Leading owner Wildenstein dies

Leading art dealer and racehorse owner Daniel Wildenstein died on Tuesday aged 84, it was revealed in Paris today.

Wildenstein, who was six times leading French owner, won four Arc de Triomphes and earlier this month watched as his star filly the French Oaks winner Aquarelliste finished six-lengths second to Sakhee in the Arc.

Wildenstein always claimed he had won five Arcs when Sagace won the 1985 renewal but was subsequently disqualified for interfering with Rainbow Quest.

However he took it the whole way to the courts without succeeding in having the decision overturned and from that day refused to ever come down and accept a trophy leaving it to his son Alec.

Wildenstein was also infamous for his habit of changing trainers which he showed he had not lost the taste for by removing 42 horses from Andre Fabre earlier this season.

However Wildenstein, who also had a legion of top class steeplechasers and won the Grand Prix Steeplechase at Auteuil earlier this year and dominated the trotting circuit as well, was not always able to get away with his switches of trainers as cleanly as he liked.

He once received a sharp rebuke for removing his horses from Henry Cecil in England after blaming legendary jockey Lester Piggott for a bad ride which led to his top two-year-old Vacarme being disqualified from the Group Two Richmond Stakes.

'They (the Wildensteins) are inveterate bad losers,' Piggott opined.

Perhaps Wildenstein`s greatest horse was the filly Allez France, though he thought equally of Aquarelliste.

Allez France won the Arc de Triomphe in 1974 in devastating style under Yves Saint-Martin for Argentine trainer Angel Penna. - Reuters