TDN Q & A With Kirsten Rausing

[Wandering Eyes]

Kirsten Rausing has long been hailed as one of Britain’s greatest breeders. From her Lanwades Stud in Newmarket she has sent out countless winners both domestically and internationally and has garnered many stallion careers. With two of her graduates, Time Warp (GB) (Archipenko) and Glorious Forever (GB) (Archipenko), who are also full-brothers, due to compete in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup, TDN and GBRI spoke with Kirsten about the brothers as well as the early careers of two of the stallions in her care.

TDN:  How would you sum up the 2018 season for Lanwades?

Kirsten Rausing: We’ve had a good year so far, we have bred 107 winners. That is to say the winners of 107 races across the world, including of course, two group races in Hong Kong. Those were both courtesy of Time Warp. And we hope, maybe, that his brother Glorious Forever can add to that. One always aspires to something better and higher every year. People who work with horses will tell you, and everybody else, that it is not an easy game, and because you have success one year doesn’t necessarily mean you can extrapolate that in the future. Things happen with horses. One tries one’s best to identify risks and take measures to avoid same risks. That is what stud management is about.

TDN: Their family has been one that you have long been associated with. Can you tell us how you came to breed Time Warp and Glorious Forever?

KR: I’ve been associated with this family since 1976, and I have owned the two brothers’ fourth dam since circa 1990. She was very kind to me. She repaid me by giving me four filly foals in four years, and one of them was the third dam of Time Warp and Glorious Forever.

Another branch of this family has also given me Madame Chiang (GB) (Archipenko) who is, of course, a Group 1 winner.

TDN: What do you think of the Hong Kong racing industry?

KR: I think racing in Hong Kong, certainly the top layer of racing in Hong Kong, is recognized the world over as being absolute top class and anyone who can breed a winner of a group race in Hong Kong has every right to be proud of such an achievement. So, I am delighted to have bred these two good horses, the full brothers.

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TDN: Sea The Moon (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) has made an impressive start to his stallion career. Tell us about his achievements this year.

KR: See the Moon won the German Derby by an astonishing 11 lengths and was favorite for the [G1] Arc de Triomphe that Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) eventually won. Unfortunately, he injured a knee when pulling up after having won the Derby. I was very, very fortunate that his owner/breeders Gestut Gorlsdorf allowed us to purchase part of him and he was later syndicated, and he is now here for the last four or five years. His first crop are of course 2-year-olds of this year and I think it’s fair to say that he has exceeded most people’s expectations in a major way. He has, so far, sired 16 individual winners of 21 races, including two Group 3 races and another four black-type performers, including a Group 2 second in Italy.

He is quite astonishing in producing all these 2-year-old winners, because many of them are from mares that went a mile-and-a-half themselves and would not necessarily be expected to produce 2-year-old winners.

TDN: Were you expecting him to make such a good start?

KR: Well I was certainly expecting him to have a good crop of 2-year-old winners, but I think it is fair to say he’s done better than even I expected. Of course, I, together with his breeders, Gestut Gorlsdorf, we are probably his very biggest fans of all, but he has certainly made a tremendous impact. I think the breeding industry, certainly of Europe, has taken note of his incredible impact this year.

TDN: Another young sire in your care is Bobby’s Kitten (Kitten’s Joy). What made you want to stand him?

KR: Bobby’s Kitten is an interesting horse, and I hope the industry will share my belief and optimism in him. I was fascinated by the development of Kitten’s Joy, how Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey of Ramsey Farms had, in effect, made Kitten’s Joy through their own efforts. And so Kitten’s Joy has now of course realized the very height of his career, particularly this year with Roaring Lion and others.

Bobby’s Kitten was really a miler, a specialist miler who could also sprint, and the only time he ran over six furlongs, 1200 metres, was in fact, in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He came from nowhere, from last in the field, to beat none other than No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), which seems pretty pertinent in these days. I’ve had some good support for Bobby’s Kitten from, in particular, Irish mare owners and some French mare-owners as well, so the horse has been fully booked his first two years. He’s got some very nice foals on the ground, and of course mares in foal.

TDN: You mentioned he has first foals on the ground and a few of them are going to the sales. What should we expect to see from these foals?

KR: There are four of his foals at Goffs November Sale and 25 of his foals are at Tattersalls. I haven’t seen all of them, but I have to say those that I have seen are very nice, racy individuals with particularly good athletic walks. They are pretty correct and they seem to have very nice, cooperative temperament, as does he himself. I have two very nice Bobby’s Kitten colts and I hope that the market will like them as much as I do.

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