Archive for January, 2009
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
You heard it here, first! The Indiana Jones of the Thoroughbred industry, Canadian Chuck Fipke has set his sights on the Melbourne Cup!
In my years of advising, dining, traveling and partying with Chuck, I’ve seen first hand how he has turned his dreams into reality.
Chuck’s first major goal in the thoroughbred business was to win the Queen’s Plate, which he accomplished in 2008 with homebred Not Bourbon! The Canadian-bred is a son of – can you believe this? – a horse named Not Impossible! He was an unraced son of Sadler’s Wells who also was bred by Chuck.
Not Impossible’s full brother is Perfect Soul, a Grade 1 winner who stands at stud at Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky.
Chuck spends a lot of time studying pedigrees, and years ago he decided that he was going to breed a mare by the best broodmare sire to the world’s best sire. Consequently, he decided to buy a Secretariat mare he could send to Sadler’s Wells. He purchased who he believed was the best Secretariat mare in the 1996 Keeneland November sale and shipped her to Coolmore in Ireland and kept her there, breeding her year after year to the champion son of Northern Dancer!
In Perfect Soul, now, Chuck has the stallion he wants to accomplish his second goal: To win the Kentucky Derby. To accomplish this, Chuck has spared no expense in building a broodmare band he thinks will fit Perfect Soul.
One of those mares he purchased, in 2004, was the Japanese-bred Sunday Silence mare Silence Beauty, in foal to Tale of the Cat. That foal turned out to be none other than Tale of Ekati, who won the G1 Wood Memorial last year and was a legitimate classic colt.
In 2007 and 2008, Darby Dan owner John Philips began a tradition for Chuck’s November sale advisors to dine at Dudley’s on the Monday night of the Melbourne Cup in Australia. Chuck got hooked watching the endurance race from Dudley’s, and it didn’t hurt that a group of Aussies at the table next to us this past November got us – and especially Chuck — hyped with their slurred chants of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!!” (Chuck was buying the rounds!)
The winner in 2007 was Efficient, by the great Cambridge Stud sire Zabeel (sire of three Cup winners!), and the winner in 2008 was Viewed, trained by the legendary Bart Cummings.
After the race last November, Chuck stood up and declared, “That’s it, I wanna win the Melbourne Cup.” He was dead serious, and I knew better than to say, “You’ve got to be kidding!”
Memo to Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan of Cambridge Stud in New Zealand: Chuck is considering sending Perfect Soul’s and Not Impossible’s full sister Perfect Secretary to Cambridge Stud in 2009 to be bred year after year to Zabeel! (I will be calling to confirm the booking to Zabeel!) From a pedigree standpoint, Zabeel/Perfect Secretary looks like a “Special” mating. Chuck also wants the resulting foals to be trained by Cummings!
If there is one thing I’ve learned in life, when Chuck sets a goal, it’s not impossible!
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Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
I read the Thoroughbred Daily News (TDN) with interest this week because international bloodstock writer Sid Fernando had a blockbuster column on Jan. 1 questioning the record keeping at equineline.com, owned by The Jockey Club Information Systems, Inc.(TJCIS). This column was followed on Jan. 6 in TDN by TJCIS’s Carl Hamilton’s “clarification,” which said that TJCIS basically has two ways of reporting data, one in line with “International Cataloguing Standards,” (ICS) called “black-type” rules, and the other called “stakes rules,” which do not follow the ICS principles.
In other words, two sets of rule books!
On Jan. 7 in TDN, respected horse trader Ed Price of Mohns Hill Farm LLC called a spade a spade in a letter to the editor, saying: “In my opinion, ‘stakes rules’ are only smoke and mirrors – if a race does not earn Black Type, Grade 1, Grade 2, etc., in all catalogs and reports, then it should not be used as such.”
Ed and Sid are absolutely right! In fact, Werk Thoroughbred Consultants (WTC) and the Werk Nick Rating (eNicks) are truly independent in this regard. We use ONLY unrestricted stakes winners as determined by the ICS to calculate nicks. We enter and proof all stakes and pedigree information ourselves to make sure that quality, not quantity, is the basis of our ratings and recommendations.
We feel that only legitimate, unrestricted black-type events can generate the purest ratings, and we have been consistent about this for as long as we have been calculating nicks. You won’t find “stakes winners” of $25,000 stakes races in our database, nor will you find nick ratings based on phantom Grade 1 winners in our system. That’s why the Werk Nick Rating is the industry standard, and we’re proud of it!
This isn’t the only time that Sid, Ed, and I have thought along the same lines, and Ed’s response to Sid’s article brought back memories of another time we agreed on something.
The year was 2001, and the mare’s name was Truly Blessed. She was by the very good stallion French Deputy, owned by WTC client Irv Cowan, and she was out of Love Bunny, by Exclusive Native. She had been trained early in her career by Bob Baffert.
In 2001, Ed, who liked the mare physically, had Truly Blessed for sale, and I spoke to Bob about her because I was looking for a mare for Scoop Vessels for his stallion In Excess. Bob liked her on conformation, too.
I loved the stallion French Deputy, but what persuaded me to recommend the mare to Scoop was Sid’s evaluation of her on several fronts. He thought the pedigree would improve, and that because she descended in tail female from the mare La Morlaye, also the second dam of Siberian Express – the sire of In Excess!- she would fit In Excess well (Rasmussen Factor 4×4). Sid had also seen Truly Blessed’s half-sister, Helen D., in Argentina, and he knew Helen D.’s daughter Lovellon had won the Argentine Oaks in 1999 and had been sold to race in California. He felt that on form Lovellon had a great chance to win a Grade 1 in the US!
In Oct. of 1998, Sid had left his position of Bloodstock Editor at Daily Racing Form, and was a private consultant in demand because of his vast knowledge of international form and international black type. His analysis proved to be spot-on. Lovellon won a Grade 1 in California in 2001!
Truly Blessed also did her part when bred to In Excess for Scoop: She produced the legitimate Graded SW Notional ($733,240), now standing his first season in 2009 at Spendthrift Farm and a onetime serious Derby prospect!
There were no “smoke and mirrors” used to produce him, and his black type is real!
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
I appreciate the comments – phone calls, emails — from readers about my blog, and all of you keep me inspired to keep on blogin’! I’ve been on hiatus from writing on a regular basis for about eight years, so I’m rediscovering the fun of writing again without the trials and tribulations associated with putting out a journal like Owner-Breeder, which I did for over 12 years!
My bloglines follow the bloodlines, and you readers are probably aware that one blog usually blogs into the next blog, so that it’s easy to write about Miesque’s son Kitalpha one day and then move to her son Kingmambo and his sons the next day, which I did and you know if you’ve been reading my blog on a regular basis the last few days!
Yesterday I noted that Kingmambo was represented by three Group/Grade 1 winners in 2008 – Henrythenavigator, Student Council, and Archipenko.
Archipenko is the only one of the three still racing, and he’ll probably see action at the Dubai meet this winter. Last year in Dubai Archipenko won the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort and was third in the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free.
What’s notable for this blog, though, is his trainer, South African Mike de Kock. Sound familiar on here? I mentioned him as the trainer of Zimbabwe-bred Ipi Tombe a few blogs back.
Well, he’s the man in Dubai, and in two trips to the Gulf state I’ve been fortunate to see him in action and have been thoroughly impressed. He’s actually moved ex-horses from Aiden O’Brien’s stable up in form, Archipenko being one of them. Another is Eagle Mountain.
More than any single other person de Kock has highlighted South African horsemanship and form on the international stage, and last year he won the 2008 Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic with the Australian-bred South African champion Sun Classique. On the same Dubai World Cup card, by the way, South African trainer Herman Brown won the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free with South African-bred Jay Peg, another champion!
Today, the South African racing/breeding industry is booming, with increasing numbers of foreigners discovering the value and quality to be had for the buck. In fact, the most recent South African sale, the 2008 Emperors Ready to Run sale held on Nov. 2, 2008, was up 48 percent by gross over a record sale in 2007, with average up 38 percent. These are astounding figures in the current global economic climate!
They are also in stark contrast to recent sales around the world, including today’s first OBS session, which was down 43 percent by gross and 63 percent by average.
One reason why prices are booming in South Africa is that demand is still greater than supply. Another is the quality of South African horses and form, which de Kock has done a great job of advertising around the world!
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Monday, January 5th, 2009
Kingmambo (Mr. Prospector – Miesque, by Nureyev) stands for $250,000 at Lane’s End and is the sire of three Group 1 winners in 2008 and 19 in all. They are:
ALKAASED (GP de Saint-Cloud, Saint-Cloud, Gr.1, Japan Cup, Tokyo, Gr.1).
ARCHIPENKO (Queen Elizabeth II Cup, Sha Tin, Gr.1).
BLUEMAMBA (Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Longchamp, Gr.1).
BOBOMAN (Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes, Hollywood Park, Gr.1).
DIVINE PROPORTIONS (Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Longchamp, Gr.1,Prix Marcel Boussac, Longchamp, Gr.1, Prix Morny, Deauville, Gr.1, Prix d’Astarte, Deauville, Gr.1, Prix de Diane, Chantilly, Gr.1).
DUBAI DESTINATION (Queen Anne Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, sire).
EL CONDOR PASA (Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Saint-Cloud, Gr.1, Japan Cup, Tokyo, Gr.1, sire).
HENRYTHENAVIGATOR (Irish 2000 Guineas, Curragh, Gr.1, St James’s Palace Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, 2000 Guineas, Newmarket, Gr.1).
KING’S BEST (2000 Guineas, Newmarket, Gr.1).
LEMON DROP KID (Belmont Stakes, Belmont Park, Gr.1, Futurity Stakes, Belmont Park, Gr.1, Travers Stakes, Saratoga, Gr.1, Whitney Handicap, Saratoga, Gr.1, Woodward Stakes, Belmont Park, Gr.1, sire).
LIGHT SHIFT (Oaks Stakes, Epsom Downs, Gr.1).
MALHUB (Golden Jubilee Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, sire).
OKAWANGO (Grand Criterium, Longchamp, Gr.1, sire).
RULE OF LAW (St Leger Stakes, Doncaster, Gr.1).
RUSSIAN RHYTHM (Coronation Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, Lockinge Stakes, Newbury, Gr.1, 1000 Guineas, Newmarket, Gr.1).
STUDENT COUNCIL (Pimlico Special Hcp., Pimlico, Gr.1, Pacific Classic Stakes, Del Mar, Gr.1).
TAWQEET (BMW Caulfield Cup, Caulfield, Gr.1, Metropolitan Handicap, Randwick, Gr.1).
THEWAYYOUARE (Criterium International, Saint-Cloud, Gr.1).
VIRGINIA WATERS (1000 Guineas, Newmarket, Gr.1).
(SWs in bold are 2008 G1 winners)
Note that this list is overwhelmingly foreign-raced, with Student Council, Lemon Drop Kid, and Boboman the only U.S. Grade 1 winners for their sire. Of these three, however, only Student Council and Lemon Drop Kid were dirt winners.
Also notable is Henrythenavigator’s bang-up second to Raven’s Pass in the Breeders’ Cup Classic over Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride synthetic surface.
Student Council actually won a Grade 1 race on synthetics, the $1 million Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar in 2007 on Polytrack. He also won on dirt when he took the $500,000 Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold over 10 furlongs, and he showcased his versatility yet again by taking the Grade 1 Pimlico Special at a mile and three-sixteenths over a muddy track. The only surface he hasn’t won on is turf, which is where his sire rules — see the above list and take a look at dual Guineas winner Henrythenavigator!!
Given what Lemon Drop Kid has done, the future looks bright for both Henrythenavigator ($65,000 stud fee), one of my favorite new sires for 2009, as well as Student Council ($17,500), another favorite of mine!
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Sunday, January 4th, 2009
Speaking of Zimbabwe recently, Kitalpha (Mr. Prospector-Miesque, by Nureyev), who stands at War Horse Place in Kentucky for $12,500, actually began his career at stud there at Rumbavu Park Stud in 2003, and he’s the leading sire there from limited opportunity.
Zimbabwe, as I pointed out yesterday, is a so-called “Part II” country, so Kitalpha’s group winners over there get legitimate international black type.
It’s easy to see why Kitalpha was imported to stand in Zimbabwe in 2003. That was the year of Zim-bred Ipi Tombe, and she was by Manshood, a Mr. Prospector stallion, too. And like Kitalpha, Manshood was out of a great mare – Indian Skimmer! Like Manshood, Kitalpha was unraced, too.
In 2003, the Niarchos family’s Flaxman Holdings – the owner and breeder of Miesque and all her foals — sold Kitalpha through trainer Pascal Barry at the now defunct Goffs France summer sale to Kern Lillingston Bloodstock. The colt was purchased to go to Zimbabwe for a syndicate headed by John Harris. “With the best older stallions having passed on or been exported, we needed to make a firm commitment to the future of our industry,” Harris said at the time to a South African paper about Kitalpha’s importation to stand at Rumbavu Park Stud.
Kitalpha was a physically imposing young horse who had a knee problem, although it was reported in the press at the time that Kitalpha was retired after “suffering a tendon injury while in training in England with Henry Cecil at Newmarket.”
However, Lewis Rankin, who’s in the Flaxman racing office, put the record straight for me when he told me recently: “I have spoken to Alan Cooper, the racing manager to the Niarchos family, who advises that Kitalpha had some knee surgery as a 3-year-old and it was later decided not to race him.”
What Kitalpha does have is a big heart, and I don’t mean in the figurative sense!
Dr. Fred Fregin is an equine cardiologist who has been measuring equine hearts for 40 years. Much of his work and the inheritance of large hearts has been documented by Marianna Haun, author of the book “The X Factor.” According to Dr. Fregin, Kitalpha has one of the largest hearts he’s ever measured, in the same league as Secretariat’s.
Haun reportedly called writer Steve Haskin a few weeks before the 2008 Kentucky Derby to talk about Big Brown, who’s also out of a Nureyev mare, to say that Big Brown would get the Derby distance because of the big heart he had inherited from Nureyev.
Here’s what Haskin wrote about what Haun told him: “When we measured Miesque’s son, Kitalpha, we found the largest heart Dr. Fregin has seen in more than 40 years of measuring. It was the same size as Secretariat’s. Kitalpha bears a very close resemblance to his dam, Nureyev, and to Big Brown. So we know that the extraordinary heart of Nureyev is beating in Big Brown.”
Apparently it’s beating even bigger in Kitalpha!
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Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
A good horse can come from anywhere bloodlines and horsemanship can work harmoniously together. Zimbabwe-bred Ipi Tombe, whom I mentioned in my last blog, is such an example. Ipi was special, and she put Zimbabwe on the map when she conquered South Africa, then Dubai, and won one graded race in the US before an injury ended her career in 2003.
Ipi, by the unraced Mr. Prospector stallion Manshood, won 4 out of 5 starts at 3 in her native Zimbabwe, which can be considered the equine breeding version of Florida in Africa to South Africa’s Kentucky. In 2002 in South Africa, Ipi also won 4 out of 5 starts, including the prestigious Group 1 Durban July Cup. She was the first of her sex in ages to win this race, which is considered one of the best in South Africa.
In the winter of 2003, Ipi, trained by Mike de Kock, went to Dubai and won three races, including the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free in track record time of 1:47.61! She was named Horse of the Year in Dubai, and she was sent to the US, where she won the Grade 3 Locust Grove Handicap in her only start before an injury ended her career at 12 wins from 14 starts, with one of the heftiest reputations in the game at the time.
Ipi was raced by Barry Irwin’s Team Valor and WinStar Farm, and after her racing career ended she was bred to Sadler’s Wells and sold to Barry Weisbord and Rich Santulli for a lot of money at Tattersalls.
Barry is the president and co-publisher of Thoroughbred Daily News (TDN), the must-read internet daily.
TDN started life like Ipi Tombe, too. A small fax-based daily in its early days, TDN pulled an “Ipi” and is now THE most powerful voice of the thoroughbred industry.
Barry told me recently that Ipi Tombe is now boarded at Denali Stud in Kentucky and is in foal to Giant’s Causeway (Werk Nick Rating A+) for 2009 after coming up empty in 2008. With 20 unrestricted SWs (15 of them first-time SWs), including five Grade 1 winners in 2008, the Ipi Tombe story may be far from over!
For those of you who want to know what Ipe Tombe means, it’s “Where are the girls?” in Xhosa, one of the official languages of South Africa and spoken by 7.9 million people, about 18% of South African population.�
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Friday, January 2nd, 2009
Regarding my blog on the Hungarian-based colt Overdose, it turns out that he wasn’t actually entered in a race against competition at Kincsem Park in Budapest on New Year ‘s Eve. Instead, he was the headliner to the day’s events, and he was galloped on the turf track between cart races so that appreciative fans could see this national hero in person.
You can get a flavor of the day’s events from Budapest-based Jennifer Hodgson’s blog : “We went to Kincsem Park for the New Year’s Eve horse races. The park is out in the city hinterlands, in an area dotted with enormodrome stadia and suburban retail developments. When we arrived, the park was empty and freezing, freezing. Through the grand Hapsburg-era entrance, where a ragtime-ish brass band played, there were more signs of life; hot wine, beer tents and sausage stands meant it must be party time.
“Thousands of Budapestis arrived in dribs and drabs to watch rag-tag cart racing, show off their ski suits, neck beer picnics and catch of glimpse of Overdose, a 5 million euro thoroughbred and the day’s main attraction.
“We supped expensive beakers of hot wine, exclaimed at the cold, caught the drips running off our noses and retired for curry and beer towards teatime.”
Now that’s the wonderful Old World feel of Budapest that I remember!
What a story it would be if Overdose went to Dubai for the Group 1 sprint and won it!
Remember, this colt started off racing in off-the-path European racing countries where black type is not recognized – the so-called “Part III” countries.
To put this in perspective, racing in Zimbabwe – the former Rhodesia in Africa – is a “Part II” country where black type is recognized internationally.
And a few years back, a Zim-bred filly by the name of Ipi Tombe went to Dubai and conquered all before her!! She then came to America and won a graded race, too.
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Jack Werk (1944-2010)
