life at ten takes on ‘business as usual’

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bc ladies classic, breeders' cup friday, churchill downs, errors in sports, life at ten, responsibility for racing, uncertainties of racing

The furor around Life at Ten’s non-performance in the BC Ladies Classic (don’t get me started on that name) has started to die down. Most of the bettors whose money was squandered have taken their lumps and either moved on in disgust or completely moved on to slots.

I was there at Churchill on Breeders’ Cup Friday, freezing in the dark and having a great time. A friend with me also had placed a goodish bet on Life at Ten; then I saw her “warming” up before the race. Clearly, something was amiss, I advised my racing buddy, and he scooted over to the windows and changed his bet.

Part of what I do to earn a living in racing includes looking at racehorses and evaluating their action. And there were plenty of other people at Churchill who could have seen what was going on (whether the mare was tying up or whatever), and they should have taken action.

As one who looks at a lot of horses every year, I don’t especially need anyone to look after my interests at the track, but most track patrons do. They need professionals to oversee the conduct of racing. That’s why racetracks have stewards, video cameras, outriders, ambulances, on-track veterinarians, and so forth.

Unfortunately, the professionals that day failed. And the sport took a lick to the head that was not necessary. The only bright spot is that Life at Ten appeared not to be damaged from the bad situation of trying to race when she was genuinely uncomfortable. But a lot of people lost a lot of money for no good reason, and the professionals who should have scratched the mare at the gate have mostly stayed in their fox holes waiting for the storm to blow over.

That seems to be the “professional” answer. But over at the Paulick Report, Ray has begun posting a daily reminder that the investigation into this incident has not rendered a conclusion. Read the latest here.

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malibu moon bucks the trend of modern stallions

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a.p. indy, class in stallions, declan's moon, life at ten, malibu moon, spendthrift farm, sweet august moon, versatility in stallions, wayne hughes

The article below appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

As stallion prospects, horses who do not win stakes manage to succeed as sires only at a rate of less than 1 percent, and in the present state of Thoroughbred breeding, where better stallions have been receiving books in excess of 100 mares for nearly two decades, the opportunities are even more miniscule for a horse without a stakes record to make the grade as a sire.

Given these odds, the accomplishments of the outstanding A.P. Indy stallion Malibu Moon shine even brighter.

Winner of a salty maiden special as a 2-year-old at Hollywood Park in 1999 and second in his only other start, Malibu Moon went to stud the following year as a 3-year-old in Maryland at the Pons family’s Country Life Farm. A big, good-looking colt when I saw him on a sunny winter afternoon in Maryland, Malibu Moon has grown into a powerful and very handsome stallion.

But beauty is as beauty does in breeding, and over the past decade, Malibu Moon has exceeded all the hopes of Wayne Hughes, who raced him, and of the syndicate members and breeders who have supported him since he was transferred to Kentucky, where he now stands at Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm.

Malibu Moon moved to Kentucky because he got good horses from the beginning. Sire of a good horse in his first crop named Perfect Moon, winner of the Hollywood Juvenile Championship and Best Pal Stakes at 2, Malibu Moon sired a champion in his second: Grade 1 winner Declan’s Moon.

Subsequent winners at the top level include such current stars as Devil May Care (Frizette and Mother Goose), Funny Moon (Coaching Club American Oaks), and Life at Ten (Ogden Phipps Handicap).

In Saturday’s Delaware Handicap, Life at Ten won her sixth race in a row, and among her beaten competition was Funny Moon in third. On the same day and a continent’s breadth away, Sweet August Moon won the A Gleam Handicap at Hollywood Park.

The span between his major winners on Saturday is symbolic of the versatility of the stallion’s stock. He sires top 2-year-olds, older horses, fillies, colts, sprinters, and routers. He even has a good steeplechaser.

Such versatility is not common in stallions, but it is an indicator of one thing: exceptional natural athleticism.

Given the volume of natural talent and success by the offspring of Malibu Moon, the next question to be asked is whether he is getting sons.

To date, the answer is “no.” But there is a reason for that. The stallion’s top three money-winning sons are all geldings!

Although he now stands for $40,000 on a live foal contract, Malibu Moon went to stud at a very modest stud fee, and his early sons’ job was to race and win, not to be stallion prospects. Now that their sire is fully established, the importance of his sons as stallion prospects is much greater, and presumably some of the best will retain their bits till they have proven their class on the racetrack and then will have a chance at stud.

The most promising of the stallion’s later sons is Tampa Bay Derby winner Odysseus. The grand-looking chestnut was bred in Kentucky by Haymarket and Lakemont Stable. Sold for $110,000 at the Fasig-Tipton yearling sale at Saratoga in 2008, Odysseus resold to Padua in 2009 for $250,000 at the Ocala Breeders Sales Company’s March auction of 2-year-olds in training from the consignment of Nick de Meric.

Like Odysseus, the stallion’s major winners this weekend also went through public auctions. Bred in Kentucky by Nickelback Farm, Life at Ten sold for $35,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2006. She is out of the winning Rahrahsixboombah (Rahy) and her third dam is Belle o’ Reason, by Hail to Reason, and a half-sister to the important sire Relaunch.

Sweet August Moon was bred by Maple Leaf Farm in Pennsylvania, and she sold to Tony Bowling and Bobby Dodd for $50,000 at the Keeneland September sale in 2006, then resold for $400,000 as a 2-year-old in training at the Ocala Breeders Sales Company’s March auction in 2007. Sweet August Moon is out of the winning Royal Academy mare Silent Academy.