Christophe Clement | Horse Racing Free Tips

Fresco Continues Clement’s Big Saratoga Meet With Maiden Victory In NYSS Statue Of Liberty

Oak Bluff Stables' Fresco broke her maiden in her stakes debut, overtaking three rivals from the outside in the stretch and drawing away for a 1 3/4-length score in Thursday's $100,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series Statue of Liberty for state-bred 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course.

Fresco, second by a nose to Sky Blue last out on June 25 at Belmont, was patiently handled by jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. in stepping up in class. The Freud filly was second-to-last in the six-horse field as Dixie Cannon led through an opening quarter-mile in 24.80 seconds and the half in 50.08, posting modest fractions on the firm inner turf.

Out of the final turn, Ortiz, Jr. swung out and one-by-one overtook Hunnybunnerdini and Nicky Scissors from the outside. She soon moved up alongside Dixie Cannon and surged past the pacesetter, completing the 1 1/16-mile course in 1:45.43 for her first win in four starts.

“We were trying to wait with the filly because she likes to hang a little bit,” Ortiz, Jr. said “We tried to wait as long as we could today. She broke a little sharp, I took a little hold and she relaxed so well that I just left her there.”

Trainer Christophe Clement picked up his eighth win of the meet, ranking him first among conditioners.

“Irad did a great job. He took her back and saved ground,” Clement said. “You could see they did not finish that fast, so he did the right thing which was to save something for the end.

Clement and Ortiz, Jr. teamed for their second consecutive win Thursday, with the duo also winning with Plum Ali in Race 3.

Off at 1-2, Fresco returned $3 on a $2 win bet. The homebred more than tripled her career earnings to $70,990. It also marked another accomplishment for Oak Bluff, who bred the Clement-trained Therapist, who has compiled eight wins in 17 starts, and Audible, who won the 2018 Grade 1 Florida Derby and Grade 2 Holy Bull while running third in that year's Grade 1 Kentucky Derby for trainer Todd Pletcher.

“It's fun. She broke her maiden in the stakes for her owner-breeder,” Clement said. “She has blacktype so it works for the whole program. Usually, the owner will sell his colts and keep his fillies and he has been very successful with a small broodmare band. He bred Audible, he bred Therapist and he bred this filly and I'm just lucky to be a part of the program.”

Dixie Cannon, also making her stakes bow for trainer Kelly Rubley and ridden by Jose Ortiz, was four lengths the best of Nicky Scissors for second.

“I had a perfect trip,” Ortiz said. “I was able to get to the lead, slow it down and make a run but the winner was much the best.”

Hunnybunnerdini, Apollo's Abraxas and Holmdel Park completed the order of finish. Officer Hutchy was scratched.

Live racing resumes Friday at Saratoga with a 10-race card highlighted by the Grade 3, $100,000 Quick Call for sophomores going 5 ½ furlongs on the Mellon turf course in Race 9 at 5:46 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:10 p.m.

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Christophe Clement Joins TDN Writers’ Room

There was no hotter trainer on the grounds through opening weekend at Saratoga than Christophe Clement, which is saying something considering the array of champion and Hall of Fame conditioners that occupy the backstretch of America’s premier race meet. After winning five races from 13 starters in the first four days of the stand, including a pair of graded stakes victories, Clement joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland to discuss his hot start.

Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, the French-born trainer also touched on the increased competition for imports from Europe, summer and fall plans for his leading 3-year-old turfers and how his stable bounced back from tragedy earlier in the year.

Asked about hitting the ground running following the coronavirus-forced interruption of racing in New York, Clement said, “The pandemic has been a challenge regarding the workforce and the organization of the barn, but I think we’re very lucky in New York. NYRA and Martin Panza did a great job and we’re just lucky to race here. It’s probably more challenging for the people who only have one string, but we’re lucky because we do have a string in Saratoga before the meet. That makes it much easier.”

In addition to capturing the GII Hall of Fame S. and GII Lake Placid S. last weekend at the Spa, Clement also unveiled a ‘TDN Rising Star’ with Momos (Distorted Humor) romping in the first 2-year-old race of the meet.

“I’ve got a very good group of 2-year-olds this year,” Clement said. “Momos is all about speed. He’s built like a very fast horse. He’s not big, but he’s very well balanced. My only instruction to [Manny] Franco was, ‘We know the horse is very fast, don’t make it too complicated.’ He gave a very good ride and he was always in control. That’s pretty exciting.”

Clement’s operation is likely a sentimental favorite for many in the industry this year after dealing with the devastation of losing 10 horses in a trailer fire on the New Jersey Turnpike last month. Speaking candidly about how to cope with that kind of loss, Clement said simply, you can’t.

“I don’t think you cope with that,” he said. “That phone call, I think it was 3:45 or 4:00 in the morning from the state trooper, it’s the worst of the worst. I’m lucky in a way because I train for amazing owners, so in a way they made it easy on me. But no, nobody can cope with that. That’s the worst.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers gave their takeaways from the rest of the weekend’s big racing including the GI Haskell S., discussed the temporary closure of Del Mar and the increasing unlikelihood of fans in the stands for the GI Kentucky Derby. Then, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, they used the return of Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) as an opportunity to look back on whether anything has changed with racing’s drug problems in the four-plus months since the bombshell FBI indictments. Click here to listen to the podcast and click here to watch it on Vimeo.

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Clement-Rosario Strike Again With Speaktomeofsummer In Lake Placid Stakes

Waterford Stable's Speaktomeofsummer answered the question about handling increased distance, finding a seam in the stretch to split competitors and gamely digging in with Stunning Sky to her inside, fending off her challenger in the final jumps for a victory by a head in Sunday's Grade 2, $150,000 Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

After making her first four starts at a mile, the Christophe Clement-trained Speaktomeofsummer was stretched out to 1 1/8 miles but utilized a patient trip under jockey Joel Rosario. The Summer Front filly sat in sixth position as Blame Debbie led the eight-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 24.01 seconds and the half in 49.03 on the inner turf coursed labeled firm.

Coming out of the clubhouse turn, Speaktomeofsummer lost some ground in a tightly bunched field, but Rosario quickly recovered and kept her to the inside. Approaching the far turn, she picked off a pair of rivals before surging when straightening for home.

In the stretch, she overtook Blame Debbie, who Jose Ortiz tried to prevent from lugging out, before linking up with Stunning Sky, positioned by Irad Ortiz, Jr. near the rail, for an exciting final furlong that saw the winner stop the clock in a 1:49.44 final time.

“I was really happy with the trip. I thought I would be a little closer, like Christophe told me, but everybody had the same idea to be up there,” said Rosario, who teamed with Clement to win a Grade 2 at the Spa for a second consecutive day after Decorated Invader captured Saturday's National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame. “It looked like the first part was fast but they all got into their position, so I thought I'd let her be happy there and hopefully have a good run at the end.

“She was moving beautifully but when I passed the leader, she waited a little bit and the other horse came back again,” he added. “But she came on again and I was able to hold them off.”

After running fourth last out with blinkers on for the first time in the Grade 3 Wonder Again on June 20 at Belmont, Clement ran Speaktomeofsummer without blinkers. The equipment change, along with a change in venue in her Saratoga debut, resulted in her third win in five career starts.

“I put the blinkers on [last time] because I thought she was a little lazy in her work in the morning before her last race. That's what happens when trainers start to think too much,” said Clement, who notched his third career Lake Placid win, joining Spotlight and Naissance Royale [the respective 2004 and 2005 victors].

“She had a great trip. Thank you, Joel. He's riding great at the moment. The filly has trained well since the last race at Belmont. She's by Summer Front which is a big deal for us as we trained him plus he's a young sire at the moment. He belongs to Mr. [Tom] Moore, who also owned Summer Front so it is even more meaningful.

“She had a great trip. It was a pretty game last eighth of a mile,” he continued. “I'm delighted. She can do a mile to a mile an eighth for sure, but any further I don't know. I would have to think about it.”

Clement recorded three wins Sunday and totaled five on the weekend.

“The last two days have been good. Let's keep it going,” he said.

Off at 9-2, Speaktomeofsummer returned $11.60 on a $2 win wager. She nearly doubled her career earnings to $175,500. She is a possibility for the 1 3/16-mile $500,000 Saratoga Oaks on August 16.

“I would need to think about it because of the timing,” Clement said. “We will keep it open. Instead of me, we'll let her tell us and see what happens.”

Stunning Sky, trained by Mike Maker, was 1 ½ lengths the better of Queens Embrace for second, marking her best stakes finish in five attempts.

“She showed up and ran her race. She just needed to be a head better today,” said Maker assistant Nolan Ramsey. “At the sixteenth pole, I thought the other horse was going to run right by her, but she was game. No complaints. She ran a great race.”

Key Biscayne, 2-1 favorite Cat's Pajamas, Lashara, Blame Debbie and Mirabell Mei completed the order of finish.

Live racing resumes Wednesday with a 10-race card showcasing the $85,000 Lubash for New York-bred 3-year-olds and up in Race 3 at 1:54 p.m. Eastern. First post is 12:50 p.m. and features the summer meet's first steeplechase race in the $55,000 Jonathan Kiser Novice.

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Decorated Invader Wins Hall Of Fame As Heavy Favorite

Decorated Invader sat off Get Smokin's pacesetting effort before overtaking the front-runner from the outside in the stretch and pulling away for a 1 1/4-length win in the Grade 2, $150,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame for 3-year-olds on a sun-swept day at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, William Sandbrook, William Freeman and Cheryl Manning, Decorated Invader won for the fifth time in seven career starts for trainer Christophe Clement and improved to 3-for-3 as a sophomore. The Declaration of War colt, who won the Grade 1 Summer and ran a competitive fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile as a juvenile, started 2020 with wins in the Cutler Bay in March at Gulfstream and followed with a 4 3/4-length score in the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge on June 20 at Belmont Park.

Returning to Saratoga for the first time since breaking his maiden at second asking last August, Decorated Invader sat in second position as Get Smokin surged to the front, opening up seven lengths on the five-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 23.85 seconds on the firm inner turf. Get Smokin, under Jose Ortiz, pushed forward, posting a half-mile in 48.98 and three-quarters in 1:13.52.

Out of the final turn, jockey Joel Rosario set down Decorated Invader, taking command with the Chad Brown-trained Domestic Spending making a late move to his outside. But Decorated Invader pressed on and handled his first attempt at 1 1/8 miles with aplomb, hitting the wire in 1:49.29 to give Rosario his third Hall of Fame win in the last four runnings.

“When I got to the horse on the lead [Get Smokin] turning for home, he kept running a little bit,” Rosario said. “He had been all alone on the lead but I could feel I had a lot of horse underneath me and he was moving much the best.

“I thought I would be a little closer, but the other horse was off the rail and in the middle of the track,” he added. “I followed him for a little bit but I ended up letting my horse be comfortable. I took my time and made my move when it was the right time to move.”

Off as the 2-5 favorite, Decorated Invader paid $2.80 on a $2 win wager. He improved his career bankroll to $453,035.

“He's a top-class horse and has been since Day One for me,” Clement said. “I love him. I love the way he trains. I love the way he races. It's a different scenario every time we run him, but the final outcome is the same. I thought he looked better in the last sixteenth of a mile than he did before that. He actually won going away at the end.”

With three graded stakes wins, Decorated Invader could now be a possibility for the $500,000 Saratoga Derby, part of NYRA's Turf Triple Series, on August 15.

“That is one of the targets,” Clement said. “We'll have to see how he comes out of this and see how he trains, but that's a logical spot at the moment.”

Get Smokin, trained by Tom Bush, edged Domestic Spending by a nose for second. He has finished as the runner-up in both career graded stakes appearances, starting with the Grade 3 Kitten's Joy in January at Gulfstream.

“He ran big. The first quarter of a mile we went a little faster than I wanted to because he's so used to going a mile [and running splits] in 45 or 46 and that's why I kept him off the rail,” Ortiz said. “When I got to the turn he relaxed and I dropped in a little bit. On the backside, I had him where I wanted him. I tried to get the jump on the other horse [Decorated Invader] but the other horse is a very nice horse. I think my horse's game is a mile flat. It was a lot to ask him to go a mile and an eighth, but he showed up.”

Moon Over Miami and Ever Dangerous completed the order of finish. Gufo and main-track only entrant Money Moves were scratched.

Live racing resumes Sunday with a 10-race card showcasing the Grade 2, $150,000 Lake Placid for 3-year-old fillies in Race 9 at 5:46 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:10 p.m. ET.

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