Christophe Clement

Christophe Clement is the son of successful French trainer Miguel Clement and grew up in his father's Chantilly yard. After working for the family of Alec Head in France for a year and ahalf, Christophe came to the U.S. in 1986 to work at Taylor Made Farm before a stint with Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey. He then returned to Europe and worked for Luca Cumani in Newmarket for four years before venturing out on his own.

Clement, an exceptional trainer of grass horses, is perhaps best known as the conditioner of three-time Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti. He is also the trainer of 2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and Grade 1 winners Hard Not to Like and Discreet Marq among other stakes winners.

In 2019, Clement won graded stakes with Pure Sensation, Gucci Factor, and Decorated Invader, the latter a Grade 1 winner. His top horses in 2020 and 2021 included Gufo, winner of the Belmont Derby Invitational in 2020 and the Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Stakes in 2021, and Mutamakina, winner of the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes in 2021.

Clement entered the 2021 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar with a dubious record: he had the most overall starters among trainers – 40 – without a win. That changed in the third race on Future Stars Friday when Pizza Bianca, a highly-regarded Saratoga maiden winner who entered off of a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine, rallied late to take the Juvenile Fillies Turf under Jose Ortiz.