Horse trainer Christophe Clement dies from eye cancer

Clement announced his own death in a prepared statement that was posted to his stable’s X account on Sunday.

“Unfortunately, if you are reading this, it means I was unable to beat my cancer,” it said. “As many of you know, I have been fighting an incurable disease, metastatic uveal melanoma.”

It’s a type of cancer that affects the uvea, the middle layer of the eye. It accounts for just 5% of all melanoma cases in the U.S., however, it can be aggressive and spread to other parts of the body in up to 50% of cases, according to the Melanoma Research Alliance’s website.

The Paris-born Clement had been one of the top trainers in the U.S. over the last 34 years. He learned under his father, Miguel, who was a leading trainer in France. Clement later worked for the prominent French racing family of Alec Head. In the U.S., he first worked for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.

Clement went out on his own in 1991, winning with the first horse he saddled at Belmont Park in New York.

“Beyond his accomplishments as a trainer, which are many, Christophe Clement was a kind and generous man who made lasting contributions to the fabric of racing in New York,” Dave O’Rouke, president and CEO of the New York Racing Association said in a statement.

Clement had 2,576 career victories and purse earnings of over $184 million, according to Equibase.

“I am very proud that for over 30 years in this industry, we have operated every single day with the highest integrity, always putting the horses’ wellbeing first,” he said in his farewell message.

One of Clement’s best-known horses was Gio Ponti, winner of Eclipse Awards as champion male turf horse in 2009 and 2010. He finished second to Zenyatta in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

In the 2014 Belmont, Tonalist spoiled the Triple Crown bid of California Chrome, who tied for fourth. Tonalist won by a head, after not having competed in the Kentucky Derby or Preakness that year.