CANDY RIDE , AN EXCEPTION TO PROVE THE RULE
Bloodstock agent Hubert Guy likes to say that there are “ two breeds of Thoroughbred in the United States , dirt horses and turf horses .“ Stallions that have managed to dominate both worlds are extremely rare , as the qualities required to perform on turf and dirt differ so much . The great sire Northern Dancer ( Nearco ), born in 1961 , was one of them . Standing at 1.56m , muscular and with an extraordinary action , Northern Dancer only raced once on turf , at the age of two ( victory in Canada in the Summer Stakes , now a Gr.1 ).
Five of the championships he won were on dirt . This did not prevent Northern Dancer from becoming the most emblematic stallion of the 20th century and producing turf stars , starting with his sons and grandson Sadler ’ s Wells and Galileo ! The Argentinian Candy Ride is following in his footsteps . At the age of twenty-six , he is still active at Lane ’ s End in Kentucky , where his fee is $ 75,000 . “ His sire , Ride The Rails , was an American dirt horse exported to Argentina . His dam Candy Girl was a native mare more oriented towards turf ,“ explains Hubert Guy . “ Candy Ride remained unbeaten in six races and won Group 1 races on all surfaces : dirt , turf and even polytrack when he beat Medaglia d ’ Oro over 2,000m in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar in 2003 , setting a new track record .“ In Argentina , Candy Ride had also broken the world record for the mile , on turf ! A versatile champion who became an exceptional sire of sires . “ Candy Ride is certainly the best ‘ import ’ made to the United States , a stallion capable of producing both dirt and turf horses - and stallions ,“ analyses Hubert Guy . The bay is the sire of Gun Runner ( 2013 ), a star stallion in the USA , winner of six Group 1 races on dirt including the 2017 Breeders ’ Cup Classic , and who has earned fifteen million dollars . Gun Runner is the sire of Sierra Leone , who has just emulated him by also winning the Breeders ’ Cup Classic under Flavien Prat . Candy Ride is also the sire of the stallions Twirling Candy ( 2007 ), who has produced Group 1 winners on dirt but also on turf , and Vekoma ( 2016 ), the leading first-season sire in the United States in 2024 .
His offspring also seem to shine with their versatility .
ALL-WEATHER TRACKS , SURFACES TO PAMPER
Many French racecourses are equipped with an all-weather track , those where racing takes place in winter and which host enough meetings to justify a substantial investment : Chantilly , Deauville , Pornichet , Pau , Marseille- Vivaux , Lyon la Soie , Cagnes ... These surfaces are , as their name suggests , a mixture of sand and various recycled plastic or textile fibres , bound together by a kind of petroleum jelly . The resurfacing of the Cagnessur-Mer track in 2022 required a budget of 3.2 million euros , given that it covers six hectares . The old track was removed , the draining asphalt that forms the first layer was completely redone before the all-weather surface was laid to a thickness of fifteen centimetres . At Chantilly , the all-weather track dates from 2011 and has since undergone two major renovations , the addition of fibres in 2019 and then oil in 2023 . Marin Le Cour Grandmaison , head of the Chantilly site for France Galop , explains that the maintenance of all-weather tracks is extremely technical and meticulous : “ There are a lot of race meetings in February-March at our racecourse and so we harrow often during this period . If you always do it at the same depth , it creates areas of compaction and you separate the elements of this ‘ paste ’ that is the all-weather surface , you break it up .“ The track then has to be “ recompacted “ so that it recovers its binding and technical qualities . This is done using three different machines , including the Rotospike , which mixes the track very slowly . Treating the entire Chantilly all-weather track takes a whole week for two employees . “ It ’ s not just a matter of giving it a quick harrow ,“ says Marin Le Cour Grandmaison . “ The draining asphalt laid under the track is extremely fragile and the slightest snag would damage it . So we start by surveying the entire track to measure its thickness and decide on a treatment depth that will preserve the asphalt .“ At Chantilly , the site manager ’ s mission is not only concerned with the racecourse ’ s all-weather track , but also with the five all-weather tracks at the training centre , used by two thousand five hundred horses .
WERTHEIMER & FRÈRE : A TIMELESS CLASSIC
The blue and white silks of the Wertheimer stable , headed since 1996 by the two brothers Alain and Gérard , are among the oldest and most famous in France . From its thundering debut just before the First World War to the present day , it has retained all the lessons and applied their teachings in the organisation of an armada that manages , year after year , to hold its own in an activity , the breeding of Thoroughbreds , which remains eminently unpredictable ...
The Wertheimer silks were registered in 1911 by Pierre Wertheimer . Nine years later , the elegant white and blue banner was known to all racegoers , who then numbered in the tens of millions in France only . This was all down to a phenomenal chestnut : Epinard . At the age of 2 , in 1922 , he won six races in nine weeks , including the equivalent of two Gr.1s and a Gr.2 in today ’ s terms . He only failed in the “ Morny “, where he was left at the start ... At 3 , madness took over . Epinard ran in two major handicaps in England : the Stewards ’ Cup , which he won , and the Cambridgeshire , which he lost by a short head under 58 kilos . He had previously also won the Prix d ’ Ispahan , over 1,850 metres , and had therefore also won that season over 1,000 , 1,100 , 1,200 and 1,600m . The following year , in 1924 , he was 4 years old . This time , it was America , the country of his trainer , Eugene Leigh ! He crossed the Pond by boat , losing an estimated 40lbs in the process , to compete in three races were created for the occasion . He had to face the local elite , seasoned opponents on their favourite distances and surface . He got beaten each time , but he was adopted by the American public because he proved to be an exceptional fighter . The US breeders soon wanted to have him at their disposal . He made several trips back and forth between the two continents until his passing , in 1942 in France . Pierre Wertheimer managed the career of his champion like a show business manager , with panache and without refusing any challenge . Champion though he was , Epinard might never have made such a mark on people ’ s memories without these extravagant tours in terra incognita . The lesson of this story : it is in the permanent challenge that racing earns its place in the hearts of the public . However , thirty years later , the Wertheimer silks won the Epsom Derby with Lavandin , a descendant of Epinard trained by Alec Head , but they still hadn ’ t reached the French podium as breeder or owner , until 1969 , in 3rd place . Three years later , in 1972 , they won their first owners ’ title . Pierre Wertheimer had passed away in 1965 , and it was his wife who continued the stable ’ s success with Roi Lear ’ s Jockey Club ( 1973 ), followed by the great successes of Lyphard and Riverman in 1978 , also great sires at stud , under the leadership of Jacques Wertheimer , Pierre ’ s son . From then on , the Wertheimer family ’ s place was assured in the French rankings , first as owners , then also as breeders , with a first title in 1978 , which was also the year of a first breeder-owner double . The “ Epinard Century “, the name of a book of memories of horse racing between the wars , was followed by a 21st century that saw the chestnut ’ s stable prosper . In 1994 , the Wertheimer were 3rd as breeders and owners . In 2024 , they are leading in both categories for the second consecutive year , but of those who were with them in the French top 10 thirty years ago , only the Aga Khan and Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum , now under the Godolphin banner , remain . The others have disappeared or taken a step back.
Alain and Gérard Wertheimer created the Wertheimer & Frère stable in 1996 , and this unique two-headed organisation impresses with its structure and the consistency of its results in its two activities , both of which are well known to be particularly unpredictable . In the summer of 2023 , Wertheimer & Frère struck a major blow - which is not the style of the house - by acquiring the entire Dayton breeding operation , the legacy of Daniel Wildenstein . The blue team remains in blue , in short . This type of operation was commonplace in the first part of the 20th century . It was through the acquisition of a stud farm that Marcel Boussac established his own at Fresnay-le-Buffard . The Aga Khan acquired those of François Dupré , then Jean-Luc Lagardère . However , in the Wertheimer organisation , this is a new phenomenon . Pierre-Yves Bureau , the stable ’ s manager , explains : “ Integrating the Dayton horses will take several years to digest . However , we have always chosen to keep the same number of horses . This means that if we buy mares or if we bring in so many maiden fillies because we want to keep them , either because they have been good or for their genetic potential , that ’ s the same number of mares that have to go out . At the moment , for example , we have a lot of horses in training , more than usual , because of this bulk acquisition which , from a purely practical point of view , is unusual and a bit disruptive to our organisation . We don ’ t want to be overwhelmed by numbers .“ From 1994 to 2024 , the number of Wertheimer graduates racing in France each year rose from 88 to 121 . If we take each decade into account , the average ranking achieved by the stud farm rose from 3.1st to 2.1st and then 1.5th over the last ten years .
At the same time , the number of runners rose from an average of 95.6 to 112.5 and most recently 121.9 . The correlation is striking . However , if we look at the stable ’ s results simply as an owner , the year-end ranking over the last thirty seasons has remained stable at around 3.4th, with three series of two consecutive first places in 1999-2000 , 2012-2013 and 2023-2024 . There were no more horses or even a record number of wins in those years , but winners of big races : Egyptband in the Prix de Diane in 2000 , Solemia in the Arc in 2012 , Sosie and Aventure in 2024 , an exceptional year with 86 wins in France , a new record for the silks . So there is indeed an element of chance in sporting results , but also a set of adjustments that allow the whole to hold its own . We can see that the percentage of horses bred by the stable that have left but are still active in France varies over the years : 19.8 % in 2024 , the first year of the “ full “ integration of Dayton , but only 11.6 % the previous season . The proportion has varied considerably , from 41 % in 2009 to 11 % in 1996 , when the stable was created in its current form , but this percentage has remained below 20 % since 2018 . Pierre-Yves Bureau explains this variable : “ Breeding has developed a lot since the 2000s . We have taken on a volume that the stable didn ’ t have before . That ’ s undeniable . The number effect is important and it ’ s necessary to reach and maintain a critical level , but it has to be controlled . And as we breed to race at a certain level , there is also a fairly rapid release onto the market of horses that we don ’ t want to keep . Mares , because we have to renew our stock without exceeding our numbers , and then 3-year-olds that we sell early in the season , sometimes , when we are lucky enough to have a few colts that reach the highest level , like last season , and we can be more selective . This method also allows other owners to give them a good second career .“ As in the days of Epinard , the stable also has an eye on the USA , the scene of some of the stable ’ s greatest exploits in the Breeders ’ Cup , with Goldikova , a triple winner of the Mile , but also Halfbridled and Kotashaan , both trained in California by Richard Mandella . We also remember the sensational victory of Dare and Go , who defeated the invincible Cigar in the Pacific Classic in 1996 ... “ The advantage of American racing is the quantity ,“ summarises Pierre-Yves Bureau . “ If your horse is blocked here , you find yourself with several options almost every weekend over there . Contrary to some misconceptions , the horses we send must be in good health because the checks are now stricter and , even if there is less publicity about it , many horses are scratched before big races on veterinary examination . Things are moving in the right direction , and we have to go over there with horses that are ready . For example , we sent Maniatic , a son of Intello who was Group-placed in France , because we noticed that Intello ’ s progeny were doing well in the United States . Adhamo and Kertez have won at Group level over there . The stable has about forty horses in training in the United States .“ It is also in the USA that the breeding stock is renewed , but not only with American bloodlines . Over the years , Wertheimer & Frère has distinguished itself at American sales by buying purely US mares ( such as the second dam of Junko , for example ), but also South American recruits . Similarly , mares are sent to Japan to be covered , such as the dam of the champion stayer Double Major , by Daiwa Major . In short , Wertheimer breeding is not averse to a certain exoticism , which , according to Pierre-Yves Bureau , is a more affordable option for owner-breeders : “ Every year , at the breeding stock sales , we try to acquire one to three mares or fillies in the United States , or even in Europe , to renew our stock a little ,“ he explains . “ We always have in mind to go to proven stallions , but without any preconceived ideas about their environment or distance . When you occasionally want or need to get out of Galileo or Danehill blood , you either have to send more mares to stallions in the United States or go to Japan , for example , always to diversify . I think you can afford to do that more easily when you ’ re an owner-breeder who races all of your own production . So when the stable imports a Brazilian mare , descended from totally unknown stallions , that doesn ’ t stop us at all . What matters to us is that the mare has quality and that we have brought in a bloodline that is different from those we already have .“ Nevertheless , at some point , Wertheimer breeding focuses on France and its Haras de Saint-Léonard , near Deauville , where practically all the stock returns each spring. “All the horses are raised here at Saint-Léonard ,“ confirms Pierre-Yves Bureau . “ They get the Owners ’ premiums because they come back with their dams and stay with us as foals and yearlings before going into training . Then the mares leave a month before foaling for the next covering , unless they are going to the United States , where they typically stay longer . Thirty-five people work on the stud farm , and the mares only leave for covering . We can have up to 90 mares at Saint-Léonard . With the foals , up to nearly 250 horses , spread over 300 hectares , can be on the site at the same time . We try to raise our foals as naturally as possible , for as long as possible . There is no sales preparation , and this allows us to educate them , monitor them and care for them at our own pace , with as much time as possible outside and at grass . This is perhaps why our horses progress for a long time and sometimes more gradually . They go to Philip Prevost-Baratte from September onwards , and join their racing stables until December , January at the latest . So they spend the winter with their trainer , who can then shape them and get to know them . We have a few early foals , but overall , I think our horses are geared towards a career in the second half of their 2-year-old season , then at 3 . This is also due to the fact that we use a lot of classic stallions. Sea the Stars , for example , a magnificent stallion that we love , who gave us Sosie and Aventure last year , is not the kind of stallion you would send a mare to to get a May 2-year-old . Even if we always try to bring in speed .“ After the retirements of Criquette and Freddy Head, then Carlos Laffon-Parias, the stable had to renew its team of trainers, which still numbers five today, namely André Fabre, Christophe Ferland, Edouard Monfort, Christopher Head and Yann Barberot. The horses are divided between the five stables according to an initial method, but without exclusivity: “ The first foals generally go to the trainer who knew their dam,“ reveals Pierre-Yves Bureau. “ This is a fairly traditional method, but after a few years, we like to diversify so as not to confine a family to one trainer. We are lucky enough to be able to work with several competent professionals spread over several locations, which saves us from a health problem or a period of poor form for all our horses. It also creates a certain emulation, which has its advantages, of course. But we are primarily looking to build long-term relationships, and the history of the stable bears witness to this, whether it be with our trainers or our jockeys. We play the long game.“
PAGE 130 Alain and Gérard Wertheimer . © APRH
PAGE 132 Épinard , an international star of the interwar period . © APRH
PAGE 133 Trainer Christophe Ferland , manager Pierre-Yves Bureau , Alain and Gérard Wertheimer , and Flavien Prat after Indonésienne ’ s victory in the 2013 Marcel Boussac . © APRH