Alec Head

Ghislaine Head, owner-breeder and matriarch of France's famous training dynasty, died on Thursday, June 1 at the age of 95. The news was first reported by Jour de Galop.  The wife of Alec Head, who died a year ago, Ghislaine was represented on the racecourse by, among others, the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Three Troikas (Fr) (Lyphard), who was trained by her daughter Christiane (Criquette) and ridden to victory by her son Freddy, who was later a successful trainer in his own right....

It has been a poignant year for his mother's family, who last summer grieved not only their own venerable patriarch but the founder of many parallel equine dynasties. Within months of Alec Head's death, their Haras du Quesnay was being dismantled and, as a reflective young man, Fernando Laffon could not fail to sense the end of a cycle as his grandmother Criquette Head-Maarek was joined in retirement by her brother Freddy. But just as Freddy's children Christopher and Victoria meanwhile continue in training careers of their own, so Laffon...

In John Berry's comprehensive and most interesting tribute to Alec Head he made a small but important error. The fact that I found it attests to retirement providing too much time on my hands. But I make this correction in an amusing story about my own connection to Alec. Of course, it must involve his inseparable friendship and business partnership with another monumental name in international breeding and racing circles, Comte Roland de Chambure. Deep in the third page of John's article, he describes two outstanding colts, Riverman and Lyphard, stating "both...

by Sue Finley & Katie Petrunyak Since 1958, the Head family has been raising champion Thoroughbreds at Haras du Quesnay, just a few kilometers from the Arqana sales ring. But now, with the passing of the family patriarch, Alec Head, and the sale of the historic nursery, the family's colors will fly for the last time at the December Breeding Stock sale, with the complete dispersal of the Heads' bloodstock interests. Le Quesnay will offer 48 broodmares, fillies and foals during the sale. "It's a big bunch of horses, and...

The Haras du Quesnay dispersal at the forthcoming Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale will be one of the most notable bloodstock events of recent years, Quesnay having been synonymous with excellence for longer than most people can remember. Its history is that of the Head family, a family which is revered the world over not only for its horsemanship and understanding of the bloodstock game, but also for its integrity. The Quesnay story is the Head story, and within it lie the stories of many of the greatest horses of...

His father Freddy had an enduring love affair with the Breeders' Cup thanks to his treble Mile winner Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa), and this year it is the turn of Christopher Head to take his chance at America's major international meeting with Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}). It has been quite the year for Head, 35, who notched his first group win in the G2 Prix du Muguet with TDN Rising Star Sibila Spain (Ire) (Frankel {GB), a first Group 1 in last weekend's Prix Marcel Boussac, and is now...

French trainer Freddy Head will retire from training at the end of the year, Jour de Galop reported on Saturday. Best known during his training years as the trainer of the 14-time Group 1 winner Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa), Head also celebrated top-level success with Marchand d'Or (Fr) (Marchand De Sable), Tamayuz (GB) (Nayef), and Moonlight Cloud (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), among others. He was also the first person to ever win a Breeders' Cup race as a jockey and a trainer, aboard Miesque (Kingmambo) in the 1987/88 GI Breeders' Cup...

After a brief hiatus during Royal Ascot, TDN Europe's weekly Q&A series is back with Real Madrid and Spanish football star Alvaro Odriozola telling Brian Sheerin all about his endeavours in racing so far, his friendship with Joseph O'Brien and his ambitions to own a "horse of a lifetime."  At just 25 years of age, Odriozola has already enjoyed a hugely successful career as a footballer and revealed how he adopts a similar mindset to racehorse ownership and breeding by saying "you have to dream big in order to get...

Few people genuinely deserve to be described as a legend in their own lifetime. Lester Piggott was one, while Alec Head, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 97, was another. One of the greatest names in the world of both training and breeding, Alec Head was also a very accomplished jockey in his youth and, coming from a great racing family, he passed on his skills to the subsequent generations, to the extent that one could say that the influence of his family will live forever. As their...

Alec Head, the legendary breeder, former jockey and trainer, and scion of one of the most notable dynasties in French racing, has died at the age of 97.  The owner of the esteemed Haras du Quesnay in Normandy, Head's father and grandfather were also both trainers and jockeys, and his children Christiane (Criquette) and Freddy, as well as grandson Christopher, all followed the family tradition into the training ranks in France. Of the many top horses associated with the Head family and Haras du Quesnay, the most recent major star...

Trainer Christophe Clement has been a familiar face on the racing scene for the last three decades and 2020 looks to be a banner year for the French-born horseman, who is on the verge of collecting his 2000th career victory, and also features among finalists for the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame's 2020 inductions. "Well, you don't really wake up in the morning thinking 'I'm going to win 2000 races'," admitted the 55-year-old native of Paris. "You just wake up in the morning thinking, 'let's do the best...