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Gamma, ask Andrew Neal what he thinks of David Branch blowing hundreds of thousands on “The Race” and putting the Cambridge harness racing in jeopardy? Going to be very interesting to see if HRNZ gets the approval to buy the land off Cambridge, they probably will though! The thing is it will only be putting a bandage over a festering wound unfortunately! It is good to have positivity Gamma about the future of harness racing in NZ, however the realism of the plight that the North Island is in, will play out in the future unfortunately. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The last opportunity to nominate foals born in 2025 to the Breeders' Cup program for a one-time late nomination fee of $1,500 is Saturday, Feb. 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET. This $1,500 nomination entitles each foal with lifetime eligibility to the Breeders' Cup World Championships and the Breeders' Cup racing programs. All foals sired by a fully nominated North American Breeders' Cup stallion are eligible for nomination to the Breeders' Cup program in their year of birth and up to Feb. 28 of their yearling year. Nomination fees for 2025 foals not nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by Feb. 28 will be increased to $12,000 for horses sired by a Breeders' Cup-nominated stallion and to $18,000 for horses sired by a non-nominated stallion before July 15 of the horse's 2-year-old year. After July 15 of their 2-year-old year, racehorse nomination fees increase substantially. Breeders' Cup foal nominators will earn $10,000 for every victory in the worldwide Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, and every horse that starts in a Breeders' Cup World Championship race will earn a nominator award. The individual nominating the foal receives these nominator awards even though the horse may change hands throughout its racing career. Anyone that purchased a 2025 eligible foal that wasn't nominated prior to the Oct. 15 deadline can become the foal nominator of record for the horse's racing career. Over $1 million is paid out annually in foal nominator awards. The post Breeders’ Cup Late Foal Nomination Deadline Closes Feb. 28 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 foaling year has begun and I truly have learned to go into each season with a “brace yourself” mentality as any long-term breeder realizes it is the only way you can keep your sanity year after year. This season, we continue to tackle the flock to the big-book first years and proven sires while breaking out the crystal ball to try to guess which of the bubble horses will succeed when their progeny hits the track. If any of you have ever participated in Geoffrey Russell's freshman sire contest, you will quickly learn that what you think you know you do not know and it becomes a humbling experience every year with my husband always strutting around thinking he is going to win in October before fading in the stretch! I begin my thoughts with a Frank Taylor story to which I am sure many of you all can attest. I see Frank's name flash on my screen knowing well that I am going to get the full-court press on whatever wild idea he is needing supported that all of his siblings have already shot down in the Taylor Made family tree board meetings. “Carrie, I am calling you because I want your opinion on a horse that we are looking to potentially stand at stud” My eyes instantly roll thinking of the parade of yokes that I normally have to drive out to see when this question is poised by a stallion farm. I arrive to the barn with skepticism and ask to see the stallion prospect I have been called about. Out walks this snow white 16.2hand Adonis with the presence of his super sire, Tapit, and I instantly am transported to that first day at Gainesway Farm when his father retired to stud. That year was 2005 and he was standing for $15,000LF. Literally deja vu. I called Frank before the front gates could even close behind me with a resounding yes! yes! yes! with When Harry Met Sally enthusiasm to Arthur's Ride! Beauty, brains, speed, sire power, family, Champion dam. Machmer Hall mares: A Nite in Cairo (Cairo Prince), Wild Story (Exaggerator), Campaigning (Nyquist), Field of Flowers (City Zip), Hava Nagila Hava (Malibu Moon), and Little Miss Macho (Mucho Macho Man) all slated to be bred to him. Hopefully Arthur's Ride will redeem me from telling Frank “absolutely not considering Giant's Causeway has never had a successful son at stud in America,” when he called me to buy a share in..yes, you guessed it. Not this Time. Arthur's Ride | Sarah Andrew Speaking of Not This Time, I had an agent call me and to hear the words, graded stakes winner, great pedigree, big, beautiful and reasonably priced in the same sentence is Kentucky broodmare gold. I try to always act coy when I hear of these types and respond “sounds interesting.” Meanwhile, I am literally doing cartwheels in my living room with my phone on speaker. Circle Of Trust (Union Rags) shipped in as advertised, actually even more stunning than I imagined! She is booked to Not This Time on a $250,000 live foal season instead of a comp season on the share that I could have had, but turned down. Every year since he retired to stud, we have bred multiple mares to Into Mischief (one year I booked 20!) In August last year as is the norm, I confirmed five mares from Machmer Hall in texts to one of my best friends and super agent, Mark Toothaker. Come the week after the November sale and I get an unusually sheepish call from Mark telling me he “forgot to submit my seasons and now it is too late; he is full.” I literally went through the five stages of grief at this point: denial (is this a joke?); anger (hung up on him); bargaining (here are all the text messages of me confirming); depression (you sure Ned won't bend?); acceptance (well we better find a NG season). Mark was like, “Carrie, have I EVER forgotten to book a mare for you in the decade-plus we have been doing this? I just don't know what's came over me?” “No.. No Mark you have not.” Sigh.. Not a month later, I get a text that Mark is in the hospital with a brain tumor and going to surgery that day! He literally calls me from his hospital room being wheeled into pre-op and the first thing he says to me is `well, now we know why I forgot your damn mares!' Successful surgery later and lots of relief, I reach out to Devon Bradley who miraculously had a NG season and maiden mare and stakes winner Blind Trust (Artie Schiller), who we bought privately with James Keogh, is booked to him. He will always be my favorite stallion and I will always be his number one fan even with only one mare booked to him. WARM SUNSHINE (2014, Unbridled's Song–Carolina Sunrise, by Awesome Again), will be bred to Constitution Warm Sunshine and her sister, Simply Sunny, have been anchor Unbridled's Song mares for our farm. Warm Sunshine is a little itty bitty mare that we bought as a yearling in my never-ending quest for them. We raced her and she had a heart the size of Texas. Her first foal is Grade II-winning colt by the best value six-figure stallion in Kentucky, Constitution. Warm Sunshine is now a multiple stakes producer and hopefully her Midnight Lute filly (Lute Warm) can get a piece of black-type at Turfway this month. Currently in foal to Nyquist, Warm Sunshine is booked back to the sire of her GSW Steal Sunshine (Constitution), along with her full sister, Simply Sunny, in addition to Layreebelle (Tale of the Cat), Miss Southern Miss (More Than Ready) and Corposo (Vino Rosso) (I bought the no-guarantee TCA season for her). STRAWBERRY SENSE (2007, A.P. Indy–Strawberry Reason, by Strawberry Road {Aus}), will be bred to Twirling Candy Strawberry Sense is an oldie but goodie..my Mom just LOVES these grand older mares. I was going through the Keeneland November catalogue and the moment I laid eyes on this quadruple stakes producer, I had a big smile come over me. I knew that I was going to get brownie points for this one. We purchased her for $85,000 in foal to Seize the Grey as a 19-year-old and candidly, that has been good luck for our farm as it is the same age we bought Voodoo Lily in foal to Tale of the Cat. Other great older mares such as Saudia, Life Well Lived, Lady Melesi, Miss Shop have all been purchased as older girls that have retired to the farm after their broodmare careers. Miss Shop and Saudia are both current pensioned babysitters at Machmer Hall and Strawberry Sense will join that band upon her retirement here as her final home. She is the dam of a Grade I Candy Ride filly, Kathy's Song, so we figured breeding her to superstar stallion, Twirling Candy, who I also turned buying a share down in and then realized I F'd up royally when I saw his first crop of 2-year-olds breeze…made great sense! She joins fellow Machmer Hall mares, Mojave Desert (Munnings), Becca's Rocket (Idoitmyway), Life Well Lived (Tiznow) and Shade (Street Sense) all going to this over-achieving son of Twirling Candy by whom we have raised Three Grade I winners! Side note: three of these mares are former Machmer Hall homebreds we bought back as broodmare prospects. EGYPTIAN BRIDE (2008, Pioneerof the Nile–Stopshoppingdebbie, by Curlin), will be bred to Chancer McPatrick Egyptian Bride currently in foal to Arabian Knight and Laid Back Lady, currently in foal to Tiz The Law, are slated to go to Chancer McPatrick and the reason we only have TWO mares going to him is because at 9:01 a.m., get the text from Mark… “Chancer coming to stud at Spendthrift!!!!!” I am like, `great, let me take a shower and then respond.' Get out of shower at 9:30 a.m., look at my phone… Chancer is full!!!! I am like, `what on earth? I was in the damn bathroom and the horse is already booked full!' Luckily, Mark's brain was cooperating with me this time and he held me two seasons even though I had not had time to respond. STUDY HARD (2015, Malibu Moon–Silent Academy, by Royal Academy), will be bred to Nyquist Study Hard, the dam of Grade II winner and current Kentucky Derby hopeful Litmus Test (Nyquist), is currently in foal to McKinzie. We bought her as a yearling for $100,000. With my horse addiction in full swing wanting to buy at every sale, I went and looked at yearling fillies for future broodmare potential and I came upon this incredible physical by Malibu Moon, a full sister to a Grade II winner. I was thinking, `Dang it! I will never be able to afford this filly.' I mean she was a 10. Oh, wait! Ask the consignor for her vet report! Ohhh, I see. She does not vet. Excellent news for a broodmare person. Follow her up to the ring and buy her. I distinctly remember the consignor coming up to me to congratulate me saying, “I cannot believe with 12 vets she did not bring more!” We named her after my mother's mantra in life and what I heard 24/7 as a child even though I really did not practice what was always preached. Study Hard's 2023 Nyquist foal was born and at 146 pounds all Craig sent was “Wowza.” Study Hard is booked back to Nyquist for 2026 and she has a 2025 filly by Twirling Candy that we are retaining for the future Machmer Hall broodmare band and she has already been named Keep Studying. ALANA B. (2015, Animal Kingdom–Surf Club, by Ocean Crest), will be bred back to Patch Adams Alana B. is currently in foal to Candy Ride and is a young stakes producer we purchased from Darley carrying her first foal. I was at Churchill Downs the day Patch Adams (Into Mischief) broke his maiden by over 10 lengths and it was a `wow' moment for me especially considering that we own his granddam, Life Well Lived, currently in foal to Practical Joke. A multiple Grade I winner with speed, looks, pedigree and a super sire for a father: what more could you possibly want for $30,000 LF? Total no brainer for us to send Alana B. along with Heidi Maria (Rockport Harbor), Synchronized (Omaha Beach), Wolfbane (Union Rags) and Queen Macha (Keen Ice) to him. He is the most like his sire that I have ever seen in an Into Mischief son going to stud. At the Saratoga 2022 sale, there was a Gun Runner colt that was literally the talk of the sale and ended up a $2.3 million yearling who later became Sierra Leone. I was lucky enough to see him again when he was on a freshening at Ashford and he was even more stunning as an older horse, in impeccable condition and exuding class. I have always felt very connected to his family. We bought his dam's three-quarter sister as a yearling for $8,000 from Legacy Bloostock. Even though I named her Forever Darling since we were going to keep her “forever”… sigh….and even though Albert Davis told me “this filly can really run,” we sold her through as a 2-year-old because the horse trader in me prevailed. Forever Darling went onto win a Grade II and become the dam of Breeders' Cup Classic and Eclipse Award winner and Japan's Horse of the Year Forever Young. Just imagine what kind of broodmare she could have been for Machmer Hall! Well the would-have could-have should-haves is part of any breeder's life, so I have always cheered and admired the family the Oxleys developed. The day of his retirement, I texted Robyn Murray that I would like to submit five Machmer Hall stakes mares to this amazing son of superstar Gun Runner: Asawer (Nyquist), Be My Sunshine (Frosted), Orquidias Biz (Fed Biz), Truth Hurts (Tonalist) and Fortuna Mia (Vekoma). As of me typing this, we currently have 85 foaling mares, 10 barren/aborted mares and 15 maiden mares booked to 47 different stallions at 10 different stallion farms with 19 not having been officially booked yet. We always like to try to see who emerges as the up-and-coming have-to-have 2-year-old sires like Yaupon was last year and Tiz the Law the year before him. This year, when I was down in Ocala in January, the buzz stallion from many 2-year-old consignors was Drain the Clock, so we shall see what happens! Hope you have enjoyed reading about our farm as much as I have enjoyed writing these mating articles featured in the TDN every year. The post 2026 Mating Plans: Machmer Hall 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
Plenty – maybe too much – has been said already on the subject of Constitution Hill and whether or not he will run in the Champion Hurdle in a fortnight's time. While we all have our opinions, it is most important now to respect the decision either way of the horse's owner Michael Buckley and trainer Nicky Henderson. What has become patently clear from their interviews on Friday and over the weekend is how much they feel the weight of responsibility when it comes to doing what is right for Constitution Hill and for racing. Whatever happens this year, he has already provided racing fans with a proper feelgood moment just by appearing at Southwell last Friday evening, never mind the jaw-dropping manner in which he won. The prospect of his future participation in middle-distance and staying races on the Flat is something to relish and will add a real spark to the turf season ahead, at home in Britain and internationally. It has been a little disheartening lately to hear of the plans for disco tents [the very use of that phrase will tell you the vintage of this writer], speed dating and the like in a bid to attract young racegoers. There is no doubt that we want young people to come to the races, but wouldn't it be preferable for them to come to watch, enjoy and learn about the sport that takes place at racecourses, rather than being distracted by noisy sideshows? At what stage does the Invades movement become an invasion? If Friday night proved anything – apart from the fact that Constitution Hill can easily reinvent himself as a star of the Flat – then it is that this game is only ever really about the horse. What incredible scenes those were at Southwell, and, with respect, it wasn't for the opportunity to go on a blind date with Oisin Murphy. The people came, in numbers way beyond those usually seen at Southwell, to pay homage to a great horse, and Constitution Hill gave them a night they will not forget in a hurry. So, Epsom, let's hear a little less of the unappealing plan to have an 'Ibiza beach vibe' throughout the racing on Derby Day. Instead, how about focusing on your efforts on persuading Messrs Buckley and Henderson to run their great horse in the £1m Coolmore Coronation Cup? That's the way to encourage the masses to return to Epsom Downs on the first Saturday in June. Farewell to Reliable Man Last week came the news that the 2011 Prix du Jockey Club winner Reliable Man (Dalakhani) had been euthanised in New Zealand owing to complications following surgery to remove some melanomas. The 18-year-old stallion was understandably a source of great pride to his Swedish owner-breeders Sven and Carina Hanson. He initially won four of his 12 starts in Europe and Canada when trained in France by Alain de Royer Dupre, who had also masterminded the career of the Hansons' great homebred mare Pride (Peintre Celebre). To those victories, which included the the Jockey Club and the G2 Prix Niel, he later added a Group 1 strike down under in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick after being transferred to Chris Waller and racing for a partnership with included the Hansons under their Fair Salinia Ltd banner. That moniker drops a large clue as to Reliable Man's lineage. His granddam was Sven Hanson's dual Classic winner Fair Salinia (Petingo), who, in 1978, gave Sir Michael Stoute his first victory in the Oaks before also claiming the Irish Oaks in the stewards' room on the disqualification of first-past-the-post Sorbus. She later beat that same filly in the Yorkshire Oaks. The mare's seven winners at stud included the Group 3 winners Perfect Circle (Caerleon) and Perfect Vintage (Shirley Heights) as well as On Fair Stage (Sadler's Wells), a Listed winner over a mile who later became the dam of Reliable Man. Reliable Man at Gestut Rottgen | Emma Berry In fact, On Fair Stage was unintentionally an accomplished dual-purpose broodmare, with her son French Opera (Bering) enjoying a lengthy career with Nicky Henderson, for whom his 46 National Hunt starts included victory in the G2 Celebration Chase and G2 Game Spirit Chase. Another half-brother, I'm Imposing (Danehill Dancer), won Group 2 and 3 races in Sydney for Waller while Gale Force (Sinndar) was a Listed winner in France. There's no doubt that Reliable Man was the star of the brood, however, and he went on to stand in both Germany and France, as well as at Westbury Stud in New Zealand, where he died. One of 10 Group 1 winners for Dalakhani, Reliable Man remained a useful conduit for the dwindling Mill Reef-line, which has now slowed to a mere trickle following the death of Lord Of England in 2021 and the retirement of Sir Percy two years later. Lord Of England's Deutsches Derby-winning son Isfahan remains at Gestut Ohlerweiherhof and there is some hope that Prince Faisal will eventually stand his Group 2 winner Eydon, a son of his homebred Olden Times (Darshaan). It is fair to say that Reliable Man enjoyed greater success as a stallion in the southern hemisphere. Three of his four Group 1 winners came in Australia and New Zealand, but to his VRC Oaks winner Miami Bound and New Zealand Oaks winner Miss Sentimental, we can add the German Oaks winner Erle, who, appropriately raced in the colours of her breeder Gestut Rottgen, which was home to Reliable Man for six years. Heating up Amo Racing will be hoping for a big season for its burgeoning team and it was hard not to be impressed by the winning debut on Saturday for Sin City (Too Darn Hot) in the mile maiden at Lingfield. The Kevin Philippart de Foy-trained colt, who has an Irish 2,000 Guineas entry, was a 200,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 purchase from his breeder Rabbah Bloodstock, held off fellow debutant and Shadwell homebred El Nay (Palace Pier), the pair having pulled more than seven lengths clear of third-placed Ghaiyyath Deer (Ghaiyyath). It was a decent day for Too Darn Hot, who had earlier notched a fifth Group 1 winner when Tropicus won the Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield. Even better news is that the stallion's leading daughter, the five-time Group 1 winner Fallen Angel, remains in training at the age of five for Wathnan Racing. Benbatl poised to make his name With Dubawi a past champion sire in Britain and Ireland and his son Night Of Thunder the reigning champion, it will be interesting to keep an eye on the progress of another of Dubawi's sons, Benbatl, in Japan. Early signs are encouraging. Benbatl, who is out of the dual Group 1 winner Nahrain (Selkirk) and thus a half-brother to the 2024 1,000 Guineas winner Elmalka (Kingman), was no slouch himself. Fifth in the Derby won by Wings Of Eagles, he later won Group 1 contests in Dubai, Germany and Australia. By the time of his retirement at the age of seven, his ten stakes victories included five at Group 2 level. That hardiness combined with a top-drawer pedigree was doubtless a major part of his appeal to the Japanese market and off he went to Big Red Farm to start his stud career in 2022. Benbatl has not been overrun with mares to cover. His first crop of foals numbered 74, and he had 82 in 2023 and 67 the following year. His 13 individual winners from that first crop last season put him in fifth position in Japan's first-season sires' table, and this year has seen him pick up where he left off. On Saturday, his son Large Ensemble won the Listed Sumire Stakes at Hanshin, beating Aurum Ares (Harbinger), who had finished fourth in the G1 Hopeful Stakes in December. On the same card, the Benbatl filly Femme Courageuse built on a promising maiden win on the Japan Cup undercard in November by winning the Freesia Sho over 2,000m. Along with the Erica Sho winner Coronado Bridge, who is bred on the same Benbatl-Deep Impact cross as Femme Courageuse, the stallion is steadily compiling a a team of Classic hopefuls from his first crop. Watch this space. Gousserie Racing doubles up by the sea The yellow and green silks of the Chehboub family's Gousserie Racing dominated the two Listed contests at Cagnes-sur-Mer on Sunday. Old favourite Horizon Dore (Dabirsim), now six, followed up the victory of his three-year-old full-brother Safran Dore just 24 hours earlier at the same track, holding off his owners' other runner Tipinso (Pinatubo) for a one-two in the not-very-snappily titled Westminster – DP du Departement 06 – Defi du Galop 2026 – Georges Camprubi. Now, if you nodded off during the reading of that race name, let's have you back to tell you that the Chehboubs' stallion Stunning Spirit sired his first stakes winner in the three-year-old filly Baklawa, who sprang something of a surprise in the Prix de la Californie. Stunning Spirit's first stakes winner Baklawa | Scoop Dyga Her victory was doubtless a proud moment on a memorable day for Kamel and Pauline Chehboub as not only was Baklawa bred in the first wave of horses at Haras de Beaumont after they purchased the stud back in 2022 but her sire, dam Aksil, and broodmare sire Spirit One have all raced in those same family colours. The latter beat Archipenko to win the GI Arlington Million back in 2008, while Stunning Spirit, who has now moved to Haras du Mazet after three years at Beaumont, won the G3 Prix de Quincey. The post Seven Days: It’s All About The Horse 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
Awaiting Napoleon Solo in the the $425,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) Feb. 28 at Gulfstream Park will be three colts trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. in Bravaro, Bull by the Horns, and Solitude Dude; as well as some first-time graded stakes runners.View the full article
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