Thoroughbred Horse Racing
Pierre Wertheimer was also a leading racehorse owner. In 1949 he hired the then 24-year-old Alec Head to train his horses. The Werheimer/Head association in racing still continues through family members (Fredy Head is trainer of Goldikova, a 3 times breeder cup winner mile turf, and remains in training for 2011 for an appetent 4th consecutive win in this classic race). Wertheimer's horses won numerous important races in France and the United Kingdom. Among the notable horses he owned was Epinard, called a racing legend by the French racing authority, France Galop.
Selected Group One race wins:
- 1,000 Guineas : (1935)
- King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes : Vimy (1955)
- Epsom Derby : Lavandin (1956)
- Prix de la Forêt : Epinard (1922), Midget (1956)
- Prix d'Astarté : Eleda (1934), Djanet (1956)
- Prix Maurice de Gheest : Sonny Boy (1933), Djanet (1956), Midget (1957), Tomahawk (1959)
After his death, his widow remained as an owner of prominent horses such as Riverman and Lyphard. Germaine Wertheimer's Group One race wins include:
- Prix de la Forêt : Démocratie (1969), Lyphard (1972)
- Prix du Jockey Club : Roi Lear (1973)
- Poule d'Essai des Poulains : Riverman (1972)
- Prix d'Ispahan : Riverman (1972)
- Prix Jacques Le Marois : Lyphard (1972)
The racing stable and the House of Chanel was inherited by his son Jacques Wertheimer who continued to be a force in French racing and who expanded the House of Chanel even further. On Jacques' death, the business went to his sons, Gerard and Alain Wertheimer.
Read more about this topic: Pierre Wertheimer
Famous quotes containing the words thoroughbred, horse and/or racing:
“There can be no two opinions as to what a highbrow is. He is the man or woman of thoroughbred intelligence who rides his mind at a gallop across country in pursuit of an idea.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“If this bureau had a prayer for use around horse parks, it would go something like this: Lead us not among bleeding-hearts to whom horses are cute or sweet or adorable, and deliver us from horse-lovers. Amen.... With that established, let’s talk about the death of Seabiscuit the other night. It isn’t mawkish to say, there was a racehorse, a horse that gave race fans as much pleasure as any that ever lived and one that will be remembered as long and as warmly.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goat’s cheese ... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)