Wandering Eyes

Lim Stable’s Lim’s Cruiser (Aus) (Casino Prince {Aus}), the reigning champion sprinter in Singapore, took a major step towards an appearance in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin Dec. 9 with a dominating first-up victory in a Kranji Stakes ‘A’ Tuesday evening. Making his first start since posting a 1 1/2-length victory in the S$1-million Lion City Cup over this course and distance May 26, the Stephen Gray-trainee was resuming here as the $15 (2-1) second choice in the wagering behind $8 (3-5) favourite Zac Kasa (Aus) (Reset {Aus}), who was in receipt of five pounds from his market rival. Drawn gate one, Lim’s Cruiser rode the rails into a midfield position as the field raced into the final three furlongs. Making ominous progress in hand leaving the 400m mark, Lim’s Cruiser was short of room as he went for a run between pacesetting Faaltless (NZ) (Faltaat) and Zac Kasa shortly thereafter, but sliced through once he saw daylight and raced away to score by 2 1/2 lengths (video). “He bullocked his way through the gap and he showed he was right on track after coming off a long layoff,” said racing manager Craig Geehman, deputising for Gray, who is at the sales in New Zealand. “Lim’s Cruiser will be much better off from this run tonight. It looks like he will be getting there [Hong Kong] at his best form, if he makes it.” While no horse from Singapore has ever won the Sprint, the legendary Rocket Man (Aus) (Viscount {Aus}) was just touched off by South Africa’s J J the Jet Plane (SAf) (Jet Master {SAf}) in the 2010 renewal. View the full article

Since its inception in 1935, Rathbarry Stud has been synonymous with breeding high-class horses, whose talent stand the test of time, as do their top-class stallions. The family-run operation was established by Paul Cashman, grandfather of current Rathbarry residents Paul Cashman and Niamh Woods, after purchasing 159 acres of prime land in the Blackwater Valley, just outside the town of Fermoy in County Cork. Paul stood the farm’s first stallion, Royal Pom, but it was his son, Liam, who introduced the farm’s first Flat stallion in Kampala (GB) (Kalamoun {GB}). This was the beginning of Liam’s reputation as a top stallion master, as Kampala became leading first-season sire, with his progeny including G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero, Tony Bin (Ire). The trend of standing champion first-season sires continued with Taufan and later his son, Tagula (Ire), as well as Acclamation (GB), Alzao, Barathea (Ire) and Namid (GB). A separate farm, Glenview Stud, was set up nearby to stand the Cashmans’ National Hunt stallions, with whom they have also had notable success. Liam sadly passed away in 2001, but his wife, Catherine, along with her son Paul and daughter Niamh, ensures his legacy continues, both in standing top-class stallions and offering a genuine service in an increasingly commercial bloodstock world. A reminder of the farm’s deep-rooted connection to the interests of the industry was the family’s decision not to increase any of the stallions’ fees for 2019, as many breeders lament the constant rise in costs of breeding. Not even Acclamation, whose son Expert Eye (GB) thrillingly captured last month’s GI Breeders’ Cup Mile, will exceed his 2018 fee of €40,000. When quizzed on the temptation to do otherwise, Catherine Cashman explains, “Of course, we were thrilled with Expert Eye’s win in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. He is just one of 29 stakes performers by Acclamation in the 2017-2018 seasons. This added to the record-breaking sale of Marsha (Ire) for 6 million gns at Tattersalls last December, but we felt that taking into account the overall tone of the current market, it was in everyone’s interest not to increase his fee.” Listening to breeders and mare owners has always been key to Rathbarry’s success. Indeed, back in the 1990s, the Cashmans were ahead of the curve with the current hot topic of limiting stallions books, though the reception was not quite as they’d hoped. “This debate [on limiting stallion books] has been ongoing since I started in the early 1970s,” says Catherine, “We have a large poster from 1993 in our office, and at the bottom it states that all Rathbarry stallions would be limited to a book of 60 mares. After a couple of years, we felt this move wasn’t appreciated. We have never covered large books with our Flat stallions. Acclamation’s books have averaged 120 mares each season.” Many in the bloodstock world have a tendency to point fingers, be it towards sales companies or stallion masters. The views of Catherine Cashman, who has worked throughout the growing numbers of foals, lead one to think that stallion owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place. She says, “I believe it is up to breeders and mare owners to police the mares they are breeding from, because at the end of the day, it is hard for stallion owners to say no, unless there is an agreement across the board. The way the game has gone, it has become a numbers game to a certain extent, especially for first-season sires. At the same time, if a stallion does not sire a certain number of quality horses, the industry will see through it.” Tough judgement of stallion performance is not, however, the only challenge facing stallion farms these days, as Catherine explains, “It is very difficult for smaller operations to purchase their choice of future stallion. With many racehorses purchased very early in their careers, it means there is intense competition for the remaining pool of potential stallions.” Rathbarry did, however, secure a new addition to its ranks this year in James Garfield (Ire), a son of Exceed And Excel (Aus) and member of the Mill Reef S. honour roll that also includes Harry Angel (Ire), Ribchester (Ire), Dark Angel (Ire) and Rathbarry’s own Moohaajim (Ire). Explaining the appeal of their latest recruit, who will begin his stallion career at €7,000, Catherine says, “Firstly, he was a very tough and genuine racehorse. He broke the track record when winning the G2 Mill Reef S. and trained on to win a Group 3 as a 3-year-old, beating Expert Eye. He was only just touched off by Polydream (Ire) in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest in August, and he also had four Group 1 winners behind him that day. Secondly, he boasts a pedigree rich in stallion potential: he’s by an increasingly influential shuttler and sire of sires in Exceed And Excel, and also comes from the family of Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Kodiac (GB).” The next generation of Rathbarry Stud stallions have their introduction this winter, as the first foals by Ajaya (GB) and Kodi Bear (Ire) enter the market. “The feedback from breeders, and indeed from our own foals, has been a generally very positive consensus. Both stallions are stamping their stock. Ajaya is siring correct, sharp, sprinter types, while the Kodi Bear foals are handsome, strong and appealing individuals,” says Catherine. Rathbarry Stud is not just known as a top-class stallion farm, but as talented breeders in their own right, their greatest graduate being champion filly Finsceal Beo (Ire) (Mr. Greeley). The story of her making began far from Fermoy, though, as Catherine recalls, “Liam decided we should look further afield to introduce new bloodlines to our broodmare band. We have always been friendly with John Tyrell of BBA Ireland and Liam entrusted him to buy us a mare at Keeneland. Luckily, Musical Treat (Ire) was on the shortlist John sent to us, and though we hadn’t heard much about Mr. Greeley at the time, we bought her carrying a filly by him–Finsceal Beo.” The Cashmans, unsurprisingly, continue to source broodmares with success in America, and as Catherine says, “When you’re lucky once, it makes sense to return.” The relationship with BBA Ireland agent John Tyrell also continues, as he explains, “Rathbarry and I go back a long, long way. My first notable purchase for them was Namid as a stallion in 2000 and it’s gone on from there. I bought the dam of Finsceal Beo for them and it was one of those magical things. She made €340,000 at Goffs as a yearling, became champion 2-year-old filly the following year and went on to win both the Irish and English 2000 Guineas. She was then just touched off in the French Guineas, sadly missing an entry in the record books. I’ve bought a mare for Rathbarry at Keeneland November almost every year since and most have been a success, at least from a financial or business point of view.” He continues, “From the time of Liam Cashman, the farm has had a wonderful approach and he was an exceptional horseman, both of which he has passed on to his children. Not only is Rathbarry a top-quality farm, but they have also established a top-class stallion roster and excellent client base. The important aspect of Rathbarry is not only do their horses achieve success in the sales ring, but also on the racetrack, which has seen them build great trust and friendship with the buying community. People like to see a farm produce sound, talented racehorses and Rathbarry continues to do this year in, year out. The Cashman family are very hard-working and popular, and they deserve all the success.” Behind every good stud farm, there is always a hard-working team and though, perhaps lucky to have a whole family involved, Catherine Cashman admits that finding staff is an ongoing challenge facing stud farms. “As well as sourcing stallions, it is becoming increasingly difficult to source experienced and dedicated staff,” she says. “When myself and Liam started in the 1970s and 80s, there were many farmers’ sons in Ireland, who would have experience in the breeding or racing industries by owning a point-to-pointer, or a mare of their own at home. They understood the game. Whereas now, the intensification of farming, both in dairy and tillage, has seen times change and less people from farming backgrounds are venturing into the equine industry.” Catherine, like all the Cashman family, is much keener to discuss positives and when asked on the greatest improvement since she joined Rathbarry in the 1970s, she is quick to nominate one, “Ultra-sound scanning,” she says without hesitation. “It is responsible for improved detection of breeding issues in mares and in the health of young foals, and has greatly reduced time and money spent by breeders and stallion farms alike. Before ultra-sound scanning, the mare had to be brought to the stallion farm and left for a week, or more, in a strange environment, which comes with risks. Even at the best farms, a young foal can pick up anything, so the risk of this has been greatly reduced. The majority of mares visiting our stallions are now walk-ins, which works very well for both the mare and stallion owners.” View the full article

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wednesday’s Insights features a son of a Classic heroine. 5.10 Kempton, Cond, £6,000, 2yo, 7f (AWT) Khalid Abdullah’s Headman (GB) (Kingman {GB}) earned ‘TDN Rising Star’ status in his Nov. 1 debut going a shade over one mile at Newcastle and is hit with a seven-pound impost dropping to seven furlongs for this return. His rivals include Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Elamirr (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), who is a Roger Varian-trained son of G1 1000 Guineas victress Ameerat (GB) (Mark of Esteem {Ire}); and Kirsten Rausing’s Alaminta (GB) (Archipenko), a homebred granddaughter of dual G1 Champion S. heroine Alborada (GB) (Alzao), from the Marcus Tregoning stable. View the full article

Cloud Computing (Maclean’s Music–Quick Temper, by A.P. Indy), who gave Klaravich Stable and William Lawrence and trainer Chad Brown their first taste of Classic success in the 2017 GI Preakness S., has been retired and will enter stud in 2019 at B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm. Bred in Kentucky by Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings and Stretch Run V, Cloud Computing was purchased by bloodstock agent Mike Ryan for $200,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September sale, the top price for a first-crop yearling by Maclean’s Music. A maiden his six-furlong debut in February 2017, the dark bay was second in the GIII Gotham S. and a deceptively good third in the GII Wood Memorial S. before grabbing champion Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile) on the line at Old Hilltop. He earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, equaling the Preakness Beyer of American Pharoah and Lookin At Lucky while exceeding those posted by Justify and Exaggerator. The Preakness score came just 98 days after his career debut. “Cloud Computing is one of those horses that sells himself immediately when you see him,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift General Manager. “He’s a Classic winner, but he’s also the picture of what a Classic horse is supposed to look like. For him to go on and win the Preakness over Classic Empire less than 100 days after making his debut, that’s pretty special and it speaks to his quality. There’s a lot to like about Cloud Computing, and we believe breeders are going to love what they see.” Added Brown, “Cloud Computing is one of the best-looking horses I’ve ever had walk into my shed row. We always had tremendous confidence in this horse, and he showed why in the Preakness. To give up so much seasoning to a champion like Classic Empire, he showed real brilliance to beat that colt. He’s my first Classic winner and he’s very special to us.” “When I saw him at Hill ‘n’ Dale in August of 2015 right before the [Keeneland September] sale, I was awestruck. It was instant,” recollected Ryan. “In fact, I thought he was one of the best yearlings I had seen in 2015. He’s LeBron James. He’s got it all: size, strength, substance, quality, and tons of class. “He’s such an outstanding physical specimen that I’d be very confident he will reproduce himself. You’ll go a long way before you find a better-looking horse than Cloud Computing. I think when people see him, they will be tremendously impressed with his physique and presence,” Ryan added. Cloud Computing’s dam, a daughter of GISW and nine-time stakes winner Halo America (Waquoit), was also a 3-year-old of some note, finishing second in the GII Silverbulletday S. while placing in two other graded stakes in her career. Cloud Computing will be available as part of Spendthrift’s ‘Share The Upside’ program at a fee of $8,500 for one year. Breeders must breed a mare in 2020 on a complimentary basis. After the breeder has a live foal in 2020, pays the stud fee and breeds a mare back, he or she earns a lifetime breeding right beginning in 2020. Those electing to not participate in ‘Share The Upside’ to Cloud Computing can breed for $7,500 stands-and-nurses terms. WATCH: Cloud Computing winning the Preakness View the full article

Veteran Ashleyluvssugar will try nail down his first graded stakes win of the season—and extend an impressive streak—when he faces an expected seven other runners in the $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes (G2T) Nov. 23 at Del Mar. View the full article

Douglas Whyte has no plans to watch this year’s International Jockeys’ Championship from the weigh-in room with the legendary rider determined to secure his spot in the event on Wednesday night. While Whyte has not been able to maintain the dominance he once had over the Hong Kong riding scene, the 47-year-old has enjoyed a form revival of sorts this season, already racking up 13 wins after finishing with just 28 last year. The 13-time Hong Kong champion jockey is set to fight it... View the full article

BEST ALTERNATIVE BET 15:20 Southwell The age of 12 is certainly towards the twilight of any racehorses career but Theredballoon seems pretty lightly raced for a horse of his years. The chestnut gelding knows Southwell like the back of his hand and despite finishing second to last after a long lay off he’s usually very consistent here. With 9 top 4 finishes from 11 starts at Southwell this course and distance victor should feel the benefit of a recent return to action and in what looks a much weaker race can bounce back with a more promising effort. The most likely rival looked a reformed character when finishing 2nd of 15 at Chepstow last month. Stop Talking enjoyed the drop in trip and the booking of Jonjo O’Neill Junior certainly sparks further interest however despite showing more last time out is still to shake off her maiden tag. Another maiden worth noting is the Evan Williams trained Newquay Cards who, despite never tasting success, has shown glimpses of ability and looks up to winning a race of this level. THEREDBALLOON (E/W) RACINGPOST NAP 12:10 Lingfield The opening contest of today’s all-weather meeting from Lingfield hardly looks to possess the cream of the crop when it comes to racing prowess but for the likes of us punters these low-grade races can often unearth a horse that’s definitely worth backing and it looks to be the case with Thresholdofadream. Top jockey Oisin Murphy is the name on everyone’s lips when it comes to the most likely challenger to Silvestre De Sousa retaining next years flat jockey’s title and Murphy has a great chance of adding to his tally with this Amanda Perrett trained three year old. Although yet to find his way into the winner’s enclosure in five starts a step up to 1m6f last time out brought about significant improvement. A further step up to 2 miles looks to be a positive move and today is the day that Thresholdofadream can find her first win. The ever consistent Hatsaway is bound to be in the mix once again. Based off handicap marks you can’t neglect Meetings Man even at the ripe old age of 11. He’s been far from his best this season but now with 22lbs less weight to carry since his last all weather success a return to anything like his best will see him go close. THRESHOLDOFADREAM (WIN) – NAP Fakenham: 13:00 – Argante (E/W) 13:30 – Dawnieriver (WIN) 14:00 – Ormskirk (WIN) 14:30 – Piri Massini (WIN) 15:00 – Master Of Finance (WIN) 15:30 – Robbina (WIN) Lingfield: 12:10 – Thresholdofadream (WIN) – NAP 12:40 – Planetoid (E/W) 13:10 – Silca Mistress (WIN) 13:40 – Unforgiving Minute (WIN) 14:10 – Reticent Angel (WIN) 14:40 – Bobby K (WIN) 15:10 – Khuzaam (E/W) 15:40 – Turn Of Luck (E/W) Southwell: 12:50 – Banny’s Lad (E/W) 13:20 – Vino Griego (WIN) 13:50 – Gambling Gamut (E/W) 14:20 – Supremely Lucky (WIN) 14:50 – Ena Baie (WIN) 15:20 – Theredballoon (E/W)* 15:50 – Emmas Joy (WIN) The post Picks From The Paddock Best Bet – Tuesday 20th November appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Globetrotting superstar William Buick is set to ride mercurial Pakistan Star in next month’s Longines Hong Kong Vase (2,400m) with connections making moves to secure the jockey. Trainer Tony Cruz confirmed contact had been made with Buick after the five-year-old’s flop last Sunday where he finished 18 lengths behind eventual winner Eagle Way. Karis Teetan has been aboard the gelding in all three starts this season, with the dual Group One winner looking a shadow of himself, even... View the full article

Tim Cahill will receive a special send-off when he makes his final appearance for the Socceroos — but what’s been the greatest goodbye in Australian sports history? View the full article

Stocking his stable with fresh European blood, trainer Chad Brown has entered Irish-bred Stella di Camelot (IRE) into the $200,000 Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2T) for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs. View the full article

Hong Kong beckons as Cruiser scores sublime first-up win View the full article

Freedman one step closer to title after treble View the full article

Beasley praises Snip's four-win feat View the full article

Thunder Dragon keeps up Logan surge of form View the full article

Horses' test results November 17 View the full article

Horses' body weights November 20 View the full article

Track conditions and course scratchings November 20 View the full article

Horses' body weights November 20 View the full article

His father always told him how his were “the first footsteps in the snow.” Long days, hard work, crepe paper and cork factories: a classic immigrant tale of New York. But there was an intellectual legacy, too. The man spoke 13 languages. Thirteen! Now Peter Brant is in turn reiterating to the next generation-and he has no fewer than nine children-that wealth alone is no guarantee of fulfilment, that it must be sustained by engagement with the challenges and beauty of a world widened by privilege. “I had a father I was very close to, and not a day goes by where I don’t think about him,” Brant says. “He was a great man. And he always told me that what you have between your ears is all you’ve got. And never to count on anything other than that, because it will lead to misfortune. And I try to tell the same thing to my kids.” Sure enough, while his twin passions plainly require uncommon funds, both his art collection and his racing stable measure resources of quite another kind, if equally rare. For both answer the same kind of inner need. Nor is it merely a question of a Thoroughbred’s aesthetic appeal-so familiar, after all, that Lord Howard de Walden even had his apricot silks chosen by the painter Augustus John to complement the green backdrop of a racecourse. There is a seamless integrity between Brant, the owner of racehorses, and Brant, the collector of modern art; between his curiosity about the mysteries of the creative process, and the breeding of an animal that so perfectly combines form and function. His stable represents a parallel process of collection and curation, in the hope of turning up a masterpiece. Extending the analogy, we might speak of “early Brant” and “late Brant” respectively to describe the likes of champion Gulch, during his first spell in the sport, or the filly who sealed his comeback from a long exile at the Breeders’ Cup earlier this month. The success of Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire})–exported from France last year–in the Filly & Mare Turf represented a first racetrack headline on the scale of those Brant has been making at the sales, either side of the Atlantic, since returning to the fray in 2016 (notably at the Wildenstein dispersal). “It meant a lot,” Brant admits. “It has been such a pleasure to be around a great horse, just to watch her being trained over the last year or so. Especially after she got sick on us when she came over and ran in the Belmont Oaks, a case of pneumonia that was nip-and-tuck for a while. Gary Priest [veterinarian] did a great job with her, as they did in the [Cornell] Ruffian [Equine Clinic] at Belmont Park, where she was for about 10 days. Slowly, we got her back into training, and Chad [Brown, trainer] did a great job taking care of her.” The first piece of art Brant ever bought was by a young guy named Warhol. With the same, unerring knack, he picked out the emerging Brown to assist his return to the sport, after an absence since the early 1990s to address sundry business and personal distractions. “I was very fortunate to have been in this for 20 years, breeding and raising horses, before getting back into it as an older, more experienced person,” Brant reflects. “And I think I tried to use those past lessons to maybe not do a few things I’d done before-even though we’d been very successful. No matter how successful you are, you make mistakes. So I tried not to follow the exact same plan. I found big changes in the way horses were being trained, and in the veterinary science, in how active stallions can be. And all those things change the fundamentals. “When I decided to come back, I hadn’t yet met Chad. But I tried to do as much research as I could. I think Chad is just a very focused guy. He’s passionate about what he does, takes it very seriously, spends most of his time thinking about his horses. He’s a quintessential achiever, he’s intelligent, he concentrates on the detail. And-a very good thing-he knows when to stop on a horse. The other great thing about Chad is he thinks about races way in advance. If he doesn’t make it, he doesn’t make it, but at least you know the direction you want to head; at least he’s thinking about what kind of race is going to suit this horse best, rather than waiting for the horse to be right, and then saying okay, now let’s look for a race.” If finding a trainer is akin to backing an artist, then that makes each racehorse like a painting. Because Brant explains that genius can be as hard to explain, relative to an artist’s personality, as the brilliance of a racehorse with modest genes. “Sometimes art does reflect on the artist’s character, but sometimes it doesn’t,” he says. “Because expression comes from within. You can read about artists, and talk to them, and obviously you can’t really do that with horses. But if you’re looking at collecting-putting together a group of horses, or putting together a group of paintings-then there are certain principles that are similar. For instance, usually recognizing the talent beforehand is much more difficult than after it has performed for a number of seasons. Trying to pick a younger artist today who’s going to flourish in the future is very difficult, it’s like picking a weanling you hope can run in Group 1 races.” Both instincts were honed in boyhood. The actual horsemanship admittedly did not come until later, when building his own polo and racing operations. First of all there was betting, and the kind of hard-knocking horses you could trust with your pocketmoney as a kid in Queens. “My heroes, besides Duke Snider and Mickey Mantle, were Kelso and Carry Back,” Brant recalls. “Great handicap horses, great weight-carriers. Horses you saw every year. When you’re a kid, four years is a long time. So you never forget those horses. And I used to spend my summers at camp in Saratoga. It seemed like I was always either sneaking out of school or camp to go see the horses. We’d go to the racetrack, ask some elderly person to take us in. As soon as you got in, you just walked off.” At the same time, Brant was getting an apprenticeship in classical art from his father-starting at that local jewel, the Frick, and proceeding to global benchmarks at the Prado and the Louvre. But his mentor in the avant-garde was the Swiss dealer Bruno Bischofberger, then still only in his twenties himself. “And he would say to me: ‘Look, you’re living in New York where all the great art is being done now’,” recalls Brant. “‘Forget the Impressionists, the Cubists. Spend time with the artists living and working in your own town.’ And it was a special time in New York. You had Warhol, and Jasper Johns, and Lichtenstein. Rauschenberg. Cy Twombly. So I was very lucky to be living and working there. “It’s like if you’re around the racetrack, you see different things than somewhere else. It’s living a life dedicated to the love of something. The aesthetics of life are very important to me, and that’s kind of where I gravitated, somehow or other. And in a way, horses are that too.” Warhol soon became curious to meet this young man who was collecting his art and they soon became close friends, collaborating in various projects including films and magazines. But Brant was meanwhile proving equally precocious in his equine investment-and here, too, he learned to think outside conventional boundaries. “I don’t follow axioms like if the horse runs on the turf, their get will not run in the dirt,” he says. “I try to look at the racing style. I do believe a horse is a stayer, or a sprinter, and that the best kind of blood are milers-that’s where you’re getting the least that can go wrong. But there are exceptions to everything. “I was very fortunate to breed a Kentucky Derby winner [Thunder Gulch] from English staying stock. I brought Shoot A Line over, she’d been second in the Gold Cup at Ascot, she’d won two Oaks. I bred her to Storm Bird, she had Line Of Thunder that Luca Cumani trained for me, and he won a nice stake with her. We shipped her over for David Whiteley to train as a 4-year-old and then bred her to Gulch.” The paradox, of course, is that the rule-breakers eventually reset the norm. Work disparaged by conservatives today becomes the priceless must-haves of tomorrow. “I never bought anything because I thought it would be worth a profit,” Brant insists. “You believe in an artist, you accumulate the work. If the artist is still alive, you hope they continue in the same direction, don’t get sidetracked. But it’s important art is something you really live. “Because art really is the first turn to change. The artists show it to us before we see it on television, or in advertising or design. Great art becomes socialized. It’s radical when it’s first created. That’s why most people don’t really like contemporary, edgy art. But what’s beautiful today is not what was beautiful 20 years ago. Twenty years ago, if you looked at a silkscreen portrait of Marilyn Monroe, that’s not art. Today, it looks like a Madonna.” Again, moreover, he sees parallels in racing. “It all evolves,” he reasons. “Most great artists are students or apprentices of other artists. And who are all these great trainers? They all apprenticed for other great trainers: Bobby Frankel, Wayne Lukas. That’s such an important part of our culture: to learn from somebody you respect, to soak in that knowledge and really watch carefully what they’re doing, and ask yourself why they’re doing it.” One of the principal challenges to Brant during his absence from racing was itself a result of radical change in social habits, newsprint no longer being the indispensable medium it was when White Birch Paper started. He reckons there were then 34 rival manufacturers; and that now, east of the Mississippi, he faces only two. “It’s a much more consolidated industry, with much less capacity,” he says. “It was very tough for a while, as consumption went down, but it’s been very good recently. But you know, I think the country is figuring out that feeding news to the public is a serious responsibility; to provide the correct information, from all different sides, edited so it’s not totally out of whack. That’s what made our democracy, and that’s what will continue it.” That observation makes it impossible not to ask Brant about his boyhood friendship with the man whose excoriation of traditional media has become a trademark of his rise to the highest office in the land. “I can only say that my experience with him, as a boy, was that he truly was a very good guy,” Brant says of Donald Trump. “I was friends with him, from five till 13, best friends really, and saw no signs of any kind of bigotry or anything like that, that people accuse him of today. We were two guys who grew up together, and we parted because his father took him into a military academy. Why, I don’t know. He never really got into any trouble.” The two men have not spoken in recent times and Brant’s politics, as you might expect of a man of the arts, are of a rather different hue. Regardless of where you stand on the spectrum, however, Brant feels that all sides should be dismayed to see old school journalism–keeping government accountable and the citizenry informed–chased out by the kind of bite-sized trashtalk voters tend to consume today. “I think that what’s happened with the internet, and more sources of news, is that some of them very profound–and some of them are not,” he says. “The ability to express one’s opinion is more spread out. Uneducated presentations are being made, all these theories about what’s happening. It’s not good if people stop reading the newspaper and just go onto the easiest thing they can find. We should all read a variety of newspapers, online or in print, as part of our life to educate ourselves. But I wouldn’t be in horse racing if I wasn’t an optimist! And I am an optimist, no question about that.” Brant stresses how no nation better illustrates the cultural energy of the melting pot. Think of Warhol, son of a Pittsburgh coal miner, whose antecedents were (aptly enough) Bohemian. In fact, think of Brant himself–this charismatic, craggy septuagenarian, a living link to the brilliance and industry and dynamism imported from Europe by his father: a man of Spanish roots, raised on the borders of Rumania and Bulgaria, educated in Germany. “That’s why so many people born in Brooklyn have become great,” Brant says with enthusiasm. “Why it has produced so many creative geniuses. They were street-smart, their neighborhoods were full of diversity. It’s what our country is all about. Why did all the artists wind up in New York? Basically because they were expelled from Europe–whether because they were Armenian or Jewish or Catholic or homosexual. So that diversity gifted this country.” His father used to tell Brant that the most important thing a human being must have, and understand, is hunger; that otherwise “the passion is diluted.” And if the next generation of the family has been spared a literal hunger, to the extent that its charitable foundations instead keep the wolf from the door of contemporary artists, the passion in Brant is transparently undiminished. His comeback should leave the industry feeling doubly blessed: not only in the scale of his renewed investment, but also in the sheer caliber of the investor. For here is a man who connects with our trivial walk of sporting life much as he does with human endeavor in a more profound register, placing the puzzles of equine pedigree and performance alongside those of art, film, politics, philanthropy. Brant’s father went into business with his cousin, Joe Allen’s father–and it was Allen, the breeder of War Front, who helped lure his kinsman back onto the Turf. But in a sense, Brant never left, in that he has never ceased to ponder the margin between luck and judgement, between instinct and technique. Even as he retreated, remember, he became the only man to have bred both the mare and stallion he put together to breed a Kentucky Derby winner. “As a breeder, you might say I need a little bit of this in the pedigree, but then find you’re getting something else,” he says. “It’s very difficult to quantify. People try to quantify it by nicks, or conformation, or racing style. But because you’re dealing with such a large gene pool, for so many generations, you never know where the great sire, mare, racehorse is going to come from. “We all think we can narrow it down. We look at the percentages of stakes horses a sire produces. But it’s really always in the bottom 10%. It’s not like you’re dealing with a 40% number, and a 2% number. A lot of it is just how they accept training, how they recover from adversity. How they’re raised. Living conditions. How they learn to be competitive. “Horses teach you to be humble. Every day. And we can all do with more of that. It’s a very difficult game to play. Nobody is ever going to control their own fortunes. And basically that’s the romance of racing or breeding a horse. That’s what makes it great.” View the full article

The first session of the three-day Arqana Autumn Sale got underway at Deauville on Monday, and at the end of trade, 163 horses-in-training across both codes had found new homes for a sparkling clearance rate of 89.1%, up 3.4% on last year’s opening day. The gross dropped to €3,833,800, but it was a slimmed down first-day catalogue of 236 versus 283 in 2017. The average held steady at €23,520 (-.3%), and the median climbed 17.6% to €10,000. Topping the proceedings was Valajani (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) (lot 160) at €265,000 on the bid of Hubert Barbe of Horse Racing Advisory. Runner-up in the G3 St. Leger Italiano this term as well as placing in two German listed events for trainer Markus Klug, the attractive grey colt is bound for the Nation Hunt theatre. His dam is a half-sister to MGSW Vanjura (Ger) (Areion {Ger}), German Group 3 winner Veneto (Ger) (New Approach {Ire}) and German listed winner Vancovia (Fr) (Dream Well {Fr}). Earlier in the day, Horse Racing Advisory had also snapped up lot 152, Pagero (Fr) (Nathaniel {Ire}) for €190,000, the third most expensive lot of the session. A dual winner for trainer Henri-Francois Devin after selling for €40,000 as an Arqana August Yearling in 2016, the gelded son of Group 3 heroine and GI E.P. Taylor S. runner-up Pagera (Fr) (Gentlewave {Ire}) ran fifth last out in the Listed Grand Prix du Nord on Nov. 7. Barbe also acquired 3-year-old filly Prima Perfect (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) (lot 68) privately for €28,000 from Julien Carayon to sit second on the buyers’ table with a gross of €483,000. Hubie de Burgh struck near the end of the session for the winning Francois Nicolle hurdler Francois (Fr) (Muhtathir {GB}) (lot 224). A half-brother to listed winner Capitaine Courage (Ire) (Bering {GB}), who also ran second in the G3 Prix Andrew Baboin, the French-bred gelding brought €210,000 from de Burgh who was acting for American interests. “What I liked about him is that he’s got a very good turn of foot,” commented De Burgh on his purchase. “He goes on the top of the ground and he is not an overly heavy horse but has a beautiful action, which will suit American racing. My client has been very successful on the flat and he also has a number of very good jumpers.” Cat Tiger (Fr) (Diamond Boy {Fr}) (lot 190) rounded out the top four prices on Monday, selling for €180,000 to Guy Petit who bought nine lots and leads the buyers’ standings at €487,500. The Dominique Bressou-consigned 4-year-old gelding has enjoyed success as a chaser in the G3 Prix The Fellow. His dam is a half-sister to the late MG1SW and sire Vision d’Etat (Fr) (Chichicastenango {Fr}). Tuesday’s trade will kick off at 1 p.m. local time with a day dedicated to National Hunt yearlings and 2-year-old stores. View the full article

The sale of donated Triple Crown memorabilia at the Sporting Art Auction in Lexington on Sunday exceeded expectations by raising $67,850 in support of the Ann Hanley Parkinson’s Research Fund. But a behind-the-scenes act of kindness helped to buoy that amount significantly, Ann Hanley told TDN on Monday. She’s the wife of WinStar Farm general manager David Hanley, and she’s been working to fight Parkinson’s disease since being diagnosed with it herself 12 years ago. “Those donated pieces sold amazingly,” Hanley said. “We were really happy with that. But we also had a gentleman come up during the auction, and he handed me his card and said he wanted to donate $20,000 to the fund. So all in all, this is way more than we anticipated.” That’s important because Hanley’s fund (learn about it here) is the main financial supporter of a unique form of Parkinson’s research being conducted at the University of Kentucky (UK) in which the body’s own repair mechanisms—and not drugs—are being tested in clinical trials to see if they can halt progression of the nervous system disorder that affects movement. Hanley said that because drugs are not part of the treatment regimen, pharmaceutical companies have zero financial incentive to do this type of research. “So far, we’ve done 63 patients in a clinical trial,” Hanley said. “To be honest, we would have never been able to get it up and running without the help of the Thoroughbred and equine industries, because there’s no big money to be made anywhere [by pharmaceutical companies]. The benefit is solely for the patient. There’s no drug company behind this.” Hanley said she initially began volunteering with the UK researchers to learn more about her diagnosis. She is now the director of development at the school’s Center for Advanced Brain Restoration Technology. “I was there from the very beginning, and when I saw in the early stages the kind of success rate we were having, it was amazing,” Hanley said. “This is similar to how some cancer is being treated these days with immune cells to kill the cancer, except we’re doing it with the peripheral nerve system. “If you cut into the peripheral nerve, it has a repair mechanism built into it that will repair the nerve,” Hanley explained. “If you cut into the central nerve system, it doesn’t have the same capability. So if you injure the brain or the spine, it doesn’t repair. But you can graft the person’s nerves from one area into the other, and it will repair it.” Hanley continued: “So on that basis, we take a piece of peripheral nerve from the ankle, and we strip it down and relocate it into the brain in the area where the cells are dying because of the Parkinson’s. The idea is that we can regenerate or repair those cells. Parkinson’s is a progressively degenerative disease. Right now we’re just about two years out from the first patient we implanted, and three-quarters of those 63 patients are doing extremely well. So that in itself is a miracle. “I actually had the surgery myself just 10 weeks ago, so I hope to benefit from it also,” Hanley said. “Because this research is taking place so far outside of the box, it’s really difficult to get people to look at it seriously,” Hanley said. “It’s extremely difficult to get research money from the Food and Drug Administration to do this. We have a lot more patients, about 250, and in order to get them treated, there isn’t funding readily available. The funding has all come so far from my foundation. We’ve raised just under $1 million right now.” Trainer Bob Baffert donated a halter worn by 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) that sold for $31,050. He also donated horseshoes worn by both Justify and 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), which were framed with two Sports Illustrated covers featuring both horses and signed by jockeys Mike Smith and Victor Espinoza. That item sold for $36,800. The annual auction was organized by Cross Gate Gallery of Lexington, one of the country’s foremost galleries of fine sporting art, and hosted by Keeneland Association, Inc. Cross Gate spokesperson Catherine Ladd Kenneally, whose family owns the gallery, said the two pieces of Triple Crown memorabilia attracted robust bidding, and both were eventually purchased by people within the racing industry. “Ann is just a figure who is loved by the industry, and it really showed with the bidding support for those items,” Ladd Kenneally said. “People really bid in support of her and the foundation. We had a much bigger response than we anticipated. People outside of the industry were even involved, just because it’s such cool memorabilia. But in the end, both were purchased by racing industry entities. They just rallied around her and the cause. These pieces brought crazy numbers at auction. “It is extremely gratifying for my family to use the platform of the auction to be able to give back in this manner,” Ladd Kenneally said. Online donations to the Ann Hanley Parkinson’s Research Fund can be made via this page. View the full article

Cleber Massey's Blamed heads a field of eight in the $200,000 Comely Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies, the feature race Nov. 23 at Aqueduct Racetrack. View the full article

Cutting back in distance paid off for Brinley Enterprises' well-traveled Trigger Warning as the 3-year-old Candy Ride colt secured the most lucrative win of his career Nov. 19 in the $250,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes at Mahoning Valley. View the full article

With its history now extending to 35 years, we’ve seen the Breeders’ Cup Classic arguably develop into the supreme test for the American dirt horse, especially when it attracts the crème de la crème of more than one age group. As such, it should also be the perfect testing ground for the next generation of stallions. So has this theory become reality? Of course, the high failure rate among the general population of stallions means that no race can claim to be a highly reliable pointer to stallion success, but the Classic is faring better than most. Inevitably there have been plenty of Classic winners which have faded into oblivion–think of Proud Truth, Ferdinand, Alysheba, Black Tie Affair, Concern, Skip Away and Cat Thief from the early Classic winners. On the plus side, the inaugural winner Wild Again did consistently well in Kentucky, with his GI winners reaching double figures. The 1989 winner Sunday Silence must be classed as the one that got away, but he reshaped the breed in Japan, to the extent that his blood ran through the veins of nearly all of the 18 runners in Sunday’s Mile Championship at Kyoto. Next came Unbridled, whose impact on the Triple Crown events has been considerable, and two years later it was the turn of A.P. Indy, a two-time champion sire who is grandsire of the three-time champion Tapit. There was a six-year wait for the next high-class stallion, in the form of Awesome Again, who numbered Ghostzapper, another winner of the Classic, among his four GI Breeders’ Cup winners. Needless to say, Ghostzapper has replicated his sire’s success at Adena Springs, where he will stand the 2019 season at $85,000. The dual Classic winner Tiznow has also been a prolific sire of GI winners, while the 2007 winner Curlin is now priced at $175,000, after giving us sons of the calibre of Palace Malice, Exaggerator, Good Magic, Keen Ice and Connect. The Classic’s roll of honor also features a couple of winners who, with better luck, might have made a similar impact. Saint Liam, the 2005 winner, left fewer than 100 foals, but one of them was the Horse of the Year-winning filly Havre de Grace. And who knows what the great Cigar might have achieved had he not been completely infertile. It is fair enough to expect some of the recent Classic winners, such as American Pharoah, Arrogate and Gun Runner, to follow in these top stallions’ footsteps, but I will admit that I wasn’t too sure about the prospects of 2013’s winner, Mucho Macho Man, when he joined the Adena Springs team in 2015, at a fee of only $15,000. Certainly he’d had a colorful career, but he had had to share the attention with his trainer and rider. Trainer Kathy Ritvo’s well-known story told how she became the first female trainer to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, even though she had previously undergone heart-transplant surgery. And rider Gary Stevens was 50 years old and making a comeback when he managed to keep Mucho Macho Man’s nose just in front of Will Take Charge and Declaration of War in a thrilling finish at Santa Anita. Any recap of Mucho Macho Man’s career must start, as Julie Andrews would say, at the very beginning, a very good place to start. Bred by John D. and Carole A. Rio in Florida, the son of Macho Uno wasn’t born until June 15, 2008. Over the years I have noticed that American breeders seem less averse to a late foal than their European counterparts, perhaps because the racing season continues through the winter, whereas the Anglo-Irish season used to take a winter break of more than four months prior to the advent of all-weather tracks. Whatever the reason, quite a few colts have won the GI Belmont S. not long after their actual third birthday, good examples in recent decades being Touch Gold (May 26), Victory Gallop (May 30), Lemon Drop Kid (May 26), Birdstone (May 16), Afleet Alex (May 9) and Palace Malice (May2). Mucho Macho Man, though, was born more than two weeks later than any of these. Bearing in mind that he now stands 16.3 hands and is a tall and leggy individual, one could be forgiven for thinking that Mucho Macho Man had every right to be physically backward as a youngster. Perhaps it is relevant that his sire Macho Uno had been a champion at two, when he landed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and that Mucho Macho Man’s sire Ponche de Leona had won four of her six juvenile starts, including the Anoakia S. at Santa Anita. With their input, the 2-year-old Mucho Macho Man proved much more forward than could reasonably have been expected. Mucho Macho Man made his debut over six furlongs at Calder on July 17, when just a month past his actual second birthday, and showed plenty of promise in finishing a length second to the subsequent GIII winner Gourmet Dinner. Two months later, on his third start, he won decisively over an extended mile at Monmouth to earn a shot at Graded company. He progressed again to chase home To Honor And Serve in a pair of GIIs at Aqueduct, notably running him to two lengths in the Remsen S. Those efforts earned him a weight of 115 on the Experimental Free Handicap, which had to be considered an excellent achievement for a colt born as late as June 15. There was every chance that Mucho Macho Man would continue to improve long after some of the more mature members of his year group had shown the full extent of their abilities. He duly won the GII Risen Star S. on his second sophomore start, followed by a third in the GII Louisiana Derby, to earn a shot at the Kentucky Derby, I may be laboring the point when I mention that he was still 39 days short of his actual third birthday when he ran on to take third place at Churchill Downs, beaten by the March-foaled Animal Kingdom and February-foaled Nehro. Maybe this was asking too much too soon of Mucho Macho Man, as he didn’t run nearly so well in either the Preakness or the Belmont, but he returned refreshed after 151 days off to round off his three-year-old campaign with a smart win over a mile at Aqueduct. Predictably his next two years on the track proved much more rewarding, with his highlights at four featuring GII wins in the Gulfstream Park H. and Suburban H. and a very creditable second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The five-year-old Mucho Macho Man won the GI Awesome Again S. in addition to his success in the Classic, but he managed just two starts at six, when he recorded his second win in the Florida Sunshine Millions Classic. By July, his retirement had been announced, with Kathy Ritvo explaining that he was showing some signs of minor wear and tear and that he was being retired because he had nothing more to prove. It was appropriate that he retired to Adena Springs, which also stands Macho Uno and Macho Uno’s half-brother Awesome Again. It seems that I wasn’t the only one unsure about Mucho Macho Man’s prospects as a stallion. He attracted 99 mares in his first season, for around 70 foals, but his book was down to 72 mares in his second season and then to only 35 in 2017, even though his fee had been reduced to $10,000. Fortunately, his popularity revived earlier this year, when he covered 96 mares. This revival no doubt owed a lot to the 2018 2-year-old sales, which showed Mucho Macho Man’s progeny in a new light. Mucho Macho Man was arguably at his most impressive when on the move, with his long stride, and his breeze-up horses were also impressive, selling for such good prices as $625,000 and $575,000, for an average of over $170,000. Now several of his youngsters have shown that they have inherited plenty of his talent, including those two high-priced colts. Each of them was named a ‘TDN Rising Star’ after making a successful debut, the $625,000 Mucho Gusto at Los Alamitos and the $575,000 Fortin Hill at Belmont. Incidentally, these two colts were also born quite late, Mucho Gusto’s birthday being Apr. 26 and Fortin Hil’s May 2. Mucho Gusto has become his first Graded stakes winner, with his success in the GIII Bob Hope S. over seven furlongs at Del Mar. Mucho Macho Man’s daughter Belle Laura has also run creditably at Graded level, finishing third in the GII Jessamine S. prior to her seventh in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. There can be little doubt that Mucho Gusto–a late-April foal– will eventually stay a mile and a quarter, as his first two dams are daughters of Giant’s Causeway and Seeking the Gold, two stallions who finished a close second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The second dam, Countervail, was a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Peaks And Valleys, a dual GI winner over a mile and an eighth despite being a son of the sprinter Mt Livermore. View the full article

Oaklawn Racing and Gaming announced Monday plans to build an expansion project in excess of $100 million that includes the construction of a high-rise hotel, multi-purpose event center, a larger gaming area, and additional on-site parking. The project, targeted for completion in January 2020 for the gaming expansion and late 2020 for the hotel and event center, is one of the largest hospitality investments in the history of Arkansas. “This historic announcement represents a new chapter in the rich 114-year history of Oaklawn,” said Louis Cella, president of Oaklawn Jockey Club. “As we enhance the entertainment experience for our customers, we will also further elevate thoroughbred racing and help make Arkansas and Hot Springs even stronger regional tourism destinations.” The yet-to-be-named hotel will be seven stories with 200 rooms, including two presidential suites. Amenities will include an outdoor swimming pool, a luxury spa, fitness center and restaurant. “The hotel will offer a unique vantage point for our patrons in that it will overlook the track. Imagine the spectacular view as the horses are heading down the stretch,” said Cella. “Our goal is to achieve 4-star status.” Adjacent to the hotel will be a 14,000 square-foot multi-purpose events center that will accommodate up to 1,500 people for various events such as concerts, meetings, banquets and weddings. The project also includes the addition of approximately 28,000 square feet of gaming space and significantly expanded parking. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson lauded the expansion. “The state of Arkansas is grateful to Louis and his family for their commitment to growing their business right here at home,” said Gov. Hutchinson. “This project, which will be financed exclusively with private funds, not only represents one of, if not the largest, tourism-related expansion projects in our history, it will also rank among the state’s largest economic development projects in 2019.” Construction on the project will begin in May immediately following completion of the 2019 racing season, which runs from Jan. 25 to May 4. “The Cellas helped found Oaklawn in the early 1900’s,” said Wayne Smith, general manager of Oaklawn. “As they have for more than a century, the family continues to make significant investments in Arkansas. This will be the third major project at Oaklawn since 2008.” View the full article