Wandering Eyes

City of Light (Quality Road), a dominating winner of the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs Nov. 3, will make his next start in the $9-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park. “We’re very pleased with the way the horse came out of the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “He’s had a couple of nice works so far. We couldn’t be happier with the way he’s training, and we’re looking forward to taking part in the Pegasus.” City of Light defeated Horse of the Year candidate Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) by a neck in the GII Oaklawn H. in April, his last attempt at the Pegasus distance of 1 1/8 miles. “I think it’s well within him to get the mile and an eighth,” McCarthy said. “Gulfstream is a speed-favoring racetrack and he has plenty of that. He’s rateable, so hopefully we get a nice racetrack and everybody shows up doing the best they can on the day.” View the full article

Jockeys and Jeans will hold its annual online sale beginning on Starquine.com Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 8:00 p.m. and ending Friday, Jan. 18 at 8:00 p.m. But for the first time, Jockeys and Jeans is asking stallion season owners/syndicates and managers to designate one or more seasons to popular stallions as non-guaranteed, or as is often the case when a non-guaranteed season is already being sold, sell it as private treaty as sellers ordinarily do and donate all or a percentage of that season price to PDJF. The percentage of the season donated as well as the amount donated will only be disclosed if the syndicate or farm allows. The price of the season itself remains between seller and buyer. “We’ve learned that some stallion syndicates are not allowed to offer seasons at auction and others want the sale prices of their stallion seasons kept private,” Jockeys and Jeans President Barry Pearl said. “But, of course we will heavily advertise the farms and stallions who take part, and we will publically thank them. Our fundraising efforts have drawn wide support in the horse racing community and we are convinced season buyers will give those designated stallions extra considerations knowing the season owners are supporting Fallen Jockeys.” View the full article

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Chukyo and Hanshin Racecourses, the latter of which plays host to the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity and US-bred Aster Pegasus (Giant’s Causeway): Saturday, December 15, 2018 1st-HSN, ¥9,550,000 ($84k), Maiden, 2yo, 1400m DURABLE (JPN) (f, 2, Curlin–Hurricane Flag, by Storm Cat) caught a soft turf course on her July debut at Chukyo and finished seventh of 11 in her lone start to date. The filly’s dam, a half-sister to GSW Animal Spirits (Arch) and to the dam of ‘TDN Rising Star’ Ocho Ocho Ocho (Street Sense), was sold for $530K carrying this foal in utero at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton November sale. Durable’s third dam was the undefeated champion Personal Ensign (Private Account), dam of MGISW My Flag (Easy Goer) and granddam of champion Storm Flag Flying (Storm Cat). B-K I Farm 5th-CKO, ¥13,400,000 ($118k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m APOLLO LAS VEGAS (c, 2, Tiznow–Valiant Passion, by Lion Heart), a $60K Keeneland September yearling, is out of a half-sister to SW & GSP It’s Your Nickel (Dialed In) who was third to R Heat Lightning (see below) as the favorite in the 2010 GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga. The February foal’s third dam Nidd (Known Fact) was a Group 3-winning half-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Skywalker. B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY) Sunday, December 16, 2018 7th-HSN, ¥13,720,000 ($121k), Allowance, 2yo, 1800m FORT WADSWORTH (c, 2, Verrazano–Opulence, by Giant’s Causeway) debuted with a close fourth on turf at this track, then switched to the main track to graduate second time out Sept. 8 (see below, gate 5). The bay is a maternal grandson of GI Belmont S. winner Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy), while GSW & MGISP third dam Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister) is also responsible for fellow Belmont victor Jazil (Seeking the Gold), GSW & G1SP Casino Drive (Mineshaft) and Breeders’ Cup Marathon hero Man of Iron (Giant’s Causeway). This is also the family of GISW Streaming (Smart Strike), SW Treasuring (Smart Strike) and SW Cascading (A.P. Indy). B-Chelston (KY) 11th-HSN, Asahi Hai Futurity-G1, ¥135.5m ($1.2m), 2yo, 1600mT ASTER PEGASUS (c, 2, Giant’s Causeway–R Heat Lightning, by Trippi) is the first foal to race from the aforementioned 2010 Spinaway winner and hit the ground running, with victories in a June 24 newcomers’ test ahead of the G3 Hakodate Nisai S. a month later (see below, gate 6). The $150K KEESEP graduate was most recently a close fifth to the undefeated and re-opposing Fantasist (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) in the G2 Keio Hai Nisai S. Nov. 3. B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY) View the full article

And so the year wheels round to its end, releasing the excitements of 2018 towards their eventual repose in nostalgia–while, at the same time, hauling our ambitions for 2019 from the comfortable realm of dreams into the pitiless daily pressures of works, setbacks and races. This year, out of nowhere, that process yielded a colt of unprecedented accomplishment. But if it is too much to hope for another Justify (Scat Daddy) next time round, then at least the farm whose colours he carried in the GI Kentucky Derby can embrace the new cycle with an enthusiasm more than equal to any regrets they may have about closing the book on the last one. For WinStar–along with China Horse Club and SF Bloodstock, also partners in Justify–already find themselves with two of the leading colts of the next Classic generation. Both are sons of the remarkable City Zip, who is making us mourn his death in nearly the same fashion as the late sire of Justify. There is talk of Royal Ascot for Bulletin, winner of the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint; while the success of Improbable in the GI Los Alamitos Futurity S. last weekend consolidated his credentials to bring Justify’s owners back to the Churchill winner’s circle on the first Saturday in May. In volunteering himself to fill a void on the Triple Crown trail, moreover, Improbable also serves as a useful symbol of WinStar’s determination to move on; to keep looking to the future. For rather than follow the Justify whirlwind into his second career, Kenny Troutt and his team calculated that the champion could power something still more enduring. Justify was duly sold to stand at Ashford instead. Not that it was an easy call. “It was extremely difficult to sell Justify,” admits WinStar president and CEO Elliott Walden. “But looking at where we are, in the timeline of our business and from a standpoint of financial resource, Coolmore’s 50 years ahead of us. Kenny is passionate about WinStar being successful on a lot of different fronts. He’s passionate about his contributions to different organizations: the racetrack chaplaincy, the PDJF, aftercare. But he is also a businessman. The number one asset in his portfolio is WinStar Farm, and he has a responsibility to his family and all the employees at WinStar to make it sustainable. “He’s never taken a dime out of the business. Not once in 18 years has he asked for any money back. We have reinvested $56 million in bloodstock over the last three years. Those dollars are put back in the game, and in the pockets of our fellow breeders and racehorse owners. But at the same time he wants it to operate itself, he wants it to grow, he wants us to try and get better bloodstock all the time.” Walden stresses his total faith in Justify’s prospects at stud. “That’s what made it so difficult a decision,” he says. “On one hand he was the kind of horse that could be a tremendous stallion, and I think he will be. In fact we’re breeding 12 mares to him. So we’re all in. On the other hand, the decision allowed us to reinvest. Already since [his sale] we’ve been trying to upgrade our broodmare band, and we’ve put a good group of nice yearlings together.” This way, the whole farm gets a lift. Even the most glamorous individual addition to the stallion roster wouldn’t necessarily change the whole game. As such, it would be wrong to speak of Justify being “cashed in”. Far from trying to make a fast buck, WinStar was actually taking a longer view: play it this way now, and they might not have to sell if ever they are lucky enough to race a prospect like that again. This willingness to see the bigger picture can also be seen in the farm’s response to the recession of 2008. Over the next couple of years, a conscious decision was made to expand the roster from six to 20 (now 22). Deals with Vinery and Pauls Mill respectively absorbed More Than Ready (Southern Halo) and Pioneerof the Nile (Empire Maker), Bellamy Road (Concerto) and Artie Schiller (El Prado {Ire}). “At the same time, we also took our broodmare band from 60 to 150,” Walden elaborates. “We realized that the infrastructure of the farm, at that moment, was not sustainable with so few stallions and mares; that we needed to expand. And what we did is expand quickly, and cheaply. So the last five years we have been improving that bloodstock, and now we want to continue upgrading the next ten years.” The present one, after all, is actually a good market for longer term investment. The elite animals, admittedly, are very expensive; but there is real value available in quality stock for the end-user who is not just seeking a rapid commercial return. And that is just as well, given that it is such a numbers game. “I do think there is power in numbers,” Walden explains. “When you have a mare abort, and you own five mares, it’s a tremendous hit. If you have 150, there are economies of scale, you can take out the real peaks and valleys of the business. Because people get so caught up in thinking you have to have the best, there’s a great opportunity right below that for people to really grow themselves in this business.” Along with the quality, WinStar has sought to improve diversity. Walden speaks of altering “silo” thinking on bloodlines, surfaces and racing disciplines. There have been partnerships with the likes of Newgate in Australia, for instance, notably producing G1 Sires’ S. winner Invader (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}); while GI Woodward S. winner Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}) is the result of a mission to Japan, aimed at repatriating the Halo line. “We got fortunate that we got the right horse,” Walden accepts. “Yoshida was the best horse at the sale. It’s turned out he’s high class on dirt and turf and I think he’s going to have a tremendous year in 2019. The way the business is going, I think it’s very attractive to have a stallion that does both. He was a very good fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, beaten 1 3/4 lengths. And while the winner was the best horse, the way the race was run he was probably second best.” So while certain farms, whether by accident or design, develop a reputation for standing a particular type of stallion, Walden feels that WinStar is now avoiding pigeonholes. “I think we’ve grown, we’ve opened that up,” Walden says. “I would say five years ago we were probably focused on the mile-and-a-quarter dirt horse, but then made a conscious decision to go out and look for different opportunities.” Hence, in fact, the investment in these two blazing youngsters by City Zip. Equally, however, a bullet breezer by Into Mischief out of a Gilded Time mare has proved able to stretch out for third in the Kentucky Derby. Audible returned from a layoff to win over seven furlongs on the Breeders’ Cup undercard and runs in the GIII Harlan’s Holiday S. at Gulfstream Saturday as a reconnaissance for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational. “He’s really exciting and we couldn’t be happier, both with the way he ran and the way he came out of the race,” Walden reports. “Going down the backside in the Derby, with Justify going :45, my thoughts were: ‘Well, this is not going to hold up.’ So I started watching Audible, who was mid-pack, and he made a tremendous run to just get beat for second. He’s a very high class horse, arguably the best 3-year-old in the country behind Justify, and the most beautiful Into Mischief you’ve ever seen. He has Gilded Time qualities, too: muscle, balance and scope. And that’s something that excites us from a stallion perspective.” In the meantime, there is already plenty of young blood on the roster–not least in the horse who preceded Justify on the Classic roll of honour. Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) will be standing alongside his sire, who arguably did not get sufficient credit for producing a Kentucky Derby winner from his very first crop. “He hits the ground a little lighter than his daddy. Bodemeister‘s out of a Storm Cat mare, and is a little blockier. Always Dreaming is more of a cat, and I think that bodes well for his future. We’re really excited about that athleticism he has. I loved his [GI] Florida Derby on a fast racetrack, and his Kentucky Derby on a sloppy racetrack. And he comes from a very fast, Grade I-placed mare in Above Perfection (In Excess {Ire}), who has produced two Grade I winners [the other is Hot Dixie Chick (Dixie Union)]–as well as Positive Spirit (Pioneerof The Nile), who just won the GII Demoiselle S. by 10 1/2 lengths.” Walden identifies rookie Good Samaritan as particularly good value among the younger stallions. “He just got beat a head in the [GI] Clark H. and won the [GII] Summer S., which is now a Grade I,” he says. “And if he’d won a Grade I he’d be standing for three times the money. As it is, he’s great value at $12,500: a beautiful horse, the last great son of Harlan’s Holiday from a tremendous family, with Outstandingly and Bernstein and Sky Mesa in there, and he was extremely versatile. He was also as hard-knocking a horse as we’ve had in recent times. He broke his maiden and then ran in 14 straight graded races.” A personal favourite among new sires last year was Carpe Diem (Giant’s Causeway) and Walden confirms that his yearlings–73 sold at an average $134,704, fourth in the intake–are going down well. “They just look the part,” he says. “He’s out of an Unbridled’s Song mare and they have that scope, but they have the fast-twitch muscle too. And he was a really good 2-year-old himself. Exaggerator also has foals now, and they’re looking really good too. A young son of Curlin, three-time Grade I winner, good 2-year-old: of course we’re excited. “But we’ve just got a lot of exciting young horses. Constitution (Tapit). Daredevil (More Than Ready), another that was an extremely fast 2-year-old. Commissioner, last son of A.P. Indy. So it could happen from a number of different directions where we could get our next great stallion.” And, if it turns out that WinStar have just allowed one such to go stand somewhere else, then the comfort is that Justify’s sale will in the meantime have sponsored the kind of upgrades to the broodmare band that can help make not just one stallion, but many. Moreover the whole joy of the Triple Crown adventure will never fade away. True, there was one small cloud when unworthy aspersions were muttered about the withdrawal from the Belmont of Audible, who actually had suffered bone bruising and lost zest in training. Walden is still hurt by suggestions that Audible was deliberately removed from Justify’s path as the moment of truth loomed. “With the blessings, there’s always things that you have to deal with,” he says with a shrug. “We always try to do right by our horses and Todd [Pletcher] felt like the horse wasn’t ready to give his best effort. We were very willing to run. I felt that if Justify was supposed to be a Triple Crown winner, he would be a Triple Crown winner–and nothing could stand in his way. “I had some experience in the ’90s with Real Quiet and Victory Gallop, and realized something about Triple Crown winners: they don’t get beat. There’s no excuse, there’s no rabbit, there’s no speed confrontation, there’s no troubled trip. If they’re supposed to be a Triple Crown winner, nothing will stand in their way. That’s why there’s only been 13 of them in the history of horse racing. That’s why it’s special.” That’s also why nobody can sensibly expect a horse in the same colours to emerge, so soon, as any kind of worthy successor to Justify. There is, in fact, only one word to describe the odds against that eventuality. Improbable. View the full article

Michael Blowen, founder and president of Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Facility based in Georgetown, Ky, announced Friday that there has been no official agreement made with Elizabeth Neil or Doug Freeland to open an “Old Friends West” Thoroughbred retirement facility. “I believe an affiliate on the West Coast is an excellent idea,” Blowen said. “California is a huge racing hub, and Thoroughbreds bred and campaigned there deserve a dignified retirement in their home state where their fans are. However, while we have been in very preliminary discussions, no final agreement has been met, and [Thursday’s] press release was premature. At Old Friends, we don’t like to put the cart before the horse–in fact, we don’t like to put anything before the horse!” View the full article

Over two years ago, the tale of Starspangledbanner (Aus) (Choisir {Aus}) was recounted on these pages. His dual-hemisphere racing career saw him become one of the top sprinters on the planet and an unusual complication with his ownership saw a 5% share in him being sold on an Australian bloodstock trading website. The surprise and disappointment of Starspangledbanner’s subfertility in his second career led to him being returned to racing and almost gelded, but then the phenomenal performance of his first small crop brought him back into people’s minds. Then, defying all veterinary logic, his return to fertility gave him a second chance at stud. It was quite a story. Now, the passage of time has led us to the beginning of the next chapter of this tale, with the first of Starspangledbanner’s big crops being just months away from reaching the racecourse. Based on the evidence of Starspangledbanner’s small crops to date, there is understandably a great amount of anticipation and indeed expectation that he can prove to be the real deal. From his first Northern Hemisphere crop of just 33 foals in 2012, Starspangledbanner produced a Group 1 winner in The Wow Signal (Ire), two Group 2 winners in Home Of The Brave (Ire) and Anthem Alexander (Ire), the Group 3 winner Spangled (GB), the listed winners Silver Rainbow (Ire), Meliora (Ire) and Last Gift (Ire), as well as three other stakes performers including the Grade 1-placed Great Wide Open (Ire). All told, that first crop produced 14 runners that achieved RPRs in excess of 95, with five of those reaching in excess of 110. It’s hard not to view this as a sensational performance given the low numbers of foals produced from a €15,000 covering fee. However, his subfertility put paid to his prospects of producing bigger crops in the years that followed, with his efforts in 2012 prior to being returned to training yielding just 11 foals in 2013. That would prove to be his last season covering mares in Ireland until 2016, with small crops of foals from mostly moderate mares in Australia in the meantime. Despite these restricted opportunities, Starspangledbanner still showed what he could do as a sire, with his 2015 crop in Australia producing the listed winner and Group 2-placed performer Thrillster (Aus) as well as the exciting Hong Kong-based sprinter Styling City (Aus), who has won four of his first six starts. Most recently, he was responsible for a 2-year-old filly called Brooklyn Hustle (Aus) who made an eye-catching winning debut at Moonee Valley in Australia last month. It is the crop of foals that Starspangledbanner sired after returning to Ireland in 2016 that is now the focus of attention. While he was still considered a risky proposition as a sire when first arriving back to Ireland, word gradually spread of his encouraging return to fertility and the quantity and quality of his mares increased as the 2016 season progressed. Those exploits resulted in 72 foals that are currently yearlings and have been lighting up the yearling sales in recent months. The 37 yearlings sold at public auction registered an average of over 75,000gns. The highlight amongst them was the half-sister to the smart sprinter Mrs Gallagher who realised 750,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 1. She was bought by Stroud Coleman Bloodstock on behalf of Godolphin. Other highlights came at the Goffs Orby Sale where a colt sold for €300,000 to Ric Wylie Bloodstock and another colt was bought by Form Bloodstock for €180,000. He had five other yearlings that realised at least €100,000. Of his yearlings that didn’t go through the sales ring, pedigrees that catch the eye are a half-sister to the listed winner Salateen (Ire), a half-brother to the listed winner Arya Tara (Ire) that will go into training with Joseph O’Brien and a half-brother to the highly-regarded juvenile trained by Aidan O’Brien called Old Glory (Ire). As interesting as it will be to see Starspangledbanner’s first big crop on the track in 2019, the prospect of his 2018 crop hitting the track in 2020 is arguably even more exciting. As could have been anticipated, with his exploits in 2016 having re-established him as a viable option for breeders, the quality of mares sent to him in 2017 was stronger than he received in 2016. From the returns that have been made to this point, there are at least 72 foals by Starspangledbanner on the ground. Of the 21 of them that went through the sale rings in recent weeks, five of them realised €100,000 or more. Among those that were not offered for sale as foals include a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Endowing (GB) and a half-brother to the Group 2 winner Raven’s Lady (GB). Looking even further ahead, Starspangledbanner has reportedly got a career-high 114 mares scanned in foal in Ireland this year, with 75 of them having either earned black-type, bred a black-type horse or being a sibling to a stakes winner. These include the Group 3 winners Flowers Of Spring (Ire) and Ponty Acclaim (Ire), the dam of the multiple Grade I winner Obviously (Ire) and the dam of the Group 3 winner Hamza (Ire). All of the above suggests that Starspangledbanner’s story should yet have some successful chapters to come. Stories such as this don’t come around very often. If his progeny deliver as hoped on the racecourse in the coming years, it will be one that will rival any that has emerged from the bloodstock world in recent decades. View the full article

TDN: Favourite racing moment of the year? MLF: Mab’s Cross (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) winning the G1 Prix de L’Abbaye. The Armstrongs are fantastic contributors to the sport and it was a well-deserved Group 1 win after her near miss in the Nunthorpe S. TDN: A horse that really stood out for you in 2018? MLF: Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), from a ‘who horse’ in April to winning the G1 Irish and G1 Yorkshire Oaks, then almost beating the great Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. TDN: An outstanding achievement by a breeder, owner or trainer? MLF: Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy), starting out in a March Dundalk maiden to finish winning the G1 Moyglare at The Curragh in September; an outstanding breeder, owner and trainer achievement. TDN: Big hope for 2019? MLF: Iridessa (Ire) to win the G1 Oaks, we are fans of her sire, Ruler of the World (Ire). TDN: Your new year’s resolution? MLF: To breed a horse as good as any of those listed above. View the full article

14:30 Cheltenham – Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle The highlight of Saturday’s racecard comes by way of the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle, also known as the Bristol Novices Hurdle, a Grade 2 race contested over three miles. In recent years it has been won by some high-class hurdlers such as Blaklion, Unowhatimeanharry and Wholestone and last season’s […] The post Picks From The Paddock Best Bet – Saturday 15th December appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

The New York Racing Association will know in within a week if it will be granted access to a state agency's bonding services and construction expertise to help it borrow to finance its big, future renovation program at Belmont Park. View the full article

Cheltenham Caspian Caviar Gold Cup Frodon carries top weight here and seems to have improved since a win-op, to win the Old Roan Chase and then finished runner-up to Baron Alco at Cheltenham. He’s a very classy individual but it’ll tough under a welter burden of 11-12. Baron Alco is one of the most consistent horses in […] The post Saturday Preview – Henderson Rather Likely To Be Lifting Caviar At Cheltenham appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

We are still trying to get runs in the horses and a few of my runners this weekend are having their season debuts. We have 2 runners at Doncaster on Saturday and then it’ll be a busy Sunday with 6 runners between Southwell and Carlisle. I’m looking forward to finding out more about lots of […] The post Donald McCain Blog – Weekend Runners appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Racing Post Nap 20:15 Kempton George Baker’s yard knows the winner’s enclosure well at Kempton and they look to have another nailed on chance this evening. The Lamplighter beat a subsequent winner over course and distance last month in impressive fashion despite the rider dropping the reins within the final furlong. The length and a […] The post Picks From The Paddock Best Bet – Friday 14th December appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

The Longines Hong Kong International Races photobomber has been found, with 37-year-old Australian Kelly Doobs owning up to what he calls “a little bit of Aussie fun humour”. Doobs came forward as the mystery man who was photographed with Longines Hong Kong Cup winner Glorious Forever on the track at Sha Tin last Sunday, sending a video that shows him high-fiving members of Frankie Lor Fu-chuen’s stables. “I was actually on Glorious Forever on the punt and I celebrated... View the full article

Want to understand the proposed future of Pimlico? One place to look would be to a race even older than the Preakness at a venue far more ancient than even Old Hilltop: Il Palio, the twice-yearly horse race around the Piazzo del Campo. View the full article

Canterbury Park's 2019 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse race meet was approved Dec. 13 by the Minnesota Racing Commission and will include 66 race dates, running May 3 through Sept. 14. View the full article

The California Horse Racing Board took a step toward a policy of out-of-competition testing with teeth during its monthly meeting Dec. 13 at Los Alamitos Race Course. View the full article

Local players spoke out on the Maryland Stadium Authority study that suggests a rebuild of Pimlico Race Course would cost $424 million. View the full article

The Maryland Jockey Club will offer 65 stakes, 13 graded, worth $9.2 million in purses through the first two-thirds of the 2019 calendar, it was announced Dec. 13. View the full article

When Brazilian billionaire Gilberto Sayao Da Silva purchased Nat Rea’s Regis Farm (formerly part of Rick Trontz’s Hopewell Farm) on Pisgah Pike in Woodford County in 2015, his wife christened the 300-plus acre property Bonne Chance Farm. The name, which means “good luck” in French, has been prophetic. That same year, Gilberto Sayao also bought Canadian champion Sealy Hill (Point Given) for $750,000 from the Regis dispersal. The Medaglia d’Oro filly she was carrying, the first Bonne Chance-bred yearling sold at auction, made $1.25 million at Keeneland September in 2017, positioning the farm as a boutique commercial breeder for the moment. However, plans to race a stable of homebreds in the future are already underway. “We are looking to strike the right balance,” said Brazilian Alberto Figueiredo, the general manager of Bonne Chance. “This year, we retained an Empire Maker colt who didn’t make what we thought he should, and from last year we have three fillies, now age two, including the Scat Daddy filly Iva, who is trained by Wesley Ward.” The first Bonne Chance homebred to race, Iva is a winner of two of three starts and was second in the House Party S. at Gulfstream last Saturday under the yellow and blue silks designed by Gilberto Sayao’s wife. It’s no coincidence that Gilberto Sayao bought Rea’s Regis Farm. In the two years that the Canadian Rea had been heavily invested in the Thoroughbred industry, he’d developed a relationship with Brazilian Goncalo Borges Torrealba, who with his family had established controlling interest in Three Chimneys in 2013. When Three Chimneys handled the Regis dispersal, Borges Torrealba, also the owner of Stud TNT in Brazil, advised Gilberto Sayao that Rea’s Kentucky farm was for sale. The sale was completed smoothly with most of the Regis staff, including farm manager John Durr, staying on to work for the new owner. Along with the Borges Torrealbas and the Chileans Oussama Aboughazale and the mother-son duo of Liliana Solari Falabella and Carlos Heller Solari, Gilberto Sayao is the latest South American to establish a significant foothold in the Bluegrass and make an impression. Three Chimneys was co-owner of Horse of the Year Gun Runner and stands the son of Candy Ride (Arg). Aboughazale shuttles two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome to his Haras Sumaya in Chile and bought what was formerly R. D. Hubbard’s Crystal Springs Farm in Bourbon County a few years ago and renamed it Haras Sumaya US. And the Solaris, who raced Eclipse Award winner Unique Bella, purchased Vinery in 2013 and renamed it Don Alberto Farm after their Haras Don Alberto in Chile. Like Stud TNT, Haras Sumaya, and Haras Don Alberto, Gilberto Sayao also races in South America, as Stud Rio Dois Irmaos (aka Stud RDI). It’s a successful racing and breeding operation in Brazil and Argentina with tentacles in France, though it’s a relatively young venture that was established in 2008 with partner Paulo Fernando Carvalho De Oliveira–also a partner in Gilberto Sayao’s business, Vinci Partners. Stud RDI has been managed from the start by Alberto Figueiredo, who’s been in and out of Lexington the last few years overseeing Bonne Chance’s development, and before that, worked as a yearling buyer at Keeneland for Stud RDI. I met him at three sales this year. He’s usually accompanied by P.C. Peixoto de Castro, owner of the storied Brazilian stud farm Fazenda Mondesir, and on his most recent trip last month, Figueiredo said it was likely that he’d eventually relocate to Kentucky as the farm takes on greater significance for Gilberto Sayao. Why Kentucky? “I think that’s because of the challenge to compete against the best in the world,” Figueiredo said. “You also have access to the best. It’s to be in the right place, you know, here, where the Thoroughbred happens.” Figueiredo said that Gilberto Sayao’s Stud RDI partner Paulo Fernando is not involved in the ownership of Bonne Chance, but that the partners continue to breed and race together in South America and elsewhere. At the moment, they are represented by the promising homebred filly Hacksaw Ridge (Brz) (Dubai Dust), an Argentine Group 1 winner from two starts. The recent GIII Berkeley H. winner at Golden Gate, Editore (Brz) (Redattore {Brz}), a Group 1 winner in Brazil, was bred by Stud Rio Dois Irmaos and races for Bonne Chance and Stud RDI under trainer Paulo Lobo’s direction. Lobo also trained Pretty Girl (Arg) (Harlan’s Holiday) for Bonne Chance and Stud RDI. A Group 1 winner in Argentina, she’d come to Lobo by way of France, where she’d won a Listed race for the partners. Lobo trained Pretty Girl to second-place finishes in both the GII Santa Ana S. at Santa Anita and the GII Yellow Ribbon H. at Del Mar in 2017. She was bred to Union Rags this spring. The Richard Mandella-trained homebred Baruta (Brz) (Crimson Tide {Ire}) was Stud Rio Dois Irmaos’s first graded stakes winner in the US when she won the GIII Senator Ken Maddy S. at Santa Anita in 2015. She’s now at Bonne Chance, and her first foal, a colt by Speightstown, was sold for $175,000 at Keeneland September this year. She has a Ghostzapper weanling and was bred to Quality Road for 2019. Strong Sales The farm is patronizing some high-class commercial sires, but it’s also successfully dealt with some less expensive horses–in one case, a sire well off the beaten path–which means that it knows how to select breeding stock, raise a good horse, and is lucky. The head scratcher was a 2-year-old filly by Exhi (Maria’s Mon) that Bonne Chance sold through Hidden Brook–Hidden Brook’s Sergio de Sousa is Figueiredo’s cousin–at the OBS Spring sale in April for $195,000. The filly had worked well and was a half-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue (Harlington), but her sire is obscure and stood for only $3,000 in Alberta this year. Bonne Chance knew well enough to maximize her sales potential as a 2-year-old in training instead of as a yearling. At Keeneland September this year, Bonne Chance had another profitable year with its second crop of 12 yearlings, six of them catalogued in Book 1. The farm sold two Uncle Mos for $625,000 and $410,000, a Medaglia d’Oro sister to the $1.25 million sale filly from last year for $425,000, a Giant’s Causeway for $450,000, and a Street Sense for $225,000, in addition to the $175,000 Speightstown from the Brazilian mare noted earlier. Those are formulaic commercial horses, but Bonne Chance also sold a Stormy Atlantic–an aged stallion who stood for an advertised price of $25,000 in 2016 when the mare was bred but could have been had for less–for $190,000. And then last month at Keeneland, the farm also sold two weanlings, a Quality Road for $180,000 and a Frosted for $170,000. It was a strikingly strong and uniform second sales season for a nursery that had produced only seven foals in 2016, 12 in 2017, and 15 this year. Bonne Chance is expecting a crop of 19 next year, and they’ll include foals by such sires as Quality Road, Speightstown, Union Rags, Distorted Humor, More Than Ready, Pioneerof the Nile, and Arrogate, as well as by such as English Channel, Twirling Candy, Connect, Creative Cause, and Tapizar, among others. “Every mare has a sire [that suits her best],” Figueiredo said. “We look at each mare individually and choose the best stallion for her on pedigree and physical match. Yes, we are looking at the commercial side, but we are also looking to breed stakes winners and we are looking for horses for the stable, too. We have foals this year by horses like Macho Uno and Mizzen Mast, for example. Perhaps a horse like Mizzen Mast doesn’t get a lot of attention, but he has shown he can get a very good horse.” The broodmare band numbers about 25-odd mares heading into 2019 and is comprised of well-bred Kentucky stock that Figueiredo had purchased as yearlings for Stud RDI to race in its early years, proven group or graded fillies that raced in South America, new purchases for the farm since 2015, and some European imports from France, including three mares by Galileo. Clearly, this isn’t Figueiredo’s first rodeo. Before his involvement with Gilberto Sayao, he was the racing manager for the legendary Brazilian owner-breeder Linneo Eduardo de Paula Machado’s Haras Sao Jose e Expedictus, which was founded in 1906 in Rio Claro in the state of Sao Paulo and is deeply engraved in Brazilian racing lore. It made an impression in the U.S. in the 1990s as Rio Claro Thoroughbreds, racing such as Group 1 winners Siphon (Brz) (Itajara {Brz}) and Virginie (Brz) (Legal Case {Ire}) and Group 2 winner Romarin (Brz) (Itajara {Brz}) with Richard Mandella. Figueiredo’s frequent travel companion in Kentucky, P.C. Peixoto de Castro, is the owner of another famed Brazilian stud farm, Fazenda Mondesir, which was established in 1934 by his great-grandfather Antonio Joaquim Peixoto de Castro, Jr. in Sao Paulo but is now located in Bage, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Fazenda Mondesir is perhaps best known here as the breeder of Group 1 winner Einstein (Brz) (Spend a Buck), who is from a mare by the Lyphard horse Ghadeer (Fr) out of a mare by Waldmeister (GB) (Wild Risk {Fr}). Both stallions stood at Fazenda Mondesir and Ghadeer was one of the most influential sires ever in Brazil, where he was a perennial leading sire and broodmare sire. The Ghadeer/Waldmeister combination, incidentally, was the catalyst that turned around the poor stud career of Spend a Buck. Fazenda Mondesir’s international influence with Ghadeer/Waldmeister was on display just last weekend in Japan with the Deep Impact 2-year-old filly Danon Fantasy (Jpn), who won the Group 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. Danon Fantasy’s Group l-winning dam Life For Sale (Arg) (Not For Sale {Arg}) was bred by P.C. Peixoto de Castro, and her the third dam, My Little Life (Brz), is a Fazenda Mondesir-bred daughter of Ghadeer. Danon Fantasy’s fifth dam is by Waldmeister and this is an old and deep Fazenda Mondesir foundation family. P.C. Peixoto de Castro is a longtime friend of Gilberto Sayao, boards Stud RDI’s broodmares at Fazenda Mondesir, and acts as his advisor. He got to know Alberto Figueiredo during the latter’s time with Sao Jose e Expedictus, and together they are a formidable resource for the Bonne Chance owner, who is well on the way to making a name for his farm in the U.S. Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks. View the full article

After six years of closure, Colonial Downs will race 15 dates in 2019, spanning Aug. 8-Sep. 7. The Virginia Racing Commission granted the dates approval Thursday. In addition, Colonial received permission to open its 600-unit historic horse racing operation at the track, with the machines and simulcasting anticipated to go live in mid-April. Purse levels and a stakes schedule are pending, but Colonial has already targeted Aug. 31 as the return date for its showcase race, the Virginia Derby, which was previously a Grade II stakes. Colonial’s 1,000-stall stable area opens July 25. “This is an exciting step for everyone impassioned by the rebirth of live racing in Virginia and for our team delivering on our promise to revitalize horse racing in the commonwealth,” said Colonial Downs Group senior vice-president and general manager John Marshall. “We are already making significant progress preparing Colonial Downs to evolve into one of the country’s premier race meets.” “It has been a long four years waiting for this day,” added Debbie Easter, president of the Virginia Equine Alliance. “Our owners, breeders, trainers, veterinarians and everyone else associated with horse racing in Virginia have much anticipated the return of live racing at Colonial Downs and the resurgence in our industry that we know will come with it.” Colonial’s calling card has always been its nine-furlong, 180-foot-wide jewel of a turf course, which in previous years handled close to 90% of the races carded at the track. In an October interview, Marshall told TDN that “for 2020, we’re looking at 30 live race dates. We have not projected beyond that…We certainly need our horsemen and the racing commission to be on board, and we’re looking to cooperate with as many racetracks as possible.” This will be Colonial’s first season under new management. View the full article

When Len Green went to his first horse race in the 1980s and watched his friend’s horse win, the CPA thought he had just discovered the “easiest business in the world” and decided to jump into the horse business himself. He quickly discovered that succeeding in the world of horse racing was anything but easy. However, once Green began to apply the business savvy and entrepreneurial spirit that had served him so well in his professional life to his latest endeavor, he turned his D. J. Stable into his latest success story, which now includes a Breeders’ Cup victory thanks to Jaywalk (Cross Traffic). “It’s been a very exciting ride,” Green said while seated in his conference room, which is covered in racing memorabilia. “The horse business has a great learning curve. Many businessmen believe because they’re successful somewhere else, they can just walk into the horse business and do it. The problem is, the horse business is not regulated, so, in many ways, you have to learns all the things you do and don’t do.” The Babson College professor continued, “Having the advantage of being a taxman, at least I knew the government was going to pay for 50% of any losses that I took care of, but that is no fun unless you win. So, we started winning in an interesting way. We got into claiming and ended up winning four different titles for owners at different tracks for most wins, but we were losing money every single year.” Green decided to claim fast fillies with the goal of breeding them to sires who were distance runners. He accumulated 72 mares and sent their pedigrees to Ken McLean, manager of the mighty Storm Cat. Green’s wife, Lois, thought he was crazy, but sure enough McLean called and invited Green to meet him in Kentucky. “I was in heaven,” Green recalled. “Suddenly, I thought I really had made the transition from being a businessman to being successful in the horse business because Ken McLean was interested in breeding some of my mares to Storm Cat, who at the time was the number one horse.” McLean chose just two mares, but both matings produced top horses with Princess Alydar foaling MGISW November Snow and Kermis producing Senate Appointee, winner of 14 stakes. “After those two, he suddenly stood up and walked out the door,” Green said of his meeting with McLean. “I said, ‘Where are you going? I’ve got more mares.’ He said, ‘Where are they?’ I said, ‘New Jersey.’ He said, ‘No, where specifically?’ I said, ‘They are in different fields.’ He said, ‘Open the gates,’ which was a nice way of saying to me that they were worthless and to get rid of them. That was my first big shock in the business, but you learn over a period of time that this is a business, so you have to cut down the odds of failing to increase your odds of winning.” Over the years, with the help of his son Jon, Green has done just that. He has built a broodmare band whose foals are worthy of Books 1 and 2 in the yearling sales and put together a team of trainers, short listers and partners that have increased his stable’s success. The Greens have also been smart about letting go of horses when necessary and putting them in spots that give them their best chance of winning, even if that spot is in a claiming race or at a second-tier track. “I think we are successful because, for one, we certainly know the tax world better than anybody else,” said the Founder and Chairman of The Green Group, an accounting and equine advisory firm that has over 400 clients in the racing industry. “Two, we associate ourselves with very good trainers who we can trust and who know the game. We have consignors that we know well. We also have partners who have the same philosophy we do. Aron Yagoda has been a great help because he knows an awful lot of people in the business. Chuck Zacney has been a great partner to have because we see eye-to-eye on what to do and where to go, etc.” Green has bred or owned the likes of Songandaprayer, Do It With Style, Rhum and Hoppertunity over the years, but he teamed with Zacney for a career high just last month when winning the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with Jaywalk (video). The John Servis trainee also upended Belmont’s GI Frizette S. Oct. 7 with a front-running 5 3/4-length score at odds of 10-1 (video). “Every once in a while, you get something like Jaywalk and that changes everything,” Green said. “It’s easy in hindsight to say the game plan was followed. She kept on improving and improving and we wouldn’t have gone to a Grade I [in the Frizette] unless we felt we had an opportunity to win. We took a shot at the Breeders’ Cup and we were the fourth favorite. The horse had a mind of her own and broke with [Joel Rosario] and never looked back. How far can she go? We will find out, because now we have a ticket to go to what is the [female] equivalent of the [GI] Kentucky Derby, the [GI Kentucky] Oaks.” This was the first Breeders’ Cup victory for D. J. Stable and Green hopes it is just the first of many. “I saw first of many because I spoke to Peter Brant, who has won four Breeders’ Cup races,” Green said. “I asked him, ‘Which was the most exciting one?’ And he said, ‘The next one.’ I think that is great. It was very, very exciting to go down there and it was more even more exciting to go with my family, both my immediate family and my extended family [from racing], like Aron Yagoda. It was a very big thrill. ” With two Grade I wins, including the Breeders’ Cup, under her belt, Jaywalk also looks primed to become the operation’s first Eclipse winner at next month’s awards ceremony. “She has proven herself to be the best in the business,” Green said. “The other horse that won the turf race [GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire})] is also a very good horse. Chad Brown is a much better known person. He is also a client. So, you never know how they are going to vote. But, it certainly would be nice and I think Jon Green has got an acceptance speech ready to go.” D. J. Stable and their partners have many other talented horses in the barn such as MSW & MGSP Diamond King (Quality Road), a full-brother to MGISW Bellafina; and comebacking Tap Rap Strike (Tapit), an $875,000 OBSMAR buy owned with Zacney’s Cash is King. However, it is another filly that holds some pretty high esteem in the Green household, two-time stakes winner and MGSP Sower (Flatter), who was named by Green’s wife. A decisive winner of Belmont’s Jersey Girl S. June 10 (video), the Linda Rice pupil completed the trifecta in both the July 8 GIII Victory Ride S. and Sept. 22 GIII Charles Town Oaks. The chestnut went wire-to-wire for an impressive 5 1/4-length success in Belmont’s Pumpkin Pie S. Oct. 28 (video) and was third last time in Aqueduct’s Garland of Roses S. Dec. 8. “It’s exciting because Lois named her, same as Jon named Jaywalk, so there is a connection with those horses,” Green said. “The horse keeps getting better and better. Linda is very, very good in the sense that her training methods are different than John [Servis]’s or other trainers we’ve had. You never see any bullet works for Linda. She has her way of doing it every couple weeks, so it’s steady. She keeps gas in the tank.” With a stable full of talented runners, a possible Eclipse Award and a Breeders’ Cup winner with a bright sophomore campaign ahead of her, Green has plenty to look forward to, but he is taking it all in stride and trying to enjoy each moment. “I am taking it step by step and enjoying everything,” the New Jersey resident said. “Each of these things is a thrill as long as you enjoy the moment and I’m enjoying the moment. I think you enjoy things that you’re doing because you never know what tomorrow is going to bring. So, that is what I do. I get up at 4:00 in the morning and say, ‘Hey, Lord. Thank You.’ Then I work out and I can come [to my office] or fly up to Babson. I say to myself, ‘That’s wonderful, too,’ because I am influencing future generations.” The author and regular Boston marathon participant continued, “Somebody asked me a long time ago, ‘What keeps you young?’ I said, ‘A good 2-year-old and teaching,’ because both of them can give you challenges. The horse business is a great game. I think the people in the game, if you get to know them, are very exciting. Even though we are competing against each other sometimes, you get to know the real person and it is a very, very exciting business.” View the full article

The Maryland Stadium Authority's vision for a completely rebuilt Pimlico Race Course facility would emphasize providing the Preakness Stakes (G1) a world-class stage and giving Baltimore a flexible facility. View the full article

If the GI Preakness S. is to remain in Baltimore at a revitalized Pimlico Race Course, the recommended concept plan released Thursday by the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) calls for the complete razing and rebuilding of the 110-acre racetrack property at an estimated three-year construction cost of $424 million. The ambitious, sweeping plan envisions a new 15/16-mile dirt track (shortened from the existing mile oval), plus a seven-furlong turf track, grandstand, and four-story clubhouse that would all be rotated 35 degrees clockwise from the current setup so as to better dovetail with the existing neighborhood. The expansive Dec. 13 proposal also provides for new shared land classifications in the neighborhood, including equestrian usage, green space, commercial and residential mixed-use, and a health care campus. The community’s roadways and other civic infrastructure would also undergo substantial upgrading, and the new Pimlico infield could include public athletic fields or park-like areas. A focal point within the proposed racetrack footprint would be the construction of The Palio, a 300 by 500 foot public multi-use plaza designed to serve both as the once-annual saddling area for the Preakness while also hosting outdoor public concerts, performing arts, and markets during the remainder of the year. The design inspiration comes from Il Palio, the historic public square in Siena, Italy, that hosts non-traditional horse racing festivals twice each year. In fact, much of what the MSA is proposing for Pimlico is built around the idea of providing basic on-track infrastructure for multi-purpose, year-round use that could be augmented for major events by incorporating “overlay” infrastructure such as infield tents and temporary buildings that would provide premium seating for an estimated 60% of Preakness attendees. But the obvious–and thus far unanswered–question is how will this massive Pimlico project be funded and who, exactly, will pay for it? The MSA proposal stops short of stating any specific funding ideas, and it comes with the caveat that, “This analysis is preliminary in nature and does not constitute a comprehensive master plan of Pimlico Race Course … this is a hypothetical, conceptual analysis of potential uses that could occur, not a feasibility study of what will occur.” The Stronach Group (TSG) owns the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC) and its two active racetracks, Pimlico and Laurel Park. TSG has been on the record for several years as acknowledging the sub-optimal conditions at outmoded Pimlico, which raced only 12 dates during May in 2018 for an abbreviated meet surrounding the Preakness. At the same time, TSG has invested millions of dollars in upgrades at Laurel over the past several years. As recently as this past May, MJC officials were on record as saying that the company does not foresee putting any of its own funds into an overhaul of Pimlico, and it has been speculated that the Preakness–and possibly all MJC race dates–could be moved to the increasingly refurbished Laurel as early as 2020. Neither Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer of TSG, nor Sal Sinatra, the MJC’s president, returned Thursday voicemail messages requesting comment prior to deadline for this story. Belinda Stronach, the chairman and president of TSG, addressed the issues of funding and the potential future home of the Preakness only obliquely in a press release issued by the company. “The final conclusions of the MSA report are in line with our assessment that in order to bring the facility up to par, it will require several hundreds of millions of dollars,” Stronach said, in part. “TSG is investing heavily in racing and we are committed to the long-term sustainability of the Thoroughbred racing industry and to the communities in which we operate in Maryland. The MSA study began three years ago and from the outset we have expressed the need to address Pimlico, and by extension the Preakness Stakes, within the context of the broader racing ecosystem.” So would a publicly funded Pimlico be feasible? The MSA report also left those specifics unaddressed, but did advise that, “A logical next step in the planning process is for key stakeholders including MJC/TSG, the City and the State to agree to execute a formal agreement to enter into future negotiations.” For comparison, consider the price tags of several other high-profile sports complexes that the state has built over the past several decades: In 1992, the MSA opened baseball’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards after constructing it for $110 million (not including land costs). In 1998, MSA opened the adjacent multi-use home of football’s Baltimore Ravens (now called M&T Bank Stadium) at a construction cost of $220 million. So even after adjusting for inflation, the MSA’s projected $424 million Pimlico rebuild would still dwarf the combined costs of the baseball and football parks. Tim Keefe, the president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (MTHA), told TDN that while keeping the Preakness at Pimlico resonates from a historic standpoint, stakeholders have to maintain a long-term vision centered around what is best for the industry in its entirety. “I think we’ve all known for years the state of Pimlico and the hopes that something would happen,” Keefe said. “Whether or not what’s in the study happens, whether it’s rebuilding a new Pimlico, the horsemen all know the commitment that TSG has in building a mega-track or a super-track here at Laurel, which is kind of what their vision is. “I think that whatever happens, the ultimate goal needs to be not just two or three weeks of racing at one racetrack, but the year-round vision for racing in Maryland as a whole,” Keefe continued. “And whether that’s having one track, or having the track at Laurel and also this new facility for [multi-use events] at Pimlico, that’s not for me to say. “That’s my personal opinion as a horseman here in Maryland. That’s not coming from the MTHA,” Keefe underscored. “I live here in Maryland, and I breed and race horses here in Maryland. My hope is that whatever decisions made, it’s for the Maryland racing industry as a whole, for year-round racing.” Asked if he thought that the important concept of solidifying year-round racing was more difficult for civic leaders to grasp than the threat of having the one-day Preakness move out of Baltimore, Keefe replied: “Oh yeah, sure. The city leaders of Baltimore certainly don’t want to have the second jewel of the Triple Crown lost on their watch. So they’re probably going to do everything they can–and they should–to keep it in their hometown. “But I think ultimately you have to look at what’s best for everybody,” Keefe summed up. “You have to look at the whole picture–not just what it does for Baltimore or for one specific area.” View the full article

Grade 1 winners Almanaar, Divisidero, Glorious Empire, Hi Happy, and Quarteto de Cordas are prominent among a stacked field of 14 that includes nine other graded stakes winners in the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) Dec. 15 at Gulfstream Park. View the full article

Grade 1 winners Almanaar, Divisidero, Glorious Empire, Hi Happy, and Quarteto de Cordas are prominent among a stacked field of 16 that includes nine other graded-stakes winners in the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) Dec. 15 at Gulfstream Park. View the full article