Chief Stipe

When representatives of The Jockey Club and the National HBPA both advised that a good point to begin regulating race horses may be when a Thoroughbred conducts its first recorded workout, the moment wasn't lost on at least one attendee. View the full article

A rematch with McKinzie may be off for Bolt d'Oro, but a showdown is still on for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby (G1) April 7, as Justify enters the fray. View the full article

The Gazelle is New York's final Road to the Kentucky Oaks qualifier, offering 100 points to the winner, 40 to the runner-up, 20 to third place and 10 to fourth for the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) May 4 at Churchill Downs. View the full article

Jeff Blea of the AAEP participated on a panel on the appropriateness of bisphosphonate use in race horses, especially in young horses, during the animal welfare forum April 4 at the ARCI conference on equine welfare and racing integrity. View the full article

Victoria-based Woodside Park Stud has announced their 2018 roster and fees, reported ANZ Bloodstock News early Thursday. Led by Written Tycoon (Aus) (Iglesia {Aus}) at A$110,000–he commanded A$88,000 in 2017–the roster is augmented by Written Tycoon’s son Rich Enuff (Aus) at A$12,100 and shuttler Cable Bay (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who will stand for A$13,200. The four-strong roster is rounded out by MG1SW Tosen Stardom (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who is still in training. His fee will be announced later. “Woodside’s 2018 stallion roster will have worldwide appeal to broodmare owners with bloodlines from international superstars and colonial speed, with proven champions and promising, exciting young stallions,” Woodside Park Stud Commercial General Manager James Price told ANZ. “Woodside Park Stud is proud to support and grow the Victorian breeding industry, and being passionately Victorian-owned, they believe Written Tycoon will continue to play a pivotal role in the success of the Victorian industry for the rest of his breeding career. The chestnut’s son Written By (Aus) saluted in the 2018 G1 Blue Diamond S., and was a strong fourth in the G1 Golden Slipper S. Written Tycoon has already sired champion juvenile colt and Golden Slipper hero Capitalist (Aus). “It’s highly likely that Written By will be awarded champion Australian 2-year-old colt,” he continued. “This will place Written Tycoon in elite company, joining Redoute’s Choice (Aus) as one of only two stallions to have sired two champion 2-year-old colts in Australia in the last 20 years. View the full article

Godolphin’s homebred Impending (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}–Mnemosyne {Aus}, by Encosta de Lago {Aus}), who won the G1 Stradbroke H. at Doomben during his 3-year-old year, will stand at Northwood Park in Victoria at season’s end, Darley Australia announced Thursday morning. Graduating at first asking at Rosehill, the bay scored his first group victory in the 1500m G2 Stan Fox S. after finishing third in the G1 Golden Rose S. over 1400 metres early in his sophomore season before improving to take the Stradbroke in the Southern Hemisphere fall. The James Cummings trainee currently sports a record of three wins in 14 starts and earnings of $1,288,639. He was last seen in action running third in the G1 Darley Classic at Flemington on Nov. 11. Out of champion and MG1SW Mnemosyne, Impending is a half-brother to Group 3 winner Forget (Aus) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), as well as GSP Memorial (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) and a full to SP Epidemic (Aus). His SW second dam My Juliet (Aus) (Canny Lad {Aus}) is a half-sister to Group 2 placed Perfect Crime (Aus) (Marauding {NZ}). “When you send a Group 1-winning mare like Mnemosyne to a champion racehorse and sire like Lonhro, you hope for a result like Impending,” said Darley’s Victoria General Manager Andy Makvi. “He’s a great athlete and a great physical specimen. If his progeny inherit his looks and his walk, yearling buyers are going to be all over them. It’s greatly in his favour that he’s the product of two colonial-bred, Danehill-free champions. And Lonhro’s dynasty is really on the move–Pierro (Aus) is showing the way, and there’s Exosphere (Aus) and Impending to follow.” Impending will stand for A$20,000. View the full article

A game of musical preps includes the entry of Gary and Mary West's homebred Restoring Hope in the Wood Memorial, sending the son of Giant's Causeway cross-country off a maiden win in a last-minute bid to gain points to run in the Kentucky Derby. View the full article

Undefeated Elarqam (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who won the G3 Tattersalls Somerville S. for Sheikh Hamdan and trainer Mark Johnston will head straight to the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 5 and will not have a prep race beforehand. “We will go straight to the Guineas with him and I am looking forward to it,” said former champion jockey Jim Crowley, who was aboard the 1.6-million gns purchase second up in the Somerville. “Hopefully Elarqam is something to look forward to this year. When you have got that pedigree and price tag there is always going to be a little bit of anticipation of the horse living up to the hype. He is a lovely horse and has got a great temperament. He did what I thought he would do at Newmarket last time out and the form has worked out nicely with winners coming out of it. I’ve hit the crossbar a couple of times in Classic races and now the aim is to win one, but they are never easy.” G2 Coventry S. winner Rajasinghe (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}) is also going directly to the first Classic of the season at Headquarters. The Rebel Racing colourbearer was unplaced in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf behind Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy), but trainer Richard Spencer feels his charge has wintered well. “The plan all along has been to go straight to the Guineas, with a view of giving him a racecourse gallop two weeks before,” said Spencer. “He has wintered well and looks as good, if not better, than last year. “We are going there with a personal view that I think he will stay the mile. He has obviously got that natural speed a miler needs. The plan is to start off in the Guineas with a view that we can stick to that trip or always bring him back.” View the full article

Hip 14, a California-bred son of Uncle Mo-Fresia (El Prado {Ire}) was knocked down to Terry Finley’s West Point Thoroughbreds for $600,000 to cause some early fireworks at Wednesday’s Barretts Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale at Del Mar. Bred by Bar C Racing Stables, the May 2 foal is out of a half-sister to MGSW His Race To Win (Stormy Atlantic) and was purchased by Quarter Pole Enterprises for $60,000 at last year’s Barretts Select Yearling Sale. The bay, who also hails from the female family of Sovereign Award-winning juvenile Hello Seattle (Chief Seattle), was consigned to the April Sale by Eddie Woods as agent. Hip 14 breezed a quarter-mile in :21 1/5 at Monday’s under-tack preview. View the full article

Historic Cambridge Stud in New Zealand begins a new era under the ownership of Brendan and Jo Lindsay, as of Wednesday. Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan developed the stud into a top-notch operation, standing leading stallions Sir Tristram (Ire) and his son Zabeel (NZ). More recently, young sire Tavistock (NZ) (Montjeu {Ire}) is beginning to make his mark. The change in ownership was announced in November. “Our decision to buy Cambridge Stud underlines our commitment to New Zealand and its Thoroughbred industry and our shared desire for the iconic brand to remain in New Zealand,” said Jo Lindsay. Added Brendan, “Cambridge will undergo a major refurbishment over the next three years, including the upgrade of the recently acquired, adjoining Thorpe property, to cater for our expanding stallion roster. We will continue to operate Cambridge as a premier stallion and broodmare operation, doing what the stud has done best for 40 years, while our Karaka farm will be integrated with the Stud, carrying mares and foals and continuing to support the racing operation.” Former Godolphin Australia Managing Director Henry Plumptre will serve as chief executive and Scott Calder will serve as head of sales and nominations. Angelique Bridson will be in charge of marketing. “We are all very excited to be part of something as special as Cambridge Stud,” said Plumptre. “It is a privilege to be involved with an industry icon and we look forward to creating something that complements the brand as it is now, but sets the tone for the next 50 years. The enthusiasm and energy shown by Brendan and Jo already is infectious and we are all looking forward to the next few years, with the challenges they will bring. Cambridge and the farm at Karaka carry wonderful staff and I am very confident that they will rise to the occasion.” The 2018 fees for the three-horse Cambridge roster of Tavistock, Burgundy (NZ) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) and Highly Recommended (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}, will be announced in the coming weeks. View the full article

Keeneland found itself under fire last year after raising takeout rates for its Fall meet. The company listened to its customers, however, and reversed most of the increases this February. With the track’s always-anticipated Spring Meet set to kick off Friday, TDN Associate Editor Joe Bianca talked to Keeneland Vice President of Racing and Sales Bob Elliston about that decision and what he’s looking forward to most this April at the historic Lexington oval. TDN: Obviously, the big news recently is Keeneland bringing some takeout rates back down after raising them in the fall. Can you take me through that decision-making process, from the original increase to the rollback? BE: Last year, when we made the decision [to raise takeout], we looked at where Keeneland’s blended takeout was and our relative pricing to other circuits in the country, and we were significantly below that. When we made the modifications, we were still in a similar range on blended takeout with the major markets we compete with. We were of the mind that the increased revenues, to put the money back into the sport, with physical improvements and fan development, we thought people would understand what we were doing. We heard a lot from our customers and the recurring theme was that blended takeout wasn’t necessarily the driver of wagering, it was takeout on specific pools. We actually did in fact grow our revenue streams, but we noticed that there were specific problems around the exacta, daily double and win/place/show pools. That was most of where the problems were and those pools made up almost 60% of our wagering. We talked to customers about, if we were able to go back to more competitive pricing for those pools, would they see that as more advantageous. So we specifically targeted exactas and win/place/show, which make up about 55% of our wagering. Those increases were the ones that really drove our customers nuts. TDN: Were you surprised at the level of backlash from the fall decision, referring to the horseplayers’ boycott in particular? BE: We weren’t surprised because we achieved the financial outcomes we thought we would. We forecasted a slight decline, but if you know us and know what we were doing with the additional resources, you felt better about it. There was no boycott on track and we saw a limited difference here. Customers pointed out a very valid point and that’s why we changed it. Looking just at blended takeout wasn’t the correct way to look at it. TDN: Keeneland is widely known in the industry as a forward-thinking, customer-friendly company. Considering that, how important was it for you to demonstrate that you were listening to your customers on this? BE: That’s absolutely the case, we do view ourselves as forward-thinking and a company that makes customer-centric decisions. Just in the last several months since Keeneland January, we’ve been going through listening sessions, sitting down with people from consignors to big buyers to sellers. We also had a focus group with 15 top handicappers and listened to them about other changes we can make, about possible changes in our wagering menu, guaranteed pools, etc. To have them respond the way they did after we made the [takeout decrease] was gratifying. TDN: Can you expand upon what you were looking to learn from the players you talked to? BE: Where they get their information to handicap from, their preferred vehicles [of data], how we can support that with additional elements, both on-track and on our broadcast, that go to the kind of things they were relying on. TDN: The Spring Meet is unique from the Fall Meet in that it isn’t sandwiched within your sales season and is more of a standalone racing event. Do you operate any differently in the spring being able to focus all of your energy and resources into racing? BE: Operationally, not really. Here at Keeneland, because this is a national meet, horses come from all over the country and it’s the same way with October. In the spring, we get some horses prepping for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks and it’s also great that our other stakes can support the Triple Crown cards. We have such a tremendous following as far as the quality of these races attracting interest. We have a national audience that’s both physically here and watching through simulcast. TDN: What would you say you’re looking forward to most during the upcoming meet? BE: It’s going to be tremendous. We had a record number of stall requests, which is a good indication of who wants to come race with you. We had very few stalls available on site and have some of the top outfits from all over the U.S. coming here. You look at the quality of the horses on the stall applications and we may have five or six Breeders’ Cup champions racing here in terms of how the stakes are shaping up. Our stakes coordinator has been loaded up with work getting all of that into the system because we’ve seen such tremendous enthusiasm. That coupled with the reaction from horseplayers from the takeout response that we had, all that suggests, if anyone can control the weather, we’ll have a dynamite meet. View the full article

Never mind if the curtain is dripping mud as it is raised on the European breeze-up season at Ascot today. Yes, conditions for yesterday’s under-tack show were grim for young horses– especially for those unfortunate enough to be among the last of 127 ploughing through increasingly churned turf, bowing their heads into a swirling curtain of rain. And yes, there will be horses with more obvious pedigrees and physiques available at subsequent sales. Nonetheless anyone prospecting the Tattersalls Ireland catalogue can legitimately cling to two positives. One is that an environment so lacking in neutrality may well compel buyers–ever more devoted to the stopwatch, in recent years–to go back to basics and think about the kind of things that first gave the breeze-ups a good name: action, demeanour, athleticism. Consignors are understandably worried that buyers may prove unnerved by that challenge, but the fact is that the rewards will be there for horsemen of the old school. After all, they won’t have to change the way they operate. One, returning to the stables, was asked whether he had seen the times yet. He laughed outright. “You may as well use a grandfather clock for some of them,” he said. So perhaps the wet spring, if also impacting Doncaster next week, will yield some salutary lessons to those who–for all their avowals to the contrary–rely first and foremost on all that expensive timing equipment. The other consolation should be that this sale, while unapologetically pitched to those with a relatively limited budget, produced the leading graduate of last year’s European breeze-up calendar in Sands Of Mali (Fr) (Panis). He may yet be overtaken by one or more contemporaries who are now on the Classic trail. But for now his G2 Gimcrack S. laurels represent the most prestigious achieved by the crop–and, as his buyer recalled yesterday, Sands Of Mali was actually the very first 2-year-old to breeze anywhere in Europe last year. “I sat in the stands with Peter Swann and his wife Karin, and after watching them all we agreed that the very first horse up there had been the best,” recalled Matt Coleman of StroudColeman Bloodstock. “That was just on the impression he made, not on times or anything. So we went down to look at him and found a big, strong horse who looked like he’d improve a lot, just an immature frame really.” “He had a wonderful action and we loved the way he went round the corner and disappeared off towards Swinley Bottom–the guy couldn’t stop him. He was quite green up the track, so he was actually just getting going. Micky Cleere, who rode him, had never sat on the horse before. And when we asked him he said, ‘I don’t know what that is, but it can go.'” Recalling the way he looked here last year, Coleman has high hopes that Sands Of Mali–who was consigned by Bansha House Stables and changed hands for £75,000–can resume his progress this year after failing to build on his York success in two subsequent starts. “I saw him at Richard Fahey’s the other day and he looks fantastic,” he enthused. “He has really strengthened up. He ran absolutely no race in the [G1] Middle Park . We had him scoped, blood-tested, everything; nothing turned up, it was just one of those inexplicable days. He seemed lackadaisical in the pre-parade ring and Paul Hanagan said that even going to the start he was not the same horse as in the Gimcrack.” “But he ran well at the Breeders’ Cup, just didn’t get the trip,” he said. “If you watch the video, he had them all on the stretch off the home bend but then the stamina ran out. We think he’s a sprinter, and that’s the road we’ll be going. He’ll probably run in the [G3] Prix Sigy next week and then we hope he can come back here for the [G1] Commonwealth Cup.” Coleman completed a good day’s work here last year by also buying Swann a filly for £64,000. “Chica La Habana (Ire) (Havana Gold {Ire}) was a very strong, ready-made breeze-up type,” he recalled. “She won the Hilary Needler Trophy at Beverley first time out. Unfortunately she got hurt at Royal Ascot, and was never the same afterwards. She was sold at Tattersalls in December and is now with Jim Cassidy in California. She hasn’t run out there yet, but she’s definitely talented.” Of course, this lot won’t all turn out as gifted as that pair. Again, however, that is part of the challenge for buyers after spending three hours in the stands yesterday, making notes with shivering fingers. If they want to be back here in June for the royal meeting, when you would like to think that the going might be rather different, then they must decide which horses should be indulged for struggling in the ground–and which might just be ordinary horses, whatever the conditions. For perhaps the principal anxiety for the whole sector, entering this new cycle, is the sheer volume of stock. No doubt the hundreds of extra horses in the system partly reflect the pinhooking successes that made so many headlines last year. But they will also include many who simply failed to find a home as yearlings, and were maybe handed over to a consignor in exchange for a stake. Given the symbiotic relationship between the yearling and breeze-up markets, it stands to reason that weaknesses below the top tier last autumn may be replicated this spring. Sooner or later, those contributing to overproduction must expect to pay a price. If that becomes noticeable through the medium of 2-year-old sales, however, then nobody should be blaming the format itself. After all, it continues reliably to produce progressive racehorses as well as precocious ones. Coleman feels that much of the extra traffic traces to more and more people being inspired to try and turn a profit on a yearling. “In our industry, whether you’re an agent or a jockey or a trainer, we’re all results-driven,” he said. “So with all these top-class horses coming out of the breeze-ups the last few years, people want to buy them. And whether they’re here or at home, clients do like being able to watch a horse gallop. There’s obviously plenty to be said for that.” He is especially committed to this auction, as UK representative of Tattersalls Ireland. As such, he can also point to other recent graduates such as MGSW Madam Dancealot (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) and, famously, The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), who won the G2 Coventry and G1 Prix Morny after being bought for just £50,000 by Sean Quinn. While Coleman conceded that the ground yesterday could not be ideal for many, he stressed that they would still be judged on other merits. “We all time the breezes but there’s more to buying a breeze-up horse than that,” he said. “Times dictate what the horses make but they don’t necessarily tell you the best horse. Sands Of Mali did a good time but he wasn’t the fastest. Certainly on this ground it’s more a case of assessing the horse, and having trust in the vendors and what they’ve seen at home. It’s not all about two furlongs on one day.” “I’ve been UK rep for a few years now and part of my job is to bring new buyers to the sales,” he added. “That was part of the reason I brought Peter and Karin here last year. It is for early-season horses. But results talk. People might think not it the poshest sale, compared to some of the others, but the best breeze-up horse you could have bought last year was here. The dream, of course, is to end up back here in two months. This sale has certainly found a niche–and it’s working.” View the full article

Finley'sluckycharm will look to remain unbeaten in Kentucky when she faces 12 challengers in the $300,000 Madison Stakes (G1) going seven furlongs at Keeneland. View the full article

Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, and Paul Weitman's grade 1 winner McKinzie will likely miss the 3-year-old classics series, trainer Bob Baffert said April 4. View the full article

Satono Aladdin (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}–Magic Storm, by Storm Cat), who won the G1 Yasuda Kinen last year for Satomi Horse Company and trainer Yasutoshi Ikee, will shuttle to Rich Hill Stud in New Zealand as part of a partnership between Shadai Stallion Station and the New Zealand nursery, the stud announced on Wednesday. Successful three times at group level, the Northern Farm-bred also won the G2 Mainichi Broadcast Swan S. and G2 Keio Hai Spring Cup amidst his eight wins in 29 starts. He retired to stand for ¥1,000,000 at Shadai Stallion Station this spring with $4,088,282 in earnings. “Satono Aladdin is a magnificent looking horse. He had a great turn of foot and his time of 1:31.5 for the 1600m [of the Yasuda Kinen] that day was amazing, just point-two of a second outside the race record,” Rich Hill Stud’s John Thompson said. “His pedigree is also top class. The Sunday Silence sire line, especially through his champion son Deep Impact, has become a very sought after international commodity, so Satono Aladdin is a major coup for the New Zealand breeding industry.” Purchased for ¥130,00,000 (US$1,219,705/£866,853/ €993,154/A$1,583,764) as a weanling by Hajime Satomi out of the JRHJUL sale, the bay is out of Grade II winner and GI Spinaway S. third Magic Storm (Storm Cat). Bred on the Deep Impact/Storm Cat cross that has also produced top-flight winners A Shin Hikari (Jpn), Kizuna (Jpn), Real Steel (Jpn) and Ayusan (Jpn), Satono Aladdin is a full-brother to G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup heroine Lachesis (Jpn), as well as MGSP Flawless Magic (Jpn). GISW Drill (Lawyer Ron) is out of a full-sister to Magic Storm, while Satono Aladdin’s third dam is SW & GSP Water Dance (Nijinsky II). This is the extended family of champion and dual U.S. Classic hero Little Current (Sea Bird {Fr}), as well as GISW Prayers’n Promises (Foolish Pleasure). Rich Hill Stud and Shadai earlier partnered with successful sire Pentire (GB) (Be My Guest), while the duo also bred 2015 G1 Melbourne Cup winner Prince of Penzance (NZ). Satono Aladdin is set to cover a restricted book and his fee will be announced later. View the full article

Earlier this year, Santa Anita Park quietly rolled out a new policy requiring any licensee wishing to remove their horse’s foal papers from the racing office to sign a waiver of responsibility and provide an explanation about why, where, for how long, and for what purpose the horse and its official registration documentation are leaving the grounds. This private data-collecting initiative began as a way for track officials to better keep tabs on the local racehorse population. But now that Santa Anita’s sign-out policy for foal paperwork is becoming more widely known, is being lauded within the aftercare community because it could eventually evolve into a best-practice way to track where racehorses go and exactly who is responsible for them upon any exit from a racetrack or licensed training center. Stacie Clark, an operations consultant for the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), told TDN in a phone interview that she envisions other North American racetracks will soon follow Santa Anita’s lead, and that racing jurisdictions might someday willingly share this sort of data with aftercare organizations so everyone can get a better handle on the scope and potential costs of caring for Thoroughbreds after their racing days are over. Clark also explained that this sort of cooperative data collection might eventually pave the way for a more comprehensive national traceability program similar to the one launched by Racing Australia four years ago to track racehorses from foaling through retirement. “This is great,” Clark said. “We talk about having accountability for first exit out of racing for our horses. And having a form that requires the connections to tell the track where their horses are going for the track’s own inventory reasons makes sense. But the bonus is learning where these horses are actually going. I think it expands awareness, and to have somebody have that ability is a step in the right direction to have all horses accounted for and to know who was the last point of contact. Maybe this will inspire other racetracks to also do this so that we can answer where horses are going once they leave the racing industry. Hopefully it’s to a new home, or a farm for retirement, breeding, or whatever, and not to a bad situation. “It’s working really well on an extensive basis in Australia, where everyone has to be accountable for all of the horses all of the time,” Clark continued. “This is just sort of a smaller version of that. This initiative is having a side effect that is really positive for accounting for our Thoroughbreds that are leaving the track. The spin-off will be toward better integrity.” Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer for The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns Santa Anita, confirmed via phone that this policy would soon be extended to all other TSG tracks (Golden Gate Fields, Gulfstream Park, Laurel Park, Pimlico Race Course and Portland Meadows). “It’s complementary to aftercare, which is great, because we can keep track of where the horses are going,” Ritvo explained. “But for us, honestly, it’s more of an inventory [control], so we know when a horse is out of the system and why and where it’s going. But if it can help with aftercare, then all the better.” Madeline Auerbach, a California Horse Racing Board commissioner who is also an owner/breeder, the founder of California Retirement Management Account (CARMA), and a member of the TAA board of directors, told TDN she found out about the policy firsthand several weeks ago when she retired GSW Majestic Heat (Unusual Heat) for breeding purposes and stopped by the Santa Anita racing office to retrieve the mare’s certificate. She was surprised to be asked to sign the tracking form because she had never been asked to do so in all her years in the racing industry. Auerbach said she got a full explanation from Santa Anita’s vice president of racing, Rick Hammerle, and immediately began spreading the word about the potential for aftercare cooperation that now exists. “I am so glad I went to get her papers, because this made me aware of the policy, and I can now make our board and other people aware of it too,” Auerbach said. “I hope that this catches on everywhere, because it’s a wonderful help without [aftercare organizations] spending a great deal of money to get the same information that should be available without us spending the money.” From the view of a regulator, Auerbach was emphatic that Santa Anita is well within its rights in asking for this sort of information. “These are things that I believe [a racing association] has a right to know, because [the stable area is] their property, and when you have a horse housed on their property…you are supposed to be a part of the show, part of the performance, part of the reason that they are able to generate income from that property,” Auerbach explained. “So they have a right to know what your intentions are with that horse, and they want to keep track of it.” Auerbach continued: “It’s a very legitimate concern. They have a right to ask, and I am thrilled to see it because one of the biggest problems we’ve had in aftercare is trying to identify the scope and the size of the problem. We’ve had no way really of finding out what happens to horses [that exit the racing population without explanation], and even though [TSG’s initiative] is not a thousand percent accurate, we will have a much better handle when all the tracks adopt this policy of just asking the question, ‘Hey, where’d your horse go?’ We just want to know.” Asked if she sees Santa Anita’s policy evolving into something like the Australian lifetime traceability model, Auerbach said, “I don’t know that we have to do it exactly the way that they do in Australia, but this would certainly tell us what we need. You can extrapolate the numbers after you’ve done this for awhile. If you have a year or two [of data] under your belt and you start to see the same percentages [as those of horses whose exits from racing were previously unknown], then you can bet that that’s the percentage that’s going to wind up in aftercare. And that will give us a much clearer picture of the scope of the problem, and that’s why it’s so important.” But will this sort of data be something that TSG is willing to share? “It could be,” Ritvo said. “I’m not sure that we would share it immediately, because right now we’re just concerned about where horses are going and why they’re leaving. But as we acquire more and more data as things go on,” it would be something TSG would consider, he added. Auerbach said she was confident that a sharing agreement could be worked out. “I don’t think TSG or any other legitimate track will have any problem or difficulty in sharing that information publicly,” Auerbach said. “I know it’s proprietary in that they ask for it and that they collect it, but there’s no reason that I can think of that would make it proprietary to the extent that they don’t want to share it, because it helps all of us. “Look, Santa Anita is a big partner for us with CARMA,” Auerbach continued. “They match the funds that the owners put in. They have a vested interest in what happens to these horses, just like the rest of us do. So they’re a partner, and I can’t see any of TSG tracks not allowing this information to be utilized by the people that are charged with taking care of horses in aftercare. I think they’ll be more than reasonable.” Clark hinted at similar traceability initiatives that the TAA has in the pipeline. “There are other things that the TAA is working about inventory that are really in the infant stages, but they’re very positive,” Clark said. “There’s a lot of noise going on within the industry about what is everybody doing and why isn’t everybody doing enough, but sometimes you just can’t talk about what you’re doing until you have the foundation laid down. The board of the TAA is very forward-thinking, and they’re investigating a lot of avenues. So in the future there will be more to talk about, but [the TSG’s tracking program] is going to be really helpful. “We’re all in this together,” Clark summed up. “I doesn’t matter what team we’re on. We’re not going to have a sport unless we all work together, and that includes having integrity and accountability and a plan.” View the full article

Del Mar’s “Ship and Win” program, which offers bonuses for out-of-state horses who run during the summer meet, will return in 2018 with increased incentives. In 2011 when the program was introduced, connections of qualifying horses were rewarded with a $1,000 check and 20% purse bonus for initial Del Mar starts. Those numbers jumped to $1,500 and 30% last year, and will be $2,000 and 30% in 2018. “This has been a wonderfully successful program for our horsemen, for Del Mar and for all of California racing,” said Del Mar’s racing secretary, David Jerkens. “We’re approaching 1,000 horses brought into the state utilizing ‘Ship and Win’ and they’ve made thousands of starts at all its major racetracks. When these horses come our way, we find they almost all stay in the state. We added to the bonus money again this year to make it even more lucrative to those willing to step up and we’re hoping to see another increase in new stock at our summer meeting.” Horses eligible for the program must have made their last starts outside out California and cannot have started in California within the last 12 months. First time starters are not eligible, and runners competing in stakes will receive the $2,000 starter fee, but no purse bonus. For questions about eligibility, contact Jerkens or Del Mar’s executive VP of racing Tom Robbins at (859) 792-4230. View the full article

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday’s Insights features a daughter of 2011 GI Mother Goose S. heroine Buster’s Ready (More Than Ready). 2.50 Saint-Cloud, Mdn, €25,000, unraced 3yo, f, 8fT Alain and Gerard Wertheimer introduce a pair of intriguing prospects in this firsters’ heat. HALLUCINATE (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is a daughter of 2011 GI Mother Goose S. heroine Buster’s Ready (More Than Ready) and represents Freddy Head. She is joined by Carlos Laffon-Parias trainee Zanibar (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), a full-sister to last term’s Listed Prix Coronation victress Enlighted (Ire), whose stakes-winning dam Flash Dance (Ire) (Zamindar) concluded her career with five Group 1 starts acting as chaperone for the storied Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa), posting a fourth in the 2011 G1 Prix d’Ispahan. View the full article

Six 3-year-olds have been entered–at a cost of £9,000 apiece–at the second entry stage in the £1.5-million 1 1/2-mile G1 Investec Derby on June 2, Epsom Downs Racecourse announced on Wednesday. Among the sextet is G3 Acomb S. hero and Tim Easterby-trained Wells Farhh Go (Ire) (Farhh {GB}) who represents S A Heley & Partner; the Al Shaqab Racing duo of impressive nine-length winner Rabdan (GB) (Frankel {GB}) for Andre Fabre and the winning Fajjaj (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}), for Hugo Palmer; fellow Palmer two-time scorer White Mocha (Lope de Vega {Ire}) for Dr. Ali Ridha; the once-raced Bedouin’s Story (GB) (Farhh {GB}), who is aiming to give Godolphin and trainer Saeed bin Suroor a first Derby victory; and the unraced Miles Christianus (Ire) (The Carbon Unit) for Thistle Bloodstock. The total entries for the Derby now sit at 135. “Some interesting colts have been added to the Investec Derby at the second entry stage, including Rabdan, who Unibet have introduced into their Investec Derby betting at 25-1, the joint-eighth favourite,” said Unibet’s Head of Racing Communications Ed Nicholson. “Andre Fabre’s Frankel colt impressed us recently at Saint-Cloud and it will be interesting to see where the master trainer goes with him next. That race was just a maiden, but Rabdan did it in great style and showed the mile and a half will not be an issue for him come the first weekend of June.” A horse can still secure a berth in the Investec Derby if they win the Listed Investec Blue Riband Trial over 10 furlongs at Epsom on Apr. 25. There is also a final entry stage, the five-day confirmation stage on Monday, May 28, where a horse can be supplemented for £85,000. View the full article

Fourteen finalists for the 2018 Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards were selected from 300 nominations, Godolphin announced on Wednesday. Of the 14, seven will be selected as winners and earn monetary prizes, at the official Stud and Stable Staff Awards Ceremony at Morphettville Racecourse on May 4. There will also be a Thoroughbred Excellence Award winner announced at the ceremony. Awards will be given in the following categories: leadership (Peter Keating and Jade Rossington), horsemanship (Warren Sutton and Scott Eeles), dedication to breeding (Angus McAlpine and Patrick Sheehan), dedication to racing (Joe Agresta and Steve Adams), administration (Michelle Nichols and Hannah Dick), Thoroughbred care and welfare (Lee Purchase and Liz Andriske), and newcomer (Jarom Rhind and Meg Stanley). “The GSSSA, now in its fourth year, is a fantastic initiative supported by Godolphin, Racing Australia and Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, and provides great encouragement for, and rewards the talent of, the participants in our vibrant racing and breeding industry,” said one of the judges, South Australia’s chief stipendiary steward Johan Petzer. “The judging panel continues to be impressed by the outstanding quality of the nominations. There is no doubt the quality of the nominees in 2018 is impressive, which makes the task of determining the winners a difficult one for the panel.” View the full article

Tickets for the second annual Equestricon convention will be available for purchase Apr. 18, it was announced Wednesday. Scheduled for Monday and Tuesday of Breeders’ Cup Festival Week leading up to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs in Louisville, the convention will feature racing personalities, horsemen, handicappers and fans. Tickets start as low as $10, and attendees will be offered an all-access pass to the entire two days of Equestricon for $65. A special VIP experience pass offers added access to a VIP party and concert for $360. Tickets and updated prices will be available for purchase on Equestricon.com Apr. 18. View the full article

Saturday’s G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen victor Hawkbill (Kitten’s Joy) is pointing toward a start in the G1 Champions and Chater Cup at Sha Tin on May 27, Godolphin announced on their website on Wednesday. The chestnut would become the first foreign-trained horse to contest the 2400-metre event, which began in 1870. “He’s come out of Saturday’s race in good order, and all going well, Hong Kong in May is on his radar,” said trainer Charlie Appleby. Hawkbill would be the second Hong Kong runner for Appleby, who is pointing ‘TDN Rising Star’ MGSW & MG1SP Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) at the fourth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize, also at Sha Tin, on Apr. 29. The latter was a gate scratch out of the G1 Al Quoz Sprint on Mar. 31, after veterinarians detected blood when the colt arrived at the start, but Godolphin’s Jungle Cat (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) won the race regardless. “He’s perfectly all right,” said Appleby of Blue Point. “Hopefully, he’ll get his chance to compensate in Hong Kong in few weeks.” View the full article

This is the second installment in a blog by Newmarket trainer Charlie Fellowes, who is entering his fifth season of training from St Gatien Cottage Stables. Well, the turf season is underway and my yard has got off to an encouraging start. Admittedly, owing to the frustrating nature of the turf season here in England, I have only had one runner on grass (Doncaster’s Lincoln meeting is followed by two weeks of all-weather racing), however that was an unlucky fifth in the Lincoln itself with a lovely older horse called Repercussion (GB). Elsewhere we had a second at the All-Weather Championship finals with the admirably consistent Carolinae (GB) in the fillies’ and mares’ race, however the result that will have caught most people’s eye, was the success of a filly called Snazzy (Ire). Now the subject matter for my second blog is all to do with the sales and what sort of horse we look for when trying to buy for clients. Well Snazzy is the perfect example of everything I wouldn’t normally go for, but that is exactly the reason we bought her. I will explain further. In my eyes, the best trainers are the guys that can train anything; sharp 2-year olds, stayers, milers, fillies, colts etc. I am now starting my fifth season with a licence and I am very aware that a lot of my best horses have been older horses that stay further than a mile. I therefore made the conscious decision to look for some sharper types at the sales last autumn, as I knew that I would probably be sent more backward types by my owner-breeders. Up step Snazzy. The earliest I have ever run a 2-year-old before last weekend was Guineas weekend in my first season as a trainer, however not only did Snazzy run in March, but she also won first time out. On pedigree she is born and bred to be out this early (by Kodiac (GB) out of a mare who heralds from a family full of speed), and as a neat well-developed filly, it meant that she was more than ready to make an early debut. Hopefully she will turn out to be good enough to head to Royal Ascot and raise the profile of our fledgling yard further. The problem with buying smaller, sharper types is that generally speaking, demand is higher, and with higher demand you generally get higher prices. I buy a lot of my horses on spec and therefore can’t afford to go overboard on the price front, so you have to give way on certain things. If you want to buy a horse who ticks the boxes both physically and on pedigree then you need to be ready to fork out plenty. I am not willing to give way on the physical aspects of a horse so I am happy enough to forgive a light pedigree. In my first year we bought Wet Sail, a Henrythenavigator colt out of a stakes-producing but very old mare. Henrythenavigator had gone a bit cold by this time and the mare hadn’t produced a decent foal for a few years but he was a lovely strong individual that I fell in love with. Endless Acres (Ire) was another very good example as he was by Champs Elysees (GB) out of a mare that had produced just two winners, but once again he was a lovely type with a great walk and plenty of scope. The mare was from a staying family (by Alzao) and therefore his late-maturing pedigree was unfashionable, making him more affordable. Both horses achieved official BHA ratings of 103 and 98, respectively, and cost less than £40,000. As a trainer, I am a creature of habit, and if we have success with something, I love to go back and revisit it. No, I am not talking about my appalling habit of wearing odd socks, so kindly pointed out by TDN‘s European editor Emma Berry on Twitter recently, but instead an affiliation with certain stallions. One who stands out in particular is Showcasing (GB), and although I am working on an extremely small sample, there is no doubt he has been a very lucky stallion for me. The first of his produce I was lucky enough to train was a gorgeous colt called Kasseopia (GB) who myself and Charlie Gordon Watson Bloodstock bought for £40,000 at the Craven Breeze-up Sale. His breeze was shockingly slow but he was a very good-looking horse and had only got going right at the end of his breeze, resulting in a slow time. Pretty quickly it became obvious he was smart and he duly won his third star by nine lengths at Kempton. Sold on to Team Valor, he sadly left my care after a second in a Grade III at Woodbine, but to this day he remains the most talented horse I have ever looked after. My first stakes winner, Moonlit Show (GB), was another Showcasing I was lucky enough to train for Peter O’Callaghan and the team at Yeomanstown Stud. She won a listed race at Fairyhouse impressively, before being retired at the end of her 2-year-old season, and was a huge landmark in my career as a trainer. We secured one Showcasing yearling at the sales last autumn and were he by a different stallion, I am sure I would not have been as brave, as I spent far more than I would normally be comfortable with. He is out of a mare called Moving Sea (Ire) who has not produced a winner from two foals but the pedigree does boast top-class sprinter Muharaar under the second dam. So far, this lovely colt is doing everything right at home and hopefully he will continue my lucky run with the stallion. View the full article

About a decade ago now, I remember dutifully playing the races one evening. I had Penn National and Mountaineer up on my two screens, looking to make a few dollars. In one of the early races at the Mountain there was an infraction the stewards were examining–an inside horse was drifting mercilessly, moving the outside challenger into about the six path. This decision was taking some time. Coincidentally, while this inquiry was going on, the exact same thing happened at Penn National. I, as I think a fairly seasoned bettor, saw little difference between the two situations. When the respective inquiry signs came down, at Penn the inside horse was left up. At Mountaineer, he was pitched. I imagined the thousands of bettors, owners, jockeys, trainers and fans who watched this, collectively finding their palms meeting their foreheads. This phenomenon doesn’t only occur in Thoroughbred racing, of course. For the trotters and pacers–with pylons, breaking stride, fair start poles as only a few examples–it’s a very regular occurrence. In one of the two sports, though, it appears change is on the horizon. In the summer of 2017 the winningest harness driver of all time–John Campbell–retired and took a new job as the head of the Hambletonian Society. Campbell believed that harness racing, despite rules that are enforced (or not enforced) state by state (and the countless factions in the sport all seemingly pushing and pulling in a hundred directions), could do better. He called for a review of the rules in the sport, with the hopes that they could be uniformly written and enforced. “We should have universal rules throughout harness racing. [It’s] difficult for the judges to rule consistently. This will benefit the gamblers betting on our game, as well as participants and judges. It will be better for all involved to get this accomplished,” noted Campbell at the time, as he took on the role as Chair of the effort. Now, I would not blame you for thinking this sounded good, but like most ideas that get bogged down due to the sports’ disparate structures, it would not get off the ground. That’s not what’s occurred. In fact, not only has this effort moved ahead, it’s growing. As Campbell and his committee, made up of trainers, drivers, horsepeople reps and various regulators, worked to standardize the U.S rulebook, standardbred racing north of the border decided to join the fight. This directive quickly moved to being North America wide. It’s in Canada where I was asked, as a horseplayer, to take part in these meetings. Going into them I was not overly confident; I’ve been to similar ones before as a horseplayer representative in both harness and Thoroughbred racing, and phrases about herding cats filled my head. But I must confess, I am more than pleasantly surprised. Despite there being a rule for virtually everything in the sport – when horses show up to race in Ohio and Ontario, how a post parade for the public is governed in Nova Scotia versus New York, how interference is adjudicated at Monticello compared to the Meadowlands–they are all being handled meticulously, professionally and with a real desire to come to workable solutions. To hear representatives from a half dozen provinces amalgamate a rulebook, rule by rule, is pretty impressive. I think it’s worked this well because, like in Thoroughbred racing, everyone in the sport agrees that bettors and participants playing a game of jurisdictional, state by state roulette is something that should be a thing of the past. It perfectly exemplifies the proverb, “where there’s a will there’s a way.” After the initial rules are written, modified and amalgamated, there’s still hard work to do and it could take many months; something John Campbell cautioned about very early on when he set no timelines. But I’m pretty confident this will happen. As a part of a volunteer horseplayer organization, quite a bit crosses our desks. We’ve looked into decisions by stewards–decisions that involve hundreds of thousands of dollars of customers’ money–that seemed to have little rhyme or reason; we’ve examined the first-time gelding reporting rules and processes, which are, at best, nebulous. We’ve been asked to explain what a whip rule is at track A versus track C; what a late surface change does to a bettor’s pick 5 in Texas versus what happened to them last week in California. That list barely scratches the surface. These are all very tough questions to answer, and they’ve at times caused more than one hair to be pulled out in frustration. But maybe one day they will be questions that aren’t so impossible. Harness racing is proving that these seemingly impenetrable cross-jurisdictional walls can at the very least be navigated. That’s a heck of a good start. Dean Towers is a board member of the Horseplayers Association of North America and has presented on wagering topics at various gambling conferences across North America. View the full article

There are no certainties in the bloodstock business, but one thing breeders can set their clocks by is that each year, Newgate Farm will be in the hunt for Australia’s most desirable stallion prospects. Given Newgate’s constant presence at the very top of the game, whether that be breeding, racing, selling or standing Group 1 horses, it is scarcely believable that the nursery has been in existence for just seven years. The farm has enjoyed success with its foundation stallion, Foxwedge (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), the sire of two Group 1 winners from his first crop and, in addition to two sires currently with their first 2-year-olds, Newgate has no fewer than nine unproven stallions coming up through the ranks. The next to get their chance on the track will be Deep Field (Aus) (Northern Meteor {Aus}), Dissident (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}) and Wandjina (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), who have their first yearlings this year. Deep Field is a speedy, Group 2-winning son of Northern Meteor (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}). Northern Meteor died after siring just four crops but is shaping into an influential sire, his Zoustar (Aus) currently leading the first-season sire ranks. Deep Field is the first foal out of the A$3.2-million mare Listen Here (Aus) (Elusive Quality), the second being the G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Shooting To Win (Aus) (Northern Meteor {Aus}). With four major yearling sales in the book so far, Deep Field has averaged A$141,542. Dissident, Australian Horse of the Year and a five-time Group 1 winner from seven furlongs to a mile, has averaged A$145,701. Dissident beat Wandjina in his final start, the 2015 G1 All Aged S., but Wandjina had already secured his spot at stud with a win in the G1 Australian Guineas. His yearlings have averaged A$104,783. It certainly takes some strategising to ensure the careers of so many young horses get off to a fast start, and Newgate Managing Director Henry Field said some key elements include Newgate supporting the stallions themselves as well as syndicating them among the country’s top breeders. “We’ve worked really hard to build what we think is the most desirable roster of young stallions in Australia,” he said. “A big part of the growth of Newgate has been the mentoring from and the partnerships we have with SF Bloodstock and also Matthew Sandblom.” “First of all, we only stand stallions that we’re willing to support ourselves,” Field said. “We breed 30 or 40 of our own mares to each of our horses for their first two seasons. We only stand horses that we believe the market will really get behind, and we also syndicate the majority of our horses, so many of the leading farms around the Hunter Valley are shareholders. We really got aggressive with syndication five or six years ago and I think that’s led other studs such as Coolmore and a lot of the other major farms in the Hunter Valley to follow suit.” Field said syndication experienced a dip in popularity when global powerhouses Coolmore and Darley became major players in the market-they own most of their stallions outright-but he said he thinks the increase in competition provided by Newgate has seen some of the major farms pick this model back up as a means to attract breeders’ best mares. “We’re a big believer that great breeders make great stallions, so we work hard to bring our horses into partnership with really top-class breeders,” he said. “So many of our shareholders support our stallions so well, and now we’ve seen Coolmore syndicating the likes of Merchant Navy; I certainly think we’re a part of the reason they’ve done that, and a lot of the other major farms in the Hunter Valley too. Syndication is back to being the norm again, and I think it’s a great thing for broodmare owners because it gives them the opportunity to be part of the upside in a stallion.” Newgate has also supported its stallions by buying some of their progeny as yearlings, but Field stressed they would only buy colts fitting the strict criteria they look for in future stallions. “We buy 10 or 15 colts a year, and that’s more for our program of buying yearlings to produce our next stallions, and it’s been a very successful operation for us with the likes of Capitalist and Russian Revolution,” he said. “So far this year we’ve bought yearlings by all three of our first-crop stallions that we deemed good enough to go into our colts’ program, and they’ll go to Peter and Paul Snowden.” “The reality is that we support the stallions very heavily with high-class mares and we set them up to get a wonderful opportunity,” he added. “We wouldn’t expect or ask breeders to breed to stallions that we wouldn’t support ourselves. There are a quite a few commercial stallion farms in Australia that have stood stallions and not supported them at all in the last five, 10, 15 years. We are very strong in our policy that if we’re not going to support them heavily, we shouldn’t expect breeders to do so. The whole way through the circle from breeding good mares to them, inspecting all their weanlings and yearlings, working as hard as we can to make sure they go into good stables, we work really hard at it. I think a huge part of the success of Newgate is people know that we don’t just cover your mare and take your money. We believe in the whole process. I’m pretty sure we covered more mares than any other farm in Australia last year and I believe that’s for two reasons: the product–we have many of the most exciting young stallions and stallion prospects in Australia–and secondly because we service our customers and treat them like partners, not just the old take the money and run approach.” A quick glance at the Newgate roster confirms that Field and his team are fond of the speed horses for which Australia has become renowned. Ten of the 13 horses on the roster did their best running at distances below a mile, and Field said it behooves him to play to the breed’s strengths. “We’re big believers in Australian speed,” he said. “There’s a reason why over the last 10 years the sire tables have been dominated by Australian stallions. If you look back at the top 10 Australian stallions over the last decade, there’s very seldom a shuttle horse in the group. Every now and again there’s a Street Cry, or a Danehill or More Than Ready that comes up, but absolutely the vast, vast majority of top-class stallions in Australia are fast, Australian colonial horses. I would recommend that people actually look through the sire tables themselves and see how clear this pattern is.” The speed-focused nature of Australian breeding and racing is a constant topic of discussion, especially as the country’s longer-distance races continue to be dominated by European or New Zealand-sourced horses, but Field said he is not concerned by this trend. “I’m very proud of the fact that, I believe, Australia breeds the fastest horses in the world, the best sprinters in the world, the best 2-year-olds in the world,” he said. “That’s what we really shine at and I’m a big believer in playing to your strengths. We’ve seen people bring out the mile, 2000-metre [shuttle stallions], and for the most part they’ve failed one after the next. When you stand the fastest Australian stallions, you’re standing the fastest horses probably in the world given the fact that I believe our product, speed horses, are better than anywhere in the world.” Foxwedge shuttled to Whitsbury Manor Stud in England for four seasons and sired a pair of listed winners as well as the Group 1-placed Urban Fox (GB), and Field said that given the overall record of Australian shuttlers in Europe, he wouldn’t be afraid to try another of his stallions there. “If you look at shuttle stallions over the last 15 years, the Australian horse has definitely been far more successful in Europe than the European horse in Australia,” he said. “The likes of Fastnet Rock, Exceed and Excel and Choisir. That’s from a very small sample size, and I believe the reason for that is because you can’t teach speed; you can only inherit it. It’s such a heritable thing and we’re injecting a supreme level of speed into European broodmares, and I think it’s fascinating to think that the strike rate of fast, Australian horses succeeding in Europe far outweighs the European horses working in Australia from a shuttle perspective.” In addition to Darley and Coolmore-owned young sires, unproven horses like Spill The Beans (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), Divine Prophet (Aus) (Choisir {Aus}) and Scissor Kick (Aus) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) are being tried in Europe, but field said he would prefer to take the approach of shuttling a proven sire. “I see a lot of opportunity and upside in that,” he said. “Certainly we have some really exciting young stallions, for example Dissident, Deep Field and Wandjina all have yearlings we like very much. One of those horses, if they were champion first-season Australian sire, we’d certainly be very open-minded to shuttle one of them to Europe. But we’d rather them prove themselves in Australia first as a rule, and if they do that they can demand a better service fee in Europe and it would allow us the opportunity to buy mares and support them in Europe as well. It would be far more commercially viable.” It often seems that time flies as quickly as the Australian sprinter, and as such breeders will soon be getting a look at the next batch of Newgate-sired foals at the Australian breeding stock sales. Its first-crop foal sires are Horse of the Year Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}), who breaks the Newgate mold slightly by being a four-time Group 1 winner over 2000 and 2400 metres; and the super speedy Super One (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}), a Group 3 winner over 5 1/2 furlongs. Super One has one catalogued for the Chairman’s Sale – Elite Breeding Prospects and six for the Inglis Australian Broodmare and Weanling Sale. With their first foals due in 2018 is Newgate’s largest intake of sires yet: G1 Golden Slipper winner Capitalist (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}), who covered the largest book in Australia last year with 229 mares; G1 Blue Diamond S. winner Extreme Choice (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) (118 covered); G1 Coolmore Stud S. winner Flying Artie (Aus) (Artie Schiller) (185 covered) and the two-time group-winning sprinter Winning Rupert (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}) (147 covered). Already back at Newgate and preparing to begin his stud career this year after collecting a pair of 5 1/2-furlong Group 1s is Russian Revolution (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), a A$320,000 yearling purchase by China Horse Club. Field said interest in the 4-year-old has been strong. “Russian Revolution has settled in really well,” he said. “I can’t remember ever having a stallion that’s had more mares apply. I suppose given he’s by far the fastest son of Snitzel ever to go to stud, and the fact he comes from that wonderful Encosta de Lago/Flying Spur pedigree, I suppose it’s not something we should be surprised by.” View the full article