Archive for January, 2009
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
When you consider the quality of US-bred stallions, not to mention the European-bred stallions, that have been imported for stud duty in Japan over the last 20 years, stallions such as Afleet, Blushing John, Captain Steve, Coronado’s Quest, End Sweep, Ferdinand, French Deputy, Forty Niner, Hawkster, Hector Protector, Housebuster, Mining, Mogambo, Ogygian, Polish Navy, Star of Cozzene, Tabasco Cat, Twining, War Emblem, etc., the list of Japan’s 2008 Champions (and their sires) announced at the JRA Awards this week might surprise you. They are:
Vodka (Horse of the Year & Older female) is by Tanino Gimlet (JPN)
Seiun Wonder (2-year-old male) is by Grass Wonder (US-bred, JPN-raced)
Buena Vista (2-year-old female) is by Special Week (JPN)
Deep Sky (3-year-old male) is by Agnes Tachyon (JPN)
Little Amapola (3-year-old female) is by Agnes Tachyon (JPN)
Screen Hero (Older female) is by Grass Wonder (US-bred, JPN-raced)
Sleepless Night (Sprinter or Miler) is by Kurofume (US-bred, JPN-raced)
Kane Hekili (Dirt Horse) is by Fuji Kiseki (JPN)
Five of these are sired by JPN-bred/raced stallions and three of them are sired by US-bred but JPN-raced stallions. Not one of these Champions is sired by US-bred and raced stallion.
Grass Wonder (Silver Hawk) and Kurofume (French Deputy), the US-bred sires of three of the Champions, both did all their racing and were multiple SWs in Japan, and their big racing reputations made them both desirable for Japanese breeders and well suited for the Japanese racing environment.What’s just as notable is seven of the eight champions trace to Hail to Reason, through Sunday Silence and Roberto (Grass Wonder is by Silver Hawk, and Tanino Gimlet is by Brian’s Time — both sons of Roberto!). French Deputy’s Kurofume is the exception.While there is little doubt that the success of Sunday Silence has fueled Japan‘s import frenzy since the early 1990s, finding another import of the stature of Sunday Silence has proven elusive.
The times, they are a changin’!
However, the good news for Japan is that their home-bred race horses are now dominating the country’s stallion lists, and in the years to come we will no doubt see many more Sunday Silence stallions (several already on the leading sire lists) getting champions, such as Fuji Kiseki, Agnes Tachyon, and Special Week — who together account for four of the eight champions!
('98 Silver Hawk-Ameriflora, by Danzig)
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Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Yes, we make mistakes, too. We own up to them and try to correct them as quickly as possible. On the blog on Kitalpha, I mistakenly wrote that the Goffs summer sale was defunct and that Mr. Lewis Rankin worked for Flaxman Holdings, the Niarchos breeding/racing arm.
Mr. Rankin corrected me by email: “The old Goffs France summer sale has been replaced by the Arqana summer sale (this is well known in Europe), therefore that sale is not defunct since Arqana’s takeover of Goffs France. Also, I work for Niarchos London Ltd, not Flaxman Holdings Ltd.”
On the blog on Mizzen Mast, we left out a Japanese stakes race as our program applied 2008 data to his 2006 stakes win. In plain talk, the black type race he won in 2006 is no longer considered a black type race in 2008, and we messed up by not giving him and Mizzen Mast credit!
The colt’s name is Tropical Light (out of a Secreto mare) and he is yet another Mizzen Mast SW out of a Northern Dancer line mare! That means that 6 of Mizzen Mast’s 10 SWs are out of Northern Dancer line mares, and 8 of 10 or 80% have Northern Dancer somewhere in their pedigrees!
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Saturday, January 24th, 2009
International pedigree writer Sid Fernando, who you may remember as the bloodstock editor of the Daily Racing Farm during the 1990s, has started a new blog, and I give it the thumbs up! Only a week into the blog, he’s already made news with his scoop about Walmac stallion Soto moving to Saudia Arabia in an entry that appeared yesterday. It was picked up by TDN in today’s issue and credited to Sid!
Sid is also about to launch an exciting new project called eMatings.com. It will be a website where breeders can purchase mating recommendations and/or a second opinions from some of the leading pedigree experts in the US and from around the world. The line-up of experts Sid’s signed up looks like the pedigree world’s answer to the Yankee’s famed Murderer’s Row!
I’m so enthusiastic about the concept that not only have I signed on as an expert, but my company has entered into a management agreement with Sid to provide the administrative services for eMatings.com.
To learn more about Sid’s eMatings.com and read his musings, visit his blog site at www.sidfernando.wordpress.com. Click on “Projects” to read about eMatings and see the experts!
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Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
Werk Thoroughbred Consultants announced 10 new quality chefs today. Quality chefs are included in the total dosage points of a pedigree and used in calculating the Werk Quality Rating. However, they have no effect on the calculation of the Roman Dosage D.I. and C.D calculations. (Click here to view the list of Quality chefs and an explanation of the Quality Rating)
1) CANNY LAD (Aus)
2) CHEROKEE RUN
3) CENTAINE (Aus)
4) COZZENE)
5) HIGHEST HONOR (FR)
6) LOMITAS (Ger)
7) LUSKIN STAR (Aus)
PIVOTAL (GB)
9) PULPIT
10) UNBRIDLED’S SONG
I will be profiling some of these stallions from time to time in the months to come.
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Saturday, January 17th, 2009
It’s 17 days into the new year and the Juddmonte stallion Mizzen Mast (Cozzene – Kinema, by Graustark) already has two stakes winners – one on each coast! Today Darley’s Barrier Reef won the Evening Attire Stakes at Aqueduct to join Jibboom, who earlier this month won the G3 Monrovia at Santa Anita, in the black-type column for his sire – the 3rd leading third-crop sire of 2008 behind Street Cry and Johannesburg.
Darley’s Street Cry is the best young sire in the US and stands this year for $150,000; Coolmore’s Johannesburg has been fabulous and stands for $35,000. Mizzen Mast stands for a mere $17,500!
Mizzen Mast is the sire of two 2009 SWs
Mizzen Mast is a son of Cozzene and has no inbreeding in his pedigree within five generations. He’s one of several successful young sires in the US who are in the right place at the right time and are taking advantage of the Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer saturation in North American pedigrees. Another is Indian Charlie, a complete outcross through four generations. Like Mizzen Mast, Indian Charlie is from the Caro line through Siberian Express and In Excess.
So, it shouldn’t be surprising to see that Mizzen Mast has enjoyed success with both Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector. In fact, Indian Charlie himself is out of a daughter of Leo Castelli (by Sovereign Dancer/Northern Dancer), and the Caro line has especially enjoyed warm relations with mares from the Northern Dancer line since his importation to the US in the late 1970s from France. And that pattern has continued with his sons and their sons, especially in Japan, where it looked like the Caro line had the best chances for thriving. (One of the best racehorses in Japan in the mid-1990s was Biwa Hayahide, a son of the Caro stallion Sharrood out of Pacificus, by Northern Dancer! His success led to many more sons of the Caro line heading there. Also, it should be noted that in 1969 the sire of Caro, Fortino, had himself been exported to Japan!)
Mizzen Mast, according to WTC stats, is the sire of nine unrestricted black-type SWs, and that does not include the Japanese SW Tropical Light in our tally because the race he won in Japan does not get black-type according to “International Cataloguing Standards.
Mizzen Mast’s 9 SWs are: Barrier Reef, Jibboom, Imaginary Sailor, Madeo (who was the 3rd choice in the G2 San Fernando today but was vanned of the track), Moonee Ponds, Stern Opinion, Yacht Woman, Armonk, and Mast Track.
Of these nine SWs, five are out of Northern Dancer-line mares. They are:
*Imaginary Sailor (out of Imaginary Cat, by Storm Cat/Storm Bird/Northern Dancer)
*Madeo (out of Passion Flower, by Deputy Minister/Vice Regent/Northern Dancer)
*Moonee Ponds (out of Lotka, by Danzig/Northern Dancer)
*Stern Opinion (out of Helstra, by Nureyev/Northern Dancer)
*Yacht Woman (out of Yacht Club, by Sea Hero/Polish Navy/Danzig/Northern Dancer)
That’s five SWs out of five different broodmare sires! Two other SWs, Armonk and Jibboom, have Northern Dancer in their pedigrees via Nijinsky (which we’ll discuss later). Consequently, seven (7) of nine (9) with Northern Dancer in the pedigree!!
Let’s take a closer look at the dams of the SWs out of Northern Dancer-line mares:
*Imaginary Cat was unraced and also produced the Maria’s Mon G3 winner Cause to Believe. Maria’s Mon, by the way, was out of a Caro mare.
*Passion Flower was a SW but has not produced another SW besides Madero.
*Lotka, a G1 winner, produced two additional SWs: a G3 winner by Alydar and a Japanese SW by Kingmambo.
*Helstra won one race, and also produced a cheap Puerto Rican SW by Smart Strike.
*Yacht Club won three races, and Yacht Woman is her second foal and only SW.
Only one of these mares, Lotka, was a G1 winner, and the other four (Passion Flower was not much of a SW) were ordinary if they ran.
Three of them produced their best or only SW by Mizzen Mast!
Mizzen Mast is out of a Graustark (by Ribot) mare, and it’s interesting to note that another son of Cozzene who has developed into a legitimate mid-level stallion, Alphabet Soup (another five-generation outcross!), is out of a mare by Arts and Letters (by Ribot). In general, however, Caro over Ribot has not been a particularly strong nick.
The Ribot Factor
In Mizzen Mast, I’ve noticed that Ribot shows up in the pedigree of the dams of four of his nine SWs! Like Northern Dancer, this appears to be an important factor for Mizzen Mast. Let’s take a look:
*Armonk (inbred to Graustark 3×4)
*Mast Track (4×6 to Ribot)
*Moonee Ponds (4×4 Ribot)
*Yacht Woman (3×4 Graustark)
Two of these SWs, Moonee Ponds and Yacht Woman, also were produced by Northern Dancer-line mares and were discussed above.
Looking at the dams of the other two SWs, we see that Flaming Satan, the dam of Armonk, won three races and produced one other SW, a listed winner by Sandpit. Mizzen Mast’s Armonk is a better racehorse than the Sandpit.
Mast Track’s dam Nawal was G3-placed in France, but she has not produced anything near the quality of G1 winner Mast Track from six foals of racing age.
The running tally now is that five of the seven dams of Mizzen Mast SWs produced their best foals by Mizzen Mast!
Add a Dose of Raise a Native!
Four of Mizzen Mast’s nine SWs have Raise a Native in their pedigrees, with two strains coming from Exclusive Native and the other two from Mr. Prospector.
Let’s take a look:
*Armonk (has Exclusive Native)
*Barrier Reef (out of Exclusive Native line mare)
*Imaginary Sailor (has Mr. Prospector)
*Jibboom (out of Mr. Prospector-line dam through Gone West)
Let’s take a look at the dams of Barrier Reef and Jibboom. Barrier’s Reef’s dam, Partyship, was a non-winner, and her best foal is Barrier Reef! Jibboom’s dam Palisade won two races, and Jibboom is her best foal and only SW from five foals of racing age!
The running tally now is that seven (7) of the nine (9) dams of Mizzen Mast SWs produced their best foals by Mizzen Mast!!
As I mentioned in bold type earlier, seven of the nine SWs have Northern Dancer in the pedigree, with Armonk and Jibboom having Northern Dancer somewhere in the pedigree through Nijinsky.
It appears, therefore, that to date the successful Mizzen Masts have had the following elements in their pedigrees:
1) Northern Dancer-line mares (5 of 9)
2) Inbreeding to Ribot (4 of 9)
3) Raise a Native in the pedigree through Exclusive Native and Mr. Prospector (4 of 9)
4) Northern Dancer somewhere in the pedigree (7 of 9)
What’s also been evident is that Mizzen Mast has significantly upgraded his mares’ produce records, and he has not required well-raced mares to sire black type winners. What’s particularly interesting about his SWs is that eight of the nine have a Werk Nick Rating of A or better, striking because this sire line is represented by only a few stallions!
Mizzen Mast also appears to get high-quality runners on turf and dirt, and some on synthetics, over a wide array of distances. He has SWs in the US and Europe, and a very high percentage of his runners (over 90% from his first crop, age 4 in 2008) also make it to the races. In 2009, his reputation could actually improve because he has a sizeable number of promising young horses – several already graded placed – who could become graded winners. In my opinion, he’s an outstanding choice for breed-to-race operations, an important factor in these uncertain economic times.
One thing is for sure, it appears that Mizzen Mast will improve your mare!
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Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Let’s face it; synthetic surfaces are here to stay, despite some recent fatalities in California and Kentucky.
One of the best explanations for the fatalities I have seen was an article in Daily Racing Form by foreign correspondent Alan Shuback, written in 2007! Here’s some of what he wrote then:
“But the injuries that American horses suffer in racing and training can be blamed on more than racing surfaces alone. The design of the track has much to do with it, as does the distance of the races. Britain’s three Polytracks at Lingfield, Kempton, and Wolverhampton, as well as the French Polytracks at Deauville and Cagnes-sur-Mer, have wide, sweeping turns with long straights. Moreover, there are many more races run there at a mile or longer than there are in America. The new U.S. synthetic tracks will be used, as are all American dirt tracks, primarily – and in some cases almost exclusively – for sprints. The tension caused by horses reaching the first turn in such events will be eased only slightly by the new synthetic surfaces.
In addition, all of our synthetic surface races will be contested by horses running on raceday medication, a prime reason for the deterioration of the American Thoroughbred. By contrast, the horses running on synthetic surfaces in England and France are drug-free.”
There’s also a misconception by some people that the reason the Europeans did so well on the Pro-Ride surface was because they were turf horses. Not exactly!
Did you know, for example, that the Jockey Club Estates in the UK that provide training surfaces at places like Newmarket and Lambourn actually operate 28 artificial training tracks? Top-level European horses may race on turf, but they train on synthetics, too!
In the US we have the following synthetic tracks:
Santa Anita (Pro-Ride)
Hollywood (Cushion)
Golden Gate (Tapeta)
Presque Isle Downs (Tapeta)
Keeneland (Polytrack)
Woodbine (Polytrack)
Arlington (Polytrack)
Del Mar (Polytrack)
Turfway (Polytrack)
Overseas the synthetics are:
Singapore Turf Club at Kranji (Polytrack)
Kempton Park in UK (Polytrack)
Wolverhampton Racecourse in UK (Polytrack)
Lingfield Racecourse in UK (Polytrack)
Dundalk Racecourse in Ireland (Polytrack)
Great Leighs in UK (Polytrack)
Cagnes-sur-Mer in France (Polytrack)
The Curragh in Ireland (training track is Polytrack)
JRA training center in MIHO in Japan (Polytrack)
Jockey Club Estates in UK (28 synthetic training tracks)
Deauville in France (synthetic)
Maisons Laffitte in France (training track is synthetic)
Chantilly in France (training track is synthetic)
Meydan Racecourse in Dubai (training track will be synthetic)
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Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
For both WTC and eNicks, we keep extensive updated records of stallions and their stud fees, not only in North America, but world-wide. Not surprisingly, most stallions are down from their 2008 fees. This is the reality of today’s market and the global economic climate. You only need to scan the results at Keeneland this week to see that a lot of mares are not bringing stud fee.
One of my favorite countries to visit is Turkey. I’ve been to Istanbul — another city of intrigue like Budapest — many times, as well Antalya, a popular vacation spot on the Mediterranean coast. In fact, Some of the finest seafood I’ve ever had has been served at the many restaurants along the Bosporus.
Thoroughbred racing is enjoying rapid growth in Turkey. Their stud book features quite a few ex-pats, including two of our Kentucky Derby winners, and a Belmont Stakes winner — Victory Gallop, the most popular stallion in the country! He stands for the equivalent of $5,120 with capped book of 70 mares! This harks back to another time and place in this country, when books were small and stud fees were reasonable! Maybe we are headed back to something like that in the next few years.
For the curious, here’s a listing of ex-pats standing in Turkey. Stud fees have been converted to US dollars from the Turkish New Lira:
1. Always a Classic (by Deputy Minister), G1 winner, 2009 stud fee $1,280, booked to 80 mares.
2. Eagle Eyed (Danzig; full brother to Danehill), G2 winner, $3,204, 75 mares.
3. Fantastic Fellow (Lear Fan), G3 winner, $1,280, 70 mares.
4. Manila (Lyphard), G1 winner, $1,280, 10 mares.
5. Marlin (Sword Dance), G1 winner, $1,280, 60 mares.
6. Mountain Cat (Storm Cat), G2 winner, $3,844, 80 mares.
7. Ocean Crest (Storm Bird), G2 winner, $1,280. 60 mares.
8. Red Bishop (Silver Hawk), G1 winner, $3,844, 25 mares.
9. River Special (Riverman), G1 winner, $1,921, 70 mares.
10. SEA HERO (Polish Navy), won Kentucky Derby, $1,921, 70 mares.
11. STRIKE THE GOLD (Alydar), won Kentucky Derby, $4,482, 40 mares.
12. Unaccounted For (Private Account), G1 winner, $3,200, 50 mares.
13. VICTORY GALLOP (Cryptoclearance), won Belmont Stakes, $5,120, cap at 70 mares.
14. West by West (Gone West), G1 winner, $2,560, 60 mares.
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Monday, January 12th, 2009
Let’s hope the results of the Keeneland January sale, which kicks off today, look more like the 2009 Conrad Jupiters Magic Millions yearling sale on the Gold Coast in Australia than the recently concluded OBS mixed sale in Florida. The select sessions (first four days) at Magic Millions (which is still going on) were down only around 16% by average. OBS was down about 40% by average!
The “big” horse at Keeneland is Azeri, who will bring millions.
The “big” horse at Magic Millions was the Encosta de Lago – Surrealist colt who brought a bid of Aus$2 million from Gai Waterhouse.
The colt was consigned by Coolmore and is a full brother to multiple Group 1 winner Racing to Win, who only cost Aus$40,000 at the 2004 Easter sale!
Racing to Win, though, is a great advertisement for his sire, who stands at Coolmore in Australia (he has shuttled to Ireland) and IS the LEADING SIRE of GROUP 1 winners in the world for 2008!
That’s right, Encosta de Lago, a son of Sadler’s Wells’ full brother Fairy King, has more Group 1 winners to his credit worldwide than any other horse, 8 to be exact!
Tied in second place with six Group 1 winners each are Giant’s Causeway and Galileo, both also Coolmore horses!
This means that Coolmore stands the leading sires of 2008 Group 1 winners in North America, Europe, and Australia!
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Jack Werk (1944-2010)
