Being busy, having responsibilities can be a blessing, or at least a distraction. But for Miguel Clement, mourning necessarily collides with the most public week in his professional life, leaving him with nowhere to escape as he grieves the death of his father.

Clement has always known that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and train horses.

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“When I was little and I’d misbehave,” he said while driving back to his barn at Saratoga Race Course’s Oklahoma training track after watching half a dozen horses school in the paddock June 5, “the biggest punishment my mom could give me was to tell me that I couldn’t go to the races over the weekend.”

He did the prudent thing and attended college first, majoring in economics at Duke, then spent two years in the Darley Flying Start program, traveling the world to learn about the business of Thoroughbred racing. He worked with trainers Mike de Kock in South Africa and Hugo Palmer in England before returning to the U.S. to work with his father.

Christophe Clement was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, and as the disease progressed, he and his son began working on a transition plan. They had hoped to be able to establish a joint training license to train as Clement Stable, a practice not uncommon in Europe and Australia, but one that regulators in this country don’t permit. Unsuccessful in that attempt before Christophe’s death on May 25, they took other steps to support Miguel’s move from assistant to trainer, including downsizing the operation to about 100 horses.

The end of training hours Thursday offered no respite for Miguel, no chance to take a breath, no opportunity to be with his family or even to be alone. He had four runners on the Thursday card, with nine more entered over the weekend. Two weeks ago, a student from Darley Flying Start had joined the barn staff, eager to work with Christophe.

“I feel bad for him,” said Miguel in the paddock, keeping an eye on both the humans and the horses for which he’s responsible. “He really wanted to work with my father.

“My father was great to young people,” he added. “He tried to lift up people’s careers. We had interns every year. Many of them went on to be trainers, and we’d try to help them with horses when they were getting started.” 

As he cinched girths in the saddling stalls, he added a saddle pad, one that features the most visible and perhaps most poignant symbol of the change in the Clement family. Ubiquitous at Saratoga are the dark blue morning saddle towels emblazoned with “CC,” towels that will continue to be a presence. But slowly, they will give way to a new design, the same dark blue but featuring only a single C.

“My father planned that,” Miguel said. “We were hoping that it would be the logo if we got the joint training license.”

Driving into the track, stepping out of his car, walking around the paddock, he can’t go more than a few steps without his phone ringing or buzzing or chiming, or without someone stopping him to offer condolences, or congratulations on the first win of his solo training career on Wednesday afternoon. Parking lot attendants, paddock judges, trainers, reporters; every conversation a reminder of what is omnipresent.

He says that keeping his emotions in check is essential to being a good trainer, but this week, restraint is not an option, especially when sorrow is mixed with gratitude and bittersweet celebration.

“I try not to show too much emotion,” he said. “But I kind of failed at that.”

A reverent winner's circle celebration after Coach Case's win. (Coglianese Photos/Walter Wlodarczyk)

Ordinarily, the volume gets turned up when a trainer gets a first win. On Wednesday afternoon, as Miguel waited for that first winner, Coach Case, to return to get his picture taken, the mood in the Saratoga Race Course winner’s circle was solemn, nearly reverent. How do you congratulate a young man on his first win, when that win is tied to the loss of his father?

“My mom,” he answered, when asked what went through his mind when Coach Case crossed the finish line first, his eyes moist, his voice quietly emotional. “It’s been tough for her. Between my mom and my sister, they dealt with my dad through less-than-ideal scenes, through clinical trials and tests, through bad news and scans.”

He admits that his mother Valerie and his sister Charlotte did most of the everyday work of caring for Christophe; Charlotte left her job to be with her parents full-time, along with her husband and young child.

“I heard from so many people about dad,” Miguel reflected Thursday morning. “So many messages, so many stories. Right now, I’m not really in a position to mourn properly, but it’s touching to hear from so many people. My mother and my sister were with him every day, and there is such a void. I’m worried about them. They don’t have the distraction of the horses.”

The horses are both distractions and reminders. On Saturday, Miguel will saddle three horses in the Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes, a race his father won three times, back to back in 2009 and 2010 with Gio Ponti and Winchester, and in 2001 with Forbidden Apple.

Miguel’s face lights up with that memory.

“I remember that so well,” he said. “Corey Nakatani was riding. I was young enough that I was allowed to wear shorts in the winner’s circle.”

Should he be back in the winner’s circle for the Manhattan Saturday, this time he’ll be the one holding the trophy. This time, his name will be listed as the winning trainer. But he leaves no doubt who should get the credit.

“It’s not fair that just one person gets the credit when things go well,” he said. “We train according to his ideologies, on his foundation. This is about the operation. We’ve had a phenomenal team for years, and this is still very much his team.”