ENGLISH TEXTS of Zarkava. I thought it was a bit early to face her. Like Miesque, Goldikova was limited in distance. She was really a 1,600-meter mare. Beyond a mile, it became difficult for her. She raced against males of all ages and on different racecourses. It was a wonderful adventure, helped by the fact that the Wertheimer brothers wanted to see her race, as true sportsmen.
G. Goldikova was very popular with racing fans, as were you, both as a trainer and a jockey. Were you aware of your popularity at the time?
F. H. People were always very kind to me throughout my career and supported me a lot. I was very lucky. You need a certain amount of luck to ride top horses for a long time, that’ s for sure.
G. You ended your training career at the end of 2022. Do you miss it?
F. H. Not really. I’ m now enjoying a more normal life. Since I was 16, I’ ve been very active. Being a jockey is physically demanding and requires strict discipline. It involves constant effort, and keeping weight under control is an additional constraint. I realize now how quickly my 33-year career as a jockey went by— I did nothing else, really. As for training, it’ s a craftsman’ s job: you need to be there every day with your horses to know them well. It’ s stressful. Now I can enjoy other things. I live near Geneva three-quar- ters of the time and come to Paris for the races, as I’ m lucky that Victoria and Christopher have taken over. That allows me to keep following everything. I go to the training yard from time to time and still take part. As we are very family-oriented in the Head family, I’ m also delighted to see the rise of Pearled Majesty, who will be one of the favorites for the Jockey Club.
BY PIERRE CHAMPION
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WITHIN AN EXCEP- TIONAL RECORD
FREDDY HEAD: A PROVEN AFFIN- ITY WITH THE POULES D’ ESSAI
A jockey with an outstanding record – 2,937 winners, including 130 Group 1 victories – Freddy Head enjoyed particular success in the Poules d’ Essai, where he holds the record for wins, having taken the fillies’ race eight times and the colts’ race six times. In two consecutive years, he even achieved the double in both Poules. Moreover, these successes were very rarely without follow-up and were, on the contrary, often followed by further achievements for their protagonists. A look back at the“ Freddy years” in the Poules.
Freddy Head claimed his first two Poules d’ Essai in 1975. He was then 28 years old and already had several prestigious victories to his name, including two Prix de l’ Arc de Triomphe( with Bon Mot in 1966 and San San in 1972), two Prix du Jockey- Club( with Goodly in 1969 and Roi Lear in 1973) and one Prix de Diane( with Pistol Packer in 1971). But he was still missing the Poules. In fact, he was about to collect them, as he would go on to win them a total of fourteen times!
Green Dancer and Ivanjica to open the account The tally began with Green Dancer on April 27, 1975, in the Poule d’ Essai des Poulains. Bis repetita one week later – at the time, the Poules were run one week apart – with Ivanjica in the Poule d’ Essai des Pouliches. Both were owned by Jacques Wertheimer and trained by Alec Head. Three weeks later, Green Dancer, already a winner of the Observer Gold Cup( now the Racing Post Trophy) at two, would land his third Group 1 in the Prix Lupin after a titanic battle with the“ Rothschild” Mariacci. Freddy and him would, however, fail in the Epsom Derby afterwards. As for Ivanjica, deprived of the Prix de Diane due to a strike and a demonstration by racing staff at Chantilly on the day – the fillies’ championship was simply cancelled and not rescheduled – she made amends in the autumn by winning the Prix Vermeille and, above all, the following year at four, provided her crack jockey with a third Prix
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