BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Unbridled’s Song (USA)
(Photo : Taylor Made Stallions)

“…they aim to persuade breeders that resting their mare is less attractive than having a May foal.”

The weekend marked a halcyon moment for an American horse.

One hundred Stakes winners remains a notable landmark in any stallion’s career, with Unbridled’s Song being the latest to reach this demanding milestone. Thanks to Graydar’s victory in the Donn Handicap (Gr.1), Unbridled’s Song became a member of this elite club at an appropriate time, just nine days before his actual 20th birthday. So writes Andrew Caulfied.

“While on the topic of birth dates, Saturday’s main events at Gulfstream Park acted as a reminder that patience is a virtue, which often reaps rich rewards. Firstly we saw Point of Entry (Dynafortmer) take the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (Gr.1)., and then a few races later came Graydar’s first Grade I victory. Point of Entry, whose bloodlines should make him a very interesting stallion prospect - was born on May 10, whereas Graydar was born on May 16. Although a late foaling date is by no means an insurmountable obstacle, the racing records of these two Grade 1 winners confirm that some patience is required. While Graydar’s birth date didn’t stop him selling for $260,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s February sale at two, he didn’t race at that age. After making his debut in April last year, his record now stands at three wins from four starts. Point of Entry, for his part, was another who made it to the races at two and he then earned less than $90,000 in eight 3-year-old starts. Fortunately, maturity and a permanent switch to the turf have changed all that, and his Gulfstream victory was his sixth in his last seven starts. It’s possible that a May foaling date is considered a greater handicap in Britain and Ireland than it is in the States, where the climate is warmer.

Consequently, the clever copywriters of Coolmore’s adverts find it necessary to stimulate interest towards the end of each season. Using a list of prominent late foals, they aim to persuade breeders that resting their mare is less attractive than having a May foal. Last year, for an article in Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder, I looked at the birthdays of the Grade or Group 1 and 2 winners in Europe and North America during July. I found that 50 individual horses were involved, of which three were born in January, 10 in February, 13 in March, 17 in April, six in May and one in June. The May sextet was especially interesting, I wrote, as they included no fewer than four Group 1 winners - Danedream (born May 7), Point of Entry (May 10), Acclamation (May 16) and Mayson (May 16). Several other Grade 1 winners had late-April birthdays, including the major 3-year-old winners Imperial Monarch and Great Heavens (both born April 28) and Aesops Fables (April 30). I also reminded everyone that quite a few colts have won the G1 Belmont Stakes not long after their actual third birthday, comparatively recent examples being Touch Gold (Deputy Minister) (May 26), Victory Gallop (Cryptoclearance) (May 30), Lemon Drop Kid (Kingmambo) (May 26), Birdstone (Grindstone) (May16) and Afleet Alex (Northern Afleet) (May 9). I mentioned too that Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno) had managed to flourish despite a June 15 birthday. He finished third in the 2011 Kentucky Derby, when still about six weeks short of his actual third birthday, but again didn’t show the full extent of his talents until he was four.

Although they also include the graded winners Magnificent Song, Half Ours, Noonmark and Noble Tune, their percentage of black-type winners is lower than Unbridled’s Songs overall figure. The perceived success of this cross has also seen Unbridled’s Song cover numerous grand-daughters of Storm Cat, but so far there has been only one stakes winner among their 70 foals.

All I am saying is that blindly following promising nicks is no guarantee of success, especially if conformation is overlooked. There is also no guarantee that mares by sons of a certain stallion will work equally as well as those by the original stallion. It is often convenient to forget that the sons have 50% extra bloodlines, which may or may not prove compatible.”

Editor’s note: The late date of the Ready To Run sale has facilitated the late foaling of numbers of top horses at Summerhill. A May foaling date in the Northern Hemisphere, is the equivalent of December down here. Born on the 16^th December was Champion Three-Year-Old filly, Icy Air, while Dynasty’s first vanquisher, in the Golden Horseshoe (Gr.1,) was the “Christmas baby”, Bianconi.

VALUE IN THE OLDER BROODMARE

Click above to watch
Denman’s fifth straight win in the Golden Rose (Gr1)
(Footage : YouTube)

“A fertile, healthy old dame can certainly be worth the punt!”

Jane Henning writes for ANZ Bloodstock News that Denman’s fifth straight win in the Group One Golden Rose on the weekend has brought his breeding further into the spotlight.

While the fact that he is by the up and coming sire Lonhro hasn’t escaped anyone, that he is out of the Vain mare, Peach, is our point of interest here. Peach, now an 18 year old, missed for the first time in her breeding career when served on the foaling heat last season on 12^th December.

Denman was the eleventh of thirteen consecutive foals produced by this gal. The last is a yearling full brother to Denman.

Many buyers are prejudiced against buying old broodmares, believing that their progeny are somehow genetically lower in quality than their earlier siblings.

Unlike stallions, who produce their sperm ‘on the run’, mares are born with all their eggs on board. In many cases, the quality of the sperm of old stallions can diminish, however a mare’s ova are not affected by the age of the mare.

What can be misleading is that in the case of a mare whose uterus is compromised by age (blood supply to the placenta, cysts etc), the foal may not be properly nourished in the womb. This will be evident by the condition of the foal at birth. Therefore, if an older mare gives birth to a healthy looking foal, it is pretty safe to say that it will have just the same genetic chances as its older siblings.

Another aspect which has turned breeders off older mares is the statistic that the majority of stakes winners come from younger mares. While that is true, what needs to be considered on this point is that this is proportionate with the lower number of old mares still regularly producing!

The reasons for this are that many are culled from the breeding barn if not producing commercial stock. The remaining older mares usually have black type progeny or impeccable bloodlines deeming them worthy of further investment.

Over the years, 16 year old – plus mares (up to 23) have produced the likes of Man O’War, St. Simon, Stockwell, Native Dancer, Nearco, Damascus, Buckpasser, Halo, His Majesty (dam sire of Danehill), Klairon, Irish River, Alibhai, Bernborough and more recently Royal Academy, Bellotto, King’s Best, Geiger Counter, Soviet Lad, Street Cry, Xaar, Piccolo, Commands, Octagonal, Pins, Bianconi, Clangalang and Twining.

The benefit in buying a mare older than 13 years is that they are cheaper based on the above misconceptions. A fertile, healthy old dame can certainly be worth the punt!

ANTHONY DELPECH : A Star in Racing's Firmament

Anthony Delpech and Mick Goss
(Photo : Hartford House)

There are not many of us who understand what it takes to be a world-class race jockey. If you’ve ever been onboard a horse pitching along at something of a gallop, even at a modest 40kms an hour, imagine yourself catapulting in the breeze at 70kms. If you can’t imagine that, try a motor car on a grass strip and you’ll see what it takes.

Make no mistake, to be at the top of your game as a rider in the racing world, you need to be as good as the best Olympic athletes, just as fit, and perhaps a little quicker witted. I think back to my polo days, when there were just eight horses on an immense pitch, and the traffic problems you encountered there and you quickly come to realise that in a 20 horse field travelling at full tilt, decisions are made in nanoseconds, and the ability to anticipate, to take initiatives and to seize the moment, is what separates the best from the field.

One man who’s had an almost uncanny association with the best horses from Summerhill, is Anthony Delpech, who with his wife Candice and his three children, was a guest at Hartford House over the Election Day holiday. Anthony’s association with this farm goes back to his days as an apprentice with “Uncle Joe” Joseph, one-time resident trainer to the Ellis family of Hartford. A little later in his career, Anthony Delpech teamed up with one of our earliest group winners, Home Guard, who we bred and raised at Summerhill for one of racing’s most celebrated owners, Lou Bernstein, and as the first horse to grace the silks of Robert and Robin Muir, now among the nations pre-eminent owners. This fellow not only won what was then known as the Smirnoff, the virtual two-year-old championship of its day, but he went on to earn National Championship honours, and he was quickly followed in a four year span by Spook n Diesel and Imperial Despatch. Three juvenile champion colts in four years.

Remarkably, as we don’t tend to keep too many colts in our ownership, principally because they’re part of our trading stock, of the few we’ve raced for our own account, Anthony has been successful at major level on three of them. Starting with Bianconi, a Christmas day foal who was advanced enough to become the first horse to ever beat the great Dynasty in the Golden Horseshoe (Gr.1), and in the process becoming one of only two horses to finish in front of that racing legend. He raced for Ronnie and Bev Napier along with the farm and is one of the legends of Summerhill Stud.

At a later stage, Anthony Delpech teamed up with two horses we were unable to sell, the first Amphitheatre the only horse to have attended two Ready To Run sales (as a two and three year old) and not to attract a single bid. His upset price was a meagre R30000, yet nobody wanted this “plain brown job”, mercifully, and he was retained to race for the farm, where he distinguished himself in Group One company from 1600m to 3000m earning 33 cheques in 34 starts and R1,5million, at a time when we needed the cash, to put it plainly. The partners in Amphitheatre were the fellows who co-bred him with us, old Summerhill stalwarts Roger Zeeman and Rodney Thorpe.

Anthony’s latest association with a Summerhill horse who’d proven difficult to place at the sales, was just a year ago with Imbongi. He too, was passed out of the ring unwanted at the Ready To Run, and we parted with a half of him at a subsequent time to Mr and Mrs Napier, Michael Fleischer and Owen Leibbrandt. Remarkable how Ronnie Napier seems to pick up on our best “Ready To Runners” whenever there’s possible potential staring at us.

Imbongi of course, ran in this past weekend’s Hong Kong Champions Mile (Gr.1) and in Anthony’s view, he was in with a live chance. Of course, he may have been biased, but we couldn’t help thinking that this may have been Imbongi’s moment. As it turned out, Imbongi ran a cracker of a race finishing sixth in a classy field, beaten by just 1,75 lengths.

DANZIG SETTING RECORDS

Danzig
(Photo : Champions Gallery)

DANZIG, the son of Northern Dancer out of the Admiral’s Voyage mare Pas de Nom, who reigned as one of the world’s leading sires whilst standing his entire career at the Hancock family’s Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky, has accomplished something in racing that few thought possible. Or, maybe even no one…

David Schmiz writes in The Bloodhorse that according to research done by The Bell Group, a Versailles, Kentucky, advertising firm, Danzig has been found to have 50 of his sons sire Grade 1 and/or Group 1 winners. There is no documentation that 50 is a record, but until research confirms another stallion has reached that figure, it seems safe to call it one.

“I don’t know how many other stallions have done it, but I’m sure it’s only a few,” said Hancock. “The fact he accomplished it says more than what I could add (about his greatness). If you asked me what the number was before, I’d probably say 30.”

DANZIG, who died in January 2006 at 29, achieved plenty in the breeding shed. He is one of only seven stallions since the 1860s to have led the North American sires list by progeny earnings as many as three consecutive years (1991 - 1993) and is one of three stallions to sire as many as 200 Stakes winners.

Significantly, six of them (Allied Flag, Freedom Land, Lustra, National Assembly, Qui Danzig and Shoe Danzig), all stood in South Africa. Lustra stood at Summerhill and produced our first J&B Met ace, La Fabulous.

Two of Danzig’s sons were at the forefront in 2008 Eclipse Award balloting. Boundary, who is pensioned at Claiborne Farm, was represented by champion 3-year-old male Big Brown, who finished third in Horse of the Year voting. Big Brown’s key wins came in the first two legs of the Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Gr1) and Preakness Stakes (Gr 1).

Belong to Me, who holds court at William S Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Kentucky, was represented by champion turf female Forever Together. Her three Grade 1 wins include a triumph in the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (GrIT).

Hancock stands Danzig’s son, War Front, at Claiborne. “We like War Front, and we’re happy with him,” Hancock said about the Grade 2 winner whose first foals are now yearlings.

Danzig (Northern Dancer-Pas de Nom, by Admiral’s Voyage) reached the 200 mark in Stakes winners in 2008.

Sons of Danzig that have sired Grade 1 and/or Group 1 winners
Adjudicating	Chief’s Crown	Foxhound	Maroof	Polish Navy
Agnes World	Danehill*	Freedom Land	Military	Polish Numbers
Allied Flag	Danzig Connection	Game Plan	Mister C	Polish Precedent
Anabaa*	Dauberval	Golden Snake	Monashee Mountain	Qui Danzig
Ascot Knight	Dayjur	Green Desert*	Mukddaam	Roi Danzig
Belong to Me*	Deerhound	Honor Grades	Mull of Kintyre	Shoe Danzig
Bertolini	Eagle Eyed	Langfuhr	National Assembly	Slavic
Bianconi	Emperor Jones	Lost Soldier	Olé	Snaadee
Boundary	Exchange Rate	Lure	Perugino	Zieten
Burooj	Fiercely	Lustra	Pine Bluff	Ziggy’s Boy

* - Stars
Bold - South Africa based

The Trainers Championship : Dejavu? Or not?

Mike de Kock and Charles Laird
(Heather Morkel/Kayleigh Leisagang/Rock Cart)

Those that follow these things will remember the blanket finish our top three trainers found themselves in last year this time. The final throw of the dice revolves around the Champions Day meeting on the last weekend of July each year, and anyone with a realistic chance of taking a title, whether trainer, jockey, stallion or breeder can make a last lunge for the laurels here, and get away with it, such is the prize money on offer.

As the big day approached last year, Charles Laird held a marginal lead over Mike de Kock and Geoff Woodruff, as formidable a trio of horsemen as you’d find anywhere. And on a day of ups and considerable downs, Geoff Woodruff  revealed what a man he is by leap-frogging two of the world’s best exponents of their art in the last big race of the year, the KZN Derby. Don’t worry, boys, we know the pain. Who could forget that at the self-same gathering in 2004, Summerhill twice snatched the lead in the Breeders Championship in the course of the day, with epic victories in both the Juvenile Grade Ones, only to be denied in the Champions Cup, the last race on the last day of the last week of the racing year! Maine Chance were the heroes, and we couldn’t have gone down to a better outfit.

The tightest contest this season revolves once again around the trainers title, and while our old mate Charles Laird holds what seems a comfortable advantage of half a million Rand odd, you can never count Mike de Kock on the ropes till the Big Lady’s had her say. Our relationship with the Laird family goes back to father Russell’s era, where mutual admiration of the “old way” led to the acquisition of two exceptional performers in First City and Gun Drift, the latter a winner of the Computaform Derby. Since then Charles has trained any number of very serious campaigners associated with the farm, including National Emblem, his best son, Nhlavini, Bianconi, Pick Six, Amphitheatre, Decorated Hero, Princely Heir, etc.

Ironically, if his first title aspirations are to be upset, a major contributor from Saturday’s meeting could be the Summerhill-bred (and part-owned) Imbongi, who with Forest Path, could be the biggest prongs in a formidable Mike de Kock challenge. As good a mate as he is, we all know how many titles Mike has won in his time, and we know that while we’ll be rooting like hell for Imbongi, he would understand our need to box in Charles’ corner for his first national Trainers’ Championship. He’s worked his butt off, is a consummate professional, and if he pulls it off, he’ll have had to beat what is arguably the worlds’ number one racehorse conditioner in the process. There can be no greater tribute to either of them, and as the Classics have always stated, “may the best man win”.