emma’s encore proves to be another elite performer from the cheap bin

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a.p. indy, claiborne farm, congrats, emma's encore, equest thoroughbreds, la troienne family, prioress stakes, saratoga, stallion success, vinery

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

Although the victory by Emma’s Encore in the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont on July 7 was considered a fluke in some quarters because heavy favorite Agave Kiss was burnt to a crisp in a fierce speed duel, Emma’s Encore came back on Saturday to stamp herself as the leading sprint filly of her age group with a narrow success in the G1 Prioress at Saratoga.

In the Prioress, Emma’s Encore won by a nose in the final yards of the race, as she ran widest of all to catch the Ghostzapper filly Judy the Beauty. The latter had gotten first run to pass front-running Agave Kiss and nearly held off the charge of Emma’s Encore.

That filly’s encore success in a graded stakes came without the pace pressure that had appeared to compromise Agave Kiss in the Victory Ride. As a result, this race, although resulting in a narrower margin of victory, was even more emphatically a measure of the quality that Emma’s Encore possesses.

The Florida-bred bay is from the second crop by the A.P. Indy stallion Congrats and is his third G1 winner, following Turbulent Descent (Santa Anita Oaks, Test, and Hollywood Starlet) and Wickedly Perfect (Alcibiades Stakes).

Bred by Claiborne Farm and raced by that historic farm through most of his time on the track, Congrats is out of the Mr. Prospector mare Praise and has one of the grandest female families in the stud book, tracing back through stakes winner Wild Applause (by Northern Dancer and dam of four stakes winners), stakes-winning third dam Glowing Tribute (Graustark, seven stakes winners, including Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero), stakes-winning fourth dam Admiring (Hail to Reason, one stakes winner), stakes-winning fifth dam Searching (War Admiral, three stakes winners, including champion Affectionately and Futurity winner Priceless Gem), stakes-winning sixth dam Big Hurry (Black Toney, five stakes winners), and seventh dam La Troienne (five stakes winners).

When Claiborne chose to stand the full brother Flatter and sell Congrats, it didn’t take Florida horseman Brent Fernung long to see that this horse would bring a deeper dimension of blood and potential to the Florida market. Fernung immediately encouraged Cloverleaf Farm owner John Sykes to buy the horse, and that decision has paid dividends ever since.

Although Sykes chose to close the Cloverleaf stallion operation and move Congrats to Vinery Florida, when the big bay son of A.P. Indy broke through with his first crop and became the leading freshman sire in the country for 2010, the 16.2-hand Congrats made the van ride back to the bluegrass for 2011, where he stands at Vinery and covered a full book for a $35,000 fee in 2012.

The stallion’s great looks and presence were the motivating factors for Equest Thoroughbreds to breed the Prioress winner. Greg and Beth Fowler breed under the name Equest. Greg is a veterinarian in the Ocala area, and Beth primarily pinhooks young horses from their 100-acre farm north of Ocala.

Beth saw Congrats at a stallion show and recalled him as “gorgeous and correct. I knew immediately that I wanted to breed to him.”

Then she sent the “only mare I purchased on purpose for breeding” to the stallion. Primarily a pinhooker, Fowler was at the 2000 Keeneland November sale looking at weanlings and followed a Rahy filly to the ring to see if she could buy her.

As part of her due diligence, Fowler looked at the filly’s dam, the Wild Again mare French Opera, who was selling as the preceding lot in the sale, and when Fowler returned to the back ring with a purchase slip, Beth’s husband thought she had purchased the weanling. She said, “He wasn’t too happy that I bought the mare instead.”

French Opera was a “very dark mare with a star,” much like her famous sire Wild Again, “and she was average height and very stocky.”

This medium-sized, powerfully built mare is apparently the right type for Congrats, who sired his two other G1 winners out of mares by Storm Cat stallions that tend to be powerful horses. And Emma’s Encore is the best racer out of her dam, who also produced stakes-placed Bertha Jo (Banker’s Gold).

All but one of the foals out of French Opera are winners, and the youngest is a 2-year-old filly by D’Wildcat who recently won her début at Calder. Named D Prairie Cat, this juvenile is the last foal out of French Opera, who “died last year due to colic,” Fowler reported.

The Fowlers sold Emma’s Encore as Hip 4203 at the 2010 Keeneland September sale, when Congrats was clearly going to be a better stallion than the average, for only $2,000. That was a major loss on all the expenses associated with raising and preparing a young athlete, but Fowler said, “the filly was very popular, and if she’d had clean x-rays she’d have sold very, very well, but most buyers just walked away” because the vet report wasn’t pristine.

After the long trip from Ocala to Lexington, “we decided to go home with an empty trailer,” Fowler said, and “I’m glad this has worked out well for the new owners.”

Emma’s Encore was purchased at Keeneland by Ulrich Racing and ran in the name of Brenda Mercer until Peter Berglar purchased a half-interest in the filly. Emma’s Encore now has won four of 10 starts and earned $342,958.

Her dam French Opera was unplaced in her only start but is a full sister to Brazilian group stakes winner Wild Emotions.

La Reine Rouge, the third dam of Emma’s Encore, produced stakes winners Green Alligator (Gate Dancer, G3 California Derby) and Lucky Lavender Gal (Carson City). The latter’s full sister is La Ville Rouge, who placed in four graded stakes, earned $262,594, and produced Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.

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flat out offers prospects for future, links to the past

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a.p. indy, belmont park, broodmare selection, claiborne, congrats, cresta lil, cresta rider, demand for stallions, duffy and sheila rathbun, flat out, flatter, mr. prospector, phenotype in racehorses, producing successful racehorses, rugosa, sales markets, sons of ap indy, stallion success, stanley petter, suburban handicap, vinery

The following post appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

The victory of Flat Out in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday is one further rung in the ladder of increasing success for the A.P. Indy stallion Flatter. For the past year, he has been the “full brother to Congrats” as that young stallion established himself as the leading freshman sire in 2010 and moved from Florida to stand at Vinery in Kentucky.

Demand for the services of Congrats was such that the farm probably could have sold 500 seasons, and some of the breeders’ enthusiasm for the new star spilled over to his year-older brother Flatter, who has been in the shadow of his very handsome brother but who also had as full a book as possible this breeding season at Claiborne Farm, which bred and raced both stallions.
A horse very similar in appearance to his maternal grandsire Mr. Prospector, Flatter has sired talented stock, including 15 stakes winners to date, but has been looking for the breakthrough horse to push him over the top as a sire attracting ever-better broodmares.

Perhaps Flat Out is that horse. Certainly the lightly raced bay seemed to be ascending to another level in the historic Fourth of July weekend race, winning by six and a half lengths in 1:46.64 for the nine furlongs. As an improving horse, Flat Out’s potential to help fill out the division of older horses depleted by the retirements of Blame, Zenyatta, Quality Road, and Lookin at Lucky is a cause to celebrate.

And another reason to celebrate the holiday weekend result is the history of the winner’s dam, the Cresta Rider mare Cresta Lil.

Bred in Kentucky by the well-known horseman Stanley Petter, Cresta Lil won a pair of stakes at 2 and placed in three more.

The mare’s breeder is known by many in racing, sales, and breeding as the “weanling man” because he made a business of selling weanlings when hardly anybody did that. A foal of 1986, Cresta Lil was one of the weanlings he bred and sold that went on to racing success for her new owners.

Petter recalled that “Cresta Lil was out of the most beautiful mare I ever owned, the Double Jay mare Rugosa. She was drop-dead gorgeous.”

Rugosa’s daughter by French G1 winner Cresta Rider (a son of Northern Dancer) must have shared some of her dam’s good looks because she was the top-selling weanling by her sire in 1986 at $12,000.

In addition to Cresta Lil, Rugosa produced stakes winner Worrisome Thing (Cyane), and the two stakes winners had a half-sister named Rose Above (Hagley) who produced J.T.’s Pet (Magesterial), the winner of the 1987 Jim Beam Stakes and Louisiana Derby.

So, in addition to looks, this family also showed athletic ability. The combination was irresistible to Petter, who recalled that he acquired Rugosa at a bloodstock dispersal of some friends in racing.

He said, “At the time, we always took a house at Saratoga, and for some of those years, we shared the house with Duffy and Sheila Rathbun, who were mad about racing and had a lovely collection of paintings related to the sport.”

One of the horses in the Rathbuns’ broodmare band was Rugosa, and she was included in their dispersal of breeding stock. Petter recalled, “I had Rugosa on the farm, had bred her for them, and I knew the family. I am a sucker for a good-looking horse, and I’m sure I didn’t pay much for her.”

The mare never produced another live foal after Cresta Lil, foaled when her dam was 19, but the memories generated by Rugosa, Cresta Lil, and their owners resonate through the years.

archarcharch evidence of vinery’s new growth

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arch, archarcharch, arkansas derby, broodmare sires, congrats, frances relihan, grapestock, kodiak kowboy, more than ready, Oaklawn Park, racehorse breeding, tom ludt, tom simon, vinery, woodman, woodman's dancer

The post below was published earlier this week at PaulickReport.

Although best-known as a stallion station standing such sires as international star More Than Ready, 2010 leading freshman sire Congrats, and champion sprinter Kodiak Kowboy, Vinery also breeds horses, and Archarcharch became the farm’s most important winner with his victory on Saturday in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

Farm president Tom Ludt said “a Grade 1 win for a million-dollar purse would be the fanciest win for our breeding program, although we did sell the dam.”

The progressive colt was bred by Grapestock, which Ludt said is the “name of the entity that holds all of [Vinery owner] Tom Simon’s equine assets. It functions as a client of Vinery, like any other on the farm.”

Grapestock and Vinery work to strike a balance between the businesses of breeding and racing for Simon, who races a stable under the Vinery name and breeds yearlings for the commercial market. “We have bred most of our mares commercially for years,” Ludt said, “and although we race a stable, we mostly buy those at sales as yearlings by our own stallions.”

With those considerations as a stallion farm and racing stable, it is a bit surprising that Archarcharch is not by a farm stallion.

Instead, the colt is by Claiborne stallion Arch, also the sire of 2010 champion older horse Blame, and on the surface, the mating would not appear an obvious choice for a mare from Vinery. But Vinery’s assistant general manager Frances Relihan said the mating was a very good physical match.

Woodman’s Dancer, the dam of Archarcharch, Relihan said, “is a typical Woodman: very strong body, stands about 15.3 hands, and correct. We felt she needed more leg and substance; so we sent her to Arch, were pleased with the result, and bred her back to him the next year.”

In fact, the folks at Vinery were so pleased with Archarcharch as a young horse that they brought back his dam from the 2008 Keeneland November sale to get the second foal by Arch, then sold the mare in foal to farm stallion Silver Train at the 2009 November sale.

When Archarcharch arrived, Relihan noted that he was a “pretty good-sized foal whose only problem was a contracted left hind leg. But the veterinarians at Rood & Riddle put a splint on it, and he progressed nicely. He had good balance and a good hip and body type.”

In sum, Archarcharch was a well-proportioned and athletic young horse who looked the part he has come to play. The mating with Arch gave the colt greater leg length and resulting scope, and Archarcharch has shown increasing ability as he matures and races over longer distances.

A dark horse in color, as well as in general prospects for the classics, Archarcharch held on to win his most important race to date by a neck over the Mineshaft colt Nehro at Oaklawn. One of 28 stakes winners by his sire Arch, Archarcharch is the second stakes winner from Woodman’s Dancer.

The dark bay daughter of Woodman also produced Run Sully Run (by Cherokee Run) from her first five foals to race. A much better-than-average stakes-placed runner, Woodman’s Dancer earned $298,486 and placed in five stakes, including the G2 A Gleam Handicap and G3 Las Flores.

Woodman’s Dancer sold for $35,000 at the 2009 Keeneland November breeding stock sale in foal to Silver Train. The buyer was the Stallion Company, and the mare produced a chestnut colt in 2010. The mare was resold privately to a partnership, and she was bred back to US Ranger (by Danzig) in May last year.

The mare’s dam is the G1 winner Pattern Step (by Nureyev), one of the last G1 winners bred by Nelson Bunker Hunt before his bloodstock empire was dispersed.

colts from danzig line light up weekend stakes

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bernardini, boundary, breeding in south africa, congrats, danzig, end sweep, flashpoint, forty niner, fountain of youth stakes, gourmet dinner, johann and gaynor rupert, mike o'farrell, ocala stud, pomeroy, r heat lightning, soldat, speed and stallion success, sprinters as stallions, Tapit, the factor, trippi, two punch lil, vinery, war front

The following post appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

A pair of Florida stallions took turns in the spotlight at Gulfstream Park this weekend. Pomeroy’s son Flashpoint won the Grade 2 Hutcheson Stakes impressively by 6 1/2 lengths from the Trippi colt Travelin Man. And the Trippi filly R Heat Lightning won the G2 Davona Dale Stakes by 7 1/4  lengths from the Tapit filly Dancinginherdreams, with the Pomeroy filly Pomeroys Pistol in third.

Trippi’s son Gourmet Dinner was a good second in the G2 Fountain of Youth behind Soldat (a son of the Danzig stallion War Front, whose other son, The Factor, won the San Vicente last weekend at Santa Anita).

Pomeroy (by the Danzig stallion Boundary) has first-crop 3-year-olds this year, like War Front. They are part of a deep and successful group of young sires that also includes last year’s freshman sire leader Congrats (also formerly in Florida and now in Kentucky at Vinery) and Preakness winner and champion Bernardini. The latter was selected as the first mate for Horse of the Year Zenyatta and is the sire of Fountain of Youth third To Honor and Serve.

As a racehorse, Pomeroy was a sprinting fool, much like his sire Boundary, and the blaze-faced Pomeroy won the G1 Forego and King’s Bishop, as well as the G2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at his beloved Saratoga.

Retired to stud in Florida, the medium-sized and powerfully made Pomeroy has been popular with breeders and buyers.

From his earliest returns at stud, however, he wasn’t the hottest sire on the block. As a powerful horse with tons of speed, breeders expected the stallion’s stock to race and win early and often. But the Pomeroys seemed to surprise everyone by acting like they wanted a little time, and some of them may also want a bit more distance than their sire did.

Purely on pedigree, there was no reason for Pomeroy to prefer sprinting. His sire Boundary was by Danzig, who got more milers than pure sprinters, and was out of a Damascus mare, which would tend to give a mile or more. Then Pomeroy is out of a mare by Seeking the Gold, one of the best sons of Mr. Prospector for getting quality performers at a mile and up.

But then, if breeding worked by a set formula, we would not have half the fun. The sophistication required for breeding with consistent success and the variability of results obtained by breeders with great experience or little are reasons for great humility. But when a mating works, what greater elation is there?

Surely among the most elated at present are the South African breeders who purchased Trippi in July 2008. Johann and Gaynor Rupert bought the handsome bay son of End Sweep to stand at their L’Ormarins Stud. The Ruperts purchased Trippi from a partnership that had stood the horse for his entire career at Ocala Stud in Ocala, Fla., and exported Trippi to the Southern Hemisphere.

The final Northern Hemisphere crop by Trippi are now 2-year-olds, and the stallion has been on fire. R Heat Lightning won the G1 Spinaway and ran second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last year, and Gourmet Dinner has been a model of consistency.

Part of the reason for consistency in a sire’s production is the quality of his mares. Year after year, stallion managers have to work to maintain the quality of their stallions’ books, and the success of that is seen in the stallions’ progeny on the track.

Trippi had made a name for himself as a leading stallion in Florida at the time of his sale, standing for $12,500, and Pomeroy was one of the most popular young sires in the state when he retired.

As he had done with Congrats, Brent Fernung brought Pomeroy to Florida, where the horse initially stood at Cloverleaf Farms, then moved to Vinery Florida after Cloverleaf closed its operations in Florida.

Although Pomeroy was already doing well with his book this year, a Vinery representative confirmed that the stallion’s book doubled to more than 120 mares over the weekend.

One of the good mares that Fernung enlisted for Pomeroy’s first book was the stakes winner Two Punch Lil (by Two Punch). A big, ruggedly made gray mare, Two Punch Lil was already the dam of stakes winner Uncle Sam Lee and a stakes-placed runner when breeder Silverleaf Farms sent her to Pomeroy.

The resulting colt was Flashpoint, who was nice enough as a short yearling to fetch $115,000 at the Keeneland January sale in 2009. Just two months earlier, his dam had gone through the Keeneland November sale, barren to Pomeroy. She brought $1,200. For her new owners, the mare has a yearling filly by Congaree.

 

all american: new ky stallions for 2011

Tags

all american, ben walden, brigadier gerard, darby dan, john galbreath, leading freshman sire, paul mellon, roberto, rokeby stable, shuttle stallions, sire success, vinery

All American* (2005 dk b by Red Ransom x Milva, by Strawberry Road)

Darby Dan $10,000

* All American will stand his first Northern Hemisphere season at stud this year.

This is a big horse with many of the traits associated with his sire, the successful Roberto horse Red Ransom. Bred and raced by Darby Dan founder John Galbreath, Roberto was a top-class juvenile in Ireland. The following season he won the Derby at Epsom from subsequent Arc de Triomphe winner Rheingold, and Roberto had his best day on the racecourse when Braulio Baeza guided him to a front-running victory over the great Brigadier Gerard in the Gold Cup at York.

Although the ‘Brigadier’ was a more successful racehorse, Roberto proved trumps at stud, getting classic winners and champions from the start and becoming a major influence in international breeding.

Red Ransom, surprisingly, was not one of his sire’s most successful racing sons. Bred and raced by Paul Mellon’s Rokeby Stable, Red Ransom won two of his three starts but never appeared in a stakes. Red Ransom was one of the most highly regarded non-stakes winners and went to stud in Kentucky at Vinery.

The stallion’s natural ability and Ben Walden’s promotional ingenuity propelled Red Ransom to leadership as top freshman sire of 1994, and he never looked back, siring classic winners and champions.

A foal of 1987, Red Ransom sired All American in Australia rather late in the sire’s career. All American is a dark brown horse with the trademark heavy top that Red Ransom possessed. The muscle mass from such a body gives a horse tremendous energy reserves and frequently great speed through power. The downside, however, is increased demands for soundness and rugged bone.

All American competed successfully in his homeland. In 2008, he won the G3 Skyline Stakes, then was second in the G1 Blue Diamond and third in the G1 Ascot Vale. In 2009, All American graduated to victory in the G1 Cantala Stakes.

Physically quite robust, All American has excellent power through his hindquarters, and he is set a bit higher behind like a drag racer. All this adds speed to the package.

Standing 16.2, All American has a great depth through the heart, girthing more than 79 inches. He is a big, rugged horse with a good head and appealing eye.

A bit of trivia: If you look at his photograph on the Darby Dan website, you’ll notice he also has a strawberry brand on his left shoulder.

congrats locking up freshman sire title

Tags

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.

fantasy bloodstock, anyone?

Tags

fantasy stable, racing games, vinery, winstar

In recent weeks, there have been fantasy racing stable games opened to the public by such major breeding and racing operations as Vinery and WinStar. Although they differ in their details, rules for play, and various prizes, all are designed with the idea that players will learn more about racing, have fun with the games, and perhaps see racing as something that they can participate in … whether now or in the future.

These are really good ideas. They are relatively simple, make the game fun for potentially a lot of people, and are a sane vehicle for educating participants about the game and some of its excitement and drama.

These games have some of the elements of social media and other cutting-edge innovations that are also making inroads into the desperate dullness of “corporate racing.” Instead of talking heads and tedious minutiae, games and social interaction are fun. They make people relax, allow them to have a good time, and show off some of the great assets of racing: its people and horses.

With the interest in these games and the social enjoyment of them, I wonder how much interest there would be in creating a fantasy bloodstock operation? Using social media and internet connectivity, people could select broodmares, find stallions for them, breed foals, take them to the sales … everything except register them for $200 with the Jockey Club. Another angle would be to “collect” a broodmare band and follow how their real owners go through all these steps, but that would take a bit more finesse and would require some owners with the inclination to open up their thoughts, hopes, and dreams, as well as their inevitable disappointments to people they scarcely know.

new kentucky stallions for 2010: kodiak kowboy

Tags

kodiak kowboy, posse, vinery

Kodiak Kowboy (bay horse, 2005, by Posse x Kokadrie, by Coronado’s Quest)

Vinery, $15,000

If there are any seasons left to Kodiak Kowboy, it just shows how times (and tastes) have changed in the last 24 months.

A good-looking horse with a neat, athletic profile, Kodiak Kowboy closed his career with a G1 victory in the Cigar Mile and would have been book full in a couple of days under the old program of commercial breeders glomming onto the fast first-year sires each season in Kentucky. From the comments of breeders, however, that approach seems to have faded seriously in the last year or so, and I would not be surprised if a few seasons to this son of leading juvenile sire Posse were still available.

That is no reflection on the quality of this typey bay, who has been a high-class racer since winning his maiden going four and a half furlongs at Churchill Downs. He then graduated to stakes and won the G3 Bashford Manor and G2 Saratoga Special before a third place in the G1 BC Juvenile.

Kodiak Kowboy improved on that with a pair trio of G1 victories (Carter, Vosburgh, and Cigar Mile) at 4 in 2009.  That not only earned him a place at stud in Kentucky but also a place among the final three choices for the Eclipse Awards as champion sprinter and champion older horse.

Standing 16 hands, Kodiak Kowboy is the type of stallion who should be of interest to breeders looking for some speed in their program. He has a very good hind leg, strong hindquarter — as expected from a sprinter-miler of his class — and stands over plenty of ground. The bay has good length through the body, medium bone, a good head, and a bold, clear eye.

Seen right off the racetrack, Kodiak Kowboy was tight and lean from his recent racing. His greyhound condition emphasized his rather long, high wither, but with the flesh he will put on in the coming months, Kodiak Kowboy will flesh out into a very appealing animal indeed.

On the track, he was notable for his light, fluent action. Allied with his balance and very good mechanics, he should be a good fit for many mares.

new stallions for 2010: pioneerof the nile

Tags

Belmont Stakes, chester house, chiselling, country star, decarchy, empire maker, fappiano, gana facil, honest lady, icon project, Kentucky Derby, lord at war, mushka, pioneerof the nile, star of goshen, toussaud, unbridled, vinery

Pioneerof the Nile

(dark brown, 2006, by Empire Maker x Star of Goshen, by Lord at War)

Stands at Vinery, $20,000 live foal

By the important young sire Empire Maker, this is a big colt with outstanding scope and bone. Pioneerof the Nile is cut from the typical cloth of the Unbridled tribe: big, scopy horses who stand over a lot of ground. Some of the Fappiano line, such as Defensive Play and to a much lesser extent Quiet American, sire stock that can be a shade coarse and plain. However, Unbridled and the majority of his offspring were not like that. Perhaps due to the outstanding quality of his dam, Gana Facil (1981 ch m by Le Fabuleux x Charedi, by In Reality), Unbridled balanced his immense size with sufficient finesse to be a truly first-class racehorse and a tip-top sire.

One of Unbridled’s last premium sons at stud was Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker, who is out of one of the best broodmares of the 20th century, Toussaud. The lovely and highly individual Toussaud (1989 b m El Gran Senor x Image of Reality, by In Reality) produced G1 winners Chester House (Arlington Million), Honest Lady (Santa Monica Handicap, 2nd Metropolitan H., BC Sprint), Chiselling (Secretariat Stakes), and Empire Maker (Belmont Stakes, Florida Derby, Wood Memorial, 2nd Kentucky Derby). The mare also produced G2 winner Decarchy (Kilroe Mile) from 10 foals. Her last four foals, all fillies, were handled somewhat tenderly, as one might proceed with priceless Greek sculpture.

With this kind of pedigree, Empire Maker was expected to do great things, and he has already established himself as the most classic son of Unbridled as a sire. Pioneerof the Nile was from the second crop of Empire Maker, who has to date already sired 11 stakes winners, including G1 winners Country Star (Alcibiades, Hollywood Starlet), Mushka (Spinster), Icon Project (Personal Ensign), and Pioneerof the Nile (Hollywood Futurity, Santa Anita Derby).

The latter franked the form of his West Coast dominance earlier this season with a good second to Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby.

Pioneerof the Nile is the second high-class performer out of the Lord at War mare Star of Goshen. The mare’s fourth foal, the Gone West colt Forefathers, had sold to Zayat Stables for $680,000 at the Saratoga select yearling sale in 2005, and the owner and his advisers were so enamored of their prospect that they went out and purchased his dam.

Forefathers proved worthy of respect with multiple graded stakes placings, but the foal the mare was carrying at the time of purchase, and the first homebred for Zayat Stables, turned out to be Pioneerof the Nile.

A big colt standing 16.2 hands, Pioneerof the Nile showed his best form going a mile and longer, but he also came to hand well at 2, winning at the premium level late in his juvenile season. He has tremendous length through the body, an outstanding length of rein (from head to shoulder) that balances his body length in motion, and a deep, well-angled shoulder.

He stands on good, sound-looking feet, has well-defined tendons, and walks with a good, sweeping stride. This very big horse had high racing class, and if mated carefully, he should be able to provide size and classic potential to his progeny.

mister baileys dead at 18

Tags

2000 guineas, america america, ben walden, grass sickness, mark johnston, mr baileys, national stud, paul venner, robellino, sharpen up, vinery

Classic winner Mister Baileys, a courageous racehorse and international traveler, has died at 18 due to the continuing effects of grass sickness, which he contracted before ever going to stud.

The brave bay horse was reportedly still coping with the long-term effects of grass sickness – only 33 percent of gut function and 40 percent of his liver working correctly, according to the Racing Post.

The horse’s rise to prominence began when Paul Venner, the managing director of Baileys Horse Feeds, purchased the striking bay son of Robellino for 10,500 guineas as a yearling and sent him to trainer Mark Johnston, who trained Mister Baileys to win the Champagne and the Royal Lodge Stakes at 2.

Mister Baileys made his 3yo debut in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and in winning set a course record for the classic that still stands. After a mid-year retirement to the National Stud, which had purchased half of the horse, Mister Baileys was stricken with grass sickness before ever covering a mare.

An illness picked up from toxins in grass, grass sickness typically creates neurological problems and gut failure that precipitate death, and it is the malady that killed Dubai Millennium, among others. Whether chance or a rugged constitution saved Mister Baileys, he survived the initial damage of the grass toxins. Then careful nursing, that included a regular bucket of beer, brought the gutsy animal around.

The National Stud, which had insured the horse against loss, filed its claim, and the insurers eventually sold Mister Baileys to stand at Vinery in Kentucky. He shipped to Kentucky in October 1995 and entered stud in 1996, nearly two years after his classic victory.

From his innings in Kentucky, the best produce of Mister Baileys was probably the shockingly tough America America, who won or placed in stakes in the States, Germany, Canada, and England as a 2yo in 2003. Winner of the Lone Star Oaks at 3, America America is out of the Mining mare Gal of Mine.

Mister Baileys was returned to England in 2000 and went to stand at Whitsbury Stud. Although sub-fertile, he continued to cover mares until 2003 when he pronounced infertile and pensioned to Venner’s Petches Stud.

Bred in England by Ranston Bloodstock Ltd, Mister Baileys was by the Roberto stallion Robellino out of the Sharpen Up mare Thimblerigger.