviously, to be successful in racing, it depends on you to buy the horses but, at the end of the day, it really depends on them, which is quite beautiful. The satisfaction of winning a race, you can't compare it with anything. It's a really beautiful moment. 

BS: Joseph is of a similar age [29] to you which makes all of his success even more remarkable. 

AO: Joseph is my trainer but I have stayed in his house for four or five days this year and I would consider him more as a friend than a trainer. He has a great pedigree, and it was obvious that he was going to make a really great trainer but, if I am honest, I think he will be number one some day. The way he thinks about his horses, 24 hours a day, is amazing. He knows every single detail about each horse in his yard and he has an amazing team around him. I think he will be the champion trainer one day and I hope we have a really good horse together.

BS: You have worked with some of the best football managers in the world. Could you draw parallels between the top football managers and racehorse trainers?

AO: When I said Joseph thinks about racing every minute of the day, the top football managers are the same; they live for the game. The top trainers remind me very much of the football managers in that they are responsible for everything. 

BS: You mentioned that you have horses in Spain and France as well as Ireland. What is the total breakdown of your string?

AO: I have five in Spain, three in Ireland and just one in France. For me, the dream is to win the Derby. I was at Epsom in 2019 when Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) won the race and I fell in love with the place. It's a special race. I love Irish Champions Weekend and really enjoyed St Mark's Basilica winning the Irish Champion S. last year as well. My main goal is to have horses good enough to run in those races. I think it's easier to get black type in France, which is why I would like to keep my fillies there, and I continue to have horses in Spain. 

BS: You are clearly very passionate about racing. When you spoke about starting your breeding operation, you obviously have plans to stay in racing for a long time? 

Bloodstock agent Justin Casse with Odriozola at a match | courtesy Justin Casse

AO: Exactly. My dream is to breed horses when I retire from football. That's how I see my future and I would love to own my own stud one day. I don't know where that will be but that is my dream. I spent last season on loan at Fiorentina in Italy and learned all about Federico Tesio, who bred Nearco (Ity), the stallion responsible for Northern Dancer (Can) and Sadler's Wells. I love racing but breeding is my passion and, to be able to go back through generation after generation, that's what I love to do most. I must also say that I would really like to offer my condolences to the family of Alec Head. His passion for racing was amazing and he was a true legend of racing. For me, he was an inspirational man and I was sad to see he passed away on Wednesday.

BS: You must be on the road a lot as a footballer so how do you squeeze in the time to go racing and visit your horses?

AO: I am really fortunate to be a footballer. I don't have lots of time on my hands to go and see my horses so, when I take vacation in the month of June, I will go to Ireland, Epsom or to Royal Ascot. I can't go racing or see my horses during the football season but there are other ways of enjoying it. For example, Joseph has a very good app called The Racing Manager and he keeps me updated so it works really well. 

BS: Former NBA star Tony Parker had his colours carried to Classic glory when Mangoustine (Fr) won the French 1,000 Guineas and more recently Antoine Griezmann won the German 1,000 Guineas with Txope (Fr). It has generated a lot of exposure for racing, which is excellent.

AO: The interest in racing is on the up. There are a lot of famous footballers who are interested in racing. It's a healthy hobby and you can enjoy racing by watching and you don't actually have to own a horse to get the benefits. Sports people love the adrenaline involved with winning a match or scoring a goal and, when a horse wins a race, it's pretty similar. Horses are also elite athletes and have to be at peak fitness to win a race. They also suffer injuries like we do and we can relate to them. I try to bring my Real Madrid teammates to the racecourse and they enjoy it a lot. Philippe Couthino is also a very good friend of mine and he is buying horses now as well. Racing is getting more popular in football and it's good to see that because it's a beautiful sport.  

BS: Finally, you wear the all-white strip of Real Madrid, one of the most famous clubs in world football, but your horses carry red and white silks. What is the significance of your racing colours?

AO: I started playing football in school in Spain and our director loved Ajax Football Club so we wore red and white shirts in our matches. So, when I was 12 years of age, we played in white jerseys that had a red stripe in the middle. Those were the colours of my first football team and now they are the colours my horses carry so it's very special. It reminds me of the time I spent playing football with my friends as a kid. Hopefully these colors will bring good fortune for us in the future.

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As their British surname implies, the Heads, like several of France's great racing families, have their roots in England. Alec Head's father William, who served in the British Army during the First World War, trained in Chantilly, where Alec Head was born in August 1924. Happily, the family's involvement in the sport survived the German occupation of France during the Second World War.  Just two and a half years after the liberation of Paris, Alec Head, aged only 22, enjoyed his most famous day in the saddle when guiding Le Paillon (Fr), trained by his father, into second place in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, beaten only by the great National Spirit (GB). The form of that Champion Hurdle was given the ultimate validation later that year when, ridden by Fernand Rochetti, Le Paillon won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Already, though, Alec Head's thoughts were turning towards training and that same year he began to follow in his father's footsteps, taking out his own training licence.

So good was the start which Alec Head made to his training career that when HH Aga Khan III, influenced largely by the superior prize-money available in France, decided to move the bulk of his string from England to France at the end of 1951, he chose Head as his trainer. This arrangement reaped a very swift dividend. The Aga Khan, advised by Prince Aly Khan, had bought Nuccio (Ity) (Traghetto {Ity}) out of Italy as a 3-year-old at the end of 1951; in 1952 Nuccio won firstly the Coronation Cup at Epsom and then the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, thus becoming the first of the four winners of France's biggest race which Alec Head would saddle.

Head was thus established among the elite of French trainers while still in his 20s, thanks to the patronage of HH Aga Khan III and his son Prince Aly Khan as well as that of M. Pierre Wertheimer, the co-founder (with Coco Chanel) of the Chanel cosmetics empire. That Head had attracted the patronage of Wertheimer indicated the respect in which he was already held. Wertheimer had been racing horses since before the First World War and had enjoyed significant success on both sides of the Channel during the inter-war years with the likes of the brilliant Epinard (Fr), whom he bred, and the top filly Mesa (Fr), whom he leased and who, trained in Chantilly by Albert Swann, carried his colours to victory in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket in 1935.

It didn't take long for the name of Alec Head to become even better known on both sides of the Channel as a trainer than it had been as a jockey. Nuccio was the first to make the British public familiar with him as a trainer and next came Vimy (Fr) (Wild Risk {Fr}), bred and raced by Wertheimer. A good juvenile in 1954, Vimy established himself as a top-class 3-year-old in 1955. In France he won the Prix Noailles before finishing a close second in the Prix du Jockey-Club. Head then sent him to England for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot, where he became the first overseas-trained horse to win what was at the time the most valuable race run in Great Britain.  Vimy subsequently became an influential stallion, perhaps most notable for his son Le Fabuleux (Fr) who, trained by William Head for Mme Guy Weisweiller, won the Prix du Jockey-Club in 1964.

Vimy's dam Mimi (Fr) continued to be a great servant for the Wertheimer/Head team, most notably producing the mighty grey Midget (Fr) (Djebe {Fr}) who, two years Vimy's junior, was a fabulous filly.  She won the Cheveley Park S. at two, the Coronation S. and Prix de la Foret at three and the Queen Elizabeth II S. at four. In turn Midget bred Mige (Fr) (Saint Crespin III {GB}), winner of the Cheveley Park S. in 1968, as well as Madge (Fr) (Reliance {Fr}), who became the dam of Ma Biche (Key To The Kingdom). The latter, bred by Alec Head with his wife Ghislaine, won the 1,000 Guineas in 1983, trained by the couple's daughter Cristiane (Criquette) and ridden by their son Freddy.

The highest peak scaled by the Wertheimer/Head combination, though, was the biggest race of all: the Derby. Still aged only 31, Head sent out Pierre Wertheimer's home-bred colt Lavandin (Fr) (Verso {Fr}) to take the Blue Riband of the Turf in 1956. Further British Classic success for the stable followed shortly afterwards when the Aga Khan III's Rose Royale II (Fr) (Prince Bio {Fr}) won the 1957 1,000 Guineas. Later in the season she took the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp and the Champion S. at Newmarket. Two years later Prince Aly Khan's Taboun (Fr) (Tabriz {GB}), who had won the Prix Robert Papin at two, followed up a facile victory in the Prix Djebel with a three-length triumph in the 2,000 Guineas under George Moore. Later that season Head supplied Prince Aly Khan with more great days when Saint Crespin (GB) (Aureole {GB} took the Eclipse S. at Sandown in the summer and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the autumn, ridden by Moore on each occasion

Head was thus well established among the greats of the training ranks by the end of the 1950s.  He began the '60s in similar vein, saddling the first of his three Prix du Jockey-Club winners in 1960 with HH Aga Khan IV's Charlottesville, ridden by George Moore. By this time, though, he was already well on his way to occupying a position of similar eminence in the world of breeding. In 1958 William Head had bought Haras du Quesnay and, with the help of his sons Alec and Peter, set about making it a world-leading bloodstock operation. Since that day, many of the horses trained by the Head family have been bred and raised there, owned either by the Heads or by one of their longstanding clients.

Ultimately, Alec Head continued to train until 1984. He had been easing himself out of harness in that respect for a decade, with his daughter Criquette becoming responsible for an ever greater portion of the stock produced by Haras du Quesnay. For Alec, family was everything. His wife Ghislaine was utterly integral to his involvement in the sport. Criquette was just as much her father's daughter as he had been his father's son; while Freddy, six times France's champion between 1970 and 1984, was the jockey for the both of them before launching his own hugely successful training career. The highlight of this has, of course, been the legendary Wertheimer home-bred Goldikova (Ire). She is a Head horse through and through: her sire Anabaa ranks as one of the most fabled racehorses ever to pass through the Heads' hands and she comes from a family which thrived under Alec Head's tutelage for generations.

Furthermore, it was not just Alec Head's own family which revolved around him. When Pierre Wertheimer died in April 1965, his son Jacques took over his racing empire and in time became at least as close a confederate and friend of Alec Head as his father had been. Eventually, subsequent generations of Wertheimers have maintained the family ties. As regards jockeys, the one most synonymous with Alec Head's training career (aside, of course, from Freddy) was the great Australian George Moore. It was only natural, therefore, that in time Moore's son Gary (who became France's champion jockey in 1987) should ride for the Heads. Alec Head's final Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner (Gold River in 1981) summed this up: she was owned and bred by Jacques Wertheimer and ridden by Gary Moore. (Gold River subsequently achieved further fame as the third dam of Goldikova). Five years previously Ivanjica (Sir Ivor) had won the great race, owned and bred by Jacques Wertheimer, trained by Alec Head and ridden by Freddy Head.

The horses mentioned above represent merely a small fraction of the top-class thoroughbreds who bear the imprint of Alec Head's magic. Riverman, Lyphard, Roi Lear (Fr), Val De L'Orne (Fr) and Bering are five to spring instantly to mind, along with the mighty Treve (Fr). Bred and raced (until her sale to Al Shaqab) by Haras du Quesnay and trained by Criquette Head, the dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine has Anabaa, Riverman and Lyphard as the sires of her first three dams. Her stellar racing career provided a wonderful tribute to the great racing brain of Alec Head in the autumn of his life, just as subsequent generations of his family (which include his grandchildren Christopher and Victoria, both of whom are now trainers in Chantilly) will continue to do so for many years to come.  We offer his family our condolences, while we marvel at the extent to which the racing and breeding worlds were enriched by this most remarkable of horsemen.

Industry Tributes

EDOUARD DE ROTHSCHILD, PRESIDENT DE FRANCE GALOP

“For nearly 100 years, Alec Head has marked the history of racing, first as a jockey, then as a trainer for the sport's most prestigious owners, but also as a breeder of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners that were bred at his Haras de Quesnay in Normandy and as an owner of champions. We remember him for his pioneering spirit, his talent for exploring new projects, for being a man ahead of his time who always looked towards the future. He was incredibly daring and ambitious. His exceptional career has influenced several generations of racing professionals and enthusiasts. Alec Head inspired his children and grandchildren who today carry on the family tradition. To his family and to all those who loved and admired him, France Galop offers its sincere condolences.”

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The owner of the esteemed Haras du Quesnay in Normandy, Head's father and grandfather were also both trainers and jockeys, and his children Christiane (Criquette) and Freddy, as well as grandson Christopher, all followed the family tradition into the training ranks in France.

Of the many top horses associated with the Head family and Haras du Quesnay, the most recent major star was the dual Arc heroine Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}), who was initially trained for her parents by Criquette Head before the filly's sale to Al Shaqab Racing. 

This story is being updated.

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