Bellezza might represent a sneaky good choice for the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T). But the 4-year-old filly represents a lot more than just an underdog story Saturday at Del Mar. She is the latest chapter in a longstanding relationship between the breeder Moyglare Stud and the Clement family.
"They're phenomenal," said Miguel Clement, son of the late legendary trainer Christophe Clement, whose barn Bellezza calls home. "They've been amazingly supportive of the stable for many years with spectacular pedigrees, ones we probably don't have access to in the States. And they're very vocal with that and they've been supporting me as well, which is very kind of them."
Christophe Clement first came to the attention of the Ireland-based Moyglare Stud when he was working under the tutelage of Luca Cumani in Newmarket, England. But eventually Clement went out on his own and set up a stable in New York.
Moyglare Stud adviser Fiona Craig said its founder, Walter Haefner, "loved American racing."
"I don't really know why, but a lot of the foundation mares, before my time, came from America," she said. "He loved going to the American sales. He loved American racing. So we always had horses in training in America. ... And then, I think, then we stopped sending horses for a while. Mr. Haefner was in Moyglare one day, and he just said, 'I think we need to have some more horses in the USA.'
"I suggested three or four trainers. And he knew Christophe's father, the original Miguel Clement. He knew him from Deauville in France. And he just said, 'Look, let's give him a go.'"
The first horse Moyglare sent to Christophe Clement was Hibernian Rhapsody, who already had six starts to his resume. He won his debut with Clement in 1999, an allowance race at Gulfstream Park. He was second in his next start, the Bougainvillea Handicap (G3T). Later that year, Hibernian Rhapsody would win the Tropical Turf Handicap (G3T) at Calder Race Course.
Craig said it was a steady stream of horses that made their way to the Clement barn—one or two at a time—never dozens.
In that steady stream were the likes of multiple grade 2 winner Lisieux Rose, grade 1 winner and 2003 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) participant Relaxed Gesture (not trained by Clement at the time), and grade 2 winner Steel Light.
"All you had to do was spend five minutes in the barn, and you would see how things were run and his attention to detail," Craig said of Christophe Clement. "And he did well. He didn't have that many horses, and particularly for Moyglare, he did very well."
Part of why Christophe Clement was so adored by Moyglare was that his approach to training was not that different than what the stud had been used to with Irish trainers. Clement was always at the barn and knew his horses as well as anyone.
He was also very good at knowing what he had in a horse, Craig said.
"Was it a horse that needed to win an allowance race and get sold, or a horse that could go on and be a stakes horse? He was very good at determining what their level was," she explained.
Since 2000, the Clement-Moyglare combination has produced 13 horses that have won graded stakes. And most of Moyglare's biggest winners over the last quarter-century-plus have a Clement as the trainer.
Miguel Clement said of the relationship, "We're very, very lucky to be a part of it."
Having worked under his father, Miguel Clement is living up to the clout his name carries.
Craig said when you work with Christophe Clement, it is not a typical owner-trainer relationship. You become part of the family. She was impressed with the younger Clement's drive.
"He did the Darley Flying Start, and then he went to Newmarket, and he went to Africa with Mike de Kock, and Dubai. So you saw him along the way, and then he came back and started training with Christophe," she said.
As much as everyone involved knew the plan for the future was for Miguel to one day take over his father's operations, Christophe's death earlier this year from eye cancer brought about that change much sooner than anyone anticipated.
"We've just been over, we'd actually been over the two summers ago to Saratoga in August, and (Moyglare principal Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner) spent quite a bit of time with him, and he told her what was wrong with him," Craig recalled. "I think it just happened a lot quicker, probably than any of us thought. But I will say hats off to Miguel, because you lose your dad, and he was still there training, and I think he had a phenomenal summer."
With 2025 considered his first year as a trainer, according to Equibase, Miguel Clement has won more than 20% of his starts with 52 wins from 256 starts. Nearly 50% of his starters have finished in the top three (52-40-30). That is accompanied with almost $6.5 million in earnings. Despite not getting his first win until June 4, Clement is 20th among all trainers in earnings this year.
Under Clement, Deterministic won back-to-back grade 1s—the Manhattan Stakes (G1T) with a career-best Equibase Speed Figure of 120 and the Fourstardave Stakes (G1T). Tawny Port posted three consecutive runner-up finishes en route to a spot in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T).
But it is another of his trainees who is drawing attention.
That would be the Moyglare homebred Bellezza.
She started her season winning the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G3T) for Christophe Clement, a victory that surprised Moyglare because of the manner in which she won. But after Clement's death, Bucher-Haefner didn't hesitate in deciding what to do with Bellezza.
"We will go on with Miguel," Craig remembered Bucher-Haefner saying.
After winning the Sheepshead Bay, the filly by Siyouni was a distant third in the New York Stakes (G1T), which was taken by her Filly and Mare Turf rival She Feels Pretty.
She followed that with a second in the Glens Falls Stakes (G2T) before winning the Flower Bowl (G2T) by 2 1/4 lengths.
Bellezza is Miguel Clement's favorite filly to train. He said the plan for now is to bring her back next year.
But this year, he would love nothing more than to win the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
"That would be great to win a big race with one of Dad's most supportive, long-term supporters," Miguel said of Moyglare. "Because it's very much something that he would have loved. ... It's humbling. It's something I wish he could be a part of.
"The ride would have been a lot more fun with my dad by my side than without him, obviously."
Regardless of the outcome Saturday, the race will mark another chapter in the ever-growing story of Moyglare Stud and the Clement family.
