Starting out - Gavin Hernon

By Gavin Hernon

It takes six hours door to door from my yard in Chantilly to Park Paddocks in Newmarket. I go there in the hope of coming away with a nice race filly for 2019.

Despite the friendly company of one of my mentors, Nicolas Clement, I can't help but feel that this is six hours of time that could be spent working through the huge workload that comes with running a racing yard.

It's been an eventful first four months in the training ranks, and I'm hugely indebted to my team to be able to say we've had four winners from just eight runners. I appreciate this is a strike rate that no trainer can maintain in the long term, but it's compensation for hard work from the team and for now it's a powerful marketing tool. When recently seeking advice from Andre Fabre regarding the start up plans I had in place, he advised me that the only marketing any trainer needs is winners.

I'm very much a goal-oriented person. For nearly five years, Nicolas Clement has been telling me that if I'm to meet my own high expectations I need to have at least 10 winners in my first 12 months. Just four months later, I feel we are on track but I'm tinkering with the idea of moving the goalposts.

December is set to be our busiest month to date on the track. With an intended runner in a couple of the remaining Listed races in the French racing calendar, I know what I want for Christmas.

Black-type is on my mind already. It’s the holy grail of this industry. It’s what we all dream of. It is so difficult to achieve but I know I have horses capable of it. As I stand on the side of the gallop waiting to see my string, there is no doubt in my mind that I will be disappointed if we fail to win a black-type race by this time next year.

Now that the stable has grown, getting systems and organisational structures in place has become more important.

I think if any of my past employers were to spend a morning with us, they would all see that parts of their training methods have left a lasting impression. Jim Bolger and Graham Motion in particular would both have cause to call it copyright.

Of course there have been setbacks and disappointments, but I've learned that you can't dwell on them. Repercussion missed his end of year target of the Prix Luthier (LR). The news wasn't overly surprising given he had been running since the Lincoln in March. The horse that took me to Arc day in my first year and gave me two wins at Chantilly will have a well deserved break on grass and will be back to 100% again for the 2019 season.

Nevertheless, making that type of phone call to an owner is a gut-wrenching feeling that I don't think I will ever get used to. Before now, I have only ever had to worry about the horse in this situation.

You have to move on, find the next opportunity; prevent the next setback from happening. Dwelling on these matters breeds negativity, inefficiency and serves no purpose to man or horse.

We took a huge risk setting up with just three horses in the middle of the season. I knew a good start leading into the European sales season was my best shot of gaining traction. Similarly, I was acutely aware that if I had nothing to show for it, I would struggle to attract investment. With current forecasts looking to be at 20 horses for the 2019 season, I feel the risk taken is starting to reap its rewards.

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Rather surprisingly, I have close to 50 CVs sitting in a drawer in my office from people looking for work. No signs of the staff crisis in Chantilly it would seem. This has allowed me to be selective and form a hard working team of excellent riders who bond well.

We have signed Flavien Masse, who has ridden 55 winners, as our apprentice. Flavien served as an apprentice to Criquette-Head for a number of years.

The sales season has been hectic. Despite knowing my yard is in the excellent hands of my assistant John Donguy in my absence, I'm anxious to get back the moment I leave. It is at home where things need to go right first and foremost.

I have tried to get on sales grounds to assist current owners with their purchases as well as trying to meet as many potential owners as I can. I found this to be quite an alien concept at the start. Of course I had been used to trying to sell myself as an aspiring trainer, but the entire dynamic has changed. I don't have anybody paying me a wage anymore. Get this wrong, and there are consequences.

It was satisfying to see recent purchase Mutarabby win so impressively on his first French start in a competitive conditions race at Deauville. He wasn't at 100%, yet his performance showed that he is capable of at least Listed level and given his turn of foot, his stamina and his love of good ground, there is a race in Melbourne already on my mind should he progress in the manner I'm hoping.

2018 has been very good to me. We have a lot to look forward to next year and It is with great anticipation that my team and I batten down the hatches with plenty of dreams to keep us warm during the winter months.

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Trainer Profile - Nicolas Clément

Monsieur le président

By Alex Cairns

The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is often cited as one of the races trainers would most like to win. To reach such a pinnacle generally takes a lifetime of steady building. Powerful owners must be recruited, facilities enhanced, elite stock acquired. So when three-year-old colt Saumarez landed France’s premier prize in 1990, his trainer Nicolas Clément signalled himself as a major outlier. In just his second full season with a licence and with his first Arc runner, he had become the youngest trainer ever to win the race. Aged 26, he went from relative obscurity to international renown. But this was no flash in the pan. With 30 years’ training experience now under his belt, Clément has proved he does consistency as well as precocity. And he will surely leave a notable legacy through both his on-track achievements and his actions as president of the French trainers’ association. We tracked Nicolas down on the wooded gallops of Chantilly to talk communication, competition, and cooperation.

VOCATION

Being raised in Chantilly is always likely to increase one’s chances of being involved in the racing world. Add in being the son of Classic-winning trainer Miguel Clément and Nicolas’ vocation appears predestined. It could have been very different however.

‘I went to high school in Paris and my mother wanted me to go into business. We compromised with vet studies, but I only lasted two months and then told her I’d got a job on a farm in Normandy. I had always been drawn to horses and racing was my passion from a young age. I spent some time at Taylor Made in America, learning how the whole thing works straight from the farm. This gives a great understanding of the whole cycle; breeding to race and then racing to breed. After that I worked for John Gosden, Vincent O’Brien, and François Boutin. So I was lucky to learn from some of the best in the business. I then got my licence and set up in my father’s yard in 1988.’

This was the yard from which Miguel Clément had sent out Nelcius to win the Prix du Jockey Club in 1966, just one highlight from a successful career sadly cut short at the age of 42. Despite Miguel’s early death, Nicolas still feels a paternal influence.

‘I was very young when my father died, so didn’t get the opportunity to learn as much as I might have from him. He was always an advocate of keeping your horses in the worst company and yourself in the best and I have certainly tried to follow that ethos. He was good friends with a lot of influential people such as Robert Sangster and he had many English and American owners. This open, international approach wasn’t so common in my father’s time and I took a lot from it.’

Taking on the family business in his mid-twenties surely came with a degree of pressure for Nicolas, but winning the Arc at the first attempt is not the worst way to establish one’s credentials.

‘Winning the Arc at such an early stage of my career was exceptional, but it didn’t turn my head. I’ve always known this game is full of ups and downs. Saumarez’ victory definitely put my name out there all the same and helped me expand my stable, with more owners and better stock. Since then we’ve enjoyed more big days thanks to the likes of Vespone and Stormy River. Style Vendome won the French 2,000 Guineas for long-standing owner André de Ganay in 2013 and that was something special. I had bought him at the sales with my partner Tina Rau for less than €100,000. Not many sold at that price go on to be Guineas winners. In the past few seasons The Juliet Rose has been a wonderful filly for us. She took time, but excelled over a mile and a half.’

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COMPETITION

With 30 years in the business, over 900 winners to his name, and over €30m earned, Clément can boast impressive stats. Racing’s fast pace won’t allow for resting on laurels however.  

‘Each season I set myself goals depending on the stock I’ve got. With 70 horses, which is the average I tend to have, I try to have at least 35 winners and any year in which we earn over €1 million including premiums is a good year. Most years we have reached this goal. Our number of stakes winners is also an important measure. If we manage six or seven black type horses I consider that a pretty good achievement.’

Being the youngest trainer to win the Arc is certainly a way to grab people’s attention, but might it have resulted in some middle-distance type-casting?

‘Maybe in the early days, but I like to train any nice horse. Some people think that if you train one to win over a mile and a half in the Arc it means you are a mile and a half trainer, but I don’t like to be pinned down. I learnt a lot from François Boutin, who was brilliant with two-year-olds and I love to train them. I just wish I had a few more forward types these days, but I’m generally happy with the range I get through the yard. I would love to win more Classics and as many Group 1 races as possible. One race that has always attracted me is the Epsom Derby. And I’d like to win the English Guineas. We came very close with French Fifteen when he was second behind Camelot in 2012.’

Saumarez was owned by an American. French Fifteen by a Qatari. Style Vendome by a Frenchman. The Juliet Rose by a South African. It seems Miguel Clément’s international outlook really did leave a lasting impression on Nicolas.

‘Racing is an international business these days and my owner profiles reflect this. I have quite a few from America, partly due to the fact that my brother Christophe trains over there. I send him some horses and once in a while he sends me an owner who would like to own in Europe. We also have owners from Ireland, Germany, England, Scandinavia, Switzerland, South Africa, and elsewhere. So it’s a very diverse group, spread across the globe. I am a great believer in communication and think you have to provide a proper information service in order to satisfy owners and spread the word. We have a good number of French owners too, but there is a lack of racing culture among the general public in France these days and if you have a newcomer owner then you have to explain so much. It’s not easy and of course training racehorses is a game where there tends to be a lot of bad news for the few moments of joy. That’s part of the reason I enjoy working with owner-breeders because they know the game is a rollercoaster and see things from a long-term perspective.’

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Relative values - the Clement brothers

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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - EUROPEAN TRAINER - ISSUE 43