Clement's big guns ready to fire on Florida Derby undercard
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Saturday may be the last big day of the Gulfstream winter season, but trainer Miguel Clement hopes it’s just the starting point for some of his stable’s most accomplished runners.
Grade 1 stakes winners Far Bridge (Pan American) and Carson’s Run (Appleton), as well as the Grade 2 winner Bellezza (Orchid), are all entered to make their seasonal debuts Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
“Saturday’s the day we’re coming out of hibernation,” Clement said.
Far Bridge, who has kicked off his 3-, 4- and 5-year-old seasons with wins at Gulfstream Park – where he is 4 for 4 overall – seeks a repeat win in the Grade 2 Pan American. Far Bridge has not raced since finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Sept. 27 at Aqueduct.
“Just thought he tailed off toward the end of last season, nothing better than a little bit of a break,” Clement said. “He’s been at Payson [Park] for a long time, training very forwardly since then. Excited to get him back.”
The Clement stable has won three of the last four runnings of the Pan American. Christophe Clement, Miguel’s father, passed away in May.
Christophe Clement won eight runnings of the Orchid. Miguel will try to win it with Bellezza, who won the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay in May and the Grade 2 Flower Bowl in August, both over firm turf. She finished sixth, beaten five lengths, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last November.
Her two defeats, aside from the Breeders’ Cup, were in races run over yielding ground.
“The main reason why she took her performances to another level in the States was firm turf,” Clement said.
Flavien Prat has picked up the mounts on both Far Bridge, who he will be riding for the first time, and Bellezza, who he rode to a third-place finish in the New York Stakes.
Carson’s Run, a Grade 1 winner at 2 and 3, only raced twice last year. He finished second to stablemate Deterministic in the Fort Marcy and eighth to that same horse in the Grade 1 Manhattan. Clement said Carson’s Run was dealing with foot issues before and after the Manhattan.
“We should have given him the time then, as a result we gave him a longer break and we kick on,” Clement said. “We were impatient and we weren’t rewarded for it.”
Joel Rosario will ride Carson’s Run.
While he won’t be racing Saturday, multiple Grade 1 winner Deterministic is gearing up for his return next month. Unraced since he won the Grade 1 Fourstardave in August, Deterministic is pointing to the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on April 10 at Keeneland.
“Deterministic is doing great, I’m very, very bullish on him,” Clement said. “He’s training spectacularly well.”
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