ORANGES AND LEMONS

Churchill Downs
(Photo : Athens)

“The only way you could actually see the race live over here
was on the Internet.”

Bill Oppenheim
Thoroughbred
Daily NewsLet’s begin with Orb, only the fourth Grade 1/Grade 2-winning colt in 10 crops by the amazing Malibu Moon. You bet he’s amazing, he started out at the Pons Brothers’ Country Life Farm in Maryland for a $3,000 fee, as a 3-year-old in the year 2000 (and what a great job they did with him, by the way), and look where he is now. As you might imagine, he’s now the number two sire in North America, with only G1 Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom’s sire, Leroidesanimaux, ahead of him. The gap was $1.9-million yesterday, but with 166 runners this year, compared to 49 for “Leroi”, this is only going to have one outcome. Right now Malibu Moon is a big favourite to become North America’s Leading Sire this year. He must have always shown them a lot as a racing prospect. He was bred by Spendthrift’s now-owner B. Wayne Hughes way before he acquired (and restored) Spendthrift, and made his debut for trainer Mel Stute over 4 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood Park in April as a 2-year-old, finishing second. He then won at five furlongs in :57 2/5 seconds in May.

But a slab fracture ended his career, and the Pons boys rolled the dice and bought half. Good call. Malibu Moon moved to Castleton Lyons in 2004, then over to Spendthrift in 2008. He’s been in the top six on the North American General Sire List the last three years (third in 2010), and all this with a 14-to-3 filly bias among his Grade 1 and Grade 2 winners (combined) through the end of 2012. It may be America’s greatest race, and the best horse did win, I’m pretty sure of that. He figured to get the trip, he handled the conditions, and won with a Beyer 104, which is at least respectable (Animal Kingdom 103, I’ll Have Another 101, before his Preakness 109), but there were some unsatisfactory aspects to the race.

First, it was run in the slop after persistent rain most of the day in Louisville, and several major contenders, including previously unbeaten Verrazano (14th) and Goldencents (17th), might just have hated the going. Second, Palace Malice more or less ran off with Mike Smith in first-time blinkers, setting a suicidal pace (45:1/5, 1:09:4/5). Everything chasing him backed up as well, setting up the race for closers. Of the first five finishers, only Normandy Invasion was closer than 15^th after the first half-mile. Third, and this is really unsatisfactory, from my point of view, Churchill’s infamous hard-bargain negotiating stance meant they priced the feed so high the European racing channels couldn’t justify buying it, so the only way you could actually see the race live over here was on the Internet, and that was only because I borrowed a friend’s TwinSpires account. From reading Michael Bronzino’s letter in the TDN Monday, there were problems in Florida watching Churchill races live, too. Yeah, I get it that Churchill Downs are hard negotiators; and yeah, I get it they’re a public company and slaves only to the almighty dollar. But what I don’t get is why breeders aren’t up in arms. Churchill Downs is not their friend.

When racing was on the ropes in the early 1980s the breeders, led by John Gaines, created the Breeders’ Cup as a vehicle whereby breeders could contribute to the revival of racing, and it worked. Now it’s the breeders who are on the ropes, and don’t let anybody tell you different. North American breeders desperately need to recapture European markets, not just to sell their horses, but to generate investment to become competitive again for top stallion prospects worldwide, which presently they are not. Australia and Japan, please note, are standing the two Kentucky Derby winners before Orb, who will, presumably, stay in America, but only because the owners can afford to keep him.

Yet, prospective customers for America’s breeders cannot even watch America’s so-called greatest race in Europe, because the racetrack company really doesn’t care if it’s free to watch there, or not, just like they don’t care, as the new points system guarantees, that horses trained in Europe are virtually shut out, unless they win the UAE Derby in Dubai. How are prospective buyers going to get excited about American racing, not to mention owners who might actually have horses racing there, like jockey Ryan Moore was when he came back and told Channel 4’s Emma Spencer at Newmarket on Sunday that it was about the greatest buzz he’s ever had as a rider - when they can’t even see the race live? I know nostalgia won’t buy you a ham sandwich, and, honestly, the last thing I think of myself as is a whiner, but I’ll guarantee you one thing, there’s no way this would have happened when Warner Jones, Jr was running the show. Churchill Downs used to work in tandem with Kentucky breeders. Now, they couldn’t care less.

PROPHETIC?

Watch “Winning the Kentucky Derby My Way”
(Image and Footage : Team Valor International)

www.teamvalor.com

DARLEY INVESTS IN ANIMAL KINGDOM

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed
(Darley America)

ANIMAL KINGDOM
Leroidesanimaux (Brz) - Dalcia (Ger)

Darley has acquired a 29% interest in Dubai World Cup and Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, Arrowfield Stud and Team Valor International announced earlier this week.

As a result, Animal Kingdom will stand in the Northern Hemisphere at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. The son of Leroidesanimaux will stand in the Southern Hemisphere at John Messara’s Arrowfield Stud in Australia.

“Animal Kingdom is outstanding,” said Darley’s COO Oliver Tait. “Not only is he immensely talented, he has shown a rare ability to excel on turf, synthetic, and dirt, and win at a range of distances up to the mile and a quarter of the Kentucky Derby and the Dubai World Cup. His win at Meydan last Saturday was all class.”

Added Arrowfield’s chairman John Messara, “We are delighted to partner with Darley in the ownership of Animal Kingdom and management of his future international stud career. We have always had a great working relationship with Darley and have the utmost respect for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and the Darley management team. “With our unprecedented combined support, Animal Kingdom will have every opportunity to develop from a champion racehorse into a champion sire.”

Current plans call for Animal Kingdom to travel to England to race, with the Queen Anne Stakes or the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot as possible engagements.

Animal Kingdom’s majestic two-length victory in the March 30 Dubai World Cup over 2,000 meters was the first US-trained success in the race since it has been held on the synthetic Tapeta surface at Meydan. The win took his career earnings to $8.3 million.

Extract from Bloodhorse

THE WORLD CUP : THE LOWDOWN

Animal Kingdom
(Image : Cecil Scene)

$10,000,000 DUBAI WORLD CUP (Group 1)
Meydan, All Weather, 2000m
30 March 2013

America’s TDN ran an illuminating scientific study on Animal Kingdom’s victory in the Dubai World Cup yesterday. Here it is:

How impressive was Animal Kingdom?

Quite. The first winner of the G1 Kentucky Derby/G1 Dubai World Cup double since Silver Charm capped the feat in 1998, Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux) plotted a wide, but clear trip from an outside barrier draw Saturday. His final winning margin of two lengths was misleadingly cozy. At the finish, Animal Kingdom traveled 17 metres more than Red Cadeaux (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux), closing fast at the rail. Covering an extra 17 meters is the equivalent of approximately 6.5 lengths of added ground traveled. Adjusting the final margin of victory for this ground coverage suggests that the Graham Motion trainee was more than eight lengths better than rail-skimming Red Cadeaux. Given several days to absorb the data, it seems appropriate to suggest Animal Kingdom ran the best race of his life to date.

One added way to review the data from the Dubai World Cup is to compare the average speeds of horses. Horses asked to plot wider courses have to run faster to maintain their position. If four horses were lined across the course and began to corner, in order for a widely planted horse to hold his position, he would absolutely have to run faster than a horse to his inside. Animal Kingdom never lost position in running, expending more energy with the highest cruising speed in running.

After 1,200 meters of the Dubai World Cup, here is the position of each horse, in order, with their average speed to this point in the race.

Following these first six furlongs, Animal Kingdom had traveled seven meters (about 2 3/4 lengths) more than leader Royal Delta (Empire Maker), and 11 meters (about 4 1/4 lengths) more than Red Cadeaux.

At the finish, Animal Kingdom was still in control, running the second fastest final 100 metres behind only Red Cadeaux’s time, and averaging 0.7 kph more than that rival over the course of the race. Overall, Animal Kingdom’s individual sectional times are massively impressive, running 0.33 seconds faster in his fifth 400-meter segment than the fourth segment, and clocking the single fastest split in the race, from the 1600-meter pole to the 1200-meter pole in :23.20. Once Joel Rosario recognized that neither Planteur (Ire) (Danehill Dancer), who made all the running in his previous race, nor African Story (GB) (Pivotal), stretching-out off mid-pack trips in one-turn races, were interested in running forward, Rosario seized the initiative and prompted the obvious front-runner in Royal Delta.

Take note of Animal Kingdom’s sectional times below (North American readers should note that race-timing in the UAE, and much of the world, begins with an electric pulse tied to the starter’s gate-opening mechanism, yielding the slow, in appearance, opening quarter).

Animal Kingdom’s Sectional Times
400m	:26.98
800m	:23.20
1200m	:23.60
1600m	:24.88
2000m	:24.55

While the entire final 400-meter segment of the race is run in the home stretch, given Animal Kingdom’s earlier fractions, his ability to stay on really puts this performance into magnificent territory. In three previous runnings of this race at Meydan, Gloria De Campeao (Brz) (Impression) walked slow and free on the lead, Victoire Pisa (Jpn) (Neo Universe)’s fastest 400m segment was his last after he made a last-to-first backstretch move into a mind-bogglingly slow pace, and Monterosso (Fr) (Invincible Spirit) had the pleasure of running into the fastest of the four early paces in the running of the race on Tapeta.

Over the history of all-weather racing at Meydan, 38 races out of 51 at 1,200 metres were faster than the 2013 G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, 46 races out of 49 at 1,900 meters were faster than the 2013 G2 UAE Derby, and 59 out of 65 races at 1,600 meters were faster than the 2013 G2 Godolphin Mile.

The all-weather surface at Meydan has shown a tendency to quicken slightly as temperatures cool in the desert, a phenomenon experienced in past years. The sun was setting as the Derby ran, while it was dark during the Golden Shaheen. Still, there was no cold front that swooped in and provided a wildly different course roughly two hours after the Golden Shaheen; let there be no doubt that Animal Kingdom’s race in the Dubai World Cup was phenomenal. Overall, this year’s edition ranks as the fifth-fastest race from 31 at the distance, significantly faster than the trends from earlier races on the night.

Wherever Animal Kingdom goes from here, there is no doubting his performance in the 2013 Dubai World Cup will rank as one of his most impressive.

Makes you wonder how good Golden Sword was, at his best. To this day, no horse has bettered his 2000 metre record for Dubai, and to put it into perspective, remember there have been 18 renewals of the Dubai World Cup at the distance.

Editor’s Note: We were recently in touch with Barry Irwin (CEO Team Valor) and owner and breeder of Animal Kingdom. This is what he had to say about the horse:

“I am glad most of all for what the horse has been able to do for himself. He is a real character and has a wellspring of talent that is very deep. The good ones need the right temperament and interest in order to capitalize on their talent and this horse fortunately is the complete package.”

NOT EXACTLY A TIPPING SHEET

Animal Kingdom’s owners John Messara of Arrowfield Stud and Barry Irwin of Team Valor International
with winning jockey Joel Rosario receiving the Dubai World Cup
(Photo : Sport360)

“That’s five from six, which sounds more like a Dale Steyn
bowling return than a regular Summerhill tipping sheet.”

Let me confess, these columns are not known for any particular science in predicting the outcome of a horse race. We’re far too sentimental to be good tipsters, but occasionally we get it right. In our ramblings in the lead up to the weekend, we went out on a limb and named a few fancies.

You might argue that Shea Shea was a certainty in the $1million Al Quoz Sprint (Gr.1) in Dubai, but there’s no such thing on a world stage, particularly in an international field where the talents of the protagonists are beyond comparison. Nor could you have anticipated that he’d smash a course record which just three weeks before, he’d made his own. The son of former Summerhill sire, National Emblem, deservedly heads for Royal Ascot’s King’s Stand Stakes (Gr.1), where the world might just be treated to one of the great sprinting contests of all-time. Black Caviar is 24 from 24 as matters stand, and while she’s earned her rating as the second best horse on the planet, her connections will be the first to acknowledge that she took down a tame field in England last year. It would take a brave man to suggest that Shea Shea has her measure, but Australia is no longer the breeding ground for the out-and-out blinding speed it used to be. Increasingly, the influence of shuttle stallions has blunted the profile of the aptitudes for which Australian thoroughbreds were once famous, and whatever the outcome, on the evidence of his exertions in Dubai, Shea Shea will be a worthy foe for one of the best sprinters the world has known.

In hindsight, a seven-for-seven record tells us that anyone betting against Soft Falling Rain in the Godolphin Mile on Saturday, needed a shrink. Yet in its 18 renewals, the $1million race has never been won by a three-year-old, and that tells you something. Besides, he was drawn on the rank outside and that’s where he remained well into the finishing stretch. Pressed four and five wide for the duration of the race, the colt galloped right to the line, and he takes an unblemished record to Royal Ascot as well. The Beck family have produced some crackers in their time at Highlands and Maine Chance, but this fellow might be the pinnacle of their endeavours.

There’s not much more we can say about Mike de Kock as a racehorse trainer. As one of the greatest exponents of the art the world has known, we’ve come to expect these things from him. But even then, you’d not have stretched your anticipation to two track records, and a cracking second from The Apache in the $5million Duty Free. There have been some remarkable performances by some remarkable horses over the Dubai turf in the past two decades, and yet here we are, with the fastest 1000 and 1600 metres ever. Add to that Golden Sword’s 2000 metre still-standing record, and you’d have to believe he gives them wings.

You might have said there was no genius in picking Animal Kingdom for the $10million Dubai World Cup, and here we’d have to admit to some sentiment. He belongs to two old mates, Arrowfield’s John Messara and Team Valor’s Barry Irwin, so we might have tagged him anyway. We were on hand for his big day in America’s biggest horse race, the Kentucky Derby, though, and that and his “prep” for Dubai was enough for us. Remember too, that when we fingered him, he was only the fourth choice on the betting boards, shortening a bit when Monterosso defected at the last minute.

How many mares get two Group winners at the same race meeting? It’s happened before, but it’s not your everyday occurrence. While we were in Australia a fortnight back, Helsinge had the lofty distinction of having two Group One winners on the same weekend, though at different venues. Both are exceptional: Black Caviar is already a household name, and her younger brother, All Too Hard, is on his way to becoming one. He is already the best three-year-old in Australasia, and he might just be as good as they get anywhere in the world.

That shouldn’t detract though, from Bridget Oppenheimer’s spectacular achievement on Saturday. Not only was the winner of the Harry Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes (Gr.1) Slumdogmillionaire, appropriately bred at her nursery, Mauritzfontein, but so too, was the sublime victress of the SA Fillies Classic (Gr.1), Cherry On The Top and the gusty winner of the Jacaranda Handicap (Gr.3) Cherry On The Cake. The best measure of a great mare is one capable of getting good horses no matter her mates, and the Oaks-winning Carolina Cherry has done just that. This is a family affair: the Triple Crown aspirant who might just be the best South African-bred filly we’ve seen in decades, is a daughter of Mary Slack’s Tiger Ridge, while Cherry On The Cake is by the sadly deceased Strike Smartly, sire too, of Slumdogmillionaire. The family traces to Sir Mordaunt Milner’s great foundation producer, Miss Therese, dam of the Kannemeyer-trained Guineas winner, Man Of Property.

Revisit our column, Classics And Clues on Friday last, and you’ll find “Slumdog” and the “Cherry” in the mix as well. That’s five from six, which sounds more like a Dale Steyn bowling return than a regular Summerhill tipping sheet. Without in any way wanting to diminish your faith in our picking abilities, we have to confess that Tellina was our choice for the Colt’s Classic. Thank goodness we got that one wrong!