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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Named a 'TDN Rising Star' for her 7 1/2-length romp at Keeneland in April, Shoot It True then took on the boys as the heavy favorite in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs May 2 but weakened off the lead after fast fractions to finish fourth behind another classy filly in West Memorial (Caracaro). Unraced since that effort, she lined up again Saturday against the boys in her longest distance to date for Wesley Ward who opted to remove the blinkers for his 5-2 third choice. Sharp from the middle of the gate, Shoot It True went on with it up front while dealing with a pesky Kenny Be past the half in :46.12. Never letting that rival by, she rode the rail around the far turn and responded in kind to rousing by Frankie Dettori by opening up down the lane, coming under the wire geared down while clearly the class of the field. “She's a nice filly,” said Ward. “She relaxed a lot more. Took the blinkers off, but if you see the first part of the race, she is pricking her ears – with the blinkers they don't do that, because they don't know who is around them. So that is the reason I did that. I told Dave Reid, the owner here, that we were maybe about 80 percent fit, but she is a really, really good filly. I think she is going to be a much better 3, 4-year-old filly. So this will be the last start of the year for her and we will bring her back in the spring. Won't see her again until either Keeneland in the spring or here in the spring.” One of 79 stakes winners for Munnings, Shoot It True was a $340,000 yearling buy out of SARAUG for Preferred Equine. To the Moon Alice, a half-sister to GSW Unchained Melody (Smart Strike), saw her yearling Street Sense colt sell for $120,000 also at SARAUG. She is due back to Gunite after not taking on a Speightstown cover for last year. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. NOTEBOOK S., $100,000, Aqueduct, 11-16, (S), 2yo, 6f, 1:10.17, ft. 1–SHOOT IT TRUE, 118, f, 2, by Munnings 1st Dam: To the Moon Alice, by Malibu Moon 2nd Dam: Love Match, by Partner's Hero 3rd Dam: For Love Alone, by L'Enjoleur ($340,000 Ylg '23 SARAUG). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Ice Wine Stable and Smart Choice Stable; B-Old Tavern Farm LLC (NY); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-Lanfranco Dettori. $55,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $96,506. 2–Kenny Be, 120, g, 2, Complexity–Stay Composed, by Bernstein. ($35,000 RNA Ylg '23 SARAUG; $20,000 Ylg '23 EASOCT; $115,000 2yo '24 OBSAPR). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Clear Stars Stable and Mitre Box Stable; B-Apache Farm LLC (NY); T-David P. Duggan. $20,000. 3–Soontobeking, 120, c, 2, King for a Day–Swayed, by Freud. ($80,000 2yo '24 OBSMAR). O-Our Blue Streaks Stable, SGV Thoroughbreds and George Weaver; B-Our Blue Streaks Stable & SGV Thoroughbreds (NY); T-George Weaver. $12,000. Margins: 4 1/4, 1 1/4, 3/4. Odds: 2.70, 2.65, 5.20. Also Ran: Man in Finance, Three B's, In the Chase. Scratched: Phoebeinwonderland. The post ‘Rising Star’ Shoot It True Beats The Boys In The Notebook 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
Another manic sale season is upon us. Goffs kick-starts what promises to be an exciting few weeks with the November Foal Sale getting underway on Monday followed by the mares session on Thursday and Friday before the action rolls on to Tattersalls at Newmarket before concluding at Arqana next month. So where does the value lie over what is usually a helter-skelter few weeks of trade? Gwen Monneraye of the La Motteraye Consignment, Mimi Wadham of WH Bloodstock and Tally-Ho Stud's Roger O'Callaghan weigh in on the big topics ahead of the breeding stock sales. Mimi Wadham | Laura Green How do you look back at the European yearling sale market and what relevance do you think that will have on the breeding stock sales going forward? Gwen Monneraye: The yearling sales this year were very different to 2023, especially here in France. In 2023, the August Sale at Arqana was crazy good and, like the rest of the European sales, things got a bit quieter after that. This year was the complete opposite. Nobody could have expected the trade that was at Newmarket and sadly we were not consigning there this year! It continued on to the October Yearling Sale in Arqana, which was very strong. But the August Sale was only okay. I don't know if all of that was to do with Amo Racing's investment, but it could be, because they put 25 million on the table and then the rest of the yearling sales became very strong. Before Newmarket, I was fully sure that the stallion men would be dropping their prices and that the broodmare market would be a buyers' market. Now, things are looking very different and I am expecting strong trade for foals and mares. Mimi Wadham: The yearling sales certainly picked up in October. It had been a bit worrying up until that point. Doncaster was actually quite a good sale, Somerville was sketchy and then the August Sale at Arqana was down. We were taken by surprise by the strength of October and that was really down to the Amo contribution. A lot of people got very well paid for their yearlings and that will mean that the foals will be hard to buy over the coming weeks. It's going to be incredibly competitive at the top end of the market. Roger O'Callaghan: I thought the yearling sales were pretty good. Kia [Joorabchian] brought great enthusiasm to Newmarket. We had a great sale at Donny and that set the tone for the year for us. If you have a nice horse, you will get well rewarded in the market at present. Where do you think the value might lie at the breeding stock sales? GM: It's becoming harder and harder to find value but, for me, you have to be at every sale and look at as many horses as possible to try to find value. At some stage you will find value doing that. Trying to predict where the value will lie beforehand is hard–hopefully it will lie at the La Motteraye Consignment! MW: It's important to look at stallion numbers to see what sires have strong books of mares coming through. We try to follow the results on the track and not just follow the hype. It's easy to say what sire is popular now but the trick is to find the one who is going to be popular by the time the yearling sales roll around the following year. If you know a stallion has big two-year-old and three-year-old crops to run for them in 2025, it could be a good time to buy a foal by them. RO'C: We'll find that out in 12 months, won't we?! But if I had to say one area we've been lucky in, it would be buying maiden mares off the track. We've put a lot of money into the fillies off the track in the past few years and that has been very lucky for us. How do you approach the sales – do you concentrate on pedigree, colts or filly foals, young or older mares, etc etc? GM: We used to do a lot of pinhooking but now we concentrate mainly on buying mares. The pinhooking is becoming harder and harder and has gotten more risky. Also, it's something we feel that we don't have to do as much of because we have more mares and more land. We approach the sales more as broodmare buyers now. Of course we do pedigree research but we try to be very open minded when it comes to buying mares. Everybody seems to be trying to buy the same horses so that's why you need to keep an open mind. We concentrate a lot on what the mares look like–good walk, depth, good shoulder and hind quarter etc. We try to invest in a bit of speed, also. We look at a lot and buy very few. In some years, we couldn't find any mares within our price bracket so recently we bought two very old mares who had produced some very good horses. The idea there was to try and produce a filly out of those mares and to race them. Eventually, those mares would join the breeding band. That has been working well so far so hopefully we could find some of the next generation of broodmares by doing that. MW: We do all of the pedigree research first and whittle down a list.You have to be quite creative with pedigrees sometimes because you have to try and find some value. Certain sires who have fallen by the wayside, they won't work. We won't look at foals out of an exposed mare either. But we do look at a lot of foals–about 70 per cent of the catalogue, which is a lot of foals. The way the market is gone, it's all about sire power. RO'C: Henry [O'Callaghan, brother] will have all of the pedigrees researched for us and it's just a matter of getting out and looking at as many horses as we can and buying what we like. We try to buy as many nice foals by our own stallions as we can. That's the least we can do when breeders choose to send their mares to us. We've spent a lot of money buying the stallions to start with, so, if we can't see it through, there's not much good in it, is there? It can be a busy few weeks but there's great entertainment in it all and we like to support the people who have supported us. What young sires are you most looking forward to seeing the progeny of at the sales? GM: It was a quiet year in France. We have Sealiway (Fr), a son of Galiway (GB), who was a Group 1 winner at two and three. He could be an exciting new sire in France. Regarding the sires abroad, we are looking forward to seeing the foals by Blackbeard (Ire). We have been using him and think he could be an interesting sire going forward. Baaeed (GB) as well. He was a champion of his generation and he is a stallion who is going to be popular. MW: I am very excited to see the Baaeeds, however, I am disappointed by the number on offer. There are not very many in the sales. I am also really excited to see the Blackbeards as well. RO'C: I mean this sincerely, but we like to buy foals that we believe will run. That's the simple truth of it all. Then we will hone in on the stallions after that. Persian Force (Ire) and Perfect Power (Ire) will probably be our two, purely because we stand one and bred the other. And then in terms of the movers and shakers that have been announced at stud in recent weeks, what grabbed your attention the most? GM: I think Charyn is going to be an exciting addition to Sumbe in France. He is an exceptional miler and it's quite rare to have a stallion of this calibre starting his career in France so we are extremely excited about that. We will be using him. Metropolitan (Fr) could also be exciting being a Classic-winning son of Zarak (Fr) and we have Puchkine (Fr), a son of Starspangledbanner (Aus), who could be quite interesting as well. There are some new stallions in England and Ireland that are quite interesting, including some of the new horses at Tally-Ho Stud and Vandeek (GB) at Cheveley Park Stud. MW: Of the stallions that have just gone to stud, nothing springs to mind but, in terms of value, I really think that Ghaiyyath (Ire) and Study Of Man are very reasonably priced. I am hoping to send a mare to each of those. RO'C: I'm going to say Bucanero Fuerte (GB). He was the second-highest rated two-year-old in Europe last season and beat Porta Fortuna (Ire) by four lengths in a Group 1. I'd like him. I like his pedigree and his Daddy is doing well. On his day, he was a very smart horse and you could say he's a bit of a forgotten horse so he's the one who floats my boat. Outside of him, we only bid for one horse this year, and that was Big Evs (Ire). Once we had him secured, we were happy and sat on our hands. Roger O'Callaghan: “It can be a busy few weeks but there's great entertainment in it all “ | Laura Green Where do you stand with the current crop of first-season sires? GM: I'm afraid that I am going to be talking about France again because I was very excited about Hello Youmzain (Fr) at the start of the year and I like what has happened with him. I also like the end of the season that Pinatubo (Ire) has had. We were not expecting him to have Royal Ascot two-year-olds and it's good that he had a Listed winner in France recently. I like the progeny of Mohaather (GB) and, of course, Kameko has had a Group 1 winner so he is a stallion to monitor closely as well. There is no standout but I would give them all a chance for next year. MW: We feel slightly hard done by with Ghaiyyath as we sold a lovely filly by him at Book 2 but felt we probably could have gotten more for her. The sire has since had a slew of winners and is probably more popular now than during the sale. We are going to stay loyal to him and he could be the one to repay people's faith. RO'C: Hello Youmzain is the one, isn't he? He's the one I like. He was a good racehorse, everyone sent mares to him and supported him and now he's coming up trumps. If you couldn't make it to the sales, who would you trust to buy you a mare or a foal? GM: If you won't allow me to say my wife, Lucie Lamotte, I will have to say Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock to buy the mare. I have a good relationship with Stuart and he helps us a lot so I would trust him to buy a mare. To buy a foal, I am going to say David or James Egan of Corduff Stud. MW: If I can't say Violet Hesketh [partner in WH Bloodstock], I will nominate Jamie McCalmont for the mare and Kelsey Lupo for the foal. RO'C: We'll let Paddy Turley buy the foal. Craig and Martin McCracken can buy the mare. Look at the amount of good stock they have bred in the past few years. They are not slow. Give us three sires that you would support in these categories; 0-15k, 15-50k, 50k upwards. GM: At the top level, I would have to say Wootton Bassett (GB) because I have a close relationship with him and have been using him from the start and been very lucky with him. In the middle, I will be with Charyn, even though he is not proven and then at the lower end, I am a big fan of Oasis Dream (GB). I know he is getting on in years but, if you got a filly by him, he would be very good value at £15,000. MW: Night Of Thunder (Ire) is an exceptional sire and we;ve been lucky with him so I'll nominate him at the top end of the market while Study Of Man and Cotai Glory are good value at £25,000 and €15,000 respectively. RO'C: Mehmas (Ire) in the top category anyway. We've never had a horse stand for as much money at €70,000 and he deserves to be standing at that fee after the year we had. We've very proud of him. The bit I like about him is that he can get a good sprinter and it looks like he can get a really good miler as well. That opens doors for a lot of people. Study Of Man has impressed me and he could be the one in the middle tier while Bucanero Fuerte will appeal to a lot of people at €12,500. The post Where Does The Value Lie? Top Judges Have Their Say On Breeding Stock Sales appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
· David McCarthy · If the remarkable Aljay pulls off the New Zealand Cup with 60kg at Riccarton this weekend he will be only the second horse to do so in the more than 100 years. The first one was not even meant to be in the race. Nightmarch,a beautiful dapple brown stallion bred in Canterbury and one of the best gallopers of his era, won the race easily with the same weight (9st 6lb),the maximum allowed in the race in 1930. He was only there for one reason. Phar Lap. Nightmarch had gone to Australia in 1929 and his owner ,astute Christchurch businessman, Alf Louisson, a new chum to Australian racing there fell under the spell of the legendary Melbourne punter, bookmaker and trainer, Eric Connolly. Stories had it-with substance-that Connolly made a big offer for Nightmarch,Alf accepted but then, thinking of family and sporting consequences back home wanted out of the deal.Connolly agreed if he could plan the stallion’s spring campaign in Sydney. Alf Louisson had bought Nightmarch as a promising two year old from a prominent southern racing family for $1600 and had multiplied the return. The two major events,and still popular today,were the 1600 Epsom Handicap and the 2600m Metropolitan Handicap.Nightmarch being a stayer was well backed in the latter but the former was considered a leadup race in which he had a big weight Connolly let everyone think that then plunged heavily on the Epsom which Nightmarch won,landing huge bets.He then finished a close second in the Metropolitan to a high class horse and carrying 62kg. Then it was to Melbourne where Nightmarch was overshadowed for a time by another Canterbury-bred, the immortal Phar Lap then a three year old.But Phar Lap pulled his veteran jockey out of the saddle in the Cup and the more tractable Nightmarch became the first New Zealand bred, owned,trained, and ridden winner of the Melbourne Cup. It had taken nearly 60 years. Both horses were by South Canterbury based stallion,Night Raid. The winning rider,Roy Reed,tragically taken before his time in a racefall,was followed in later years as Cup- winning rider by brother Ashley. In 1930 Nightmarch went back to Melbourne for the Cup but things had changed. Phar Lap was now all conquering,virtually unbeatable. But while he was unbackable in the Melbourne Cup Phar Lap’s trainer (sometime Kiwi Harry Telford) would not say whether he would also run in the Caulfield Cup,the new target for Nightmarch. A game of cat and mouse ensued,Louisson hanging on to run at Caulfield,Telford refusing to scratch. Telford won the tense standoff. The last boat to New Zealand to get back in time to the New Zealand Cup was due to go and Alf Louisson cried enough. On to the boat went Nightmarch.The ship was scarcely out of the heads when Phar Lap was scratched from the Caulfield Cup. Nightmarch won the New Zealand Cup in a cakewalk despite his huge weight.His trainer Alec McCaulay told the media afterward. “You saw how easily my horse beat those today.Well Phar Lap beat him just as easily in Melbourne.That’s how good he is.” In the 3600m AJC Plate that spring Phar Lap went to the front and on the way broke every Australian distance record from 1400 to 3600 one of the most phenomenal performances in the history of racing.Nightmarch was 10 lengths behind him. Nightmarch was one of the very best of his era,just unfortunate to run into perhaps the greatest of all eras. He stood Alf Louisson’s specially set up Ladbrooks Stud and was a successful stallion. When Mr Louisson passed and the stud was sold Nightmarch was buried on the property.The grave locality can still be seen. A noble horse.Nothing has come close in NZ Cup weight carrying performances since. Aljay will have to be really good to match it, PIC: Nightmarch from a painting for Notable New Zealand Thoroughbreds of which he was a certain selection -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
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Handicapping is an absolute shambles , countless examples of journeyman horses giving Group & Listed winners weights in Open Handicaps. The problem with it is there is skant regard for the quality of the field or the level of race the horse wins , just some arbitrary points allocation in the handicap.
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