Wandering Eyes

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. Tuesday’s Insights features the first foal out of G1 Prix de Diane heroine Star of Seville (GB). 6.35 Newbury, Novice, £7,400, 2yo, f, 7fT STAR SPIRIT (GB) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) is the first foal out of the G1 Prix de Diane heroine Star of Seville (GB) (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}) and debuts for the same Lady Bamford-John Gosden partnership. A May foal, she takes on another newcomer of note in Triermore Stud and Peter Stanley’s Onassis (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) a Charlie Fellowes-trained daughter of the disqualified G1 1000 Guineas heroine Jacqueline Quest (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) which makes her a half-sister to last year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Line of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The post Observations: June 25, 2019 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Bricks and Mortar continues to hold steady as No. 1 in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top Thoroughbred Poll after the United Nations Stakes (G1T), the weekend's biggest race stateside, produced an upset winner in Hunter O'Riley. View the full article

His final semester, University of Florida. An announcement on the PA, into the classroom. “Mike O’Farrell, please call home immediately.” His father has had a heart attack. He’s not expected to make it. Mom says: “You need to get to Miami.” O’Farrell rushes to the hospital, is shown into the room. Dad with tubes in his nose and arms. Looks up, sees his son, and says: “You tell those sons-of-bitches that if they’re looking for money, to look someplace else.” That was the first O’Farrell knew of the farm being in trouble. And the beginning of the precarious salvage operation that underpinned the consolidation of Ocala Stud from pioneer to benchmark; from risk-taking trailblazer, to the gold standard in the Florida bloodstock industry. Last week, O’Farrell’s son David told TDN how the family’s breed-to-breeze program, unique on this scale, evolved into the tried-and-trusted launchpad for a series of top-class stallions. Saint Ballado (Halo) started here off $2,500 seasons; by the time of his death in Kentucky, he was up to $150,000. Latest to play up his Florida winnings in the Bluegrass is Kantharos (Lion Heart), leaving behind several potential successors on a roster of 13. Back in 1971, however, the whole project came within an ace of extinction. O’Farrell listened aghast as his father Joe explained how the vultures were circling. The farm had been established 16 years previously by a group of wealthy men whose paths, from various parts of the country, had crossed in the winter sun at Hialeah. One of them knew Joe and his brother through their agricultural and automobile business in Maryland. He had heard about a 650-acre farm for sale in upstate Florida, and asked Joe to look it over. Middle of nowhere, no interstate. Within 24 hours, Joe had rung his wife. “Nancy, start packin’. We’re moving to Florida.” Just like that. And they were installed within a fortnight. Joe was a showman, a salesman. Unable to afford the pedigrees to sell yearlings, he hit on the idea of auctioning 2-year-olds as ready-made runners, broken and galloped. From this seed, of course, a multi-million dollar market has since been nurtured by specialist pinhookers. But even then, as an apparent gimmick, Joe’s sales gained sufficient traction to bed down Ocala Stud through its first decade or so. Meanwhile the farm raised 1961 Kentucky Derby winner Carry Back, and bred and sold 1965 co-Horse of the Year Roman Brother. “My father, being young and full of energy, wanted to grow the business,” O’Farrell explains. “Get better stallions, better mares, more mares. But one or two of the shareholders died, one or two weren’t in great health. So they decided to sell to these two fellas from Wall Street. Florida had been getting a lot of press, since Needles won the Derby. But they borrowed a lot of money to buy the farm. And it turned out these fellas had an insurance policy on my father, that if he died, would bail them out! That’s why he told me they could look someplace else for money. Because he wasn’t dying.” As it was, with Joe off to recuperate in Panama, his son was sent out onto the burning deck. Days after returning to Ocala, O’Farrell took a call from the bank. “Mike, we want you to have all the horses owned by farm in the barns tomorrow morning at 9:00. They’re gonna ship out.” Next morning a dozen horsevans lined up in the lane. Most of the horses were sold locally, the best went up to Keeneland in November. There was still the stallion, Gun Flint. George Steinbrenner had retained 75 percent, the O’Farrells owned the rest. Now Steinbrenner called, too. “Mike, I want you to ship that horse to Bonnie Heath Farm.” “But Mr. Steinbrenner, we’re doing business, we’re doing fine, we’re taking care of the horse.” “Mike, unless you own over 50 percent of something, you have no control. I want him moved to Bonnie Heath.” “Yes, sir.” But one man stayed aboard the listing ship, and handed round some buckets: Herbert Allen. (One of his big investments had been the contraceptive pill and, well, the baby boom was over…) He sent them a son of Never Bend named Distinctive, and let them pay over three years. Same thing, when he decided to disperse his mares. A couple of those promptly turned out stakes winners. “So that’s really how we got going again,” O’Farrell recalls. “That, and my father’s salesmanship. And I was working. I was young, scared, broke. And two weeks after that November Sale in Kentucky, I got married. Dead broke. But I was working. And we had some boarding business. And so–with the help of Herbert Allen, and this and that, and the grace of God–we made it.” But it was tight. Staff were laid off. The farm, by then over 1,000 acres, was sold. Fortunately the buyer, Roy Kennedy, proved another friend in deed: he financed the O’Farrells to retrieve the 185-acre core, incorporating the training track, the stallion barn, the stabling, the office. Gradually, year by year, they steadied the ship, patched the sails. “I learned a lot of life’s lessons in a short period of time,” O’Farrell says. “I saw how people treated my father when he was up, and how people treated him when he was down. It was a very traumatic experience. But an invaluable lesson to me. Looking back on it, it was actually one of the best things that ever happened to our family. The good Lord was kind enough to give us a horse every now and then. And I learned from my father. A lot of good, some bad. But even the bad is good. Because that’s how you learn.” By the time his father died, O’Farrell had been making his own reputation for 11 years, a tall, lean young man, full of honest endeavour. People were glad to carry on doing business here. People like Izzy Cohen, the supermarket magnate. He bought horses from the O’Farrells every year, notably the top-class juvenile Mighty Appealing, who then returned for his own stud career. “We’ve been fortunate enough that whenever things really got tough, we always seemed to come up with a nice horse,” O’Farrell says. “Whether it be a stallion, a broodmare, a racehorse, whatever. Or a good client. Things just clicked.” And, to be fair, the family has throughout achieved a synergy with the whole Florida industry. They came here more or less as Needles won the Derby, when there were just four small farms in the neighbourhood. And they brought with them from Maryland the state’s first great patriarch, Rough’n Tumble. “Wasn’t like he wasn’t a good horse, he won the Santa Anita Derby, but he didn’t have any breeding,” O’Farrell recalls. “He started out in Maryland for $300, I think. But in his first crop down here he had My Dear Girl, who wound up champion 2-year-old filly. And then he had Dr. Fager, one of the best of all time. When we first came, the other farms all had one or two stallions. But at the end of the day, we had Rough’n Tumble–and they didn’t.” Dr. Fager stayed in town, with Tartan Farms, but the other great stallion to put Florida on the Thoroughbred map, Mr. Prospector, set a lasting trend in his “promotion” to Kentucky. “Saint Ballado wound up No. 1 stallion, having started down here in the fourth or fifth league,” O’Farrell remarks. “People get upset about it, but it’s just economics. There’s a bigger pool of mares in Kentucky, and more people that can afford higher fees. That’s just the way it is, and that’s fine. I mean, Northern Dancer didn’t start out in Kentucky. So it’s everywhere. They gravitate. If you do well, you’re going to Kentucky.” Over the years, however, O’Farrell has shown a consistent knack for spotting a stallion to outpunch his weight in the regional market. “A lot of it is gut feeling,” he says with a shrug. “We get offered horses every year. You can’t take them all. One guy called me three times about standing his horse. And he was a hell of a racehorse, no doubt about it, he could run. He couldn’t believe that in Ocala, Florida, we were going to turn his horse down. But he had no pedigree at all. I mean, absolutely none, and my gut says he’s not going to be successful with no bottom side. “Every horse we take on, it’s always because I think they can get runners. People say you can make money with this horse in three years. And I say: ‘I don’t care about generating money in three years. If they’re not going to have runners five years from now, I don’t want them.’ “We breed them, raise them, train them–and only then sell them. So they’ve got to have some ability. When we sell a 2-year-old, chances are we’ve still got a yearling, a weanling, a mare in foal. A bad stallion will break people quicker than anything in the business. Dayjur: top bloodlines, all the talent in the world, bred to the best. Couldn’t miss. A horse like that crushes you. So the only way we’ll take them is if we actually believe they can get runners.” His faith in the bottom half of a pedigree has enabled O’Farrell to launch a series of successful stallions by unfashionable sires. Remember even Kantharos was by a sire who had just been banished to Turkey. “We actually had Saint Ballado here as a yearling,” O’Farrell reflects. “Full brother to two champions [Glorious Song and Devil’s Bag] and they’d bought him for [$90,000]. Because of his conformation. He was straight in the pasterns, he toed out. And he was immature, light. But we had 150 or so in training, and he was the one horse that year, that if you saw him galloping, you’d say, ‘Who’s that?’ Because he was smooth as silk. He had a lot of talent, and he had blood.” After the horse broke down in the Haskell, Clint Goodrich called. He wasn’t getting anywhere in Kentucky. The tax laws had changed, the business was down. The owners had started out looking for $750,000. Goodrich thought they might take $400,000 now. “Clint, I tell you what,” O’Farrell replied. “My mother just died. I got no money. But if you let me stand him here in Florida, I’ll get you your $400,000. Only it’s going to take me three years to do it.” “Well, how you gonna do that?” “I’m going to stand that son-of-a-bitch for $2,500. Obviously his conformation’s not great. But with the way he’s bred, and his ability on the track, at that fee people will have to breed to him. And if he gets runners, with his pedigree, he’ll be worth a fortune.” The farm veterinarian was one of the first to buy a season, and promptly bred Captain Bodgit, flying runner-up in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Then there was Florida’s four-time champion sire Montbrook, whose Ocala-bred dam was claimed back into the fold for just $7,000 and bred to Buckaroo. “He was so powerful,” O’Farrell recalls, patting the office bureau. “Ass as broad as this desk. And fast. Damned near set a track record, first time out. He could run the first half in 43-and-change, and they just couldn’t catch him. Unfortunately by then Izzy Cohen was in bad health, so I bought him out. Payable over three years–just like I’d learned from my father, way back. And he hit. So from a $7,000 claim, we generated $3 million dollars, maybe more.” The key, for O’Farrell’s clients, is that he has never been just an opportunist; never just exploiting fast-buck market prejudices. Because of its unique business model, Ocala Stud can only “make” stallions if they “make” runners. “People that bred to our horses over the years have made money, because they were priced right,” O’Farrell explains. “They had value. And I was always the kid. In 1971, I mean, hell, I was young. I was 24 years old. So I was thrown into the breach at an early age. But I always had energy. I was enthusiastic. And if people believe, they will breed. Horses have past performances, and so do we. People say: ‘If they’ve taken that horse, we’re in.’ That’s how it happens. But it didn’t start last week, or last year, or the year before. It started 50, 60 years ago.” The post ‘Even the Bad is Good, That’s How You Learn’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has been sued by the Department of Labor for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 for allegedly underpaying over 100 grooms and hotwalkers in New York. The story was first reported by Blood-Horse. According to a civil complaint filed June 7 in the Eastern District of New York, Asmussen and his KDE Equine LLC failed to pay overtime and keep adequate and accurate records. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta is “seeking back wages, liquidated damages, and other relief for employees who care for and assist training Thoroughbred horses” at Asmussen’s stables at the three New York Racing Association tracks. Asmussen had previously been sued for similar complaints by the Department of Labor twice and settled both cases. The news comes on the heels of trainer Chad Brown being hit with over $1 million in fines for federal labor violations. The post Asmussen Sued By NY Department of Labor appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

It may not have felt like a flaming June as Dashing Willoughby (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) ground his way through the mud at Royal Ascot to win the G2 Queen’s Vase last Wednesday, but for his delighted owners Mick and Janice Mariscotti, it was the continuation of a red-hot run which also included a trip to the winner’s enclosure at Epsom on Derby day. For Epsom-born Mick Mariscotti, who combines his love of horseracing with being a Tottenham Hotspur fan, the only blot on an otherwise successful summer was choosing to watch his football team in the Champions League final over cheering home Le Don De Vie (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) at what was once his local track. “I was in Madrid watching my team not win the Champions League final,” he said with a grin at Ascot on Saturday as the equine celebrations continued. “It was a massive mistake, but fortunately Janice was at Epsom with a group of our friends and they had an absolutely fantastic day. I did manage to see the race on the plane while sitting on the tarmac before we took off, so I left Madrid in a better mood than I would have done otherwise.” The 3-year-old winner of the Investec Private Banking Handicap on Derby day, trained, like Dashing Willoughby, by Andrew Balding, won twice at Epsom this year before becoming one of the stars of the Goffs London Sale on the Monday before Royal Ascot when being sold to Aziz Kheir as a potential Melbourne Cup prospect for £460,000. It was a handsome return on his 50,000gns yearling price at Tattersalls, where he was bought from his breeder Kirsten Rausing’s Staffordstown Stud. Like many owners, the Mariscottis must weigh up each year which horses to keep, and which must be sold on. Their strategy of aiming for more middle-distance types means that often there is good residual value in a progressive 3-year-old, and it had worked out in very similar fashion just two years earlier with Drochaid (GB) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), a 40,000gns yearling and winner of a Tattersalls Book 1 Bonus who landed the same race on Derby day and was later sold privately to Godolphin. “I was born and brought up in Epsom so winning the Derby would be an absolute dream, but we are realistic enough to know that we are probably not going to be able to buy something that might be capable of doing that,” Mariscotti explained. “But we aim for horses that are that sort of type and what you end up getting is something that probably gets that trip and a bit more.” Indeed, this is exactly what the Buckinghamshire-based couple has ended up with in Dashing Willoughby, who continued a fine season for his Oaks-winning breeder, Meon Valley Stud. “We have had a few sprinters but typically we go for that middle-distance type, usually bought relatively modestly. Dashing Willoughby was bought in Book 1 for 70,000gns and that’s about our target price,” he continued. “We rely totally on Andrew and Emma Balding and Tess Hetherington to keep us on the straight and narrow in terms of choosing the individual, as long as we like the horse as well. “We absolutely love getting involved at the sales. We rely on the experts to sift out the ones that aren’t right for us but we go and see everything that they tell us they are vaguely interested in and we have loads of them vetted, then we collectively decide how much we should spend on a certain horse. Janice and I get really involved in the process and if we don’t like a horse we will say so.” Success at Epsom has not been restricted solely to the aforementioned handicap winners as the couple also previously owned Goldoni (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}), winner of the Investec Derby Trial in 2012 but unable to run in the ‘big one’ owing to the fact that he had already been relieved of two vital parts of his anatomy. He later continued his career in Australia with David Hayes and a similar path may now lie ahead for Le Don De Vie, who has been switched to the stable of Hughie Morrison, trainer of last year’s Melbourne Cup runner-up Marmelo (GB) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}). “It was a really difficult decision to sell Le Don De Vie and one that Janice in particular wasn’t totally on board with, but the rationale is that it’s what we do to keep the show going on, because we all know that buying and keeping racehorse is an expensive business,” said Mariscotti. “So if we’re in the lucky position of having two good horses we probably will always want to sell one of them and keep one of them. We felt on balance that right now Dashing Willoughby is higher-rated and likely to be higher-rated in the shorter term than Le Don De Vie. Maybe if the races have been the other way round it would have been different but it would have been unusual for us to keep two top-quality horses as we need the funds coming in for next year. Le Don De Vie’s sale will pay for another two years for us.” He added, “Maybe I’ll look back and think it wasn’t the right thing to do but we’ve had our first Group winner and our first Royal Ascot winner and right now it feels absolutely fantastic. I can’t really describe how exciting it was. What was really pleasing for us, and for Andrew as well, is that we targeted that race right back from last year. Dashing Willoughby ran really well in the Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions race at Newbury and at that point Andrew said he thought that the Queen’s Vase would be the race for him.” As anyone involved with racehorses will know, long-term planning does not always pan out as intended, and indeed there was an eleventh-hour scare for Dashing Willoughby, when he was found to be lame on the Saturday morning before Royal Ascot. “I must say a massive thank you to the staff at Kingsclere, not just for training and looking after Dashing Willoughby but also for getting him to the race. Leanne Masterton was getting married that day so lots of people from the yard we’re going to the wedding, but Kevin Hunt stayed behind and he spent all of Saturday night packing and dressing the foot and looking after the horse. By Sunday morning, Andrew rang me and said that he thought he was going to be sound in time. I am so grateful to everyone there, particularly Kevin and Angie, who was with him at the races on the day,” said Mariscotti. With a Group 2 victory now in the book, the owners can start to dream about future big-race targets for their star, who may well chart a similar course to dual Ascot Gold Cup hero Stradivarius (Ire) in his 3-year-old season. The G1 Qatar Goodwood Cup is under consideration, perhaps followed by a tilt at Classic glory in the St Leger, while an entry for the Melbourne Cup has also been tentatively made by his trainer. “The great thing is there are lots of nice options,” said Mariscotti, who admitted that he and Janice have not been tempted by the breeding business. “We’ve decided that it’s expensive enough owning racehorses. Breeding them as well just brings a whole bunch of headaches, and also that’s not our background. It is difficult enough to buy a good one and I’ve been advised by friends of mine in breeding not to do it.” Judging by the success of the couple’s yearling purchases with the Balding team, this sounds like eminently sensible advice. The post Dashing Delight For The Mariscottis appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Last week’s G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Advertise (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) will likely tackle older horses in the G1 July Cup on July 13 before further Group 1 tests in France later this season. “I think the vague idea at the moment is to think about the July Cup–then the Prix Maurice de Gheest over 6 1/2 furlongs looks tailor-made for him, absolutely up his street,” said trainer Martyn Meade. “Then we’d like to end up in the [G1 Prix de la] Foret over seven. That’s what we’re thinking at the moment–I don’t think he’ll go back to a mile.” Advertise, who was never out of the top two last year and won the G1 Phoenix S., was bouncing back off a lacklustre effort when 15th in the G1 2000 Guineas. “As a Group 1 winner at two and three, he’s already booked his next career,” Meade added. “Whatever he does now is a bonus.” Meade has added another high-profile sprinter to his stable, with Houtzen (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}) transfered from Toby Edmonds for the remainder of the season. Meade said she is likely to target the G2 King George S. at Goodwood on Aug 2. “She’s a nice one to get. We’ve trained for the owners before, so she’s going to come here for the rest of this season,” said Meade. “I think we’ll stick to five–the good sprint at Goodwood will be the plan. I’ll just have to assess how she is and see how she adapts to her new surroundings and then make a plan. Houtzen blew all chance last week in the King’s Stand after stumbling leaving the stalls. “It was unfortunate what happened in the King’s Stand. It was a long way to come for that to happen and over five furlongs, you simply can’t afford anything like that. It was so frustrating, of all the things. We’re very pleased to get her and hopefully she can put her best foot forward.” The post July Cup Next For Advertise; Meade Gets Houtzen appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

It was Shamardal who took the honours as the top stallion at Royal Ascot, with his four successes, and while I have no desire to detract from the achievements of a stallion who has already been featured twice in this column this year following the successes of Blue Point (Ire) and Skardu (Ire), I would point out that Shamardal had only one group winner at the Royal Meeting, albeit the outstanding dual winner Blue Point. Sea The Stars (Ire), on the other hand, was the only stallion responsible for three individual group winners, with Stradivarius’s heart-warming repeat victory in the G1 Gold Cup being preceded by Crystal Ocean (Ire)’s breakthrough success in the G1 Prince of Wales’s S. and Star Catcher (GB)’s defeat of the Oaks third Fleeting (Ire) in the G2 Ribblesdale S. Even Sea The Stars’s half-brother Galileo (Ire) couldn’t quite match that treble, failing to add to the wins of Circus Maximus (Ire) and Japan (GB). Incidentally, Galileo was also outpointed by his arch rival Pivotal (GB) in the role of broodmare sire, with Pivotal’s daughters claiming three group successes, thanks to Raffle Prize (Ire), Advertise (GB) and Defoe (Ire), compared to Galileo’s two, via Watch Me (Fr) and Space Traveller (GB). Stradivarius has now won nine of his 11 starts over a mile and three-quarters or more, including six of his seven starts over two miles and beyond. After he had won over a mile as a 2-year-old, Timeform suggested that Stradivarius “will be suited by 1 1/4m+,” but who could have suspected that this Newcastle maiden winner would develop into such an exceptional long-distance performer? I think it is fair to say that virtually no modern-day flat horses are bred with extreme distances in mind, but fortunately the dormant stamina lurking in pedigrees occasionally reawakens to stunning effect, as Stradivarius has demonstrated so admirably. The bare facts of his pedigree are that his sire Sea The Stars– who was fast enough to win the 2,000 Guineas–was never asked to tackle more than a mile and a half, and his dam, Private Life (Fr), won over a mile and 1 3/8 miles before earning black-type over an extended mile and a half. Private Life’s dam Poughkeepsie (Ire) raced only over a mile and a quarter, winning once at Evry, and none of Stradivarius’s other grand-parents–the miler Cape Cross (Ire) and the major mile-and-a-half winners Urban Sea and Bering (GB)–was ever tried beyond a mile and a half. So what are the likely sources of Stradivarius’s ability to shine over two and a half miles? The prime suspect has to be Sadler’s Wells, the sire of his second dam Poughkeepsie. Although the 14-time champion sire never won beyond a mile and a quarter in a career which featured victories in the Irish 2000 Guineas, the Eclipse and the Irish Champion S., that didn’t stop his progeny establishing an average winning distance of 11.4 furlongs (compared to the 11.2 furlongs of his son Galileo and the 11.2 furlongs of Galileo’s half-brother Sea The Stars). Needless to say, the finest stayers by Sadler’s Wells included the multiple Gold Cup winners Yeats (Ire) and Kayf Tara (GB) and the Doncaster Cup winners Septimus (Ire) and Saddler’s Rock (Ire). There is also stamina to be found in the bottom half of the pedigrees of both of Stradivarius’s parents. Sea The Stars’s second dam, Allegretta, was by Lombard (GB), whose wins included the Deutsches St Leger, and his third dam, Anatevka, was by Espresso, who stayed a mile and three-quarters very well. Espresso was by Acropolis, whose brother Alycidon won the Gold Cup and sired a winner of the Gold Cup in Twilight Alley. Stradivarius has a very distinguished third dam in Pawneese (GB), who won the Oaks by five lengths before inflicting the first defeat on the classic-winning Riverqueen (Fr) in the Prix de Diane. Pawneese then took on the males in the King George and put up a remarkable display of front-running to win again, in the process proving herself Europe’s champion 3-year-old filly of 1976. Brilliant though she was at her best, Pawneese had a comparatively undistinguished sire in Carvin. A winner of the Criterium de Saint-Cloud over a mile and a quarter as a 2-year-old and third in the Prix du Jockey-Club, Carvin later reached the frame in a pair of important 15-furlong races, the Grand Prix de Paris and the Prix Royal-Oak. Pawneese’s broodmare sire, Le Haar, sired Ramsin, winner of the Prix du Cadran over the same distance as the Gold Cup. Although Pawneese proved a major disappointment as a broodmare for Daniel Wildenstein, her Sadler’s Wells filly Poughkeepsie made some amends. In addition to Stradivarius’s dam, she produced the listed winner Parisienne, who ranks as the second dam of the Melbourne Cup and Grosser Preis von Berlin winner Protectionist (Ger). Stradivarius is the third very useful performer to have represented Private Life. Her Monsun (Ger) gelding Persian Storm (Ger) was a dual Group 3 winner over a mile and a quarter in Germany, while her Peintre Celebre gelding Rembrandt Van Rijn (Ire) stayed at least a mile and three-quarters in the UAE. In assessing Sea The Stars’s Royal Ascot treble, it is worth reminding everyone that Stradivarius and Crystal Ocean are both members of his fourth crop, which contained only 74 foals. Crystal Ocean and Stradivarius were separated by only a short head when second and third behind Capri (Ire) in the 2017 St Leger, but Crystal Ocean has been busily emphasising both his class and versatility, with two of his 2019 successes coming over a mile and a quarter. Fortunately, Sea The Stars has received much more consistent support since the likes of Taghrooda (GB) and Sea The Moon (Ger) did so well for him at Classic level in 2014, and his Ribblesdale winner Star Catcher comes from a 2016 crop of 136. The 2018 Return of Mares credits the Gilltown star as having covered more than 160 mares in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons, so be prepared for plenty more Royal Ascot winners for Sea The Stars in years to come. The post Pedigree Insights: Stradivarius appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal-Scarlett Rose {GB}, by Royal Applause {GB}), who last week recorded a historic double when taking the G1 King’s Stand S. and G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot, has been retired from racing ahead of a stud career with Darley next year. “Blue Point has had a fantastic week and has managed to succeed where many horses have failed in completing this extraordinary double,” said trainer Charlie Appleby. “His Highness Sheikh Mohammed was very much the instigator behind going for the challenge and was delighted when he won as he had been planning this for some time. “Blue Point is sound and well, but owes us nothing so we will retire him on a high. He will now enjoy a break over the summer and will then begin his new career at stud.” In completing the Royal Ascot Group 1 sprinting double, Blue Point became the first European-trained horse in almost 100 years to accomplish that feat, and one of only a handful of horses ever to do so. Bred by Oak Lodge Bloodstock, Blue Point was bought by Kate and Matthew Sigsworth under the Ebor Bloodstock banner at Tattersalls December in 2011 for 110,000gns. He was pinhooked at Book 1 the following autumn for 200,000gns when bought by John Ferguson on behalf of Godolphin. Blue Point immediately displayed his talent at two, winning first out at Nottingham before taking a Doncaster novice race by 11 lengths, which earned him ‘TDN Rising Star’ status. He would take the G2 Gimcrack S. and place in both the G1 Middle Park S. and G1 Dewhurst S. before the season was out. Starting out in Ascot’s G3 Pavilion S. at three, Blue Point bested the subsequent champion sprinter Harry Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) before checking in third behind Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) in his first Royal Ascot appearance in the G1 Commonwealth Cup. The bay would get his redemption the following year when besting Battaash (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in the King’s Stand, and while he went winless in two more tries last summer he more than made up for it this season with five consecutive wins. He swept a pair of preps at Meydan before taking the G1 Al Quoz Sprint, and recorded a pair of career-best efforts last week at Royal Ascot. “He will be missed by everyone in the yard, and I would like to thank the entire team at Moulton Paddocks, without whom none of this would have been possible,” Appleby said. “Blue Point has a fantastic mind, is a natural athlete and was a pleasure to train. I have every confidence he will, like his sire Shamardal, be a huge success as a stallion.” The post Blue Point Retired From Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Cannock Chase (Lemon Drop Kid), winner of the 2015 GI Pattison Canadian International and a half-brother to last week’s G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Star Catcher (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), is set to be sold through Devon-based livestock auctioneers Kivells along with another 20 horses owned by Killashee House Ltd., which has been placed in administration. The 8-year-old stallion, bred by Anthony Oppenheimer’s Hascombe & Valiant Studs, and himself a winner at Royal Ascot in 2014 for owner Saeed Suhail and Sir Michael Stoute, has been removed from Worsall Grange Stud in North Yorkshire where he has stood for the last two seasons. He will be sold by private treaty next week. Interested parties will be able to inspect him in his current temporary location, which cannot be disclosed by the administrators until Wednesday. On Tuesday, a mixture of 20 broodmares, 2-year-olds and yearlings will go under the hammer at the Exeter Livestock Centre. The dispersal sale will begin with an auction of tack at 10.30am followed by the young stock and then broodmares. Among the horses to be sold are six yearling fillies and five yearling colts by Cannock Chase, as well as a 2-year-old colt by Sidestep (Aus) and a 2-year-old Finjaan (GB) filly. The young stock will be sold in pens rather than through the ring. James Morrish, an auctioneer for Kivells who is overseeing the sale, told TDN on Monday, “The horses are on their way to Exeter from Yorkshire now. I have taken advice from lots of good people, to include Weatherbys and the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association. We are not Goffs or Tattersalls. We are trying our very best but at the end of the day, horses will still be sold in a livestock centre. However, we are ensuring that the young stock won’t be able to put legs out through the pens and won’t slip. They will be in deep straw and a highly respected vet has seen them as they have gone on to the lorries this morning and another vet will be waiting for them to arrive in Exeter. My instructions from the administrators, Moorfields, are that welfare has to be of the highest priority.” He continued, “The stallion was picked up by an independent haulier yesterday and has gone to a private yard in the Midlands, and from Wednesday he will be able to be inspected by appointment. Anyone who wishes to do that should contact me. The completion date of that exercise is Friday, 5 July. People can go to see him and then bid me a price. Again, Moorfields are very conscious that they want Cannock Chase to go to the right home, and they would not want him to be knowingly purchased and then put into a sale again. I’ve had a lot of advice from very helpful Thoroughbred stud owners from all over the country.” Morrish was keen to stress that all the horses who will be offered for sale have been well looked after at Worsall Grange Stud. He added, “There have been no welfare problems on the farm whatsoever. There are other horses still there and I can reassure everybody that all the horses I saw were in very good order, with lots of food and lots of grass. Those who were in stables were in clean boxes and the staff there are doing a super job.” The company directors of Killashee House Ltd. are listed as Kahlil de Burca and Lucy Horner, neither of whom could be reached for comment on Monday. Horner has been stud manager at Worsall Grange Stud, which is also listed as standing the stallions Dylan Mouth (Ire) and Peace Envoy. St Leger winner Millenary (GB) returned to Nunstainton Stud last year. Full details of Tuesday’s auction can be found here. The post Cannock Chase To Be Sold By Devon Auction House appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Addressing your thoughts, questions and statements about Hong Kong racing. Have something to say? Send a tweet to @SCMPRacingPost.That’s 150 winners this season for the champ Zac Purton – @cambodonut2It is another milestone in what has been an incredible year for the Australian, but he is running out of time to capture the last one missing from his resume.While he already owns the records for most Hong Kong Group Ones and most prize money earned in a term, Purton is still 19 short of Joao… View the full article

Group One performed juvenile Aalaalune has given Matamata trainer Jacob McKay plenty of excitement this season and he believes she can go on to better things in her Classic year. The two-year-old daughter of Reliable Man contested six races this season, all at stakes-level, placing in three of them, including a short-margin runner-up performance behind Yourdeel in the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie in March. McKay was delighted with her season after initially thinking she wouldn’t sh... View the full article

Leading rider Zac Purton enjoyed a rocket run on young sprinting sensation Voyage Warrior in the Class 3 Ma On Shan Handicap (1000m) at Sha Tin in Hong Kong on Sunday to take home a treble. “It was a good effort,” Purton said of the top-weight, who took his career tally to three wins and a second from four starts, all down the 1000m straight. “He had to carry top-weight and Look Eras really served it up to him through the mid stages, so he had to absorb all that pressure as well. I thought... View the full article

Trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai admits he is no closer to solving the riddle of his testing three-year-old King’s Trooper ahead of his return to Happy Valley on Wednesday night.The son of Denman has lit it up at the trials on a number of occasions but is yet to take that form to the races in his three starts to date.Such was his trial form, King’s Trooper started a $3.4 favourite on debut over 1,000m at Sha Tin but went on to finish 14 lengths last.Since then he has had two starts for a best finish… View the full article

Champion mare Winx is to be mated with Australian stallion I Am Invincible in her first season at stud later this year. Her owners, Peter and Patty Tighe, Richard Treweeke and Debbie Kepitis, announced on Monday they had chosen the Hunter Valley-based Yarraman Park stallion as her first mating. They issued a statement via the mare's trainer Chris Waller saying they had fielded interest from home and abroad but decided she would remain in Australia. "As owners, we have utilised and considered the... View the full article

Te Aroha racecourse has become a happy stomping ground for trainer Samantha Logan. The Cambridge horsewoman picked up her second career double at the Waikato track on Sunday with Zamora and Henry Tudor in the two steeplechase events. “I have only had one other double and that was at Te Aroha as well, so it’s a been a pretty good course for me,” she said. Logan recently changed tack with Henry Tudor, placing him over the steeples for the first time on raceday on Sunday after he failed to f... View the full article

Balcairn trainers John and Karen Parsons stretched their memories back 30 years when Pippi Rea extended his winning streak to five at Riccarton on Saturday. “We have to go back to Seamist to remember another horse we’ve had who has won as many in a row,” Karen Parsons said after Pippi Rae’s last-stride victory over Saber in the Sonia & Garry Thompson Open Sprint (1200m). Seamist, a daughter of Beaufort Sea, was a stable star for John Parsons when winning 12 races, highlighted by the 1992... View the full article

Acclimate went wire-to wire June 23 to win the $100,702 San Juan Capistrano (G3T) two races after Majestic Eagle rallied to win the American Stakes (G3T). Both horses earned their first stakes victories. View the full article

HOLLYWOOD GIRL (f, 3, Giant’s Causeway–Hollywood Story {MGISW, $1,171,105}, by Wild Rush), let go at 15-1 for a patient barn but in spite of her $875,000 price tag as a Keeneland September yearling, saved ground and kicked home late to don cap and gown at first asking. Unhurried but traveling well off of hot early splits, the dark bay scraped paint in the back half of a strung-out field and found a clear path as she picked off rivals heading for home. Game when splitting foes in upper stretch to find clear sailing, she kicked on nicely from there to best Miss Bigly (Gemologist) by a length in 1:35.52. Sales history: $875,000 yrl ’17 KEESEP. O-C R K Stable LLC. B-George Krikorian (Ky). T-John A. Shirreffs. The post Pricey Giant’s Causeway Filly Up in Time at Santa Anita appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Rinaldi entered the June 23, $150,000 New York Stallion Stakes with only one start to his name. After finishing third on debut earlier this month, the Posse gelding returned to Belmont Park's turf for a 10-1 upset in the Sunday feature. View the full article

Glen Boss to return for Stewards’ Cup View the full article

Updates on Stewards' follow-ups to Friday meeting View the full article

One day after The Stronach Group gave Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer 72 hours to vacate Santa Anita Park, the New York Racing Association announced it planned to honor the agreement it had with Hollendorfer for Belmont and Saratoga stalls. View the full article

AMALFI SUNRISE (f, 2, Constitution–Soot Z, by Empire Maker) drew in from the also-eligible list and drew off in the stretch to run to even-money backing and be named a ‘TDN Rising Star’. The $40,000 KEESEP yearling and $185,000 OBS April acquisition (:9 4/5) broke well from her outside draw and showed good stalking speed to keep front-running Save the Story (Will Take Charge) in her sights from second. She ranged up to that foe heading for home, and scampered clear in the lane under very confident Norberto Arroyo, Jr. handling to romp by some six lengths with another big gap back to third. Amalfi Sunrise is the fourth winner for her first-crop sire (by Tapit), and could have been the fifth after fellow firster Surveillance (Constitution) ran up on horses and had to take up and settle for fourth in the second race earlier on the Santa Anita card. Sales history: $40,000 yrl ’18 KEESEP; $185,000 2yo ’19 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0. O-Branham or Naify. B-Jack Mandato (Ky). T-Simon Callaghan. The post Constitution Filly Cruises to Rising Stardom at Santa Anita appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Only time will tell if The Stronach Group (TSG)’s June 22 banishment of trainer Jerry Hollendorfer from Santa Anita Park and all other TSG tracks is a step in the right direction in terms of improving equine safety in the midst of the California track’s 30-horse fatality crisis. But in the short term, the ruling-off has raised more questions than answers. Chief among them are how did Hollendorfer morph so quickly from a Hall-of-Fame trainer into a persona non grata in the eyes of TSG management? Four horse deaths at Santa Anita in a six-month span were obviously the tipping point. The Los Angeles Times also reported two Hollendorfer trainees have died at TSG-owned Golden Gate Fields during the same time frame. But if TSG wants to create a truly transparent trainer responsibility code, it owes the public–and other trainers stabled at its nationwide portfolio of tracks–more clarity and specifics about what Hollendorfer was allegedly doing that contributed to those fatalities. Did the sheer number of recent fatalities alone trigger Hollendorfer’s ban? Or is the 73-year-old, multi-decade mainstay on the annual North American winningest trainer list simply out of step with the rapidly changing times in terms of horse care? TSG’s statement issued on Saturday stated “Individuals who do not embrace the new rules and safety measures that put horse and rider safety above all else, will have no place at any Stronach Group racetrack. We regret that Mr. Hollendorfer’s record in recent months at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields has become increasingly challenging and does not match the level of safety and accountability we demand. Effective immediately, Mr. Hollendorfer is no longer welcome to stable, race or train his horses at any of our facilities.” Surely there is more to this story. Dr. Dionne Benson, TSG’s recently hired chief veterinary officer, did not return a Sunday voicemail message from TDN requesting comment prior to deadline for this column. Neither did Hollendorfer. But according to Horse Racing Nation, Hollendorfer did say on the Sunday morning “Track Talk” radio show based in San Diego that “in our barn, I didn’t break any rules or anything like that…We were totally cooperative with the vets and the people coming around to look at the horses in every single situation.” Racetracks that use “house rules” to try and weed out alleged wrongdoers are almost always in a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” situation. People complain endlessly about how racing’s regulatory bodies at the state level are toothless when it comes to getting rid of rule breakers and problem-causers, because the cases are often appealed, reduced, or overturned via the courts. Yet when a racetrack steps up to assert its private-property rights to exclude anyone they like, some of those very same complainers leap to defend the ruled-off person, pointing out how such banishments don’t afford the accused a due-process shot at defending themselves. In this case, perhaps it’s telling that the trainers’ organization that represents Hollendorfer doesn’t even know what to make of his banishment. Jim Cassidy, the president of California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT), said in a Sunday phone interview that he can’t comment one way or the other on whether the CTT is supportive of Hollendorfer. “That’s difficult to say,” Cassidy told TDN. “We’re going to have a board meeting later on this week to have a discussion about what we can do, or if there is anything we can say or do. We can’t do much since this is private property, and [TSG] can have who they want or don’t want here. So there’s not much of legal consequence that we can do about it. We can make a stink about it, but it’s just the way it is.” When asked if even the most safety-conscious trainers have developed a mentality that one bad step could ruin their careers and reputations, Cassidy said most CTT horsemen are adapting willingly to the new, hyper-sensitive racing landscape. “Mostly, everybody’s taking care of business the way they should be,” Cassidy said. “That means everybody is trying to do the right thing. They’ve taken steps here to try to protect everybody and the horses–great steps. As far as the protesters and all of that, we try to ignore it the best we can. Nobody’s happy about it because they think it’s unfair. You just hold your breath and hope everything goes smoothly, day to day to day.” Asked to comment on whether he felt TSG was shifting the safety narrative away from Santa Anita and putting the onus on trainers, Cassidy said this: “The racing surface, since we’ve gotten rid of all the rain, has been in great shape. As far as blaming the trainers, it seems everybody wants to blame the trainers, no matter what the situation is. We take [flak] because when one guy has a problem, we’re all pointed at. If people are looking at you with wide eyes, everybody has to be very careful. But even if you’re very careful, you can still have an accident. It’s inevitable. There’s nothing we can do about that. You just have to take all the corrective measures you can to make sure that you’re not doing anything blatant.” Both TSG and the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) have mandated a slew of changes to training and racing protocols over the past half year. Is there anything the CTT believes those organizations should be doing differently? “To be quite honest with you, I don’t know what else they could possibly do,” Cassidy said. “They’re pulling out all the stops. They’re watching these horses from morning until evening when the races are over. There are veterinarians all over the place watching horses. The trainers are watching their own horses. I’ve never seen it cared for like this before.” The SoCal racing now shifts to Los Alamitos Race Course, and Hollendorfer has been welcomed to race there by track management. “Los Alamitos will gladly provide stalls to Jerry Hollendorfer, a Hall of Fame trainer and an unexcelled horseman,” Edward Allred, the track’s owner, said in a press release issued after the trainer’s TSG ban was announced. “Unless forbidden by the CHRB, we intend to permit entries from Hollendorfer. We do not feel he should be a scapegoat for a problem which derives from a number of factors.” In May, Hollendorfer announced an intention to race a string of horses on the New York Racing Association (NYRA) circuit. He currently has 16 stalls at Belmont, but only eight are occupied. “Mr. Hollendorfer is currently utilizing stall space at Belmont Park and was approved for stalls at Saratoga Race Course for the 2019 summer meet,” read a statement, in part, issued Sunday by Pat McKenna, NYRA’s communications director. “NYRA will honor those agreements and he will be permitted to stable and enter horses at both Belmont and Saratoga.” The post The Week in Review: Hollendorfer Ban Raises More Questions Than it Answers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

7th-Belmont, $79,540, Alw, 6-23, (NW1$X), 3yo/up, 6f, 1:08.78, ft. ENDORSED (c, 3, Medaglia d’Oro–Dance Card {GISW, $502,200}, by Tapit) was highly regarded last year after rallying to score at first asking at the Spa in August and earning an 89 Beyer Speed Figure. He could only manage sixth in the GI Champagne S. here Oct. 6, but had been recently flattered by a pair of runners who came out of his debut: third finisher Principled (Medaglia d’Oro) annexed a local maiden special weight May 11, while fourth finisher Borracho (Uncle Mo) was third in the GI Woody Stephens S. June 8. Well supported as the 7-5 choice facing a short but solid group, the homebred was out-footed into last down the backside behind a :21.99 opening quarter. He came alive and swung very wide into a :44.55 half, and gobbled up ground down the center of the course to inhale Fortune’s Fool (Arch) and prevail by a widening length. A $750,000 pick-up at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Florida sale who annexed the 2012 GI Gazelle S. and was third in the GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Sprint the following year, dam Dance Card (Tapit) has an unraced 2-year-old filly named Dance Music (Ghostzapper) and a yearling colt by Curlin. She was bred back to Into Mischief. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $94,850. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. O/B-Godolphin LLC (KY); T-Kiaran P. McLaughlin. The post Medaglia d’Oro’s Endorsed Impresses in Seasonal Debut appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article