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By Chief Stipe · Posted
Veterinary Council puts an ex-vet on a short leash | Free Speech Union New Zealand www.fsu.nz Why has the Veterinary Council put an ex-vet on a short leash? Someone who hasn’t even practised as a vet for over a decade? The Veterinary Council has censured Leo Molloy, ordering him to pay $23,000 in costs more than four years after his conviction for breaching a suppression order.https://bitofayarn.com But the courts have already dealt with this, so why is a professional regulator coming after him? Did Leo disclose the home address of a sick Labrador? Selective breeding details? Client records? The vaccination status of a tomcat? No. Did a member of the public, a past client, or a practising vet complain about Leo’s conduct as a vet? No. His offence had nothing to do with treating animals, maintaining veterinary confidence, or professional ethics. This was personal speech, not a professional act. https://bitofayarn.com Yet the Veterinary Council has taken it upon itself to, well, neuter, speech that falls far beyond the pens of 'permitted' opinion. (Yep, the story is as ridiculous as my puns. 😸 ) The Veterinary Council is following the dangerous trend that we continue to see New Zealand regulatory bodies follow. If regulators can punish, and fine, professionals for off-duty speech, even decades after they last practised, then we have a much bigger problem than one outspoken ex-vet.https://bitofayarn.com Six years ago, Leo Molloy posted on a racing community forum naming Grace Millane’s murderer, Jesse Kempson, while his name was suppressed. Leo was convicted and sentenced to 350 hours of community service and a $15,000 fine. https://bitofayarn.com This isn’t even to mention the futility of Leo’s conviction in the first place. International outlets published Jesse Kempson’s name with zero consequence. Google emailed it directly to New Zealand inboxes and got a polite warning. Multiple New Zealanders were cautioned but not prosecuted.https://bitofayarn.com Leo remains the only person convicted and now the only person professionally sanctioned. It’s hard not to conclude that the Veterinary Council’s issue isn’t the conduct, but the dog that did the barking. The inconsistency of enforcement reeks more of overreach than principle. Name suppression has become a joke, dished out liberally, limiting the public’s ability to know the details of a case, and the media’s ability to tell them. Why are criminals, pedophiles, even murderers, being favoured over public safety and our crucial democratic values? https://bitofayarn.com Now, six years after Leo’s breach, and more than a decade after he has even practiced as a vet, the Veterinary Council’s disciplinary lawyer argued that “professional obligations don’t end when we close the office door.” But which part of Leo’s conviction had anything to do with his profession? Professional bodies should focus on their role as skill-based watchdogs, not policing "un-vet'-like behaviour that happens to personally offend them.https://bitofayarn.com According to our sources, the Veterinary Council has spent an excess of $45,000 to pursue this complaint. $45,000! They need a wake up call. Let’s send the message that we actually think more favourably of the veterinary profession if they aren't afraid to speak their minds. But that the Veterinary Council should stick to their remit: the skills and professional conduct of its members. In 30 seconds, tell the Veterinary Council to stay in its lane. We’ve made it super easy. Let’s make sure they know that Kiwis won’t stand by while they’re on their high horse. Regulatory overreach has become a consistent problem, whether against nurses, lawyers, academics, architects, or teachers, to name a handful. So now it’s vets? Who’s next? Professional bodies seem less concerned about the skills and abilities of professionals, and more with what they say in private capacities. That’s why we set up seven professional memberships, along with our standard membership, for: Academics, lawyers, public servants, teachers, healthcare professionals, media, and religious leaders. We ensure professionals have someone in their corner. We will not stand by while the would-be-censors decide they know best. Chip in here to support us to push back on regulatory body overreach; standards should ensure competence, not control speech or belief. Jillaine Heather | Chief Executive -
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Even @Chief Stipe idol thinks Levin should stay : "The weather conditions still are playing havoc with some tracks - which makes me reflect on the fact that there is a lot of discussion, both in public and behind closed doors, at present in New Zealand racing about closing tracks. Personally, I am not in favour of closing any more tracks at all. We have already shut down a good number over the years, and I firmly believe we need every track that remains to sustain the future well-being of racing in this country."
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Serendipity is priceless in this business. Though they number no more than 20, for instance, this is the second time that one of the Dromingrove Farm mares has been steeply elevated by events. And you may recall an equally startling outcome, in Dubai a couple of years ago, after Delia Nash had found herself reluctantly obliged to retain and race an unsold horse. But then Nash has been around horses all her life, back to her County Limerick girlhood, and understands that no matter what you get right, the most important thing is to be lucky. “Oh, don't worry, I don't think I've cracked it!” Nash says wryly. “I've been around long enough to know there's a hell of a lot more bad days than good. So you need to take every little bit of energy and enjoyment from the good ones, when they happen. And then, those bad days, you need to just suck it up and try for the good days again–because they do come.” On this occasion, mind, it was literally a case of Lady Luck entering her life. For that was the name of an unraced Medaglia d'Oro mare she found herself inspecting at the Keeneland January Sale in 2022. “She wasn't on my list because on the face of it, the pedigree wasn't super-exciting,” Nash admits. “But when I went to the Gainesway barn, Sean Tugel asked could he add one to the three or four I wanted to see. And he pulled out this very attractive mare. Big, strong, plenty of scope, a very kind eye. Just a lot of class about her. The type of mare you like looking at, out in the field.” Tugel mentioned how Lady Luck's half-brother by Uncle Mo had made $450,000 the previous September. The word was that he was shaping well for his powerful owners, and on his way to Brad Cox. And meanwhile their dam, after both Lady Luck and then a Tapit colt had failed to make the gate, had lately got off the mark with a son of Into Mischief–Strava, later placed in a couple of stakes–at the Keeneland fall meet. “So all the kind of things you want to hear,” Nash says. “Of course you do also kind of go, 'Yeah, yeah, whatever.' But a potential upside is always something I'm looking for. Because if they're already proven, I can't afford them. So she stuck in my mind.” After all, Nash had just seen for herself the kind of thing that can happen, rolling the dice on a young mare. Back at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale, Nash had bought another 5-year-old after she had fallen short of her reserve at $19,000. At the time, Lemon Liqueur (Exchange Rate) only had a yearling by Honor Code and a weanling filly by Quality Road, and was now empty. But then her filly was bought by Peter Brant at Saratoga the following summer, named Bleecker Street, and had just extended her unbeaten start to three in a Tampa Bay allowance. By the time Nash took her half-sister by Flatter to Keeneland, that September, Bleecker Street had added four graded stakes, including the GI New York Stakes. Brant duly gave $475,000 for the Flatter filly, and this September returned with the same sum for a brother to Bleecker Street. In between, Nash had retained a stake in Lemon Liqueur's Not This Time 2022 colt when hammered for $535,000 to CJ Thoroughbreds. As Mesero, he ran second in the GIII Old Dominion Derby in September. “So that mare has been an absolute blessing,” Nash said. “And actually I ended up buying the Flatter filly back as a broodmare prospect at Keeneland last November.” (She's now in foal to Good Magic). Could something similar happen here? Nash went back next day for another look at Lady Luck and decided that she might stretch to $100,000. In the event, she has her friend Emma Quinn to thank for venturing one last bid at $135,000. “I was like, 'No, I'm done,'” Nash recalls. “But Emma was beside me and said, 'Go on, hit her one more time!' So I did. And I never regretted it. When I turned her out in the paddock that evening, I looked at her and thought: 'I overpaid for you, but I'm glad to have you.' And it turned out that I didn't overpay at all!” In fact, she cleared the whole investment in one hit, when the Maclean's Music filly she was then carrying brought $300,000 as a yearling. By that stage, Lady Luck's half-brother by Uncle Mo was up and running, winner of his first two before missing the GIII Peter Pan Stakes by a head. Bishops Bay was held up in 2024, but has bounced back with a five-for-seven campaign this year, including three graded stakes–most recently the GIII Forty Niner Stakes. In the meantime, moreover, Catch My Drift's next foal had proved still more exciting: Catching Freedom (Constitution) won the GII Louisiana Derby before running fourth in the GI Kentucky Derby itself. Bishops Bay | Hodges Photography “I knew there was a Constitution who'd just turned a yearling when I bought her,” Nash recalled. “And I saw that the Albaugh family bought him that September, and that he ended up in the same barn as Bishops Bay. So I was kind of following him along, watching his works, but then next thing I knew he was on the Triple Crown trail.” With those updates on the page, Lady Luck's first foal for Nash–a Yaupon colt–made $350,000 from Centennial Farms at the 2024 September Sale. “I couldn't go to Uncle Mo with her at that stage,” Nash reasons. “Bishops Bay hadn't done anything yet, and I'd only had her a few months. Then she went to Good Magic, but spent the afternoon out there and he wouldn't cover her. It was getting late in the year, so I tried sending her to Uncle Mo on the way home. But she didn't take, so she had no yearling for this year. But now she has an Uncle Mo filly on the ground, who's very nice.” And that's the great thing about this story: both Bleecker Street's dam and Catching Freedom's half-sister were young enough to exploit their upgrades. Smaller programs often find that things like this happen too late: the mare has been retired, maybe, or even sold on. “I've been very lucky,” Nash acknowledges. “Both my best mares had success very young, so touch wood they'll keep producing for me. I'm also fortunate that it's not my primary business. I don't want to lose money, raising or racing horses. I'm very competitive by nature, and just want to be successful no matter what I do. But it does mean I have a little bit of leeway, in terms of the stress of when those bills fall.” Nash joined the Kentucky Performance Products in 2000, four years after first sampling the expatriate Irish community around Lexington on an Equine Science placement from the University of Limerick. Hers was under Pat Costello at Crescent Hill. “I think there were 13 or 14 of us that came over to different farms,” she recalls. “We worked hard, and partied equally hard. But we showed up for work every day and made some great connections. I knew, leaving, that this was where the future was.” She took a stake in the nutrition supplements business in 2016 before buying out her partner in 2024. “It's grown dramatically, especially the last seven or eight years, so that's been a lot of fun as well,” Nash says appreciatively. “Business–whether in racing, nutrition or whatever–is the same, always volatile. Doesn't matter how good your decisions are, at the time, there are lots of external factors that you've no control over. So it can be stressful, but it's also very rewarding when you see something evolve and grow. Again, you have to enjoy the successes and learn from the mistakes.” Clients range from local to international, from Thoroughbreds to show jumpers and eventers. But Nash discourages people from treating supplements as rocket fuel. “Not every horse needs to supplement,” she emphasizes. “You identify a need, and find a product that has some efficacy for that need. We do a lot of work with universities, so that we have peer-reviewed, independent research behind our products. I have no control over the outcome of that research. Either something works or it doesn't. And if it doesn't, I don't want to put my name to it. So I focus on that, rather than the shiny label that tells you that it cures everything. I have to believe in something to be able to sell it. As opposed to telling people, 'Oh, I feed two scoops of this and half a scoop of that and my horse runs brilliant.' If only it was that easy.” Sibelius | Ryan Thompson The true vagaries of the racetrack were measured by a short yearling from the first crop of Not This Time, bought as a pinhook with Jun Park at the 2019 Keeneland January Sale ($62,000 RNA). “When we brought him back, in September, he had turned into a very nice yearling,” Nash recalls. “He had a few little things in the X-ray, but nothing that we thought might stop people buying him. But it turned out he failed every vet. Neither of us owned racehorses, but we said we'd break him and send him to Jerry O'Dwyer, and hopefully sell him as a racehorse.” Sibelius broke his maiden at Keeneland second time out, but it was with maturity as a 4-year-old that he got on a real roll, with a couple of stakes wins and the GIII Mr. Prospector Stakes earning him a crack at the G1 Golden Shaheen. “Did we feel we had a very nice horse?” Nash asks. “We did. We felt he deserved to be there and was going to be competitive. But we also knew we were up against the best sprinters in the world. I still watch that race and say, 'I know I was there. I know I witnessed that. But did that really happen?' He was a horse that we felt always needed to run towards the front. And that day he broke late from the one hole and got cut off. Ryan Moore gave him a dream ride. He never panicked and, when he got a gap, he gave that horse so much confidence to go through.” As recently explored by colleague Sara Gordon, Sibelius has continued to thrill his owners with a second career in dressage under O'Dwyer's wife Alison. “That horse gave us the adventure of a lifetime,” Nash says. “And, as so often, it wasn't something that we set out to achieve, either. He brought a really good group of people together, and we just had a great time. I still get stuck for words, thinking about it. “But look, I pinch myself daily. I've been very fortunate to have been given so many opportunities, to have been surrounded by such good people. There's a fantastic community here. We all go out and compete against each other, very aggressively, but it's very close-knit as well.” The inadvertent expansion of her program has required Nash to lease some overspill. “I bought a little farm, and built a barn before a house–as all good horse people do–but I have outgrown that,” she admits. “I suppose it's the worst thing that can happen, to have a little bit of success. You think, 'Oh, this is great, let's just build on that.' Because it's addictive. I mean, I swore I would never have a racehorse–and then I had Sibelius, and now I've bits and pieces all over, and another addiction. But it's so exciting, to be watching horses run and families getting updates on a Saturday afternoon. If it is an addiction, it's a very enjoyable one.” The post Luck Being a Lady to Nash appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
NEWMARKET, UK — There was still plenty of business to be done as the December Sale drew to a close – in the ring, at the bar, and around the local stallion studs still busily showing to breeders in welcome sunshine. For many, money earned at the sales over the last few weeks is quickly reinvested. Wendy Miller, whose Jarosa Stud was responsible for the first lot in Tuesday's Sceptre Session, was back on Wednesday to buy a new mare. Miller bred Fair Angellica (Harry Angel) herself and when she failed to find a buyer for her as a yearling at £2,000, she put her in training with Richard Hughes who coached her to seven wins from her 16 starts, including Listed victories in England and France and a last-start triumph in the G3 Sceptre Fillies' Stakes before she was handed over to Jenny Norris to be prepared for sale. This time around Miller received 260,000gns in the ring for her, and on Wednesday she restocked with the purchase of three-time winner Ashky (Caravaggio) for 78,000gns, also through Norris Bloodstock. The six-year-old mare (lot 1899) already has a colt foal by Modern Games and she was sold carrying to Triple Time, whose first foals have been well received in recent weeks. “Wendy has the farm next to Jenny and she loved this mare when she saw her there,” said Conor Norris, who conducted the bidding on Miller's behalf. “The Triple Time foals have been lovely so far and she was keen to buy a mare in foal to the sire having seen the foals. He's an exciting young stallion.” Ashky was one of the bestsellers of the day but the leading lady proved to be Denford Stud's 91-rated Desert Spring (lot 1086), who will leave the Gosdens' stable to continue her training in France with Mario Barrati. Alex Elliott was the agent in the hotseat, and bought her on behalf of a partnership for 220,000gns “She ran in a stakes race last time, she is a winner, and bits have happened since she was catalogued,” he said. “We will try to make her a stakes winner and bring her back to the market then.” Desert Spring's third dam Last Second (Alzao) was a multiple group winner for Denford Stud and was bred by Kirsten Rausing and Sonia Rogers from their influential mare Alruccaba. She is thus a half-sister to Alouette (Darshaan), whose Alzao daughters Alborada and Albanova were both multiple Group 1 winners for Rausing. The Denford-developed branch of this high-achieving family includes Last Second's son Aussie Rules (Danehill), the Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner who later become a Lanwades stallion, and Approach (Darshaan), the dam of dual Group 1 winner Coronet (Dubawi) and St Leger runner-up Midas Touch (Galileo). Approach also features as the granddam of Desert Spring, who was sold on her breeder's behalf by The Castlebridge Consignment. Also en route to France will be the beautifully bred Star Spirit (lot 1836), a daughter of Deep Impact and the Prix de Diane winner Star Of Seville (Duke of Marmalade), who was bought by Paul Fretwell of Melchior Bloodstock for 82,000gns. The eight-year-old mare enjoyed an update after the catalogue was published when her juvenile half-sister Star Of Life (Starspangledbanner) won Rome's Listed Premio Femminile. “Under the first dam there is a Dubawi two-year-old who has just gone to the Gosdens, and I like her Ghaiyyath cover,” Fretwell said. “He is a progressive sire, and in France he has a good profile with [Andre] Fabre's My Highness. There is a Havana Grey to run for her and another Starspangledbanner to come. “Her sire Deep Impact – there are not loads of them and he was one of the most important sires in the modern era.” After Tuesday's blockbuster session, this was a lower-key ending to the December Mares Sale, which this year has been abbreviated to three days. Presumably the rise of the online sales has accounted for some of the mares who would previously have been catalogued for what used to be the final session on Thursday. With or without online sales, numbers will almost certainly, for now at least, continue to contract – for mares in production and inevitably the number of foals born across Europe. The diehards and deep-pockets will sit it out, hoping for an upturn, and anyone who has been in the business for long enough will be all too aware of its cyclical nature. That said, even some of those people are beginning to opine that the decline in numbers is alarming. This will inevitably affect the pool of available racehorses for a British fixture list in dire need of pruning. As we have continued to see – quite remarkably at times – the demand for yearlings and young stock at the top end of the market appears to be undiminished, but the horse with a weaker pedigree, by a less fashionable stallion, or an imperfect individual will struggle. Twas ever thus, up to a point, but now it is even more so, and the knock-on effect is that smaller breeders who would once have been at the parade ring rail hoping to sniff out a potential bargain are going home without an extra mouth to feed while considering carefully the futures of the mares they already have at home. To many, it is a time for retrenchment in the hope of survival. With the mares, as for the yearlings, the elite sector remains buoyant, with a premium on top-class fillies who remain racing prospects, as the 4.8m gns given for three-year-old Prix de l'Opera winner Barnavara shows. The list of top ten buyers featured major names from Ireland, China, America, Japan, and India. Bloodstock from these shores continues to have major international pulling power, but Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony sounded more than a note of caution regarding Britain's current political climate in his closing address. He said, “In recent weeks at Tattersalls we have enjoyed record-breaking yearling sales, sustained demand for horses in training and December Foal and Breeding Stock sales which have produced figures second only to the extraordinary 2024 renewals which broke all records. On the face of it, we have a strong market with British and Irish breeders being well rewarded for consistently bringing some of the finest bloodstock to be found anywhere in the world to Park Paddocks, but this hard-earned success comes in spite of rather than because of government support of a genuine British success story.” Those figures, which must be considered against last year's record-breaking trade, led to a 47% decline on the final day to 2,437,100gns in turnover. The clearance rate dropped to 78% from 89% last year, and the 10,000gns median and 15,622gns average represented reductions of 38% and 37% respectively. For the mares overall, however, the average for the three days was up by 13% to 140,661gns and the median rose by 7% to 40,500gns, while the aggregate of 82,337,515gns was down by 2%. The eight days which constituted the December Sale as a whole – from yearlings through to foals then breeding stock – saw turnover of 128,183,700gns (-5%), with 1,364 horses sold at a fractionally improved average of 92,925gns and a median of 35,000gns (+9%). Mahony continued, “Overseas buyers have always been drawn to Tattersalls by the cream of British and Irish bloodstock and we work tirelessly to promote our sales internationally, but domestically the industry continues to be buffeted by external political forces which make it uncomfortably reliant on overseas investment and participation. Just as we court overseas buyers, domestic involvement needs to be nurtured and encouraged in order for the industry to thrive in the long term and the current direction of political travel in this country is a cause for concern. The rural economy is clearly not a priority at present and the two budgets under the current Labour government have increased taxation and business costs in every sector of society. “While government has accepted the racing industry's case with respect to betting duty, the wider industry dynamics remain perilously uncertain. We are fortunate that the lure of Newmarket as the Headquarters of European racing continues to resonate globally, but we must also work to ensure that government does not allow the status of a globally admired industry to be eroded through neglect.” Thought for the day It's disconcerting to know that when we reconvene at Tattersalls for the February Sale, the soundtrack of the day will not include the voices of Edmond Mahony and John O'Kelly presiding over the sale ring from the rostrum. Like a favourite presenter on your favourite radio channel (it used to be Radio 1 but advancing years have seen the dial moved to 2 and now 4), certain voices become a part of daily life, and for those of us who spend plenty of time on the sales beat, hearing Mahony and O'Kelly during stints throughout the day has become a familiar anthem. It is not an overstatement to say that auctioneering is an art form in its own right, one which done right must skilfully blend the commanding delivery of key facts with a touch of theatrical performance. These two men are masters of this art, and though we will undoubtedly continue to see them at Tattersalls, days at Park Paddocks will be poorer for their absence from the main stage. The post Mahony Sounds Note of Caution Despite Strong December Returns at Tattersalls appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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