Clement has two strong shots to end Breeders' Cup drought

ARCADIA, Calif. – The monkey who jumped off John Sadler’s back has found a new ride.

Christophe Clement now holds the record for most starts among Breeders’ Cup trainers who haven’t yet won. Sadler had gone winless from his first 44 BC starters before Accelerate won the Classic last November at Churchill Downs, leaving Clement and his 0-for-36 mark as the new leader in the clubhouse.

It’s a dubious distinction that obscures the otherwise fabulous record Clement has amassed since leaving his native France to begin training in the United States in 1991. A finalist among the 2019 nominees to the Racing Hall of Fame, Clement has won 1,973 races, including 32 Grade 1 events, for stable earnings of nearly $132 million.

“I really don’t worry about it too much,” Clement said recently by phone from his New York base. “Hopefully, it ends this weekend.”

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It well might. Clement stands a solid chance to break through with his first Breeders’ Cup victory this weekend at Santa Anita when he saddles two starters, both among the favorites in their respective races – Decorated Invader in the BC Juvenile Turf on Friday, and Pure Sensation in the BC Turf Sprint on Saturday.

“Both are training very well,” he said. “They are both in tough races, but that is what you expect with the Breeders’ Cup. They are competitive races, but we are coming there believing they both can win.”

Decorated Invader, a bay colt by Declaration of War, is the lone Grade 1 winner in the Juvenile Turf, having won the Grade 1 Summer at Woodbine. Owned by the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds, William Freeman, and William Sandbrook, the $200,000 yearling purchase began his career this summer with a pair of two-turn turf races at Saratoga, finishing a close second before winning with authority on Aug. 10. Then came the Sept. 15 Summer, a one-mile race he won with a big outside rally before being ridden out in the final 70 yards by Irad Ortiz Jr.

“He has been the real thing from the first day,” Clement said. “I was convinced he would win his first race, but he didn’t quite get there. He is a very fit, good-moving horse. He is more mature than he used to be, all good. He is a lovely, lovely horse.”

Pure Sensation is as professional as they come. Owned throughout his six-plus years of racing by his breeder, Patricia Generazio, the gray 8-year-old gelding has won 14 of 35 starts and $1,968,550 while long entrenched in the elite turf-sprint ranks. He will be making his fourth start in the BC Turf Sprint, having finished eighth in 2015, third in 2016, and fifth in 2017.

This might be the best chance yet for Pure Sensation as he comes off three straight races in which he earned triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, including a domination of the Turf Monster at Parx Racing in his most recent start. He’s 4 for 5 this year, all of them as the favorite.

“His form is very good right now,” Clement said. “Five furlongs is a very good distance for him.”

Previous renewals of the BC Turf Sprint at Santa Anita have been run at 6 1/2 furlongs, but the downhill course has gone unused for sprints since late March in the aftermath of the well-publicized travails Santa Anita has been undergoing.

Four Breeders’ Cup starts is one shy of the record held jointly by five horses. California Flag, Better Talk Now, and Kona Gold – all of whom won once – all made five starts, as did Perfect Drift and Obviously.

Pure Sensation becomes the 12th horse with four starts, with one of the other 11 being Gio Ponti, who accounted for two of Clement’s six second-place finishes in the Breeders’ Cup when chasing home Zenyatta in the 2009 Classic (on synthetic) and Goldikova in the 2010 Mile. Zenyatta and Goldikova already are in the Hall of Fame, while Gio Ponti, like his trainer, was a finalist this year, further illustrating how the Breeders’ Cup has been the exception, and not the rule, for Clement and his top horses.

“We have had some very good performances but have just been a bit unlucky,” said Clement, whose major triumphs include the 2014 Belmont Stakes with Tonalist.

If or when Clement breaks his Breeders’ Cup drought, Kenny McPeek (0 for 31) will be next in line for the racing equivalent of “best golfer never to win a major.” It’s a label that Clement wouldn’t mind shedding as early as Friday, when it just so happens he will be celebrating his 54th birthday.

“Tell the other trainers it’s my birthday,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe they’ll feel guilty and we can do this.”