Wandering Eyes

Alicia Wincze-Hughes has been named the new Director of Communications for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA). She will officially begin her new position Jan. 2. Hughes has spent the last two years as a staff writer and editor at BloodHorse. She previously worked for 11 years at the Lexington Herald-Leader. A winner of numerous national awards for her work covering Thoroughbred racing, Hughes is also a former president of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association. “It has been an honor over the years to work alongside some of the best writers and editors in this business while telling racing’s wonderfully unique stories,” Hughes said. “I am beyond thrilled to begin the next chapter of my career with the dedicated people of the NTRA and help bring their important work to the forefront.” NYRA President and COE Alex Waldrop added, “Alicia is an extremely gifted writer and communicator and we are delighted to welcome her to the team.” View the full article

The American West–that fabled stretch of land still brings to mind a great deal of romanticism, even in these modern times. Often people will say you cannot understand it until you see it. When two of my cohorts and I had the opportunity to find out for ourselves, we jumped at the chance. What ensued was five days of hilarity, isolation, beauty, and, yes, conceding that you really just have to–and should–see it for yourself. Setting Off Driving to the Grand Canyon National Park from either Santa Anita or Del Mar is doable in a day. Both fall roughly on either side of eight hours and 500 miles depending on your chosen route and the weight of your foot. However, we decided early in our planning to split up the drive. When we started searching for lodgings, we realized how barren a path lay ahead. Through the magic of determination and Google, we found the solution to our problem: glamping. Cynthia’s China Ranch in the old mining town of Tecopa, California, is slightly out of the way directionally, but seemed full of promise. The website enamored us with this sales pitch: “Experience luxury camping in our authentic Indian-style tipis. You’ll sleep soundly under a starry night sky and awaken to spectacular views of pristine ancient desert hills. Heated beds take the chill off the winter nights, and air conditioners cool the summer heat.” Upon booking a tipi, we accepted just how remote it would be based on the very specific confirmation email informing us there would be no cellular coverage. In addition, Cynthia’s is on an uncharted GPS route. Danielle Nichter, in her role as champion navigator, secured maps and also made what turned out to be a key decision as we got closer and closer to the desert–we should probably buy some wine ahead of arrival. What is important to note is that we went from reachable to untraceable whilst traveling down the charmingly named Death Valley Road. There were no other cars on our two-lane path, and there wasn’t radio reception either. We arrived at the check-in cabin–not the tipis–where we were greeted by a man in a headlamp. He proceeded to give us a warning about how steep the drive down was and how many people thought they were on the wrong road. While all three of us are well-traveled, adventurous types, nothing prepared us for the winding descent that awaited. At one point, we stopped the car, convinced we were driving off a cliff based on the shadows of the unearthly rock formations around us. We were not. Upon finally arriving, our host showed us the three-person tipi we had booked, equipped us with lanterns, and warned us about the preponderance of coyotes before disappearing back into the night. Once settled into our rather delightful dwelling, we wandered out to look at the moon, and then we heard something move. What it was we will never know, but after sprinting back to the relatively safe confines of our tipi, we opened the wine. On the Road Again The next morning, we got up for the sunrise and wandered to the main cottage to make hot tea and use the provided facilities, which were charmingly functional if not exactly high-end. With the gift of the sun, we could take in our surroundings. The date trees, formerly menacing in the night as they swayed with netting around their fruits, were comforting. We got back on the road, ready to make our way to the Grand Canyon. We only made it a few miles before stopping the car. Driving up and out of what we had driven into the night before was stunning. Leaving the car parked next to the “Pavement Ends” sign at the top of the pass, we all wandered among the hauntingly beautiful rocks and listened to the wind. Eventually leaving Death Valley behind us, we looped around Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. The Grand Canyon is accessible from multiple locations, but the most popular is the South Rim, which was our destination. Reservations are strongly recommended months, if not a year, in advance. Although we booked well ahead of our trip, we missed out on staying on park grounds. However, several miles out is where you will find all the other hotels and restaurants, and it is an easy commute. Even though we were there in the off season, the whole area was busy, leading us to wonder what the summers must be like. Our accommodations for this leg were far less adventurous than our tipi and came via a Holiday Inn Express. There is something to be said for heat and attached plumbing, though, and we were content travelers upon arrival. A Worthy Name Armed with the Grand Canyon version of the guidebook produced by Lonely Planet, we had mapped out our destinations, starting with the simplest–the sunrise. Entrance to the park is $35 for a vehicle, and the pass is good for one week. The friendly park ranger apologized for the weather–overcast and misty–but when we arrived, it didn’t really matter. Both fellow travelers and our handy guidebook warned us that nothing could prepare us for what we were about to see. No pictures can do it justice, and your memory will struggle to try. It’s cliché, and it’s entirely true. Bundled up, we watched the sun make its appearance just after 7:00 a.m. It is important to get there ahead of the actual sunrise to appreciate the changes and shifts in light as it fills the canyon. There are plenty of places to take this in, but Mather Point is a very short, easy jaunt from the visitor center and doesn’t disappoint. Click here to read the rest of this story in the December TDN Weekend. View the full article

The 2019 business plan and budget for the British Horseracing Authority was released on Wednesday. Approved by the BHA Board agreed with by the BHA’s shareholders, the plan is an updated version of the three-year plan covering 2017-19, originally published in December of 2016. The plan entails the BHA’s focus points for the next year, as well as details of the BHA’s financial situation. The BHA is still on track to meet is goal of breaking even in cash terms over the three-year period mainly due to savings in activity costs delivered across the organisation. Fees will rise by only 3% in 2019, which is the second consecutive year that increases are below those included in the original budget. The BHA has also been active in the areas of safeguarding, diversity, the buying and selling of bloodstock, and various areas relating to equine welfare and regulation, including the implementation of a new officiating model. Six areas the BHA will be focusing on in 2019 are: equine welfare, industry people, regulation and integrity, racing, leadership and development. The business plan may be downloaded here. View the full article

Whenever horses–or those stabled around them–are transported from one location to another, it presents an opportunity for the transport and proliferation of disease-causing agents. For Thoroughbreds, travel is often a regular occurrence, whether it be for competition, training, sale or breeding. Add to that the fact that many of the horses with whom they are transported, stabled or otherwise come in contact, have equally active travel schedules and it is easy to see how quickly a pathogen can potentially spread from a single horse to a group, barn or entire facility. The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) and American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recommends 5 core vaccines, meaning those that every horse should receive, regardless of movement, usage (competition, recreation, etc.) or exposure to other horses. These include rabies, West Nile virus, Eastern/Western equine encephalomyelitis and Tetanus. Most facilities have minimum vaccination requirements for horses entering their stable grounds outside of these core vaccinations. It’s important for horsemen to not only work closely with their veterinarian to be sure their horse maintains protection against the diseases to which it may have potential exposure, but also stay up-to-date regarding outbreaks and heightened threats in their area, says Dr. Robert Stout, State Veterinarian in Kentucky. “Your veterinarian can tell you when to vaccinate to ensure maximum efficacy,” says Stout. “The season for West Nile Virus, for example, is summer and into fall, so the majority of horses are vaccinated at the end of March into April, so they have a heightened immune response in the height of the season.” Other diseases, such as equine influenza and strangles, can be easily contracted and spread rapidly from horse to horse and throughout herds not vaccinated for the disease, resulting in not only the need for veterinary intervention, but time away from training and lingering side effects. Outbreaks at several racetracks and training facilities in recent years have prompted most tracks, training centers and sales companies to mandate all horses entering their grounds be vaccinated for equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), requiring that all horses receive the vaccine a minimum of 14 days, but not more than 120 days, prior to shipping into the stable grounds. It is imperative, however, that horsemen maintain detailed records of such vaccinations and work with their veterinarians to proactively re-vaccinate to ensure their horses aren’t left exposed. “In theory, a horse can ship in having received the vaccination 90 days prior meets the requirements for entry, but say 40 days later, they are still stabled on the grounds, but no longer meet the requirements, putting themselves and those around them at risk,” said Rusty Ford, Equine Operations Consultant for the Office of the State Veterinarian. “Last year we started really emphasizing this to trainers, advising them that they need to keep close track of their health records to be sure they’re staying up to date.” Horsemen can also stay abreast of outbreaks in their area through email alerts from the Equine Disease Communication Center(EDCC), a national initiative that identifies and reports on disease outbreaks throughout the U. S., similarly to how the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) track and alert people about transmittable diseases in human populations. Vaccinating horses against diseases is just one part of a comprehensive biosecurity plan, of which the EDCC can play an integral part, as it did it did this year for many horsemen. After an unusually wet start to 2018, Ford says his office saw an earlier identification of Potomac Horse Fever, a potentially fatal disease that often causes laminitis. The disease is caused by the ingestion by horses of caddis flies and mayflies, who often gravitate away from their native ponds and streams at night and toward light sources. As is the case with many other vaccines, horses vaccinated for Potomac Horse Fever are not uniformly guaranteed immunity from the disease, but rather their symptoms are often less severe if they do contract the disease. “The alerts we send out to horsemen help them implement simple safeguards, like scheduling vaccinations based on heightened risk and, in the case of Potomac, turning off the lights before dark to prevent attracting aquatic insects into the barn,” says Ford. “Vaccinations are like a seatbelt in an automobile. It won’t keep you from having a wreck, but it can lessen the severity.” For a suggested vaccination schedule, which includes core and risk-based vaccines, visit aaep.org. 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 the first foal out of MGISP Stanwyck (Empire Maker). 6.00 Chelmsford City, Cond, £5,800, 2yo, 10f (AWT) Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum is represented by a pair of well-related debutants in this seven-runner affair. TAJAWOZ (War Front), an Owen Burrows trainee, is a $750,000 Keeneland September yearling and the first foal produced by GSW GI Santa Margarita S., GI Apple Blossom H. and GI Personal Ensign S. placegetter Stanwyck (Empire Maker), herself a half-sister to GI Kentucky Derby-winning sire Giacomo (Holy Bull) and MGISW sire Tiago (Pleasant Tap). His rivals include Alfaatik (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), one of two contenders from the John Gosden barn, who topped the sheets at last year’s Tattersalls October Book 2 sale when knocked down for 850,000gns and is kin to five black-type performers headed by G1 Gran Premio di Milano and G2 Derby Italiano hero Biz the Nurse (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}) and G2 Gran Criterium victor and G2 Derby Italiano fourth Biz Heart (Ire) (Roderic O’Connor {Ire}). 7.00 Chelmsford City, Mdn, £12,000, 2yo, 8f (AWT) Anthony Oppenheimer’s newcomer STAR CATCHER (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), who skipped an engagement over this strip one week ago, is a homebred half-sister to GI Canadian International-winning sire Cannock Chase (Lemon Drop Kid) and G2 Prix Eugene Adam victor Pisco Sour (Lemon Drop Kid). Opposition to the John Gosden trainee features stablemate and fellow firster Baltic Song (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), who is a Gestut Ammerland homebred half-brother to six black-type performers headed by G1 Prix Vermeille victress Baltic Baroness (Ger) (Shamardal); and Mohammed Al Nabouda’s once-raced Into the Zone (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), who is a Simon Crisford-trained half-brother to GI Fillies’ Mile and GI Yellow Ribbon S. victress Hibaayeb (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}), herself the dam of G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Wuheida (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). View the full article

Rival Pierre-Charles Boudot announced he was done riding for season View the full article

JLT Specialty, the specialist insurance arm of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, is now an official partner of the Jockey Club and the official insurance broker of its racecourse arm, Jockey Club Racecourses (JCR) after a three-year deal was agreed upon. Previously JLT sponsored races at the Cheltenham Festival, the Randox Health Grand National at Aintree and races at Ascot, Newbury and York racecourses. As part of this new agreement, JLT will receive digital, branding and content rights at all 15 of the Jockey Club racecourses, access to race tickets and hospitality for key clients and staff across JLT’s regional offices in the UK. “JLT is delighted to become an official partner of the Jockey Club, building on our long association with the sport of horseracing,” said JLT Group Senior Executive Jonathan Palmer-Brown. “We understand the specialist insurance needs of the sport better than anyone, and this new partnership allows us to extend our expertise even further.” View the full article

No less than the perfumes that funded its foundation, and just like every other stud farm, Haras de Montaigu is sustained by subtle but constant adjustment to a formula. Each year of production, a little bit more of this, a little bit less of that; seeing what works, what doesn’t work, without compromising on the hallmarks of your brand. Because with Thoroughbreds and perfume alike, there is no such thing as the perfect balance. And while tastes will always be changing, you can’t merely respond to some fleeting commercial vogue. Your metier demands time, and patience. Listening to Sybille Gibson, then, you recognise an equivalence with her ancestors not just in process but in mindset. “With mares you try one stallion, you try another, until you find the right blood cross,” she says. “I can’t say we just try a bit of everything. The way we handle the horses, for instance, does not change. Nor does the place where we raise them, which is the heart of everything. But with the crosses, you are always trying something different.” Elegant and thoughtful, she is sitting in the stall at Arqana that once housed Montaigu’s most famous graduate. It is early one sales morning, there is hardly anyone around-some prospective buyers have probably only just reeled out of Le Drakkar–and Gibson is in her element: the air is saturated with the scent of fresh straw, and the silence punctuated only by a drowsy snicker, or a thud against wood echoing down the row. “And it’s all a mystery,” she says. “My parents bought Martaline to be a Flat stallion but he became the best National Hunt sire in France. You try things that don’t work, but you keep going because you believe in what you do. And one day it works: this comes through, or this. Each time a nice filly is born we say: ‘She will win the Diane!’ But the things that work, it’s a mystery.” Not that anyone should be able to explain, in advance, why an experiment might work, when it can be hard enough to do so even after it has proved effective. Gibson’s great-grandfather, Jacques Guerlain, was ever taciturn when pressed to explain his genius for finding the right balance–the right “cross,” as it were-in a new fragrance. After all, it was a hereditary genius: the family had established one of the world’s most venerable perfume and cosmetics brands as early as 1828. And you can’t really articulate instinct; it’s something you are born with. It is the same with the other passion handed down from one generation to the next. So that when Gibson’s mother saw Pour Moi (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) win the 2011 Derby, she immediately announced that this was an optimal mate for one of the Montaigu mares, the Classic-placed Ysoldina (Fr) (Kendor {Fr}). By the time the result of that pairing was himself lining up for the 2017 running, Pour Moi had been removed to a National Hunt stud. But then Wings of Eagles reprised his father’s remarkable burst of acceleration in the Epsom straight, and now he is back where he was born with a first crop of foals due in the spring–the first Derby winner in over half a century to retire across the Channel. (After publication of this article, it was announced that Wings Of Eagles would stand at The Beeches Stud in Ireland next term.) If this represents the crowning moment in the Montaigu story, so far, then his is not the only important homecoming. For only a couple of years previously Gibson, having for decades led a life away from the 360-acre homestead, had returned to promote an expanded commercial operation–and, in the process, to prepare herself for the day when she takes the family’s stewardship of Montaigu into a fifth generation. The farm was founded in 1903 by her great-great-grandfather Gabriel, son of the perfume house’s founder. He had started his Turf career on land near Paris but knew Normandy was the place to raise horses and eventually found a 200-hectare site for sale. On his death, 30 years later, Montaigu passed into the hands of his son Jacques, as celebrated a parfumeur as any in the pedigree; but Jacques, despairing after the loss of his youngest son in the war, handed the stud over to another, Claude. And it was Claude, Gibson’s grandfather, who became the first to devote himself to Thoroughbreds full-time. “He was a man of the land,” Gibson explains. “And while the family would go to and fro–my mother was brought up in Paris–this was his true base. He had no interest in city living. His grandfather had won the Grand Steeplechase [de Paris, in 1912] with Hopper, and Jacques bought five or six mares in Newmarket, but it was still just a hobby until Claude took over. He had cousins who could keep the [perfume] business going. But since that time, everything has been about the place he loved: it has been at the heart of the family, and for us now at the heart of our business.” Gibson remembers the old man from her girlhood. “He was a very discreet man,” she says. “Very straightforward, very respected. Not very talkative, maybe even a little cold: he hid his emotions. Certainly compared to my grandmother, who was from the south and more voluble. A good mixture.” Even the humans manage a good cross here, it would seem. One way or another, anyhow, the passion within passed down–along with the farm–to Gibson’s mother Aliette, a renowned horsewoman who found a husband of similar stamp in the bloodstock agent Gilles Forien. “My grandfather didn’t have that many mares, but bred Rescousse to win the Prix de Diane and finish second in the Arc,” Gibson recalls. “But by 1984 he felt the time had come to let his daughter transform the farm into something more commercial. She had become passionate about horses through show jumping–and from this, I think, she developed what I think remains our marque de fabrique of Montaigu.” Gibson condenses that trademark in a single word: respect. “Respect for the horse,” she says. “We have never pushed the yearlings too hard during their preparation, we don’t over-lunge, we don’t overdo anything. And, whatever happens, they get turned out in the paddock every morning. I know other people also take great care of their horses. All I know is that my mum’s been doing it the same way for 30 years, and been in the top five [vendors at Arqana every summer] for ages. “I don’t know if it’s because of her show jumping background, and the fact that she’s a horsewoman. But we do try to hire people who love their horses. It’s not just taking them on the lead. Day by day we adapt the work of each horse, according to how each one takes what we ask them to do. It’s about that attention to detail.” Stallions, of course, give an extra commercial dimension to the operation, and Wings of Eagles has joined a roster of six trying to follow in the footsteps of Kendor, one of the most resonant names in modern French pedigrees. The grey, champion French juvenile of 1988 and winner of the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains the following spring, presided here for 17 years and sired three Group 1 winners-one of whom, Literato (Fr), arrived as his heir in 2009. Though Kendargent has kept the line fashionable, Gibson concedes that stallions like Literato are at the mercy of a market notoriously addicted to commercial reputation. Literato mustered a Group 1 winner from a debut crop of just 37, but is still having to graft away at €3,000. “If you actually want a runner, then buy a Literato,” Gibson says. “For his quality, his fee is nothing. The market works a la mode, and I think stallions are killed in the market far too quickly. Literato has always been difficult, commercially, because of his size. Nobody understood that, in size, he always produces foals that are literally like the dam. We invested in him, we used him with our own mares, but it was difficult to convince people.” (For the full TDN Weekend feature on Haras de Montaigu, click here.) View the full article

TDN: What was you favourite racing moment of the year? WH: Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) winning the G1 Darley Irish Oaks. She showed her class and acceleration and was given a breathtakingly brave ride by James Doyle. It was an important win for us (every Classic is) and a huge win for Mrs. Tsui and her family. TDN: Name a horse that stood out for you in 2018? WH: Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire})’s destruction in the G1 Coronation was a superb effort. Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy)’s G1 Juddmonte win was imperious, but Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) won all the races he contested–the million-pound bonus probably forced connections to campaign him aggressively, but he was well up to the task. TDN: And an outstanding achievement by a breeder, owner or trainer? WH: The outstanding training performance was by Sir Michael [Stoute]–the G1 King George was a brilliant race contested by two horses and jockeys who gave their all. As a spectacle it was magnificent. TDN: What’s your big hope for 2019? WH: Frankellina (GB) (Frankel {GB}–Our Obsession {Ire}, by Shamardal). Remarkably the Oppenheimer family have never won the G1 Investec Oaks and whilst this filly has a long way to go, who knows where she could end up. Also our luck to change for Appletree Stud. TDN: What’s your new year’s resolution? WH: Personally–to lose some weight and eat less sugar, and sugar-based products. Professionally, to support the racecourses who continue to put their hand in their pocket and be less supportive of those who don’t. View the full article

The first thing to say is that covering sire averages, in an industry that can seldom resist manipulating “statistics” into “damned lies”, are a transparently spurious guide to a stallion’s prospects of coming up with better stock than might be implied by his fee. At every stage, when trying to establish a reputation, young sires are partly at the mercy of the mares who contribute 50 percent of their foals’ genes. But that applies most obviously of all when it is the mare herself who is being sold, with a cover thrown in as a bonus. Take the sale of Drumette (Henny Hughes) at Fasig-Tipton last November. She was carrying a foal by Mastery (Candy Ride {Arg}), who had started out as Claiborne that spring at a fee of $25,000–but who moved up the covering sire averages because Drumette’s daughter Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) had the previous day won the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff, elevating her dam’s value to $1,850,000. As it happens, Mastery looks highly eligible to outpunch his fee, and we’ll come to that shortly. But the fact is that Drumette realized more than double the amount paid for any mare with a cover by Arrogate or Gun Runner. Yes, it reflects well on Mastery that he was favoured with such a mare. But the quality or otherwise of those mares that happen to come onto the market is entirely random. Bottom line: forget covering sire averages. As such, the Kentucky sires under review today are no easier to assess than the rookies we reviewed in Part I of this series. Certainly a cut in fee as early as the second season, perhaps responding to a disappointing first book, is a drastic rarity. Farms are naturally very wary of betraying a young sire’s vulnerability in this way, because they know they will probably frighten off far more people than they can tempt. No such problems for Juddmonte, enjoying a rejuvenation of their stallion roster either side of the ocean. Just as their team in Europe were so astute in managing the launch of Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), so Juddmonte have made a priority of quality over quantity for Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song). In fact, one in four of his first book were Grade I winners or producers. He was temperately priced at $75,000, having forfeited that air of invincibility after the G1 Dubai World Cup. The dramatic style of that success seems to have exhausted even the reserves that made him America’s richest Thoroughbred, but for many of us, the real pinnacle had been that duel with California Chrome in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. Between that race and the one in Dubai, when chased home by Gun Runner, he pulled rank on consecutive Horses of the Year. Having been purchased at public auction, admittedly, Arrogate doesn’t offer the usual Juddmonte access to a deep homebred family. In fact, his first two dams each mustered only a solitary Grade III placing, but you have to love the fact that the second of them is by the great broodmare sire Deputy Minister; while the third dam is six-time Grade I winner and 2-year-old champion in Meadow Star (Meadowlake). Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) closed the gap in their reputations to the point that he could start at Three Chimneys just a clip below at $70,000, his own talent having matured even as Arrogate went into decline. He, too, wound up with dominant wins in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational; and, like Accelerate this year, he offers the kind of exemplary genetic wares evident only in the older horse who has been allowed to flourish. As such, to say that his fee looks perfectly fair–not least as the son of a Grade II-winning half-sister to another Horse of the Year in Saint Liam (Saint Ballado)–only reiterates the bewildering value represented by Accelerate, in the next intake, at just $20,000. The aforementioned Mastery, who also sets out to enhance Candy Ride as a sire of sires, had a contrastingly brief career, but there is no denying the brilliance he exhibited in four unbeaten starts. A seven-length Grade I winner at two, albeit from a shortish field, he poignantly galloped into GI Kentucky Derby favoritism when winning the GII San Felipe S. by a similar margin only to be pulled up after the finish line with a career-ending injury. What makes the Claiborne prospect of major interest at $25,000 is a third dam who is full sister to Miswaki, not to mention a second dam by another outstanding broodmare sire in Storm Cat. And Mastery’s own mother is a half-sister to the Grade I-placed, Grade II-winning juvenile Jump Start (A.P. Indy). All in all, there’s a lot of surplus glamour to this horse at the price. A third son of Candy Ride in the intake is Unified, now alongside his sire at Lane’s End at a competitive $10,000. He too has a third dam of note, a Storm Bird half-sister to Dehere, and is evidently a looker. Though unraced at two, he proved a very natural runner, heating up the clock as a ‘TDN Rising Star,’ Grade III and Grade II winner in his first three starts. At four, he was foiled only by a neck in the GI Carter H., and he’s out of a sister to a GII winner by rising broodmare influence Dixie Union. Candy Ride also illuminates the family of Classic Empire (Pioneerof The Nile), who became the sixth of seven 2-year-old champions to retire to Ashford, opening at $35,000. Classic Empire’s fourth dam is half-sister to the mare who produced Candy Ride’s sire, Ride The Rails; it’s also the family of Harlan’s Holiday and Boldnesian. Having followed through with a Grade I success at three before his Kentucky Derby fourth and narrow runner-up finish in the GI Preakness S., Classic Empire unfortunately proved unable to race again. But his dual Grade I-placed second dam is by Miswaki, while his own mother represents another potent broodmare line via Cat Thief. Quite a package, and one that understandably brought 185 mares to his door this spring. But even that book paled next to that of studmate Practical Joke (Into Mischief), who had a staggering 220 clients at $30,000. Though a well beaten third in Classic Empire’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, he already had two Grade I wins under his belt by that stage and then consolidated with a hardy and honest sophomore campaign crowned, back over seven furlongs, in the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. With his own sire soaring in fee, Practical Joke brings precocity, speed and looks to the middle market, so was always going to go down well. Into Mischief, of course, has achieved some remarkable upgrades in his stock. There is no getting away from the fact that you have to go under the fourth dam for the first graded stakes performer on Practical Joke’s page, but that needn’t stop anyone believing he can emulate his sire. Certainly you can picture him bringing home some nice pinhooks at the 2-year-old sales. Remarkably, even his book was narrowly surpassed by one of the other Ashford novices, Cupid (Tapit) having entertained 223 partners at $12,500–a tally surpassed among all American sires only by Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) himself. That only goes to show the commercial nous of the Coolmore team, as this is a very different proposition. Unraced at two, Cupid is a half-brother to two other graded stakes winners; his Classic build and breeding raised $900,000 as a yearling and he reserved his Grade I day in the sun for the Santa Anita Gold Cup at four. Still bigger things appeared to be expected than he managed thereafter, but at a helpful fee breeders are plainly prepared to gamble that the best remains yet to come. Another monster book, squeezed between the Ashford pair at 222, was put together by Klimt (Quality Road) at Darby Dan. This farm always pitches young sires at a fair level and this one could not have been a hard sell at $10,000, having lit up the Californian scene in a fashion that allowed him to be marketed as the fastest Grade I juvenile by his sire. Klimt only managed a couple of starts at three, but his third dam is a GSW sister to Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Concern, the pair out of another Grade I winner. Curlin seeks two fresh testimonials as a sire of sires from this intake. Connect took a record of six-for-eight to Lane’s End at $20,000, crowned in the GI Cigar Mile, and he’s out of a half-sister to the grand-dam of Grade I winner Backseat Rhythm (El Corredor) from a real outcross family. He took some bold-sounding scalps, notably that of the maturing Gun Runner–though even that credit can’t quite match Keen Ice, who started out off the same fee at Calumet having famously dug a hole for American Pharoah at the graveyard of champions. A truer measure of his merit makes him scarcely less eligible as a stallion: he showed up every time, keeping the best of company four seasons running. His second dam is a half-sister to a Grade I winner out of a half-sister to the mother of Verrazano, but the huge appeal of his page–besides some intriguing turf angles–is a 3×3 appearance by the vital influence Deputy Minister. Curlin’s damsire is also sire of Awesome Again, whose daughter Medomak (half-sister to a Grade I runner-up) delivered Keen Ice as her first foal. At the very least this is definitely a stallion for end-users to remain interested in through the next three or four years. There is also a 3×3 footprint on the page of Lord Nelson, Mr Prospector being both damsire of his sire Pulpit and grandsire of his dam. This is resonant of Pulpit’s premier son Tapit, who is inbred 3×4 to Mr P. In Lord Nelson, however, that patriarch’s trademark speed came through with exceptional purity: he reeled off three consecutive Grade I wins in California over six and seven furlongs as a 4-year-old, notably breaking a longstanding stakes record at Del Mar with his 1:07.65 in the GI Bing Crosby S. Sadly, as is well known, he was then struck by laminitis and jilted 180 mares at Spendthrift. Restored by human skill and equine heart, Lord Nelson was able to cover 127 at $25,000 this year and–besides his commercial speed–they will tap into a very old Argentinian family. That almost invariably entails resilience, which we know he must have in abundance, and the class is close up too: Acorn S. winner Carina Mia (Malibu Moon), for instance, is one of two Grade I scorers out of a sister to his Grade I-winning second dam. This is a charismatic horse, all round, physique included. And we know there was more demand than supply. Lord Nelson is from Pulpit’s penultimate crop; American Freedom, launched at $10,000 by Airdrie, is from his final one. His dam, who connects us to another august name in Pleasant Tap, has also produced a MGSW and Grade I runner-up Gottcha Gold (Coronado’s Quest). His family is actually full of splendid old names, and he rubbed shoulders with some of the best of his generation–albeit he would have needed a 13½-length shoulder to do so with Arrogate when second in the GI Travers S. Perhaps nothing drew 152 ladies to his door, however, quite like his rangy good looks. Astern (Medaglia d’Oro) is already a proud father, having started his stud career in Australia–where he, like half-sister Alizee (Sepoy), won at Group 1 level–before reverse shuttling to Jonabell at $15,000. He majored in the speed so highly valued in his homeland, though whether that was by nature or nurture is hard to say: everything is possible with this sire-line. Another transfusion of Southern Hemisphere blood is available for the same fee at Calumet, courtesy of Bal a Bali (Brz) (Put It Back). This really is something way out of the ordinary. Horse of the Year in his Brazilian homeland, he revealed the same South American iron as Lord Nelson to bounce back from laminitis after his migration to the U.S., winning two Grade Is at a mile. Even his In Reality top line makes him a valuable outcross, never mind a left-field maternal family that quickly takes us a long way, in time as well as distance: his damsire, the Brazilian champion Clackson, is a grandson of sires foaled in 1944 and 1948. Gormley (Malibu Moon) offers access to a more familiar family tree–and familiar because classy–for $10,000 at Spendthrift. A Grade I winner at two and three, his second dam was Classic-placed in Europe and the next is champion turf mare Estrapade. He derailed in his Classic campaign but there is a lot of turf blood in his family and he could prove a very versatile influence for the 180 mares he attracted in his debut season. One of few in the intake to have been given a fee trim is Midnight Storm (Pioneerof The Nile), but there isn’t the slightest sense of panic about his drop to $10,000 from $12,500 at Taylor Made–a farm confident enough simply to make market-friendly cuts for three of its five stallions for 2019. Midnight Storm had a perfectly respectable first book of 119 and, besides extending a modish sire-line, offers exactly the kind of thing all breeders should love as an unusually durable and flexible campaigner. A Grade II winner four seasons running! And, for those who insist on some formal Grade I icing on the cake, he wired the Shoemaker Mile field to hold off subsequent Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tourist (Tiznow) in 1:33 and change. He was, moreover, equally adept on turf and dirt–respectively the springboard for Beyers of 110 and 107. All credit to the farm, which also stands Mshawish (Medaglia d’Oro), for putting a due premium on versatility. Yes, there are some exotic names along Midnight Storm’s bottom line, but that wouldn’t frighten those of us who value diversity in the gene pool. Something was working, anyhow, to make him put together such a hard-knocking, old-school CV–and to look the part, too. Among the four-figure fees, Mohaymen (Tapit) managed to stack ’em highest with 121 $7,500 covers at Shadwell. That’s unsurprising granted the way he landed running off a $2.2 million yearling tag, three-for-three as a juvenile, including the GII Nashua S. and GII Remsen S., and resuming the following spring with dashing displays in the GII Holy Bull S. and GII Fountain of Youth S. But he badly lost his way after finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby, and the wager you’re taking is that his refined looks and pedigree–out of a Grade I-placed Grade II winner who also produced Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner New Year’s Day (Street Cry {Ire})–will come through ahead of any of those issues that evidently unravelled his precocity. Actually there are strong echoes of his daddy to this profile. It will be interesting to see where a farm with a lot of turf mares can take him, but it’s a fair price for sure. At the same fee, the arrival at Adena Springs of Shaman Ghost (Ghostzapper) is better news for Kentucky than California, where he covered 91 mares in his first season at $10,000. He offers hardiness as well as class, a Canadian champion at three who proceeded to mix it with the best south of the border: a dual Grade I winner who also finished second to Arrogate in the Pegasus and third to Gun Runner in the GI Clark H. He’s not unlike Midnight Storm, in matching class and constitution to an invigoratingly outlandish bottom line. Those who believe elite families can proceed through horses whose own performance leave them accessibly priced, meanwhile, will want to take a look at Calumet’s $5,000 pair, Mr. Z (Malibu Moon) and War Correspondent (War Front), and Gainesway’s Bird Song (Unbridled’s Song) at the same fee. Then there is Hootenanny (Quality Road), standing at the same tag at Buck Pond Farm. He helped launch his sire with those Royal Ascot and Breeders’ Cup wins at two and, had he gone to stud in Europe then, he would have had a queue of commercial breeders snaking down the road. Sadly that’s a long time ago now but let’s remember he’s out of a half-sister to a Grade I winner from a good family. And, finally, I really can’t believe that only 30 mares took a chance with Crestwood’s Tu Brutus (Chi) (Scat Daddy), whose molten Beyers when imported to the U.S. suggested freakish talent. He is from the family of Forego’s sire Forli, and you’d think that access to a $5,000 son of Scat Daddy in Kentucky would have prompted a little more curiosity. Chris McGrath’s Value Podium: Gold: Lord Nelson $25,000, Spendthrift Silver: Mastery $25,000, Claiborne Bronze: Midnight Storm $10,000, Taylor Made View the full article

Sent off the fifth betting choice in a contentious renewal of the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun Wednesday evening at Kawasaki Racecourse, Nova Lenda (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) swatted away a final-furlong bid from favored fellow Carrot Farm colorbearer Gal Vihara (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) and just managed to hold a late dive from second choice Derma Louvre (Jpn) (Pyro) to take the second leg of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. Drawn out in gate 12, Nova Lenda was given a positive ride by Yuichi Kitamura and stalked the pace of longshot Ignacio d’Oro (Jpn) (Vittorio d’Oro {Jpn}) as Gal Vihara sat three wide down the backstretch. Nova Lenda took command entering the second turn while under a good hold, raced on his incorrect lead in the waning stages and was saved by the wire. Derma Louvre saved ground from midfield, spun out five wide for the drive and just missed, while Gal Vihara could not sustain his run and settled for third. Make Happy (Square Eddie), who earned 10 points for her victory in the Cattleya Sho Nov. 24, raced evenly throughout to be fourth. Nova Lenda picked up 20 points in the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. The next race in the series is the Listed Hyacinth S. at Tokyo Feb. 17 followed by the Fukuyra S. at Nakayama Mar. 31. The Japanese horse that accumulates the most points will earn a berth in the Kentucky Derby. Nova Lenda is the 30th black-type winner for his sire, who was also responsible for last weekend’s G1 Asahi Hai Futurity S. hero Admire Mars (Jpn). Produced by a half-sister to French Group 3 winner Coco Passion (Fr) (Groom Dancer) and the latter’s Japanese-bred stakes-winning full-sister Little Audrey (Jpn), Nova Lenda has a yearling half-brother by Orfevre (Jpn). WATCH: Nova Lenda lasts in the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun Wednesday’s Results: ZEN-NIPPON NISAI YUSHUN-Listed, ¥59,500,000, Kawasaki, 12-19, 2yo, 1600m, 1:42.8, hy. 1–NOVA LENDA (JPN), 121, c, 2, by Daiwa Major (Jpn) 1st Dam: Mon Petit Coeur (Jpn), by Kurofune 2nd Dam: Gaiete de Coeur (Ire), by Lomond 3rd Dam: Gay Apparel, by Up Spirits *1ST STAKES WIN. O-U Carrot Farm; B-Northern Farm; T-Takashi Saito; J-Yuichi Kitamura; ¥35,000,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-0, ¥50,224,000. *Full to Blanche Coeur (Jpn), MSP-Jpn, $584,936. 2–Derma Louvre (Jpn), 121, c, 2, Pyro–Caribbean Romance (Jpn), by Commands (Aus). (¥12,960,000 Ylg ’17 JRHAJUL). O-Hiroyuki Asanuma. 3–Gal Vihara (Jpn), 121, c, 2, Gold Allure (Jpn)–Polonnaruwa (Jpn), by Rahy. O-U Carrot Farm. Margins: SHD, 1HF, 3. Odds: 5.30, 2.70, 2.10. VIDEO View the full article

Forecasting the typically 20-horse Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) field, and taking an early stand on a potential winner, is an annual highlight of Derby prep season. View the full article

With the 2018 Horse of the Year debate focused on two horses, trainer Bob Baffert has made the case for his Triple Crown winner Justify while John Sadler has outlined the argument for Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Accelerate. View the full article

A Sha Tin all-dirt meeting is about as far away from feature racing as you can get in Hong Kong, but a couple of Group winners from Australia made Wednesday night theirs. The John Size-trained Gunnison, who captured the Group Two Todman Stakes in Sydney in March 2017, cruised away to capture the Class Two event while Peter Ho Leung’s Zilong, who won the Group Three Rough Habit Plate in Brisbane in May 2017, broke through for his first Hong Kong win. Gunnison’s performance was the... View the full article

Matt Crawford has been hired by Canterbury Park and will oversee the Shakopee, Minn. horse track's Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing program as its Director of Racing and Racing Secretary. View the full article

6th-Lingfield, £5,800, Cond, 12-19, 2yo, 8f 1y (AWT), 1:39, st. ENTITLE (GB) (f, 2, Dansili {GB}–Concentric {GB} {SW & GSP-Fr, $117,776}, by Sadler’s Wells), who was a June 23 debut sixth to subsequent G2 Superlative S. third Neverland Rock (GB) (No Nay Never) tackling seven panels at Newmarket last time, recovered from a stuttering start to stalk the pace in second after the initial exchanges of this synthetic bow. Sent to the front off the home turn, the 6-1 chance was headed by Equal Sum (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) approaching the final eighth and rallied gamely under mild rousting to deny that rival by a length. “She ran in the summer, but was green and a little on the weak side,” explained winning rider Robert Havlin. “She was green again today and was on the wrong leg all the way around. I couldn’t get her to switch leads, but the further she was going the better she was going. She needed company to keep her mind on things and it helped her in the straight. I loved her attitude and she knuckled down when it mattered. She was a stronger filly today and will get better.” Entitle becomes the fifth scorer from as many runners produced by stakes-winning G3 Prix de Flore runner-up Concentric (GB) (Sadler’s Wells) and is a half-sister to MG1SW dual G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), G2 Prix de Pomone third Contribution (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), a yearling filly Frankel (GB) and a colt foal by Sea the Stars (Ire).The homebred bay shares her G3 Prix de Royaumont-winning second dam Apogee (GB) (Shirley Heights {GB}) with MGISW US champion Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}). Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $4,742. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. O-Khalid Abdullah; B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd (GB); T-John Gosden. View the full article

The nominations for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA)'s Moment of the Year came out last week, and the choices pretty much serve as a microcosm of the events that made 2018 a special time for horse racing fans. View the full article

That’s it. Finito. No more morning workouts beneath the cool lozenge of the waning moon. No more afternoons being led back to the winner’s circle beneath the sun and the blazing glory. Memories of those days? Echoes, now, around the trophy cabinet. Career robes dusted off, packed away. The ol’ brain, conditioned to fraction-of-a-second, life-and-death maneuvers mid-race, must be put to use anew. “I’ll never even sit on a pleasure horse again,” admitted Gary Stevens, about an injury–a fractured vertebrae in the neck digging against his spinal cord–that yanked the curtain down somewhat abruptly on one of racing’s most decorated riding careers. A storied career, too–one with a shape-shifters fluidity. A multitude of pegs unyielding to the square hole. He says he’s lucky not to be in a wheelchair. Towards the end of the month, he’ll go under the surgeon’s blade. “If I don’t have surgery, [the vertebrae’s] going to continue to degenerate, and eventually I would be where I don’t want to be from the neck down,” he added. Sure, he was well into his final act in the saddle, and so, the incident in the post parade ring at Del Mar last month–the one that gave him whiplash, and a new injury to go with all the rest–can hardly be said to have cheated him his dues. Yet, there was, at least, one more scene to play out. The problem was the shepherd’s crook that appeared stage left. “I was thinking through the first Saturday in May, if everything went right from December. Five months. And if the horse that I had my eye on worked out to what I think he can be, then that would’ve finished up the year,” Stevens said, playing coy with the horse’s name. “Everything was making me happy two weeks ago. I was enjoying what I was doing.” The mounts were on the wane, yes. “But the horses I had were good horses.” By the time we spoke, on a rare wintery California morning, the initial dust from his retirement announcement–all those ovations of a career among the “greatest ever”–had begun to settle, leaving in its wake the yawning silence of a life in transition. And so, the blustery showers interspersed with radiant bursts of sunshine seemed a fitting mirror to Stevens’s mood. Cataract-like shadows from the clouds of uncertainty ahead flitting over his recollections of the past. There’s no avoiding this latest injury. Stevens moves stiff-backed, as though encased within an invisible body brace, his doctor having warned him to play it safe. No accidents that could imperil the spinal cord any more than it already is. “I have never dealt with nerve pain before. I’ve dealt with broken bones, torn ligaments–horse stepping on your foot,” he said, lingering over the burning and the stinging. “It comes in moments, but hopefully, that can be corrected.” Pain, as he knows all too well, can have a voracious appetite, and Stevens currently wears a hunted quality in contrast to the jockey who, nearly six years before, at the tender age of 50, commenced his third step out of retirement. Back then, he had endured a two-month military-styled boot-camp in Washington State, and returned south rock-hardened for the tasks ahead. “No pain. The freedom of getting on a horse’s back with no one else in charge, just me and the horse… a real good feeling,” Stevens said at the time in an interview with The Guardian. And the rewards were soon returned with astonishing generosity. By the end of his first year back, he’d landed a GI Preakness S. on Oxbow (his 9th Classic), and a first ever GI Breeders Cup Classic, on Mucho Macho Man. In all, the past 6 years bagged him a further 16 Grade I’s, including a vintage romance with Beholder, culminating with their thrilling victory over Songbird in the 2016 BC Distaff. “I never would’ve got to have the relationship with two of the greatest horses that I’ve ridden had I not come out of retirement, and that’s Beholder and Mucho Macho Man,” he said. {"id":3,"instanceName":"Articles No Playlist","videos":[{"videoType":"HTML5","title":"Gary Stevens, Asking Old Questions Anew","description":"","info":"","thumbImg":"","mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/307148428.sd.mp4?s=a022d6994451326f6bb3016b77f409b5b43f763e&profile_id=165","enable_mp4_download":"no","prerollAD":"yes","prerollGotoLink":"prerollGotoLink","preroll_mp4_title":"preroll_mp4_title","preroll_mp4":"https://player.vimeo.com/external/304696837.sd.mp4?s=ca9456b0fe7b3bccd8bbfa2ed7750225cd70ddcf&profile_id=165","prerollSkipTimer":"5","midrollAD":"no","midrollAD_displayTime":"midrollAD_displayTime","midrollGotoLink":"midrollGotoLink","midroll_mp4":"midroll_mp4","midrollSkipTimer":"midrollSkipTimer","postrollAD":"no","postrollGotoLink":"postrollGotoLink","postroll_mp4":"postroll_mp4","postrollSkipTimer":"postrollSkipTimer","popupAdShow":"no","popupImg":"popupImg","popupAdStartTime":"popupAdStartTime","popupAdEndTime":"popupAdEndTime","popupAdGoToLink":"popupAdGoToLink"}],"instanceTheme":"light","playerLayout":"fitToContainer","videoPlayerWidth":720,"videoPlayerHeight":405,"videoRatio":1.7777777777778,"videoRatioStretch":true,"videoPlayerShadow":"effect1","colorAccent":"#000000","posterImg":"","posterImgOnVideoFinish":"","logoShow":"No","logoPath":"","logoPosition":"bottom-right","logoClickable":"No","logoGoToLink":"","allowSkipAd":true,"advertisementTitle":"Ad","skipAdvertisementText":"Skip Ad","skipAdText":"You can skip this ad in","playBtnTooltipTxt":"Play","pauseBtnTooltipTxt":"Pause","rewindBtnTooltipTxt":"Rewind","downloadVideoBtnTooltipTxt":"Download video","qualityBtnOpenedTooltipTxt":"Close settings","qualityBtnClosedTooltipTxt":"Settings","muteBtnTooltipTxt":"Mute","unmuteBtnTooltipTxt":"Unmute","fullscreenBtnTooltipTxt":"Fullscreen","exitFullscreenBtnTooltipTxt":"Exit fullscreen","infoBtnTooltipTxt":"Show info","embedBtnTooltipTxt":"Embed","shareBtnTooltipTxt":"Share","volumeTooltipTxt":"Volume","playlistBtnClosedTooltipTxt":"Show playlist","playlistBtnOpenedTooltipTxt":"Hide playlist","facebookBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Facebook","twitterBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Twitter","googlePlusBtnTooltipTxt":"Share on Google+","lastBtnTooltipTxt":"Go to last video","firstBtnTooltipTxt":"Go to first video","nextBtnTooltipTxt":"Play next video","previousBtnTooltipTxt":"Play previous video","shuffleBtnOnTooltipTxt":"Shuffle on","shuffleBtnOffTooltipTxt":"Shuffle off","nowPlayingTooltipTxt":"NOW PLAYING","embedWindowTitle1":"SHARE THIS PLAYER:","embedWindowTitle2":"EMBED THIS VIDEO IN YOUR SITE:","embedWindowTitle3":"SHARE LINK TO THIS PLAYER:","lightBox":false,"lightBoxAutoplay":false,"lightBoxThumbnail":"","lightBoxThumbnailWidth":400,"lightBoxThumbnailHeight":220,"lightBoxCloseOnOutsideClick":true,"onFinish":"Play next video","autoplay":false,"loadRandomVideoOnStart":"No","shuffle":"No","playlist":"Off","playlistBehaviourOnPageload":"opened (default)","playlistScrollType":"light","preloadSelfHosted":"none","hideVideoSource":true,"showAllControls":true,"rightClickMenu":true,"autohideControls":2,"hideControlsOnMouseOut":"No","nowPlayingText":"Yes","infoShow":"No","shareShow":"No","facebookShow":"No","twitterShow":"No","mailShow":"No","facebookShareName":"","facebookShareLink":"","facebookShareDescription":"","facebookSharePicture":"","twitterText":"","twitterLink":"","twitterHashtags":"","twitterVia":"","googlePlus":"","embedShow":"No","embedCodeSrc":"","embedCodeW":720,"embedCodeH":405,"embedShareLink":"","youtubeControls":"custom controls","youtubeSkin":"dark","youtubeColor":"red","youtubeQuality":"default","youtubeShowRelatedVideos":"Yes","vimeoColor":"00adef","showGlobalPrerollAds":false,"globalPrerollAds":"url1;url2;url3;url4;url5","globalPrerollAdsSkipTimer":5,"globalPrerollAdsGotoLink":"","videoType":"HTML5 (self-hosted)","submit":"Save Changes","rootFolder":"http:\/\/wp.tdn.pmadv.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/Elite-video-player\/"} Indeed, his late-career renaissance was prompted by a sense of unfinished business. “I’d lost that burn,” Stevens said, about his retirement in 2005. “The only thing that was lighting me up was a million-dollar race. That’s what was turning the trigger on. When I came back [in 2013], I’d realized some things–things I still needed to do.” In saying that, Stevens’s whole career has been pockmarked with periods of restlessness and hungry curiosity–just take the years leading to and from the millennium. He was still enjoying his pick of horses Stateside, and yet he upped-sticks to Europe on various busman’s holidays, riding regularly for the likes of John Gosden and Andre Fabre, as well as a couple of sirs: Henry Cecil and Michael Stoute. Straddling the transatlantic this way, he’s in an enviable position to pass judgment on some of the most successful trainers of the modern era. He rattled off the ones he’s ridden for, epic-list style–making sure his father, trainer Ron Stevens, got first call–before hopscotching over names like Whittingham, Lukas, and Frankel, as well as the aforementioned Euros. “I mean, these are champion trainers that any guy hopes he can ride one for,” he said. “That list is huge.” In terms of “ease of communication,” he singles out Stoute and Richard Mandella for highest honors. Indeed, with Stoute, “his work was done at home,” said Stevens. “I would go to his house and sit like we’re sitting right now the night before a race, and we would discuss what we thought may or may not happen. The next day, as soon as I was finished riding, the phone would ring and it would be Michael. We would discuss the horses, what had just been done. Good, bad or indifferent.” As for Mandella, “there’s a reason he’s in Charlie Whittingham’s barn at Santa Anita,” Stevens said. “They’re so meticulous in their work. You know, people always say, ‘oh, they always get the best-bred horses.’ But best-bred horses don’t mean anything unless the guy calling the shots knows what to do with them.” Stevens’s upbringing in the pristine wilds of Idaho, breaking thoroughbreds when he was nine years old, hardly seasoned him for the opulent living rooms of knighted Newmarket trainers. “I mean, we weren’t wealthy at all, but I thought we were the richest kids in the world.” What it did prepare him for was the decidedly Dickensian world of racetrack life, where a hard-scrabble rise through the ranks is achieved through luck, wile and gumption, and not a little hard graft. He describes his father, Ron, as “the Idaho version of Vince Lombardi,” the so called “toughest” coach in pro football. “You lived the Vince Lombardi way, man. If you mess up, go run a lap. If it’s a horse, if you mess up, go and clean that horse’s hooves. Not just one horse, do the whole shed row. You didn’t make the same mistake twice.” It instilled a philosophy of never make-do. “And if people say, ‘you can’t do this,’ I like to prove them wrong.” When he came out of retirement at 50, for example, “they honestly thought I was crazy, including ‘The Chief,’ Allen Jerkens. I’ll never forget the day that I was at Gulfstream to ride Mucho Macho Man, after I’d won the Breeders’ Cup Classic. [Jerkens] came up to me and he says, ‘Gary, I thought you were completely crazy, but you proved me wrong. You still have it.'” That same shape-shifter quality of his career maketh the man, too–some would distill it down to being “complicated.” For on the one hand, there’s his swagger and ease before the camera–the part of him, armed with a press-ready quip, that led to gigs on NBC and in film. “I’ve always been very confident in my gut feelings,” he said. “They’ve worked out pretty well for me since I was an early teen. If it looks like arrogance, it’s not. That’s just the way I was taught. In every great rider you see it–in their demeanor, walking out to the paddock.” There was his cerebral approach to race-riding, and the tunnel vision–how he largely shut out the press a week before a big race. “Until two weeks ago, that’s how I approached a racehorse. I’m going into battle out there, and I need to know every move of the jockey, what their pluses are, what their minuses are, and the horses they’re riding.” Then there’s the candor, and his “heart on my sleeve” probity. “Sometimes I say some things that I regret, but hopefully, I’m man enough that I can recognize it, and make apologies to make things right.” One aspect of his life that he’s been strikingly forthright about are his struggles with injury, and the resulting addiction issues. Indeed, Stevens and injury have long been bedfellows, though decidedly unhappy ones. As a child, he suffered from Parthes disease, which affects the hip. It put him in a metal leg brace for months. And from there pretty much, the injuries kept adding up and adding up. A collapsed lung and the broken vertebrae from a fall in 2003, for example. The broken collarbone from a training accident in 2010. A new knee and the new hip in recent years. Mind you, the ol’ joints have never been what you’d call precision engineered. “Your knee is going to look like a watermelon by the time you’re 35 years old,” the doctors once told him. “I don’t really know what riding pain-free is,” he added. “I really don’t. From 16 years old, there’s always been a broken finger or broken toe or elbow that’s been bounced off the starting gate.” It’s manageable when the adrenaline’s flowing, “covering whatever you’ve injured,” Stevens said. But when the adrenaline stops, boy, does the hurtin’ come back bad. “I’ve been addicted to pain pills on different occasions throughout my career–hard to get off of,” he admitted, matter-of-fact. His problems with alcohol have also been well documented. An all too common part of a jockey’s life. When Garrett Gomez and Chris Antley–“Chris was like my little brother”–both succumbed to their own individual demons, “there was no emotion because it was something I expected.” What would help, he said, is if the riding weights were raised in the U.S. “It’s hard, and people will say you can’t do it, but we’re not making them as small as we used to, especially here in America and in Europe. Our nutrition has changed a lot. [Children are] getting bigger and bigger and bigger.” And whilst on the subject of change, let’s talk about the racing calendar. “The problem with our sport here in America is we’re year-round,” he said. “There’s never any downtime. It’s not a six-month sport where you can heal things up. Sometimes we’re healing ourselves up in competition, and then something else goes wrong.” Those particular dramas are behind him now, once and for all–no more maybes. No more farewell tours. Indeed, already he’s started shedding his riding equipment, gifting saddles to close friends, taking a leaf out of Laffit Pincay’s book, “the Pirate,” who in retirement gave Mike Smith his saddle with the “skull and crossbones on it.” There’s a new career on the horizon (which Stevens stubbornly won’t reveal). And there’s the surgery at the end of the month. “I’m a little bit scared because you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s not easy. It’s not cut and dry.” All of which he’s viewing, however, with a backward glance, over Derby wins–three in all–that have placed tectonic strains on his personal life. Over Breeders’ Cup victories–11 in all–that have asked unreasonable demands of his body. “I said all along this game has peaks and valleys, and it seemed like the longer a valley was, the higher the peak.” And yet, Stevens added, “I wouldn’t change anything.” So, what’s driven him all these years? Religion? Faith? Family, he said, parents, wife, children, grandchildren, have been key. And then there’s the specter of that great imponderable. “It’s like the old Kris Kristofferson song, ‘Why Me Lord?’ Of all the billions and billions of people that are born, I could not understand, couldn’t grasp it,” he said. “As my career kept on, I still asked, “why me?” He’s asking it now, under new but not unfamiliar circumstances, knowing there won’t be an answer. Chances are, there never will be. But it’s not surprising the question keeps cropping up. That hungry curiosity–it’s got him this far. As for where it takes him now–well, we’ll just have to find out. View the full article

Prize money across France will be maintained in 2019 after France Galop unveiled their budget for next year, despite a decline in receipts from the PMU, Jour de Galop reported. France Galop President Edouard de Rothschild confirmed the news before the Committee of France Galop on Monday. France-Galop will draw on its monetary reserves and has also asked for an advance from the PMU which will keep purses at the same level in 2019. Also, in an effort to decrease operating expenses, racing at Maisons-Laffitte will cease at the end of 2019 as previously announced in November. “As of Dec. 9, the bets on horses are down 2.6% compared to last year,” said de Rothschild during the proceedings. “That’s 220 million in less than 11 months and nearly 70 million products gross of bets, also in less. This is a continuation of the trend of the last eight years in which we lost around 1.8 billion in bets. Beginning in the second half of 2017, not accepting this reality, I started, along with my trotting colleagues, to search, then find and set up new management at the PMU. New management to revisit and revive the business. He continued, “Cyril Linette unveiled the main outlines of his plan at the last Committee meeting. This plan has now become a concrete one, with a series of initiatives planned for the beginning of the year. Among them: the new Quinté +, the simplification of the range of bets. These objectives all have in common the goal of winning back the most faithful players, to give them the desire to play with a more readable product, and higher earnings expectations. Why should we believe in this plan more than all those that have been presented to you for years? By that the PMU’s turnover assumptions for the three years ahead are realistic. The management plans, for 2020 and 2021, [are] a level of stakes close to the figure of 2018. Thirty million in marketing, sales and IT expenses are budgeted to finance this stimulus in 2019. Half of the budget will be devoted to recruit new bettors.” View the full article

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program has been awarded a grant from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals through their Rescuing Racers initiative, the charity announced Tuesday. New Vocations was one of nine equine adoption and rescue groups to receiver a portion of $225,000 that was disseminated as part of the initiative in 2018. The grant will help New Vocations further its mission to rehab, retrain and rehome retiring Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses. Many horses retiring from the racetrack have injuries that require time and rehabilitation before they can begin transitional training for a second career. The money awarded will support New Vocations’ goal of taking in additional injured horses and caring for them until they are ready to begin transitional training for placement into new homes. “While their racing careers may have ended, these retirees still have much to offer,” said Dr. Emily Weiss, vice president of ASPCA Equine Welfare. “New Vocations has been a leader in transitioning and finding new homes for these horses. We are pleased to award them this grant through our ASPCA Rescuing Racers Initiative to help them continue this lifesaving work.” “We are excited that the ASPCA sees the need and is willing to help New Vocations with our rehabilitation efforts,” added New Vocations Executive Director Dot Morgan. “Stressed and injured racehorses need time and educated hands to heal. However, time and veterinary care are costly. This wonderful grant from the ASPCA will allow New Vocations to give retiring racehorses the respite and care they need before they begin the next chapter of their lives.” View the full article

Champion apprentice jockey Jason Watson will ride as number one jockey to Roger Charlton in 2019.Watson stamped his authority on the apprentice race and hitting the headlines in the summer when winning the Stewards’ Cup at Glorious Goodwood for Hugo Palmer aboard Gifted Master (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). The teenager also bagged Group 1 honours for Luca Cumani through God Given (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in Italy. Beckhampton trainer Charlton said on his website, www.rogercharlton.com, “I am really pleased to announce that Jason Watson, this year’s champion apprentice, will be riding for Beckhampton as first jockey next year. I have watched his progress with interest and I have been most impressed by what I have seen. He is a very strong, stylish, determined and he has a good understanding of race tactics. He has ridden 110 winners this year, and in winning the apprentice championship by a margin of 26 winners, he rode more winners than any other apprentice since Paul Hanagan in 2002; more than Oisin Murphy, William Buick and David Probert.” He added, “Adam McNamara will continue to ride as our second jockey. He is part of the team here and knows the horses well. He has now ridden over a 100 winners and rode 20% of our total this year.” View the full article

Wings Of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moir {Ire}-Ysoldina {Fr}, by Kendor {Fr}), who won the G1 Investec Derby in 2017, and high-class stayer and MG1SW Order of St George (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}-Another Storm, by Gone West) have been recruited to Coolmore’s National Hunt division and will stand at The Beeches Stud and Castlehyde Stud in Ireland, respectively. Both will command €6,500. Wings Of Eagles, who was bred by Aliette and Giles Forien at Haras de Montaigu in France, stood his first year at stud at his birthplace for €8,000 this term, while Order of St George will be standing his first season in 2019. “He’s an Epsom Derby winner from the Montjeu (Ire) sire line and is a fine, big horse, seriously good-looking and good-actioned-just the type people in our business want to breed to,” said The Beeches Stud Manager Robert McCarthy. “Order of St George is a lovely mover with quality, size and scope in abundance,” commented Cathal Murphy of the two-time G1 Irish St. Leger hero. “He won a total of 11 races including the Irish St Leger as a 3-year-old by a margin of 11 lengths, which earned him a Timeform rating of 129, along with the Ascot Gold Cup the following season. No horse since Fame And Glory has retired straight to [a] National Hunt stud with such a high rating and we’re delighted to have him at Castlehyde.” 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. Wednesday’s Insights features the return of a half-sister to dual Arc heroine Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}). 12.40 Lingfield, Cond, £5,800, 2yo, f, 7f 1y (AWT) Anthony Oppenheimer’s homebred newcomer COZI BAY (GB) (Kingman {GB}) is kin to MGSW sire Zebedee (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and one of two contenders from the John Gosden stable. Her rivals include once-raced stablemate Beehaar (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), who is a great-granddaughter of the storied Miesque (Nureyev). 2.25 Lingfield, Cond, £5,800, 2yo, 8f 1y (AWT) Khalid Abdullah’s ENTITLE (GB) (Dansili {GB}) ran sixth in a June heat at Newmarket and gets a second chance to shed maiden status before season’s end. Representing the same John Gosden yard as her MG1SW half-sister Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), she is opposed by a cast of 11 featuring Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s homebred firster Alandalos (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who is a daughter of G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Coronation S. heroine Ghanaati (Giant’s Causeway), from the Charles Hills stable; and China Horse Club International’s fellow newcomer Martin King (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who is a Clive Cox-trained son of GI Beverly D S. victress I’m A Dreamer (Ire) (Noverre). View the full article

The Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau has created a digital identification tattoo for racehorses and expects the system to be implemented by 2020 across North America, the organization announced Tuesday. With wireless technology, the tattoo will require two-factor authentication–scanning a microchip and uploading updated digital photos of horses of racing age–to provide a superior form of identification and further ensure integrity. Starting Jan. 1, 2020, any Thoroughbred making a first lifetime start in a recognized parimutuel race that has not been previously tattooed will need to have the TPRB Digital Tattoo in order to be correctly identified in the paddock and permitted to race. The TRPB employs 56 technicians throughout the United States and Canada who will be responsible for applying the digital tattoo. Owners must ensure that their Thoroughbreds have been microchipped and registered with The Jockey Club. Microchips became a condition of foal registration starting with foals born in 2017. For more information about the introduction and rollout of the digital tattoo, visit the TRPB website or call Emma Smith at (410) 398-2261, ext. 248. View the full article

TDN: Favourite racing moment of the year? DC: It would have to be Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy)’s win in the G1 Moyglare S. I loved the enthusiasm of the filly, the trainer, and especially the owners. In an era of mega owners, it renewed my faith in the sport of racing and the possibility that if we try and try again it could be our turn. TDN: A horse that really stood out for you in 2018? DC: I was very impressed with Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the G2 Coventry S. at Royal Ascot. Unfortunately he meet with a setback but the second, Advertise (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), subsequently franked the form in winning a Group 1. TDN: An outstanding achievement by a breeder, owner or trainer? DC: It would have to be how quickly Charlie Appleby has progressed to become a master of his craft. TDN: Big hope for 2019? DC: That the dawn of the “new” Curragh racecourse brings about a new racing clientele in Ireland, badly needed for our sport. TDN: Your New Year’s resolution? DC: To find out from Horse Racing Ireland what are the criteria needed for Naas racecourse to become a Premier racetrack. View the full article