In April, Deterministic began his 2025 campaign for trainer Christophe Clement finishing second in a Keeneland allowance race. Clement in April had terminal cancer. Probably at that point hope still flickered in the man himself, family, close friends. Regardless, Clement, meticulously organized to the end, had laid out plans to transfer his large stable to his son Miguel sometime in June, after the Belmont Stakes Festival at Saratoga. Clement died May 25. Put yourself in Miguel Clement’s shoes. It’s the first week in June. The stable, helmed by this first-time trainer through one of the most important weeks of the Clement season, must keep churning. The work comes cloaked in grief’s heavy fog. Put yourself in Miguel Clement’s shoes as he saddles Deterministic for the Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes, a day later than intended, oceans of rain having delayed the important Belmont Stakes card grass races by a day. It’s Clement’s ninth stakes runner. The first eight had lost. :: Full list of 2025 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories Deterministic in his last race for Christophe Clement laid down his marker as a serious grass horse, plucking the Fort Marcy by more than four lengths. The Manhattan, though, long has existed at the pinnacle of North American turf racing. Christophe Clement won it three times. And after Deterministic gallantly fended off challenges from Integration and a second Clement horse, Far Bridge, his son had won it once. Deterministic started his career a dirt horse, and a pretty capable one, too, briefly popping onto the Kentucky Derby trail when he won the Gotham Stakes, but by summer of 2024 it had become clear his future lay on turf. He ended his campaign winning two graded grass stakes from three starts, deploying a stalking style, but after a winter break, Deterministic – as a good horse for a great trainer ought to do – came back faster, more professional, and more focused. Even in the Keeneland allowance race, Deterministic showed better speed than he had as a 3-year-old, and he led throughout the 1 1/8-mile Manhattan. Sent off at odds a little less than 6-1 and holding on for dear life to win by a nose, Deterministic would require a second, similar performance to validate that Grade 1 breakthrough. And on Aug. 2, in the FanDuel Fourstardave, a Grade 1 mile, he delivered one. His regular rider, Kendrick Carmouche, plunked Deterministic just off the pace before his mount accelerated to a more definitive victory than in the Manhattan. Owned by St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone, C. Steven Duncker, and Vicarage Stable and bred in Kentucky by Hinkle Farms, Deterministic was purchased for $625,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September sale. Back-to-back scores in two major New York grass races – that makes Deterministic an Eclipse Award finalist. The horse was more than that, though, a Grade 1-winning bridge between two generations of trainers, and that his campaign ended much too soon, with the Fourstardave, is unfortunate if also resonant. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.