a country where vegetarians might starve to death

Tags

argentina, bob fierro, breeders' cup, carreras de las estrellas, el paraiso, food in argentina, jay kilgore, san isidro racecourse, south american breeding, southern halo, star runner, travel and racing

This is a post mostly in praise of Argentina, a land of quiet beauty even as their winter has just begun. There today, in company with my associates Bob Fierro and Jay Kilgore, I spent the day at the races at San Isidro for the 21st renewal of the Carreras de las Estrellas.

We were the guests of the well-known stud farm El Paraiso, and the entire group were treated to a day of exciting races, good food, and general good fellowship. Because, let’s face it, if people watching horses race at the highest levels, cannot find enjoyment in their fellow travelers, something is amiss.

We had a blast.

The weather was much like what we would find for the typical Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky or New York. The sky was overcast, the wind was robust, and the temps were low. The conditions were bracing for the horses, however, and they responded with high spirits and lively competition. Some longshots won; some favorites won.

One of the most popular winners was Star Runner, a son of the great South American stallion Southern Halo, who was a first-rate winner of the Estrellas Classic at 2,000 meters. That’s about twice as long as the distance at which most of Southern Halo’s previous Estrellas winners found success, but Star Runner is not an average good horse and is a fitting book end to the outstanding career of Southern Halo as a sire in Argentina.

Another outstanding feature of the day was the plentiful and well-prepared food. The Argentines piled it on all day long. We cannot complain, but a vegetarian would surely wither away in this meat-loving country.

And as a sporting dessert to our long day of races (a card of 20 for those hardy enough to stay for the whole thing), we saw the handsome Colonial Affair colt Cafrune put in the most exceptional stretch run of the day to capture the G1 Estrellas Mile for owner S de B. The muscular dark bay 4yo resembles his broodmare sire Interprete and was bred by Haras El Paraiso, which bred and still stands Interprete, as well as the sire Colonial Affair and the major sires Incurable Optimist and Sebi Halo.

And now, I’m off to a late urban snack which is unlikely to feature vegetables unless fermented grapes count. Ciao.

Advertisement

genetics symposium

Tags

bob fierro, emmeline hill, genetics symposium, james maccleod, john sparkman, matthew binns, technology of thoroughbred breeding

Organized by and closely associated with the Blood-Horse and its allies, such as the Jockey Club and TrueNicks, the genetics and technology symposium on Thoroughbred breeding was held today in Lexington.

The speakers included some of the deep-end research people in genetics as applied to Thoroughbreds, with the best-known stars of that galaxy being Emmeline Hill, Matthew Binns, and James MacCleod.

John Sparkman, bloodstock and sales columnist for the Thoroughbred Times, produced a live blog of the proceedings, which can be viewed here.

My associate in the biomechanics, cardio, and stride analysis entity DataTrack International, Bob Fierro, was the live wire of the engagement, skewering some of the participants by making comparisons between human types and equine types. Sparkman he called an Alydar type (leggy and long-striding).

Good thing Fierro lives in New York.

breeding pendulum a-swingin’

Tags

a.p. indy, birdstone, bob fierro, changes in breeding aptitudes, native dancer, power type, shift toward power, shift toward stride

Part of the reason for my discourse on Dark Star and Native Dancer has been that my thinking has turned to the direction that the tides of breeding are taking. As John Sparkman remarked and I elaborated on somewhat, Dark Star represented the classic nobility of the past, and Native Dancer represented the powerful classic weightlifter that has come to dominate much of racing.

In the words of bloodstock writer and commentator Bob Fierro, Native Dancer is the “type of the biomechanical shift toward power: horses with greater height, greater mass, longer hind cannons,” and so forth. The increasing shift toward power has grown in volume since the 1950s and has dominated racing and breeding from the 1980s to the present.

My thinking has been that something significant is changing within the breed, however. Part of my inclination to believe this is so lies in the ongoing collapse of some of the dominant power lines, but it also includes the type of young stallions who are beginning to succeed.

Nature abhors a vacuum, and when one develops, something will come along to fill the space.

In terms of breeding, consider, for instance, the success of the dandy young stallion Birdstone, who is an example of a “power horse line” (Native Dancer, Raise a Native, Mr. Prospector, Fappiano, Unbridled, Grindstone) who has shape-shifted into a racer and sire whose primary assets are excellent stride characteristics.

And the primary line poised to take advantage of the changing needs of the breed is Nasrullah – Bold Ruler, especially through AP Indy, Pulpit, and his sons.