Tag Archives: classic winner

kentucky derby winner shows it’s ‘all in the family’

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in horse breeding, horse racing, people, thoroughbred racehorse

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

The following post first appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

Winning a classic puts the shine on any pedigree, but the luster from I’ll Have Another’s success in Saturday’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs could not have come at a more opportune time for the colt’s sire, the young stallion Flower Alley, whose second crop are now 3-year-olds.

From the third crop by leading sire Distorted Humor, Flower Alley followed his sire’s classic winner, champion Funny Cide, and second-crop star, multiple G1-winner Commentator, but was the first top-class son of Distorted Humor who was a colt and could go to stud. Now, Flower Alley is the first son of Distorted Humor to sire a classic winner.

The chestnut son of Distorted Humor hit his greatest stroke on the racetrack with victory in the G1 Travers Stakes, and on the basis of that and other good form, he went to stud at Three Chimneys Farm for an initial stud fee of $25,000 live foal.

I’ll Have Another was one of 73 live foals bred on that stud fee from covers of 2008 (in the midst of the world economic crash) that were born in 2009, and the economic nail through Flower Alley’s coffin came the following year at the 2010 yearling sales when 39 yearlings – more than half his second crop – sold for an average of $15,674 and a median price of $11,000.

In one of the ironies of sales statistics and racing lore, I’ll Have Another was the median Flower Alley yearling at the sales. On the track, he has proven something entirely different.

So, for many breeders and observers, it’s a puzzle why Flower Alley’s stock was not better received at the sales.

Rob Whiteley of Liberation Farm bred a number of mares to the stallion from the beginning of his stud career and confesses to being puzzled also. He said, “The sales market is a mysterious thing and is often disconnected from the racetrack and from racing performance. The sales market is driven by word of mouth and hearsay from opinion-makers who often have their own agendas, and rather than cherishing a commitment to facts, seem to look through lenses that do not reflect reality. The one fact about the market that I’ve observed over 40 years is that it’s usually wrong. And breeders and buyers that didn’t line up for Flower Alley sure missed the boat. He earned my full respect when he defeated Grade 1 racehorses like Bellamy Road and Roman Ruler in the Travers, then ran second to Saint Liam in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Now he looks ready to take off with G1 winner Lilacs and Lace in his first crop and with the Kentucky Derby winner in his second crop.”

In contrast to the later reception of his yearlings at auction, the tall and scopy stallion found interest from breeders in his initial books, and among the promising young mares attracted to Flower Alley’s second season at stud was the dam of I’ll Have Another, Arch’s Gal Edith, a reference to the wife of television character Archie Bunker.

Steve Shahinian, adviser to breeder Harvey Clarke, said that “Freddie Seitz from Brookdale Farm suggested the mating of Flower Alley for Arch’s Gal Edith that produced I’ll Have Another. If you couldn’t breed to Distorted Humor, you could breed to Flower Alley, and he’s a horse who could go a classic distance, which we wanted.”

The dam of I’ll Have Another was always a well-intended young prospect. By the good sire Arch, whose most famous offspring is champion Blame, Arch’s Gal Edith made only one start, winning a maiden special at Belmont by three-quarters of a length in 1:11.58 for six furlongs.

Said Shahinian: “We thought a lot of this filly. I believed she was stakes caliber, and she trained like it.”

She had been lightly raced by chance, but not precisely from unsoundness. The filly showed enough ability at the sales of 2-year-olds in training to sell for $80,000 but, once sent to the trainer, fractured a hock from kicking the wall of her stall. Then after winning her maiden, she developed a small chip in an ankle, and the surgery to clean it out did not resolve smoothly, necessitating retirement.

Although the oddities of chance intervened in what promised to be a good racing career, Arch’s Gal Edith has produced three good winners from her first three foals, and the Kentucky Derby winner is her first black-type horse.

Breeder Clarke still has the mare and has a 2-year-old Tapit filly out of the mare named Gloria S, a reference to the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker. Arch’s Gal Edith was given the following year off after foaling the Tapit, and earlier this year had a Midnight Lute foal that did not survive a difficult delivery. The mare was bred back to champion Gio Ponti about a week ago.

The sire of Arch’s Gal Edith is the Claiborne Farm stallion Arch, and stepping back a generation on the bottom and two generations on the top, this is a very Claiborne pedigree, as both champion juvenile Forty Niner (sire of Distorted Humor), second in the 1988 Kentucky Derby, and major winner Arch raced for the Hancock family’s Bourbon County operation.

Whereas Forty Niner was a homebred who became a champion and leading sire, Arch was purchased by Seth Hancock at the Keeneland July select yearling sale as a racing and stallion prospect who could offer some bloodlines and aptitude that would suit Claiborne well if the robust colt proved himself the real thing on the racetrack.

Arch was more than capable as a racer, winning the G1 Super Derby at 10 furlongs, and he has been increasingly successful as a sire. From the rather stout male line of Hail to Reason, English Derby winner Roberto, and his son leading sire Kris S., Arch tends to get stock that mature well and show their best form going a mile or more. In amongst ’em, however, Arch will get some speedier animals, such as the European G1 sprint winner Les Arcs, as well as the more typical Alabama winner Pine Island, Donn Handicap winner Hymn Book, Pan American winner Newsdad, and Arkansas Derby winner Archarcharch.

This mating, in general terms, is a matching of speed with stamina, sturdiness with brilliance, and natural athleticism with perseverance. As I’ll Have Another showed through the stretch of the Derby on Saturday, he came to play with the right stuff.

Advertisement

overheard at the sales: ballydoyle memories

22 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by in horse breeding, horse racing, people, thoroughbred racehorse

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

This one stretches back three decades to the glorious reign of Vincent O’Brien at Ballydoyle in the banner year of 1977, when Robert Sangster and company were flush with classic winners and major G1 performers, such as classic winner The Minstrel.

The stable accounted for the Derby, Irish Derby, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Irish St Leger, and Arc de Triomphe that season, among dozens of other and lesser successes that would have brightened the year of any other stable.

And at one of the good group events at the Curragh in the late spring, Ballydoyle had an entry. The favored portion was ridden by lead jockey Lester Piggott, and the less-fancied colt went to another of the stable’s highly competent riders.

Going to the start, Piggott was taking for granted that his victory was a foregone conclusion, when the other rider informed him that “sorry, mate, but this one I’m riding can’t be touched by the likes of yours.”

It turned out the lad was right, and the colt he rode that fine afternoon was Alleged.

understanding stamina and classic performance

08 Monday Jun 2009

Posted by in horse breeding, horse racing, people, thoroughbred racehorse

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

The bloodstock commentator Jay Leimbach recently offered the following post to the subscribers of a web group of confirmed students of pedigrees and sifters of arcane information.

Some of the thoughts he wrote seemed worthy of repetition, and they are reproduced here with permission.

For readers interested in the subject line, the writer’s comments on the Kentucky Derby, its times over the past several decades, and those implications make especially interesting reading.

Your thoughts and observations are most welcome.

THE VANISHING THOROUGHBRED HERO:

—————————————————————–

By Jay Leimbach

As a boy I fell in love with the great Thoroughbreds: Man o’ War, Exterminator, Seabiscuit, Whirlaway, Citation, Native Dancer, and Bold Ruler. Even their names had a magical ring. As a young man I saw legendary horses like Buckpasser, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, and Spectacular Bid.

It’s easy to romanticize the heroes of our youth, but in the case of the Thoroughbred there is growing evidence to suggest this is more than just nostalgia. Decades later, stakes and world records of these great horses still stand, while many of today’s best young racehorses are retiring prematurely due to injuries and unsoundness.

This lack of durability is certainly reflected in a comparison to the race records of past greats. As a 2-year-old, Man o’ War began his career with 4 starts in just 18 days, once on a single day’s rest. Seabiscuit raced an incredible 35 times at two, but didn’t reach his prime until age 5. Citation won 19 times at age three, including the Kentucky Derby on three days rest and the Jockey Club Gold Cup on just two days rest. Native Dancer won four races in a one month at Saratoga.

Today’s horses could not even dream of such feats. Racing twice in a month is now considered a stretch. The stress of the Triple Crown, run over five weeks, is now considered so taxing that few horses are able to complete all three races. Forty years ago Citation, Native Dancer, and Bold Ruler raced BETWEEN Triple Crown engagements just to stay sharp. Stymie raced an incredible 131 times before he retired to stud.

Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham observed that the great horses of the ’40s and ’50s, “were built like Russian tanks.” Shug McGaughey speaks for most trainers when he says, “I think we’re dealing with a lot softer type of horse today.”

It is also significant that imported Thoroughbreds from Europe and South America are now exerting a major influence on the racetrack, often leaving their American counterparts in the dust. In the million-dollar Santa Anita Handicap of 1997, the first three finishers were all from South America. (Siphon-Sandpit-Gentlemen).

Clearly something has gone wrong. Not only are we seeing an epidemic of unsoundness, but winning times for the major stakes races have shown no improvement in recent decades – despite advantages in faster shoes, faster racing surfaces, performance enhancing medications, and a much larger Thoroughbred population – all of which should have improved times significantly.

From the 1880s to the 1930s average winning times for the Belmont Stakes improved by 13 seconds for the mile-and-a-half race. In the first decade of the 20th Century the average winning time for the mile-and-a-quarter Kentucky Derby was 2:09 3/5. This time dropped to 2:04 3/5 by the 1940s, and 2:01 4/5 by the 1960s. But winning times actually slowed slightly in the 1970s, (despite secretariat’s stakes record), and again in the 1980s and ’90s. (See tables)

————————————————————————-

KENTUCKY DERBY LIFETIME STARTS

AVERAGE WINNING TIMES DERBY WINNERS

————————————- —————————

1900-09 2:09 3/5 52.9

1910-19 2:06 4/5 55.5

1920-29 2:07 34.2

1930-39 2:04 3/5 20.5

1940-49 2:04 4/5 33.0

1950-59 2:02 3/5 27.3

1960-69 2:01 4/5 25.6

1970-79 2:02 1/5 26.1

1980-89 2:02 2/5 20.5

1990-99 2:02 2/5 21.0

TEN FASTEST DERBIES

——————————————-

Secretariat 1:59 2/5 (1973)

Northern Dancer 2:00 (1964)

Spend A Buck 2:00 1/5 (1985)

Carry Back 2:00 2/5 (1961)

Proud Clarion 2:00 3/5 (1967)

Grindstone 2:01 (1996)

Lucky Debonair 2:01 1/5 (1965)

Affirmed 2:01 1/5 (1977)

Thunder Gulch 2:01 1/5 (1995)

Whirlaway 2:01 2/5 (1941)

————————————-

It can quickly be seen that most of the fastest Derbies came before 1978. While the Derby is not the sole measure of the breed it remains the ultimate standard for American Thoroughbreds. Apparently we are now seeing a breed that is no longer growing faster, but simply more fragile. A recent survey of the sport’s top 50 sires showed they averaged only ten starts lifetime: at best a dubious genetic pool from which to draw.

Dr. Fager’s world record for the mile on the dirt (1:32 1/5) has stood since 1968, Secretariat’s dirt record for 1 1/2 miles (2:24) has stood since 1973, and Spectacular Bid’s record for 1 1/4 miles (1:57 4/5) since 1980. This is in stark contrast to the Standardbred of harness-racing, where records fall almost monthly. This breed has grown out of a wide genetic background providing the variation needed for long-term improvement and vigor.

The basic purpose of all livestock breeding is to reinforce the best traits of a breed, while improving the weaknesses. Reinforcing the best traits is usually done by selective inbreeding to great ancestors, while improving the weaknesses is accomplished by adding fresh bloodlines. In other words, a combination of inbreeding and outcrossing.

This calls for a delicate balance. Inbreeding is needed to fix a type, particularly in the early evolution of a breed. But too much inbreeding over too long a time will inevitably lead to defects and a general loss of vigor. On the other hand, too much outcrossing will undo the very traits that were selected for over decades.

Ideally such patterns of inbreeding and outcrossing can be worked out experimentally, as they are for many breeds of plant and animal livestock. Unfortunately raising racehorses is an expensive proposition and breeders cannot afford to cull 90% of their offspring as failures. We can learn a great deal about breeding theory from agricultural breeders, however. They enjoy the advantage of being able to produce many generations of offspring quickly and inexpensively to confirm their results.

In the successful breeding of corn, wheat, chickens, sheep, and cattle we see a recurring pattern. Initially a few outstanding individuals are chosen for breeding. This is followed by a period of selective inbreeding to fix the best traits in the breed–which continues until signs of decline set in. At this point experiments in outcrossing with new strains begin to see which crosses will eliminate the faults and produce the best specimens. Then another cycle of selective inbreeding usually begins.

If we trace the Thoroughbred’s inbreeding back to its roots circa 1700, we find a steadily rising “coefficient of inbreeding” for the breed. This is largely because the Stud Book was closed in 1827, leaving only the descendants of three stallions: Herod, Matchem, and Eclipse. In effect, the Thoroughbred then grew out of a small “island population” of three stallions and a few dozen foundation mares. No matter how many thousands of Thoroughbreds followed, they all came from the same closely related population.

From the existing Thoroughbred gene pool, it appears that genetic limits may have already been reached, but today’s racehorse is not simply stuck at the status quo. Many of the highest priced yearlings, selling for upwards of a million dollars, cannot stand up to hard training, cannot race beyond a mile, and often come out of a race lame or bleeding from the lungs.

To improve soundness the genetic solution is almost surely outcrossing, but because all Thoroughbreds are so closely related this difficult if not possible. Cross-breeding to other horse breeds may offer the best long-range hope, but the Jockey Club does not permit anything but pure Thoroughbreds to race, nor are they likely to in the near future. If the current epidemic of unsoundness continues, however, they may be forced to re-examine this policy. At the very least, breeders will need to conscientiously select for soundness and durability, more than just commercial appeal or precocious speed.

Broodmares from Argentina and New Zealand are renowned for the stamina and durability, and could become key figures. The recent Horse of the Year, Cigar, in fact comes from a South American maternal family, as did the undefeated mare Personal Ensign, and the sire Pleasant Colony–now a major influence for stamina.

Experiments in outcrossing and cross-breeding are not uncommon among other forms of competition horses, and most of the top Olympic horses are cross-breds carrying at least some Thoroughbred blood. Clearly this is deliberate.

Experiments in cross-breeding have increased egg, wool, and dairy production by as much as five times in the past century. Simply stated, the greater the genetic variety of a breed, the greater potential for long-term growth and vigor.

On the other hand “purebreds” with closed stud books and no cross-breeding inevitably find there is a limit to their growth before negative qualities become ingrained. This pattern has been repeated many times from corn, to show-dogs, cattle, and horses. (The infamous Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s is a perfect example.)

Thoroughbred breeders have been justifiably proud of the noble animal they have created in the past. But the growing signs of unsoundness, breathing problems, and lack of stamina are typical of many other livestock breeds which have solved these problems with programs based on scientific breeding principles. The Thoroughbred breeding industry is now big business, with profit sometimes coming before quality. Long-term breeding programs may be looked at as economically impractical. But is it practical to breed horses that retire with injury before they can even earn back their sales price?

Sports fans want to see bigger than life heroes: horses who can break world records and run week after week, year after year. Owners need to know that their $100,000 yearlings are not going to break down after two or three starts leaving them deeply in debt. Network television does not want to show horses breaking down before their national TV audience. This is not good business.

The Thoroughbred world simply needs to breed better horses. The good news is there is some rhyme and reason to all livestock breeding.

———

end