It was a memorable few days for trainer Miguel Clement last week. On Thursday, his father, Christophe, was posthumously inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and two days later his remarkable turf star Deterministic (Liam's Map) won his seventh straight graded stakes race on the turf when capturing the GI Fourstardave Stakes for the second straight year. That made Clement an easy choice to join this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.
Clement said his father, who passed away in May of 2025 at the age of 59, always considered enshrinement in the Hall of Fame to be the ultimate honor in racing.
“My father always considered this to be the epitome of racing and he would've loved it,” Clement said. “He would have a massive party. It's great for the entire 'C C tribe.' The whole stable was there. I was very touched because we had many people from all around the world that came for it. As a family, and I guess we are biased, but I thought that was a bit overdue, personally.”
Deterministic may be the best turf horse in the country. He is classy and shows up every time. What makes him so good?
“He's top class,” Clement said. “Physically, he's a spectacular mover. Mentally, he not only has that innate will to win, but he's unbelievably professional. You never see him misbehave. He knows his job, he knows his routine and he handles himself with pure class. You look after him and he looks after us–it's that simple. We just try to stay out of his way and make sure he's happy and sound.”
The winning rider in each of Deterministic's last six races has been Kendrick Carmouche, not always the jockey you think of when it comes to victories in Grade I stakes races at Saratoga. But Clement said he is a perfect fit for the horse.
“The two of them are like the dynamic duo,” he said. “It's a spectacular relationship at the moment. Deterministic was ridden mainly by Joel Rosario previously and was also very well ridden by Manny Franco. They won the Virginia Derby together. He came back and he ran on Kentucky Derby Day and so a lot of the jockeys were out, obviously riding at Churchill Downs. Kendrick was available in New York and that's how the opportunity took place with Kendrick. Kendrick his ridden him brilliantly.”
Clement also confirmed that his wife, Acacia, is pregnant with what will be their first child.
“Of course, I'm very excited to be a dad,” he said. “Am I mature enough to do it? I believe so. And will Acacia have to help me out more than you can imagine? Yeah.”
The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was no surprise. Sovereignty (Into Mischief) earned the honor when winning the GI Whitney Stakes. He was awarded a 112 Beyer number. The Fastest Horse of the Week is sponsored by WinStar Farm, the home of the outstanding stallion Life is Good.
Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, 1/ST TV and West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Bill Finley, and Zoe Cadman reviewed the spectacular card at Saratoga, where the highlight was the win by Sovereignty in the Whitney.
Moss had more details about the changes to the Triple Crown and the team gave their opinions on the “fishy” circumstances that occurred Sunday at Monmouth and Saratoga, where four shippers from Fair Hill recorded wins that stirred up plenty of controversy.
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