Wandering Eyes

The Lothenbach Stables of the late Robert Lothenbach will completely disperse its breeding stock, yearlings, and horses of racing age with Fasig-Tipton over the next three weeks. All breeding stock and yearlings will be sold at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale, to be held Feb. 5 and 6 in Lexington. The 65 entries of breeding stock and yearlings at the Winter sale will be spread among two consignors: Vinery Sales and Taylor Made Sales Agency. The majority of these entries will be offered in the sale's supplement, but the main catalogue also contains entries that had been previously catalogued prior to the estate's decision to completely disperse. Included among the breeding stock offerings are Grade I winner Bell's the One (Majesticperfection) (hip 476) and graded stakes winner She Can't Sing (Bernardini) (hip 485). Mares in foal to Authentic, Blame, Bolt d'Oro, Candy Ride (Arg), Charlatan, Into Mischief, Jackie's Warrior, Maclean's Music, Omaha Beach, Uncle Mo, and Yaupon are also on offer. The Kentucky Winter Mixed offerings also include 22 yearlings, by such sires as American Pharoah, Candy Ride, City of Light, Essential Quality, Ghostzapper, Gun Runner, Into Mischief, Maxfield, Medaglia d'Oro, Omaha Beach, Practical Joke, Twirling Candy, and War Front. “Mr. Lothenbach's breeding program was old-time–pedigrees he had developed as part of an operation that was 100% breed to race,” commented Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “His families have never been offered on the public market and his yearlings have been raised with one goal–to be racehorses.” Prior to the Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale, the complete dispersal of Lothenbach Stable's horses of racing age will be conducted on Fasig-Tipton Digital, the company's online platform. The approximately 90 Horses of Racing Age, which consist of 3-years-old or older, will be consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency. Bidding for the Lothenbach Dispersal of Horses of Racing Age on Fasig-Tipton Digital will open Monday, Jan. 29 and will close on Friday, Feb. 2. The catalogue will be made available for previewing prior to the start of the digital sale. A prominent Minnesota owner and breeder for more than 30 years, Lothenbach passed away in November of 2023. Since 2000 alone, Lothenbach color bearers have won more than 800 races and earned more than $30 million on the racetrack, according to Equibase. His stable ranked in the top 10 nationally in 2020 and 2022. “Mr. Lothenbach's passing is an immense loss to Thoroughbred racing, as he loved and participated in all aspects of our sport as an owner and breeder, while also highly active at auctions,” said Browning. “We are honored that his family has chosen Fasig-Tipton for the dispersal of the majority of his Thoroughbred holdings.” The post Fasig-Tipton to Conduct Lothenbach Dispersal at Winter Mixed, Digital Sales appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Anticipation continues to build toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby (G1) and fans will have their third of six early betting opportunities Jan. 19-21 for Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager. The three-day pool features 40 betting options.View the full article

Due to harsh winter weather affecting portions of the United States, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, Mahoning Valley Race Course and Parx Racing canceled racing Jan. 17.View the full article

There are few more recognisable figures on the breeding circuit than David Stack. The ever-enthusiastic stallion master at Coolagown Stud has a five-strong roster to look forward to in 2024 and confidence has never been higher in the County Cork camp. That is in no small part due to the emergence of Storm Heart (Fr), who made a blisteringly-hot start to his hurdling career for Willie Mullins, and more importantly, is by Coolagown's emerging force that is Storm The Stars. Stack revealed that over 100 mares have been booked into Storm The Stars on the strength of Storm Heart's scintillating debut. The high-class son of Sea The Stars (Ire) stands alongside fellow unexposed dual-purpose sires Kenway (Fr) and Way To Paris (GB) to go with Shantaram (GB) and Zambezi Sun (GB). In this week's Q&A with Brian Sheerin, Stack speaks about polarisation in the National Hunt game, why he feels he has assembled his strongest roster yet, how difficult it is to run a sustainable business model as an independent stud and more. How was footfall at the Irish Stallion Trail and did you do much business over the weekend? Everyone is looking for value and, with the way the horses are priced with me, they are not going to break breeders' pockets. Kenway, Storm The Stars and Way To Paris are €2,000 for a colt and €1,000 for a filly. Storm The Stars will go up, hopefully, if Storm Heart (Fr) wins the Triumph Hurdle but he won't go too high. He actually has a huge book of mares to cover this year and was very popular on the Stallion Trail. But, a lot of the talk over the weekend was about people getting value for their money. Say for example, the lads who are breeding a mare with an average pedigree, they are only going to be getting €5,000 to €10,000 for a foal out of that mare at the sales. There's no point spending €5,000 on a nomination on a mare like that. Breeders have to distinguish that not all mares are going to get you the €30,000 or €40,000 for a National Hunt foal so they are going to have to cut their cloth to measure. And especially over the past few years in particular, you could say that the waters have been even tricker to navigate as a National Hunt breeder. They have. Way To Paris is a good example. The first year we stood him was in 2020 when Covid just kicked off so we couldn't get people in to see him in the flesh. I'd say my phone number has been blocked on a number of breeders' phones because I had no other option but to harass people about using him. I bombarded people on What's App and that resulted in us covering about 120 mares with him. When the first foals arrived, I did the same thing again, kept pushing it out and sending the photos around to make sure they knew who Way To Paris was and, more importantly, where he was standing. He seems to have earned a reputation now as a stallion that can get breeders a good foal and a decent return from. The market has become very choosey. It's all about fashion. Is choosey a Cork term for polarisation? There's a few others I could use but I better not! To get a nice stallion, it's just become very hard. I am lucky I have good friends in this game and they help me out a lot but there are two things I can't skimp on when recruiting a stallion. That's soundness and a good walk. If they are not good wind and limb, I won't be going to see them and then it's very important that they have the walk as well. Any other pieces with stallions for me, you can forgive, but not those. In fairness to Kenway, Mathieu Alex and the Chehboub family were easy people to deal with. Richard Venn does most of my work and he knows exactly the type of horse I look for. Any time Richard has come on to me, he's usually right. He came to me with Storm The Stars and, you know, when Richard comes to you with one, you have a proper chance. But yes, it has become very fashion orientated and it's tougher now more so than ever. I'd imagine that Storm The Stars's status has soared since Storm Heart shot towards the head of the Triumph Hurdle market after his impressive debut win for Willie Mullins at Punchestown. How much of a difference can one horse make in a stallion's popularity? Over 100 mares have been booked into Storm The Stars since New Year's Day. That's purely down to Storm Heart. They've finally seen the light! But that shows you what one horse can do. It can be quite reactionary at times but it was hard not to be impressed by Storm Heart's performance and, in many ways, Willie Mullins is the stallion-making trainer. That's interesting you say that because, while Galiway is a top-class stallion in his own right, you could also say that you are banking on Willie Mullins to a certain degree with Kenway given how well he has done with Gala Marceau (Fr), Vauban (Fr) and more of the former's progeny over jumps. Absolutely. I'll be honest, that's the main reason I went for Kenway. I saw how well that Willie was doing with the progeny of Galiway and felt that Kenway had the right credentials to make it as a good National Hunt stallion. When you look at it, there's Gala Marceau, Vauban, Jimmy Du Seuil (Fr) and a couple more for Willie and then Gary Moore's horse, Royal Way (Fr), hosed up over hurdles the other day as well. He had been second to the Triumph Hurdle favourite [Sir Gino (Fr) (It's Gino {Ger})] the time before that so he's a pretty serious horse in his own right. The Galiways are tough and consistent horses and that's why I decided to give Kenway a chance. We're going to go down the dual-purpose route and market him as a proper dual-purpose horse. We have set up a syndicate comprising myself and Haras de Beaumont and we bought a good few half-sisters to Group 1 and Grade 1 horses on the Flat and National Hunt. We've bought half-sisters to Harry Angel (Ire), Dashel Drasher (GB), Mojo Star (Ire), Rich Tapestry (Ire) and more. They'll all visit him this year. And am I right in saying that you are planning on playing the long game with the progeny of Way To Paris, Kenway and Storm The Stars by putting some in training over the coming years? We will be trying to do that, mainly with Ger Lyons. I've always found him the easiest to deal with. I can hear you laughing at that comment but it's true! You have Johnny Murtagh, Michael Halford and a few others there as well. We have clients who have horses with these trainers so they would be a natural choice for us. In an ideal world, whatever the horses do as two-year-olds, they will step up to a mile or further, show a bit of form, and then rock up to a horses-in-training sale and get sold on to one of the bigger National Hunt operators. If we could blood a few Triumph Hurdle types, that would be great. The market for those types of horses bought out of training is quite strong so it's just another avenue worth exploring. I'm not stupid, I know that the Flat game is very tough, so I'm under no illusions. I'm very good friends with Joe Foley and, what the likes of Joe has to go through to make a Flat stallion successful, it's very tough. The new stallions on the Flat, they have one or two years at a maximum to prove their worth. It's crazy. In my business, the stallions have that bit longer. As it says on the website, Coolagown Stud is the culmination of over 30 years of hard work. You mentioned that things have never been tougher for the independent studs. How sustainable is it going forward in 2024 for the smaller operations? The doom and gloom of the game comes with the rise in costs. The price of feed, straw, hay, staff and everything else has gone up. You have to be optimistic about the future but the reality is that things are very tough. You can't skimp on feed, otherwise you don't have a product. This is not a game to half-arse things because then nobody will want to buy off you. The breeders are in the same boat. We get people through our gate because they know they're getting value for money. I know you say 30 years of hard work to get to where we are now but we are still trying to get it right. You have to keep trying. Breeders are going to be watching their pockets this year more so than ever and we think we can offer value. Well, there you go. They can't all go to Blue Bresil (Fr) or Walk In The Park (Ire). We'd all love a Blue Bresil or Walk In The Park but, unfortunately, both horses cover about 200 mares and are the most sought after National Hunt stallions in the country. With that comes a pecking order. To be fair to the Cashmans, they took a chance on Blue Bresil. I've always been a fan of the stallion-he gets you a stunning individual and he gets you a racehorse. It's great to see him doing so well. But you clearly feel you offer a value alternative for the man whose mare may not be in that top percentile of what the Walk In The Parks or Blue Bresils of this world will cover? If you're paying me €2,000 for a colt and €1,000 for a filly and then you go to the sale and get €8,000 for your foal, that's good business. You're in profit from your nomination. We're akin to the small friendly neighborhood corner shop. My roster is stronger this year than ever. We've five stallions here; Storm The Stars has a number of potentially classy horses to run for him while Way To Paris and Kenway have interesting profiles and are going well as well. This game is unrivaled when things go well. For me, it provides you with a buzz that drugs would never compare to. Don't get me wrong, it's a difficult business. But as I said earlier, I'm confident that if breeders cut their cloth to measure in 2024, they can make money. We've carved out a niche as being easy to deal with and easy to pay. I don't send out a bill until July of the following year so I'm not knocking on your front door. My bank manager might want me to do it-and definitely my wife does-but I don't. I try to work with people and there's always a middle ground with me. The post David Stack Q&A: ‘Breeders Are Looking For Value Now More So Than Ever’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. 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Scott Little has been appointed vice president of racing services at Equibase. Little, who has served as the company's director of track services since 2021, will directly oversee setup, operation, and maintenance of the E-GPS technology systems being utilized at 28 racetracks and coordinate chart-calling staff at more than 125 tracks across the country. A graduate of the Racetrack Industry Program at the University of Arizona, Little served as a product manager for AmTote prior to joining Equibase. Before transitioning to horse racing, Little spent his career in the hospitality and customer service industry, managing four-star resorts and serving as a vice president of a leading hospitality software company. “In a short amount of time, Scott has proven to be an invaluable asset in leading our data collection efforts, both in working with racetracks and our team,” said Kelley Kraeszig, Equibase's senior vice president for business operations and administration. “His strong background with technology and skills in project management will serve him well in this expanded role.” Equibase Company is a partnership between The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and serves as the Thoroughbred industry's official database. The post Little Named VP of Racing Services at Equibase appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The third pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager will open Friday with 40 betting options led by individual favorite Fierceness (City of Light), who is 8-1 on the morning line, and “All Other 3-Year-Olds” from the 2021 foal crop not listed in the field as the 7-5 overall betting choice. The three-day pool closes Sunday at 6 p.m. There are six Future Wager pools scheduled in advance of the 2024 Kentucky Derby: Oct. 31-Nov.2 (Pool 1); Nov. 23-26 (Pool 2); Jan. 19-21 (Pool 3); Feb. 16-18 (Pool 4); Mar. 15-17 (Pool 5); and Apr. 4-6 (Pool 6). The lone Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will coincide with Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 5. For the complete pool and wagering information, click here. The post Derby Future Wager Pool Opens Friday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Grade I winners Roadster (Quality Road–Ghost Dancing, by Silver Ghost) and Colonel Liam (Liam's Map–Amazement, by Bernardini), both standing at Ocala Stud, were represented by their first foals earlier this month. Yooou Den (Kiss the Kid) produced Roadster's first foal, a filly, Jan. 8. Dominique Damico bred the filly, whose dam was a 12-time winner and an earner of $185,340. Colonel Liam, a two-time winner of the GI Pegasus Turf Invitational S., was represented by his first foal when a filly out of the winning Jess's Dream mare More Glory was born Jan. 12. The filly was bred by Peter Mirabelli. Roadster, winner of the 2019 GI Santa Anita Derby and second in that year's GI Malibu S., bred 153 mares in his first season at stud in 2023. He stands for $7,500 S&N. In addition to his 2021 and 2022 wins in the Pegasus Turf, Colonel Liam also won the 2021 GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic. He bred 138 mares in his first season at stud in 2023 and he stands for $6,500 S&N. The post Roadster, Colonel Liam Sire First Foals appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Adam Houghton has joined the TDN's burgeoning team in Europe in the role of associate editor. Based in Yorkshire, Houghton has spent the last eight years working for Timeform and Sporting Life. He was shortlisted for the HWPA Racing Writer of the Year award in 2022. The TDN's senior vice president Gary King said, “We are delighted to welcome Adam to the TDN's European team. The wealth of experience and knowledge he gained working for Timeform/ Sporting Life will only enhance our editorial coverage. Adam's appointment is also a testament to our focus on TDN Europe, and to build on the significant increase in readership we have had there in recent years.” Houghton joins the TDN Europe team of Emma Berry, Alayna Cullen Birkett and Sean Cronin in the UK, Brian Sheerin in Ireland, Tom Frary in France, and Heather Anderson and Gary King in America. The line-up was further bolstered last year by the appointment of multiple award-winning sports journalist and author Paul Hayward as a regular columnist. The team is also supported by the top-class editorial and advertising departments of TDN America. Houghton said, “I am delighted to have joined TDN and hope I can prove a worthy addition to a team I've long admired from afar. Their collective voice provides what I consider to be the definitive view on all things bloodstock, from the sales grounds to the stallion yards, plus everything in between. “I've spent the last eight years working for Timeform – and latterly with Sporting Life as well – and the part of the job I've always enjoyed the most is getting out and meeting people in the industry, telling their stories and those of the horses who have put them on the map. “In my opinion this is where TDN's coverage on a global scale is unparalleled and that is just one of the reasons why the opportunity to join the team was so exciting to me. I can't wait to get started and hope to become a familiar face at the sales, studs and yards in the coming months and years.” European editor Emma Berry added, “Since the launch of our dedicated European publication in 2015, we have endeavoured to broaden our reach across Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and beyond, and it has been hugely encouraging to see the readership figures soar. “We are all looking forward to working with Adam. To have a journalist of his quality on the team will be of huge benefit as we continue to deliver unrivalled bloodstock coverage 363 days of the year.” The post Adam Houghton Appointed Associate Editor of TDN Europe appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Aloha West (Hard Spun–Island Bound, by Speightstown) was represented by his first foal when Bashful (Orb) produced a colt by the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Monday at Machmer Hall Farm. “The baby has great bone, size, and substance,” said Machmer Hall owner Craig Brogden. “Very happy with the beautiful baby.” In addition to the 2021 Breeders' Cup Sprint, Aloha West also finished second in that year's GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. and third in the 2022 GI Churchill Downs S. Aloha West stands at Mill Ridge Farm for $8,500 LF. “As a side note, this foal was born on my grandmother, Alice Chandler's birthday,” said Mill Ridge's Price Bell. “Also, Oscar Performance's first foal was born on her birthday, January 15, 2020…serendipitous!” The post First Foal for Aloha West appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The first foal of multiple champion stayer and seven-time Group 1 winner Stradivarius (Ire) was born at the National Stud on Monday. The chestnut filly was bred by Wretham Stud and is a daughter of the former Sir Michael Stoute trainee Give Me Breath (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}). “She is a lovely first foal for Stradivarius and looks to have his strength and athleticism at this early stage which bodes well for future arrivals,” said Joe Bradley, head of bloodstock for the National Stud. “We have two more mares due in the next week so it is a very exciting time for everyone on the farm.” He added, “Stradivarius's book for 2024 is looking very strong and breeders are really taken with him. His physique, temperament and of course his walk which I'm sure will be replicated in his progeny.” Stradivarius's owner-breeder Bjorn Nielsen said, “I'm astonished at how much this first foal is like 'The Strad' in both her colouring and movement, being chestnut with a big white blaze.” The Stradivarius breeders' bonuses originally offered in 2023 will continue for breeders of members of his second crop. The breeders of the first ten two-year-old winners will receive a £25,000 bonus, Group 2 and 3 winners in Britain, Ireland and France will earn a bonus of £100,000, while there is £250,000 for the breeder of a Group 1 winner. The post First Foal for Stradivarius Arrives at the National Stud appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Common Defense (Karakontie {Jpn}), the first foal born at Sarah and Leo Dooley's Norevale Farm, provided the couple with an emotional trip to the winner's circle when he broke free of the pack late and powered home a maiden winner at Oaklawn Park last Saturday. “We have a four-month old daughter and I woke her up from her nap with all of the screaming,” admitted Sarah Dooley. “We were so excited. He was the first foal born on the farm, we bred him, it was our first year foaling, we broke him, and we still own a good piece of him. He was in our silks on a Saturday at Oaklawn and he went off as the favorite. It was all surreal. And then he wins. It was unbelievable.” The Dooleys began leasing the 110-acre farm on Hume Bedford Pike near Paris on Sept. 1 of 2020. Five months later, they partnered with Sarah's father, Tony Holmes, and brother Michael to purchase the mare Allusion (Street Cry {Ire}), carrying the Karakontie colt, for $25,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January sale. Out of Alchemist (A.P. Indy), the now 13-year-old mare is a full-sister to multiple Grade I placed And Why Not, who produced multiple graded winner Fearless (Ghostzapper) and multiple graded placed Just Whistle (Pioneerof the Nile). Allusion is also a half-sister to graded winner Far From Over (Blame). Common Defense's third dam is Grade I winner Aldiza (Storm Cat). “It's a very good family,” Leo Dooley said of the mare's appeal in 2021. “There is a lot of page. I guess we kind of hoped that somewhere along the line, she would throw a good runner and hopefully this is him.” Common Defense didn't attract a lot of interest when offered at the 2021 Keeneland November sale and was led out unsold at $9,000. “He had some X-ray issues that pinhookers and the bigger buyers probably wouldn't have been very appreciative of,” Leo Dooley said of the buy-back. “But it was never, ever going to hurt him as a racehorse.” Despite their faith in the youngster, the couple admitted they weren't terribly keen on keeping him to race. “I can honestly say I didn't want to go the racing route,” Leo Dooley said. “We were dragged along, but we are pretty happy about it now.” Sarah Dooley added, “We have to give all the credit to my dad for that. That was all dad. He wanted to race him. And here we are. We are happy he dragged us along for that ride now.” Common Defense showed promise in his first racetrack appearance, finishing second in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight at Oaklawn Dec. 17. That effort earned the colt an additional partner when David Bernsen joined the ownership line. “[Trainer] Kenny [McPeek] put him in touch with us,” Sarah Dooley said of Bernsen. “He thought we would all be a good fit. And so far, so good.” Sent off the 8-5 favorite making his second start Saturday, Common Defense bobbled at the break, was jostled into the first turn and mired in traffic on the far turn, but once clear in the stretch produced a powerful late kick to draw away to a 3 1/2-length victory (video). “We were hopeful,” Leo Dooley said of expectations heading into the colt's second start. “We were definitely hopeful because he ran such a good race first time out. We were really hoping he would improve off of that and he did.” As for where Common Defense might start next, Leo Dooley said, “It's up to Kenny to decide. We trust whatever Kenny wants to do. We are along for the ride.” Allusion is still a part of the Norevale broodmare band. The mare's Not This Time colt RNA'd for $260,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November sale two months ago. The Dooleys have high expectations for the colt, who they plan to offer at the Keeneland September sale later this year. “We are really excited about him,” Leo Dooley said of the short yearling. “He is one of the standouts on the farm.” Sarah Dooley added, “When we send foals to a foal sale, we are always happy to protect them if we like them enough. We primarily sell yearlings, but if we like the foal, if he's a really good individual, we will go to a foal sale and we are always happy to protect them and bring them home if we need to.” Allusion is currently in foal to Epicenter. The Norevale broodmare band currently numbers some 20 head and the operation has expanded beyond its original base. “We still have that main farm and we lease another place across the street as well,” Sarah Dooley said. “And now we also lease my parents old farm right around the corner on Russell Cave.” Asked if their success Saturday at Oaklawn makes them want to get more involved in the racing side of the business, Leo Dooley said with a laugh, “Yes. It makes getting up in this cold weather and going to the farm a lot easier. But we are probably never going to get this lucky again for a while.” For her part, Sarah Dooley said, “There are so many things that were special about it. He was the first foal born on our farm, we are owners/breeders, we are in partnership with my family, he was in our silks. People always say it's the dream. It's why we started this farm, to breed winners, breed good horses, and you read about people saying it and you hear people saying it and it's nice to finally say that ourselves. “Hopefully he can go on and be a nice horse, but even just the win, in our colors, it's a step in the right direction for sure and we are just going to keep trying to build on that. I don't know if we are going to be in the racehorse game now, but we are happy to take it when it comes.” The post Common Defense Delivers ‘Unbelievable’ First for Norevale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Mahoning Valley canceled live racing for Jan. 16-17 but its simulcast theater is open. Parx Racing canceled training and live racing for Jan. 15-17.View the full article

By Dave Di Somma Harness News Desk Megan Swain was more than a little chuffed when driving home from the Ashburton races yesterday. She’d just seen Aldebaran Floss dominate the Rosebank Life Care Mobile Trot, leading from start to finish for Sam Ottley. “I was a bit worried when she kicked clear at the 600 but I was stoked alright,” Swain says. Aldebaran Floss flew the gate from a wide draw (9) and pressed on to the lead, and never really looked like getting beaten. She paid $12.70 and $3.50. Before yesterday Alderbaran Floss’ last win was nearly three years ago in the Group 2 New Zealand Trotting Oaks at Addington in March 2021 for trainer Murray Alfeld. She had six more starts for him in 2021 before before being sidelined for nearly two years. Swain took over the training “for a change of scenery” and Alderaban Floss debuted for her with a ninth in the Group 3 Fillies and Mares’ Stakes at Oamaru behind Resolve in September 2023. “She has had all sorts of niggles – she had a bone chip taken out and some wear and tear – she had a lot of time out,” says Swain. “On her day she’s a smart trotter but getting her 100 per cent sound has not been an easy task.” And that’s what made yesterday so special. “It was rewarding, that’s for sure.” “And to have a good friend in Sam Ottley driving was great too.” As for the future? “She’ll stick to the mobiles and head to Addington next week.” “She is also in foal (to Majestic Son) and we get the two week scan on Saturday.” View the full article

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has established a Next Generation Advisory Group, which will provide feedback to HISA's executive team and standing committees on the implementation and evolution of HISA's regulations and protocols. Made up of individuals in the early to mid-stages of their professional careers, the Advisory Group is open to new applicants, who can apply to join prior to the Feb. 9 deadline. “Establishing a Next Generation Advisory Group was an easy decision for HISA,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “We are safeguarding racing for generations to come by focusing on implementing rules and regulations to make racing safer and fairer for all involved. We welcome the feedback and perspectives of this Next Generation Advisory Group who will surely act as excellent advocates for preserving the sport's future.” The Next Generation Advisory Group will be co-chaired by Mackenzie Kirker-Head, HISA Communications and Design Manager, and Brandon Badgett, Director of Strategy at Jahnel Group. HISA Assistant General Counsel Sam Reinhardt will act as Secretary, and Alexa Ravit, Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) Director of Communications & Outreach, will act as HIWU Liaison. HISA will select a diverse group of 10-12 individuals who bring a wide range of experience in horse racing, related industries and innovation to join the Advisory Group. Aadditional information about HISA's Next Generation Advisory Group should be submitted to Mackenzie Kirker-Head at Mackenzie.KirkerHead@hisaus.org. The post HISA Launches Next Generation Advisory Group appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Sinnerman (Fr) (Territories {Ire}) (lot 3), a 4-year-old out of Passing By (GB) (Raven's Pass), sold for €18,000 to Damien de Watrigant during the Auctav January Sale on Tuesday. The chestnut is a half-brother to listed winner Sissy Chanel (Tapizar), who was also group placed. Second dam Miss Anabaa (GB) (Anabaa) won the G3 Ballyogan S. A son of Anodin (Ire), Qantiem (Fr) (lot 1) made €11,000 to the same buyer earlier in the sale. The mixed sale also featured shares in a pair of trotting sires, with a share in Gu d'Heripre (Fr) (lot 5) making €41,000 to Ecurie Luck; while Olivier Deboudaud spent €40,000 on a share in Ideal Du Pommeau (Fr) (lot 6). The post Sinnerman Popular At Auctav January Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

I retired in 2019 as the most prolific bugler in horse racing history with over 60,000 performances of “First Call” at a record-setting 51 racetracks in 23 states and Canada. My herald trumpet, which I used at NYRA for most of my time there, has been on display at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame for the past three years. Of this, I am very proud. But this is not the subject of my email. The subject is betting on horses, and I had some success in this endeavor. In fact, after my Pick Six score at Aqueduct in January of 1992, I maintained a flat-bet profit of $60,000 for 29 years. The CAWS and past-posting and the drug problem caused me to blow all of that in just three years. I played a few more years and then abruptly quit betting horses (forever!) last September. After sending about $1.5 million dollars through the windows, my net loss over 37 years amounts to $35 a week. Less than the price of a ball game at Fenway Park. The point of this email, however, is the aftermath of disqualifications. I can recall how angry this game made me and certainly other horse players when our horses were disqualified. We put in a lot of time and effort handicapping, and when we are right, we expect to get paid. And then we don't. This is the only sport where if your team wins you still might not get paid. That's not an attractive thing to market to newbies. “Hey, your horse may win, but you might not get paid.” This never happens in poker. But chopped pots happen all the time and it keeps the game moving. Why do I mention “chopped pots”? Because this is the idea, I have to help horse racing stay alive. If your horse wins, but the horse is disqualified for any reason, you still get paid-but like a dead heat. You chop the pot with the horse that got moved up. Everything. WPS, all exactas and other exotics. Chop the pot. BUT ONLY FOR THE BETTORS. The connections of the DQd horse are still penalized the same way they are now. They lose the purse, and the purse gets redistributed to the connections of the horse who was moved up via DQ. But the bettors still get paid. Maybe it's an idea already floated by others, but I hope that this idea might be helpful to the game that sustained me for 32 years. There's not a lot I can do to give back, so maybe this idea will catch on and suffice. The post Letter to the Editor – The Aftermath of Disqualifications appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Two high-level stakes competitors, Saudi Crown and Smile Happy, return to action Jan. 20 in the $175,000 Louisiana Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. The 1 1/16-mile dirt race attracted seven competitors.View the full article

The TDN picks the brain of bloodstock agent Sean Grassick on his highs and lows of 2023 and what he's looking forward to this year. Proudest moment of 2023? Catherine Of Siena (Ire) (U S Navy Flag), who we bought for £13,000 as a yearling, earning black-type. What is your biggest ambition for the New Year? More winners and happy clients. Give us one horse to follow and why? Bladon (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}). He ran eye-catchingly for Atomic Racing and Kevin Coleman in a Killarney over a mile and was sold to Joseph O'Brien and OTI Racing after that. He looks like a nice prospect for connections this year. And a young person in the industry to keep an eye on… Liam Cunningham. Who do you think will be champion first-season sire this year? Earthlight (Ire). And the best value stallion in Europe? Golden Horn (GB). What's the one horse you wish you'd bought in 2023? I mostly buy yearlings so I'll tell you this time next year! I was underbidder to Anthony Bromley on a Tasleet (GB) filly out of Rapid Recruit (Ire) at Doncaster and she is one I may wish I had bought come Royal Ascot. Biggest regret? There are always horses where you will be underbidder which go on to do well but I'm not one to have regrets–hindsight is a great thing! Biggest influence on your career? Demi O'Byrne. I wouldn't be doing what I am today if it wasn't for his guidance and the knowledge I have gained from him and continue to do so. If you could sit down for dinner with three people (dead or alive) who would they be and why? John Magnier, Vincent O'Brien and Robert Sangster. Their knowledge and business acumen on every facet of the industry would make for fascinating listening. The post In The Hot Seat: Sean Grassick appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Stick or twist? That's the question faced by many breeders this year. Anecdotally, it appears that some will be pulling back and not covering certain mares, which is understandable after a tricky sales season, not to mention the constant reminders from racecourse managers regarding the “significant headwinds” faced by racing. Unlike America, the foal crop in Britain and Ireland has been gently on the rise in recent years, up to 13,438 in 2023, compared to 12,778 in 2020, though within that combined number for last year, the Irish crop rose by 4% to 9,082 while the British number was down by 4% at 4,356. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues this year. Those behind the stallions will be all too aware of the dilemma faced by some of their clients. In Monday's TDN, Coolmore's Mark Byrne said, “Now more so than ever breeders will need to steady the ship and use the good stallions that they can afford.” As we discussed in Part II of this series, which looked at stallions under the £/€10,000 mark, for those attempting to breed commercially and second-guess which way the winds of fashion and favour will blow, it truly is a game of chance. As we go up another tier in price, we will try to offer some perspective on both up-and-coming and established stallions which could offer value. This will not include any of the stallions standing their first season this year who were dealt with in Part I of the series. Proven sires While for many breeders the Juddmonte high-flyers of Frankel (GB) and Kingman (GB) are out of reach, it is hard to look past two stalwarts of the roster in this division. Bated Breath (GB) had a quieter year in 2023 by his own standards but he has the offspring of his strongest crop on paper to run for him this year and he's a stallion we will surely be hearing plenty more from. Having spent a couple of years at £15,000, he is back down to £10,000 and when considering his yearling average in 2023, of £48,300 for 60 sold, this does look a very workable price for a horse who generally gets good-looking sprinter-milers. Then there is his fellow resident Oasis Dream (GB), who has been a friend to the British breeding industry for 20 years now and last year had a yearling average of just over £55,000. Yes, he's 24, but at his lowest fee of £15,000 (his career high having been £85,000 ten years ago) he's a decent choice to get a young mare off to a good start. We all know what Oasis Dream can do: his best horses among his 18 Group/Grade 1 winners include his champion two-year-old son Native Trail (GB), who has recently retired to Kildangan Stud, the brilliant Midday (GB) and top sprinter Muhaarar (GB). Oasis Dream is versatile as a sire and increasingly influential as a broodmare sire – from brilliant juvenile sprinter Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) to talented stayer Quickthorn (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}). And that brings us to Nathaniel, who some now seem to consider a National Hunt sire but that's sheer madness. With a Derby winner and an Oaks winner already in his portfolio, Nathaniel added another two Group 1 winners to his list last year in the Champion Fillies and Mares S. winner Poptronic (GB) and the aforementioned Quickthorn. Both of these horses raced for their breeders, and I guess Nathaniel has a proper owner-breeder profile, but look at how the Blunts and the Blyths have been rewarded for their patience: Poptronic was sold for 1.4 million gns after her Champions' Day success, having also racked up racecourse earnings of £459,815, and Quickthorn has earnings knocking on the door of £800,000. Nathaniel's fee has gone up again a little this year. After spending three years at £15,000, he is now back at £17,500, but he's still worth it. Golden Horn (GB) is another with a National Hunt label around his neck since his move to Overbury Stud but again, if you're an owner-breeder with a bit of patience, he really should not be forgotten. Admittedly, it remains a disappointment that from his early expensive books he has still not produced a Group 1 winner. That is surely coming, but it didn't happen soon enough to stop his fee dropping from £60,000 t0 £10,000 (having been at £8,000 last year when he covered 162 mares). Sure, plenty of breeders have had their fingers burnt, but he is now at a price which is workable. He had nine stakes winners in 2023, including three Group 2 winners, putting him ahead of some fairly big names, and he certainly should not yet be considered solely a jumps sire. On the rise Territories (Ire) is quietly compiling a decent record and is one who could easily be overlooked in the rush for the new stallions. He shouldn't be. Haydock Sprint Cup winner Regional (GB) became his second Group 1 winner last year after the Prix de l'Opera heroine Rougir (Fr), and he was represented by another seven stakes winners in Australia, Britain, Italy and Germany last year. His fee has been pretty consistent: £12,000 for his first four years and £10,000 for the next four. Territories is not necessarily flashy but, from the family of Shamardal and Street Cry, he has a solid feel to him. There's a lot of love for Kodi Bear (Ire), particularly in our house, because he is from the family of Roy Rocket (Fr). But that pointless fact aside, he made a decent start with his first crop which included the Group 2 winner Go Bears Go (Ire) and Oaks runner up Mystery Angel (Ire). He needs to build on that, but he has some bigger and more expensive crops on the way through following his early success. This season's two-year-olds were conceived from his lowest fee of €6,000. He's been at €15,000 for the last two seasons and remains at that figure in 2024. Crucially, the market seems to retain faith in his stock. Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) caught a few people by surprise with the early results of his first two-year-olds, his 18 winners including the G2 Vintage S. winner Haatem (Ire) and giving him a 36% winners to runners strike-rate. His fee for 2024 has been reduced by a third from his opening price of €15,000, and €10,000 seems a reasonable level for this good-moving Classic winner. Heading into the second season In France, Sealiway (Fr) was the busiest new stallion of 2023 and, a good juvenile himself, it would be no surprise to see him make a reasonably fast start with his runners. That won't be until 2026, but considering the leap his own increasingly popular sire Galiway (GB) has made, from €3,000 to €30,000, Sealiway's fee of €12,000 may look reasonable in years to come, and he has certainly been lent some support to get his career off to a decent start. For his personalised breeder bonus scheme alone, which returns for his second year at stud, it is worth taking a chance on Stradivarius (Ire), who covered 120 mares in his first year and remains at £10,000. He's unlikely to get you the Brocklesby winner but if he sires horses in a similar mould to himself, there could be plenty of fun and rewards to be had down the line. TDN Value Podium Bronze: Gleneagles (Ire), Coolmore, €17,500 From a top-drawer family, Gleneagles had weighty expectations on his shoulders from the start. While he may not have quite lived up to that level, and his fee has come down accordingly, he has steadily proved himself to be more than useful and was represented by nine group winners last year, while his daughter One Look (Ire) was the easy winner of the Goffs Million on debut, having been picked up for €65,000 as a yearling. In the last two years another three of his daughters have sold for in excess of 500,000gns at the December Mares Sale. Silver: Ardad (Ire), Overbury Stud, £12,500 Ardad could have a big year in store. From being the leading first-season sire in Britain in 2021, when his son Perfect Power (Ire) won the G2 Norfolk S., G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S., his numbers dropped off keenly to just 18 foals in his third crop, but the success of his first runners meant that his book soared to three figures, and he has 101 two-year-olds in 2024, with 144 yearlings to follow those. From a lowest fee of £4,000 in 2021, he has since then stood at £12,500, which keeps him in a commercial bracket, with a yearling average last year of almost seven times his fee. Gold: Study Of Man (Ire), Lanwades, £12,500 One of the best-bred stallions in Europe, this son of Deep Impact (Jpn) made a really promising start with his first two-year-olds last year and is another who could be set for a big season. His most obvious Classic prospect from his nine winners at a trike-rate of 35% is Deepone (Ire), winner of the G2 Beresford S., a race whose previous winners include Sea The Stars (Ire), Saxon Warrior (Jpn), and Luxembourg (Ire). But there are others who could well step up on impressive performances last season, including the French-trained Birthe (Ire) and Newmarket winner Sons And Lovers (GB). One would expect his stock to be progressive and there's a number of well-bred youngsters yet to make an appearance, not least a half-brother to the Derby winner Desert Crown (GB). Breeder's perspective: Tom Whelan, Church View Stables Gold: Kodi Bear (Ire) Silver: Supremacy (Ire) Bronze: Space Blues (Ire) Breeder and pinhooker Tom Whelan says, “I've had great luck with Kodi Bear so I'd have to put him forward as being the best-value stallion in this bracket. He gets great-looking horses and they all have a great attitude and lovely size for a son of Kodiac (GB). He's just very hard to knock. I'm a huge fan. “I have been very taken by some of the progeny of Supremacy. He looks to have a real chance. Another one who had his first foals last year was Space Blues and, while I might be a bit biased here because I got decent money for one, I'd be happy to use him going forward. I better give a mention to two others, Phoenix Of Span and Lucky Vega, as they are producing the goods at this level as well.” The post Value Sires Part III: 10,000 to 20,000 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Multiple Group 1-winning sprinter Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) will resume training on Feb. 1, trainer John Quinn announced on Tuesday. “Highfield Princess is going to stay in training this year and I'm delighted,” Quinn said. “She retained her enthusiasm all year and keeps doing it. She won another Group 1, was placed in three Group 1s and won a Group 2, so it's not as if she had one outstanding run and four or five runs below par. “She had one disappointing run in the Curragh when she slipped, apart from that she was second in the Duke of York, placed twice at Royal Ascot, fantastic at Glorious Goodwood, second in the Nunthorpe and put up a tremendous performance in the Abbaye. “She ran creditably in Hong Kong from a wide draw and the owners have decided they'd like to race her again this year, which is great.” The 7-year-old and four-time Group 1 winner took the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye in her penultimate start last October in the colours of Trainers House Enterprises, Ltd., and ran a better-than-it-looked sixth in the G1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin in December. Quinn said, “She's having a break now and will be back in (training) on Feb. 1. I think she'll kick off in the Duke of York again. It might be cold and snowy this morning, but it will soon come round, and then we'll aim for Royal Ascot.” The post Highfield Princess To Resume Training Next Month appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

2-year-old male Glengarry earns double honors from the Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners Association for his accomplishments in 2023, including ITBOA Horse of the Year.View the full article

West Omaha and Sistina Chapel—2-3 in the Dec. 23 Untapable Stakes—do not have to deal with the filly that defeated them in that race, Alpine Princess, lead the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes Jan. 20 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.View the full article

His friend Spider Duignan knew that the stakes were high. When the horse coasted past the wire in the GII Saratoga Special, Duignan turned and said, “You needed that bad, didn't you?” Deuce Greathouse was candid in his reply. “It was not an option,” he said, “for that not to happen.” Raised the way he was, Greathouse knows that there are never any guarantees with horses. Since taking his cue that day, indeed, Rhyme Schemes (Ghostzapper) has himself demonstrated as much by coming up with an ankle issue shortly before the GI Hopeful S. There will be no Derby trail for him, then, though he appears highly eligible to pick up the Triple Crown pieces as a fresh horse in the summer. And at least he did what was required, that crucial day at Saratoga. “It did not cross my mind,” he says of the idea that Rhyme Schemes might not follow up his stunning maiden success at Ellis Park. “I would not allow myself to imagine how bad a spot I was going to be in, if that horse didn't win the Saratoga Special. Because that's just the way we play, that's the way we're in the game.” Rhyme Schemes is a flagship for Pura Vida, a partnership Greathouse has put together over the past three years or so. As we'll hear, it's definitely a program tailored to the modern marketplace. At the same time, however, it adapts a precious legacy–and not just the horsemanship inherited by the whole clan, long associated with Glencrest Farm. Greathouse remembers Rusty Arnold saying that his father David, lost at just 63 in 2013, was the only person who still “did everything.” He raced horses, gambled, bred and consigned, sold shares and seasons. In other words, it was action all the way; and it was all about the action. “A lot of the older guys have told me that I'm kind of the last of a dying breed, as far as the real gambling side of the racing,” Greathouse remarks. “Now a lot of my good friends are pinhookers, and they've got their farms and everything. But you don't really see the guys that just live gambling, just buying and trading horses like we used to.” And that's why he suspected that there might be a niche for something like Pura Vida. Too many partnerships, he felt, were too woolly and discouraging in their aspirations. He wanted players who would tease out the odds: hedge here, roll the dice there, try to offset the investment as they went along. “It's like all these people that are getting in are basically being told, 'Hey, you got to love the game so much that you're willing to burn $50,000, or whatever,'” Greathouse says. “And I just thought that was B.S. I mean, most of us that make a living in the horse business never start racing partnerships. You'll see a good guy try it once in a while, buy a few with a couple of buddies. They either have luck or they don't. But I grew up with gamblers. I mean, real gamblers. And a lot of the horses that we did well with, and sold, it was like I said: not doing well was not an option. Because if they didn't pan out, I was gone.” That approach is bound to bring the odd bump in the road, but it also meant that Greathouse could fire up his resume with early involvement in names as illustrious as Tepin (Bernstein) and Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil). In a way it was picking out the latter, when she failed to sell at Keeneland September, that satisfied Greathouse that he could and should make something like Pura Vida happen. “I knew that the reserve was $20,000,” he explains. “So I stood next to WinStar and made sure nobody was going to bid that, let them haw and hem, and tried to get her for $15,000. But they wouldn't, so I took the $20,000. I was just trying to be cheap! But I was not going to leave without the filly. And when she broke her maiden, we sold [a majority share] based on $600,000.” As a GI Kentucky Oaks winner, of course, she would bring $5 million at Fasig-Tipton on her retirement and Greathouse had, by then, long sold his remaining stake. “But I'd do it again,” he insists. “I'd do it five times in a row. I had to, to make a living. And listen, I was proud to have done so. Of course, it would have been cool, to have still owned a piece of an Oaks winner. But when someone asked whether that was a little bittersweet, I could truthfully say no. What it did do, was make me decide that I needed to raise more money, and do this properly, if I wanted my partners to be able to keep pieces of their great horses. “And that's what it's all about. You sell. I'm always going to sell, to prove to those guys we can keep it going. But now I can sell a minority piece instead. When I was doing it myself, I always had to lose any control. You make your money, but then you might have to watch horses railroaded by the wrong people, in how they handle them.” Shedaresthedevil was trained to break her maiden by Norm Casse, who also handles Rhyme Schemes as Pura Vida's principal trainer. (Also on the roster are Mike Maker and Bruce Levine.) Greathouse and Casse got to know each other in the slipstream of Tepin, trained by Casse's father Mark. When Casse went solo, Greathouse promised him support–albeit he now questions quite how helpful he was being. “I think Norm had 20 horses in training, and 10 were mine,” he says. “But I was trying to survive, and he had to deal with horses that I tended to have only because they didn't sell. They usually had some vet things, and you knew they'd be limited before they ever got going. So it was a tough job for him, starting out. “I had tried to buy way too cheap: most were 10 to 20 grand. And that really helped change my opinion on exactly how to do it. You still have to be very sharp about what you pay, but you don't want to force yourself to buy at too low a level. It can work, but it's not going to work every year. And, to keep going, this needed to come up with a good horse every year.” They now seem to be managing just that. Bankrolled initially by Brett Setzer, Cindy Hutson and Greathouse, with some back-up from Tom Romano and Alan Usher, the budget was upgraded to around $370,000 on seven horses. In the buyer's market of the pandemic year, Greathouse “was really just looking for nice fillies in the back ring and letting it all kind of fall together.” Ontheonesandtwos (Jimmy Creed) was one of those, sent to Casse as a $37,000 Keeneland September yearling. “She was out of a Malibu Moon mare that could run some but didn't have a lot of page,” Greathouse recalls. “After she broke her maiden, we sold a third for $200,000. We had another filly that ran second at Saratoga on debut. We'd paid $42,000 for her, and sold a quarter for $75,000. So they kind of got it going, showed people what could be done if somebody's picking them out that knows what they're doing.” To secure which advantage, partners in Pura Vida commit to leaving decision-making to its founder. “It's for their own protection,” Greathouse explains. “I still talk to everybody, see what they're thinking, and try to make decisions–when I can–based on what the group wants. But it protects them from me making a mistake, and letting somebody into the partnership that proves a real pain in the ass! I grew it very slow on purpose, because I knew the group really enjoyed each other. Obviously that helps you strengthen and build. If I tried to build too quick, let a bunch of people in, it could ruin the whole culture.” Greathouse and his father had always been amazed by the presumption of successful people who enter this arcane and challenging environment expecting to nail it overnight. “My dad always used to laugh about these guys,” Greathouse says. “They come in and they have a plan. And they know nothing. Men and women who made a fortune doing other things on sound business principles, they get into this, they get in front of the lights and throw everything out the window. And then a few years down the road they're bitching about bills, and wanting to blame you!” Both funding and discipline were in place, then, by the time Greathouse came across a Ghostzapper colt in the Paramount Sales consignment at last year's Keeneland September Sale. “I believe he was the very end of Book 2,” he recalls. “That's kind of where my price range started in that sale: everything I bought came between there and Book 3. This time round, it took until the very end of Book 3 to buy one or two, and then we bought everything in Book 4! So you just have to deal with what the market gives you. “Anyway he's a gorgeous horse. In all my years, pinhooking and everything else, somehow I don't think I've ever owned a Ghostzapper. And, as I said, our focus is always on fillies. But I had a little more money to spend, so wanted to add a couple colts. You never know, you might come up with a Derby horse in the package without trying to buy 10 colts a year on a feast-or-famine deal. “He was my kind of horse: medium-sized, pretty head, extremely well balanced. That hind leg, which I learned from Ciaran and Amy Dunne, that we all look for when buying for the 2-year-old sales. And not too heavy. I've stopped trying to buy heavier colts. They just don't hold up. You trick yourself into these big, gorgeous colts–but they're just not sound. Certainly they can't have a heavy neck because, to me, that's just all weight on the knees. I mean, $210,000 was a lot of money for me, so he had everything I liked in a horse.” As usual, Geoff Mulcahy was entrusted with the colt's education. “As far as I'm concerned, the earliest any of them will ever run is April or May,” Greathouse declares. “So I don't want to pay to ship them all to Florida and ship them all back here. Geoff does a great job. I'm out there three or four mornings a week in the winter watching them train. That allows me to see how they're doing–which need to be turned out, which we go on with, which trainer might suit them best.” The Ghostzapper colt was always obliging, equal to anything he was asked. “Didn't matter if you breezed him with a really good horse, or a mediocre one,” Greathouse says. “He never let them get ahead of him. At the same time, he never blew you away. He did everything evenly. With Geoff, we do a lot of two-minute licks, a lot of slow three-eighths. We just build them up and then let them gallop out. So you build a lot of stamina in the babies.” Sitting down with Casse in the spring, they agreed that a horse of this kind of cost and profile shouldn't be cranked up to explode into the shop window on debut. So Rhyme Schemes was left space to learn from his first experience at Churchill in May. “He was fit enough to run, but by no means sharp,” Greathouse recalls. “And when he didn't break, and that stuff hit him in the face for the first time, he just kind of ran around there. You didn't necessarily know what to make of it. But he came back a little stronger, we put blinkers on him. And I will say that Ricardo [Santana Jr., jockey], when he breezed him after that first race, said that nobody was going to beat him next time.” They went to the windows, sure enough, but nobody was expecting to see something quite so electric. “He just flapped the reins on his neck, and all of a sudden he's gone,” Greathouse marvels. And it was exactly the same at Saratoga, when even the winning margin was identical: 9 1/2 lengths. To recuperate from his setback, Rhyme Schemes has gone “home” to Duignan's Springhouse Farm. (Duignan not only helped to consign the horse as a yearling but is nowadays a syndicate partner). The team was never going to take risks simply for the sake of a little Derby fever. “We're going to go take our time with him and hopefully have a good 3-year-old,” Greathouse promises. “Knock wood, he's been a great patient. He has an incredible mind, and that has been so helpful. When they're high-strung and stupid, they just hurt themselves again.” In the meantime, there's much else to keep the Pura Vida team excited. “We've four or five fillies we really like that haven't run yet,” Greathouse says. “There'll always be a couple that won't work out. But that's kind of the point. My job is not to have any pride, to identify those that need to come off the payroll so that the good ones aren't covering them.” Whatever happens, a runaway Saratoga Special winner is quite a find among no more than 10 recruits. “I don't analyze the crosses so much,” Greathouse says of his catalogue work. “We should all know, just from doing it our whole lives, which ones work. Really I just try to look at a pedigree and say, 'Would it shock me if this page produced a racehorse?' Whether there's two dams there that are basically blank, but it's an incredible family below; or whether a family is pretty weak on the bottom, but the mare could really run herself. “My dad also always told me that a mare can make her own pedigree. A stallion can't. You don't see stallions with no page making it. But he said, 'You see fillies all the time that were just freaky racehorses, out of nowhere, and that's basically the bottom of the family tree.'” The one thing any Greathouse will always have, of course, is a great pedigree of his own. “Dad's friends would tell you that it was almost weird how close he and I were,” this one recalls. “I mean, we were together 24/7. So in the amount of time I had with him, I guess I absorbed everything I could. I'll never have his personality. I'm more of an introvert. But yeah, everything about the horsemanship side, and dealing with people, I learned from Dad. He was a legend, and his word was good. It's now 10 years since he passed away and even today, anywhere I am, I have people coming up to me saying, 'I still miss your father.'” His Uncle John was a significant mentor, too, especially in the selection of young stock. Overall Greathouse's orientation was always towards the racetrack, meaning that it worked out ideally when his cousin, the younger John, found himself drawn to farm life. “So I kind of branched away [from Glencrest],” Greathouse explains. “John had gone to the Irish National Stud, he'd really learned a lot in a short period, and he loved foaling, which I never did. What I loved was getting them from weaning, prepping them for the sales, and then breaking them: just anything going towards the racetrack.” The Pura Vida brand, which borrows Costa Rica's catch-all salutation, was chosen for its upbeat vibe. Because this is a program that likes to get on the front foot, trying to force gaps in the market. “You're constantly having to buy new horses with money you make,” Greathouse says. “And the expenses that come with them are getting more and more insurmountable. But from the time I was little, you don't buy racehorses to win a maiden race. You're trying to hit a home run. And there's got to be something about that horse, whether you buy it for $20,000 or $500,000, that makes you really believe; that makes you feel there's a something in there that could turn out to be a little bit special.” The post Greathouse Schemes for Action All the Way appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

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