fda-approved deslorelin made in ky

Tags

barry simon, delorelin, equine reproduction, fda-approved drug, ovulation in mares

Several press releases and public announcements have shown up in the trade publications and in Kentucky newspapers about a “new” drug called SucroMate Equine being manufactured in Kentucky for use in controlling ovulation in mares.

This is important for a couple of reasons. First, the drug is a controlled-release formulation of deslorelin acetate, which has been used to regulate mares’ ovulation for several years. Previously, there has never been an FDA-approved version of the drug, meaning one that has endured the testing and expense to prove its safety and effectiveness.

And one veterinarian I spoke with said, “This is just FDA-approved deslorelin,” rather than something that horsemen are not familiar with.

Of further interest is the report that the drug manufacturer plans to market 10-dose vials of SucroMate for $30 to $40 apiece, according to company officials. This is a massive price drop compared to the prices for privately compounded shots of deslorelin currently available. Deslorelin compounded by local pharmacies may no longer be available, with Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington halting its production once SucroMate becomes available.

As with other versions of deslorelin, SucroMate is intended to promote ovulation within 48 hours of the injection, and the branded drug will be distributed by Bioniche Life Sciences, a Canadian company that has been developing and marketing animal and human drugs for 30 years. The drug will be available for the start of the 2011 breeding season in February.

CreoSalus developed SucroMate Equine over the last decade. David Phelps, CEO of CreoSalus, is co-founder of the company with Barry Simon, DVM, who was for several years the resident veterinarian at Ashford Stud outside Versailles.

Company officials said CreoSalus has begun working to register the drug outside the United States for sale to the horse breeding industry in Europe, South America, and Australia.

switch advertises calumet’s success

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antoinette, bill witman, calumet farm, danzig, de kwiatkowski, fappiano, jonabell, keeneland january sale, la brea stakes, midnight lute, mr. prospector, nicholas, quiet american, real quiet, santa anita racetrack, switch

The following post was published earlier this week at Paulick Report.

 

Few farms have an international reputation equal to that of Calumet Farm, now owned by the de Kwiatkowski family, and the historic Thoroughbred nursery with the picturesque white fences just outside Lexington added another Grade 1 winner on Sunday when the Quiet American filly Switch won the La Brea Stakes on the opening-day card at Santa Anita.

Calumet bred and raised the bay daughter of Quiet American from their homebred stakes winner Antoinette, who is one of four stakes winners by their homebred stakes winner Nicholas (by Danzig). Antoinette’s form peaked at 4, when she won six of nine starts, including the G3 Athenia Handicap, and she earned $399,160 in two seasons of racing.

Antoinette is the dam of two stakes winners to date, Keystone Gulch (by Gulch) and Switch (click here for pedigree), who was already a winner at G2 level and had run second in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, Lady’s Secret (to Zenyatta), and third in the G1 Las Virgenes.

The farm’s good producer is among the lots consigned by Calumet to the upcoming Keeneland January sale (held Jan. 10-14). The 16-year-old Antoinette is in foal to Roman Ruler, last year’s leading freshman sire, on a Feb. 16 cover.

Calumet Farm manager Bill Witman said, “We operate the farm as a commercial enterprise, and all horses reach a point where they attain maximum value. This might be the time with Antoinette.”

In addition, Calumet has two daughters of Antoinette. The older of these is Art Affair, an unraced daughter of Mineshaft. The 5-year-old has produced a good filly by Quiet American and is “being booked to Midnight Lute,” twice the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and by Quiet American’s best son, Real Quiet.

There is a practical reason for the repeated use of Quiet American with this family. The breeder is working to add size and scope to the foals, and as a result, Calumet has repeatedly mated Antoinette to good-sized, rangy types. Their best result has been with Quiet American, one of the last remaining sons of leading sire Fappiano. But keeping to the same Mr. Prospector male line and the same rugged type, the mare also has had three colts by Lemon Drop Kid, including the eight-time winner Jano (earnings of 101,400 Euros or $140,864).

That colt’s full brother, Louison, went through the Keeneland September yearling sale for $150,000 the year before Switch. In 2008, Switch sold for the same price at the Keeneland yearling sale and races for CRK Stable.

Witman said, “She was never a really big filly, but then most of this family are not.” As a yearling, Switch was nicely balanced and showed composure during her time at the sale. She has matured and strengthened to rank among the best of her age and sex.
Witman attributes the filly’s progress and consistent form to trainer John Sadler, whom he said has “done a masterful job” to keep Switch racing well at the G1 level all year.

Toughness and consistency are hallmarks of the progeny of Quiet American, who stands for Darley at Jonabell. In addition to classic winner Real Quiet and G1 winner Switch, the 24-year-old stallion has sired 52 stakes winners (7% of foals), along with an outstanding proportion of runners (82%) and winners (57%) to foals.

Antoinette has done equally well with her offspring, with four winners from six foals of racing age and two stakes winners. The mare’s weanling is a filly by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Pleasantly Perfect, and this was another mating with the goal of adding size and substance to the offspring.

The result is a “really nice weanling,” Witman said, that combines the strength of the dam with the scope of the sire. Whether sold as a yearling or retained, the half-sister to Switch will be yet another promising prospect for Calumet as the operation moves into the next decade of the 21st century.

other champions and near-champions who missed

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bold n determined, broodmare production, chance and reproduction, gallant bloom, genuine risk, meadow star, opportunity in breeding, reproduction issues

Among the list of top-class mares who, for one reason and another, failed to reproduce anything like themselves are some of the very best racehorses of the past 30 or 40 years.

Genuine Risk, as a couple of readers pointed out, never had a winner. Champion Gallant Bloom had only a couple of winners. Genuine Risk’s arch-competitor, Bold n Determined, had a poor record at stud.

At a less-determinedly negative level, Meadow Star had a record similar to that of Winning Colors, with stakes-placed horses but not a stakes winner.

Anyway, the point of this exercise is not to say that any of these mares were “bad.” They were not. Genuine Risk, for instance, got in foal easily but did not carry the pregnancies to birth, with few exceptions. Gallant Bloom started off well enough reproductively, then went barren for years.

These are not the records of horses who could not produce good racehorses. They simply did not produce many foals at all.

If we look at the records of mares, especially through the lens of those who expect a mare to produce her best offspring in her first four or five foals, it’s amazing that any of them succeed. It’s almost like playing the lottery, and in that regard, Thoroughbred reproduction is a gigantic game of chance.

In comparison to top-class stallions, who nowadays regularly sire a hundred or more foals in each crop, mares have severely limited opportunity to get top racehorses. For many, it seems, by the time the breeder figures out what matches the mare best, she is too old to take advantage of it. [Somethingroyal, of course, might disagree with this statement, having foaled Secretariat when she was 18, as memory serves.]

great mares in a different field

Tags

broodmare success, christmas past, lady's secret, producing class, production research, racing class, winning colors

Was doing a spot of research and had a question to pose. Who would be the best mares never to produce a stakes winner?

There’s no question that being a top-flight racehorse is not the same as being a top-flight broodmare, but overall, the best racemares outproduce everything else.

That said, some of the really grand ones just don’t get it done.

I came up with a trio who all won championships and would be called “great” or “real damned good,” depending on who you asked. They are all grays too, for whatever that’s worth.

Horse of the Year Lady’s Secret, Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors, and champion filly Christmas Past did not produce a stakes winner. Winning Colors did produce two runners who were stakes-placed (Golden Colors and Ocean Colors), and I believe one of the early foals out of Lady’s Secret won a stakes in Japan that doesn’t qualify for international black type.

Any thoughts about why such a trio of top racemares would have less-than-expected success as broodmares?

christmas comes not once a year

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christmas, christmas as a name, horse names, naming racehorses, racehorses for christmas

If an owner has a racehorse named Christmas, the surprises and potential joys are there every day, not just once a twelvemonth.

From my search today, there have been at least three American-bred Thoroughbreds named Christmas. The oldest I found was Christmas (1896 by Patron), then Christmas (1970 by Tibaldo), and the most recent Christmas (1996 by Light Years).

Other countries have Christmas (horses) also. Japan, England, and Argentina all have Thoroughbreds registered as Christmas. For my money, the best named of all this lot is the English-bred Christmas of 1967 (by Santa Claus out of Babble On). Too punny.

May your season be bright and may all of your Christmases be fast.

comma near the top … of division?

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airdrie stud, breezefigs, brent fernung, bwana charlie, comma to the top, congrats, crystal fernung, Daily Racing Form, datatrack international, gary barber, halo, hollywood futurity, hollywood park, hollywood starlet, indian charlie, journeyman stud, kevin tsujihara, obs april sale, obs sales company, peter miller, racehorse selection, roger birnbaum, sales of 2yos in training, success with young stallions, thoroughbred breeding in florida, turbulent descent, wildcat heir

The following post was published earlier this week at Paulick Report.

The season-ending Grade 1 stakes at Hollywood Park packed a lot of joy for the Florida breeding industry, as both Hollywood Park’s Starlet and Futurity went to juveniles bred in the Sunshine State. In addition, both Starlet winner Turbulent Descent and Futurity winner Comma to the Top went through the juvenile sales at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s April sale of 2-year-olds in training.

While Turbulent Descent was always a grand prospect and attracted sufficient attention from bidders to sell for $160,000, Comma to the Top was the surprise package. The gelded son of second-crop sire Bwana Charlie brought $22,000 on a bid from trainer Peter Miller for owners Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, and Kevin Tsujihara. In his first trip through a sales ring, Comma to the Top had been a $5,000 weanling at the 2008 OBS October mixed sale.

Now he is a G1 winner, and the bay gelding has prospered mightily through an ambitious campaign of 10 starts. Comma to the Top has six victories and $551,600 in earnings.

Not bad.

Unlike Turbulent Descent (by leading freshman sire Congrats, who has moved to Vinery in Kentucky), the Futurity winner is by a stallion who is unlikely to leave Florida.

Bwana Charlie stands at Brent and Crystal Fernung’s Journeyman Stud for a stud fee of $2,500, and Brent Fernung said, “We value the support our breeders have given this horse, and we’re not going to jump up and do a lot different with him. He’s going to have a pretty good book, and we’ve been getting a lot of calls on him, especially today [Monday].”

Fernung started both Wildcat Heir, who stands at Journeyman, and Congrats in their stud careers. “There isn’t any money in it,” he said, “but there’s some personal satisfaction in having Congrats as leading first-crop sire and Wildcat Heir as the leading second-crop sire in the country.”

Depending on which sire list one consults, Bwana Charlie is in third or fifth place among Florida-based second-crop sires.

Out of the Halo mare Shahalo, Bwana Charlie is yet another good son of the once-beaten Indian Charlie, who stands in Kentucky at Airdrie Stud. Bwana Charlie has a physique in keeping with that pedigree. He has the strong shoulder, rounded hindquarter, and rather thick body that are usually part of the package with the better offspring of Indian Charlie and Halo.

And the stallion put many of the same qualities into his G1-winning son. At the OBS April sale, Comma to the Top went a quarter-mile in : 21 1/5 and looked good doing it. Evaluated off the stride data from the work, Comma to the Top had a 24-foot stride on a day when the average was 23.8 feet. The gelding showed good efficiency (motion and use of his body) in the work, and earned a BreezeFig of 65 for a group 1 rating, all of which is public information from DataTrack International for those who use their BreezeFig data through Daily Racing Form.

There was a lot to like about Comma to the Top’s work for a youngster who brought only $22,000, but at the time, some observers thought his knees a bit questionable, and he wasn’t the really big, scopey type of young athlete that most often gets the buyers to butting heads.

Although he was good at the time, Comma to the Top has gotten a lot “gooder” over the last eight months. He has prospered through a rather strenuous juvenile racing season that appears to have hardened his joints and his resolve.

Comma to the Top’s successes over the past weeks have helped his dam change hands. Breeders Richard and Linda Thompson sold Maggies Storm (by Stormy Atlantic), the dam of Comma to the Top, for $150,000 to John Sykes before the Futurity. The mare is in foal to Congrats, in whom Sykes owns the majority interest.

John Dowd, who trained Songandaprayer, brokered the deal and said, “I live here in Ocala and do some work for OBS during the sales and also work at moving horses for people in the off season.

“Earlier this year, we did some short-listing for Peter Miller at the OBS April sale, and that was how I got involved in tracking down the dam of Comma to the Top. I knew Matt Lyons, who is manager for [Sykes’s] Woodford Thoroughbreds and who happened to be right here in Ocala when I learned this mare was for sale. I gave him a call, and we went out to look her over.

“The breeders were interested in selling the package, the mare and weanling [by Belgravia], but Woodford Thoroughbreds was interested only in the mare. So they made an offer and closed the deal.”

Maggies Storm has a yearling filly by Simon Pure who is scheduled to sell through the OBS March select sale of 2-year-olds in training.

nasrullah put high-test petrol in the tank

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apalachee, aptitude, blame, dosage, federico tesio, franco varola, moccassin, nasrullah, nervous energy, nureyev, philosophy and pedigrees, ridan, rough shod, sadler's wells

Reader Russ Fisher had a question about “the effect that the Nasrullah blood seems to have had with” the family of Rough Shod, which has produced such stars as Ridan, Moccasin, Apalachee, Nureyev, Sadler’s Wells, Blame, and others.

In particular, Fisher said, “It looks like Nasrullah was able to bring out the distance genes found far back in the family.”

One way of looking at this is through the prism of dosage. As used by Franco Varola, dosage categorized many of the Nearco horses, including Nasrullah as brilliant, others as trans-brilliant or intermediate. But in Varola’s usage that wasn’t a distance evaluation but rather a humanistic assessment of the horse’s dynamics.

In essence, being brilliant meant having speed (and usually high energy) but also the potential to race a distance or get horses capable of doing so. Certainly that was true of Nasrullah, who was a splendid 2yo and matured well at 3 to be third in the Derby, run at Newmarket in 1943 because of WWII.

So, the “nervous energy” that Federico Tesio writes about is a significant part of what I think of as brilliance in racing aptitude. It’s the energy, enthusiasm, fire, and determination that puts lead in the pencil, or high-test petrol in the tank of your sports car. Too much of this energy can cause a horse to be unreliable as a racing prospect; too little and you’ve a nice pasture ornament.

how do you breed good horses?

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breeding thoroughbreds, commercial breeding, decisions in mating thoroughbreds, mockingbird farm, racing class in the sire, spendthrift farm, valid appeal, wajima

One of the biggest misunderstandings about breeding Thoroughbreds among most people outside the breeding business is that they expect there is a detailed consideration of physique, esoteric pedigree information, and some kind of deep insight involved in every mating that produces a good horse.

Here’s the truth. Most breeders in the commercial side ask themselves, “What is this mare worth and what stallion will get a sales-worthy foal out of her?” That’s it.

And when you consider that this is their job (breeding to sell, not breeding to race), you understand how things stand at the sales.

That said, some of the very best breeders I have met in nearly 30 years of writing and reading about Thoroughbred breeding are also commercial breeders. But each of those approaches the game this way: they breed as if they were going to race that foal.

One of those fellows is adamant about racing class in the sire. He will not use even a G1 winner that he thinks is a hound, who had his best day on the right day.

In discussing racing class, we got around to talking about Valid Appeal (1972 b h by In Reality x Desert Trial, by Moslem Chief), who won a single stakes (Dwyer), ran second in the Saratoga Special and Jerome, third in the Futurity and Saranac. His analysis of Valid Appeal was that he was a pretty good racehorse who overcame a lot. The son of In Reality was quite small, not especially “correct” in conformation, and went to stud after a dud season at 4.

The point that closed the deal for Valid Appeal as a stallion with this breeder is who he raced against and beat. He said, “The colt had speed, tons of it, like most of the In Reality stock. That’s good, but look at the horses he beat.”

Prime among those was Wajima, a big and gorgeous son of Bold Ruler who ran second to Valid Appeal in the Dwyer before going on a five-race winning streak that ended with victory in the Marlboro Cup and the Eclipse Award as leading 3yo colt of 1975. Wajima was syndicated for millions to stand at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, and Valid Appeal had a listless 4yo campaign before going to stud at Mockingbird Farm in Ocala. The little guy never looked back.

congrats locking up freshman sire title

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a.p. indy, bernardini, bluegrass cat, bold ruler line, breeding in kentucky, claiborne farm, cloverleaf farms, congrats, freshman sire title, horse breeding in florida, leading sires, malibu moon, mike o'farrell, ocala stud, Pulpit, rokeby stable, Seattle Slew, Tapit, turbulent descent, vinery

The following post appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

Victory in the Hollywood Starlet not only made Turbulent Descent a Grade 1 winner for owner Blinkers On Racing and for breeder Ocala Stud, but the success also made the filly’s sire, Congrats, a virtual lock as the leading freshman sire of 2010.

The grand-looking son of A.P. Indy and the Mr. Prospector mare Praise had been in a tight duel for the title with the Storm Cat horse Bluegrass Cat (standing at WinStar) and Preakness winner Bernardini (Darley), who is also a son of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy.

But when Turbulent Descent coasted home from her competition at Hollywood Park, Congrats pulled off to a lead of about a quarter-million dollars over the others. With only 14 days left in the year, that is probably enough to ensure the title for Congrats.

Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy has been looking more and more like the leading conduit for premium talent through such sons as Pulpit and Malibu Moon, as well as grandson Tapit, but having both Congrats and Bernardini fighting for the title of top freshman clearly puts Seattle Slew’s branch of the Bold Ruler line in the national forefront.

Such results are not accidental.

Both these horses are outstanding athletes and were given every chance to present their best qualities.

Bred and raced by Claiborne Farm, Congrats won the G2 San Pasqual Handicap, ran second in the G1 Santa Anita Handicap, and was third in the G1 Hollywood Gold Cup. Near the end of his racing career, the big bay sold to Cloverleaf Farms in Florida, where he entered stud in 2007.

After the end of the 2007 breeding season, Cloverleaf closed its Florida operation, moved its mares to Kentucky, and initially shifted Congrats to Journeyman Stud with Brent Fernung, who had selected the stallion for Cloverleaf and managed his introduction to Florida breeding.

Before long, however, the Cloverleaf stallions, including Congrats, shifted to Vinery Florida, where Congrats remained at stud until his recent move to Kentucky.

The decision to move the stallion to the Bluegrass looks like an even better idea after the result of the Hollywood Starlet, as Turbulent Descent is the freshman sire’s second G1 winner, a distinction shared with Bernardini.

But Congrats will stand the 2011 season for a fifth of Bernardini’s stud fee, and Kentucky breeders have not been slow to take advantage of the opportunity.

According to several breeders and their advisers, Vinery has had to turn down more than 100 mares for the horse and literally could stand him to 250 to 350 mares, perhaps more.

One of the mares who has secured a season to Congrats is Roger’s Sue, the dam of Turbulent Descent, and she will ship up from Ocala Stud in Florida.

Ocala Stud is operated by lifelong horseman Mike O’Farrell, who said that he bred the unraced Forestry mare Roger’s Sue to Congrats because “I really liked the mare’s first foal by Golden Missile (by A.P. Indy), and Congrats is by A.P. Indy. I thought I’d go back to the well, and I thought Forestry and her family would suit Congrats. It would add some speed to go along with the classic quality. And Congrats was a grand-looking horse with a terrific pedigree.”

Graded stakes winner Congrats is the best performer from four starters out of the Mr. Prospector mare Praise. This is a wonderful family that Claiborne bought into at the Rokeby Stable dispersal with the purchase of the Northern Dancer mare Wild Applause, one of seven stakes winners out of the great broodmare Glowing Tribute.

Already the dam of Futurity winner Eastern Echo and graded stakes winner Blare of Trumpets for Rokeby, Wild Applause produced Roar (Jim Beam and Swale Stakes) and Yell (Davona Dale) for Claiborne, as well as Praise.

The mare immediately produced Flatter, winner in four of his six starts and third in the G2 Washington Park Handicap, and Congrats for Claiborne. The farm stands the year-older Flatter, who has sired 15 stakes winners to date, including Super Derby winner Apart.

When Ocala Stud brought Turbulent Descent to the 2-year-old sales at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale in April, she sold her for $160,000, the second-highest price for a juvenile in training by Congrats.

O’Farrell said the filly “has a great mind and worked as well as any 2-year-old we’ve had. Greg Gilchrist was the one who bought her at the sales, but he retired from training. She was the first one he bought from us, but she has turned out to be a good one.”

This Turbulent Descent has been good to everyone.

blame is first claiborne stallion from rough shod family since ridan

Tags

apalachee, blame, blue grass stakes, breeders' cup classic, breeding families, claiborne farm, florida derby, moccasin, nantallah, nureyev, ridan, rough shod, sadler's wells, thatch, thomas girdler, thong

Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame will be the first stallion that historic Claiborne Farm has stood from the Rough Shod family in 56 years, when the outstanding colt Ridan (1959 b h by Nantallah x Rough Shod, by Gold Bridge) went to stud there.

Bred by Thomas Girdler, Ridan was a smashing racehorse, winning 13 of 23 starts, including the Blue Grass Stakes, Arlington Classic, Florida Derby, Arlington Futurity, and the Washington Park Futurity. Ridan finished second in the Preakness and Travers, third in the Kentucky Derby.

He was the second stakes winner out of Rough Shod, who sold to Claiborne when Ridan was a youngster. Claiborne bred and raced the mare’s subsequent foals, including champion Moccasin and her sister Thong, who ran second in the Alcibiades Stakes.

Moccasin produced European highweight Apalachee (Round Table), Thong produced European highweight Thatch (Forli) and major American winner King Pellinore (Round Table), Thong’s daughter Special produced the top-class international sire Nureyev (Northern Dancer), and Special’s daughter Fairy Bridge produced the great Sadler’s Wells and his brother Fairy King, both by Northern Dancer.

Claiborne bred and sold all those, except for Sadler’s Wells and Fairy King.

Special’s stakes-winning daughter Bound (Nijinsky) produced stakes-placed Liable (Seeking the Gold), who is the dam of Blame (Arch).