Clement extends hot start to meet with three-bagger on Saturday
ELMONT, N.Y. – It has been a great, bordering on sensational, start to the Belmont Park spring/summer meet for trainer Christophe Clement.
On Saturday, Clement won three races, including the Grade 3 Soaring Softly Stakes with Bye Bye. Clement has 13 wins and 9 seconds from 42 starts through the first 16 days of the meet. Clement is second in wins to only Chad Brown, who has 15.
It was Clement’s first graded stakes victory of the meet after runner-up finishes in the Grade 1 Man o’ War with Gufo, City Man in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy, and Mutamakina in the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay,
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Bye Bye is now 2 for 2 on turf after overcoming post 11 to defeat Invincible Gal by a neck in the seven-furlong Soaring Softly. Bye Bye, a 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief owned by Bach Stables, earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure.
Clement said he may try to stretch Bye Bye out to a mile in the $100,000 Wild Applause Stakes on June 26.
“I think she will stretch to a mile, but I’m not sure about it,” Clement said. “The way she was so wide in the race off such a bad draw, you’d think she would. Everybody in the family stayed, but she’s a little bit of a sprinter type. We’ve got plenty of time to work her, and she’s going to tell us.”
Clement’s other two winners Saturday came with 3-year-old maiden claimers in the New York-bred ranks. Quick Nick, who won by a nose, is by a New York-based stallion and is eligible for the $150,000 Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series.
Meanwhile, Clement will aim for another stakes victory this Saturday when he runs Decorated Invader in the $100,000 Seek Again Stakes at a mile.
Decorated Invader, a three-time graded stakes winner, is coming off a third in the Danger’s Hour Stakes at Aqueduct in April.
“I just think it’s a great spot for him,” Clement said. “It’s a wonderful prep for a race called the Poker.”
The Grade 3, $250,000 Poker is run June 20.