Millionaire owner removes all 22 horses from top trainer’s yard with immediate effect
A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE owner has removed all 22 of his horses including an awesome Ascot winner from a top trainer’s yard.
Big Rock is the big name to be pulled from the French base of Christopher Head.
The four-year-old colt was a breathtaking six-length winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at last October’s Champions Day.
The son of Rock Of Gibraltar has won just shy of £1.4million from 11 career races and is rated the world’s best miler.
But now he will race under the care of Maurizio Guarneri after owner Yeguada Centurion abruptly pulled their horses from Head.
Yeguada Centurion is the racing operation belonging to 77-year-old businessman and pizza tycoon Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals.
He previously removed multiple Group 1-winning filly Blue Rose Cen and ten other horses from Head’s stables earlier this year.
The reasoning at the time was that Yeguada Centurion needed a second trainer for their horses and that Blue Rose Cen would be the headline act for the new trainer.
But now the racing and breeding operation has left Head altogether – in a move one punter labelled an ‘awful decision’.
Speaking of the shock switch, Head said: “The decision was communicated to me on Thursday morning and the horses went to Maurizio Guarnieri’s yard on Thursday evening.
“I’ve enjoyed every second and every victory that the Yeguada Centurion horses have given me.
“It has been a valuable experience that I’ll be putting to good use in the future.”
While Guarneri said earlier this year: “It’s a dream for me to train a filly like her and I’ve never had horses of the quality they have sent me.
“The two racing managers made the initial approach and then the owner called me.
“He told me he had decided against selling any of their yearlings last autumn and, with everything going into training, he felt the need for a second trainer in Chantilly, and that he had chosen me.
“It’s incredible to have the filly Blue Rose Cen arrive in my yard.
“Her previous trainer has had her at the very top, winning four Group 1s.
“I hope to be able to contribute to the filly continuing to have a very good career at four.”
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