Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals

Group 1 winner Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) and 12 other Yeguada Centurion horses have transferred to the stable of Maurizio Guarnieri as of Thursday evening, Jour de Galop reported. The baker's dozen were formerly listed in training with Christopher Head. Speaking to the French publication, Head said, "I was notified Thursday morning of the departure of the horses for Maurizio Guarnieri's stable, with transport planned for the evening. I savored every minute spent with the Yeguada Centurion horses. I [will] only have good memories of this valuable...

   Continuing the profiles of the favourite horses of TDN Europe's editorial team in 2023, Emma Berry selects the French raider who took QIPCO British Champions Day by storm. I'd been impressed by Christopher Head since the day I first visited his stable in July 2019 and found him on the end of a broomstick sweeping the floor outside the rented boxes of the five horses he had in training at that time. His ascent has been rapid, and by now his string must be 20 times that size. And,...

DEAUVILLE, France--The broodmare shopping spree of Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals several years ago has already resulted in his first homebred Group 1 winner, Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), a daughter of the Jeremy mare Queen Blossom (Ire) who heads next to the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland.  It was next door to that track that Fernandez Pujals, who operates as Yeguada Centurion, bought Needmore Flattery (Flatter) from Lane's End Farm in 2019. That same year she had foaled a Gun Runner colt, who was later named Taiba and went on to...

The name Head appears multiple times in the winning trainer category on the Prix Saint-Alary roll of honour. Alec, Criquette and Freddy have all trained winners of the fillies' Group 1, and the latter also rode the winner, usually for his father or his sister, on seven occasions. In the line-up for the 2021 running of the Saint-Alary next Monday is likely to be a filly trained by one of the next generation of the Head family, Christopher, a son of Freddy, who has taken the bold decision to supplement...

There were several unraced fillies in the line-up for Thursday's 10-furlong Prix Monade at Saint-Cloud with immense residual value and abundant racing promise, but at the end there was only one that mattered as Yeguada Centurion's Sibila Spain (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) put them to the sword with an audacious front-running display of power. Showing impressive instant pace to arrive at the head of affairs soon after breaking from the widest stall, the April-foaled daughter of the high-class L'Ancresse (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}) was then able to switch off and cruise in an...