ÂŁ4.95 | March 2009 | Issue 55
Incorporating
Welcome
to the best of both worlds Racing’s two finest monthly titles have just become one
And just look who we have inside
WWW.OWNERBREEDER.CO.UK
3URMHFW /D\RXW 3DJH
Tony Morris, Timeform’s Statistical Review of 2008
HIS FIRST 2-Y-O’S ARE PLEASING ALL THE TOP TRAINERS… Aidan O'Brien Henry Cecil Michael Jarvis Pascal Bary Jean Claude Rouget Tommy Stack Francois Doumen Michael Bell Jamie Osborne Luca Cumani Tom Dascombe Tim Easterby Kevin Ryan John Hills Mark Johnston James Given Marcus Tregoning Richard Hannon William Haggas Barry Hills Ger Lyons David Wachman Freddie Head Jim Bolger Sylvester Kirk Elie Lellouche Alex Pantall
STALLIONS FOR 2009 • AD VALOREM • ANTONIUS PIUS • AUSSIE RULES • CATCHER IN THE RYE • CHOISIR • DANEHILL DANCER • DUKE OF MARMALADE • • DYLAN THOMAS • EXCELLENT ART • FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND • GALILEO • HIGH CHAPARRAL • HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR • HURRICANE RUN • IVAN DENISOVICH • • MONTJEU • ONE COOL CAT • ORATORIO • PEINTRE CELEBRE • ROCK OF GIBRALTAR • STRATEGIC PRINCE • All Coolmore Stallions nominated to the European Breeder’s Fund.
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& never seriously challenged in any race, • Unbeaten including the 2,000 Guineas-Gr.1. world’s best sires Giant’s Causeway • By(siredone5ofGr.1thewinners in 2008). of Glatisant, an unbeaten Group winning 2-y-o • Out by Rainbow Quest. (PICTURED)
2009 FEE:
€12,500 Contact: Coolmore Stud, Fethard, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. Tel: 353-52-6131298. Fax: 353-52-6131382. Christy Grassick, David O’Loughlin, Eddie Fitzpatrick, Tim Corballis, Maurice Moloney, Gerry Aherne or Mathieu Alex. Tom Gaffney, David Magnier, Joe Hernon or Cathal Murphy: 353-25-31966/31689. Kevin Buckley (UK Rep.) 44-7827-795156. E-mail: sales@coolmore.ie Web site: www.coolmore.com
Purchase the CLASS of 2009
Group 1 winner ZAFISIO - one of 38 2008 Group/Listed performers from the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Craven Breeze Up Sale April 14th – 16th Guineas Breeze Up Sale April 30th – May 1st Featuring 2yos eligible for the £500,000 Breeze Up Bonus Full details at www.breezeupbonus.com Tel: +44 1638 665931 | Fax: +44 1638 660850 | sales@tattersalls.com | www.tattersalls.com
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WELCOME
Time to evolve with a fresh new look elcome to the first combined issue of Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder incorporating Pacemaker. Inside you will find several new features which we hope readers feel will bring together the strengths of the two magazines. The feedback we received to news of the purchase of Pacemaker by the Racehorse Owners’ Association and Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association was invaluable. And daunting. Pacemaker readers, in particular, have made clear the importance of maintaining the traditions of what is undoubtedly one of racing’s strongest ‘brand names’. How to do this? As stated in last month’s issue, it makes little sense just to plonk various bits of each magazine into what we described as a “hopeful mix”. Instead, the aim is to evolve into a smoother, wider-ranging publication that has already embraced improved coverage from other racing nations, not least Leo Powell’s View From Ireland, which spearheads a new international section starting on page 74. It is also our intention to report on the European racing month in a way that doesn’t simply re-hash what everybody already knows, but instead exploits the advantage of a monthly magazine in offering much more analytical and reflective coverage. Other callers unfamiliar with the ‘old’ Owner & Breeder have spoken of their enthusiasm for racing photography. We share that enthusiasm, which is hopefully demonstrated with a fourpage tribute to the indomitable Tony McCoy. Even in the vilest of conditions, George
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£4.95 | March 2009 | Issue 55
Incorporating
Welcome
to the best of both worlds Racing’s two finest monthly titles have just become one
Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder incorporating Pacemaker is published by a Mutual Trading Company owned jointly by the Racehorse Owners Association and Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Chief Executive Michael Harris Editor Richard Griffiths Assistant Editor Edward Rosenthal Design Steven Price
And just look who we have inside
WWW.OWNERBREEDER.CO.UK
Editorial First Floor, 65 The Broadway, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3AS
Selwyn’s pictures capture the magic and drama of the day when the 3,000 winner mark was finally reached at Plumpton, not least with the close up of McCoy’s blindly determined expression as he drives Hello Moscow around the sploshy final turn to a victory that few – very few – other riders would have achieved. The racing and bloodstock worlds offer an endless line of tales to tell at all levels of the game. We kick off this issue with a relaxed and reflective Jonjo O’Neill talking to Tim Richards about his career highs, both as a jockey and trainer, including his Gold Cup victory on Dawn Run. “The most dangerous part of the day was the celebration in the tent,” he recalls. “Some of the pissed people there ripped the lining of the tent, chucked me in it as if it was a hammock and tossed me up and down. As I went into the air I kept trying to grab a pole above me because every time I came down I banged the floor and thought I was going to end up with a broken back.” As well as a rare and exclusive interview with Trevor Hemmings – as well placed as anyone to comment on the effects of the recession on racing – we also focus on some relatively lesser lights: Cliff Stud and its manager Guy Stephenson, and the Larkinglass Farm triumvirate of John and Georgie Moore and Liz Harrington. We hope you enjoy this new-look magazine, and we really would welcome feedback. So please feel free to get in touch on 01444 440540 or editor@ownerbreeder.co.uk.
Richard Griffiths Editor
“It makes little sense to plonk various bits of each magazine into a hopeful mix”
Tel: 01444 440 540 Fax: 01444 441 190 editor@ownerbreeder.co.uk www.ownerbreeder.co.uk Advertising Giles Anderson/ Penny Farrow Tel: 01380 816 777 USA: 1 888 218 4430 Fax: 01380 816 778 advertise@anderson-co.com Subscriptions Keely Brewer Tel: 020 7493 7607 Fax: 020 7408 1662 subscriptions@ownerbreeder.co.uk
The magazine can be purchased by non-members at the following rates: 1 year 2 years UK £55 £90 Europe €85 €135 RoW £99 £154 Racehorse Owners Association Ltd 4th Floor, 60 St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1LE Tel: 020 7408 0903 Fax: 020 7408 1662 info@roa.co.uk www.racehorseowners.net
Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stanstead House, The Avenue, Newmarket CB8 9AA Tel: 01638 661321 Fax: 01638 665621 info@thetba.co.uk www.thetba.co.uk The Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association is a registered charity No. 215752 Editorial views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the ROA or TBA
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21 We’re Talking to . . . Paul Carberry
24 Jonjo O’Neill is this month’s Big Interview
32 Grand National-winning owner Trevor Hemmings
CONTENTS | MARCH 2009
8 11 13 14 96
Black Sam Bellamy
50
News Focus Racecourses deliver on prize-money Changes News in a nutshell ROA Leader The terrestrial TV dilemma TBA Leader Too many Listed races are unworthy Lysaght’s People Is there such a thing as a free lunch? Your Say National Hunt breeder Bryan Mayoh
FEATURES 16 21 24
NEW! The Month in Pictures Tony McCoy’s 3,000th winner Talking to… Jockey Paul Carberry The Big Interview With legend of the turf Jonjo O’Neill
32 36 39 42 50
Trevor Hemmings Exclusive interview with workaholic owner Diamond Harry Owner Paul Duffy on his emerging star Cheltenham Clues Marking your Festival card Around the Studs Cliff Stud and Larkinglass Farm Advertising Feature National Hunt sires in Britain and Ireland
FORUM 56 61 63 64 69
ROA News Ayr earns the Gold Standard Owner of the Month Alan Halsall, for Songe Owners in the News David Fear, for The Sawyer TBA News Success of the Mares Voucher Scheme Breeders’ Prizes Your latest jumps winners
The Official magazine of the Racehorse Owners Association and Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association 4 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER
PHOTOS: GEORGE SELWYN/MALCOLM COUZENS
NEWS AND VIEWS 6
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Mud and glory on a historic day at Plumpton!
71 73 80
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Breeder of the Month Richard Wilding, for Big Fella Thanks Breeders in the News Richard Phizacklea, for Pagan Starprincess Vets Forum Foaling: our expert gives his advice
NEW! INTERNATIONAL SCENE 74 76 78
View from Ireland Joe Foley hits the target with ITBA speech Continental Tales A calmer 12 months in store for Italy Going Global Saudi prince means business
DATA BOOK 86 89 91 93
Caulfield Files In praise of Pulpit Stakes Results National Hunt Grade 1s Stallion Stats Leading National Hunt sires by earnings British/Irish-breds Your victories overseas
For the period July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008 the average monthly circulation was 9,698, as certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. This figure does not include those subscribers who now receive the publication since the incorporation of Pacemaker magazine. The next audit to include this will take place mid-2009.
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NEWS FOCUS
REPORTING ON THE BIG ISSUES IN HORSERACING
Tracks come through on prize-money agreement The vast majority of racecourses complied with the terms of the financial agreement for 2008
T
Justifiable reasons
However, the agreement also allows for a number of so-called ‘Justifiable Reasons’ as to why the racecourse or racecourse group may not have been able to meet the terms of the agreement. For instance, if a racecourse loses a major fixture because of bad weather or loses a major sponsor, then this is taken into account. Speaking on behalf of the Horsemen’s Group, ROA Chief Executive Michael Harris described this as “a very positive first step”.
He said: “Only five courses of those that have signed have not been able to comply with the financial side of the agreement and most of these will be able to produce the ‘Justifiable Reasons’ for not having done so once the communication process with these courses has been completed. “The agreement is important in that it creates an understanding between horsemen and courses at a time when the proportion of racing’s income that is based on media rights is growing. With money flowing from the levy, it is mandatory that a large proportion of this is spent on prize-money, whereas racecourses can do what they like with money that comes to them from other sources. The agreement therefore goes some way to protecting prizemoney levels. “I am delighted to say that the star performance for 2008 has come from Northern Racing, whose executive and sponsorship contributions outstripped the average of the previous three years by nearly £700,000. This is in marked contrast to the time when trainers organised a boycott at Northern-owned Yarmouth because of low prize-money.” However, Harris accepts that the next two years will be very difficult for all courses. He added: “You obviously cannot ignore what is happening in the world and the fact that attendances are dropping, and sponsors are becoming increasingly difficult to find, is going to put a lot of strain on racecourse income.”
Baker wins Stud Staff Award for 2009 Paul Baker, from Kevin and Susan Mercer’s Usk Valley Stud in Abergavenny, has won the Stud Staff prize at the 2009 Stud and Stable Staff Awards, sponsored by Godolphin and run by the British Horseracing Authority and the Racing Post. He earns a prize of £3,000, plus an extra £3,000 which will be shared among his colleagues at Usk Valley. Baker (pictured) started
working for the stud ten years ago. He is responsible for all the day-to-day management of 21 mares and followers, two retired mares and a teaser. He is present at every foal’s birth, and delivered 17 foals last year. With a team of five, Baker is responsible for the upkeep of 140 acres. He is very alert to the environmental issues associated with farming and has planted over 2,000 trees.
6 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER
Usk Valley owner Kevin Mercer said: “The future of the British breeding industry is in safe hands with a character like Paul.” Runners-up were Tweenhill Stud’s Roisin Close, who won the TBA’s annual New England Stud Staff award, and Deborah Dodd from Mark Massarella’s Louella Stud. Other winners were: Senior
Staff/Employee of the Year, Peter Maughan (David Elsworth); Special Merit/Hero, Andy Gibson (Stuart Williams), David Nicholson Newcomer, Lee Oswin (Gary Moore), Rider/Groom, Claire Knight (Jeremy Noseda)
PHOTOS: THOROUGHBRED PHOTOGRAPHY/CAROLINE NORRIS/CHRIS SMITH
he first year of a formal prize-money agreement between the Horsemen’s Group and Britain’s racecourses has produced a very encouraging result. Only four of 59 racecourses – Ripon, Towcester, Fakenham and Cartmel – did not sign an agreement early last year to enter into a formal three-year deal with the Horsemen’s Group. The agreement relates specifically to the executive and sponsorship contribution to prize-money for each racecourse or racecourse group. This is the part of their prize-money that the racecourses themselves put in, as opposed to the contributions made by the Levy Board and owners. To comply with the agreement, the racecourses are required to at least match their 2008 executive and sponsorship contribution to the average contribution they had made in the previous three years.
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Sadler’s joins HallOf Fame ITBA elects first ever equine dignitary at its 2008 awards
We hope you enjoy this first combined Issue of Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder Incorporating Pacemaker All the 2008 ITBA Award winners, minus Sadler’s Wells (below)
The annual awards of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association for 2008 took an unusual twist with a first equine addition to its Hall Of Fame. Coolmore sire Sadler’s Wells, described by the ITBA, as “one special thoroughbred”, joins human dignitaries such as Sheikh Mohammed, the Aga Khan and John Magnier in the Hall Of Fame. ITBA AWARD WINNERS Two-Year Old Filly: Serious Attitude, bred by Paddy Twomey
National Hunt Young Horse: Cousin Vinny, bred by John Hore
Two-Year Old Colt: Mastercraftsman, bred by Lynch Bages Bloodstock
National Hunt Novice Chaser: Tidal Bay, bred by John Dorgan
Three-Year Old Filly: Zarkava, bred by the Aga Khan Three-Year-Old Colt: New Approach, bred by Lodge Park Stud / Seamus Burns
National Hunt Horse: Denman, bred by Colman O’Flynn Special Recognition: Tony and Anne O’Callaghan, Tally-Ho Stud
The magazine is sent to all members of the Racehorse Owners Association and Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association All members of the ROA receive the magazine as part of an array of benefits. Membership costs £195 a year. To join or find out more about the ROA – call 020 7408 0903 or go to www.racehorseowners.net All members of the TBA receive the magazine as one of their many subscription benefits. Domestic membership costs £110 a year. To join or find out more about the TBA call 01638 661321 or go to www.thetba.co.uk The magazine is also available through subscription – for more details ring 020 7493 7607, e-mail subscriptions@ownerbreeder.co.uk or go to www.ownerbreeder.co.uk
Hall of Fame: Sadler’s Wells Subscription rates:
Older Horse: Yeats, bred by Barronstown Stud & Orpendale
UK Europe RoW
Small Breeder: Peter McCutcheon, for Kingsgate Native
2 years
£55 €85 £99
£90 €135 £154
Price inclusive of postage
Or you can place an order with your newsagent Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder Incorporating Pacemaker is now available at selected newsagents. To make sure of your copy, you should place a regular order with your newsagent
Broodmare Of The Year: Cassandra Go, owned by Trevor C Stewart
Correction and apology In the February issue of Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder, in a feature headlined ‘Grass roots’, leading owner Paul Barber explained how his interest in horseracing was sparked by the late John Thorne, who trained Artifice for Barber. “It was John who got me excited about racing, but for him none of this would have happened,” said Barber, the owner of two Cheltenham Gold Cup winners in Denman and See More Business.
1 year
He was, of course, referring to the John Thorne who trained such leading horses as Beau Ranger and Spats, as well as Artifice, from Lilstock Farm in Bridgwater. Unfortunately, our article incorrectly referred to the late John Thorne, who bred, owned and trained Spartan Missile, on whom he finished second to Aldaniti in the1981 Grand National. We apologise to Paul Barber for this unacceptable error and to the families of both men.
Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder is published jointly by:
Racehorse Owners Association 4th Floor 60 St James’s Street London SW1A 1LE Tel: 020 7408 0903 www.racehorseowners.net
Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stanstead House The Avenue Newmarket CB8 9AA Tel: 01638 661321 www.thetba.co.uk Registered Charity No. 215752
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NEWS FOCUS
Changes
In association with
Racing’s news in a nutshell People and business Tony McCoy Di Grissell John Winston Italian Derby Betdirect ITBA Awards Newmarket David Bradshaw Stalls handlers The Durdans Ferdy Murphy Betfair Mark Pitman Groundstaff Awards Abington Place Tristram Ricketts Fellowship Attendances Sandown Park Martin Pipe Jonnie Fenwicke-Clennell William Hill Karl Burke Bookmakers’ Committee McBookie.com
Notches his 3,000th winner over jumps aboard Restless D’Artaix at Plumpton Takes over the reigns from husband Gardie at their East Sussex stable Brother of Flat jockey Robert Winston suffers multiple injuries in A1 road crash but does not require surgery Capannelle Classic downgraded to Group 2 status by European Pattern Committee due to continuous falling rating of winners Bookmaker merges with sister company Stan James; all Betdirect customers have had their accounts switched to Stan James Colman O’Flynn, breeder of Denman, among the winners, while Sadler’s Wells is inducted into the Hall of Fame Forest Heath District Council accepts that the town should be treated as a special case in planning applications, delighting the local training fraternity Racing Director of the Levy Board to leave after 16 years service following company shake-up; two new directors’ jobs have been created Minimum manning-levels for starting stalls teams increased by two to 11; the move was instigated by the Horsemen’s Group and approved by the BHA Plans proposed by Lord Halifax to turn the historic Epsom stables into office and residential accommodation are thrown out by the local planning committee Leading jumps trainer fined £9,500 by the BHA over the running of ‘non-trier’ Mansonn Leda at Catterick in December Betting exchange buys US racing and betting broadcaster TVG for $50 million Former jockey-turned-trainer returns to his old base of Weathercock House to work alongside Carl Llewellyn Doncaster (dual-purpose), Salisbury (Flat) and Aintree (jump) gain the plaudits for 2008 Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum buys famous stables, previously occupied by Geoff Wragg, for his principal trainer Mike de Kock Inaugural recipient of award is Glen Sparkes, 30, a former jockey who is an instructor at the British Racing School in Newmarket RCA figures show that average crowds at British racecourses were down by 8% in 2008, to 4,017; the overall figure fell by around 2% to 5,717,000 Surrey track secures planning permission to build a 109-room hotel on site; a stable staff canteen, saddling boxes and jockeys’ hospital will also be built Newest race at the Cheltenham Festival named in honour of the 15-time champion jumps trainer – the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle Hexham’s popular Clerk of the Course suffers a stroke Bookmaker announces plan to close 14 betting shops in Ireland due to economic downturn Trainer one of four individuals, along with jockeys Darren Williams and Fergal Lynch, charged by the BHA in the wake of the collapsed Old Bailey trial Layers’ representatives submit a funding proposal to the Levy Board eight months ahead of the annual levy negotiations deadline Online firm enters the betting jungle with intention of putting Scottish sport at forefront of its offerings
Racehorse and stallion – movements and retirements Inglis Drever (pictured) Sakhee’s Secret Great Palm Silent Name Cima De Triomphe Lahib Saarland Numerous Alessandro Volta Apple Tree Or Noir De Somoza
Triple World Hurdle hero, owned by Andrea and Graham Wylie, is retired at the age of ten; he won 17 of his 35 starts and almost £800,000 in prize-money July Cup victor will shuttle to The Oaks Stud in New Zealand for the 2009 southern hemisphere season Dual-purpose sire, 20, relocates to Nunstainton Stud in County Durham after seven seasons at Arctic Tack Stud in Ireland Grade 2 winner by Sunday Silence continues stud career at Gardiner Farms in Ontario, having spent his first year at Adena Springs in Kentucky Last year’s Italian Derby winner, later ninth to Zarkava in the Arc, joins Luca Cumani from Bruno Grizzetti Former Scarvagh House Stud stallion, 21, moves to Old Road Stud in Tallow, County Waterford Ten-year-old son of Unbridled, based at Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky, is retired from stud duties owing to fertility problems 18-year-old son of Mr Prospector leaves Haras du Quesnay in Normandy for Al Mughtaragh Stud near Riyadh Four-year-old who formed part of Aidan O’Brien’s triple assault on last year’s Melbourne Cup heads back to Australia to be trained by David Hayes 20-year-old sire of Lough Derg is transferred from France to stand at Beech Tree Stud in Somerset, for £1,500 Chaser returns to France to continue racing career after just one start for David Pipe in Britain
People obituaries Age John Connor John Bolton Hermione Courage
65 75 86
Horse obituaries
Age
Slim Pickings Pressgang General Nediym Killaghy Castle Be My Royal
10 7 15 9 15
Owner-breeder whose La Vecchia Scuola won over hurdles on successive days of last year's Scottish Grand National meeting at Ayr Former trainer who sent out Magic Boy to win the 1958 Wokingham Handicap at Royal Ascot Owner-breeder and wife of trainer Edward Courage
Twice placed in the Grand National for the Tom Taaffe stable Talented novice chaser, trained by Paul Webber, who was runner-up in the 2006 Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival Leading Australian stallion who was a prolific producer of high-class juveniles Promising chaser and Grade 3 hurdle winner who raced for Mrs Nick Embiricos ‘Winner’ of Newbury’s Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup in 2002 but later disqualified after testing positive for a banned substance
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Tweenhills Times March 2009
Tweenhills Farm & Stud Tweenhills Racing David Redvers Bloodstock
PASAR SILBANO A HIT IN USA TOO Three-year-old filly, Pasar Silbano, coasted home in the La Habra Stakes (Gr.3) at Santa Anita in February, finishing just one hundreth of a second off the Stakes track record. Delighted trainer Jim Cassidy, said: “When she went by those horses after the first quarter, I was kind of shocked. I thought maybe we were using up a little too much too early, but obviously, that wasn’t the case. She’s a very, very nice filly, and she’s still trying to figure things out.” Owned by Three Chimneys Racing, her next target will be the China Doll Stakes at Santa Anita stepping up in trip to 1m. As a two-year-old, Pasar Silbano won four races including the valuable Goffs Sportsman’s Challenge and Curragh Stakes (L) for trainer Ger Lyons, having been purchased by David Redvers with Ger for just €25,000 from the Goffs Sportsman Sale. Congratulations must also be given to Al Donald of Kern Lillingston Association who put together the part-sale of this Elnadim filly for Three Chimneys Racing.
100% STRIKE RATE FOR LADY REBECCA
WALL BOXES GONE – HOORAY!
The progeny of the three-time Gr.1 Cleeve Hurdle winner, Lady Rebecca, are making their own mark on the racecourse.
Many congratulations to Tattersalls for finally taking the plunge and doing away with the dreaded Wall Boxes. This sight (below) greeted those attending the February Sale and it was amazing to see how much happiness resulted!
Both her runners to date have now won. Lord Generous won the Listed Bumper at Cheltenham last year, and more recently his half-sister by Fraam, Lady Samantha, comfortably landed a hurdle race at Taunton. Lady Rebecca also has a two-year-old filly by Old Vic, and a four-year-old Hernando gelding who has just been broken and is going nicely. At DBS January Sales her Alflora filly yearling made £15,000. This year Lady Rebecca is due to visit top NH sire Presenting. In addition, Lady Rebecca’s first foal, the unraced Leading Lady, has produced a fine yearling colt by Fair Mix who realised £12,000 at the DBS January Sales.
BREEDER PROFILE Archie Smith-Maxwell
Archie and Patricia Smith-Maxwell
LUCKY ROYAL ASCOT Did you recognise the good looking horse in your Royal Enclosure invitation pack? It was our much in demand cover model, Lucky Story. Royal Ascot has chosen him for their equine ‘face’ of 2009. Watch out for him gracing the tube and numerous London billboards in the run up to the Royal meeting.
Lady Samantha comfortably wins at Taunton
www.tweenhills.com Tweenhills Farm & Stud Hartpury Gloucestershire GL19 3BG t: + 44 (0) 1452 700177/ 700545 f: + 44 (0) 1452 700002 m: + 44 (0) 7767 436373 e: davidredvers@tweenhills.com
vale hay
Pasar Silbano wins the La Habra Stakes (Gr.3) with plenty in reserve (Benoit Photo)
How did you first get involved in racing and Tweenhills? The family has been involved for generations, and I used to ride in point-to-points for my father. We have known the Redvers family for years, hunting together many times. I was Master of the Ledbury Hunt for 12 years. What mares do you currently own? I have three mares, and aim to sell their foals. These include Happy Lady, the dam of the Stakes winning filly Penny’s Gift. She is now in-foal to Ishiguru and her Lucky Story yearling sold for 26,000gns. Anotheranniversary is from a family I’ve had for three generations, and she has recently foaled a cracking filly by Sleeping Indian. Best horse bred? The first foal I bred was the multiple Group placed and Group 1 winner On Stage. He was out of the grand dam of Anotheranniversary, Last Case, and it has been difficult to beat that!
Suppliers of top quality hay and haylage to the racing industry. Clients include Venetia Williams, Whitsbury Manor Stud, Tweenhills Farm & Stud, Wickfield Stud and Trickledown Stud. Contact Ben Rich on 07774 725332 to discuss your requirements.
East Burrow Dec 08 Owner:East Burrow Dec 08 Owner
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TOP PERFORMERS & FANTASTIC VALUE AT EAST BURROW FARM FREE TRANSPORT FOR YOUR MARE
+
For the 2009 stud season we are offering free transport for your mare to East Burrow Farm and return home. There’s no better deal in the UK! Talk direct to the stud for full details.
NO GROOM’S FEE
TOBOUGG
TFR 125
● Champion 2 year old in England won
Gr.1 Dewhurst Stakes, Gr.1 Prix de la Salamandre. ● Trained on at 3, 2nd Gr.1 Champion Stakes
(to NAYEF), Gr.1 Hong Kong Cup, 3rd Gr.1 Epsom Derby (to GALILEO). ● Leading first-crop sire in Britain 2006 and
New Zealand 2007. ● Proven sire of over 150 winners and £1.65m
in prize money incl. inc. Gr.1 & Gr.2 winners and 2008 Watership Down Sales Race and Listed winner PENNY’S GIFT. ● From SADLER’S WELLS stallion line, by a BARATHEA b. 1990
SADLER’S WELLS
LACOVIA b. 1983
MAJESTIC LIGHT
TOBOUGG B 1998 16.0 hh
BROCADE
Gr.1 winner of Breeders’ Cup Mile and Gr.1 Irish 2,000 Guineas out of a 2 x Gr.1 winning dam. ● Sire of promising NH horses including hurdles
winners SHALONE, TOBAGO BAY, BAARRIJ, etc. £2,500 October 1st, Special live foal.
HOPE FOR ALL
DOUBLE TRIGGER
TFR 123
● Broke his maiden with a track record and
DOUBLE TRIGGER CH 1991 16.1 hh
ELA-MANA-MOU b. 1976 SOLAC ch. 1977
PITCAIRN ROSE BERTIN GAY LUSSAC SORAGNA
undefeated Listed winner as a two-year-old. ● Gr.1 winner and winner of 12 Group races incl. Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup (record 3 times), Doncaster Cup (record 3 times). ● Classic winner at 3, Cartier European Champion Stayer at 4. ● 30% Winners to Runners 2007/2008 NH Season. Better than Alflora (18%), Carroll House (21%), Classic Cliche (16%), Karinga Bay (22%), Kayf Tara (29%), Old Vic (25%), Presenting (21%). ● Multiple NH winners include: RUSSIAN TRIGGER, TRIGGER THE LIGHT, EARLESFIELD RAIDER, RADNOR LAD, TRIGGERNOMETRY, BRICKIES MATE, TWELVE PACES, CHARMAINE WOOD, etc ● 2008 multiple Flat winners: BUGSY’S BOY, TRIGGER’S FRIEND £2,500 October 1st, terms.
Standing at:
East Worlington, Crediton, Devon EX17 4SS
Call: John Haydon - 01884 860 358 email: eastburrow@aol.com www.eastburrowfarm.com
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ROA LEADER
Is the cost of ‘free to air’ too high for us to pay? If coverage of Channel 4 Racing does continue to be subsidised then it is time that the bookmakers put their hands in their pockets to contribute
T
errestrial television coverage is now high on racing’s agenda. Not only are we facing severe cutbacks from the BBC but, even more worrying, is the question that now hangs over Channel 4’s future coverage of racing. Channel 4 has been part of British horseracing for 20 years. We may all hold different views about various presenters, but few would argue that Channel 4 has provided a crucial link between racing and the general public. It has given our sport a much higher profile than it would have otherwise received. It has, at the same time, helped to sustain £18 million a year that racing currently attracts in sponsorship, and fuelled many millions of pounds in betting turnover on the basis that people are more attracted to betting on an event when they can see it live. In order to prop up the last Channel 4 deal, an arrangement was cobbled together whereby, instead of Channel 4 paying to televise racing,
Paul Dixon President, Racehorse Owners Association
UK and Channel 4 that, I would have thought, offers scope for some further production cost savings. We also have to consider the uncertain state of Channel 4 as a television company. As it is reportedly being forced to cut 150 jobs and, we are told, has an annual financial shortfall of £150 million, racing is unlikely to figure high on its list of priorities at this time. Only the TV rights experts can hope to unravel the many complex strands surrounding these issues and it is fortunate that in recent years racing has attracted a number of people with these highly specialised qualifications. It is, however, a safe bet that when they have finished their deliberations, racing will be asked to continue to subsidise Channel 4 coverage and that the Levy Board will be first on the list of likely donors. More money going to Channel 4 through this source will almost certainly create a dent in prize-money, taking funding away from owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff. It may be an
“More money to Channel 4 from the levy will create a dent in prize-money. This must be resisted” racing actually paid for the privilege of having Channel 4 coverage. Through programme sponsorship, first from the Tote and more recently Dubai Holding, combined with money from the Levy Board, racing was able to achieve a stay of execution. Whether something similar will save Channel 4 Racing this time around is a huge question for our industry. A drastic reduction of racing on terrestrial television would clearly be unwelcome, but its continuation has to be set against the price to be paid by racing. It also has to be seen against the very different background that exists today, with two dedicated racing channels seemingly doing well, and an electronic revolution that will see all British television moving on to a digital platform by 2012. It is not only income that we are dealing with here. Costs must also be a major factor. There is already a very close relationship between Racing
easy option, but it must be resisted. If there is to be an increase in this subsidy, it is the major bookmakers who, through sponsorship, should pay for the free ride they have been getting over the years. We are told horserace betting surges when it is on Channel 4 or BBC, so it follows that bookmakers are the ones who have most to lose commercially if it disappears. Last time this subject arose, the bookies sat quietly on the sidelines while others put their hands in their pockets. This time, we should call their bluff. Free-to-air televised racing has been the most powerful and wonderful marketing tool for this sport for over half a century. I would be the first to agree that racing must fight very hard to retain it in the next two or three years. But at some stage soon, when the digital revolution is fully embraced, we are going to have to accept the inevitable. Let’s make sure we plan for that time now.
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DAR09 OVER OB page Proclamation MAR
13/2/09
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The 130-rated truly brilliant Champion miler who has foals and yearlings out of 148 winners and dams of winners to help put him on the map as a stallion and stands at the frankly ridiculously low fee of ÂŁ3,000 Oct 1st SLF.
Vast ability.
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Proclamation: Grey, great.
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Simon Sweeting on +44 (0)7796 174926 or +44 (0)1386 725552 www.ovstud.co.uk
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TBA LEADER
Poor Listed races serve no purpose Which makes the BHA’s move to intervene in a decision of one of its own committees to downgrade the Glasgow Stakes all the more mystifying Philip Freedman Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association
M
any of those who serve on the BHA’s various committees must have been puzzled by its decision to overrule the views of both its Racing Committee and Flat Rating SubCommittee and allow the Glasgow Stakes at Hamilton Park to retain its Listed status. Only last year a principle was established that persistently under-performing races would be automatically downgraded. This was in response to criticism of the increasing number of Listed races and a corresponding decline in their quality. Yet the BHA hierarchy has apparently decided Hamilton’s geographic position makes it a special case and that other countries within the European Pattern continue to run Listed races even worse than the Glasgow Stakes. While both these arguments may serve the interests of Hamilton, they do not serve the interests of the British Pattern. If the BHA wishes to continue to promote British racing as the best in the world, surely
is: if it did not exist, would we invent it now? At both a domestic and international level the answer is surely ‘yes’, for common sense dictates that some structure must be in place to avoid unnecessary clashes, particularly at the top of racing’s pyramid where the number of potential participants is limited. That is not to say it is perfect and there are certainly occasions when it acts as a block on the ability of entrepreneurial racecourses to improve their race programmes, as well as the ability of the governing authority to improve the race programme as a whole to the overall benefit of racing, even if individual racecourses would be disadvantaged. Historically, concern has been expressed as to the conflict which exists between what is good for racing and what is good for racecourses, but a more serious problem occurs when what is good for one racecourse may not be in the interests of all the other racecourses. This is surely the case in this instance, particularly in the light of the public comments
“The BHA promotes British racing as the best in the world – yet it then undermines the quality of the Pattern” undermining the quality of the Pattern cannot achieve that aim? Although the Glasgow Stakes sounds like a race with a long history in Scotland, it was run at York, and its transfer is a recent phenomenon, because York was unable to make a success of it. Despite reservations from thethen Pattern Race Panel that it was unlikely to fare any better at its new venue, it was first run at Hamilton in 2006. In view of the number of similar contests, all catering for the same type of horse, run within such a narrow time frame, many with a history, a prize fund and a location more attractive than that of the Glasgow Stakes, it is hardly surprising the race has not worked. In race planning terms it is surplus to requirements. Inevitably this will raise the question of how important is the preservation of the Pattern within British racing. Perhaps the question which needs to be asked
of Racecourse Association Chairman David Thorpe, who in 2007 was critical of the extent of the Listed programme and the number of such races which failed to meet the required standard. It is, perhaps, ironic that the BHA’s greatest success came in its handling of last year’s levy negotiations with the betting industry, a commercial act which under the structure imposed on the industry by the Government in return for the continuation of the levy, does not obviously fall within its remit of governance and regulation. But at a time when tough economic conditions are going to require tough decisions to be made, it will be unfortunate to say the least if, in sweeping away the Jockey Club from its involvement in these areas, we have merely replaced the old guard with the home guard, and when we need an Admiral Rous at the helm, instead we have a Captain Mainwaring.
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LYSAGHT’S PEOPLE
Lysaght’s People The man from the Beeb brings us all the patter from the racecourse
Is it really 28 years ago, Tommo?
Alan Macdonald (right) with the much-coveted Gold Standard Award
Too much of a good thing! Alan Macdonald, chairman and joint owner of Ayr racecourse, is understandably pleased as punch to have landed a muchcoveted Gold Standard Award from the ROA, a well-deserved honour that is at least partly down to the sumptuous lunch that greets owners and trainers in the track’s Western House Hotel. But I hear that there is a downside to the quality of the feast on offer: late non-runners. One official told me: “We all know about lameness or, during the recent bad weather, travel problems, but there have been one or two incidents when we think that horses have been declared only so that the owners could have a good lunch. “Clearly, we won’t be accepting, ‘Because we’ve finished our lunch’ as an excuse for taking a horse out.”
Ace naming BHA bosses have given the nod to a filly by One Cool Cat out of the mare Two Sets To Love being named Sabatini, after the Argentinian tennis player who was certainly one cool kitten to her legion of fans during the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike the naming of a colt Sullenberger – as in the hero pilot of the plane that crashed into New York’s Hudson River – the permission of the 1990 US Open winner was not required.
Ingeniously, after initially being refused Sullenberger unless he obtained approval, trainer Jamie Osborne emailed every American citizen that he could find with the surname, and received the thumbs-up from one Seth Sullenberger of Pittsburgh. Smith’s silver lining Ascot’s amiable PR supremo Nick Smith may have missed the sixweeks premature birth of his baby daughter Louise last month (he was in
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Australia drumming up support for Royal Ascot when wife Kate went into labour), but he’s discovered every cloud has a silver lining. As is routine on these occasions, doctors decided to keep their beady eyes on Miss Smith, who like her mother is doing well, for a little longer than usual, so the proud parents didn’t immediately have to draw on the nappy-changing expertise they gleaned at ante-natal classes (dad is not thought to be a Group
How appropriate it was that the ubiquitous Derek Thompson was commentating at Plumpton when it gained a special place in sporting history as the location for Tony McCoy’s 3,000th winner over jumps. The previous time that the rural East Sussex outpost had attracted such a level of media attention was in 1981, when Thompson, then a BBC radio sports presenter, famously won a charity Flat race, beating into second place none other than Prince Charles, during HRH’s short, unsuccessful flirtation with race-riding. In the busy pressroom on McCoy’s big day, the C4 dynamo insisted to colleagues that he couldn’t recall exactly which year his treasonable victory took place, but it has to be said the occasion holds a prominent position on his Wikipedia page. In my experience most entries are edited by their subjects...
1 contender in this particular discipline). And that is not the only result: the little girl’s original arrival date was March 13, when Smith was hoping to be miles away in the Cotswolds cheering on Kauto Star and co in the Gold Cup. Heed Mullins mention Don’t be surprised to see a big run in the John Smith’s Grand National from the Willie Mullinstrained outsider Irish Invader, allotted 10st 1lb when the handicap for the
April 4 race was revealed. Although experts question whether his stamina will last out the marathon distance, Mullins-watchers were struck with the big mention that the renowned shrewdie, who guided Aintree favourite Hedgehunter with such aplomb, accorded to the eight-year-old, who has recorded recent victories at Thurles and Leopardstown. At the time of going to press, Irish Invader was a best-priced 66-1.
PHOTOS: GEORGE SELWYN/JOHN GROSSICK
Cornelius Lysaght Racing correspondent of BBC Radio
Phoenix Reach
o New fee - £2,500 (1st October) - concessions available
“Phoenix Reach was a tough and consistent racehorse. He went on to win at Gr.1 level at three, four and five years old, a feat that very few achieve.” Andrew Balding, Trainer “She’s a good looking filly... She’s been bought to race.” Di Turner, Lodge Farm Stud purchaser of the 20,000gns foal by Phoenix Reach
Contact: Brian O’Rourke Mob: 07789 508157 Tel: +44 (0)1638 675 929 Email: stallions@nationalstud.co.uk Website: www.nationalstud.co.uk National Stud Ltd., Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 0XE
Group 1 Stallions BAHAMIAN BOUNTY COCKNEY REBEL PASTORAL PURSUITS PHOENIX REACH
www.nationalstud.co.uk
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Driving home Hello Moscow to win by a neck. Would anyone else have won?
Peerless There can be no greater portrait of Tony McCoy’s talents than the manner in which he reached his 3,000th winner on a grim day at Plumpton Photos: George Selwyn
Yes, you really did have to be there – not so much for the mental rosette that declared you had witnessed history, but simply to observe and marvel at the way in which that history was made. This was the grimmest of days on which to achieve such a joyous landmark and an appropriate one, too. It is in such conditions that Tony McCoy comes into his own, seemingly galvanising horses to victory through his own force of will. Anyone unsure of just how strong that will is needed only to have watched him stoke Hello Moscow to what had seemed throughout an improbable 2,999th success. Or to have been paddock side prior to his agonising last-flight fall from Miss Sarenne, who was four lengths clear and on her way to entering the record books as the 13-time champion’s 3,000th winner. Riding at a punitive 10st 4lb, McCoy was clearly struggling with stomach cramps but swatted away questions about his well-being with ruthless determination. This is a sportsman who takes the word ‘hunger’ to levels we mortals cannot begin to understand.
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THE MONTH IN PICTURES Devastated, and no doubt sore and starving, after Miss Sarenne’s fall
Reflecting on a race “I should have won”
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One ride left and the famous McCoy focus is evident
In horrible conditions, McCoy and Restless D’Artaix put in a smooth round of jumping
Nearly there; McCoy and his mount approach the line, having seen off the challenge of runner-up The Package
Already thinking about where winner number 3,001 will come from?
Straight after recording winner number 3,000, it was notable that McCoy insisted that his agent Dave Roberts shared some of the limelight – proof, were it needed, that McCoy is not just an outstanding jockey but an outstanding man. He also reflected on that fall from Miss Sarenne and the tortures he puts himself through. “That was an absolute killer; I didn’t wake up 10st 4lb this morning, that’s for sure,” he said. “I haven’t been eating a lot and I had a lot of baths and saunas. Mr Henderson thought she’d win, though, and there’s no point letting someone else have a go if I can do it. When she fell I definitely Agent Dave Roberts likes to stay out of the limelight
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THE MONTH IN PICTURES
wasn’t thinking about 3,000 winners, I was thinking about not winning a race I should have won.” As McCoy and Restless D’Artaix were led back through the dark and dampness into Plumpton’s tiny winners’ enclosure came a moment of illumination. The McCoy mask of near impenetrable professionalism and concentration suddenly slipped, and you could see what this winner meant to him. “I feel it’s a great achievement,” he said. “I would never play it down and it’s not something I take lightly.” Neither will anyone else. I
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Keeneland OwnerBreeder March 2009:Keeneland OwnerBreeder March 2009
13/2/09
14:51
Page 1
Make Tracks to Keeneland this Spring...
...and take advantage of the strong Dollar 17 Stakes races and total prizemoney of $3.8 million DATE
STAKES, AGE, SEX
DISTANCE
VALUE
CLOSING DATE
April 3
Central Bank Transylvania (Gr.3) 3yo
8.5 furlongs (turf)
$150,000
March 25
April 4
Ashland (Gr.1), 3yo, f
8.5 furlongs
$400,000
February 18
April 8
Beaumont (Gr.2), 3yo, f
7.25 furlongs
$150,000
March 25
April 9
Vinery Madison (Gr.1), 4yo & up, f & m
7 furlongs
$300,000
March 25
April 10
Maker’s Mark Mile (Gr.1), 4yo & up
8 furlongs (turf)
$300,000
April 1
April 10
Fort Harrod (Listed), 4yo & up
13 furlongs
$100,000a
April 9
April 11
Toyota Blue Grass (Gr.1), 3yo
9 furlongs
$750,000
April 11
Commonwealth Stakes (Gr.2), 3yo & up
7 furlongs
$250,000a
April 1
April 11
Jenny Wiley (Gr.2), 4yo & up, f & m
8.5 furlongs (turf)
$200,000
April 1
April 11
Shakertown (Gr.3), 3yo & up
5.5 furlongs (turf)
$100,000
April 1
April 16
Appalachian (Gr.3), 3yo f
8 furlongs (turf)
$100,000
April 8
April 17
Doubledogdare (Gr.3), 4yo & up, f & m
8.5 furlongs
$100,000
April 8
April 18
Coolmore Lexington (Gr.2), 3yo
8.5 furlongs
$300,000
April 8
February 18
April 18
Giant’s Causeway (Listed), 3yo & up, f & m
5.5 furlongs (turf)
$100,000a
April 8
April 19
Ben Ali (Gr.3), 4yo & up
9 furlongs
$150,000
April 8
April 23
Grey Goose Bewitch (Gr.3), 4yo & up, f & m
12 furlongs (turf)
$150,000
April 15
April 24
Fifth Third Elkhorn (Gr.2), 4yo & up
12 furlongs (turf)
$200,000
April 15
Prizemoney down to 5th place • For further details visit
www.keeneland.com
Keeneland Association, Inc. • P.O. Box 1690, Lexington, KY 40588-1690 4201 Versailles Rd, Lexington, KY 40510 • Tel 859 254-3412 • Fax 859 288-4348 • ww.keeneland.com European representative: Tim Preston, 9 Black Bear Court, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 9AF • Tel 01638 668026 • Fax 01638 668036
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Harchibald travelling like a surefire winner in the 2005 Champion Hurdle
“People are entitled to their opinion; I’m entitled not to listen to them”
Talking to…
Paul Carberry
Considering you were hunting with the Fingal Harriers from the age of three, perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised that your retainer with Noel Meade stipulates that you can go hunting?
I started riding on a pony called Jack when I was three and also went hunting at the same age. It was exciting, all right! Noel used to hunt himself, so he knows the dangers and I have been injured enough times out hunting. I wouldn’t say some of the owners are too happy, but for me it is a relaxation and I enjoy it. Do you prefer a day’s hunting to a day’s racing?
Yes, I do. When you are racing you know what you are going to be jumping, you know the course, you know the opposition. When you are hunting you haven’t a clue what you are going to be jumping, where you are going or what lies beyond the ditch. That’s part of the thrill of the chase. A lot of the unknown out there gives you the buzz, the excitement. Tell us about your business venture, Paul Carberry Racewear?
It is gear that can be worn when riding out or race-riding: jackets, jodhpurs, gloves and riding clothes. The business has been trading for two or three years now and, touch wood, is going well.
The Paul Carberry jacket is advertised “as tough as the man himself”. What input do you have in the business?
Words: Tim Richards Photos: George Selwyn
I designed the jacket myself and I am involved in the business quite a bit. I wear all the kit and do promote it as much as I can. You wouldn’t be many people’s idea of an obvious businessman; do you have a partner in the venture?
I don’t have a business partner and I run the business … kind of! I sell the gear and have to keep up to speed with how it is all going. Hopefully, if it continues it is a line I could continue when I have finished racing. Having won on your first ride at the Cheltenham Festival (Rhythm Section in the 1993 Champion Bumper), what does the meeting mean to you?
I had never been to the Festival before and you would never dream of a better start. How could you be anything but impressed by the whole place? The amazing atmosphere separates Cheltenham from anywhere else. You get the best horses in Ireland and Britain bidding for a title in every race, and the Festival invariably turns out to be even better than all the build-up suggests it might be, and that’s saying something because the talk all season on both sides of the Irish Sea is simply ‘Cheltenham’.
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TALKING TO...
Of course, if you’re lucky enough to return on a winner, the roar of the Irish makes the occasion unforgettable. But is it true you prefer Aintree to Cheltenham? If so, why is this?
Yes. I like riding the Grand National course because you get such a thrill, the horses jump so much bigger round there. The National fences bring out the best in them. For me, there isn’t a buzz like it anywhere else. Is there any part of the Cheltenham Festival that might be improved?
Four days are too many, returning to three would be better. Putting on extra races to fill the four days has diluted the quality, which should not be allowed at such a prestigious meeting. You have ridden ten Festival winners. Which one gave you the most satisfaction and why?
Sausalito Bay in the 2000 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle when we just held on to beat Best Mate. It was Noel’s [Meade] first winner after trying for a lot of years. He was so pleased he celebrated by kissing the ground! And the biggest disappointment?
Harchibald when we were beaten by Hardy Eustace in the Champion (in 2005). I thought I was going to win all the way, particularly before and after the last, but he just ran out of steam. Does he provide the sort of challenge you relish?
Very much so. He can get you into trouble because he’s always going so well, too well. The secret with him is to try to drop his head in front on the line. How much did you learn from riding on the Flat?
You see gaps opening much quicker and the whole experience makes you more alert. It certainly sharpens you up. Your riding style has delighted many and infuriated others. How do you deal with criticism?
It doesn’t bother me at all. People are entitled to have an opinion, all right. And I am entitled not to listen to them. I ignore it and just get on with the job. You have a reputation as a party person. Is it your way of relaxing, or do you like to let off steam?
I like to relax and unwind, and be among friends. It gets me away from everything else and I enjoy a party. Did you really win a big pay out from JP McManus for staying off the drink for a year?
About four or five years ago I mentioned to JP that I’d had a bet of 50 quid with his son to stay off the cigars, and JP said he’d give me 50 grand
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if I stayed off the drink for two years. So I went back on the cigars and stayed off the drink. How did you come by your weighing-room nickname, ‘Alice’?
I used to sing ‘Who The F*** Is Alice’ wherever I was, even in the weighing-room. And the name has just stuck. Your sister Nina is blazing a trail for women jump jockeys and is considered the equal to her male counterparts. In your view, should she turn professional?
I don’t think she should, though she is able enough, all right. She is at the top of her game in the bumpers and as an amateur, and I think she is best staying as she is. She has a great racing brain, is very strong in a finish, and is doing very well as an amateur.
FINGERS ON THE BUZZERS How do you relax away from racing? Hunting Your hero? Hugh Hefner What keeps you awake at night? I’m usually in a nightclub What excites you? Hunting What’s the best thing about your life? Riding winners when you’re not smashed up Sum yourself up in four words? A little bit crazy
Bobbyjo, trained by your father, provided one of your greatest moments with victory in the 1999 Grand National. What is the best horse you have ridden?
The fact I had won the National with Dad took a long time to sink in, but it was absolutely brilliant. And still is. Bobbyjo won an Irish National as well and has to be right up there with the best. His jumping made him stand out; he was always very safe, very good and jumped big and bold. But Harchibald is the one I have won the most Grade 1s on and is probably the best. The great thing with him is the way he travels, always so easily in himself and his jumping is unreal. You turned 35 in February this year – how much longer would you like to ride and what does the future hold?
I’m going to try to go on riding as long as I can and have no particular plans at the moment, though it would be good if Paul Carberry Racewear carries on. That could give me a nice interest.
FAVOURITES Journey Ski-ing down a mountain Night out The Ward Hunt Ball Music Any pop Drink Lucozade Sport Movie star Morgan Freeman
When will we be reading ‘Paul Carberry: The Autobiography’?
I suppose it would make good reading and maybe I’ll do a book when I’ve finished riding, whenever that may be. I Carberry and Harchibald put in a flying leap on the way to 2008 Christmas Hurdle glory
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THE BIG INTERVIEW
Turf Legend
From Dawn Run to Albertas Run, Jonjo O’Neill is inextricably linked with jump racing’s high achievers and the magic of Cheltenham Words: Tim Richards | Photos: George Selwyn
It is 37 years since you came across from Ireland and you are still at the top of your game, albeit as a trainer now. What motivates you?
In what ways has racing changed since you arrived from Ireland and have these changes been for the better?
I love the game; it’s just a way of life. We are lucky enough here to have some good horses, maybe not enough. Jackdaws Castle is a fantastic place to train from and this is the best job you could have. It’s the mix of the good horse, the people, the owners. The craic with them all. Winning a small race with a bad horse is particularly satisfying. Of course there are the downsides for any trainer but the good times outweigh them by a long way.
We have come from three-week entries to the five-day system; all declarations are now done by computer and races are graded very tightly by the handicappers. The whole game has become far more competitive and it is much harder to run up a sequence of wins. Racing is now so much more open and available to people; it is better for the punter, who can see more, and the man in the street can have an interest, thanks to all the owners’ syndicates. The jockeys are better and fitter, they’re even breathalysed. Can you imagine that happening when I was around? I wasn’t drinking then and I’d have been the only one left riding! I don’t know if they’ve taken a lot of the fun out of it all – and boy, we had some fun – but I’d say racing is better for all the changes. It is more professional; every trainer has a gallop. I remember when horses were being trained on ploughed fields, round an acre at the back of the house, up the fells or even just on the roads. Now horses are much better cared for, better schooled. I remember going into the paddock before a race one day and asking the trainer how his horse jumped. “I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t schooled it.” That wouldn’t happen now, because everyone has to have proper facilities. The whole business is thoroughly monitored and more carefully policed, and we are all the better for it.
What part of training gives you the most pleasure?
It’s those early mornings with the horses, particularly when they work well. Watching a nice young horse coming along and gradually improving. Perhaps you don’t notice much for a while and then all of a sudden one morning it catches your eye and stirs excitement in you. Then when you work it again and it’s come on a bit more. You get a great kick out of building them up. You find yourself hardly able to wait to run the horse – but it’s then that your dreams can blow up in your face! One of the great attractions of jumping is that you have more chance of finding a decent horse for a small outlay, like Iris’s Gift. That ‘freak’ is more likely to pop up jumping than on the Flat. With the country in its present state, it is difficult to gauge whether or not racing is in a healthy financial state. With jumping the spirit will always be there, though. The people involved will always see it through the bad times.
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Ackermann & Johnson OB Mar09:Ackermann & Johnson OB Mar09
16/2/09
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THE BIG INTERVIEW
“AP is as close to a fine-tuned machine as is possible when riding and working with horses”
Are trainers and jockeys doing enough to promote the sport?
Yes, I think they are. Trainers readily give their time for interviews on the various television channels and they are quoted about their runners almost on a daily basis in the Racing Post. An increasing number of stables welcome the public to their open days and jockeys are asked for their thoughts the moment they pull up or dismount from a winner. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that it is the owners who pay the bills and they are entitled to hear any news or views before the general public. Part of the craic of having a horse in training is planning its campaign and when you are asked for plans immediately after a race you often want to speak to the owner before going public.–
He is great at explaining to owners what went on when he comes back after a race. Racing is very lucky to have him. Is the National Hunt breed of horse getting stronger or weaker?
More and more have come off the Flat and there is a greater predominance of French horses. They may not be as robust as they used to be, but they are quicker, which I think makes for better racing. A lot of the top hurdlers, like Sublimity and Binocular, have come from the Flat, as good old Sea Pigeon did. An increasing number of high-class long distance Flat horses are being sent to stud as prospective jumping sires and, again, I think that is to the benefit of racing. There are less of the real plodders.
What’s it like working with AP McCoy, who recently rode his 3,000th winner over jumps?
What was your most satisfying moment when you were riding?
He is a very good judge, very professional, a great schooling jockey and an excellent judge of pace. He is everything you would want in a jockey. If you are assembling a car, everything – under the bonnet, in the boot, under the mud guards – has to be in the right place and working together. Well, AP is as close to a fine-tuned machine as is possible when riding and working with horses. He is so focused; when he is talking to you in the paddock no one could knock him out of his stride, neither God nor man could break his concentration. He is just logged into that horse and the race. People have said he’s serious and grumpy, but he is not. He is still a nice fellow who can walk into a room and chat to anybody, and not necessarily about racing. He is a bit more relaxed schooling than he is when he is going out to ride at the races. After jumping one at home he’ll shout: “Put a pair of blinkers on this”, or “I’m going back to do it again”. He is thinking for the horse all the time.
I’d say Dawn Run winning the Gold Cup. That was a magical day. But another was at Perth when I beat Ron Barry’s record of 125 victories in a season, and it was the only time I rode five winners on the same card. After my fourth winner, Father Delaney, I was offered a spare in the last, Tiger Feet. Truthfully I didn’t want to ride her because she couldn’t jump. Anyway, I did and fortunately Tiger Feet did not have to leave the ground. I jumped off plumb last and by some fluke a hurdle was knocked down at each flight and we were able to gallop through the gaps. Coming into the straight I still hadn’t moved and there were only three in front of me. Two out, one of the leaders flattened the hurdle and sure enough we galloped over it. By this time I was praying I wouldn’t have to ask her to jump the last. Unbelievably, the horse in front flattened it and Tiger Feet didn’t have to take off. I seized the chance, picked up my stick and drove her for all I was worth. The only time I have won without jumping a single flight. I suppose you’d have to put it down to riding full of confidence; I just waited and waited while everything, including the hurdles, opened up in front of Tiger Feet. And what has it been as a trainer?
“In the paddock neither God nor man could break AP’s concentration”
Front Line winning the four-mile chase at Cheltenham in 1995 when we were still up in Cumbria. He was a chestnut with three white legs and he got an infection in one of those legs which blew up like a balloon. Jacqui (his wife) and I were putting warm honey on the swelling and trying everything to get it down as the race approached. Anyway, I stuck him in our old wagon and drove him down to Cheltenham hoping the vibrations in the back would help to reduce the swelling. We stopped over with Jacqui’s mother near Cheltenham and shortly after we had unloaded Front Line into a box, his leg started to swell again.
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"He reminds me of Presenting"
"Lucarno reminds me so much of Presenting who I also trained. They were both very good looking, sound athletes who were high-class racehorses. I will be following Lucarno's stud career with great interest" John Gosden
LUCARNO BAY, 2004, 16.3 (1.70M) By Dynaformer ex Vignette (Diesis)
Classic-Winning Champion 3YO Stayer in Europe Winner of 5 races & £573,675 inc. Gr.1 St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster and Gr.2 Princess of Wales Stakes at Newmarket in 2008. By one of the World’s Top Sires DYNAFORMER, sire of 86 Stakes winners (more than his sire Roberto) inc. the unbeaten top 2YO Filly of 2008 RAINBOW VIEW & 2006 Kentucky Derby hero BARBARO. LUCARNO’s female family is stacked with BLACK TYPE speed performers. Fee 2009: £2,000 (October 1st)
WOOD FARM STUD Ellerdine, nr. Telford, Shropshire. Contact: BILL BROMLEY Tel: 01952 541243 Fax: 01952 541242 or Anthony Bromley at HIGHFLYER BLOODSTOCK Tel: 01638 663436 Fax: 01638 662570, Email: anthony@highflyerbloodstock.com
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THE BIG INTERVIEW
“I can remember every blade of grass in Dawn Run’s Gold Cup win...the most dangerous part was the celebration afterwards”
Two legends: Jonjo O’Neill and Dawn Run at Cheltenham
Jacqui was up every two hours in the night leading him out, walking him round and lunging him. John Berry, who was riding him, had a sit on him in the middle of the course on the morning of the race and while we were waiting for John to arrive I couldn’t believe my eyes. As I stood there you could see dapples coming on the horse and his leg was going down. Front Line looked an absolute picture and I thought if he is ever right, this is it today. The swelling had gone by 11 that morning and after that I hardly dared touch his leg. As if that wasn’t enough, there was another twist to the story with my riding instructions. I explained to John that Front Line was an awful rogue and wouldn’t want to be in the lead until the last moment because he didn’t like being in front. Well, John took it up at the last fence first time round and went further and further in front, winning by what was probably the longest margin ever at the Festival. JP (McManus, the owner) joked afterwards: “They were great instructions!” Name one race you’ll never forget, and why?
The Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1972, when I led up Titus Oates on my very first visit to the course. I was thrilled to bits with myself just for being there and then who should win the race but Frank Berry on Glencaraig Lady. Frank was only about 19 at the time and we had spent a lot of good times together at home before I came over. On the way home I kept saying to myself: “I want to be like him one day.”
What event has had the most lasting effect on you?
When you drop your hands and escape by inches you are not likely to forget it! To this day I thank my lucky stars that Sea Pigeon just held on in the 1979 Ebor Handicap, saving me from what would have been one almighty roasting from the York crowd and the stewards. I actually reckoned I’d won, but before the result was announced Peter Easterby thought I was beat and that filled me with horror. The stewards had me in and pointed out how serious an offence it was to drop my hands, but by then I was safe in the knowledge that I had won and was more relaxed. When one of the stewards pushed the photo-finish print across the table to me, I picked it up and said: “This is a great photo, can I keep it?” Thankfully, they saw the funny side and chuckled. You battled with cancer through the 80s. How has it affected your outlook on life?
In a way it has probably helped me to handle the disappointments of training. It can be extremely frustrating and very annoying for the owner when horses go lame and you realise you have run out of time until the next season. But I can console myself with the thought that at least we are still alive. There was a time with my cancer when I was worrying whether I would survive and that experience of being close to death helps you to manage difficult situations and puts things in perspective. I remember when Ron [Barry] and Stacky (Tommy Stack) were visiting me when I had
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Fantastic View Ch 2001, 16.0hh, by Distant View – Promptly (Lead On Time)
A LEADING TWO-YEAR-OLD
First foals 2009
WON 3 races at 2 over 7 & 8 furlongs, £103,526 and was placed 3 times WON Gr.3 Autumn Stakes, Ascot - by 4 lengths “Easily, cruising upsides.... quickly taking charge” – Racing Post WON LR Stardom Stakes, Goodwood “travelled very strongly off the pace before looming up... to assert inside the last” – Raceform. WON EBF Maiden, Ascot on 2yo debut 2nd Gr.1 Racing Post Trophy, 8f, Doncaster (to AMERICAN POST). Racehorses of 2003: 113 “smart performer.... game” By European Champion Miler – DISTANT VIEW, won Gr.1 Sussex Stakes, etc. Rated 126. Also sire of Gr.1 winners Observatory, Distant Music (both siring winners), Distant Way, Sightseek, etc. Top dam – PROMPTLY, 4 wins, £48,020, LR Silver Spoon Stakes, etc. Dam of 6 winners, including FANTASTIC VIEW and WEALD PARK, a leading 2yo of 2008; 2nd Gr.2 Superlative Stakes. Grandam – GHARIBA, won Gr.3 Nell Gwyn Stakes; 4th 1,000 Guineas. Rated 112 Immediate family of: CENTRAL PARK (Champion: Gr.1 Derby Italiano, sire), MOON BALLAD (Gr.1 Dubai World Cup, sire) BRAASHEE (Champion: Gr.1 Prix Royal Oak, etc.), BASSENTHWAITE (Gr.1 Middle Park Stakes, sire) KEEN HUNTER (Gr.1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp), ALTIBR (Gr.2), ETLAALA (Gr.2), etc. PROVEN FERTILITY – Fee for 2009: £2,000 (1st October)
Throckmorton Court Stud Contact: Peter or Simon Balding Throckmorton Court Stud, Pershore, Worcestershire WR10 2JX Mob: 079 57 868159 • Tel: 01386 462559 • Fax: 01386 462566 Email: simon@throckmortonstud.com • www.throckmortonstud.com
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Gold Cup hope Albertas Run
cancer and the phone rang and it was Jim Joel wondering if I had room to train a horse for him. Well, I had never met or ridden for Mr Joel but everyone knew he was a gentleman of the old school. I was taken aback and at first thought it was someone taking the piss, but there was something he said at the end of the conversation that made me realise it was Mr Joel. Afterwards, I thought to myself, here I am dying of cancer and I have been asked to train a horse by someone who is in his 90s. I suddenly saw the funny side and said to Ron and Stacky: “What’s the betting on who lasts the longest?” Perhaps a little disrespectful to Mr Joel, but Ron and Stacky laughed. Would you change anything in your racing life if you started again?
I wouldn’t ride as many bad horses. I know I rode plenty of winners, but I did get on some real yokes at times. On reflection it was something I shouldn’t have done. It is 23 years since Dawn Run landed the Cheltenham Gold Cup, adding to her victory two years earlier in the Champion Hurdle. How much do you remember about that recordbreaking day?
Every blade of grass. I can remember the race from fence to fence. I knew I had to start like a two-year-old leaving the stalls because Dawn Run needed to be in front at the first and had to jump it well, otherwise she would have downed tools. I had never ridden her in a race over fences but had schooled her and realised when she got in behind horses she didn’t want to know. Fair play to her, she went off like the proverbial off a shovel and jumped well early on, going a real gallop. I could hear them ganging up behind me coming to the third last and I wanted to give her a breather but couldn’t afford to. At the second
last, I gave her a slap and she flew it, but Wayward Lad, Run And Skip and Forgive ‘N Forget came by me as if Dawn Run was standing still, and I thought we were beat. So I just relaxed, she filled her lungs and I thought here we go. I was shouting: “Go on lass. Go on lass.” She started to burn up the ground going to the last, too fast to give me time to ask her but she came up on her own. Wayward Lad was starting to hang and that gave me the incentive because I didn’t think he would get home. Jumping the last, I knew we’d win. Coming in the crowd went mad; there were scarves, hats, knickers – the lot – going up in the air. When we got back the ecstatic crowd surged round us in the parade carrying us sideways so we ended up on the weighing room steps. The most dangerous part of the day was the celebration in the tent afterwards with Mrs Hill (owner) and Paddy [Mullins]. Some of the pissed people there ripped the lining of the tent, chucked me in it as if it was a hammock and tossed me up and down. As I went into the air I kept trying to grab a pole above me because every time I came down I banged the floor and thought I was going to end up with a broken back! Luckily I didn’t. Is the British jumps season geared too much around four days in March or do we need to bolster the rest of the programme?
It has to be geared towards a pinnacle, whatever you do with the rest of the season. The Festival carries us through the season; at the start you always wonder what you will have to run at Cheltenham. Maybe there should be bigger races through the winter, perhaps some smaller festivals as well, but however much you tinker with the programme, everything you do will always lead to those four days in March. I don’t think anything will change that. I hope not. JP McManus is known as a man who is very gracious in defeat, but what did he say to you when Iris’s Gift denied Baracouda a recordbreaking third World Hurdle crown?
“Well done, but I think we’ll have to review the rent!” Thank God he didn’t change it! He was delighted for us, but imagine what a sickener it must be when you are going for a three-timer in such a big race and a horse from your own stable beats you. JP would always be more disappointed for his horse than for himself, but he was delighted that I had won the race. How do you handle the pressure of training from one of the top yards?
“Everything will always lead to those four days in March”
At times there is a lot of pressure and I know I should find a hobby that would relax me. Ideally, I’d love to go hunting, but then there is the risk of smashing yourself up. I’ve had a couple of days shooting, which I can’t say I’m mad about. Taking my two boys, Jonji and AJ, to the pictures is as relaxing as anything. I THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 31
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Keep smiling Although his fortunes have been hit hard by the credit crunch, which in turn has led him to keep fewer horses in training, Trevor Hemmings maintains a sunny disposition underneath his trademark flat cap Words: Alan Lee | Photos: George Selwyn
ven now, well into his 70s and with every reason to settle for the proverbial pipe and slippers, Trevor Hemmings treats each day like his first in a new job. He rises at 5.30am and is at his desk soon after seven. No long lunches, no lazy days on the golf course, he works solidly for ten or 11 hours and will do it seven days a week, unless he has a compelling race meeting to prise him away. This, remember, is the man who stood at number 26 in the latest Sunday Times Rich List with a fortune of well over £1 billion. Yet asking him why he goes on working obsessively is akin to asking Tony McCoy why he still goes to ride at Plumpton on a February Monday. “It’s a way of life,” explains Hemmings. “It’s my hobby and I’m lucky to have it.” The expression of good fortune is better appreciated when you know Hemmings’s story, realise that he was born to the very opposite of Easy Street. He was a wartime child, evacuated from London to Lancashire with his workingclass parents to escape the Blitz. “We had no money but I was rich in love,” he likes to say. But you can add ambition to
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Dream come true: Trevor Hemmings outside the Aintree winners’ enclosure
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TREVOR HEMMINGS
that, a burning ambition to succeed. Just recently, though, there has been another cause for his energy, one he forecast early in 2008, on the night he received a lifetime achievement award from the Variety Club and took his “props” of flat cap and supermarket carrier bag onto the stage at London’s Hilton Hotel. Addressing the great and good of industry, few of whom can have come from such inauspicious backgrounds as himself, Hemmings told them: “By the way, we’re expecting a credit squeeze”. Prophetic he may have been but even Hemmings could not then have foreseen the problems it would cause him. It is a matter of public record that he had significant shareholding in the Royal Bank of Scotland. Its unimaginable collapse has been, to Hemmings, rather like McCoy having several hundred winners wiped off his record through no fault of his own. Tough decisions
At Gleadhill House, the Chorley country house where Hemmings conducts his affairs, it has led to still longer days and weeks, and to some tough decisions. With his key staff, so loyal to this sharp-eyed but kind-hearted mentor that many have been with him between 20 and 40 years, Hemmings has been busily rationalising – and that includes his racing interests. He is known as a reclusive man – which this writer has never found – and a man who seldom gives interviews. But on a raw morning in late January, Hemmings welcomed Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder. Cheltenham was coming and he had things to say.
“If it comes down to the pennies that matter, I’m afraid more horses will have to go”
He likes to talk on the move, usually thinking of several things at once. So he drove us slowly round the estate in his venerable Range Rover, parking up every few yards to offer a point or reflection. There were landmarks on the way – a sturdy helicopter that brings him from the Isle of Man each morning, the vintage cars he garages and the hens he keeps for fresh eggs – “never had them as a boy, you see…”. But this was not a tour of ostentation, for Hemmings retains his modest, earthy values. We sat and watched a couple of his young horses canter around a sand gallop. Hemmings has 188 now, 73 of them in full training. Last year, he had 220 and the cutback may have only just begun. “Racing gave me something other than business to take an interest in – and I thought it would stop me working seven days a week,” he says. “But with everyone affected by what’s happening in the world today, it’s not the same escapism. It can’t be, because there’s a lot of wounded souls out there – and I’m one of them.” Hemmings is not an easily angered man but you sense he has seethed for months about the provenance of this economic crisis. “I’m angry nobody saw it coming,” he says. “It’s like someone standing on the side of a motorway and saying they didn’t see a lorry coming at them. Where were the financial policemen? They’ve not been on duty…” Inevitably, it has meant there is less escapism in his racing pursuit. “I wouldn’t have been out here with the horses for weeks, because of this problem round our necks,” he says. “Nobody can enjoy it quite the same if, financially, things are bad. Whether they admit it or not, all trainers are going to be affected. There are a lot of horses in training at the minute that won’t be in training next year. Owners in general have a great loyalty to the racing industry but there are people hanging on, and paying their way, who would really prefer not to. “You’ve got to admire them for that but I’ve got to the point where I’m saying to myself , ‘You can’t make people redundant and still own horses’. If it comes down to the pennies that matter, I’m afraid more horses will have to go.” Melancholy
It was a melancholy discussion and it remained that way as I asked him about the racing industry. Hemmings is far from a bystander. He is an honorary member of the Jockey Club and has a 42% stake in Arena Leisure, a business he regards as “broadly recession-proof” due to bookmaker demand for all-weather racing. But he has observed the demise of Great Leighs, and its creator John Holmes, with sympathy, saying: “I’m sad about it. The man was bold enough to try to pioneer racing in that area and he deserves a lot of credit for having a go. He put a lot of himself into that venture and it wouldn’t be right if he was entirely the loser.”
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“There are about 19 people looking to buy Great Leighs – the same as the crowd they used to get!”
Then, with the twinkle that identifies him, he could not resist lightening the mood, quipping: “According to what I read, there are about 19 people looking at buying it…I thought that was the crowd they used to get!” Hemmings is seldom far from a smile and a joke, often at his own expense. In his early business life, it may have been a useful weapon, as rivals underestimated him. Now, it simply makes him the most welcome of arrivals on any racecourse in Britain, where his company is welcomed by all who appreciate a man with a proper sense of values, decency and humour. Haydock is his local course and, despite his misgivings about the track realignment, still his joint favourite alongside Aintree. At both venues, no matter the occasion, he will wear the understated flat cap and find himself having to sign autographs for admiring locals. Acts of kindness
The admiration might be still greater if they knew the full account of his massive donations to charity, or his simple acts of kindness. Recently, at the annual Sir Peter O’Sullevan charity lunch, he bought a painting of Lord Oaksey at the auction and quietly handed it over to ‘Chicky’, Oaksey’s devoted wife and, like him, a tireless worker for the Injured Jockeys’ Fund. The same function saw an example of affection for Hemmings, too, with JP McManus spending £22,000 on an oil-painting of Old Benny’s win at Cheltenham last year and arranging for its transfer to the horse’s owner. McManus will probably be champion owner again this year but he has yet to achieve the racing summit enjoyed by Hemmings in winning the John Smith’s Grand National. For Hemmings, it was an ambition fired by Fred Pontin, for whom he once worked as a bricklayer on the holiday camps he would later own as part of a property portfolio that also includes Blackpool Tower, hotel
Mission accomplished: Hedgehunter at Aintree
groups and more than 600 pubs. “He (Pontin) bought a horse called Specify for £12,000 and won the 1971 National with him,” recalls Hemmings. “I didn’t get to the race – I had to work – but Fred later teased me that I’d never get a National trophy myself and promised to leave his to me in his will. He’d be shocked to know I’ve got two now!” He will try again next month to repeat his 2005 triumph with Hedgehunter, but it no longer consumes him. “I loved winning the race but I think it should be shared out,” he says. “JP, for instance, hasn’t won it yet but he’s got stamina as a man and he’ll get there. I’d love it if he and AP (McCoy) won it this year. What Tony has done for racing is outstanding and I can’t understand how he is ignored on all the Sports Personality shows. What on earth are they thinking about?” Busman’s holiday
Before Aintree, Hemmings will head south for Cheltenham – a date he intends to keep whatever the distractions of business. “It’s my holiday,” he says simply. “People will laugh but my holiday every year is Cheltenham and Aintree. In Cheltenham week, we gather at our regular hotel on Monday night. There’s a group of 12 Irishmen always there, singing half the night. “At the racecourse, I have tent number 49. I have 24 people to lunch – eight are the same every day and 16 change. They might be relations from my youth I haven’t seen for years, and that’s nice.” They might also be royals, for Zara Phillips, and her mother, are seen regularly in the Hemmings marquee. We were back in the house now, a mountain of work beckoning for this indefatigable man. When he decided, in 1984, that he needed another outlet for his razor-sharp mind, racing was the big winner. Despite his fears for the future, nothing can alter what he has put into the sport, just as nothing, you suspect, can alter his approach to life. “When a horse is tired, he slows up,” he says. “I imagine I’ll slow up when I’m tired. I’m not as quick as I was but I’m probably pacing myself better.” I
Ruby Walsh celebrates on the Hemmings-owned Hedgehunter
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Gold Cup hope Albertas Run in action with Tony McCoy
Hemmings’s green and yellow army The first horse to race in those green-and-yellow quartered colours was called Northern Trust, which is appropriate to the man, however it ran on the Flat, which is not. “He won a race at Bath and we beat the Queen into second,” recalls Hemmings. “I had a year of Flat horses but there was something about it I wasn’t enjoying. I was happier once I’d switched to jumping.” Now, his small army of jumps horses are divided between his three properties – Lancashire, Isle of Man and Ireland – and overseen by Mick Meagher, Hemmings’s racing manager for nine years. Those years have seen constant improvement, punctuated by Hedgehunter’s Grand National. “We’ve increased the winners tally every year and had 50 spread between England and Ireland last season,” reports Meagher. More pertinently for the profile of the colours, Hemmings has welcomed two winners at each of the past two Cheltenham Festivals. This year is expected to
be tougher, though 24 possible runners have been identified from the 20 yards handling the owner’s horses. “I put a ceiling on how many I’ll have with any one trainer and I share them out,” says Hemmings. “Others prefer a different way, but I think this protects the trainers and protects me.” If the ground dries, there is every faith in Albertas Run as he aims to follow up his SunAlliance Chase win. Hemmings says: “I’ve high hopes of Albertas in the Gold Cup. In this life, there’s not many Kauto Stars and Denmans but he’s good enough to take them on.” Kicks For Free, stabled with Paul Nicholls, is another who could take Hemmings back to the winners’ rostrum, and there is also audible optimism over Coe, trained by Sue Smith and bound for the four-mile amateurs’ chase, and Dare Me, a potential Champion Bumper runner from the yard of Philip Hobbs. Trabolgan, who gave Hemmings one of his best days in the Hennessy Gold Cup, could run in the William Hill Handicap, but that twinkle returns when an alternative target is mentioned. He is one of several who could represent him in the Grand National this year.
Hemmings, Nicky Henderson and Mick FitzGerald after Trabolgan’s win
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Timmy Murphy and Diamond Harry make it six out of six at Cheltenham in January
Duffy’s Diamond set to sparkle Paul Duffy hopes his exciting jumper Diamond Harry can provide the thrill of a lifetime at the Cheltenham Festival Words: Edward Rosenthal | Photos: George Selwyn and Steven Cargill hat can you get with a budget of £20,000, plenty of patience and a burning ambition to win some of jump racing’s most prestigious races? If your trainer is Nick Williams, the answer is a pair of Cheltenham Festival candidates, including arguably the most exciting young jumper in Britain. Step forward Diamond Harry, unbeaten in six starts to date and ante-post favourite for the Ballymore Properties Novices’
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Hurdle, and Reve De Sivola, on course for the JCB Triumph Hurdle at jump racing’s grandest gathering. “What has happened is beyond my wildest dreams,” says Paul Duffy, a company director from Bristol who is the majority shareholder in the Diamond Partnership syndicates that own both horses. “Growing up, I never would have believed that I would have two horses capable of running at the Cheltenham Festival, let alone one
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who is going there as the favourite. “Diamond Harry has been brought along very patiently. We had him for ten months before he ever ran but realised after his first race, when he beat a fancied one of Nicky Henderson’s (Procas De Thaix), that we had a really special horse on our hands. “And although Reve De Sivola hasn’t won yet, he’s improving all the time. He’s been placed at the highest level and must be the best maiden juvenile hurdler in training.” While Reve De Sivola, who has chased home the progressive Walkon on his last two outings, is a lively outsider for Festival glory, it is Diamond Harry who has really set pulses racing this term. The six-year-old son of Sir Harry Lewis landed the DBS Spring Sales Bumper two years running and has remained unbeaten over hurdles, securing an easy win in Newbury’s Grade 1 Challow Hurdle before out-pointing the previously undefeated Bensalem at
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Cheltenham on his next outing. Duffy says: “The reason we targeted Diamond Harry at that Newbury bumper twice is simple: prize-money! “With Nick being an accountant and me a finance man, it made sense to us to target such a valuable prize. Where else could we have got £30,000 for winning a bumper? “In his last race, Diamond Harry showed he is a fighter with a tremendous will to win, because it looked like he was in danger of losing his perfect record. He was perhaps a bit leaner on the day than we would have liked, but then he is a horse that needs careful training.” First steps
Originally from Kent – “I’ve been a Gillingham FC supporter all my life” – Duffy has been enthralled by jump racing since boyhood, when he used to try to beat the tipsters by picking winners from The Daily Telegraph. The sports fan, who also enjoys golf and cricket, entered into racehorse ownership around ten years ago with Richard Phillips, whom he met through former jockey/trainer Victoria Roberts, the daughter of his good friend Dave Roberts. Former Flat performer Bullfinch provided Duffy’s first taste of success as an owner at Taunton in 2000, albeit in a selling hurdle. “He was a character all right!” recalls Duffy. “He won his seller at 33-1 and was a real rugged sort. “I thought that owning racehorses was a lot of fun and so I decided to get involved in another
one soon after.” It was a wise move. The next horse turned out to be Another General, a very useful hurdler/chaser for the Phillips stable who ran in the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle at the 2002 Cheltenham Festival, pulling up behind Galileo. Diamond Harry is now the market leader for the same race. And while it would be wonderful for Duffy to see his new star achieve what Another General could not, bigger plans are brewing in the West Country. “We see Diamond Harry as a potential Gold Cup winner,” asserts Duffy. “He’ll go novice chasing next season for certain. “Although we haven’t really discussed his programme, he is one of the best horses around, and therefore he surely must go for the best races. We’ve always seen him as a top-class chaser in the making.” The other members of the Paul Duffy Diamond Partnership involved with Diamond Harry are John Cottrell, David Lowe, Phil Freeman, Sally Hayhow and Tony Gale, whose Gale Force One syndicate campaigned grand staying chaser Philson Run. “I met Tony Gale through Alan and Brian Beard, who co-owned Another General,” explains Duffy. “Tony had horses in training with Nick Williams and that is how we were introduced. “I remember speaking to Nick on the phone and being told that I must invest in this horse he had called Theocritus. I was soon involved with Mighty Moose and
Paul Duffy (far right), Nick Williams, Timmy Murphy and Jennie Congdon
“We see Diamond Harry as a potential Gold Cup winner so he’ll be going chasing next season” The Risky Viking also.” While the current syndicate horses have exceeded all expectations, the first horse they bought failed to set the world alight. Duffy says: “Vicky Roberts trained Four Of Diamonds. Unfortunately, he had numerous problems and we had to retire him after only one run. “We enjoyed success with Dealer’s Choice, though, and I would be happy to support Vicky if she returned to training. She was great with the horses and very dedicated.” Shrewd operator
The reputation of Nick Williams, a chartered accountant who runs his Devon yard ably assisted by wife Jane, continues to soar. Duffy is keen to acknowledge the talented trainer, who bought Diamond Harry for 11,000gns at Doncaster and Reve De Sivola for €6,000 in France. He says: “We actually gave Nick a budget of £20,000 when he went to Doncaster and bought ‘Harry’, which meant we had some change to play with. “He later went to France and bought us Quasar D’Oudairies but returned with another horse too, a really imposing son of Assessor, whom I really liked the look of. So I thought we’d have him as well; Reve De Sivola has a big future. “Nick is a very patient trainer, a shrewd placer of horses, and very cautious in what he says. He was quite guarded before Diamond Harry ran his first race, although afterwards knew we had a fantastic prospect to look forward to. “I’ve never met anyone like him with pedigrees. He knows exactly what a horse should look like according to its breeding.” Duffy adds: “The firm I work for, Bluefin, sponsors Diamond Harry. I recently had to do a presentation on pensions and livened it up by telling the audience about him. “I’ve certainly become more popular as a result of Diamond Harry; perhaps he could become my pension plan!” I THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 37
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YORTON FARM STALLIONS CROCO ROUGE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL DUAL PURPOSE SIRE G Dual Group 1 winner by
Champion Rainbow Quest G Half-brother to the dam of Leading Jump sire TAIPAN G Sire of: BOULE D’OR (San Luis Rey H Gr.3 in 2008, CROCODILE DUNDEE (Scandinavian S Gr.3, 3rd York S Gr.2), FAROUGE (Stockholm Cup Gr.3), TUNDURU (Prix Lord Seymour S LR, etc), COCODRAIL (LR in 2008) and promising jumper WINS NOW (Gr.2 pl), etc
Fee: £1,750 October 1st
REVOQUE DUAL PURPOSE STALLION SIRING SOUND, TOUGH, CLASSY STOCK G Unbeaten Dual Group 1 winner at 2 G By FAIRY KING, own-brother to SADLER’S WELLS (sire of Champion Hurdler ISTABRAQ) G 52% Winners to runners inc. Group winners GOLDEN NEPI, REBEL REBEL, etc on the Flat, and Stakes winners QUEEN ASTRID, VOYOUROVITCH, etc already over jumps.
Fee: £2,000 October 1st Also standing Group 1 winning Sprinter
PRIMO VALENTINO GROUP 1 WINNING 2-Y-O and TOP RATED BRITISH SPRINTER G 1 in 3 of his runners in GB and IRE in 2008 were winners
Fee: £1,500 Oct 1st Enquiries: David or Teresa Futter t: 01939 220411 m: 07860 670184 e: enquiries@yortonfarm.co.uk w: www.yortonfarm.co.uk Yorton Farm, Yorton, Shropshire SY4 3EP
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CHELTENHAM CLUES
Delve deeper Sometimes at The Festival, it pays to ignore the obvious and study the trends for historical clues Words: Graham Dench | Photos: George Selwyn Master Minded bids to become the 11th multiple Champion Chase winner
ALONG CAME KATCHIT Going into last year’s Festival much was made of the shocking record that fiveyear-olds have in the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle. Then along came Katchit, who ended a barren run that had stood at zero winners from 73 runners since 1985. There was no fluke about his gutsy defeat of Osana and, while he has struggled since, there is nonetheless a huge ‘positive’ for him in the race stats – those rarities who have managed to win the Champion Hurdle at five have an astonishingly good record when they return.
TIDAL CAN MASTER MINDED
There were just seven post-war fiveyear-old winners before Katchit and among them were three triple winners in Sir Ken, Persian War and See You Then, as well as a dual winner, Night Nurse. Katchit’s trainer Alan King does not underestimate hot favourite Binocular – himself a five-year-old – but one senses he has by no means given up on Katchit. And why should he? Katchit is five from six at Cheltenham, a track which plainly brings out the very best in him, and he could well return rejuvenated, having been sent away from Barbury Castle for a complete break and change of scenery. Perhaps he’s not such a forlorn hope?
Katchit defied the stats to land last year’s Champion Hurdle as a five-year-old
There are two key trials for the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase. One points us firmly away from last year’s winner Master Minded, currently long-odds-on to regain his crown, and the other towards Tidal Bay, who seemingly has an alternative preferred target. Ten years ago one would have said that the very best guides to the Champion Chase were previous runnings of the race. After all, in a race that was first run only in 1959, ten horses have won it more than once, among them Badsworth Boy (three times), Pearlyman, Barnbrook Again and Viking Flagship. However, those preparing to ‘buy money’ on apparent certainty Master Minded ought to consider that the last nine reigning champions have all been beaten. The next best guide to this race is the Irish Independent Arkle Trophy, and so who knows what might happen if connections of last year’s Arkle winner Tidal Bay are brave enough to take on Master Minded, instead of going for the softer Ryanair Chase. He was only ten lengths behind Master Minded in the Tingle Creek after getting outpaced and although BHA figures currently give him 21lb to find, he’s probably nothing like that far behind at Cheltenham, where he was second in the 2007 Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle and tremendously impressive in the Arkle. In any case, they say one should never run scared of one horse. Just look what happened when Kauto Star was a hot favourite in 2006.
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ROCK WITH KASBAH ‘Third time lucky’ would not be a rule that has applied to many winners of Cheltenham’s championship events, but it might just be the case this year in a Ladbrokes World Hurdle that will simply not be the same without triple winner Inglis Drever. Punchestowns and Big Buck’s have both taken huge steps forward this season, but they still have a little way to go and this time it can pay to side with Kasbah Bliss, despite two previous defeats in the race. Last year Kasbah Bliss was the only one to give Inglis Drever a race from the last and he went down by just a length. That form alone would make Kasbah Bliss the one to beat this year, but what makes him particularly appealing is the vast improvement he has shown on the Flat since then, while he easily won the Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock. A winner three times previously at up to a mile and three-quarters, including twice at his local track Chantilly, Kasbah Bliss stepped up to another level in 2008, winning a two-mile handicap at Deauville in August before running away with the Group 3 Prix Gladiateur at Longchamp. As a result he was second only to the great Yeats in the betting for the Prix Du Cadran. He managed to beat a below par Yeats there and although only fourth overall he probably ran close to his Gladiateur form in finishing little more than a length behind the winner. Since then everything has been geared to the World Hurdle, which Kasbah Bliss’s trainer Francois Doumen won twice with Baracouda. Third time lucky? There’s every chance.
NOT NOW KAUTO Kauto Star still has a mountain to climb when he lines up for a third time as favourite in the Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup. For while his next door neighbour Denman, the 2008 Gold Cup winner, might not look quite such a formidable opponent now, Kauto Star will have to buck a trend that stretches back to 1924. Since then six horses have won more than one Gold Cup, but none of them have managed to regain the crown after being beaten in the race. Kauto Star at least has youth on his side. And with Denman having it all to prove again after a below-par return at Kempton behind Madison Du Berlais, he ought to turn the tables.
KING TO RULE WITH NOVICES? Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson have dominated most of the headlines when it comes to the four big novice hurdles, but could they both be upstaged? There is no doubt that Mullins, in particular, has a tremendously strong hand, for he has three outstanding candidates in Cousin Vinny, Hurricane Fly and Mikael D’Haguenet, plus a ‘B’ team with which many leading trainers would go to the meeting pretty hopeful. Numerically, Henderson is even stronger. At the head of his team are Ainama, Eradicate, Mad Max and Zaynar, every one of them among the market leaders for their respective races. But nobody has a better recent Festival record than Alan King and he has been quietly assembling a force that could give them both a fright. Medermit’s chance in the Supreme Novices’ may well have been underestimated and King has a fascinating second string in Cosmea. For four-year-olds have a good strike-rate, as do fillies and mares. Cosmea qualifies on both counts, so she gets all the allowances. Then there is Karabak in the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle; he impressed at Ascot in what looked one of the domestic scene’s hottest novices. Bensalem, who gave Diamond Harry a fright in his trial at Cheltenham, is very much a player in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle,
“Kasbah Bliss was the only horse to give Inglis Drever a race in last year’s World Hurdle and has vastly improved since”
which King won last year, and finally Walkon has a real chance of reversing Newbury placings with Zaynar in the JCB Triumph, which the stable has won twice in the last four years.
TATENEN LOOKS CORNERED Five-year-olds have won four of the last ten Irish Independent Arkle Trophys, but they no longer get a weight-for-age allowance and the form book strongly suggests only Flagship Uberalles would have won the race at level weights. Flagship Uberalles beat a fellow fiveyear-old in Tresor De Mai, the pair finishing clear, but a strict reading of the form suggests that at levels, Champleve, Well Chief and Voy Por Ustedes would all have been beaten by older rivals. Last year’s eventual removal of the allowance seems to have had an effect on the numbers of that age that have been sent over fences this season, for only four of the original entries for the Arkle came from that age group. However, that quartet includes Tatenen, who shot to the head of the market after making a bright start to his chasing career with wins at Aintree and Cheltenham. Tatenen is still vying for favouritism despite a narrow defeat in a Grade 1 at Leopardstown. He arguably should have won that day, but consider this: Tatenen received a thumping great 11lb allowance. Still fancy him? When entries closed for the RSA Chase there was not a single five-yearold among them. Perhaps the advice here ought to be to go with Paul Nicholls, who has won the race twice in the last three years. With What A Friend, and Kicks For Free he boasts a strong hand. And he’s got to win something! I
Can Kasbah Bliss make it third time lucky in the World Hurdle?
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Cliff and Larkinglass Studs would not appear to have that much in common: one is in Yorkshire, the other in Dorset; one has a historic, blue-blooded Flat background but a low profile, the other houses jumps stallions, is less than four years old and home to an up-and-coming trainer. But if they have a shared link, it’s that both are . . .
GoingPlaces
Star racemare Borgia relaxing in the limestone paddocks
Words: Ed Prosser and Carl Evans | Photos: George Selwyn and John Beasley t has made a significant contribution to turf history for over half a century, yet the stud that has billeted equine luminaries from St Paddy through to Invincible Spirit and now German star Borgia continues to do so with little fanfare. Cliff Stud’s unostentatious grey and pink liveried gates hide a traditional Yorkshire stonewalled driveway that unveils a 250-acre farm with an imperious track record, principally rearing rather than breeding young stock. Nestled hundreds of feet above sea level overlooking the ancient town of Helmsley, it borders the North Yorkshire moors, with just the bleat of a lamb and birdsong to disturb the tranquility. The view on a fine day is stunning – the North Sea at Scarborough is visible, while nearer by is Duncombe Park, whose owner Lord Feversham is landlord of much of the local area, including Cliff Stud.
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With its limestone-rich land, it has proved the perfect environment for bringing on young horses as they continue their development, often before heading to Warren Place stables in Newmarket. Noel Murless, then training six miles away at Hambleton, began leasing the stud in 1947 after the death of its founder William Thorpe and boarded stock for Warren Place clients such as Sir Victor Sassoon. He continued to do so until 1982, when his daughter Julie, her then husband Henry Cecil and bloodstock agent Tote Cherry-Downes took over. Indeed, 27 years on – after a spell in partnership with Jose Hormaeche, owner of Wallhouse Stud in Cheveley – Cecil is still the man in charge. “Henry loves the place and tries to come up four or five times a year, usually coinciding with York races,” says Guy Stephenson, who has managed the stud for the past four and a half years.
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at Cliff Stud near Helmsley, the one-time home of Derby winner St Paddy (above), while Larkinglass is located near Motcombe, Dorset (bottom picture)
Unlike his one-time assistant Luca Cumani, Cecil has never embarked on breeding on a major scale, but that is something that could change. Stephenson says: “We don’t actually have any mares of our own but Henry’s been talking about it for a while and the plan is to get some, particularly from families he knows. It makes sense.” The stud’s client list is as celebrated as many of its inmates and at one stage it reared much of the young stock bred by Daniel Wildenstein. Steinlen, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Arlington Million in 1989 as a six-year-old, was one of the first-crop of Wildenstein foals raised in Yorkshire but when Cecil parted company with the famously fiery Paris art dealer, his horses went elsewhere. But Wildenstein was impressed with Cecil’s twin brother David, then Cliff Stud’s manager, as well as the Yorkshire area. His youngsters continued to be supervised by David Cecil and
raised locally at farms such as Guy Reed’s Copgrove Hall Stud near Harrogate. “We actually still have descendants of the Wildenstein cows that were given as a present to the stud,” adds Stephenson. “They were originally Murray Greys but I’ve crossed them with Charolais. We are organic here and produce our own beef and lamb. We don’t put any artificial stuff on the ground, no fertiliser but just some seaweed every couple of years and rotate the paddocks with cattle and sheep. No rubbish at Cliff
“The cows chew what they can and then the sheep come in and take off all the rubbish, then it’s beautiful for the horses in the spring. You can just watch them putting on bone, it’s the best growing land I’ve ever been on anywhere, for horses, cattle or sheep. “It’s limestone rich ground full of calcium and so good for young horses. The yearlings stay out
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INDESATCHEL
CLASSIC-PLACED DUAL GROUP WINNER FROM THE DANEHILL SIRE LINE - BY THE LEADING SIRE OF 2YO’S IN EUROPE G Rated 120 at 3 - the equal of 2000 Guineas winner FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND G Dual Group winner, narrowly beaten in the French 2000 Guineas Group 1 G First foals sold for 30,000gns, 17,000gns, 16,000gns, etc
Stunning first crop foals can be viewed at www.bearstonestud.co.uk
FIREBREAK
Fee: £3,000 October 1st SLF
Timeform 120
GROUP 1 WINNER OF OVER £1,500,000, FROM THE WARNING SIRE LINE OF GR.1 STALLIONS PICCOLO AND AVERTI and higher rated than both G Group 1 winner of internationally competitive Hong Kong Mile, Group 2 winning 2 year old (Mill Reef Stakes) G Tough and sound over 4 seasons with 7 Group wins and a Group winner every year he raced from 2 - 5 years G First yearlings sold for 42,000gns, 32,000gns, 28,000gns,.....
MIND GAMES
Fee: £3,000 October 1st SLF
Timeform 125
CHAMPION 3YO SPRINTER IN ENGLAND, ROYAL ASCOT GROUP WINNER - ROYAL ASCOT GROUP SIRE G Sire of the winners of over £2,500,000 G Recent yearlings sold for 120,000gns, 60,000gns, 52,000gns, etc G His 2yo son ALL ABOUT YOU, the 120,000gns yearling bred by Ballylinch Stud, won his 2008 backend maiden for Roger Charlton and Mountgrange Stud, and looks an exciting prospect
Mind Games returns to Bearstone for 2009 Fee: £1,500 October 1st
Timeform 121
Bearstone Stud
STALLIONS FOR 2009
Bearstone Stud, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 4HF Tel: 01630 647197 (office) 01270 812345 (home) Mob: 079749 48755 e-mail: enquiries@bearstonestud.co.uk www.bearstonestud.co.uk or Martin Percival, percival.ma@btinternet.com Tel: 01284 735322 Mob: 07810 812 553
SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS OF OUR SPECIAL OFFER TO BREEDERS
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“The yearlings stay out in the shed nearly all of the year – they don’t learn any bad habits that way” – Guy Stephenson
in the shed nearly all year – they don’t learn bad habits that way. They grow naturally outside and are herd animals so should be together.” A plaque in the stud’s tack room remembers the best of Sir Victor Sassoon’s Cliff Stud-reared horses, the 1960 Derby winner St Paddy, while the 1968 1,000 Guineas heroine Caergwrle, who was bred by Sir Noel Murless’s wife Gwen, is buried alongside her mother Caerphilly. George Pope, an American patron of the Murless stable, won the 1973 1,000 Guineas and Oaks with Mysterious, while more recent Cliff alumni include the Charles St George-bred Filia Ardross, winner of the 1989 German Oaks. Olden Times, Dandoun, the 1990 French Oaks heroine Rafha and her son Invincible Spirit all fared with distinction for Prince Faisal after their time in Helmsley. But for the past couple of years Hurricane Run’s German-based breeders Dietrich and Daniella von Boetticher of Gestut Ammerland have been the principal customers. They have 15 of the 19 mares at Cliff, including the current standout Borgia, the 1997 German Derby winner who went on to take the Hong Kong Vase two years later. She is in foal to Dansili and going to Oasis Dream. The 60-year link
The link with Hambleton Lodge Stables, begun 60 years ago by Murless, continues with Kevin Ryan sending most of his yearlings for a spell at Cliff Stud, while leading National Hunt owner Richard Kelvin Hughes, whose string spent last summer at Cliff, is set to keep his mares there as permanent boarders. Stephenson says: “Kevin’s yearlings come here to get the sales out of their heads before he breaks them. They are in at night and out
during the day and we had 40 of them last year. Some older horses come here for a rest. His owners love coming here to see the horses.” There are 20 paddocks at Cliff Stud but much the most impressive is a 50-acre field featuring a hill that is used to toughen up youngsters ahead of the sales. “I’d love to do some more yearling sales prep, it’s something I really enjoy and we’ve got some brilliant hills for doing it – it puts a really good top on them,” adds Stephenson, who is helped by a staff of four. “I do all the foalings myself and just enjoy every part of the job, but although a lot of the yearlings don’t go into training until they’re nearly two, we don’t really break any ourselves – it’s very hard to get riders to do it.” Stephenson came to Cliff Stud via a varied background. He rode ponies from the age of five for horse dealer Isaac Ford, competing against Ian Stark in gymkhanas, and after spells with Dick Allan and Paul Cole was travelling head lad to Robert Williams in the days of dual Magnet Cup winner Chaumiere. “I’d always wanted to work on the stud side, rather than racing, and Cheveley Park had horses with Robert Williams, and the opportunity came up in 1987 to join them as yearling manager, running Sandwich Stud,” says Stephenson. He was working as a pinhooker when meeting Hormaeche in 2004 and took little time in accepting a job offer to work at Cliff. “As soon as I saw this place I knew I wanted to work here, it’s beautiful,” he says. “Several people have called us one of the best kept secrets in breeding and I suppose its true, we are hidden away in Yorkshire. We’ve had Derby, Oaks and Guineas winners, and when you think we’ve never had many more than 15 mares on the place, it’s an amazing record.”
Cliff Stud Manager Guy Stephenson
Young stock enjoy the calcium at the stud
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Mix and Match Having joined forces with Liz Harrington, John and Georgie Moore have made Larkinglass a varied, all-purpose operation orset’s Larkinglass Farm, a 250-acre site based a few miles from Wincanton racecourse, is embracing each day with the youthful enthusiasm you would expect from a business less than four years old. The buoyancy exists because of co-founder Liz Harrington’s methodical drive and the effervescent bonhomie of John and Georgie Moore, who became shareholders last year. Larkinglass is a multi-tasking operation comprising a 50-box racing stables run by trainer Neil Mulholland, and a thoroughbred stud involving resident and boarding mares, and headed by recently recruited jumping stallions Helissio and Pasternak (pictured on this page with John Moore). Both were acquired from the now defunct Scarvagh House Stud. Larkinglass also houses a number of well-bred Arab horses, some owned by Sheikh Mohammed. Of the thoroughbred stallion and racing elements of the farm, Harrington says: “The two complement each other. When we had an open day for the stallions, one visitor became an owner [with Mulholland]. Last year we trained a
D
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mare who was taken out of training, but has come back to produce her first foal and be covered by one of the stallions. “Buying good young horses in Ireland can be very expensive, but because we have some very well-bred mares of our own we can produce good young stock to sell to existing owners for very reasonable prices.” Those mares include Pebbles’s sister Shaadin and Supreme Leader’s half-sister Ballad Opera, future mates for Helissio and Pasternak, two strapping stallions gained late last year following the implosion at Northern Ireland’s Scarvagh House Stud. The person who pulled Larkinglass Stud’s distinct strands together is Harrington, who cannot claim to be the first widow to take a husband’s death as a fulcrum to vault into a big and bold project. She has decades of experience and a fine track record, too – it was good enough for Sheikh Mohammed when he needed board for his Arab horses, and it suited the late racecourse owner Sir Stanley Clarke, whose widow, Hilda, still patronises the business with mares and racehorses. Georgie Moore, whose roots lie in Britain’s oldest Arab horse stud, says of her business partner: “She’s a woman of remarkable vision. There was an enormous slurry pit at this farm
when Liz first arrived and she calmly said, ‘This is going to be my school’. “On TBA outings she would go into barns and yards to discover what made horses happy, and she’s used the best of those ideas here. The gallops are another case in point.” Founder and saviours
If Harrington is the stud’s founder, the Moores are its saviours; their financial input kept the wheels on when former trainer and investor Paul Keane withdrew from the project. Keane’s decision meant that plans he and Harrington had made following the death of her husband Don had to be redrawn – the trio had been tenants at Bath’s Conkwell Grange Stud, another dual-purpose training and stud facility. Harrington says: “After Don died I went on holiday to take stock and realised I had no security and couldn’t bear to think of getting old without my horses. I decided to buy a farm and offered Paul the opportunity to get involved. We spent two years looking at properties before we found the right place, because we needed a hill for a gallop and flat fields for the stud. We walked up mountains in Wales and Devon, and down every little lane with grass growing up the middle, and you’re thinking, ‘We wouldn’t be able to get a horsebox down here’.
“We spent two years looking at properties; we walked down every lane with grass growing up the middle” – Liz Harrington
Liz Harrington: “Our thoroughbred stallion and racing operations complement each other well”
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OwnerBreeder Ad pages 02.09:OwnerBreeder Ad pages 02.09
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NEW TO RM D FA O WO IN 2009
LUCARNO
16.3 hh by Champion Sire DYNAFORMER - CHAMPION 3YO STAYER IN EUROPE Fee: £2,000 (Oct 1st)
WOOD FARM STUD STALLIONS 2009
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DERBY WINNER AND SMART DUAL PURPOSE SIRE Fee: £1,500 (Oct 1st)
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SILVER PATRIARCH
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SIR HARRY LEWIS
SIRE OF DIAMOND HARRY, MIGHTY MAN ETC. Fee: £1,500 (Oct 1st)
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“It was getting rather depressing and when we came to view this place I was like a kid who didn’t care and was convinced she wouldn’t like it. Then I got out of the car and knew it was the one – it had the right feel to it.” Labour intensive
Converting a run-down dairy farm was labour intensive, but the new partnership worked well and the installation of two Cushion Track gallops – one circular, one uphill for four and a half furlongs – meant Keane was soon registering success at the racecourse. Continuing the story, Harrington says: “It was a bolt from the blue when Paul announced he wanted to leave just before Christmas 2007. We had 40 to 50 horses in training and yet it seemed we would have to sell because I had no money left to purchase his share – I was desperate. “Then Georgie and Johnny, who were longstanding friends of mine, stepped in and offered to buy Paul out. We remain good friends with Paul. It is very stressful being a trainer and he decided it didn’t suit him.” While John Moore’s background in property brings a business head to the new arrangement, his wife and Harrington are the heart of the place. They share a desire to make things happen, a lifetime’s experience in horses, and long hours at the wheel of Mulholland’s horsebox. Their willingness to take on the tiresome chore of negotiating Britain’s congested roads to transport horses to the races, is an insight to their roll-up-the-sleeves and get-stuck-in approach. The Arab horse will always be dear to Harrington and Georgie Moore, for it has influenced their lives and brought them together
in a business partnership they relish. Moore’s association with the breed derived from her parents, Robbie and Monica Calvert, who in 1962 inherited Harwood Arabian Stud, near Horsham, from the spinster May Lyon. The Calverts reinvigorated the stud, bred new champions and were joined by their daughter in being pioneers of Arab racing in Britain. The Harringtons, who trained pointers and held a niche in jumps racing and breeding through standing stallions such as Dubassoff, Nicholas Bill, Sula Bula, Lyphento, Pragmatic and, before his sale to Pitchalls Farm Stud, Midnight Legend, took up Arab racing to share an interest during the pointing close season. Georgie Moore found the newcomers challenging and admits: “I was a bit nervous of Liz, because she would come to meetings and ask awkward questions. Someone said, ‘You should have her on your committee’, and although I was anxious about that prospect, she joined and we became firm friends because we both wanted the best. “When Johnny and I heard Paul was leaving Larkinglass it made sense for us to become involved. It suited us to live in this part of Britain and we love thoroughbred racing, so we sold 75 acres near Horsham and moved this way, buying a house nearby and basing our Arab horses here [under the name Harwood Stud] at Larkinglass.” Harrington is grateful for the rewards Arab horses brought, saying: “We started with half a dozen mares and some stallions for Sheikh Mohammed, but ended up with about 150 horses. The numbers have reduced dramatically, but they pay their way 12 months of the year. We wouldn’t have bought Larkinglass without them.” I
Georgie Moore
“There was an enormous slurry pit at this farm when Liz arrived. She said, ‘This is going to be my school’” – Georgie Moore
Stud groom Jury Obermok with Helissio, the runaway Arc winner who has been acquired from Scarvagh Stud
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Britain ALFLORA b 1989 (Niniski). Shade Oak. £3,000 With sterling losing value through the year against the euro, British-based jump sires are in a better position to attract mares; even before the economic downturn they appeared under-priced compared with Ireland. Alflora, winner of the Horse & Hound Cup (leading active British-based stallion by chase wins) at the recent TBA Awards, is a case in point, because his fee has fallen by £500. With good books of mares from 2005 to 2008, he is a safe bet to continue shining.
APPLE TREE ch 1989 (Bikala). Beech Tree Stud. £1,500 A top-class middle-distance performer, Apple Tree has been relocated from France. He has tended not to cover big books of mares but has some classy runners on the scoresheet, led by fine staying hurdler Lough Derg, good young chaser Pomme Tiepy and highly promising five-year-old hurdler Qozak.
CROCO ROUGE b 1995 (Rainbow Quest). Yorton Farm. £1,750 One of the best middle-distance runners in France, with two Group 1 strikes, Croco Rouge was formerly in Japan. He has sired six stakes winners across the globe and is now getting jump scorers as well, led by Mersey Hurdle runner-up Wins Now. Croco Rouge has a fine pedigree with plenty of stamina and he looks the part.
DOUBLE TRIGGER ch 1991 (Ela-Mana-Mou). East Burrow. £2,500 Double Trigger has found life tough at stud but happily, after attracting 14 mares in 2007, he had a book of 27 last year. He gets results, with 30% of his runners winning in 2007/08 and such as Double Dizzy, runnerup in a Grade 1 chase at Punchestown, showing above average ability. In other words, he has the potential to make a mark if breeders give him the chance.
scorer Great Palm has been represented by some good jumpers, notably Great Love, who won several top hurdles including the Prix La Barka, and smart chaser Great Travel. Donnas Palm, Great Endeavour and Laskari have all shone for him. Also at Nunstainton is Dapper (b 1997, Darshaan), a half-brother to Alborada who never raced and has his first crop as five-year-olds.
KAYF TARA b 1994 (Sadler’s Wells). Overbury. £4,500 Rising star Kayf Tara leads the British-based sires in earnings this season, with his oldest progeny only six, and it is no surprise to see his fee having risen from £2,500. The dual Gold Cup winner has looks and pedigree, and performers such as Carruthers, Give It Time, Katies Tuitor, Kornati Kid, Mad Max, Planet Of Sound and Venalmar confirm he gets quality progeny. Kayf Tara proved popular from the start and after averaging more than 100 mares each season from 2004 to 2007, he is shown in Weatherbys’ latest Return of Mares as covering nearer 300 in 2008, more in line with an Irish jump sire. His progeny continue to sell well.
MIDNIGHT LEGEND b 1991 (Night Shift). Pitchall Farm. £2,000 A stakes winner on the Flat and a high-class hurdler, Midnight Legend is averaging around 60 coverings a year. With a tally of getting on for 40% winners to runners, such stakes performers as My Petra and Itsa Legend, plus around 20 point-to-point scorers, he is evidently going the right way.
NOMADIC WAY b 1985 (Assert). Louella. £700 Nomadic Way is at the veteran stage and still covering up to 20 mares a year but, in truth, breeders have not really given him the opportunities he merits. Smart chaser Buckby Lane has been a fine advert for him.
OVERBURY GRAPE TREE ROAD b 1993 (Caerleon). Shade Oak. £2,000 Like Alflora, Grape Tree Road’s fee has dropped by £500. It is still early days with his jumpers for the winner of the Grand Prix de Paris, but he has already sired a Grade 1 scorer in the States and comes from a cracking family. With such a background he could make a mark when his jumpers start running in bulk, since he has covered 180 mares in the last two years.
br 1991 (Caerleon). Mickley. £3,000 Overbury won the Whitbread Silver Salver for leading active British-based NH stallion by earnings in the latest TBA Awards and, with an average of more than 100 mares covered each year, he should have no difficulty carrying on the good work. The latest addition to a list of very smart performers including Simon and Missed That is fine novice chaser Ballyfitz.
REVOQUE GREAT PALM gr 1989 (Al Hattab) Nunstainton Stud. POA Relocated from Arctic Tack Stud in Ireland, Group 1
b 1994 (Fairy King). Yorton. £2,000 Revoque has sired earners of well over £1 million on the Flat, including 2008 Northumberland Plate winner
Jump sires Jeremy Early highlights what is on offer to National Hunt breeders, with a focus on both established stallions and newcomers in Britain and Ireland 50 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER
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ADVERTISING FEATURE
Black Sam Bellamy, who is in the early stages of his stallion career (see following page)
Juniper Girl. Now he is making a mark with jumpers, among his best being Freeloader and Queen Astrid, plus Voyourovitch, successful in a Listed hurdle at Auteuil. Revoque is covering books of up to 50 mares and it bodes well Nicky Henderson and Carl Llewellyn have been among the trainers buying his progeny.
SEPTIEME CIEL b 1987 (Seattle Slew). Dairy House. £1,950 Septieme Ciel, winner of the Prix de la Foret, arrived in Britain for the 2006 covering season and with two Listed winners to his name over jumps he has the makings of an interesting dual-purpose stallion. Dairy House Stud also stands Baryshnikov (gr 1991 Kenmare-Lady Giselle, by Nureyev), a Group 1 scorer over a mile in Australia and half-brother to exceptional sire Zabeel. He stands at £1,750.
SHAHRASTANI ch 1983 (Nijinsky). Walton Fields. £1,250 The conqueror of Dancing Brave in the Derby is still going strong and has established himself as a leading broodmare sire. Encouragingly, he has had a lot more runners in the past year, mostly under National Hunt rules. This stud also stands Deportivo at £3,000 and, like Shahrastani, he could develop into a dual purpose prospect given his pedigree (by Night Shift ex Valencia).
SILVER PATRIARCH gr 1994 (Saddlers’ Hall). Wood Farm. £1,250 St Leger winner Silver Patriarch, who belongs to the National Stud, has his first foals as eight-year-olds. They do not lack stamina or ability, with smart Rimsky and Grade 3 winner Third Level Tom the pick. Silver Patriarch had 37 foals plus a pair of twins from 46 coverings in 2007, so his fertility is first-rate, and his progeny have been popular at auction too.
SIR HARRY LEWIS b 1984 (Alleged). Wood Farm. £1,500 At the same stud as Silver Patriarch – and a worthy winner of several TBA Awards – Sir Harry Lewis is now 25 but he is apparentky as popular as ever, averaging over 40 mares in each of the last four covering seasons. Equally adept at getting chasers and hurdlers, he has had two smart performers strutting their stuff this season, in young chaser Kia Kaha and unbeaten novice hurdler Diamond Harry. Also at Wood Farm, at £1,500, is Derby winner Erhaab (br 1991, Chief’s Crown), who is siring a few well-above average jumpers.
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OwnerBreeder Ad pages 02.09:OwnerBreeder Ad pages 02.09
13/2/09
KADASTROF The greatest entire steeplechaser for over 50 years
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Standing at
EAST LYNCH STUD Minehead, Somerset
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Ch 1990, 16.21/2hh by Port Etienne – Kadastra by Stradavinsky TOP-CLASS CHASER HIGH-CLASS HURDLER GOOD FLAT WINNER Chasers and Hurdlers rated 154 “Game front runner, tough and consistent”. Robin Dickin – Trainer High-class French bred stallion standing in the heart of the Cotswolds With winning progeny both under rules and point-to-point Winner of 15 races (flat, hurdles and chases) from 2-8 years and £116,786 Fee: £1,250 (Oct 1st, Filly Foal Free Return) Standing at Batsford Stud, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire GL56 9QF Enquiries to Alan Varey Tel/Fax: 01608 651890 Mobile: 07899 957355 E-mail: enquiries@batsfordstud.co.uk
52 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER MARCH 2009
NEW FOR 2009
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b. 2000, 16.11⁄2 hh Halling – Woodbeck (Terimon)
ch. 2000, 16.1 hh Bahamian Bounty – Daanat Nawal (Machiavellian)
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Tough & Durable miler, won 3 races & placed 18 times, £222,083 (2-8yrs)
Both Stallions retired sound and have exceptional conformation and temperaments For all details contact: – D.D. SCOTT Tel/Fax: 01643 702430 Email: enquiries@eastlynchstud.co.uk
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ADVERTISING FEATURE
Lucarno is an exciting addition to the British jumps stallion brigade
Young blood There is no shortage of young sires in Britain, with new arrival Lucarno (b 2004, Dynaformer), winner of the St Leger, leading the way at Wood Farm Stud, where his fee is £2,000. At the same location at £2,500 is the tough, handsome and high-class Norse Dancer (b 2000, Halling). Shade Oak Stud has a couple in the early stages of their career in Black Sam Bellamy (b 1999, Sadler’s Wells) and Fair Mix (gr 1998, Linamix). Black Sam Bellamy, formerly at Scarvagh House, stands at £4,500. His first foals are four and as a Group 1-winning brother to Galileo he has fine credentials. He has already sired winners under both codes, including easy Deutsches St Leger victor Valdino. Fair Mix, also a Group 1 scorer, retired to stud in 2005 and his fee is £2,000. As well as Overbury, Mickley Stud hosts Derby Italiano winner Central Park (ch 1995, In The Wings) for £1,500 and Derby third Beat All (b/br 1996, Dynaformer) for £2,000. Central Park’s sire is responsible for Inglis Drever and Westender among others, while Beat All has covered around 350 mares in the last four years so should not be short of runners. A new recruit to the NH sire ranks is Tobougg (b 1998, Barathea), who stands alongside Double Trigger at East Burrow Farm for £2,500. A top performer at up to 12 furlongs, he has sired a Group 1 winner in Australia and looks an interesting prospect. The same applies to Osorio (ch 2000, Surumu). Based at Newsells Park Stud for £2,500, he is by an outstanding sire and showed high-class form to win the Derby Italiano.
St Leger winner Bollin Eric (b 1999, Shaamit) is at Norton Grove Stud for £1,500 and Louella Stud stands fine stayer Rainbow High (b 1995, Rainbow Quest) at £800. Both these stallions have their first crop as fouryear-olds. Beechwood Grange Stud houses smart Desideratum (b 2002, Darshaan) at £2,000. He has covered around 50 mares in the last two seasons and boasts a smashing pedigree, hailing from the celebrated Fall Aspen family. East Lynch is home to Franklins Gardens (b 2000, Halling), winner of the Yorkshire Cup and Lingfield Derby Trial. He stands at £1,250, while newcomer Babodana (ch 2000, Bahamian Bounty) is at £1,000. He was as tough as old boots and classy too, running 61 times and winning the Ben Marshall Stakes and the Lincoln. Crosspeace (b 2002, Cape Cross) is alongside Baryshnikov and Septieme Ciel at Dairy House Stud for £1,000. He has a fine Flat pedigree and gained two Listed victories over 12 furlongs. Kadastrof (ch 1990, Port Etienne) is a rarity, a modern jump sire in Britain who showed tip-top form at around two miles over fences. Based at Batsford Stud, his fee is £1,250. Finally, fresh to Britain and standing at Larkinglass Farm are two from Scarvagh House: Helissio (b 1993, Fairy King) and Pasternak (b 1993, Soviet Star). Arc winner Helissio (£2,500) has served more than 164 mares in the last two years, while Pasternak (£1,200) has been covering around 30 mares each year.
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“Old Vic has sired the winners of over 400 races with earnings in excess of £6.6 million”
Old Vic, who last year had three-year-olds fetch €160,000 and 95,000gns, stands at Sunnyhill Stud in County Kildare
Ireland BENEFICIAL b 1990 (Top Ville). Knockhouse. POA Like the vast majority of Irish sires, Beneficial has his fee ‘on application’, after being €10,000 last year. He is a decidedly popular order with breeders, covering around 650 mares from 2006 to 2008, and his progeny continue to sell well.
DEFINITE ARTICLE b 1992 (Indian Ridge). Morristown Lattin. €6,000 Definite Article’s fee has dropped from €8,000. He gets hurdlers and chasers, and comes up with smart runners most years. Wendel, Majestic Concorde and Shouldhavehadthat are all flying the flag for him, while good chasers Greenhope and Non So won at the Cheltenham Festival.
DR MASSINI b 1993 (Sadler’s Wells). Coolmore. POA Dr Massini covered large books in 2006 (264) and 2007 (279) but last year his tally dropped to 109. Though temperamental as a
runner, he does not pass on his oddities and such as Clopf and Massini’s Maguire have landed Grade 1 events for him.
EXIT TO NOWHERE b 1988 (Irish River). Coolmore. POA Exit To Nowhere has joined Coolmore’s band of jump sires and should fit in well, though he will surely have to work harder – in 2008 at Scarvagh House he covered 87 mares, whereas the Coolmore sires can cover 300plus mares. Exit To Nowhere is responsible for such as Noland, Milligan and Exit To Wave.
FLEMENSFIRTH b 1992 (Alleged). Coolmore. POA Flemensfirth stood at €10,000 in 2008 and he covered more than 300 mares – not a bad return. He continues to shine in the sires’ table thanks to such as Imperial Commander, Joe Lively, Pandorama and Tidal Bay, and his offspring progressively appear to be better over fences than hurdles. Last year he had four three-year-olds who fetched at least €100,000 at auction, while
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five-year-old On Raglan Road sold for 320,000gns.
KALANISI b/br 1996 (Doyoun). Boardsmill Stud. €6,000. Kalanisi is now a dual purpose sire and with Champion Hurdle winner Katchit in his first crop, plus smart hurdler Simarian also in the team, he looks like being one to reckon with. Once switched to his new sphere of operation his book increased from 54 in 2007 to 147 in 2008.
KING’S THEATRE b 1991 (Sadler’s Wells). Ballylinch. €9,000 King’s Theatre’s credit list from a relatively small number of jumpers includes Grade 1 scorers Nas Na Riogh, Nobody Told Me and Wichita Lineman. He is covering more mares now, with getting on for 350 in the last two years. That suggests he should be enjoying even more success from 2012.
LUSO b 1992 (Salse). Garryrichard. POA Luso is responsible for nine horses rated 130 or higher,
notably 2008 Irish Grand National winner Hear The Echo and Preists Leap, twice successful in the Thyestes Chase. He has had some good results at the sales, including the sale topper at the Goffs NH Breeze-up Sale a year ago, and his books in the last two years have been 80 and 89.
NORWICH br 1987 (Top Ville). Knockhouse. POA Newmill’s success in the 2006 Champion Chase was the highlight of Norwich’s stud career. However, Carrigeen Kalmia, Gazza’s Girl, Master Of The Chase and River City are others who have shone for him, while those showing their prowess this season include exciting chaser Lodge Lane.
OLD VIC b 1986 (Sadler’s Wells). Sunnyhill. POA Sire of the winners of more than 400 races, with earnings in excess of £6.6 million, Old Vic is always among the leading sires in cash and quality. This season Snoopy Loopy and Black
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Apalachi have done him proud, and Old Vic’s other top-notch progeny include In Compliance, Kicking King, Our Vic, Racing Demon and Southern Vic, with the emphasis on chasers. Last year he had three-year-olds fetch €160,000 and 95,000gns, and this January a four-year-old by him went for 70,000gns.
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to Tullyraine House. Twist Magic hasn’t managed to maintain the superb form he showed last season but Atamane has won a Grade 2 hurdle in France to help keep the sire’s name to the fore. Winged Love has a ratio of 11% wins to runs and he has covered around 320 mares in the last four seasons, so we should be hearing more of him.
OSCAR b 1994 (Sadler’s Wells). Coolmore. POA Despite the difference in age, Oscar’s win tally is fast approaching that of Old Vic and will continue soaring because he has so many progeny – his books in the last four years have totalled around 1,400 mares. He had an outstanding 2008, with three Grade 1 winners at the Punchestown Festival and Big Zeb and Casey Jones both landing Grade 1 chases at Leopardstown over Christmas.
PRESENTING br 1992 (Mtoto). Glenview. €9,000 Despite the delayed return of Gold Cup hero Denman, another sires’ title is a distinct possibility for Presenting. His progeny, also including Herecomesthetruth, Jered, Silverburn and War Of Attrition, show ability over hurdles and fences, and have earned £5.6 million. Since Presenting covers big books – an average of 250 mares – he should be a tough nut to crack for many years.
WINGED LOVE b 1992 (In The Wings). Tullyraine House. POA Formerly at Scarvagh House, Winged Love has been relocated
There are a number of young sires retired to the jump sphere in the last few years, or transferred from Flat breeding, who will have plenty of runners before long. Coolmore have most of them, none with a published fee. They are: Bach (b 1997, Caerleon), Brian Boru (b 2000, Sadler’s Wells), Golan (b 1998, Spectrum), Mahler (b 2004, Galileo), Milan (b 1998, Sadler’s Wells), Mountain High (b 2002, Danehill), Scorpion (b 2002, Montjeu), Turtle Island (b 1991, Fairy King) and Vinnie Roe (b 1998, Definite Article). Milan’s progeny are selling well – he had sale toppers at Goffs last June and at Cheltenham in December – while Westerner was responsible for the top two yearlings at Tattersalls Ireland February Sale a year ago. Gamut (b 1999, Spectrum) is covering good numbers of mares for €2,000 at Sunnyhill Stud. TallyHo Stud has Mr Dinos (b 1999, Desert King), Tullogher House Stud hosts Coroner (b 2000, Mtoto), Clongiffen Stud has Kutub (b 1997, In The Wings), Millenary (b 1997, Rainbow Quest) is at Knockhouse Stud and Saffron Walden (b 1996, Sadler’s Wells) is at Rossenarra. All those are ‘on application’.
Winged Love has relocated to Tullyraine House in County Down
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ROA FORUM
THE SPECIAL SECTION FOR ROA MEMBERS
ROA Council member Alan Guthrie (left) hands the Gold Standard award to Ayr Chairman Alan Macdonald
Ayr makes grade Scottish track becomes the 15th racecourse to receive the ROA’s prestigious Gold Standard award formal presentation marking Ayr’s Gold Standard award was made at the meeting on February 7. Among the factors which led to the award was the complimentary three-course lunch with wine it offered to owners at the acclaimed Western House Hotel, adjacent to the course. Ayr also impressed with an executive and sponsorship contribution to prize-money of £554,930 – 27.2% of the £2.3 million on offer.
A
Alan Guthrie, the ROA Council member with special remit for Scotland, said: “We are delighted to award Ayr the ROA Gold Standard. Their hospitality for owners with runners is exemplary and they display all of the required attributes in their facilities for owners, horses and stable staff, making them very deserving of the award.” Alan Macdonald, Chairman of Ayr, said: “We are delighted to be awarded the Gold Standard from
the ROA. In the five years Richard Johnstone and I have owned the racecourse, we have attempted to make Ayr as owner-friendly as we possibly could. “The introduction of complimentary meals before racing proved very popular and in 2008 we opened the new Owners’ Bar, which we believe is one of the best facilities for owners and trainers in British racing. Everyone at Ayr is proud to receive this award.”
Free Lease scheme is extended The Free Lease Exchange, the joint initiative by the ROA and TBA designed to match up prospective owners with available two-year-olds, has now been extended to include older horses. In the exchange’s first six weeks, over 50 horses were listed as available and over 70 expressions of interest were received from potential lessees. Members who are interested in any of the horses listed on the ROA website can contact the ROA office for contact details and pedigrees, or images where available.
ROA Council member Sally Rowley-Williams, who was involved in setting up the scheme, said: “As the launch of our Free Lease Exchange with the TBA has generated such interest, I am pleased that we can now extend the scheme to include older horses, which was always the intention. “This will not only provide owners with a broader range from which they can choose, but will also provide another route by which the ROA can help mitigate horse welfare issues. “It will also provide assistance
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to NTF members where trainers have horses in training that owners can no longer afford in this economic environment. The Free Lease Exchange has been a good example of how constituent parts of the Horsemen’s Group work well together.” Justin Wadham, solicitor at Edmondson Hall and ROA Council member, said of the scheme: “Taking a horse on lease, like buying one, involves significant commitment and should be undertaken only after the same ‘due diligence’ exercises that would normally
Sally Rowley-Williams
precede a purchase, such as a ‘pre-lease’ vetting, advice on conformation, value, maturity and readiness for training.” For further information visit www.racehorseowners.net or contact Sadie Ryan on 020 7408 0903.
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2008 Neil Wyatt Award winners The winners of the 13th Neil Wyatt Racecourse Groundstaff Awards, organised by the Racecourse Association, have been announced. The judging panel comprised representatives of the National Trainers’ Federation and Professional Jockeys’ Association, with support from the BHA Course Inspectors. It commended the groundstaff team at Doncaster for their work during the redevelopment, particularly with regard to the elimination of draw bias on the Flat, the levelling of the majority of take offs and landings over jumps, and the rebuilding of all fences. Salisbury’s improvements in 2008 included rubberising both the parade ring and pre-parade ring. The groundstaff team were commended for their proactive attitude, ensuring that the running rail was moved after every race meeting, including overnight during a two-day fixture. Also noted were the continued high standards of the groundstaff team at Aintree, under the new leadership of Head Groundsman Mark Ainsley. NTF Chief Executive Rupert Arnold said: “The winners have demonstrated outstanding standards in the condition of the racing surface and the NTF is delighted to recognise their efforts.” AWARD WINNERS Dual Purpose, sponsored by William Hill Winner Doncaster Runner-up Leicester Flat, sponsored by TurfTV Winner Salisbury Runner-up Goodwood National Hunt, sponsored by Duralock Fencing Systems Winner Aintree Runner-up Fontwell Park Special Recognition Danny Smith, Goodwood racecourse Special Commendation Cheltenham racecourse
Council Agenda The January Council meeting, by Chief Executive Michael Harris
Principal points discussed were as follows: Reinstating fixtures The practicalities of reinstating a fixture the day after that fixture has been abandoned was discussed. This was prompted by the abandonment of Cheltenham’s December Saturday fixture and the question as to whether it could have been held the next day.
was now a desire to extend this scheme to horses in training and imminent discussions would be held with the National Trainers’ Federation. See story opposite page Gold Standard Awards Council was informed that Ayr would soon be presented with their award and also that Sandown Park’s Gold Standard had been renewed. ROA Awards Council was informed that a donation of £45,000 had been made to the Animal Health Trust as a result of successful fund-raising at the Awards.
BHA annual budget for 2009 This was confidential but the Council were pleased to hear that the ROA had been instrumental in keeping owners’ costs down. Levy modernisation This was discussed in tandem with a presentation by the BHA Chief Executive, Nic Coward, who delivered his views on the most recent of the three papers produced by Sir Philip Otton for the Levy Board. He suggested that Otton III was largely positive for racing. He stressed that racing’s argument should relate to the value we put on our product and not about “needs” and “capacity to pay”. This was the message we had to get across to Government. The ROA President and the Council underlined the importance of getting the levy on foreign racing reinstated, on the basis that this had been removed at the time when racing believed its funding was going to be commerciallybased. Prize-money distribution A new prize-money distribution process was being proposed by the Levy Board. This was in its early stages but Council recognised the importance of examining the fine detail of any new proposal, since it could fundamentally impact on prize-money. Nevertheless, they were supportive in principle. Free Lease Exchange Council heard how this was gaining momentum with increasing numbers of breeders and owners registering an interest in the scheme. Some concern was expressed regarding the responsibility the new scheme might place on the ROA and it was therefore agreed that a clause should be added to the detail emphasising that due diligence must be carried out by the owner before a lease agreement committing that owner to a year’s training fees was completed. Council also heard that there
Tote There was no further news regarding the appointment of the new non-executive directors, and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport was silent on the question of whether they supported a racing nominee going on to the board. This had been rejected by the new Tote Chairman, Mike Smith, who had been brought in to maximise the Tote’s value, even though, officially, the sale of the Tote was now off the agenda. Prize-money The council heard that prize-money in 2008 was a record £106 million but, in relative terms, the comparison with 2007 was deflated when set against the higher number of individual runners in 2008. The Council was particularly pleased to hear that Northern Racing’s executive and sponsorship contributions had shown an impressive increase, admittedly from a low base. The ROA Council was also pleased to hear that the BHA intended to reduce the period between when a race was run and when prize-money was paid out for that race. Inside Information The Council was reminded that this was primarily about negative information. A bullet point sheet would be sent to owners setting out the do’s and don’ts. Paul Scotney and Ben Gunn from the BHA’s Disciplinary Department would be presenting at the next Council meeting. British Bloodstock Marketing The meeting closed with a presentation from BBM.
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 57
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PAVESCO EQUINE HEALTH USA, LTD 321 N, 22nd Street St.Louis, MO 63166, USA Tel. (314) 421 0300 Fax (314) 421 3332
e-mail: info@twydil.com
19/11/08 10:30:16
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ROA FORUM IN BRIEF: Festival marquee Don’t miss out on booking for the ROA marquee at the Cheltenham Festival. Places are limited and are likely to sell out in early March. The marquee has unreserved seating, overhead TV screens, Tote betting facilities, a cash bar and hot and cold food to purchase. ROA members can book badges for up to three guests. Prices are held at last year’s rates. Members pay £27 a day or £80 for four days, and guests pay £38 per day, or £125 for four days. Visit www.racehorseowners.net or contact the ROA office on 020 7408 0903.
Totesport Sponsorship Scheme ROA members can apply to join the next Totesport owner-sponsorship scheme for 250 horses. The scheme, starting on March 1, will run Cornus and James Doyle after winning at Wolverhampton on January 26 for 12 months and enables members to register for and reclaim VAT on their racing interest. What’s more, it is simple to join. For further details or an application form contact Keely Brewer in the ROA office or club’s impressive wins tally to 14. These email kbrewer@roa.co.uk BetfairClub ROA enjoyed a bumper start successes on the track added to the to the year, with a first winner in growing anticipation for the upcoming Scotland, and club legend Cornus Inside Information 12 months. securing his fourth and fifth victories A guidance model about Inside Information Private facilities at the Cheltenham inside a fortnight. is now accessible to owners via a link on Festival, the Royal Enclosure at Royal Za Beau, trained by Jim Goldie, won www.britishhorseracing.com/integrity. Ascot, and the St Leger at Doncaster are over fences at Musselburgh on January This is a similar version to the online just some of the special events that 21, after a number of placed efforts. module that most licensed trainers have members can enjoy. The annual overseas Cornus, the club’s ultra-tough and completed, but is designed to be used trip will be a weekend in Paris in October durable campaigner trained by Alan informally by people whose completion of the for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. McCabe, won by a head in a seven Inside Information training does not need to Members have already enjoyed visits furlong handicap at Wolverhampton on be recorded. It can be used by owners, this year to club trainers David Pipe and January 26, then at Lingfield over six trainers, stable staff or any interested party. Ferdy Murphy. furlongs on February 10, to bring the The Derby Ball Za Beau with Richard McGrath, groom Carol Bartley, Jim Goldie and Club ROA member Rebecca Corbett The eve of the Oaks marks a night of fun at The Royal Automobile Club, Woodcote Park, Epsom, on Thursday, June 4. Top chefs Michel Roux, Brian Turner, Anton Edelmann, John Williams, and Philip Corrick will cook a four-course gourmet dinner. Entertainment will include a charity auction and Derby day tips. Tickets for the champagne and canapés reception and four-course dinner with wine are £120 per person or £1,200 for a table of ten. To reserve a place contact Caroline at etdf@hotmail.co.uk or Simon Dow’s office on 01372 721490.
BetfairClub ROA update
Tattersalls online bidding registration Potential purchasers at forthcoming Tattersalls sales who wish to use the the sales company’s online bidding system can register for it at www.tattersalls.com
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MICKLEY STUD STALLIONS 2009 MULTIPLEX
CENTRAL PARK
Group winning son of DANEHILL from the family of WARNING and RAINBOW QUEST.
High Class Dual Purpose Sire. Dual Group 1 winning son of IN THE WINGS. 65% winners to runners.
OVERBURY
Full in 2008 with 98 mares and a fertility of 94%. 1st foals 2009.
2009 Fee: £4,000 Oct 1st
Sire of BALLYFITZ, 3 time Cheltenham winner in 2008. Winner in 2009 of the Whitbread Silver Salver award for leading British NH Sire.
NEEDWOOD BLADE
2009 Fee: £3,000 Oct 1st
Dual Group winning son of champion sire PIVOTAL. His first 2-yr-old’s in 2008 had 10 wins and 23 places. Yearlings fetched up to £55,000 in 2008.
2009 Fee: £3,000 Oct 1st
Concessions for all stallions 1/2 price filly return.
Richard Kent at MICKLEY STUD, Tern Hill, Market Drayton, Shropshire, TF9 3QW
2009 Fee: £1,500 Oct 1st
BEAT ALL High potential Dual purpose sire by DYNAFORMER. 50% winners to runners on the Flat in 2008. NH horses in training with Paul Nicholls and Alan King including the promising bumper winner ALEXANDERBEETLE with Henrietta Knight.
2009 Fee: £2,000 Oct 1st
Tel: 01630 638840 Fax: 01630 639761 • Mobile: 07973 315722 Email: mickleystud@btconnect.com
HEDGEHOLME STUD STALLIONS for 2009 WINSTON, DARLINGTON, CO.DURHAM
**ROB ROY**
**JOSR ALGARHOUD**
LEAR FAN ex CAMANOE by GONE WEST Group 2 Winning Miler. Also 2nd in Gr.1 Champion Stakes and 3rd in Gr.1 Sussex Stakes. Often Regarded as One of the Best Looking Horses in Training. Timeform Rated 122. RETIRES TO STUD IN 2009
DARSHAAN ex PONT-AVEN by TRY MY BEST Multiple Group Winning Sprinter / Miler Sire of Tough, Sound Horses Winning Under Both Codes.
**DISTANT MUSIC**
**MISU BOND**
DISTANT VIEW ex MISICANTI by NIJINSKY Winner of the Dewhurst Stakes Group 1. Unbeaten at Two Years of Age. Sire of Stakes Horses: PONTY ROSSA, BENATAR, BARONGO, SOL MI FA, etc.
DANEHILL DANCER ex HAWALA by WARNING Listed Winner Over 5 and 6 Furlongs. Group 3 Placed At 2 and 3 Years of Age. FIRST CROP FOALS IN 2009
FOR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT: ANDREW SPALDING 01325 730209 OR 07990 518751 REALISTIC KEEP RATES, VETERINARY SCHEME • TRANSPORT CAN BE ARRANGED AT COMPETITIVE RATES www.hedgeholmestud.co.uk • Andrew@hedgeholmestud.co.uk
60 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER MARCH 2009
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ROA FORUM
THE SPECIAL SECTION FOR ROA MEMBERS Fast Horse
Owner of the Month: Alan Halsall
PHOTOS: STEVEN CARGILL
Boss of Silver Cross, pram-makers to the stars, sees his gallant young hurdler Songe dent some big reputations in Haydock Park’s Champion Hurdle Trial
Alan Halsall (right) collects his trophy following Songe’s Haydock triumph
hen your client list includes the likes of Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica-Parker, you must be doing something right. Silver Cross, maker of bespoke prams and buggies which are de rigueur for the rich and famous, is owned by Alan Halsall, who purchased the 132 year-old firm in 2002 when it was in receivership, turning its fortunes around. And that talent for spotting a bargain is not confined to the boardroom. Halsall, against the advice of others, bought hurdler Songe, fourth in last year’s Triumph Hurdle, and who took the notable scalps of Afsoun and Snap Tie in the Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock in January.
W
“Songe is the most talented horse I’ve ever owned; he showed a lot of guts to win at Haydock and that is what makes him so special,” said Halsall, who grew up in Red Rum’s hometown of Southport, and whose affinity with jump racing started when he watched Jay Trump’s 1965 Grand National victory at Aintree with his father. “Charlie Longsdon (trainer) and my son, Ben, went to France to view two horses for sale, one of which was Songe. They came home and showed me the videos, and both actually advised me to buy the other horse. But I thought Songe looked like he had had more class and went against their judgement. And we’re all delighted that I did!
“You don’t invest in racehorses to make a profit; it’s about enjoying yourself and meeting new people” – Alan Halsall
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62 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER MARCH 2009
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ROA FORUM
Owners in the News – David Fear Consistent chaser The Sawyer enjoys his day in the sun – or rather mud – by showing his tenacity and grinding out a hard-fought success at Cheltenham
PHOTOS: GEORGE SELWYN/STEVEN CARGILL
Tom Siddall drives Songe (left) to a ready success over Afsoun
“He cost about €80,000 but has already given me so much pleasure that, if he never won again, it wouldn’t matter. You don’t invest in racehorses to make a profit; it’s about enjoying yourself and meeting new people.” Halsall has owned racehorses since the 1980s, but his involvement stepped up a gear when he was introduced to trainer Kim Bailey. Together, they enjoyed success with chasers of the calibre of Wonder Weasel and Longshanks, the last-named twice eliminated from the Grand National, before finally getting his chance to run in the 2007 renewal, finishing seventh behind Silver Birch. Halsall said: “I had a great time with Kim Bailey and Longshanks remains the favourite horse that I’ve owned. He had a heart of gold, won six races for me and was second in the Topham Chase, and never once fell. “Ever since that first visit as a child I’ve been smitten with Aintree and my ambition is to win the Grand National. “I currently have four horses in training with Charlie Longsdon, who is an ambitious young trainer. Songe is only five and a fantastic prospect, as is Prairie Spirit, although he hasn’t shown much yet on the racecourse.” With the world economy still in freefall, it is refreshing to hear about a British company that is not only surviving but actually prospering. Silver Cross, which hand-makes its heritage prams in Bingley, West Yorkshire, was one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK last year, and plans to launch more products and continue expanding into overseas markets. “Despite all the doom and gloom in the economy, there is still a demand for reliable, quality products,” said Halsall. “We are known as the Rolls Royce of prams and our brand is very strong.” He added: “The success of Silver Cross has enabled me to fund my racing hobby and it’s fantastic to have such exciting young horses to look forward to.”
For a horse described as being a ‘yob’ at home, The Sawyer isn’t behaving too badly when it comes to his day job. The strapping nine-year-old recorded his biggest success to date in the Grade 3 Betchronicle.com Trophy Handicap Chase at Cheltenham in January, showing the kind of attitude and enthusiasm that encapsulates jump racing’s enduring appeal. “The Sawyer is a bit of a character in the yard; his trainer Robert Buckler says he’s a yob because he always wants to be king of the playground,” said David Fear, who owns the gelding jointly with Buckler. “But his effort at Cheltenham was typical of him on the track. He’s a bold jumper and a gutsy battler who doesn’t give up. Even when he was headed, he stuck his neck out and fought back. “I’ve been involved in ownership for about 20 years. Having been associated with some pretty mediocre animals in that time, it’s brilliant to have one like The Sawyer who gives his all every time.” Fear, 53, grew up around horses in Trowbridge, West Wiltshire, graduating from the Pony Club to ride in point-to-points, along with his brother Robert. His family were members of the Avon Vale Hunt and his father, Mervyn Fear, trained point-topointers and hunters, twice landing the Aintree Fox Hunters’ Chase. Now living near Shaftesbury, Dorset, Fear has diversified from farming and owns a stone-cutting business which employs sawyers to cut the stone – hence the name of his star chaser.
He said: “I bought The Sawyer because I had just lost a horse on the gallops with Robert, so I asked him what else was available. “He had two horses up for sale, but one cost a lot less money than the other; in my eyes that made him the more attractive proposition! So I bought a half-share in The Sawyer for £4,000. “I think that every small owner looks to buy a horse like him, one that doesn’t cost much but has ability and tries hard. When things aren’t going well as an owner you sometimes feel like giving up, but then you get a sniff of success and continue. Luckily I did and now I’ve enjoyed my first Cheltenham winner.” The Sawyer, who subsequently picked up almost £8,000 when fourth to Voy Por Ustedes in the Grade 1 Betfair Ascot Chase, could well be sent to Punchestown in April, having run third at the track last year. Looking further ahead, a trip to Aintree for the Grand National has not been ruled out by his owner. “The Sawyer showed at Cheltenham how well he handles heavy ground, but he actually has a turn of foot on better ground,” said Fear. “He has won over three miles but on that surface, the two-mile and five-furlong trip was ideal. “We didn’t enter him for the National this year. But we would definitely like to go for it in 2010. He’s only nine and we’ll give him another year to strengthen up.”
Bold: The Sawyer
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TBA FORUM
THE SPECIAL SECTION FOR TBA MEMBERS
Mares Voucher Scheme attracts classy response “Quality of jump sires in the UK as good as it has ever been”
HE forthcoming breeding season marks the first time that owners of top-class National Hunt mares will be able to take advantage of the Levy Board-backed Mares Voucher Scheme, which offers £3,000 towards the cost of a nomination to a Britishbased stallion. The TBA initiative has received a resounding thumbs-up and has been taken up by the owners of 25 mares rated 120 or above (official rating in the Anglo-Irish Jump Classifications published annually in May). “It’s a great way to encourage people to keep the best mares in Britain and it then gives the stallions a chance to prove themselves with better mares, which in turn helps stallion owners,” said Robert Waley-Cohen, deputy chairman of the TBA’s National Hunt Committee. “With the Euro the way it is at the moment, if you’re getting £3,000 on top of that, you can save yourself a fortune.” He will use the voucher earned by Grade 2 winner Shatabdi to send her to Kayf Tara. Bobby McAlpine, owner of the recently retired One Gulp, is another to be tempted by Kayf Tara, particularly as the mare’s dam Elaine Tully has already visited him and produced Cheltenham runner-up Venalmar. McAlpine said: “This is a great incentive. There’s obviously a very good choice of jumps stallions in Ireland and I’ve tended to use Flat stallions such as Hernando and Nayef.
T
Chomba Womba will benefit from the voucher scheme
64 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER
“We’re a new venture and with help from the TBA we’ve been able to consider some higherpriced stallions” – Richard Kelvin Hughes
“Elaine Tully has a Nayef foal but with the success of Venalmar, my first choice at the moment is Kayf Tara.” Chomba Womba and My Petra have provided Richard and Lizzie Kelvin Hughes with a memorable season. While My Petra will remain in training next year, ten-time winner Chomba Womba will make her swansong at the Cheltenham Festival, after which she will join the couple’s fledgling broodmare band at Cliff Stud. Richard Kelvin Hughes said: “This scheme has been very opportune for me, as several years ago we decided to buy fillies to race first and then to breed from. I’ve seven in training and when they eventually go to stud they will all be visiting British-based stallions, such as Midnight Legend and Kayf Tara. We endorse this initiative 100%. “Ours is a new venture and with the help from the TBA we’ve been able to consider some higher-priced stallions.” Robin Smith, who part-owned Material World in training with his daughter Suzy, has retained the mare since her retirement and used his own initiative to form the Material World Racing Club, which allows
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TBA NEWS
Veterinary round-up
PHOTOS: GEORGE SELWYN/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
Midnight Legend is one of the British NH sires mare owners can select
interested parties to buy a share of the mare’s offspring ahead of a racing career. He said: “It’s a very good scheme and, given the benefits, naturally I’ll be considering only British-based stallions. I’d like to go to a proven stallion – when you’re running a racing and breeding club, why take a chance with an unproven horse?” Kathleen Holmes, who owns Pitchall Farm Stud with her husband David and stands Midnight Legend, appreciates the benefits of giving domestic sires a chance, saying: “Stallions in this country have been underrated but we’ve a few around that are very good and deserve a chance to serve better mares that would, perhaps, otherwise have gone to Ireland.” Overbury Stud’s Simon Sweeting concurs, saying: “In Britain, the quality of stallions is going up all the time and at present is as good as it’s ever been. The important thing now is to keep the mares in Britain and even attract one or two from Ireland.” One mare who has been lured to these shores is the 150-rated Gemini Lucy, who was trained in Ireland and visited Presenting last year, but is another en route to Kayf Tara. “The voucher was probably the deciding factor,” explained part-owner Kieren Ryan. “From a marketing point of view this has to be seen as a very good idea.’ TBA Chief Executive Louise Kemble acknowledged that although the scheme is in its first year, the TBA is hopeful that it can become a regular benefit of membership. She added that the NH Committee will monitor the scheme’s criteria to ensure it continues to fit its purpose.
Update to HBLB Codes Of Practice on CEM The USA Department of Agriculture has reported the isolation of Taylorella equigenitalis, the cause of Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM), from multiple horses in multiple states of USA and in Canada. As a result, the Levy Board’s Codes of Practice subcommittee make the following recommendations for 2009: All mares imported into the participating countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Italy) who have been in North America since January 1, 2008 are considered ‘high risk’. Two clitoral swabs (fossa and sinuses) should be taken at least seven days apart and an endometrial swab taken during an oestrus period prior to covering. Full culture results (aerobic and microaerophilic) should be obtained from an HBLB Approved Laboratory (GB) or other national approved laboratories in France, Germany, Ireland or Italy. Swab results should be obtained before covering any mare who has been in North America after January 1, 2008. The Codes of Practice and a list of approved laboratories can be found at http://www.thetba.co.uk /veterinary/ Newmarket Stud Farmers’ Association 2009 breeding regulations Due to the outbreak of CEM outlined above, all mares who have been in North America since January 2008 will be regarded as ‘high risk’ and will require before first time of covering: 1. Two negative clitoral swabs to be taken a minimum of seven days apart. 2. One negative endometrial swab test taken at the boarding stud during the oestrus prior to service. Negative swab test results must be certified for clearance for CEMO, Klebsiella pneumoniae
(capsule types 1, 2, & 5) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by a Levy Board-designated laboratory or other nationally approved laboratories in Ireland or France. Swab certificates from laboratories in other countries will not be accepted and will need to be repeated at the boarding stud. African Horse Sickness The UK’s readiness for an outbreak of African Horse Sickness has progressed. Alerted by the arrival of Blue Tongue spread by the same midges, Defra has prepared a risk assessment plan and is working on an impact assessment and contingency plan. Trials of a new vaccine are being undertaken by Meriel in South Africa and the EU has accepted, in principle, the need to set up a vaccine bank. Defra is also establishing a joint industry / Government group involving organisations with a significant interest in shaping exotic equine disease policy. Richard Newton, from the AHT, will represent the TBA at the first meeting. The aim of this group is to help develop a better understanding of exotic disease threats and vulnerabilities in Britain, and to shape robust disease control strategies which promote responsibility sharing within the industry. Vaccine secured The EU has recently announced plans to establish community reserves of vaccines against African Horse Sickness. The TBA played a significant role in lobbying for this initiative, not least by holding a successful high-profile seminar in Newmarket last June in conjunction with the Horse Trust, and through our active work on the industry-led Defra African Horse Sickness working group. The TBA also spearheaded the work at European level through the European Breeders’ Federation. We will continue to support breeders by pressing for adequate contingency plans at both national and EU level.
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PICCOLO Gr.1 winning sprinter and dual Gr.1 sire A top class sprinter with the ability to upgrade his mares:
• 82% runners to foals and 52% winners to runners • Sire of over 134 individual 2-y-o winners, including the exciting Australian 2-y-o TEMPLE OF BOOM
2008 YEARLINGS MADE UP TO £100,000 The best son of Champion European Miler WARNING out of a 103-rated daughter of WHISTLING WIND A complete outcross for Northern Dancer blood Contact: Martin Percival on 01284 735322 or 07810 812553 • e-mail percival.ma@btinternet.com
LANWADES
The independent option™
info@lanwades.com • www.lanwades.com • Tel: +44 (0)1638 750222 • Fax: +44 (0)1638 751186
VAUTERHILL STUD
NUNSTAINTON STUD
THOROUGHBRED STALLIONS 2009
Ferryhill, Co. Durham
High Bickington, Umberleigh, Devon EX37 9BT
BANDMASTER (USA) – Dixieland Band ex Queens Bid (Hoist The Flag)
STALLIONS for 2009
Bay 16.2hh – Exceptional top all round sire. Gets winners at all distances.
NOW in the NORTH of ENGLAND
VOLOCHINE (IRE) – Soviet Star ex Harmless Albatross Ch 15.3hh – Won 8 races and placed 24 times £752,404. Good strike rate with his runners in France. Sire of Gr.1 winner MAIAERIA (champion hurdle in France).
WITH THE FLOW (USA) – Irish River ex Principle (Viceregal) Ch 16.2hh – Winner of 7 races and placed 9 times. Won at Gr.2, Gr.3 placed Gr.1. Good strike rate with first NH runners. Stores sold up to £60,000 2008. THANK HEAVENS – Theatrical Charmer ex Harmonia (Glint Of Gold) Bay 16.1hh – Won 7 races and placed 15 times £534,274. Producing big strong NH types. Oldest stock 3yrs.
RELIEF PITCHER – Welsh Term ex Bases Loaded (Northern Dancer) Bay 16.3hh – Won 4 races and placed 13 times £164,341. Sire of numerous NH and PtoP winners. The Property of Louella Stud
PRIMITIVE ACADAMY – Primitive Rising ex Royal Fontaine Bay 16.1hh – Won over hurdles. Placed on the flat. Potential event sire. 1st season at stud. By the prolific sire Primitive Rising.
ROYAL STORM – Royal Applause ex Wakayi (Persian Bold) Bay 16.2hh – Won 9 races and placed 28 times £157,754. 1st season at public stud. Big good looking horse, tough and sound. The Property of Jethro Bloodstock
ROCAMADOUR – Celtic Swing ex Watch Me (Green Desert) Brown 16.1hh – Won 3 races and placed 5 times £233,389. Placed 4 times Gr.1 incl. 3rd in the French Derby. 1st foals 2009. Vauterhill’s policy is to stand good class stallions at realistic fee’s and very reasonable keep charges.
For further details contact Graham Heal on 01769
66 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER MARCH 2009
560414
GREAT PALM
(USA) Grey 16.3 by MANILA ex. HAT TAB GIRL (AL HATTAB) Gr.1 placed at 2yrs, Gr.2 winner at 3yrs, Gr.1 winner at 4yrs Sire of WINNERS under BOTH codes incl. • DONNA’S PALM • GREAT ENDEAVOR (unbeaten over hurdles) • HENRY KING (bumper winner) • STRONG REBEL (bumper winner) • PORTUGESE CADDY (twice 2yo winner)
DAPPER
(GB) Bay 16.2 by HERNANDO ex. ALOUETTE (DARSHAAN) Unraced Half brother to champion fillies ALBORADA and ALBANOVA • Top Class Pedigree • First crop to run 2009 • First ever runner, FINBARS FLYNN placed in a Catterick bumper 30/01/09 • Superb Temperament • Young Stock can be seen
Further Details contact Chris Dawson
01388 720275 / 07796530084
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TBA FORUM
Ffos Las will be open for inspection by TBA members on Thursday, May 28
2009 Regional Days Members will receive an application form for the Regional Day in their area in due course. Members are also welcome to attend days outside their region, as long as there are places available. If you would like to attend a day outside your region, please contact Samantha Knight on 01638 661321,
or e-mail her at Samantha@thetba.co.uk. We are looking forward to an exciting line-up of events and hope that as many members as possible will join us on these days, not only for the visit but also to meet fellow members, the TBA staff and to discuss any regional issues that are affecting you.
SOUTH WEST Monday, March 30 – David Pipe’s Pond House Stables
Ffos Las racecourse, followed by luncheon
YORKSHIRE Thursday, May 7 – Ferdy Murphy’s Wynbury Stables, a speaker over lunch, to be followed by a tour of Theakston Brewery
PHOTO: HUW EVANS AGENCY
SCOTLAND Wednesday, May 20 – A visit to the Royal Dick Veterinary School in Edinburgh, plus a speaker over lunch THE NORTH Thursday, May 21 – A morning seminar at Haydock Park racecourse, followed by racing WALES Thursday, May 28 – A tour of the new
SOUTH EAST Thursday, June 25 – Whitsbury Manor Racing Stables, home to Ralph Beckett, followed by a tour of Whitsbury Manor Stud EAST ANGLIA Tuesday, July 14 – A tour of the Godolphin stables and the Newmarket Equine Hospital WEST MIDLANDS Thursday, July 23 – George Baker’s Far Westfields Farm, followed by a tour of Upton Viva Stud THE WEST Tuesday, May 26 – Richard Hannon’s yard and Raffin Stud
DATE FOR THE DIARY… TBA Seminar – ‘British Breeding: Now and in the Future’ – Tuesday, June 30; Tattersalls, Newmarket The 2009 TBA Seminar will focus on the business of running a stud in the current economic climate, with topics including selection of stock, demand for product, finance and marketing. Aimed at existing and potential new breeders, the seminar will also offer a forum for discussion on key issues that face breeders, including how best to sustain a healthy industry for the future. Further details will follow next month, but for now please put the date in your diary and ensure that you are free to attend this not-to-be-missed event. DIARY DATES AND REMINDERS March 8 – EBF/TBA Mares’ Only Novices’ Steeple Chase Final, Newbury March 10 – Cheltenham Breeders’ Club Day (Champion Hurdle Day) April 16 – Cheltenham Breeders’ Club Day (NH Breeders’ Day) TBA New Members Please contact Stanstead House on 01638 661321 if you have any queries. HOME: Mr S Bullimore, Essex. Mr C Brandon, Buckinghamshire. Mr R Morecombe, London. Mr D Barker, North Yorkshire. Mr J Breslin, London. Ms J Marles, Warwickshire. Mr T Bostwick, Wiltshire. Mr J Hancock, Norfolk. Mr I Lees & Miss L Cummings, Cornwall. M P & R J Coleman, Surrey. Wattlefield Stud, Norfolk. Mr & Mrs R Lamb, North Yorkshire.
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TBA FORUM
Breeders’ Prizes
National Hunt HBLB Breeders’ Prizes worth £1,000 or more Based on dates money was paid
Breeder Gleadhill House Stud Ltd
Prize (£) 10,000
Horse
Sire
Dam
Cloudy Lane
Cloudings
Celtic Cygnet Seal Indigo
Date
Course
17/01/09
Haydock Park
Bricklow Ltd
7,700
*Deep Purple
Halling
19/12/08
Ascot
T J Billington
7,500
*Cill Rialaig
Environment Friend Pang Valley Girl
01/01/09
Cheltenham
Mr C G M Lloyd-Baker
5,200
Planet Of Sound
Kayf Tara
29/12/08
Newbury
14/01/09
Newbury
Herald The Dawn
Mrs C W Middleton
4,800
Private Be
Gunner B
Foxgrove
18/12/08
Exeter
F T Adams & E J Fenaroli
4,800
*Fleet Street
Wolfhound
Farmer’s Pet
27/12/08
Kempton Park
J K M Oliver
4,800
Rambling Minster
Minster Son
Howcleuch
01/01/09
Cheltenham
Jennie M Raymond
4,800
Jass
Robellino
Iota
10/01/09
Ayr
Wood Farm Stud
3,600
Kia Kaha
Sir Harry Lewis
Not Enough
12/01/09
Fakenham
*Asturienne
Sleeping Car
Asturias
26/12/08
Huntingdon
Mr & Mrs B Mayoh
2,600
Kornati Kid
Kayf Tara
Hiltonstown Lass
18/12/08
Exeter
P E Axon
2,600
*Dream Falcon
Polar Falcon
Pip’s Dream
18/12/08
Ludlow
Peter Nelson
2,600
*According To Pete Accordion
Magic Bloom
20/12/08
Newcastle
P Murphy
2,600
Carole’s Legacy
Carole’s Crusader
18/12/08
Ludlow
Sir Harry Lewis
G W Sivell
2,600
Midnight Sail
Midnight Legend
Mayina
19/12/08
Ascot
J M Castle
2,600
Royal Mackintosh
Sovereign Water
Quick Quote
21/12/08
Carlisle
Mrs A F Tullie
2,600
More Likely
Shambo
Admire-A-More
21/12/08
Carlisle
P B Shaw
2,600
Busy Isit
Busy Flight
Eatons
28/12/08
Leicester
J H Henderson
2,600
Dream Garden
Kayf Tara
Arcady
28/12/08
Leicester
The Earl Of Halifax
2,600
Shenanigan
Groom Dancer
Trick
30/12/08
Taunton
E R Hanbury
2,600
Ferimon
Terimon
Rhyming Moppet
12/01/09
Fakenham
Marytn Forrester
2,600
Double Dizzy
Double Trigger
Miss Diskin
17/01/09
Wincanton
Philip C and Kathyrn M Dando
1,500
Bella Haze
Midnight Legend
Kristal Haze
27/12/08
Chepstow
N E and Mrs Poole & Trickledown Stud
1,500
Strokestown
Kayf Tara
Cathryn’s Song
20/01/09
Sedgefield
G Heal
1,300
Lamanver Homerun Relief Pitcher
Bizimki
18/12/08
Exeter
Mrs D O Joly
1,300
The Randy Bishop
Bishop Of Cashel Fly South
26/12/08
Market Rasen
Lord Oaksey
1,300
Carruthers
Kayf Tara
Plaid Maid
12/01/09
Fakenham
B J Eckley
1,300
Jaunty Flight
Busy Flight
Jaunty June
14/01/09
Newbury
Mrs A M Upsdell
1,000
*Donny Briggs
Orpen
Passionate Pursuit
20/12/08
Newcastle
Mrs S L Brimble
1,000
Jau
Kayf Tara
Jadidh
26/12/08
Wincanton
* second tier (40% of Breeders’ Prize awarded)
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 69
OwnerBreeder Ad pages 03.09:OwnerBreeder Ad pages 02.09
Gamut
16.2hh
Bay 1999 Spectrum - Greektown (Ela-Mana-Mou)
Outc r for S oss adler ’s Wells line
GR.1 & GR.2 WINNER OF 6 RACES (11-13F) INCL; GR.1 GRAND PRIX DE SAINT CLOUD 12F SAINT CLOUD (by 3 lengths beating Policy Maker, Westerner, etc.)
Gr.2 Princess Of Wales Stakes 12f Newmarket (by 8 lengths beating Day Flight. Millenary etc.)
1st foals made up to €110,000 and €90,000 Covered a full book of mares his first three seasons incl. dams of/sisters to: Kicking King, Our Vic, Southern Vic, Nathen Lad, Grangeclare Lark, Beef Or Salmon, Waterloo Boy, Bradbury Star, Fireball McNamara, Oscar Park - all Grade 1 or Grade 2 winners
Old Vic
16.1hh
Bay 1986 Sadler’s Wells - Cockade
Champion National Hunt sire 07/08 season - total winnings - €1,618,397 FOALS HAVE MADE UP TO €170,000 Michael Hickey Sunnyhill Stud, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare Tel: +353 (0) 45 481201 Mob: +353 (0) 87 2500686
70 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER MARCH 2009
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What role do vitamins play in the diet ?
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TBA FORUM
Sponsored by
THE SPECIAL SECTION FOR TBA MEMBERS
PHOTO: GEORGE SELWYN
Big Fella Thanks is getting his act together over fences and has been allotted 10st 7lb in the National
NH Breeder of the Month: January - Richard Wilding Impressive Sky Bet Chase winner Big Fella Thanks was bred from a mare who cost the princely sum of 600 guineas at auction TBA initiative has played a pivotal role in January’s National Hunt Breeder of the Month award. In December 1994, the association held its first select sale of NH stock. One of the cheaper lots was a yearling by Derrylin, out of Preacher’s Gem. She was bought by Richard Wilding and, as Nunsdream, has become the dam of Big Fella Thanks, winner of Doncaster’s Sky Bet Chase in January, for which Wilding receives a year’s free nutritional consultancy and 20 sacks of stud feed balancer from TopSpec. “It’s wonderful to have bred such a good horse,” said Wilding, “but I was a bit worried when I bought Nunsdream originally. I first saw her walking down the passage way at the sale and I was very surprised to be able to buy her cheaply for 600gns. But on closer inspection she turned out to be very pigeon-toed. We tried to race her, but she was always going lame.” A former professional jockey, Wilding took over the family farm outside Church Stretton in Shropshire from his father, who always had horses around the place. “Until this season I have only ever had one mare at any one time,” he said, “but now I have both Nunsdream, who is due to Kayf Tara at the end of May, and her first foal, Inkpen, who is carrying her first foal, by Rainbow High. “At the moment there are four more of
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13/2/09
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Standing at Dairy House Stud CROSSPEACE
Open day on 8th March 2.30pm
Cape Cross – Announcing Peace (Danehill)
(Bay 2002 (16.1hh)). Dual Stakes Winner. Very fertile – 95% fertility on first covering • First foals due 2009. Fee for 2009 – £1,000 1st October. Concessions for approved mares. Limited number of FREE nominations for breeders sending mares to BARYSHNIKOV or SEPTIEME CIEL.
BARYSHNIKOV
Kenmare – Lady Giselle (Nureyev)
(Grey 1991 (16.1hh)). Group 1 Winner producing Group Winners. 55% winners/runners • Now also producing Point to Point winners • Over 90% fertility. Fee for 2009 – £1,750 1st October. Concessions for approved mares.
SEPTIEME CIEL
Seattle Slew – Maximova (Green Dancer)
(Bay 1987 (16.1hh)). Group 1 Winner producing Group Winners on the flat and over jumps. 63% winners/runners • Successful Broodmare Sire of Group 1 winners • 90% fertility. Fee for 2009 – £1,950 1st October. Concessions for approved mares.
Enquiries Rob & Kin Young Tel: 01985 211014, Mobile: 07798 783634. Email: info@dairyhousestud.co.uk website: www.dairyhousestud.co.uk
Standing at
Dairy House Stud Quality stallions at affordable prices
Ludlow Farm, Bradley Road, Warminster, BA12 7JY.
BEECHWOOD GRANGE STALLIONS FOR 2009
Paris House
Desideratum
Grey 1989, 16.1 h.h. by PETONG – FOUDROYER (Artaius)
Bay 2002, 16.11⁄2 h.h. by DARSHAAN – DESIRED (Rainbow Quest)
Group winner of 6 races at 2 years:
Winner of 4 races and £152,677 incl:
WON Gr.2 Flying Childers Stakes WON Newbury Sales Super Sprint Trophy Arlington Stakes, Newmarket, 5f. Strawberry Hill Stakes, Pontefract Fountains Stakes, Ripon, 5f EBF Grey Friars Stakes, Doncaster
Won Gr.3 Prix du Lys, 12f, Longchamp Won Prix de Gravelle, 12f, Longchamp by 4l Won Prix des Marronniers, 12f, Longchamp
Stakes winner at 3 years: WON LR
Won Prix de L’Avre, 12f, Longchamp
Field Marshal Stakes, Haydock, 5f.
2nd Gr.1 Grand Prix de Paris, 12f, Longchamp to Classic winner SCORPION
Dual Group winner from 5 starts at 4 years: WON Gr.2 Temple Stakes, Sandown WON Gr.3 Palace House Stakes, Newmarket FEE 2009:
£2,000 October 1st (Non vat)
Already sire of the winners of over 375 races, total over £3.7m.
Dam DESIRED, is half-sister to FEE 2009:
£2,000 October 1st (Non vat) Gr.1 winning juvenile MEDAALY and highclass CHARNWOOD FOREST – a top class stallion producing family 19 Group winners under the first 3 dams.
And in 2008 sire of one of the fastest 2-Y-Os in training: AMOUR PROPRE (left) – brilliant winner of the Gr.3 Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot. Also set new juvenile records at Bath and Warwick! Trainer Henry Candy said at Ascot "He's made unbelievable physical progress in the last year and I don't see why he shouldn't train on in 2009 as a 5f horse, pure and simple. He is fully entitled to be mentioned in the same breath as Kyllachy and Airwave".
FIRST YEARLINGS 2009.
21 GROUP WINNERS UNDER FIRST THREE DAMS
STEVE KNOWLES, BEECHWOOD GRANGE STUD, Malton Road, York YO32 9TH. Tel: 01904 424573 Fax: 01904 427079 Website: www.beechwoodgrangestud.com E-mail: steve@beechwoodgrangestud.com
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Breeders in the News – Richard Phizacklea Small-scale owner-breeder sees a daughter of his first broodmare eclipse her bigger-name rivals to capture a valuable Grade 2 prize at Doncaster
Christian Williams and Big Fella Thanks take the Sky Bet Chase
“Tom Costello bought Big Fella Thanks for the asking price as soon as he arrived – obviously I didn’t ask enough”
PHOTOS: STEVEN CARGILL
– Richard Wilding Nunsdream’s progeny here. A five-year-old Karinga Bay mare, who is due to start off in point-to-points, a four-year-old gelding by Beat All, who will go to the Gala sale at Cheltenham, a three-year-old gelding by Nomadic Way, and a yearling filly by Beat All.” Wilding tried to sell Big Fella Thanks as a foal at Doncaster in November 2002, but the son of Primitive Rising failed to make his reserve. Then fellow Shropshire breeder Richard Kent came up with a suggestion. “He said, ‘Put him on my lorry, I’m taking a load of horses across to Tom Costello in Ireland’. “On arrival, the youngster came down the ramp and after five strides Tom Costello said he would have him for the asking price, so obviously I didn’t ask enough!” It was from Costello that the Paul Nichollstrained Big Fella Thanks was procured on behalf of Denman’s joint owners, Paul Barber and Margaret Findlay. The gelding’s grandam, Preacher’s Gem, who scored over hurdles, was a half-sister to two multiple winners in David’s Duky (Eider Chase winner) and Rolls Rambler, a top hunter chaser. Staying is obviously a family trait as Nunsdream’s own-brother, Rip Kirby, won over four miles between the flags.
Pagan Starprincess’s victory over Chomba Womba in the Grade 2 mares’ hurdle at Doncaster on January 24 may have been a shock to punters, but it was also a surprise to her connections. Officially rated 25lb inferior to her more illustrious rival, winner of the Ascot Hurdle and the Elite Hurdle, both Grade 2 contests, earlier in the season, Pagan Starprincess was in receipt of just 5lb on the day and started the race at 28-1. Yet the George Moore-trained five-year-old found plenty when it was needed to take the spoils, to the delight of her owner-breeder Richard Phizacklea. “We expected her to run well at Doncaster and fancied her to be placed, but we never expected to beat Chomba Womba,” said Phizacklea, a retired mechanical engineer from Over Kellet, near Carnforth, Lancashire. “You could see that AP McCoy was asking the favourite for everything, while Barry [Keniry] was travelling better, so I knew that we were in with a decent chance. “Pagan Starprincess is a lovely mare and now a valuable one. I don’t think she has reached her potential yet. The ultimate intention is to breed from her.” Phizacklea’s path to breeding racehorses has not been
conventional. He bought Pagan Star, the dam of Pagan Starprincess, for £1,500 as an intended hack, after his previous horse had been poisoned. However, when Weatherbys informed him that she was a good prospect for breeding, Phizacklea spent eight weeks studying the 1999 Stallion Book. He sent Pagan Star to River Falls for two coverings, before, with his next mating, selecting the stallion Robertico, a son of Robellino. Phizacklea explained: “I went to Beechwood Grange Stud in Yorkshire, primarily to look at Paris House. But there was something about this other stallion, Robertico; he had won the German Derby on heavy ground and I thought he was the right choice for my mare. “Although I didn’t know much about thoroughbreds – I come from a farming background and was more used to Clydesdales – I went with my instinct. “Pagan Star, who boards at Norton Grove Stud, is in foal to Presidium, while her daughter Presidium Star will join my broodmare band and is set to be covered by Bollin Eric.” Phizacklea is now considering Pagan Starprincess’s future, with her likely target the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle.
Richard Phizacklea and Barry Keniry savour Pagan Starprincess’s Grade 2 win
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VIEW FROM IRELAND FROM LEO POWELL
Foley’s warning ITBA Chairman emphasises the value to the economy of racing and bloodstock t was not my intention to start this column with what might appear to be a history lesson. Nonetheless, I will begin by naming four patriots who all were acknowledged as great public speakers, whether on the hustings of Ireland or in the halls of Westminster. Robert Emmet, Daniel O’Connell, Henry Grattan and Charles Stewart Parnell were all revered as great orators, whether one agreed with their politics or not. Indeed, O’Connell is widely written about as the greatest of them all. Oratory is skill or eloquence in public speaking and, while I would not elevate him to the ranks of the quartet of gentlemen named above, Joe Foley had his audience riveted when he addressed some 400 guests at the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association annual awards dinner on January 31. Speaking against a backdrop of the worldwide economic recession, Foley set out his stall in no uncertain terms. While there were few politicians present – and those that were are members of the main opposition party – the message that he had to send to Government was unambiguous. Indeed, such was the power of his delivery that a week later his speech was being referred to by no less a noteworthy duo than Ireland’s EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy and Denis Brosnan, the chairman of Horse Racing Ireland. Following two very prosperous four-year periods when the funding of Irish racing was guaranteed, no such funding guarantee exists for 2009. Strenuous efforts are being made to resolve this.
I
Delivered with a theatrical flair, Foley proposed many scenarios that seem unthinkable. Imagine no bloodstock industry in Ireland, no racing, no racecourses, no owners, no trainers, no jockeys, no sales companies, no breeders. Delving deeper, he asked the audience to imagine no Arkle, no Nijinsky, no Dawn Run, no Sadler’s Wells. What would our world be like without Vincent O’Brien, Tom Dreaper, John Magnier, Michael Kinane, Ruby Walsh or Aidan O’Brien? Then, with a neat twist, he posed what would be a very relevant question at any time and especially now. What would the Government say if a group of entrepreneurial men and women approached them and asked them to make some money available for a start-up industry that
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would employ between 15,000 and 20,000 people in rural areas? Added bonuses would include the fact that the industry would be a major exporter, earn lots of money for the exchequer, would attract foreign investment and be environmentally friendly. An undoubted difficulty for the Government is the public perception that racing is about an elite few, usually categorised as non-taxpayers. Sadly, our national papers only portray the industry thus. If they are not so doing, they are promoting the success of racing festivals such as Galway, the Curragh and Punchestown, causing many to ask about a need for funding. What they do not do is to talk about the small breeders, the backbone of the breeding industry, the smaller stallion operations that are up against the major stallion farms, and the ‘humdrum’ midweek racedays that provide owners, trainers and jockeys with the opportunity to earn a living and repay some of the considerable investment they have made in the business. Racing is a sport and breeding is a hobby for some. For many, though, it is also a very serious business and a significant employer. I could not sum up the situation any better than Foley did, when saying: “I ask our political leaders to take the correct and sometimes brave decisions, like their predecessors have done in the past, and support this great industry so that we can be here in ten, 20 or 30 years time, celebrating more outstanding horses and people.” And so say all of us.
Words: Leo Powell is Managing Editor of The Irish Field
PHOTOS: ITBA/PUNCHESTOWN RACECOURSE
Theatrical flair
Joe Foley (right) and the Aga Khan at the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association awards
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INTERNATIONAL SCENE
Silver-tongued O’Sullivan Punchestown has been at the heart of the Irish psyche for generations. For National Hunt followers here, it is the Dick O’Sullivan Holy Grail. Cheltenham is a Mecca for Irish racegoers, but as EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy mentioned tongue in cheek at a press conference recently, it can only stretch to four days, while Punchestown manages five! Amid the torrent of bad news that proliferate our newspapers, radios and televisions, Punchestown Manager Dick O’Sullivan recently teamed up with a topclass panel and proudly announced that the Kildare racecourse had secured a sponsor for every race at the 2009 festival. The so-called Celtic Tiger boom in Ireland saw an explosion of wealth, with a key area being construction. Many millionaires were spawned as a consequence and many of these became owners of racehorses, particularly in the jumps sphere. With the downturn, many of these same individuals have been worst affected and their involvement in racing seriously reduced. The effect at the sales has been obvious. With many of their companies making workers redundant, sponsorship of racing has been cut. Fears that this would impact negatively on Punchestown has proved unfounded and this is in part due to the foresight of O’Sullivan and his team. Realising at an early stage that the economic climate was likely to have repercussions for the 2009
Punchestown Festival, O’Sullivan decided to strike early and secure sponsors, tailor corporate packages, introduce a value for money package for racegoers and cut costs. He even managed all of this with a smile on his face! Indeed, he waxed lyrical about one sponsor, Sean Mulryan, who has committed for the 2009 festival and through his Ballymore Properties he will sponsor Europe’s richest handicap hurdle on the final day of the meeting. O’Sullivan is a man who is difficult to describe. A genial Kerryman, he is a public relations operator supreme, a diplomat, a hustler, a motivator and much more. He possesses the charm to be equally at ease with all who come in contact with him and he leaves no stone unturned in ensuring he gets what he wants. Someone told me many years ago that a diplomat was a person who could tell you to go to hell in such a way that you looked forward to the visit. That could describe the silver-tongued O’Sullivan! Indeed, he showed these skills early this year when the contract with bookmakers Paddy Power ran out and Punchestown awarded the new contract for providing the oncourse bookmaking services to Ladbrokes. In addition, he signed Ladbrokes up to a three-year sponsorship of the Grade 1 World Series Hurdle. This appeared to put the Paddy Power sponsorship at the festival in jeopardy, but O’Sullivan was able to tell the assembled dignitaries at the press launch that “we are glad Paddy Power is still part of the family at Punchestown.” The Irish firm sponsors the Grade 1 Festival Bumper.
Punchestown struck early to secure sponsors for every race at its five-day festival in 2009
The Five Freedoms – Freedom from hunger and thirst – Freedom from discomfort – Freedom from pain, injury and disease – Freedom to express normal behaviour – Freedom from fear and distress Welfare issues are a concern at any time and especially when money is tight and sales prospects are not bright. To this end, and in association with the overproduction problems faced in both the thoroughbred and sport horse sectors, a number of bodies have been issuing warnings to horse owners. Once again, people in the industry need to be aware of this and of the consequences of not caring for their stock. Unattributed sources have spoken to journalists with national newspapers in Ireland, making lots of fanciful claims about mass abandonment of unsold lots at sales, tales of dozens of horseboxes parked at the exits to the sales companies to take away unwanted horses, and wholesale ‘slaughtering’ of horses for pet food. There is nothing like sensationalist headlines to capture the hearts and minds of the non-racing public and tar the industry’s name. Publications such as this and others may write rationally about the issues but we have to remember that we are preaching to ourselves. The need is for the public at large to be aware of the fact that the vast majority of owners and breeders care for their charges. The few bad apples should not be allowed to tarnish the whole barrel. As a reminder to ourselves, veterinary surgeon Liz O’Flynn issued the above Five Freedoms policy and these are worth noting and adhering to at all times. Practicing in Galway, O’Flynn is chairperson of Veterinary Ireland’s Animal Welfare Committee.
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CONTINENTAL TALES THE NEWS FROM MAINLAND EUROPE
Cima De Triomphe (grey horse) wins the 2008 Derby Italiano; this year’s race has lost its Group 1 status
Calm after the storm nyone involved in the Italian racing industry must have been relieved to see the back of 2008. Against a background of falling betting turnover, plummeting prize-money and a well-founded perception that racing was getting a raw deal from the Government, unrest culminated in a 31-day long strike that blighted the normally hectic autumn season. Thankfully, prospects for the coming campaign are much brighter, even though the Derby Italiano has lost its Group 1 status. The race, by far the most valuable of the year, will be run on a Saturday for the first time, on May 9, and remains at the 11-furlong trip it dropped to 12 months ago. The Government has agreed to subsidise racing to the tune of €150 million (£135m) for the next two seasons (dropping to €130m in 2011), financing the move via scratchcard and slot machine revenue. That means total prize-money, on the slide for the last six years, will receive a much-needed boost after falling below €40m following last
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year’s strikes. It had been over €64m in 2002. The new subsidy means that prizes will at least return to something close to 2007 levels in the coming season. Equally significant is a promised 10% reduction in the total number of races in each of the next three seasons. While monetary rewards have been on a downward spiral, the number of opportunities (and thus percentage of the total pot) available to less able horses has crept upwards. Such a lop-sided prize-money structure is borne out by the stallion standings, as last term Dr Devious was able to become champion sire for the third consecutive year through sheer weight of numbers. This was despite not having a single representative among the 120 top-rated horses of the year on official figures. Many challenges still remain. For instance, some betting outlets charge racing a handling fee of up to 18% – a massive commission compared to France, where PMU outlets can charge as little as one tenth that amount.
PHOTOS: STEFANO GRASSO/GEORGE SELWYN
Words: James Crispe
Last year was one to forget for Italian racing. Not everything is looking rosy for 2009, but at least stability should return
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INTERNATIONAL SCENE
Spain
Germany
The Spanish flag has been fluttering above Nad Al Sheba for the first time during the current Carnival thanks to the Roman Martin-trained pair of Polan and Flying Blue. Both are owned by the Marques de Villatoya, whose blue and yellow silks are the third oldest in Spain and were first registered by his father in 1928. Representing the Marques in Dubai is his nephew, 33-year-old Alfonso Ramos, who has a share in the horses along with five of his eight older brothers and three of his cousins. The family keep their two mares near Tarbes in southern France and, although they have just seven horses in training, these include both the Dubai visitors and a third stakes performer, King Of Cry. “We only want quality horses,” said Ramos. “One of my brothers, Andres, has the best bloodstock library in Spain and he does the pedigree research before we go the sales. “The main reason we have come to Dubai is the prestige – we want to show the world what Spanish horses can do. It’s a learning experience for us. We have been watching other trainers as they give us a masterclass.” Unfortunately, Polan and Flying Blue have so far failed to add to the recent international triumphs of their compatriots Equiano and Bannaby.
Equiano lands a blow for Spain at Royal Ascot in 2008
German racing has received a boost with the news that Barbara von Gaertner will keep Stall Blankenese running after the death of her husband Franz Günther. The Hamburg-based stable enjoyed a superb 2008, winning the Deutsches Derby for the third time with Kamsin, who followed up with two more Group 1 successes. Its stallion, Samum, was champion sire in Germany, with only three crops on the track. And it became champion owner for the first time. “I was a partner with my husband in all our horses”, said Barbara von Gaertner “and I have every intention of continuing in the same dimensions as before. There are outside partners in a couple of our horses, including Kamsin, but never with more than 30%. “We have nine horses in training. I also own 80% of Samum, who stands at Gestüt Karlshof, then we have a couple of foals and broodmares. In all we have 14 thoroughbreds.” That Samum stands at Karlshof is no coincidence, as he was bred there, as were Blankenese´s other two Derby winners, Schiaparelli and Kamsin. “My husband and Bruno Faust [whose family own and run Karlshof] had an excellent symbiosis,” von Gaertner explained. “He used to go to the stud and pick out the ones he liked, relying purely on his gut feeling. And as the results show, his instinct was rarely wrong.” As far as this season is concerned, she will let her trainers make the decisions. She added: “Obviously we are hoping for more Group 1s for Kamsin. He will be aimed at the top international races in the second half of the season. “Our main classic hope is Jambalaya, while Seventh Sky is a two-year-old to look forward to.”
Greece Christos Theodorakis, champion trainer in Greece for the past six years, is spreading his wings. Not content with dominating the sport at home, where there is just one racecourse and he has won all the big races at least twice, he broke new ground on January 16 when saddling Never Walk Alone to victory in the Prix des Glaieuls at Cagnes-sur-Mer, his first overseas success. That was a claimer and afterwards Never Walk Alone was snapped up by trainer Yannick Fertillet. Once the Cagnes season is over, Theodorakis intends to move his four remaining raiders up to Lyon and it will be interesting to see how Greek form measures up in France over a prolonged period. The 44-year-old has dipped his toe in international waters once before, preparing Athinaios to finish down the field in the 2005 Godolphin Mile. And he is raiding Dubai again this term, with recent acquisitions Bucintoro and Contest. Back home he has some 90 horses under his care and acts as bloodstock advisor to Never Walk Alone’s breeder Theodore Nanos, whose two-farm Nanos Stud operation is situated in the Kastro region, an hour and a half drive north of Athens. It houses 43 mares and four stallions, including the 1997 Queen Anne Stakes winner Allied Forces, who also won in the USA. Theodorakis is a regular at Tattersalls sales in Newmarket and pulled off of a notable coup there when buying the Zafonic mare Mialuna in 2004 for 12,500gns, then, following the racecourse exploits of her best progeny Papal Bull, selling her on for 255,000gns three years later.
European News In Brief Balmy or barmy? As we shiver through the coldest winter for many a long year, some consolation can be gleaned by the adverse weather that has been playing havoc with the racing programme in the supposedly balmy south of France. Rain has been the problem down at Cagnes-sur-Mer, just outside Nice, where they lost
three days of their 11-fixture jump meeting either side of Christmas. The turf course was by then in such a state that the subsequent six-week Flat meeting has yet to see a single race staged on the grass, the contests all being transferred to the adjoining allweather track. Pau, much further west, has enjoyed better fortune, losing just four races during its ten-week
winter meeting. But tempers frayed after the abandonment of February 2’s Flat meeting at Marseille Borely, jockeys’ representative Stephane Richardot fuming: “The course isn’t dangerous, it’s just very heavy ground. I don’t understand why the stewards called it off.” National Hunt downsizing Jumps racing continues to wither
outside its heartland of Britain, Ireland and France. The latest negative development is the abandonment of the jumps course at San Siro in Milan. All Milan’s races have been moved to Merano, one of just five remaining jumps venues in the whole of Italy, alongside the Capannelle, Pisa, Grossetto and Treviso.
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GOING GLOBAL
THE COLUMN THAT EMBRACES EVERY CONTINENT
Sultan’s fortunes shining High-profile international success on the track is supplemented by new bloodstock, as Saudi prince shows he means business audi Arabian Prince Sultan bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Kabeer is making it known that he intends to increase his impact on racing. Just before his stable opened its account at the Dubai International Racing Carnival with three impressive stakes wins, including the UAE 1,000 Guineas with Argentine-bred So Shiny, Prince Sultan acquired promising young American stallion Soto, a nine-year-old son of Dehere, for his Saudi stud. Prince Sultan has about 90 mares after a recent cull but his bloodstock manager Eamonn McEvoy said: “Prince Sultan is very keen on rebuilding his broodmare band with young mares in foal to fashionable American stallions that will give us a mix of two-year-olds, milers and horses that will go the Classic distance. “Soto will cover about 40 to 45 mares this year and the majority of them are either blacktype runners or producers, so we feel it is a very good first Saudi Arabian book for him.” On the racing front for Prince Sultan, former Florida juvenile star Big City Man won his second consecutive race in Dubai, capturing the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint, thus stamping himself as a contender for the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen on March 28. American Jerry Barton, who has returned to Saudi Arabia to train for Prince Sultan after retiring in 2005, worked his magic on Big City Man after the son
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of Northern Afleet was sidelined for all of 2008. Barton also saddled Prince Sultan’s homebred Deem, a daughter of Dalakhani foaled in Ireland and undefeated in three Saudi Arabian starts, to win the Group 3 Cape Verdi Stakes at Nad Al Sheba on February 5. The next day, he sent out So Shiny, who was Group 1-placed in her native land but had not raced since May, to trounce nine rivals in the $250,000 UAE 1,000 Guineas. In addition to Soto, Saudi Arabian breeders have also gained Numerous, an 18-year-old son of Mr Prospector who previously stood at Haras du Quesnay in France. Numerous, who has sired at least seven champions during shuttle seasons to Argentina, will stand at Al Mughtaragh Stud, near Riyadh.
Words: Michele MacDonald
Prince Sultan’s Big City Man has been nursed back to health by his trainer Jerry Barton
“Prince Sultan is very keen on rebuilding his broodmare band and providing a mix of racehorses” – Eamonn McEvoy
New Zealand Bloodstock officials pronounced that they were pleased even though seven sessions of yearling sales that concluded on February 2 in Karaka yielded gross that declined 33% from recordbreaking results in 2008. “The market here has proven robust in the face of these worldwide economic challenges,” said Managing Director Petrea Vela. “Unfortunately we have seen figures down on last year but that was to be expected.” A total of 1,199 yearlings from 1,710 catalogued sold for NZ$74,624,700
(£26,732,672) compared with the $111,148,850 generated a year ago, which was up 36% on the previous record set in 2007 of $81,238,200. In Australia, Magic Millions officials said they were content with the seven-day Conrad Jupiter sale, for which 1,327 yearlings were catalogued, although total figures and comparable numbers to last year were not made readily available. “It’s been a great sale,” said Managing Director David Chester. “We were glad to have such strong figures after a very uncertain outlook leading into the new year.”
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Magic Millions reached out to breeders and consignors with what it billed as the “best commission rates in Australasia” for its National Weanling and Broodmare sales in late May and early June. Commissions will be 6% for prices up to AUS$100,000 (£45,233), 4% for prices between $100,001 and $150,000, and 2% for anything over $150,000. “We think being able to give something back to broodmare and weanling sellers at all levels this year is important,” said Chester. “We are confident breeders will be impressed.”
PHOTOS: HORSEPHOTOS.COM/MICHELE MACDONALD
New Zealand suffers 33% sales drop; Australia also down
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INTERNATIONAL SCENE
Economy woes prompt Breeders’ Cup officials to make statement
Darley sire Hard Spun enjoys the snow, as do Orellana and her new born foal at Mill Ridge
Cold embrace costs Kentucky dear Just about two weeks before the beginning of the breeding season, ice gripped Kentucky in a cold embrace that is estimated to have caused $50 million worth of damage due to falling trees, power cuts and accidents. Some farms in the Bluegrass region went without power for a week or more during the early part of foaling season. About 700,000 Kentuckians lost power overall. “Branches fell everywhere and a lot of fences were knocked down,” said Matt Koch, President of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers’ Club. “A lot of people were foaling mares in the dark and it was bitter cold to go along with it.” Thankfully, there were no reports of horses being badly injured due to the weather, Koch said. However, some farms and veterinarians found it difficult to treat
horses who became ill when confined for longer than normal periods due to the conditions, while breeders found it difficult to transport others to clinics due to dangerous roadways. Large studs such as WinStar Farm and Taylor Made Farm took out advertisements in industry publications listing mobile numbers for personnel, so breeders could continue to book mares even though main phone lines and computer systems were not working. Juddmonte Farms’ General Manager Garrett O’Rourke estimated damage from tree limbs to be $100,000 to $150,000 (£67,168 to £100,757) at Khalid Abdullah’s property south of Lexington. Other farms affected by power cuts were Coolmore’s Ashford Stud and Claiborne Farm. “We’re just lucky we weren’t in the middle of breeding season,” said Koch.
New dawn for Korea as Hawk wings in A new era is poised to begin in South Korean racing with the importation over the last few years of many stallions with impressive pedigree or racing credentials, the most recent of which was Coolmore’s multiple Group 1 winner Hawk Wing. But until he and other newcomers such as American sires Menifee, Forest Camp, Vicar, Volponi and Yankee Victor can make their mark, the existing champion Didyme will be hard to usurp. Bred and raced by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, Didyme won his first career start by defeating Kingmambo by two lengths and later scored a Group 2 victory in the US. The Korean leading sire title for 2008 was the fourth Didyme, a 19-year-
old son of Dixieland Band, has notched since beginning his stud career there in 1998. The Korean Stud Book lists a total of 96 stallions, 63 of them American-breds. Ft Stockton, a four-time stakes-winning son of Cure The Blues, who sired 2007 Korean Triple Crown winner J S Hold, covered 85 mares in 2008 to lead all stallions in Korea. Some of the rising young sires include Creek Cat, an unraced son of Storm Cat who ranked as leading sire of juveniles last year, and Lethal Instrument, a stakeswinning son of Gulch who was second behind deceased New Zealand-bred Tahamkke among first crop sires.
Even worse than the stormy winter weather for American breeders and owners is the ongoing economic crisis. The depth of the American economic problem became even clearer when the Keeneland Association, fresh off a stinging sale decline of more than 50% at its January horses of all ages auction, cut purses by US$600,000 (£403,041) for its spring race meeting while eliminating two stakes races from the calendar. Keeneland is an American leader in purse distribution. “The stakes purse reductions are the result of a combination of factors – loss of sponsors, the economy and a decline in sale revenues,” said Director of Racing Rogers Beasley. January sales revenues dropped from $70.4 million in 2008 to $32.8m (£22m), the lowest level for that sale since 2003, the year of another bloodstock market crash. Following on Keeneland’s heels, nearby Churchill Downs cancelled two stakes races and cut total stakes purses from $8.1m last year to $7.575m (£5m). It has been embroiled in a war with owners and trainers who contend that the course has not contributed enough of its account wagering revenue to support live racing. Churchill partially blamed that dispute for the cuts. Just how challenging conditions are in America was underlined when Breeders’ Cup Ltd officials felt compelled to release a statement confirming they would go ahead with this year’s meeting at Santa Anita, with purses equal to last year’s record $25.5m (£15m). What the future holds for the Cup, which has been swollen by the addition of six new races and $14m in purses since 2005, remains to be seen as nomination and sponsorship revenues are declining. “Beyond 2009, it’s hard to say,” said Breeders’ Cup Chairman William Farish Jr. Churchill Downs has been chosen to host the 2010 Breeders’ Cup.
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VETS FORUM THE EXPERT VIEW
There are three main objectives when it comes to foaling – a live foal, a live mare, and to maintain the breeding status of the mare for the next year
Foaling time The miracle of birth! Foaling is an exciting time of year, however consideration must be taken to ensure both broodmare and foal receive the best care possible Words: James Tate BVMS MRCVS oaling is an important time of year for so many people worldwide. Stakes are high as it is often the culmination of years of planning. The owners and breeders have been praying for a good-looking, strong, healthy foal and the horsemen and vets responsible for the act of foaling itself have three objectives: a live foal, a live mare and to maintain the breeding status of the mare for the next year. The time that it takes for a mare to foal is absolutely crucial for all concerned. Sometimes the mating plans of a mare are last minute, but on other occasions they have been decided years in advance, with connections having done extensive pedigree analysis and bartered for the best deal on their chosen stallion.
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The breeder can get the good news from the veterinary surgeon’s ultrasound scanner that the mare is in foal from just 11 days after covering. The anticipation starts to build from here and precautionary measures are taken at an early stage. Broodmares are vaccinated regularly against influenza, tetanus, herpes (EHV 1,4) and rotavirus. Feeding starts to be increased during the last three months of pregnancy and mares often receive a further tetanus booster in the last month of pregnancy to protect the foal. Before the breeder knows it, the time of foaling is at hand. Close monitoring is essential in foaling mares and the decision has to be made early where foaling is going to take place. Most thoroughbred mares foal at
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specialist foaling units on stud farms, although mares can foal at home if the facilities, labour and expertise levels are all adequate. Ideally, mares arrive at their foaling destination six weeks before the due date so that she can get used to her new environment. It is impossible to know when exactly a mare is going to foal, but there are several physical changes indicating delivery can be monitored. These are relaxation of the pelvic ligaments, enlargement of the vulva and swelling of the udder, often with a ‘waxy’ secretion noticeable on the teat end, which is usually a sign that foaling will occur within one to four days. However, occasionally a mare will run milk well before foaling. Not only is this undesirable from the point of view of not knowing when foaling will occur, but even more undesirable is the loss of the colostrum full of antibodies. Whilst mares can foal easily in a field, foaling units are usually equipped with well-designed foaling boxes, so that help is on hand in case of complications. They should be large, bedded with clean straw and well-ventilated but free from draughts. They are usually well lit and there needs to be a way
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by which the mare can be monitored without being disturbed – at the least, this means lots of windows and in an ideal world one-way glass or CCTV. There is an enormous variation in length of pregnancy of the mare. Whilst most mares foal between 330 to 345 days after covering, foaling after just 315 days or as much as 350 days is frequently reported. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that specific mares often foal at a similar stage each year; for example, if they foal early one year, they are likely to foal early the next year. It is possible to try to measure electrolytes in udder secretions or to use foaling alarms, which rely on the breaking of a suture across the vulva in order to estimate when the mare will foal. However, the best approach is simply to watch the mare very closely without disturbing her. Foaling units are best equipped for this. The first stage of foaling
Foaling is a continuous process but it is customary to divide it into three stages. The first stage lasts between one and six hours, and is caused by the movement of the foal, which is initiated both by itself and by the contraction of the womb to push it into position. Therefore, the signs that the mare shows are those of discomfort and mild colic. The first stage of foaling ends with the rupture of the allantochorionic membrane and the escape of allantoic fluid, which is popularly referred to as the ‘waters breaking’. At this point, the mare’s tail is often bandaged and vulval area cleaned, dried and checked to make sure that she has not been stitched after covering. If she has been stitched, then the
area must be cut before the foal emerges and ideally this is done approximately one week before the mare is due. Stage two
The second stage of foaling is the delivery of the foal. Contractions increase and this hopefully produces the appearance of the glistening white ‘water bag’ or amnion, followed by the front legs of the foal, usually with one slightly ahead of the other. This stage should be a quick process that does not normally exceed 30 minutes and a vet should be called immediately if no progress is made within this time. If everything goes smoothly then the soles of the feet should appear directing downwards, the head should be found resting on the cannon bones between the knees and the most powerful contractions force the head and shoulders through the pelvis, rupturing the amnion. Once the foal’s hips are delivered the mare rests and it is generally best to leave the umbilical cord intact for as long as possible and allow it to break naturally. With luck, all that remains is to treat the umbilical cord after rupture with an antiseptic solution and to try to encourage the mare and foal to bond with as little assistance as possible. If the foal does not present itself in the correct position then this requires somebody who is experienced in foaling. The reproductive tract of the mare is more delicate than that of other large animals and as a result a difficult foaling is a true veterinary emergency. In 2003, Byron et al reported on 247 difficult foalings in the Equine Veterinary Journal and found that
“One-way glass or CCTV in a foaling box allows the mare to be monitored closely without being disturbed” the duration of difficulty whilst foaling has a significant effect on foal survival. In fact, their research calculated that if difficulties dragged on for more than one hour, then on average the foal would usually die. Experience is vital as difficult foalings represent a race against time as placental separation and asphyxiation of the foal begin approximately one hour after the onset of the second stage of foaling. One example of how knowledge can be crucial is the condition known as ‘red bag’. Occasionally, instead of the glistening white ‘water bag’, there is a tough, leathery red bag that appears at the beginning of the second stage of foaling. This is caused by premature placental separation and the ‘bag’ must be ruptured or cut open immediately. This is easy to do but does rely on an experienced person being present at the time of foaling. Plenty of clean water and lubrication is required for a difficult foaling. If manual traction cannot pull the foal out then there is a problem. It is desirable to pull the foal out by the front legs but foaling can sometimes be carried out by the back legs. If the problem is a simple mal-presentation, for example, a head and neck flexion, it may be preferable not to allow the mare to get down but to keep her up and walking round the box to avoid the foal becoming impacted in the pelvic canal.
The second stage of foaling
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Head and neck flexion: this is just one example of a malpresentation that must be corrected quickly in order to keep the mare and foal alive
However, if the foal is upside down, then allowing the mare to get up and down can actually help. If the foal is presenting itself side-on, then unfortunately caesarean section is the only other viable option. Stage three
The third and final stage of foaling involves the expulsion of the placenta and is often termed the ‘delivery of the afterbirth’. Once the foal has been delivered and is breathing on its own, it is usually put in front of its mother and they are encouraged to bond. Immediately, the focus is switched to the foal, dressing its navel, seeing it suck from its mother and later checking that it passes its meconium or first stools. However, just as
important is checking that the mare passes her placenta. This may occur immediately after delivery of the foal but the average time is approximately one hour after foaling. This should not take more than two hours and a veterinary surgeon should be on hand to attend if it has not been passed within three hours. It is usually a fairly straightforward task for the veterinary surgeon to remove a retained placenta, but if it is left too long then the mare may succumb to endometritis, laminitis and endotoxaemia, from which she may not recover. There is almost an endless list of possible post-foaling complications. Newborn foals often require veterinary attention and it may be
necessary to support their breathing, to ensure their colostrum consumption or to boost their immune status by way of a plasma transfusion if they have low antibody levels. However, it is just as important to give all mares a physical examination within 24 hours of foaling. Mares can also suffer from a wide range of problems after foaling, from minor vaginal lacerations to prolapse of the womb to major catastrophes like rupture of the womb and rupture of a major artery. Mares that start to show signs of depression, abdominal discomfort or significant bleeding after foaling could have a major problem and, if so, it is a race against time to save the mare. A successful foaling, which produces a live, healthy foal and a live, healthy mare who can breed again next year is a wonderful event. However, if there is a problem then time is of the essence from the very first stage of foaling to seeing the mare and foal safely through their first 24 hours. There is no substitute for experience and knowledge at this important time of year. I
A successful foaling is a wonderful event, and experience and knowledge are prerequisites in ensuring it happens
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Published here is the consolidated Final List of the stallions named in the final lists of stallions sent to the Co-Ordinating Committee by the British, Irish, French, Italian, German and Swiss Trustees in accordance with the Co-Ordinating Agreement. The progeny of these stallions, CONCEIVED IN 2008 IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, (the foal crop of 2009) will be eligible to enter the EBF races to be held during the year 2011 and thereafter. They will also be eligible for other relevant benefits under the EBF terms and conditions in force in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. The progeny of these stallions, CONCEIVED IN 2008, (foal crop of 2009) will have to be nominated to Breeders’ Cup Ltd as foals, if they are to be entered in the Breeders’ Cup Championship Races in the year 2011 and thereafter at the lowest entry fee, and if they are to receive other relevant benefits under the Breeders’ Cup National Stakes Programme.
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AAHSAYLAD (GB) ABOO HOM (GB) ACAMBARO (GER) ACCENTO (GB) ACCLAMATION (GB) ACROBAT (IRE) ACT ONE (GB) AD VALOREM (USA) ADIEU (GER) ADNAAN (IRE) ADVISE (FR) AESKULAP (GER) AGENT BLEU (FR) AGNES KAMIKAZE (JPN) AKBAR (IRE) AL NAMIX (FR) ALAMO BAY (USA) ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (IRE) ALFLORA (IRE) ALHAARTH (IRE) ALKAADHEM (GB) ALL PRIDE (GER) ALLEGORIC (USA) ALMATY (IRE) ALWAYS A CLASSIC (CAN) AMADEUS WOLF (GB) AMERICAN POST (GB) AMRAK AJEEB (IRE) ANABAA (USA) ANABAA BLUE (GB) ANABAA ME (FR) ANATOLY (USA) AND BEYOND (IRE) ANDROID (USA) ANGE GABRIEL (FR) ANTARCTIQUE (IRE) ANTONIUS PIUS (USA) ANZILLERO (GER) APPLE TREE (FR) APSIS (GB) ARAAFA (IRE) ARAKAN (USA) ARC ROYAL (GER) ARCADIO (GER) ARCHANGE D’OR (IRE) AREION (GER) ARKADIAN HERO (USA) ARNAQUEUR (USA) ARTAN (IRE) ARVICO (FR) ASHKALANI (IRE) ASIAN HEIGHTS (GB) ASSESSOR (IRE) ASTARABAD (USA) ATRAF (GB) AUCTION HOUSE (USA) AUENADLER (GER) AUSSIE RULES (USA) AUTHORIZED (IRE) AVONBRIDGE (GB) AWAKENED (IRE) AZAMOUR (IRE)
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BACH (IRE) BACHELOR DUKE (USA) BACHIR (IRE) BAD AS I WANNA BE (IRE) BAHAMIAN BOUNTY (GB) BAHAMIAN KNIGHT (CAN) BAHRI (USA) BAL HARBOUR (GB) BALAKHERI (IRE) BALKENHOL (IRE) BALLEROY (USA) BALLINGARRY (IRE) BALMONT (USA) BALTIC KING (GB)
BAND ON THE RUN (GB) BANDARI (IRE) BAPTIZE (USA) BARATHEA (IRE) BARATHEA GUEST (GB) BAROUD D’HONNEUR (FR) BARYSHNIKOV (AUS) BASANTA (IRE) BEAT ALL (USA) BEAT HOLLOW (GB) BEDAWIN (FR) BELENUS (GER) BENEFICIAL (GB) BERING (GB) BERKOUTCHI (FR) BERNEBEAU (FR) BERTOLINI (USA) BIENAMADO (USA) BIG BAD BOB (IRE) BIG SHUFFLE (USA) BIN AJWAAD (IRE) BISHOP OF CASHEL (GB) BLACK SAM BELLAMY (IRE) BLACKDOUN (FR) BLEU D’ALTAIR (FR) BLU CARILLON (IRE) BLUE CANARI (FR) BLUEPRINT (IRE) BOB BACK (USA) BOLD FACT (USA) BOLD PILOT (TUR) BOLLIN ERIC (GB) BONBON ROSE (FR) BONNET ROUGE (FR) BOREAL (GER) BOSPORUS (IRE) BRAM STOKER (IRE) BRAVEFOOT (GB) BRIAN BORU (GB) BRIER CREEK (USA) BROADWAY FLYER (USA) BULINGTON (FR) BUSTER KING (IRE) BUSY FLIGHT (GB) BYRON (GB) BYZANTIUM (FR)
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CACHET NOIR (USA) CACIQUE (IRE) CADEAUX GENEREUX (GB) CALCUTTA (GB) CALIFET (FR) CALL ME BIG (GER) CALUKI (GB) CAMACHO (GB) CAMERON (IRE) CANYON CREEK (IRE) CAPE CROSS (IRE) CAPE TOWN (IRE) CAPTAIN RIO (GB) CARADAK (IRE) CARDOUN (FR) CARELESS SECRETARY (USA) CARLO BANK (IRE) CARLOTAMIX (FR) CARNIVAL DANCER (GB) CATCHER IN THE RYE (IRE) CELTIC SWING (GB) CENTRAL PARK (IRE) CHARMING GROOM (FR) CHEVALIER (IRE) CHICHICASTENANGO (FR) CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (USA) CHINEUR (FR) CHOISIR (AUS) CHOPIN (SWI) CIRCUS DANCE (GB) CITY HONOURS (USA)
CLASSIC CLICHE (IRE) CLERKENWELL (USA) CLETY (FR) CLODOVIL (IRE) CLOUDINGS (IRE) CLOUSEAU (DEN) COCKNEY REBEL (IRE) COIN SILVER (USA) COMMON GROUNDS (GB) COMPTON ADMIRAL (GB) COMPTON PLACE (GB) COMTE DU BOURG (FR) CORONER (IRE) CORRI PIANO (FR) COSSIO (GB) COTATION (GB) COUNTRY CLUB (GB) COUNTRY REEL (USA) COURT CAVE (IRE) COURTSHIP (GB) CRAIGSTEEL (GB) CRICKET BALL (USA) CRILLON (FR) CROCO ROUGE (IRE) CROSSPEACE (IRE) CURTAIN TIME (IRE) CUT QUARTZ (FR)
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DABISTAN (IRE) DADARISSIME (FR) DAGGERS DRAWN (USA) DAI JIN (GB) DALAKHANI (IRE) DALIAPOUR (IRE) DALTABAD (IRE) DANANEYEV (FR) DANBIRD (AUS) DANCING SPREE (USA) DANEHILL DANCER (IRE) DANO-MAST (GB) DANROAD (AUS) DANSILI (GB) DAPPER (GB) DARAMSAR (FR) DARK ANGEL (IRE) DARK MOONDANCER (GB) DARNAY (GB) DARO SOPRAN (GER) DARSALAM (IRE) DARSI (FR) DASHING BLADE (GB) DAY FLIGHT (GB) DE SICA (IRE) DEAR DOCTOR (FR) DEFINITE ARTICLE (GB) DELFOS (IRE) DELLA FRANCESCA (USA) DELLA SCALA (IRE) DELTA DANCER (GB) DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT (IRE) DENHAM RED (FR) DENON (USA) DENOUNCE (GB) DENVER COUNTY (USA) DEPLOY (GB) DEPORTIVO (GB) DESERT KING (IRE) DESERT PRINCE (IRE) DESERT STYLE (IRE) DESIDERATUM (GB) DESIR D’UN SOIR (FR) DIABLENEYEV (USA) DIAMOND GREEN (FR) DILSHAAN (GB) DISCOVER D’AUTEUIL (FR) DISTANT MUSIC (USA) DISTANT WAY (USA) DIVINE LIGHT (JPN)
DOCKSIDER (USA) DOM ALCO (FR) DOMEDRIVER (IRE) DOUBLE ALLEGED (USA) DOUBLE ECLIPSE (IRE) DOUBLE HEART (FR) DOUBLE TRIGGER (IRE) DOYEN (IRE) DR FONG (USA) DR MASSINI (IRE) DREAM CHIEF (USA) DREAM WELL (FR) DUBAI DESTINATION (USA) DUBAWI (IRE) DUSHYANTOR (USA) DUTCH ART (GB) DYLAN THOMAS (IRE)
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EAGLE EYED (USA) EARLY MARCH (GB) EAST OF HEAVEN (IRE) ECHO OF LIGHT (GB) EGEO (FR) EKRAAR (USA) ELECTRIC BEAT (GB) ELEOS (GB) ELNADIM (USA) ELUSIVE CITY (USA) EMBODY (GB) EMPEROR FOUNTAIN (GB) ENDLESS HALL (GB) ENDOLI (USA) ENRIQUE (GB) EPALO (GER) EQUERRY (USA) EREWHON (USA) ERHAAB (USA) EVEN TOP (IRE) EXCEED AND EXCEL (AUS) EXCELLENT ART (GB) EXECUTE (FR) EXIT TO NOWHERE (USA)
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FAHRIS (IRE) FAIR MIX (IRE) FAIRLY RANSOM (USA) FANTASTIC VIEW (USA) FAVORITE COLONY (USA) FAYRUZ (GB) FEBRAR (ITY) FEDERAL TRIAL (USA) FELICIANO (SWI) FERRULE (IRE) FEU A VOLONTE (FR) FIGUIER (FR) FILANDROS (GR) FIREBREAK (GB) FIRST TRUMP (GB) FLEETWOOD (IRE) FLEMENSFIRTH (USA) FLORENTINE FLUTTER (GB) FLOWER MUSIC (GB) FLY TO THE STARS (GB) FLYING LEGEND (USA) FOL PARADE (ARG) FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND (GB) FOREIGN AFFAIRS (GB) FORESTIER (FR) FRAAM (GB) FRAGRANT MIX (IRE) FRANKLINS GARDENS (GB) FREEDOM CRY (GB) FRUITS OF LOVE (USA) FUNNY BABY (FR)
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GALILEO (IRE) GALILEO GALILEI (IRE) GAMUT (IRE) GARUDA (IRE) GENEROUS (IRE) GENGHIS KHAN (IRE) GENTLEMAN’S DEAL (IRE) GENTLEWAVE (IRE) GERI (USA) GERMANY (USA) GIOVANE IMPERATORE (GB) GO BETWEEN (FR) GOETOT (FR) GOLAN (IRE) GOLD AWAY (IRE) GOLD SPHINX (USA) GOLD WELL (GB) GOLDEN DEVIOUS (IRE) GOLDEN LARIAT (USA) GOLDEN MINTAGE (USA) GOLDEN PIVOTAL (GB) GOLDEN STRAVINSKY (USA) GOLDEN TORNADO (IRE) GOLDMARK (USA) GOLDNEYEV (USA) GOODRICKE (GB) GOOFALIK (USA) GORLOR (GER) GRAND EKINOKS (TUR) GRAPE TREE ROAD (GB) GREAT EXHIBITION (USA) GREAT JOURNEY (JPN) GREAT PALM (USA) GREAT PRETENDER (IRE) GREEN CARD (USA) GREEN DESERT (USA) GREEN TUNE (USA) GREENGROOM (FR) GREINTON (GB) GREY RISK (FR) GROOM TESSE (GB) GUYS AND DOLLS (GB)
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HAAFHD (GB) HALLING (USA) HAMOND (GER) HARMONIC WAY (GB) HAWK WING (USA) HELIOSTATIC (IRE) HELISSIO (FR) HERNANDO (FR) HERON ISLAND (IRE) HIGH CHAPARRAL (IRE) HIGH-RISE (IRE) HOLD THAT TIGER (USA) HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR (IRE) HOME FLEET (USA) HUMBEL (USA) HUNTER STREET (GB) HURRICANE CAT (USA) HURRICANE RUN (IRE)
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ICEMAN (GB) IFFRAAJ (GB) IKTIBAS (GB) IMPERIAL BALLET (IRE) IMPERIAL DANCER (GB) IMPREVEDIBILE (IRE) IN YARAK (GB) INDESATCHEL (IRE) INDIAN CREEK (GB) INDIAN DANEHILL (IRE) INDIAN HAVEN (GB) INDIAN RIVER (FR) INDIAN ROCKET (GB) INSATIABLE (IRE)
INTENDANT (GER) INTIKHAB (USA) INVINCIBLE SPIRIT (IRE) IRISH WELLS (FR) IRON MASK (USA) ISHIGURU (USA) ISLAND HOUSE (IRE) IVAN DENISOVICH (IRE)
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JACKSON’S DRIFT (USA) JAMMAAL (GB) JAN AFFRICA (FR) JARN (GB) JENDALI (USA) JEREMY (USA) JOHNNY RED KERR (USA) JOSR ALGARHOUD (IRE)
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KADASTROF (FR) KADEED (IRE) KAFHAR (GB) KAHTAN (GB) KAHYASI (IRE) KALANISI (IRE) KALATOS (GER) KALDOU STAR (GB) KALDOUNEVEES (FR) KALLISTO (GER) KAPGARDE (FR) KASMAYO (GB) KAVAFI (IRE) KAYF TARA (GB) KELTOS (FR) KENDARGENT (FR) KENTUCKY DYNAMITE (USA) KENTUCKY HOME (USA) KEY OF LUCK (USA) KHALKEVI (IRE) KHELEYF (USA) KIER PARK (IRE) KIERKEGAARD (GB) KILL CAT (IRE) KING CHEETAH (USA) KING O’THE MANA (IRE) KING’S BEST (USA) KING’S THEATRE (IRE) KINGSALSA (USA) KIRKWALL (GB) KIZITCA (FR) KODIAC (GB) KOENIGSTIGER (GER) KONIG SHUFFLE (GER) KORNADO (GB) KOTKY BLEU (FR) KOUROUN (FR) KRIS KIN (USA) KRISMAN (IRE) KUTUB (IRE) KYLLACHY (GB)
L
LACANTUN (GB) LAHIB (USA) LANDO (GER) LATERAL (GB) LAVERON (GB) LAVIRCO (GER) LAWMAN (FR) LAYMAN (USA) LE BALAFRE (FR) LE FOU (IRE) LE MALEMORTOIS (FR) LE TRITON (USA) LE VIE DEI COLORI (GB) LEADERSHIP (GB) LECROIX (GER) LEND A HAND (GB)
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LEONIDAS (GB) LEPORELLO (IRE) LESOTHO (USA) LET THE LION ROAR (GB) LIBRETTIST (USA) LIL’S BOY (USA) LIMNOS (JPN) LIMPID (GB) LIONARDO (GB) LIQUIDO (GER) LIVER SONG (IRE) LOCHBUIE (IRE) LOMITAS (GB) LONDON CALLING (USA) LORD DU SUD (FR) LORD OF ENGLAND (GER) LORDMARE (FR) LOST WORLD (IRE) LOUP SAUVAGE (USA) LOUP SOLITAIRE (USA) LOUVETEAU (USA) LOVE IS ALL (ITY) LUCKY STORY (USA) LUGNY (FR) LUSO (GB)
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MACHIAVELLIAN TSAR (FR) MADOUN (FR) MAILLE PISTOL (FR) MAJESTIC MISSILE (IRE) MAJORIEN (GB) MALINAS (GER) MALONE (FR) MAMOOL (IRE) MAN O WEST (FR) MANDURO (GER) MANILA (USA) MANIPULATOR (IRE) MARCH GROOM (USA) MARCHAND DE SABLE (USA) MARESCA SORRENTO (FR) MARIGNAN (USA) MARJU (IRE) MARLIN (USA) MARTALINE (GB) MARTILLO (GER) MEDAALY (GB) MEDECIS (GB) MEDICEAN (GB) MESHAHEER (USA) MICHEL GEORGES (GB) MIDNIGHT LEGEND (GB) MIESQUE’S SON (USA) MILAN (GB) MILK IT MICK (GB) MILLENARY (GB) MILLKOM (GB) MINASHKI (IRE) MIND GAMES (GB) MISTER SACHA (FR) MISTER STRONG (IRE) MISTER TULLIO (FR) MISTERNANDO (GB) MISU BOND (IRE) MODIGLIANI (USA) MOHAAJIR (USA) MONSAGEM (USA) MONSIEUR BOND (IRE) MONSUN (GER) MONTJEU (IRE) MOOD FOR LOVE (USA) MOROZOV (USA) MORPETH (GB) MOSS VALE (IRE) MOTIVATOR (GB) MOUNT BAY (FR) MOUNTAIN CAT (USA) MOUNTAIN HIGH (IRE) MOWGLI (SPA) MR COMBUSTIBLE (IRE) MR DINOS (IRE) MUHAYMIN (USA) MUHTATHIR (GB) MUJADIL (USA) MUJAHID (USA) MULTAZEM (USA) MULTIPLEX (GB) MUNAAFIS (USA) MUNIR (GB) MUNTAKHAB (USA) MUSICAL PURSUIT (GB) MUTAMARKIZ (IRE) MY RISK (FR)
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NAMID (GB) NAYEF (USA) NEAR HONOR (GER) NEEDWOOD BLADE (GB)
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NERIO (FR) NETWORK (GER) NEW SOUTH WALES (GB) NEXT DESERT (IRE) NICARON (GER) NICOBAR (GB) NIGHT SHIFT (USA) NIGHT TANGO (GER) NIL (IRE) NO DANZIG (USA) NOBLE SANG (GER) NOLT (FR) NOMADIC WAY (USA) NOMBRE PREMIER (GB) NOROIT (GER) NORSE DANCER (IRE) NORTHERN PARK (USA) NORWICH (GB) NOTNOWCATO (GB) NUMEROUS (USA)
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OASIS DREAM (GB) OBSERVATORY (USA) OCEAN CREST (USA) OCEAN OF WISDOM (USA) ODYLE (USA) OKAWANGO (USA) OLD VIC (GB) OLDEN TIMES (GB) ON THE RIDGE (IRE) ONE COOL CAT (USA) ORATORIO (IRE) ORIENTOR (GB) ORPEN (USA) OSCAR (IRE) OSORIO (GER) OUMNAZ (FR) OVERBURY (IRE)
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PAIRUMANI STAR (IRE) PANIS (USA) PANORAMIC (GB) PAOLINI (GER) PASSING GLANCE (GB) PASSING SALE (FR) PASTERNAK (GB) PASTORAL PURSUITS (GB) PEACE OF MIND (GB) PEINTRE CELEBRE (USA) PELDER (IRE) PEPPERCORN (GER) PERCEIVE ARROGANCE (USA) PERFECT STORM (TUR) PERPENDICULAR (GB) PERSIAN BRAVE (IRE) PERSIAN RULER (GB) PERUGINO (USA) PHILOMATHEIA (USA) PHOENIX REACH (IRE) PICCOLO (GB) PIERRE (GB) PILSUDSKI (IRE) PISTOLERO (IRE) PIVOTAL (GB) PLATINI (GER) POLICY MAKER (IRE) POLIGLOTE (GB) POLISH SUMMER (GB) PORTRAIT GALLERY (IRE) POSEIDON (GB) PRESENTING (GB) PRIMARY (USA) PRIMO VALENTINO (IRE) PRINCE ARCH (USA) PRINCE DE CURTIS (IRE) PRINCE DE LA NUIT (FR) PRINCE KIRK (FR) PRINCELY HEIR (IRE) PRINCETON (FR) PRIOLO (USA) PROCLAMATION (IRE) PROSPECTS OF GLORY (USA) PROTEKTOR (GER) PUSHKIN (IRE) PUTRA PEKAN (GB) PUTRA SANDHURST (IRE) PYRAMUS (USA) PYRUS (USA) PYTHIOS (IRE)
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QUICK MOVE (GB) QUWS (GB)
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RAGMAR (FR) RAIL LINK (GB) RAINBOW HIGH (GB)
RAINSHACK (GB) RAINTRAP (GB) RAINWATCH (GB) RAKTI (GB) RANSOM O’ WAR (USA) RASHBAG (GB) RED BISHOP (USA) RED CLUBS (IRE) RED RANSOM (USA) REDBACK (GB) REDOUBTABLE (USA) REEL BUDDY (USA) REFUSE TO BEND (IRE) REGAL ARCHIVE (IRE) RESPLENDENT CEE (IRE) RESPLENDENT GLORY (IRE) RESTE TRANQUILLE (FR) REVOQUE (IRE) RIDGEWOOD BEN (GB) RIGHT WIN (IRE) RIO NAPO (IRE) RIVER SPECIAL (USA) ROBERT EMMET (IRE) ROBIN DES CHAMPS (FR) ROBIN DES PRES (FR) ROB’S SPIRIT (USA) ROCAMADOUR (GB) ROCK OF GIBRALTAR (IRE) ROLI ABI (FR) ROMAN SADDLE (IRE) ROSEN KAVALIER (JPN) ROYAL ABJAR (USA) ROYAL ANTHEM (USA) ROYAL APPLAUSE (GB) ROYAL ASSAULT (USA) ROYAL DRAGON (USA) RUDIMENTARY (USA) RUNYON (IRE) RUSSIAN BLUE (IRE) RUSSIAN VALOUR (IRE)
SNETTERTON (GB) SOAVE (GER) SOLAR ONE (FR) SOLDIER HOLLOW (GB) SOLID ILLUSION (USA) SOLO BANCO (IRE) SOLON (GER) SORCEROUS (GB) SOTABRASCIET (IRE) SOVIET STAR (USA) SPADOUN (FR) SPECIAL KALDOUN (IRE) SPEEDMASTER (GER) SPIRIT OF DESERT (IRE) SPYMASTER (USA) SRI PEKAN (USA) ST JOVITE (USA) ST PAUL HOUSE (GB) STAR BLAST (USA) STARDAN (IRE) STERNKOENIG (IRE) STORMY RIVER (FR) STOWAWAY (GB) STRATEGIC PRINCE (GB) STRIKE THE GOLD (USA) STRIKING AMBITION (GB) STROLL (USA) STUCK (USA) SUBLIMINAL (FR) SUBOTICA (FR) SUBTLE POWER (IRE) SULAMANI (IRE) SUMITAS (GER) SUNSHACK (GB) SUNSHINE STREET (USA) SUPER CELEBRE (FR) SUPERIOR PREMIUM (GB) SUPREME SOUND (GB) SURFSIDE (GB) SVEDOV (FR)
SABIANGO (GER) SABREHILL (USA) SACRO SAINT (FR) SADDLER MAKER (IRE) SADDLERS’ HALL (IRE) SAFFRON WALDEN (FR) SAGACITY (FR) SAGAMIX (FR) SAHAL (GB) SAINT DES SAINTS (FR) SAKHEE (USA) SALFORD EXPRESS (IRE) SALSELON (GB) SALUTINO (GER) SAMBAPRINZ (GER) SAMRAAN (USA) SAMSON HAPPY (JPN) SAMUM (GER) SANDMASON (GB) SANDWAKI (USA) SANGLAMORE (USA) SASSANIAN (USA) SATRI (IRE) SAYADAW (FR) SAYARSHAN (FR) SCABIUN (IRE) SCORPION (IRE) SEA HERO (USA) SECRET SINGER (FR) SELKIRK (USA) SENDAWAR (IRE) SEPTEMBER STORM (GER) SEPTIEME CIEL (USA) SEVRES ROSE (IRE) SHAANMER (IRE) SHAHRASTANI (USA) SHAMARDAL (USA) SHANTOU (USA) SHAREB (USA) SHARP PROD (USA) SHEYRANN (IRE) SHINDA MONDIAL (GB) SHIROCCO (GER) SHOLOKHOV (IRE) SILENT TIMES (IRE) SILVER PATRIARCH (IRE) SILVER RAINBOW (GB) SINGLE EMPIRE (IRE) SINGSPIEL (IRE) SINNDAR (IRE) SIR HARRY LEWIS (USA) SIR PERCY (GB) SIR WARREN (IRE) SKI CHIEF (USA) SLEEPING CAR (FR) SLEEPING INDIAN (GB) SLICKLY (FR) SMADOUN (FR)
TAGULA (IRE) TAJRAASI (USA) TALKIN MAN (CAN) TAMARISK (IRE) TAMAYAZ (CAN) TAMURE (IRE) TANNENKONIG (IRE) TAU CETI (GB) TENBY (GB) TEOFILIO (IRE) TEOFILO (IRE)
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TERRE DE L’HOME (GER) TERTULLIAN (USA) THREE VALLEYS (USA) TIGER GROOM (GB) TIGER HILL (IRE) TIKKANEN (USA) TILLERMAN (GB) TIMBOROA (GB) TITUS LIVIUS (FR) TOBOUGG (IRE) TOMBA (GB) TOMORROWS CAT (USA) TONITRUANT (USA) TOT OU TARD (IRE) TOUCH DOWN (GER) TOUCH OF LAND (FR) TOUCH OF THE BLUES (FR) TOUT SEUL (IRE) TOYLSOME (GB) TRADE FAIR (GB) TRADITIONALLY (USA) TRANS ISLAND (GB) TREMPOLINO (USA) TRUE BRAVE (USA) TRY PROSPECT (USA) TUMBLEWEED RIDGE (GB) TUNDURU (IRE) TURBO JET (FR) TURGEON (USA) TURTLE BOWL (IRE) TURTLE ISLAND (IRE) TWEN (GER) TWO-TWENTY-TWO (IRE)
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ULTIMATELY LUCKY (IRE) UMISTIM (GB) UNACCOUNTED FOR (USA) UNGARO (GER) UNTIL SUNDOWN (USA) URBAN OCEAN (FR) URBINO (GB) URGENT REQUEST (IRE)
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VERGLAS (IRE) VERMEER (IRE) VERTICAL SPEED (FR) VESPONE (IRE) VIC TOTO (FR) VICTORIEUX (FR) VICTORY GALLOP (CAN) VICTORY NOTE (USA) VINNIE ROE (IRE) VISIONARY (FR) VITAL EQUINE (IRE) VITUS (GB) VOIX DU NORD (FR)
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WAGON MASTER (FR) WAKY NAO (GB) WALK IN THE PARK (IRE) WAR BLADE (GER) WAR DECLARATION (IRE) WARED (USA) WAREED (IRE) WAVENEY (UAE) WAY OF LIGHT (USA) WELD (GB) WELL CHOSEN (GB) WELL MADE (GER) WELSH LION (IRE) WEST BY WEST (USA) WESTERNER (GB) WHERE OR WHEN (IRE) WHIPPER (USA) WHITMORE’S CONN (USA) WHITTINGHAM (IRE) WILD GROUSE (USA) WINDSOR KNOT (IRE) WINDY PROJECT (IRE) WINGED LOVE (IRE) WITH APPROVAL (CAN) WITNESS BOX (USA) WIZARD KING (GB) WOLFE TONE (IRE)
Y
YOUNG ERN (GB)
VADASIN (IRE) VAL ROYAL (FR) VALANOUR (IRE) VANGELIS (USA) VARADAR (IRE) VATORI (FR) VELODROME (BRZ) VENDANGEUR (IRE)
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ZAFEEN (FR) ZAGREB (USA) ZAMINDAR (USA) ZAREWITSCH (IRE) ZERPOUR (IRE) ZIETEN (USA) ZILZAL ZAMAAN (USA)
BCL / EBF COMMON FUND STALLIONS Stallion Stood in 2008 Hemi ADMIRE MOON (JPN) JPN N AGNES TACHYON (JPN) JPN N ALAMOCITOS (USA) KSA N ALKAASED (USA) JPN N BAGO (FR) JPN N BLUE BURNER (USA) KSA N CAME HOME (USA) JPN N DAHJEE (USA) JPN N DAIWA MAJOR (JPN) JPN N DANCE IN THE DARK (JPN) JPN N DEEP IMPACT (JPN) JPN N DIKTAT (GB) JPN N DUBAI DUST (USA) BRZ S DURANDAL (JPN) JPN N DYNEVER (USA) KSA N EASING ALONG (USA) ARG S EL CORREDOR (USA) ARG S FALBRAV (IRE) JPN N FANTASTIC LIGHT (USA) JPN N FIRST AMERICAN (USA) BRZ S FREEQUENT (GB) KSA N FRENCH DEPUTY (USA) JPN N FUJI KISEKI (JPN) JPN N GIACOSA (AUS) AUS S GIANT’S CAUSEWAY (USA) ARG S GOLD ALLURE (JPN) JPN N GRAND REWARD (USA) ARG S GRANDERA (IRE) JPN N HEART’S CRY (JPN) JPN N HURRICANE CAT (USA) CHI S INCURABLE OPTIMIST (USA) ARG S INDYGO SHINER (USA) ARG S JOHANNESBURG (USA) ARG S JUNGLE POCKET (JPN) JPN N
Stallion Stood in 2008 Hemi KING KAMEHAMEHA (JPN) JPN N KNOW HEIGHTS (IRE) BRZ S KUROFUNE (USA) JPN N LUHUK (USA) ARG S MANHATTAN CAFÉ (JPN) JPN N MARIENBARD (IRE) JPN N MARMOTTAN (AUS) AUS S MOON BALLAD (IRE) JPN N MORNING RAIDER (IRE) CHI S MUTAKDDIM (USA) ARG S NEO UNIVERSE (JPN) JPN N NORTHERN AFLEET (USA) BRZ S OFFICIAL FLAME (USA) KSA N OUR EMBLEM (USA) BRZ S PREMIUM TAP (USA) KSA N REDOUTE’S CHOICE (AUS) AUS S RULE OF LAW (USA) JPN N RUSSIAN BLUE (IRE) ARG S SOUTHERN HALO (USA) ARG S SPEAK IN PASSING (USA) CHI S SPECIAL WEEK (JPN) JPN N STORMING HOME (GB) JPN N STRAVINSKY (USA) JPN N SYMBOLI KRIS S (USA) JPN N TABARI (GER) ISR N TANINO GIMLET (JPN) JPN N THE LEOPARD (USA) ARG S THE MIGHTY TIGER (USA) CHI S TORREY CANYON (USA) KSA N UNTIL SUNDOWN (USA) CHI S VAN NISTELROOY (USA) ARG S XAAR (GB) JPN N ZENNO ROB ROY (JPN) JPN N
The stallions listed above stood OUTSIDE THE BCL AND EBF AREAS IN 2008 and are qualified as Common Fund Stallions for that year by reason of stallion nomination payments. The letter (N) or (S) after each stallion’s name indicates the Hemisphere in which the stallion stood and for which the appropriate contribution has been paid. The progeny of these stallions will have to be nominated to Breeders’ Cup Ltd as foals and/or to EBF as foals, yearlings or two year olds if they are to be eligible to benefit fully from the Breeders’ Cup and/or EBF programmes. Further details from the Chief Executive, European Breeders’ Fund.
Prepared by: EUROPEAN BREEDERS' FUND, Stanstead House, The Avenue, NEWMARKET, Suffolk, CB8 9AA. Telephone: +44 (0) 1638 667960 Facsimile: +44 (0) 1638 667270 Email: info@ebfhorseracing.co.uk Website: www.ebfhorseracing.com
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THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BLOODSTOCK WORLD With Pulpit shaping up well as a sire of sires, it’s a pity more of his progeny are not seen in Europe, argues Andrew Caulfield he Seattle Slew male line, rather like Elvis Presley in his famous song, has long been the subject of suspicious minds in Europe’s breeding community. These suspicions were initially largely based on the fact that the 1977 American Triple Crown winner made his name on dirt, as did Slewpy, Slew o’Gold, Landaluce and Adored, the four Grade 1 winners which emerged from Seattle Slew’s first crop. This perception lingered on, despite the emergence of several European Group winners, such as Seattle Song (Prix de la Salamandre), Magic Of Life (Coronation Stakes), Digression (Royal Lodge), Bitooh and Septieme Ciel (Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte) and Sahara Slew (Ribblesdale). The suspicions were inevitably transferred to Seattle Slew’s best son A P Indy when the 1992 Horse of the Year retired to stud after an 11-race career spent entirely on dirt. The vast majority of Horse of the Year title holders in the USA have raced almost exclusively on dirt and A P Indy has Horses of the Year as his sire and as the sires of his first two dams. With two sires’ championships under his belt, A P Indy owes his success largely to his dirt runners, with turf victories supplying little more than 20% of his earnings. His son Mineshaft compounded the situation when a switch from European turf to American dirt saw him transformed from a Group-placed performer into a quadruple Grade 1 winner and Horse of the Year. Most owners of A P Indy’s progeny have been happy to leave them in the USA and the same applies to the progeny of Pulpit, who became one of the first sons of A P Indy to retire to stud when he started at Claiborne Farm in 1998. Although Pulpit’s six-race career was spent entirely on dirt, he has several very smart turf performers among his best winners, including Grade 1 winners Rutherienne and Stroll, good fillies Wend and Melhor Ainda, and Grade 3 winners Ecclesiastic, Lydgate and Church Service. Europeans have been wary of him but it might have been a different story had Reach For The Moon, a filly from his second crop, been able to race again after finishing third to Soviet Song and Casual Look in the 2002 Fillies’ Mile. Pulpit’s French-trained son Blue Exit won three of his five starts in France, including a Listed race, before being returned to his native USA, so they can work on this side of the Atlantic. One reason why I would have liked to see more of Pulpit’s progeny in Europe is that he is shaping up as a very promising sire of sires, which adds to his standing as A P Indy’s most successful stallion son. When the official
In praise of Pulpit Pulpit’s career was spent on dirt but that hasn’t stopped him siring smart turf runners
86 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER
PHOTOS: HORSEPHOTOS.COM
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assessments of America’s 2008 two-year-olds were published at the end of January, the stallion with the most representatives was Pulpit’s son Sky Mesa, with six youngsters considered to have met at least the minimum requirement of 107lb for colts and 100lb for fillies. Sky Mesa’s contingent included the colts Terrain (118) and Beethoven (116), and the filly Sky Diva (117). Only two sires had five qualifiers but one of them was Tapit, another Pulpit stallion who supplied the top filly Stardom Bound (124) and joint-third filly Laragh (117). It is becoming ever harder to avoid inbreeding in the first four generations in Europe. The Seattle Slew/A P Indy male line is one of the few world-class male lines not represented in Britain or Ireland. While some would no doubt claim that there must be good reason for this vacuum, the time is surely coming when breeders will need to widen their horizons. Kayf Tara on the up
According to the analysis of the 2008 Return of Mares, Overbury’s dual Gold Cup winner Kayf Tara covered 291 mares during the 2008 season, which amounts to a remarkable feat for a British-based National Hunt stallion. This clamour for Kayf Tara’s services reflected his progeny’s success on the track and in the sales ring. Venalmar, Give It Time, Carruthers and Mad Max all enjoyed stakes success during 2007/08 and Kayf Tara’s current standardbearers include two promising novice chasers from his first crop, born in 2002, in the Grade 2 winner Kornati Kid and Planet Of Sound. Carruthers has also graduated successfully to fences, while Katies Tuitor, Clan Tara, Tarablaze and the high-priced Micheal Flips are among others doing well for the Overbury stallion. There must be a good chance that Kayf Tara will soon rank among the top ten stallions. At the time of writing he was in 12th position on a list dominated by sons of Sadler’s Wells, with Old Vic, Oscar and Accordion in third, fourth and fifth places, Saddlers’ Hall seventh, King’s Theatre 14th, Montjeu 15th and Sadler’s Wells himself in 16th. Other Sadler’s Wells stallions with notable representatives include Galileo, whose son Celestial Halo is a leading candidate for the Champion Hurdle, and Cloudings, sire of the Peter Marsh Chase winner Cloudy Lane. Moskova makes waves
No-one applauding the return of the winner after a Grade 3 event would raise an eyebrow if the winning filly had Montjeu as her sire and daughters of Machiavellian and Nureyev as her first two dams. After all, each of these stallions earned the right to be one of the highest-priced sires in his respective country. But surely there must have been some startled looks after Moskova, a mare bred along these lines, proved too strong for daughters of such as Alderbrook, Little Bighorn and Moscow Society to win the
The clamour for Kayf Tara’s services last year was a reflection of his progeny’s success
“Kayf Tara covered 291 mares during the 2008 season, which is a remarkable feat for a British-based jumps stallion”
Grade 3 Coolmore NH Sires EBF Mares Novice Chase at Thurles on January 29. Most buyers would have considered Moskova to be a potential broodmare when she came up for sale at Goffs in the October of her threeyear-old season. Although she had failed to win in nine starts on the Flat, she had finished second or third in five of them. However, her new owner, who paid €55,000, had other ideas. Moskova was successful on her second start over hurdles and progressed well enough to be third in a trio of Grade 3 hurdle races. The tough mare also reverted successfully to the Flat, winning over a mile and a half at the Curragh as a five-year-old, before graduating to fences. This was probably not what Moskova’s breeder Joan Murphy had planned when she sent Russian Rebel to Montjeu. This mating produced a pedigree with Sadler’s Wells in the second generation and his three-parts-brother Nureyev in the third. Although Russian Rebel never raced, she was a sister to the French Listed winner Queen Catherine and she is bred to the same pattern – by Machiavellian out of a Nureyev mare – as the Group 1-winning fillies Rebecca Sharp (Coronation Stakes) and West Wind (Prix de Diane). Moskova’s second dam Russian Royal finished second in three Group 3 seven-furlong events and her third dam, Princess Karenda, was a dual Grade 1 winner in California. Coolmore, the sponsors of the race won by Moskova, would have been pleased enough to see their race won by a daughter of Montjeu, as their National Hunt team features Scorpion, his Classic-winning son, plus four stallions by Montjeu’s sire Sadler’s Wells. Montjeu is making an impact with his runners over jumps, with Moskova ranking alongside Grade 1 winners Hurricane Fly and Won In The Dark, and the smart Blue Bajan. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 87
Photography courtesy of Holme Park Stud & James Watson
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Stallion Numbers: 22
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www.bluechipfeed.com 12/11/2008 18:39:04
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DATABOOK
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BLOODSTOCK WORLD
National Hunt Grade Ones 22 VICTOR CHANDLER CHASE ASCOT. January 17. 17f. Good to Soft.
1. MASTER MINDED (FR) 6 b g Nikos - Haute Tension (Garde Royale) O-Mr Clive D Smith B-Mrs MC Gabeur TR-PF Nicholls 2. Petit Robin (FR) 6 b g Robin des Pres - Joie de Cotte (Lute Antique) 3. Mahogany Blaze (FR) 7 b g Kahyasi - Mahogany River (Irish River) Age 3-6
Starts 15
Wins 8
Places 3
Earned £553,198
See race 8 in the February issue for analysis MASTER MINDED b g 2003 Nearctic Nonoalco Seximee NIKOS b/br 81 Sovereign Path No No Nanette Nuclea Mill Reef Garde Royale Royal Way HAUTE TENSION b 94 The Scoundrel La Vedrelle La Vela II
Nearco Lady Angela Hasty Road Jambo Grey Sovereign Mountain Path Orsini Nixe Never Bend Milan Mill Sicambre Right Away Toulouse Lautrec Malekeh Vieux Manoir Passion
Brave Inca’s sire Good Thyne died in 2001 and is now perhaps best known as the broodmare sire of the Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Kicking King and War Of Attrition. Good Thyne, runner-up in the Queen’s Vase and Irish St Leger in 1980, wasn’t well supported until some of his early runners, such as Nodform, highlighted his potential. Given a lot more mares, he has justified the support by siring the high-class geldings Bannow Bay, Mighty Mogul and Chives, plus such as Thyne Again, Noble Thyne, Nahthen Lad, Tyneandthyneagain, Good Shuil, Ross Moff and Garruth. Brave Inca’s dam, the unraced Wigwam Mam, is by the St Leger winner Commanche Run, sire of the Irish Grand National winners Commanche Court and Timbera. The next dam, Rozifer, won over hurdles and fences, and is a halfsister to Merry Lesa, dam of the top chaser Merry Gale.
23 TOSHIBA CHAMPION HURDLE
24 ARKLE PERPETUAL CHALLENGE CUP
LEOPARDSTOWN. January 25. 16f. Heavy.
LEOPARDSTOWN. January 25. 17f. Heavy.
1. BRAVE INCA (IRE) 11 b g Good Thyne - Wigwam Mam (Commanche Run) O-Novices Syndicate B-DW Macauley TR-Colm A Murphy 2. Muirhead (IRE) 6 b g Flemensfirth - Silaoce (Nikos) 3. River Liane (FR) 5 ch g River Bay - Gospellianne (Machiavellian)
1. GOLDEN SILVER (FR) 7 b g Mansonnien - Gold Or Silver (Glint of Gold) O-Mrs Violet O’Leary B-N Pelat TR-WP Mullins 2. Forpadydeplasterer (IRE) 7 b g Moscow Society - Run Artiste (Deep Run) 3. Follow The Plan (IRE) 6 b g Accordion - Royal Rosy (Dominion Royale)
Age 4-11
Age 2-7
Starts 33
Wins 15
Places 12
Earned £971,333
BRAVE INCA b g 1998 Plassy Vanille Escamillo Flagette Fidgette Princequillo Round Table Knight’s Daughter Hail To Reason Regal Gleam Miz Carol Tom Rolfe Run The Gantlet First Feather Ratification Volley Mitrailleuse Crimson Satan Lucifer La Joliette Merry Rose Rozeen Pandomas
Starts 33
GOOD THYNE b 77 Foreseer
Commanche Run WIGWAM MAM ch 93 Rozifer
Places 11
Earned £198,081
GOLDEN SILVER b g 2002 Luthier
Vandale Herbager
Wins 4
Tip Moss Top Twig MANSONNIEN ch 84 Margouillat Association La Soupe Mill Reef Glint of Gold Crown Treasure GOLD OR SILVER b 91 Esprit du Nord Blue Stone Blue River
Klairon Flute Enchantee High Perch Kimpton Wood Diatome Tita A Tempo Tenace Never Bend Milan Mill Graustark Treasure Chest Lyphard Rajput Princess Riverman Azurella
As France’s champion sire of jumpers in 2007 and 2008, Mansonnien has enjoyed considerable success in his native country and that success has spread to Britain and Ireland, thanks to the important victories of such as J’y Vole, Taranis, Mansony, Millenium Royal and Golden Silver. Golden Silver became Mansonnien’s latest Gr1 winner when the ex-French gelding gamely resisted Forpaddydeplasterer to take the Arkle Novice Chase at Leopardstown. Mansonnien became a Group winner in the Prix Exbury over a mile and a quarter as a six-year-old, having earlier finished fourth in the French Derby and third in the Prix Ganay. Mansonnien’s Flat performers include Life Is Life, who showed great stamina to win the Queen Alexandra Stakes, but Golden Silver has done all his winning at up to 18 furlongs. Golden Silver ought to stay well, as his broodmare sire is Glint Of Gold, a son of Derby winner Mill Reef who was second in Shergar’s Derby. More importantly, he stayed well enough to win the Grand Prix de Paris in the days when it was over 15 furlongs. Gold Or Silver, the dam of Golden Silver, is a Wertheimer-bred mare who won three times at around ten furlongs in the Marseille region. Golden Silver is her fifth foal and fourth winner by Mansonnien, and she also has a three-year-old son by him. One of Golden Silver’s predecessors, Or Ou Argent, contested claiming races in France but became a Gr1 winner over hurdles in Italy. Golden Silver’s third dam Blue River is also the second dam of the French 1,000 Guineas winner Torrestrella, while his fourth dam Azurella is also the third dam of the Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Goldamix.
25 TOTESWINGER CHALLENGER NOVICE CHASE SANDOWN. Jan 31. 20f 110yds. Good to Soft.
1. HERECOMESTHETRUTH (IRE) 7 ch g Presenting - Beagan Rose (Roselier) O-Mrs M Findlay, PK Barber B-Mr T Cassidy TR-PF Nicholls 2. Massini’s Maguire (IRE) 8 b g Dr Massini - Molly Maguire (Supreme Leader) 3. Buck The Legend (IRE) 7 b/br g Anshan - Patience of Angels (Distinctly North) Age 5-7
Starts 11
Wins 7
Places 2
Earned £66,121
HERECOMESTHETRUTH ch g 2002 Busted Mtoto Amazer PRESENTING br 92 Persian Bold D’Azy Belle Viking Misti IV Roselier Peace Rose BEAGAN ROSE gr 90 Little Buskins Addies Lass Corrib Lass
Crepello Sans Le Sou Mincio Alzara Bold Lad Relkarunner Riverman Vallarta Medium Mist Fastnet Rock La Paix Solar Slipper Overboard Straight Lad White Holly
The former champion sire Presenting, already responsible for such as Denman and War Of Attrition, appears to have sired another very good chaser in Herecomesthetruth. With Presenting as his sire and Roselier as his broodmare sire, he is bred to stay well. Roselier, after all, was responsible for two Grand National winners in Bindaree and Royal Athlete, and he also landed the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Nationals with Baronet, Moorcroft Boy, Carvill’s Hill, Kendal Cavalier and Ebony Jane. Herecomesthetruth’s second dam, Addies Lass, was by Little Buskins, a winner of the Great Metropolitan Handicap over 18 furlongs on the Flat. Little Buskins later sired such as Galway Blaze (Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup), Three Counties (Foxhunter), Little Bay, Last Serenade, Garnishee, Mayotte and Inish Glora.
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 89
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New to
LARKINGLASS HELISSIO [FR]
for 2009
Fairy King [USA] x Helice [USA] [Slewby]
Champion 3 year old in Europe 1996 Winner of 5 Group 1 races including The Arc de Triomphe and 3 Group 2 races TFR 136 Sire of progeny with earnings in excess of £20 million Stud Fee: £2500 October 1st
PASTERNAK [GB] Soviet Star [USA] x Princess Pati [Top Ville]
Winner of 4 consecutive races including The Tote Cambridgeshire and the John Smith's Magnet Cup Sire of quality National Hunt winners Both horses retired after racing over several seasons sound in wind and limb Stud Fee £1200 [October 1st] Apply: Liz Harrington. Larkinglass Farm, Motcombe, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 9HY Tel 01747 854666 or Mobile 07876023355 email liz@larkinglass.com
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DATA BOOK
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BLOODSTOCK WORLD
Leading sires Leaders tighten their grip on proceedings
National Hunt sires 2008-09 by earnings Name
YOF
Sire
Rnrs
Wnrs
%WR
Wins
AWD
Earnings (£)
Top horse
Presenting Flemensfirth Old Vic Oscar Accordion Supreme Leader Saddlers’ Hall Beneficial Bob Back Kayf Tara Kahyasi Pistolet Bleu King’s Theatre Montjeu Overbury Anshan Zaffaran Sadler’s Wells Moscow Society Hernando Nikos Taipan Alderbrook Glacial Storm Dr Massini Good Thyne Lord Americo Definite Article Village Star Midnight Legend Passing Sale Villez Turtle Island Fourstars Allstar Norwich Turgeon Mister Lord Luso Daylami Unfuwain Kadalko Sir Harry Lewis Selkirk Mansonnien Enrique Classic Cliche Robin des Pres Galileo Alflora In The Wings Indian River Perugino Bob’s Return Exit To Nowhere Halling Lavirco Cloudings Rashar Take Risks Rudimentary Highest Honor Alhaarth Flying Legend Trempolino Carroll House Linamix Indian Ridge Tragic Role Machiavellian Kalanisi Cadoudal Roselier Epervier Bleu Law Society Naheez Broken Hearted Great Palm Dushyantor Double Trigger Lost World Lando Oscar Schindler Morespeed Marju Big Shuffle Key Of Luck Desert Prince Charnwood Forest
1992 1992 1986 1994 1986 1982 1988 1990 1981 1994 1985 1988 1991 1996 1991 1987 1985 1981 1985 1990 1981 1992 1989 1985 1993 1977 1984 1992 1983 1991 1987 1992 1991 1988 1987 1986 1979 1992 1994 1985 1988 1984 1988 1984 1996 1992 1994 1998 1989 1986 1994 1991 1990 1988 1991 1993 1994 1986 1989 1988 1983 1993 1993 1984 1985 1987 1985 1986 1987 1996 1979 1973 1987 1982 1984 1984 1989 1993 1991 1991 1990 1992 1982 1988 1984 1991 1995 1992
Mtoto Alleged Sadler’s Wells Sadler’s Wells Sadler’s Wells Bustino Sadler’s Wells Top Ville Roberto Sadler’s Wells Ile de Bourbon Top Ville Sadler’s Wells Sadler’s Wells Caerleon Persian Bold Assert Northern Dancer Nijinsky Niniski Nonoalco Last Tycoon Ardross Arctic Tern Sadler’s Wells Herbager Lord Gayle Indian Ridge Moulin Night Shift No Pass No Sale Lyphard’s Wish Fairy King Compliance Top Ville Caro Sir Ivor Salse Doyoun Northern Dancer Cadoudal Alleged Sharpen Up Tip Moss Barathea Salse Cadoudal Sadler’s Wells Niniski Sadler’s Wells Cadoudal Danzig Bob Back Irish River Diesis Konigsstuhl Sadler’s Wells Alleged Highest Honor Nureyev Kenmare Unfuwain Alleged Sharpen Up Lord Gayle Mendez Ahonoora Nureyev Mr Prospector Doyoun Green Dancer Misti IV Saint Cyrien Alleged Critique Dara Monarch Manila Sadler’s Wells Ela-Mana-Mou Last Tycoon Acatenango Royal Academy Pharly Last Tycoon Super Concorde Chief’s Crown Green Desert Warning
268 156 144 221 131 196 199 150 123 103 39 73 91 54 100 131 74 84 80 35 24 63 72 60 74 37 103 68 1 32 11 17 87 54 62 15 37 94 47 18 11 34 32 16 5 79 8 27 111 48 5 17 77 59 31 8 50 40 9 76 14 39 13 25 53 29 18 14 27 23 24 20 7 3 19 42 60 23 50 10 7 21 2 24 5 30 33 14
57 38 23 46 30 45 38 28 25 26 11 15 25 12 28 18 17 19 13 11 3 15 13 11 10 7 10 19 1 14 4 7 13 5 12 3 7 9 14 6 5 10 10 4 2 12 3 7 12 9 1 4 7 5 9 3 10 7 3 12 4 8 5 7 5 9 2 3 5 4 7 4 1 2 3 9 5 7 9 4 2 5 1 6 3 6 9 4
21.3 24.4 16.0 20.8 22.9 23.0 19.1 18.7 20.3 25.2 28.2 20.6 27.5 22.2 28.0 13.7 23.0 22.6 16.3 31.4 12.5 23.8 18.1 18.3 13.5 18.9 9.7 27.9 100.0 43.8 36.4 41.2 14.9 9.3 19.4 20.0 18.9 9.6 29.8 33.3 45.5 29.4 31.3 25.0 40.0 15.2 37.5 25.9 10.8 18.8 20.0 23.5 9.1 8.5 29.0 37.5 20.0 17.5 33.3 15.8 28.6 20.5 38.5 28.0 9.4 31.0 11.1 21.4 18.5 17.4 29.2 20.0 14.3 66.7 15.8 21.4 8.3 30.4 18.0 40.0 28.6 23.8 50.0 25.0 60.0 20.0 27.3 28.6
77 52 35 65 42 61 46 39 32 39 18 23 36 14 37 26 24 20 18 12 6 21 15 18 15 9 11 23 2 21 5 9 17 7 13 3 10 10 19 8 9 18 14 6 3 14 4 9 14 10 2 4 15 7 12 6 10 9 5 14 5 11 10 10 5 10 2 6 7 7 11 5 1 5 5 9 10 10 10 5 3 5 2 6 4 9 10 4
20.3 19.9 19.2 20.1 19.3 20.6 19.9 18.9 18.0 18.6 18.7 20.3 19.1 17.5 20.6 21.0 19.6 19.0 18.3 21.5 19.7 20.1 20.5 20.4 19.5 18.5 20.8 18.8 24.0 20.1 22.8 23.1 18.6 17.9 19.1 20.7 19.6 21.2 17.3 18.9 22.8 20.3 17.0 17.5 16.2 20.1 19.5 19.3 18.8 18.2 25.3 17.9 21.5 18.9 18.4 17.9 19.6 19.9 16.8 20.5 20.5 16.7 21.2 18.6 20.4 18.1 16.0 19.6 18.4 17.1 20.8 23.0 17.0 19.3 19.6 18.6 18.3 18.6 18.7 17.3 20.8 18.0 23.0 18.2 16.3 18.1 17.1 20.3
973,475 876,593 774,388 734,627 708,475 614,915 508,212 381,982 368,427 348,730 346,077 337,809 311,667 276,612 272,172 269,418 254,446 249,783 235,007 234,092 228,132 224,709 224,230 221,275 209,053 204,227 200,636 197,904 197,595 196,343 195,593 191,765 181,131 180,122 173,569 172,257 169,784 165,767 163,957 160,191 159,261 157,937 157,611 156,471 150,651 149,626 149,128 145,698 142,502 133,637 133,243 131,945 130,381 128,093 128,038 127,946 125,738 122,564 122,419 121,544 118,662 117,571 116,763 116,195 112,915 112,656 111,893 110,046 109,397 109,097 103,744 103,447 99,330 95,955 94,662 94,153 92,469 91,944 91,494 87,953 87,888 87,631 85,177 83,178 80,866 80,849 80,798 80,711
War Of Attrition Joe Lively Snoopy Loopy Conem According To Pete Can’t Buy Time Barbers Shop Dashing George Irish Invader Katies Tuitor Sentry Duty I’msingingtheblues Tramp Stamp Hurricane Fly Ballyfitz Powerstation Will Be Done Irish Legend Merchent Paddy State Of Play Master Minded Made In Taipan Glenfinn Captain Alpha Ridge Massini’s Maguire Brave Inca Knowhere Emotional Article Kauto Star My Petra Oslot Dear Villez Bensalem Chomba Womba Skip Two Exotic Dancer Kahuna Preists Leap Ebadiyan Always Waining Notre Pere Diamond Harry Sublimity Golden Silver Binocular Classic Fiddle Petit Robin Celestial Halo Helens Vision Arctic Wings Madison du Berlais Harchibald Little Shilling Noland Briareus Mikael d’Haguenet Cloudy Lane Penny’s Bill Walkon Sole Bonne Femme Numide Tharawaat Knight Legend Torrid Kentavr Roll Along Medicinal Indian Pace Trafford Lad Alfie Flits Simarian Big Buck’s Monet’s Garden Tamarinbleu Catch Me Northern Alliance Heartansoul Donnas Palm Dee Ee Williams Double Dizzy Tatenen Air Force One Schindlers Hunt Punchestowns Oodachee Fiepes Shuffle Conclave Dishdasha Akilak
Earned (£)
61,915 97,019 238,022 57,442 88,859 60,837 55,157 49,235 46,489 49,241 134,063 80,347 26,504 81,250 32,691 35,228 47,830 32,145 40,182 55,021 179,098 43,759 51,514 85,977 36,311 94,993 39,907 22,479 197,596 59,710 110,199 66,015 20,111 122,785 32,921 130,643 39,434 63,107 26,967 37,201 106,017 62,664 64,095 70,211 145,330 31,310 65,606 59,883 24,194 18,925 131,143 63,816 27,701 71,728 31,096 115,099 59,414 64,530 59,573 31,114 64,975 43,472 40,152 25,032 66,512 28,652 99,896 89,535 41,077 37,526 49,861 39,907 48,344 90,882 48,607 16,088 40,133 26,938 30,518 52,258 61,976 56,884 84,819 46,040 45,608 24,604 9,436 31,354
As always, the state of play with our top sires is liable to alteration within a couple of weeks thanks to all the money on offer at Cheltenham. Whatever happens at the Festival, though, it is hard to see the leaders being pressured by those behind them. The eight at the head of the table are in precisely the same order as last month but Presenting and Flemensfith have extended their lead through adding around £150,000 apiece. Old Vic and Oscar’s runners have notched not much more than half that figure. Bob Back has jumped ahead of Kayf Tara but the latter’s big win with Carruthers came too late for inclusion. Kayf Tara’s 25% winners to runners score is the best by any of the top ten – Overbury has the highest ratio overall of sires with 100 or more runners on a splendid 28%. Pistolet Bleu’s early death in 2001 looked unfortunate at the time and even more so now. I’msingingtheblues and Snap Tie have done well for him this year, adding to a good record built by Sizing Europe, Geos and Katarino. Comments: Jeremy Early
Statistics up to February 8
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 91
OwnerBreeder Ad pages 03.09:OwnerBreeder Ad pages 02.09
16/2/09
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SPREAD THE COST OF YOUR TRAINING FEES We have a group of bloodstock investors in the UK, Ireland and Australia looking for horses to purchase shares in and send to trainer Jeremy Gask Jeremy established himself as a prolific trainer of Stakes winners in his native Australia and is now making an impact in Britain from his world-class training facility in Wiltshire, boasting an exceptional strike-rate
JEREMY GASK
We are looking for: • Flat-bred horses that have already achieved or look likely to achieve a rating of 80+ • Well-bred fillies that can be sent in pursuit of black type all around Europe • Progressive horses rated 90+ that stay beyond 10f to target the Melbourne Cup To discuss one of your horses in complete confidence please contact Eamonn Wilmott on 01985 841166 or email wilmott@horsesfirstracing.com
HorsesFirstRacing Sutton Veny, Wilts BA12 7BY Ph: +44 1985 841166 • Fax: +44 1985 840474 • www.horsesfirstracing.com
APPLETREE
TAMURE
(FR)
Chestnut 16.2 hh – By BIKALA x POMME ROSE (CARVIN) Complete outcross to NORTHERN DANCER
Dark Bay 16 hh 1992 – By SADLER'S WELLS x THREE TAILS (BLAKENNY)
Winner of four Group 1 – Coronation Cup, Epsom – Turf Classic, Belmont – Grand Prix de St. Cloud – Gewo Europa Prize – 3rd Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
2nd Grade 1 Derby, 12f, Epsom beating PRESENTING & SPECTRUM.
Sire of 11 Stakes Performers, including multiple winners.
Won LR Fred Archer Stakes.
LOUGH DERG – Grade 1 Ascot Long Walk Hurdle, 2007 – Grade 2 Holloways Hurdle 2008, 2009 (Top Weight) – Grade 2 National Spirit Hurdle, 2008.
4th Grade 1 Breeder's Cup turf, 12f, Belmont Park.
POMME TIEPY – Grade 2 Oil Ten Up Novice Chase, 2008 – 7 wins including Grade 2 Woodlands Park Novice Chase 2008 – Grade 3 Coolmore Mares Novice Chase, 2008 – Irish Stallions Mares Novice Chase listed.
Sire of: JONTY'S LASS – 2 races, 2nd LR Mares Hurdle, Newbury.
CNIRALOIN – Grade 3 winner.
DANZATRICE – (6 races).
QUZAC – Exciting young horse with Paul Nicholls. TOUGH RACEHORSE, TOUGH PROGENY
Won Grade 3 Prix du Prince of Orange.
Stakes Performing Sire from Limited Opportunities
LETS ROLL – (6 races £103,704). SUMMER LIGHTNING – (4 races). TELL THE TREES, SOMMELIE, ATLANTIC JANE, BETONART, CUTE N YOU KNOW IT, EASBY PARK, FRESCHEZZA, STUDENT LOAN, CHARLIE CRAB.
EASY CHOICE STUD FEE
PRODUCING TOUGH GENUINE STOCK
£1,500
STUD FEE
£1,500
Please contact:
BEECH TREE STUD, UPTON NOBLE, NR SHEPTON MALLET, SOMERSET, BA4 6AX Tel: ALLAN MUNNIS on 01749 850 786 or Mobile: 07711 072 362
92 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER MARCH 2009
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DATA BOOK
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BLOODSTOCK WORLD
British and Irish-bred winners overseas Breeder
Winner
Sire
Agricola Del Parco Agricola Del Parco Alder, R H Alicia & Co All Pian Di Neve Allevamento Del Mincio Di Boni Maria Grazia Allevamento Del Montello Allevamento Gialloblu Srl Allevemento Della Beradenga Almagro de Actividades Commerciales Amerian, C Amerian, C Aram, M V S and Mrs Aston House Stud Aston Mullins Stud Azienda Agricola Allevamento Selva Grande Srl Azienda Agricola Campanoli Azienda Agricola Francesca Azienda Agricola Francesca Azienda Agricola Rosati Colarieti Azienda Agricola Rosati Colarieti Azienda Agricola Rosati Colarieti Balding, P Ballyhane Stud Bambrick, M Barton Stud Belgrave Bloodstock & Sphere Bloodstock Bendis Partnership Boudengen, P Breeding, B and R Brennan & Holborn Trust Co Ltd, Thomas F Brick Kiln Stud & V A d’Haens Brinkley Stud S A S Brook Stud Bloodstock Ltd Burke, Sean Burton Agnes Stud Co Ltd Byrne, Miss A R Byrne, P Camma S A S di Schiavi Campbell-Andenaes, Mrs M Carroll, Mr J M Casieri, Rodolfo Channon, M Cherdo, D Chevington Stud Chevington Stud Churchtown Bloodstock Ltd Coburn, Joan Connolly, S Cooke, B Cooke, B Cosgrave, T Darley Darley Darley Darley Darley Darley Darpat SL, Chevington Stud & Laffon Dayton Investments Ltd Dayton Investments Ltd Deerfield Farm Dioscuri di Alduino E Guisseppe Botti Dobson, D H W Douglas, Brian Drago, G du Feu & Trickledown Stud, Mrs D Dye, Mrs J J Ecologila Toscana Srl Ennis, Aidan Epona Bloodstock Ltd Fahy, M & M Ferns, Jack Finegan & Noel Cogan, N Finegan, Miss J Finneran, M F Fisher, N D Fonthill Stud Fortview Stud Fortview Stud Gaetano, Drago Gaetano, Drago Gainsborough Stud Management Ltd Gainsborough Stud Management Ltd Gainsborough Stud Management Ltd Gasparini, Marco Gasparini, Marco Geoghegan, Pat Giovanni Fara Grange Srl Grangecon Stud Grangemore Stud
Dyaphora Miss Sultin Batten Boom Desmiraiz Lovesh Anoush Ellah Super Partes Tiremm Innanz Absolut Taft Entre Copas Campi d’Annibale Campi d’Annibale Sky Crusader Lamentation Feisty Royale Revoke King King Classic Fia d’Oca Famcur Candid Camera Laghat Yajala Mr Rigsby Mountain Excel Johannes Mozart Sunday’s Fantasy Belle Epoch Rubirosa Antarige President Elect Feelin Irie Liniberto Geena Pisati Diktat Beauty Spider Power Casemate Miss Gorica Rey Davis Exilissi Presvis Bellinissimo Gioconda Liebe Un Maglich Canonnade de Marie Almaguer Almaguer Tamazirte Tigello Get Ready Donia Dubai Donia Dubai Sicch Mac Morgan Dahteer Foreign Raider Maslaha Pearling Alexandros Trevelez Bank Guard Artiste Royal Singolar Tenzone Open Intent Galucci Bazuca Mr Speed Green Pride Fonkris Palinuro Lady Gianina Confucius Classic Fine Island Nero Peppe Ragtimeband Howya Now Kid Rose’s Spirit Lank Enodoc Very Glamour Very Glamour Mr Sindrag Mr Sindrag Black Charlie Congregation Crime Scene Diverso Hopsider Giubileo Baydat Diamond Peak Sugar Mint Allez Manger
Xaar Celtic Swing Mark Of Esteem Cape Cross Desert Prince Acclamation Celtic Swing Lujain (USA) King’s Theatre Sakhee (USA) Xaar Xaar Mujahid (USA) Singspiel Royal Applause Revoque Spectrum Lomitas Indian Ridge Lujain (USA) Diktat Fasliyev (USA) Forzando Exceed And Excel (AUS) Spinning World (USA) Carnival Dancer Sadler’s Wells (USA) Acclamation Fasliyev (USA) Imperial Ballet Key Of Luck (USA) Bertolini (USA) Invincible Spirit Diktat Royal Applause Efisio Mull Of Kintyre (USA) King Charlemagne (USA) Choisir (AUS) Sakhee (USA) Hawk Wing (USA) Fasliyev (USA) Fath (USA) Dilshaan Spectrum Spectrum Danehill Dancer Elnadim (USA) Orpen (USA) Docksider (USA) Docksider (USA) Distant Music (USA) Daylami Bachir Lend A Hand Selkirk (USA) Cape Cross Kingmambo (USA) Alhaarth Peintre Celebre (USA) Danehill (USA) Singspiel Nayef (USA) Verglas Danetime Mull of Kintyre (USA) Piccolo Dr Fong (USA) Night Shift (USA) Fath (USA) Danehill Dancer Tagula Key Of Luck (USA) Danetime Daggers Drawn (USA) Invincible Spirit Josr Algarhoud Efisio Pyrus (USA) Pyrus (USA) Sinndar Sinndar Storming Home Cape Cross Royal Applause Docksider (USA) Docksider (USA) Fayruz Danetime Daylami High Chaparral King Charlemagne (USA)
Age/sex Dam
6m 5m 6h 7m 3c 4f 6h 3c 8h 5h 4c 4c 7g 5m 4f 3c 8h 5m 4c 4f 6h 3f 6g 3c 3c 4c 3f 4g 3f 4g 6g 4c 3f 3f 6h 7g 5m 4c 3c 5g 3c 5m 3c 4f 7g 7g 3f 3c 4c 6m 6m 3c 4c 7g 6m 4f 3f 4c 4c 4c 8h 5m 3c 3g 8h 4c 6g 5h 9h 5m 5g 3f 6h 3c 5h 3f 6h 4g 3f 3f 4c 4c 3c 3c 6g 6h 6m 12 h 5h 5h 4f 6h
Ctry
Miss Caerleon Miss Caerleon Irish Fountain (USA) Ring Of Water (USA) Kathy Orpen Avatara Toque de Classe (USA) Telve Alalja Priena Idraak Idraak Red Cloud Dark Veil (USA) Hawait Al Barr Air Fly Adana Sciunfona Fanofadiga Cuba Lady Laura’s Show Desacara Rain Splash Shadow Mountain Nicolitta Nursling Solaia (USA) Bendis (GER) Indian Beauty Broadway Rosie Charlotte’s Dancer Jasmine Breeze Trombe (FR) China Beauty America Calling (USA) Flying Carpet Allegorica San Luis Rey Carolina My Love Forest Fire (SWE) Princess Electra Silvia Diletta Arcevia Shamatiya Cerita Cerita Tanami Desert Liebesgirl Bragain Flower Dafrah (USA) Dafrah (USA) Choralli Carnival Spirit Reematna Chania Mingora (USA) Pearl Grey Arlette Agapimou Blue Cloud Agathe (USA) Star Ridge (USA) Carol Alt Aeraiocht More Mirth Cadeaux Park Little Greenbird Krista Puppy Nora Yo Ya Sublime Beauty (USA) Fine Project Softly Softly True Freedom (FR) Lear’s Crown (USA) Vie En Rose Lady Mabel Raindrop Reign Of Fire Reign Of Fire Mrs Harbor (USA) Mrs Harbor (USA) My Hansel (USA) Have Faith Crime (USA) Difesa Indiana Hope of Pekan Hard To Stop Bayt Alasad De Puntillas Anna Karenina (USA) Mary Ellen Best
Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Spa Ity Ity Fr Usa Qtr Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Spa Ity Ity Ity Fr Fr Fr Usa Gny Spa Ity Ity Usa Qtr Uae Fr Ity Uae Fr Ity Ity Bel Fr Fr Fr Ity Qtr Uae Uae Ity Ity Uae Fr Qtr Fr Uae Fr Fr Usa Ity Ity Qtr Ity Ity Fr Ity Ity Ity Hk Ity Ity Ity Hk Ity Ity Qtr Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Qtr Uae Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Usa Ity
Date
16/1/09 25/1/09 14/1/09 28/1/09 03/1/09 01/2/09 31/1/09 19/1/09 17/1/09 11/1/09 29/1/09 05/1/09 29/1/09 09/1/09 01/1/09 13/1/09 31/1/09 25/1/09 30/1/09 04/1/09 11/1/09 18/1/09 04/1/09 05/1/09 02/2/09 29/1/09 02/2/09 24/1/09 31/1/09 05/1/09 18/1/09 01/2/09 14/1/09 25/1/09 16/1/09 29/1/09 15/1/09 05/1/09 10/1/09 22/1/09 14/1/09 19/1/09 08/1/09 31/1/09 10/1/09 22/1/09 29/1/09 22/1/09 22/1/09 09/1/09 23/1/09 27/1/09 04/1/09 23/1/09 15/1/09 28/1/09 08/1/09 22/1/09 15/1/09 28/1/09 19/1/09 22/1/09 01/2/09 01/1/09 27/1/09 01/2/09 31/1/09 20/1/09 06/1/09 16/1/09 21/1/09 18/1/09 01/2/09 13/1/09 21/1/09 17/1/09 23/1/09 08/1/09 20/1/09 30/1/09 17/1/09 23/1/09 18/1/09 22/1/09 15/1/09 04/1/09 21/1/09 29/1/09 23/1/09 08/1/09 08/1/09 21/1/09
Racecourse
Distance
Pisa Pisa Pisa Varese Rome Pisa Siracusa Albenga Siracusa Seville Naples Naples Cagnes-Sur-Mer Gulfstream Park Al Rayyan Rome Siracusa Pisa Pisa Pisa Pisa Pisa Seville Naples Naples Naples Toulouse Pau Cagnes-Sur-Mer Fair Grounds Dortmund Seville Varese Pisa Fair Grounds Al Rayyan Nad Al Sheba Pau Rome Nad Al Sheba Cagnes-Sur-Mer Albenga Naples Mons Deauville Cagnes-Sur-Mer Cagnes-Sur-Mer Naples Al Rayyan Jebel Ali Jebel Ali Rome Pisa Jebel Ali Pau Al Rayyan Deauville Nad Al Sheba Pau Cagnes-Sur-Mer Santa Anita Naples Pisa Al Rayyan Rome Siracusa Cagnes-Sur-Mer Rome Siracusa Pisa Happy Valley Siracusa Siracusa Rome Happy Valley Siracusa Siracusa Al Rayyan Rome Pisa Siracusa Siracusa Siracusa Al Rayyan Nad Al Sheba Pisa Pisa Naples Siracusa Naples Santa Anita Varese
1m1f £2,475 1m2f £4,126 1m2f £2,524 1m1f165y £1,682 6f £2,063 7f110y £2,944 1m2f £3,300 6f £1,650 1m £23,106 (L) 1m6f £7,767 1m1f £4,126 1m110y £4,951 1m2f £10,680 1m4f £15,417 1m2f £4,351 6f £2,063 6f £2,063 7f110y £2,475 6f110y £3,300 7f110y £2,475 7f110y £2,524 7f110y £4,126 7f110y £9,709 5f £4,126 1m1f £12,378 1m3f55y £2,475 1m2f110y £6,796 6f110y £7,282 6f110y £13,107 6f £6,667 6f £2,039 1m £5,340 7f110y £3,300 7f110y £4,126 1m £8,750 1m £10,878 7f110y £46,000 7f110y £8,738 1m £3,300 1m2f £50,181 1m £9,709 6f £2,063 5f £2,475 7f110y £1,456 1m1f110y £8,738 1m2f £8,738 1m £9,709 5f £2,475 1m2f £4,351 1m £9,090 1m £9,659 1m3f £2,888 1m3f £2,475 1m £6,818 1m1f110y £7,282 1m £10,878 7f110y £11,165 1m £50,181 6f110y £8,738 6f110y £12,136 1m2f £62,500 (Gr2) 1m1f £2,475 1m1f £4,126 7f £4,351 6f £2,063 6f £1,278 1m £6,796 1m £2,103 7f £1,650 6f £2,475 6f £43,492 7f110y £12,378 1m2f £1,278 7f £2,888 1m55y £43,492 6f £4,951 7f110y £1,650 5f £5,439 1m £2,063 7f110y £2,475 1m2f £2,063 1m2f £3,300 1m1f £4,126 1m £4,351 1m4f £50,181 6f110y £1,650 1m3f £1,650 5f £2,063 5f110y £1,650 1m2f £6,189 6f £20,000 1m1f165y £1,650
Prize-money (£)
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 93
Classified March 09:Classified March 09
16/2/09
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Page 94
LEASE EXCHANGE STRONG, SHARP AUCTION HOUSE COLT
FREE LEASE 2 year old filly Sakhee/Celtic Sapphire
1st April 2007 (unbroken). Ex twice winning Fairly Sure by Want to land up in the winners Red Sunset. Black type winning family; enclosure at Ascot? second dam won and produced six winners; third dam won four, bred I did with Celtic Sapphire (twice listed placed). 12 winners; fourth dam won twice, Her daughter advertised here is just like her. bred seven winners – being broken
Call David on 07967 655379
Contact 01347 824422 or vanessa.david@btconnect.com
CLASSIFIED RACECOURSE BOX
TRAINING SERVICES
PROPERTY SERVICES
ROYAL ASCOT BOX IN ROYAL ENCLOSURE
RACEHORSE TRAINING . . . AT SENSIBLE PRICES
JOHN JOHNSTONE MRICS
Ascot Boxholder wishes to sublet box within The Royal Enclosure, overlooking winning post for one day of Royal Ascot.
A professional service for you and your horses in a friendly, ambitious yard in the south of England with fantastic facilities. Ideally situated for ease of transport to more than 30 racecourses.
Tuesday 16th – Saturday 20th June
Limited vacancies in this exciting new yard for 2009.
Other dates available during the year.
Contact: Louise Hooper at Charterhouse Tel no. 01628 669900
Please call 07837 831966 now for more details
Chartered Surveyor
Estate Management Property Services Telephone: 01638 500155 Mobile: 07802 501548 Fax: 01638 500156 Email: jj@keylocks.com The Old Rectory, Lidgate, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 9PP
EQUINE SERVICES MOYNS PARK ESTATE & STUD (16 miles from Newmarket)
Boarding spaces available Foaling/walking in to Newmarket stallions Sales preparation
Qualify for the French Breeders Premium, board your mare in France.
Haras d’La Riviere
Haras des Dorrells
Boarding • Foaling • Sales Prep • Resting
Normandy, France
4 vacancies left for boarding mares, 2009 season. Superb new, purpose built facilities with walk-ins to all studs in Normandy.
Vacancies for boarding mares, stores and resting racers. Transport available for walk in mares to other studs. Normandy grass, wooden post and rail fencing, internal boxes. English and French spoken. Reasonable rates. Easy access to autoroutes A28 and A88, Deauville and Caen. Contact Jane@Dorrells.com +33 (0)2 33 12 64 57 or +33 (0)6 79 27 63 02
Tel: 01440 730396
Transport from UK £350 max. Contact us to discuss all aspects of boarding your mare in France at very competitive rates and qualify for French Breeders Premiums.
www.Dorrells.com
Tel: 00 33 (0)2 33 83 58 73 Email: debra.hooper@nordnet.fr
EQUINE SERVICES cont
FINANCIAL HELP
PERSONAL
BARTON STUD
FINANCIAL HELP
Slim 5'4" woman, 58, from a professional background would like to meet a personable man 55-60. I live in the Yorkshire Dales, have bred a winning racehorse, and love dogs and the countryside. My business takes me racing which may be followed by a meal in a good restaurant, perhaps a country pub. If that sounds interesting please get in touch with a photo.
Welcomes seasonal and permanent borders. Happy to accommodate mares walking into stallions based in the Newmarket and Thetford region. Also taking Mares and Foals, Yearlings for sales prep. Resting racehorses (colts included). Quarantine facilities (stallions included) also available.
Sapphire Cecil (David’s daughter) needs help from one person or 6 people for the deposit to buy a small property with 20 boxes for a thoroughbred horse care centre/stud she has found in North Yorkshire. Huge potential to develop to 50/60 boxes and top Stud Groom waiting to work.
Please contact 01284 787 226
jbbartonstud@aol.com 94 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER MARCH 2009
01347 824422 or vanessa.david@btconnect.com
eacowie@tiscali.co.uk
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DATA BOOK
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BLOODSTOCK WORLD The data published in this section is restricted to breeders based in Great Britain or Ireland, as determined by the address used when the foal was first registered. Some foreign-based breeders may be included if the mare was boarded in Great Britain or Ireland and is registered as being ‘care of’ a domestic breeder. Performance data covers results processed by Weatherbys during January Grundy Bloodstock S R L Grundy Bloodstock S R L Hayden, Mrs B Hellwood Stud Farm His Highness the Aga Khan’s Studs SC Hyde Park Stud Hyde, T Irish National Stud Johnston, Mrs Dervla Joly, Mrs D O Jones, J Juddmonte Farms Ltd Juddmonte Farms Ltd Kelly, E Kenny, J King Bloodstock Knocktoran Stud Knocktoran Stud Lagardere, M Landi, E Lavington Stud, The Legard, Lady Leigh, Exors of the Late G W London Thoroughbred Services Ltd Loughtown Stud Lynch Bages Ltd Magnier, T Stack & Wendy Cousins, Mrs J McCartan, Paul McDonnell, Joe McLoughlin, J Moran, Larry and Billy Mulligan, G Nataf, P National Stud, The Natton House Thoroughbreds Nolan, Mrs S O’Brien, J O’Callaghan, A F O’Callaghan, A F O’Connor, J O’Connor, J O’Riordan, Mrs S Oung, Madame L Penfold Bloodstock Ltd, Mr D Clark & Mrs F Gordon Petra Bloodstock Agency Petra Bloodstock Agency Ltd Purdie, Mrs J E Quinn, K Raponi, G Rathasker Stud Razza Del Pian Del Lago Reardon, W Robiati, Angelo Robinson & A W Robinson, I Rotondo, F Ryan, Dr J J Ryan, P Ryan, T Savill, P D Sc Day Just Sas Scarpellini Lino Scuderia Blueberry SRL Scuderia Cesare Turri Scuderia Cesare Turri Scuderia Golden Horse S R L Scuderia Golden Horse S R L Scuderia San Pancrazio Sas Scuderia Sant’ Ambroeus S R L Shadwell Estate Company Limited Shadwell Estate Company Limited Sig Ra Stefania Giurelli Sig Massimo Parri Signore Alberto Panetta Signore Alberto Panetta Snowdrop Stud Co Ltd Snowdrop Stud Co Ltd Soc Finanza Soc Finanza Locale Consulting Srl Soc Finanza Locale Consulting SRL St Clare Hall Stud Starbuck, J Stivali, S Stivali, S Stroud & J Hanly, A Sunderland Holdings Ltd Theakston Stud Tudini, M Tumsich, G Waldron & Mick McGinn, James Waterford Hall Stud Woodhouse Syndicate Wright, A A Zumreoglu, L
Desert Child Vol de Nuit Busciotto Cosmic Art Kerdem Tobias King Alittlebitleft Blackberry Boy Commander Ripley Doyle Lonnegan Porta Marina Bilbo Quest Gold Option Magna Cum Laude Malkovich Evaluate Smarten Die Smarten Die Alhamark Irreversible Six Shots Eva Kant Gravitas Victorian Prince Site Sentry Mr Bird Lightning Hit Kala Kanta Pumalio Roque West Nile One Clever Cat Dubai Queen Ut Majeur Saum Master Winter Rambo Night Ades Tillerdan Trendy Queen Wingstar Natal Lad Kornei Lord Prospector Aristote Light of Joy (FR) Manuelita Big Tower Wild Turkey Bod Selkirk Bessarione Kimshasa Arts And Daggers Capoclasse Hard Job Ciko Jet Dark Rose Pure Passion Classified (FR) Queen Black Naucrate Lady Sadowa Pappa Paso Escabroso Golden Phanton Golden Ridder Montaffair Squidge Alsadeek Aqmaar Cerea Ne Duddova Super Invincibile Teofane Il Greco Doolin Dalton Doolin Dalton Douce Vie Parfaite Emotionner Gallardo Mister Mujahid Miss Coccinella Miss Coccinella Third Set Dress Rehearsal Chamoriscan Rio Torto Arenzano Giada Med Super Granfather Golden White Big Leo Magic Livius
Green Desert (USA) 7h Linamix (FR) 8h Desert Story 8h Bertolini (USA) 4c Rainbow Quest (USA) 6h Modigliani (USA) 4c Danehill Dancer 5h Desert Prince 5h No Excuse Needed 4f Compton Place 3c Captain Rio 3f Dr Fong (USA) 4c Observatory (USA) 5h Danehill Dancer 4c Iron Mask (USA) 3c Fusaichi Pegasus (USA) 6 h Diesis 6h Diesis 6h Mark Of Esteem 6g Diktat 7m Josr Algarhoud 5h Medicean 3f Mark Of Esteem 6h Desert Prince 5h Nashwan (USA) 6g Polish Precedent (USA) 4c Orpen (USA) 6h Verglas 3c No Excuse Needed 3c Danehill Dancer 8h Trans Island 7h One Cool Cat (USA) 3f King Charlemagne (USA) 4 f Brahms (USA) 6h Diktat 4c Masterful (USA) 3c Imperial Ballet 5h Petardia 10 h Tillerman 3f Traditionally (USA) 4f In The Wings 5m Acclamation 4c Shinko Forest 6g Zamindar (USA) 5h Domedriver 3c Mark of Esteem 6h Noverre (USA) 4f American Post 3c Touch Of The Blues (FR) 3 c Trans Island 7h Trempolino (USA) 5h Chevalier 3c Daggers Drawn (USA) 5h Sulamani 3c Night Shift (USA) 7h Almutawakel 3c Pyrus (USA) 3f Tobougg 5h Celtic Swing 9g Fasliyev (USA) 3f King’s Best (USA) 5m Nayef (USA) 3f Docksider (USA) 7m Definite Article 5h Daggers Drawn (USA) 3c Rob’s Spirit (USA) 3c Monashee Mountain (USA) 4 c Indian Ridge 5h Fasliyev (USA) 4g Green Desert (USA) 5h Monashee Mountain (USA) 4 c Celtic Swing 3f Invincible Spirit 3c Barathea 6h Bertolini (USA) 4c Bertolini (USA) 4c Desert Prince 3c Daggers Drawn (USA) 4c Kris Kin (USA) 3c Halling (USA) 7g Mujahid (USA) 7h Desert Prince 3f Desert Prince 3f Royal Applause 6g Galileo 4f Diktat 4c Sinndar 4c Tagula 5h Okawango (USA) 4f Indian Haven 3c Mull Of Kintyre (USA) 3f Erhaab (USA) 4c Titus Livius (FR) 5g
Bedside Story Bedside Story Golden Leap Cosmic Song Kermiyana Borntobepampered Sifaara Summer Crush (USA) Mary Kris (USA) Wedgewood Star Danzig Music Questionable Minskip (USA) Miss Kinabalu Ektebaat Viva Zapata (USA) Highest Dream Highest Dream Alharir (USA) Amsicora Captive Heart Quadri Bombazine Miss Lorilaw (FR) Balwa (USA) Kicking Bird (FR) Starring Role Rappide Heart of The Ocean Head Girl Athlumney Dancer Burn Baby Burn Dubai Victory Bundle Up (USA) Goldenrain (USA) Winter Dolphin Night Quest Era Daneville Quittance (USA) Thirtysomething (USA) Gentle Guest Constantia Lanasara Abime (USA) Silence Miss Arizona Margi (FR) Donleole Zurarah Blue Mandolin (USA) Brief Journey Art Fair Dawn Alarm Via Oriani Cosa Deasa Darkness At Noon (USA) Celtic Wing She’s All Class (USA) Grand Teacher Nydrion (USA) Sadowa (GER) Mia Pantera Peppa Coral Golden Sweetwater Run (USA) Sweet Affair (USA) Sagar Queen (USA) Khulan (USA) Hureya (USA) Eder Isle Peggy Guggenheim Minodora Minodora April Magic April Magic Ellendellendoo Shwe Dagon Night Home (ITY) Coigach Bahrain Queen Nawafell Nawafell Khamseh Sassenach Majalis Conca Peligna Artesina Singled Out Madame Moonshine White Paper Due West Majakerta
Ity Ity Ity Hk Aus Ity Usa Spa Spa Ity Ity Fr Aus Usa Gny Usa Gny Gny Fr Spa Usa Ity Uae Usa Gny Ity Usa Uae Ity Gny Ity Fr Fr Qtr Ity Fr Ity Ity Ity Fr Fr Fr Fr Ity Fr Mal Fr Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Fr Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Uae Uae Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Fr Ity Fr Ity Ity Ity Uae Usa Spa Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity Ity
03/1/09 18/1/09 21/1/09 21/1/09 11/1/09 06/1/09 17/1/09 01/2/09 25/1/09 02/2/09 17/1/09 07/1/09 10/1/09 19/1/09 25/1/09 03/1/09 01/2/09 18/1/09 31/1/09 18/1/09 14/1/09 22/1/09 22/1/09 01/1/09 01/2/09 15/1/09 18/1/09 08/1/09 31/1/09 11/1/09 31/1/09 07/1/09 20/1/09 15/1/09 22/1/09 08/1/09 23/1/09 20/1/09 03/1/09 26/1/09 28/1/09 08/1/09 14/1/09 31/1/09 07/1/09 11/1/09 07/1/09 10/1/09 03/1/09 31/1/09 06/1/09 05/1/09 24/1/09 01/2/09 14/1/09 24/1/09 01/2/09 19/1/09 07/1/09 06/1/09 09/1/09 28/1/09 06/1/09 06/1/09 24/1/09 05/1/09 18/1/09 12/1/09 09/1/09 25/1/09 30/1/09 04/1/09 31/1/09 02/2/09 03/1/09 01/2/09 25/1/09 07/1/09 21/1/09 10/1/09 19/1/09 09/1/09 21/1/09 15/1/09 18/1/09 18/1/09 22/1/09 26/1/09 06/1/09 01/2/09 20/1/09 05/1/09 18/1/09
Rome Siracusa Varese Happy Valley Warrnambool Siracusa Rillito Seville Seville Naples Siracusa Pau Caulfield Santa Anita Dortmund Santa Anita Dortmund Dortmund Cagnes-Sur-Mer Seville Turf Paradise Naples Nad Al Sheba Santa Anita Dortmund Naples Santa Anita Nad Al Sheba Siracusa Dortmund Siracusa Deauville Cagnes-Sur-Mer Al Rayyan Naples Deauville Siracusa Rome Rome Cagnes-Sur-Mer Cagnes-Sur-Mer Deauville Cagnes-Sur-Mer Siracusa Deauville Perak Deauville Rome Rome Siracusa Pisa Naples Rome Siracusa Varese Rome Pisa Naples Deauville Siracusa Pisa Varese Pisa Pisa Rome Naples Pisa Albenga Jebel Ali Abu Dhabi Pisa Pisa Siracusa Naples Rome Rome Pisa Deauville Pisa Deauville Albenga Pisa Pisa Nad Al Sheba Tampa Bay Downs Seville Naples Albenga Siracusa Siracusa Rome Naples Siracusa
1m3f 1m3f110y 7f 5f 1m110y 5f110y 5f 1m4f 1m2f110y 5f 5f110y 1m4f 1m 7f 1m110y 6f 6f 6f 1m 1m2f110y 1m 5f 1m4f 1m2f 1m4f110y 1m1f 1m2f 1m 1m2f 6f 1m2f110y 1m1f110y 1m 2m 5f 1m1f110y 1m110y 6f 7f 1m4f 1m4f 7f110y 1m2f 1m110y 1m1f110y 7f 1m1f110y 7f110y 1m 1m 1m3f 7f110y 7f 1m2f 7f110y 1m 1m1f110y 1m110y 7f110y 7f110y 1m1f 1m2f110y 7f110y 6f110y 7f 1m2f 6f110y 1m3f 6f 7f 7f110y 6f 6f 1m2f 6f 6f 7f110y 1m1f110y 1m2f110y 1m1f110y 1m3f 7f110y 7f110y 1m194y 1m1f 1m1f 1m2f 1m3f 1m2f110y 5f110y 1m 5f 1m
£4,126 £23,106 (L) £1,682 £43,492 £6,311 £2,063 £849 £11,650 £4,854 £5,776 £2,063 £13,689 £17,767 £6,250 £2,524 £7,917 £2,524 £2,913 £8,738 £4,854 £3,333 £6,189 £50,181 £15,417 £1,942 £4,126 £21,667 £5,681 £1,650 £1,942 £1,650 £11,165 £11,650 £21,756 £3,300 £7,282 £3,300 £2,063 £4,126 £7,282 £21,903 £8,252 £7,767 £4,126 £11,165 £5,321 £7,282 £4,126 £2,888 £1,650 £1,682 £6,189 £2,063 £1,278 £7,427 £4,126 £6,189 £2,063 £6,796 £2,063 £1,856 £3,300 £1,650 £2,475 £2,063 £2,475 £4,951 £1,425 £6,250 £7,954 £1,856 £4,126 £2,063 £12,378 £2,063 £2,475 £4,126 £7,282 £3,300 £6,796 £1,682 £1,650 £3,300 £73,181 £7,458 £4,854 £4,951 £1,443 £1,650 £1,278 £2,063 £4,126 £2,063
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 95
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YOUR SAY
Why it pays to look beyond the obvious Bryan Mayoh Yorkshire-based breeder of Grade 2 winner Kornati Kid
Rather than rely on conventional prize-money tables, a very revealing test of a jump sire’s ability comes by calculating their expected lifetime earnings
n the December issue of this magazine, Paul Murphy makes the valid point that in assessing NH stallions conventional prizemoney tables greatly favour Irish stallions that cover vast books of mares. Paul states that a key driver for him is the percentage of winners to runners, which can produce very different results. However, this measure also has drawbacks, the principal ones being: G The winner of a seller counts just as much as a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner. G Older stallions, most of whose runners have had several years racing, are favoured over younger stallions. If, to offset this, only current season’s results are used, then distortions can occur due to small samples. G Flat-oriented stallions, many of whose NH runners have been selected as having shown some ability already, are favoured over ‘pure’ NH stallions. For these reasons I have undertaken analyses of NH stallion performance that rely on the
I
Flat-based stallions should be compared with each other, not with NH stallions. These analyses show that the prominent Irish NH stallions, Old Vic, Presenting, Flemensfirth, Oscar and Beneficial, still have good records, Old Vic’s in particular being excellent. Their success is not due purely to numbers. More interestingly for British NH breeders, who might increasingly be put off from using Irish stallions by the weakness of the pound, several British-based stallions are revealed to have very good records when analysed in this way. Sir Harry Lewis, sire of Mighty Man and the highly promising Diamond Harry, has results that are comparable with all of the above stallions bar Old Vic. Alflora has a higher percentage of horses rated over 160 – indicating high-class performance – than any other prominent NH stallion, again bar Old Vic. The numbers of mares covered by Kayf Tara in 2008 indicate that many others have realised just how promising a stallion he is. He still needs to produce horses with Racing Post
“It is only a matter of time before breeders realise the ability of Midnight Legend to upgrade mares” Racing Post Ratings that are readily available on its website. I use the highest rating achieved by each runner and calculate the average of these ratings for each stallion. I then ‘weight’ these by the likely prize-money earnings for each band of Racing Post Ratings (<90, 90-99, 100-109, 110-119, 120-129, 130-139, 140-149, 150159, 160-169, 170-179, >180) to calculate expected lifetime earnings for a runner by each stallion. These measures allow much fairer comparisons between stallions in terms of the quality of the runners they produce. Since animals tend to achieve their highest ratings at the ages of seven, eight and nine, it is unfair to compare stallions whose oldest progeny are six or seven with those that have several crops older than this. Instead, these should be compared with others that went to stud at the same time, or with the records of older stallions when they were at the same stage of their careers. Similarly,
96 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER
Ratings over 160, but his record, with his oldest runners being six-year-olds, is ahead of any other stallion that I have checked at the same stage, including Old Vic, Presenting, Flemensfirth, Oscar and Supreme Leader. A much less discovered talent is Midnight Legend. At the time of writing he has sired 32 winners from 60 runners (53%). The average Racing Post Rating of his runners is higher than any of the stallions mentioned above and over 60% have achieved ratings of over 90 – these being the best results of any NH stallion with over 50 runners. He has yet to have a runner whose rating exceeds 160 but this is surely only a matter of time as breeders realise his ability to upgrade his mares. We may not compete with our Irish friends in numbers, but there is no reason why we cannot compete for quality, and by digging beneath the ‘headline’ figures we can readily identify this in stallions that are available in Britain.
A BIG THANK YOU Dubai Racing Club thanks all owners and trainers for their continued support at the Dubai International Racing Carnival and we look forward to welcoming you at Meydan in 2010.
Dubai Racing Club, Nad Al Sheba Racecourse, Dubai Racing Club Office Building, P.O. Box 9305, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 316 8656. Fax: +971 4 327 0048. Email: intdept@dubairacingclub.com. Web: www.dubairacingclub.com
Tiger’s cubs: Ready to roar He sired six G1 horses and 12%SW/foals from his first four crops. Now his first Darley-sired foals are about to race – and they’re his best-bred bunch yet. Things are about to get even better for Tiger Hill.
Golden crops Two-year-olds and yearlings include the offspring of 108 elite Stakes winning/producing mares. Review their pedigrees in our special book of books. Call or email for your copy, or see them online at www.darleystallions.com/cubs.
TIGER HILL
£12,000 Oct 1st, SLF.
Dalham Hall Stud, Newmarket. Call Dawn, Mark, Richard, Lisa-Jane, Lucie, Franziska or Benoit on +44 (0)1638 730070. www.darleystallions.com
Darley
Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder inc Pacemaker March 2009