As we are about to start the new year off in earnest by sending a nice team of horses to the meeting at Cagnes-sur-Mer (Persiste et Signe, Lion King, Constant Desire,Lady Ana, Raquette and Sea Fight) - we would like to take the opportunity to wish all our owners and supporters a happy, successful and prosperous year!

It's also a good time for a little retrospective of last season: 2011 was a vintage year for the Clement stable - with a total of 32 wins and more than Euro1.6million earnings. The sucess-story was spearheaded by French Fifteen's magnificent Gr1 Criterium International win. This made us especially proud - since he is the stable's first ever 2-year-old Gr 1 winner who - to top it all - was picked up by Nicolas' team at the yearling sales at the bargain price of Euro30,000.
This exciting colt has been sold to His Highness Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa al Thani, but remains in training with Nicolas: he has the Gr1 English 2000 Guineas as a target for next year; he is wintering great, and we are very hopeful he will please his new connections.

Other horses in the stable that have achieved blacktype over the last year include Inscrutable who won the Listed Prix Policeman in Cagnes for Mrs Wills, a long-time supporter of the stable, before being sold to America.

Our trusted Akarlina carried away victories for Ecurie Mister Ess  in both the Listed Defi du Galop Grand Prix de Strasbourg and the Gr3 Prix Andre Babouin.

A hard, consistent and versatile 2-year old, Vaniloquio more than deserved to win the Listed Prix Herod for co-owners Mr Gerard Augustin Normand and Mr Christian Baillet. He was subsequently aslo runner up in the Gr2 Criterium de Maisons-Lafitte and should be a nice horse to look forward to for next year.
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Brocottes might not have won a blacktype race yet, but Gerard Augustin-Normand's gutsy 2yo filly was the runner-up in the Gr1 Criterium de Saint Cloud - and she is just one of many to look forward to for the new season:
We have a good team of three-year olds, including a few nice unraced prospects that hopefully should be racing at Stakes level.
Our riding plans wil be the same,with Thierry Thulliez riding most of the team in main meetings except for the conection that have a retainer.

Many thanks again to the Team and all our faithful owners and supporters - to another sucessful year in 2012!!

Christmas comes early this year as the Clement yard is offering a stellar cast of fillies at the Arqana December sale who would put a smile on the face of any potential buyer. The star of the show is undoubtedly our trusted yard-favourite Akarlina (Martaline). The attractive grand-daughter of Linamix has been a great servant to the yard, winning a couple of Gr3 contests and performing with merit throughout her career - she is sold as a racing or breeding prospect.
Another of our offeerings is the Listed-placed Masquenada, who has earned her connections more than Euros 100,000 on the track. We are sure she will take to a career in the paddocks like a duck to water and her future offspring will be just delightful.
To round things off, we're also bringing a couple of very nicely-bred daughters of Galileo as well as a number of other fillies that should find plenty of interest...

So make sure you don't miss out and come and see us at the sale!

Gerard Augustin Normand's exciting juvenile filly Brocottes (Lando) ended a season that saw her winning her first two outings in fine style with a bang when coming second in the Gr1  Criterium de Saint Cloud. This should make her one of the leading classic hopes for next year and she will be entered for all the big races. Selected by the team at the yearling sales and bought for Euros 80,000 less than a year ago, the attractive bay has already earned close to Euro 150,000 on the eve of her classic season which should see her improve further - and as always we're thrilled to see a sizeable reward for the investment the connections entrust us with...

On a slightly different note: we are delighted to report that our Gr1 Criterium International hero French Fifteen will remain in the Clement yard for the next season after having been sold in a private deal to His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al Thani of the Quatari Royal family. The colt will be trained for a tilt at the English 2000 Guineas or the Poule d'Essai de Poulains, its French equivalent and we're sure he'll do us proud after a quiet spell over the winter.

Raymond Tooth's French Fifteen (Turtle Bowl) showed his opponents a clean pair of heels when finishing a comfortable length and a quarter in front of the rest in one of France's Juvenile Championship races, the Gr1 Criterium International at Saint Cloud on October 30th. Having sat in last position around the home turn, the well balanced Chestnut son of first-season sire Turtle Bowl showed the world what he was cut out of - displaying a blistering turn of foot in the last 200m of the race under an inspired ride by Thierry Thulliez, providing the Clement stable with a longed-for Gr1 victory as crowing glory for an already very successful season. French Fifteen was snapped up at Arqana's August yearling sale by Nicolas Clement on behalf of Raymond Tooth for the bargain basement price of Euro30,000 from his breeders Aliette and Giles Forien of Haras de Reboursiere et Montaigu (home of his sire, too), having been pinpointed by the team as one of the stars of the final sale day. The promising colt has already earned more than Euro375,000 in prize money and premiums before the winter that will lead into his classic season and remains a hugely exciting prospect for the future. Congratulations once again to all his connections - and: watch this space...!

The season might be drawing to an end, but the Clement yard is on fire at the moment - and the winners keep coming:
First of all is was Tomas Schweizer's homebred Carnoustie (Acclamation) who backed up her runner-up debut at the end of September with a well-deserved win at Clairefontaine at the second time of asking on October 17th. The win provided a timely update to her little half-sister who went through the ring at Arqana's October yearling sale in the same week.

Following hot on Carnoustie's hoofprints was the second win of Brocottes (Lando), owned by Gerard Augustin-Normand: already a winner on debut at the beginning of the month, the filly stepped up to Course-B-level here; and while the margin by which she won might have only been a short neck, the impression she left was an excellent one. Whether or not she will race again this season remains to be seen, but she - along with the rest of the current Clement 2year-olds are very much one to look forward to for next year!

Vaniloquio (Acclamation) - who has been an exciting prospect all along - and has been in the money on all bar one of his starts, went one step further to fulfill the promise he holds when winning the Listed Prix Herod in fine style at Longchamp on October 11th. Ridden by regular pilot Thierry Thulliez, the attractive bay - owned in partnership by Gerard Augustin-Normand and Christophe Baillet  - won this a shade cosily and could now go for the Gr2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte before being put away for the winter. If all goes well, he'll be one of those to keep the smiles on our faces during a long and cold winter!

Somewhat of a stable-favourite Ecurie Mister Ess' Akarlina (Martaline), winner of the Gr3 Coupe de Maisons-Lafitte last season, proved that she was back to her best when winning the Listed Grand Prix de la Region Alsace over 2100m on September 18th. Nicolas who used to own the attractive grey in her early racing days said after the race: ' I am delighted! She put up a great show, winning easily - we might now be thinking about entering her in the Gr1 Prix de l'Opera on Arc weekend...'
Akarlina, who also holds an entry in the Gr1 EP Taylor Stakes in Canada mid-October is set to go through the Arqana sales ring at the end of the year.

One of the stable's juveniles Raymond Tooth's French Fifteen (Turtle Bowl) has steadily been climbing the ranks: 4 wins 'on the trot' - cumulating in victory in the Listed Criterium de L'Ouest last week - as if to re-iterate Nicolas' success rate with yearlings bought at reasonable prices! Selected and bought by Nicolas for a bargain basement Euro 30,000 at last year's Arqana August sale, the talented youngster is the first blacktype winner for his young sire Turtle Bowl. He has already earned his connections close to Euro 100,000 in prizemoney and premiums. His next port of call could be the Gr2 Prix Thomas Byron, but there are also thoughts to supplement him for the Gr1 Prix Lagardere, France's finest Championship race for 2 year-olds on Arc weekend. So watch this space! 

Summer is back in town - and we are fast approaching the first set of sales at Arqana's newly re-vamped sales ring in Deauville. In fact, the first yearlings will already have moved into their temporary homes for the next week at this stage.
Meanwhile, across the road there's some serious racing going on: One blacktype contest chases the other - and the Clement stable, too, saw some success in that respect: Vaniloquio (Acclamation) battled on well for Christian-Bernard Baillet and Gerard Augustin-Normand in the Listed Prix Francois Boutin to be bettered by a short margin only by one of the English raiders who are traditionally a little more forward at this stage.
A pleasing effort by a colt who has never been out of the first two home, Vaniloquio will next be aimed at the Gr3 Prix de la Rochette. And just as a timely reminder: a Euro28,000 yearling, he has already earned his connections close to Euro80,000!

Nicolas' record at picking high class winners at value as yearlings is impeccable:
A dual Gr1 winner in 2004 at 3, Vespone (Llandaff) was bought for Ecurie Mister Ess for Euro64,000 as a yearling- he left the stable with earnings of Euro450,000; while Stormy River (Verglas), winner of the Gr1 Prix Jean Prat, and multiple place-getter at the highest level (Poule d'Essai des Poulains,St James Palace Stakes,Prix du Moulin etc.) was bought in 2004 for a mere Euro60,000 - again for Ecurie Mister Ess. He retired with earnings of Euro 994,000euros. 

Exciting juvenile Vaniloquio (Acclamation) - owned in partnership by Christian-Bernard Baillet and Gerard Augustin-Normand - got the Clement stable's Deauville summer carnival off to an excellent start when beating the opposition fair and square in the valuable Prix d'Etreham on July 30th under a confident ride from his usual pilot Thierry Thulliez..
This was already the second time Vaniloquio greeted the judge in front of his rivals having won his maiden in Chantilly earlier in the month. The talented bay's next aim will be to gain some blacktype before the Deauville summer is over.