Thoroughbred Times Today: Horses are starving in China

Thoroughbred Times Today (Nov. 15 edition) has a link to this story about the starvation of horses in China.

Beijing Jockey Club: Located in the TongZhou district of Beijing, the club is housed on 160 hectares.

Tweets on first-crop sires and why you shouldn’t avoid ‘em

I posted the follwing notes on Twitter on Nov. 12 and made a post from them, below the tweets.

  

why u should not avoid unproven sires: Street Cry (sire of Street Sense and Zenyatta), Medaglia (Rachel), Birdstone (2 Birds) all 1st crops 9:53 PM Nov 12th from web

  

Darley wins in HOTY vote: Stands Street Cry (Zenyatta) and Medaglia d’Oro (Rachel); former for $150K, latter for $100K 9:51 PM Nov 12th from web

Choosing stallions for mares is similar to picking ball players in the MLB draft. College players, like proven sires, are “known” quantities with three more years of baseball under their belts than high school prospects. But the latter group, although riskier, has more upside potential. Only the best high school prospects have a chance to be drafted, and those that aren’t go to college to play and mature. The high school prospects, then, are the first-crop sires of the equine world, and if you ignore them, do so at your risk. They are Street Cry, Birdstone, and Medaglia d’Oro. Horse of the Year will be decided between Zenyatta, a first-crop daughter of Street Cry, and Rachel Alexandra, a first-crop daughter of Medaglia d’Oro. Birdstone is the sire of Derby winner Mine That Bird and Belmont winner Summer Bird, both from his first crop. And aside from Zenyatta, Street Cry sired Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense from his first crop, too.

Good hunting.

Hear No Evil gets 2nd SW from only 11 2yos; success story

The freshman Florida stallion Hear No Evil, a son of Carson City and the Cox’s Ridge mare Nizy, is making a name for himself with only 11 registered 2-year-olds of 2009 representing his first crop. This is unheard of these days, with some stallions represented by more than 100 2-year-olds, but Hear No Evil is quality over quantity. Today, he got his second stakes winner when Hear Ye Hear Ye won the $150,000 Jack Price Juvenile Stakes at Calder at 20-1. He joins the  nationally ranked 2-year-old colt Jackson Bend, a winner of 5 of 6 starts who swept the Florida Stallion Stakes series at Calder. Both stakes winners and their sire were bred and raced by Fred and Jane Brei’s Jacks Or Better Farm, Inc. The Breis obviously know what they are doing, and they’re getting paid for it, too.  Three-quarters of Jackson Bend was recently sold to Robert LaPenta, who will campaign the colt as a classic prospect with trainer Nick Zito. The asking price for the colt before the sale was believed to be $2 million, so it was a score for the homebreeders, who are following the same game plan that Ken and Sarah Ramsey utilized for Kitten’s Joy, another leading freshman sire. The Ramseys, who bred and raced Kitten’s Joy, have campaigned four 2-year-old homebred stakes winners by him and singlehandedly brought him to national prominence as a sire.

Jackson Bend isn’t the only major score for the Breis in 2009. In March, the couple sold the Medaglia d’Oro colt Cup o’ Joe, whom they bred, to John Ferguson, representing Sheikh Mohammed, for $1.6 million — the top price at the Fasig-Tipton Florida select 2-year-olds-in-training sale at Calder. Subsequently renamed Al Zir, the colt is Group 1 placed for Godolphin in Europe and is considered a classic prospect.

Hear No Evil, a stakes winner on dirt and turf for the Breis and a winner of $599,415, entered stud in 2006 at Rising Hill Farm for $5,000 and stood the 2009 season there for $2,500. Judging by the limited number of foals from his first crop, Hear No Evil was not popular, except with his owners. That’s all changed now, with the stallion among the first-crop leaders nationally, and he will stand the 2010 season at Brent Fernung’s Journeyman Stud — among the leading farms in Florida these days by sire power and visibility.

 Carson City, the sire of Hear No Evil who stood at Overbrook, started off poorly as a sire of sires, but lately he’s had a number of sons emerging as stallions, including Pollard’s Vision, whose first crop is 2 also; City Zip; Cuvee; and Islam, a leading sire in Peru.

Steve Crist to IFHA over Rachel, Zenyatta: Anyone home?

Steve Crist at Daily Racing Form believes the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) wasn’t seeing straight when it released its rankings of the best racehorses in the world. He wrote:

“Did anyone at the federation actually watch the Breeders’ Cup? Horses who, in the eyes of the Europeans, were supposed to win laughing because they had been finishing close behind Sea the Stars failed to assert this presumed superiority time and time again. Mastercraftsman, Rip Van Winkle, and Delegator, each of whom finished second to Sea the Stars by just 1 or 1 1/2 lengths earlier this year, all were badly beaten in three different races. Yet Rip Van Winkle is rated better than Zenyatta and Youmzain is as good as Rachel Alexandra?”

Click here to read the column.

Alan Porter on Medaglia d’Oro’s first male Group 1 winner

Up until today, the only stakes winner from Medaglia d’Oro’s second crop was the filly, Dashing Debby. However, the perspective on Medaglia d’Oro was radically changed on Saturday, when his son, Passion for Gold, took the Criterium de Saint-Cloud (gr. I) by six lengths. This is a ten furlong race for two-year-olds, so not only did Medaglia d’Oro gain a male group one winner, but he also has a colt who is guaranteed to stay the 10½ furlongs of the French Derby (gr. I) and may well get the 1½ miles of the English Derby (gr. I).”

Click here to read Alan’s post. Click here to read a post from Sept. 6 that predicted success for Passion for Gold and Al Zir — now Group 1 placed.

Blast from past: PM Advertising acquires Starquine.com

Bloodhorse.com ran the story recently about PM Advertising acquiring Starquine.com. The latter is an online thoroughbred trading marketplace; PM is one of the up-and-coming advertising agencies in the business. In the late 90s, after I’d left Daily Racing Form, I developed the website broodmares.com with Jack Werk. This became Starquine, after it was sold to a group of investors, with pedigree guru Alan Porter spearheading the deal. PM will take this to a new level, I’m sure.

Email message to Sheikh Mohammed sent @9:00am today

Your Highness:

Mr. Ramzan Kadyrov, president of Chechnya, raced a stable in Dubai last winter. Will his stable be welcome this year, given that Lt. Gen. Tamim has placed Mr. Adam Delimkhanov, Mr. Kadyrov’s right-hand man, on Interpol as the primary suspect in the assassination of Mr. Sulim Yamadayev in Dubai on World Cup Day — March 28?

Kind Regards,

Sid Fernando

John Ferguson missing at Keeneland but spotted in Dubai

John Ferguson

The Kentucky mixed-sale season started yesterday in Lexington at Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton and numbers, as expected, were down across the board at both venues. Foreign buyers, here to take advantage of the weakness of the dollar, were prominent, with the notable exception of John Ferguson, Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock adviser and agent.

Instead of roaming the sales grounds outdoors in Kentucky during fall weather, Mr. Ferguson was spotted indoors at the Raffles Hotel in Dubai Monday, seated intently behind Sheikh Mohammed in a blue business suit. He was part of the Dubai business glitterati attending an investment conference organized by Merrill Lynch. In the video below, filmed Monday, Mr. Ferguson appears at approximately 34 seconds into it (far left of video).

Giselle Davies

Why is Mr. Ferguson here? Because he is vice chairman of the Dubai firm Falcon and Associates, second on the masthead to chairman Ahmed Abdullah Al Sheikh, the media escort of the Ruler of Dubai and managing director of  the Media Office. The company is run by CEO Giselle Pettyfer (formerly Davies), the former spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Falcon and Associates was established by Sheikh Mohammed this summer and was described by the Media Office in the following manner: “The new entity will work to deepen understanding and appreciation of Dubai’s vision both nationally and internationally, through the establishment of media-related business concerns. Falcon and Associates will maintain full or part ownership in these entities in collaboration with the Media Office for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.”

In the video below, filmed on Nov. 2 in Dubai at a meeting chaired by Sheikh Mohammed’s son, Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (sitting next to Sheikh Mohammed in the dark robes and in his mid-20s), Mr. Ferguson appears at approximately 1:17 minutes into it. The meeting, by the way, is to explore Dubai’s chances for the Olympics in 2020. It appears that Mr. Ferguson’s business acumen transcends bloodstock, and he’s achieved a level within Dubai that has elevated him into an inner sanctum.

Steve Haskin, ‘hack,’ was the butt of joke, subject of story

Jessica N. Chapel, new media expert, journalist, blogger, web designer, and Brooklyn resident (like me) has a sense of humor and a good memory. You need both to live in Brooklyn. She’d read a humorous Steve Haskin piece in bloodhorse.com recently about Steve trying to talk to British trainer Henry Cecil at Santa Anita, and a few days later an equally humorous piece by British journalist — or hack — Marcus Armytage in telegraph.co.uk about an “American hack” who didn’t see “the funny side of Henry.” She put 2+2 together, smiled, and emailed the links to me. “Do you mind if I post it?” I asked.

Here’s the scene setting from Steve, who hails from New York:

On a cool, crisp morning at Santa Anita Wednesday, Cecil stood on a ledge just beyond Clocker’s Corner and shared a few innocuous comments about his three Breeders’ Cup contenders, Twice Over, Midday, and Father Time, with a pair of British journalists to his left who had scaled the same ledge to get a few words of wisdom from the maestro, or at least a few words to fill their copy. Cecil was offering the usual fare of comments about his horses when off to his right, a foreigner with a twisted New York accent joined in the exchange with what was thought to be a good tension breaker, even if it was a lame attempt at making an amiable introduction.

Here’s the same scene from the Brit hack’s point of view:

Shortly after Cecil’s arrival at Santa Anita to supervise Midday, Twice Over and Father Time, one of the most picturesque tracks in the world, the local hack took the opportunity to ask the 10 times Champion trainer what he thought of the place.

Steve wrote:

“When was the last time you were at Santa Anita?”

Cecil, unaware of this intruder to his right, appeared surprised as he was forced to turn his head in the opposite direction to see from where this riveting question emanated.

“I’ve never been here before,” he replied with a quizzical look, his head tilted off to the side.

 “What do you think?” said the Yank, believing his strategy to be a dumb, but hopefully effective ice breaker

Brit journalist Armytage wrote:

“I’m not sure yet,” said Cecil, “I’ve only been here five minutes.”

Not satisfied, the journalist pressed him harder. “Well,” said Cecil, “it’s better than Wolverhampton.”

“Oh well,” said the disappointed hack. “I’ve never been to Wolverhampton so I wouldn’t know what that was like.”

“Come to think of it,” added Cecil, “nor have I.”

Steve wrote:

The intruder thanked Cecil for his time, jumped off the ledge, and went off in search of the first American trainer he could find.

Later that morning he joined in the mass assemblage gathered closely around Aidan O’Brien, who as usual offered direct, honest, informative, and witty comments, even after the crowd had departed and there were only two reporters remaining.

 Ah, I miss Ireland.

Brit hack Armytage concluded:

Completely bemused the hack wandered off and is probably now still trying to get his head round that first encounter with the great man.

Zenyatta doppelgangers: Personal Ensign (13), Colin (15)

Zenyatta

Wedged between Colin’s perfect record of 15 wins (1908) and Personal Ensign’s 13 (1988) is Zenyatta’s 14 (2009). Both Personal Ensign and Zenyatta ended their careers in dramatic signature races, both at the Breeders’ Cup, both races fittingly similar and cinematic send offs. On the turn for home, neither filly appeared to have a chance to win, yet both staged improbable, legend-making  finishes. Personal Ensign defeated the Derby heroine Winning Colors in the last stride, in the Distaff; Zenyatta, one better, defeated the winners of both the Derby and Belmont, in the Classic — the first of her sex to win the race. For both, the crowd’s visceral reactions told the story.

Colin’s signature race wasn’t his last, it was his penultimate start, in the important Belmont Stakes, one of the historic fixtures on the New York calendar. There was drama surrounding it because Colin wasn’t actually supposed to start in it — he’d been declared retired after suffering what was widely reported as a career-ending injury in the days leading up to the race. Then, miraculously, he appeared like an apparition under adverse conditions of fog and heavy rain and won, even though his jockey had misjudged the finish of the race and had eased up the champion with plenty left.

As with Personal Ensign and Zenyatta, the crowd spoke for Colin. The New York Times account of the race said:

Then the crowd went into a frenzy of emotion and appreciation, and acclaimed Colin champion in such applause that the hard-working brass band in the grand stand made only a dumb show in the effort to render the familiar air, ‘Hail to the Chief,’ for not a note was audible twenty yards from the band stand, so great was the tumult of the shouting and so sincere the crowd in its vociferation.”

That type of crowd response, whether 100 years ago, 20 years ago, or last Saturday, cannot be manufactured; it’s an organic reaction to the sight of something special.

That’s what Zenyatta was Saturday, when she joined the élite company of Personal Ensign and Colin in the pantheon of great AND undefeated racehorses.

Left at the Gate blog: Joe Drape’s “delightful” Times read

Not everyone’s down on the New York Times and its racing writer, Joe Drape. The Left at the Gate blog is pleased with Mr. Drape’s Breeders’ Cup Classic coverage (see opposing view below, and, No, it’s not from Glenn Craven!):

Joe Drape’s account of the Classic in the Times on Sunday was a delightful read. Seems a shame he’s spent the last couple of years highlighting the negative aspect of the sport when he can be so breezy when writing about something good…..”

Click here to read it.

O’Keefe: Lack of racing coverage in US press is the killer

The New York Times? I opened that paper this morning to find a whopping 200+ words devoted to the most memorable Thoroughbred race of the last decade. That’s half the coverage the Times gave the Harvard-Columbia game and a fraction of what it devoted to an 18-year-old NBA hopeful dribbling his life away in obscurity in Israel.”

Click here to read Eric O’Keefe’s story in the Huffington Post.

Tony Morris: Coolmore’s 2010 classic prospects + Montjeu

And, of course, both of these outstanding colts are by Montjeu, a stallion who is not used by Sheikh Mohammed, and whose auctioned stock he declines to buy.”

Click here to read the article.

Street Cry is eMatings “stallion of the week” again after BC

Street Cry is once again the eMatings “Stallion of the Week” after his daughter wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Darley’s Street Cry is a back-to-back stallion of the week, for the week ended Monday, Nov. 9. How could he not be, after his undefeated daughter Zenyatta became the first filly or mare winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic — ever! A member of Street Cry’s first crop, Zenyatta had won the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic last year. Another first-crop member, Street Sense, had won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2006, so Street Cry now has the enviable record of having sired the winners of three individual BC races from his first crop.”

Click here to read.

Joe R. Cowles is not the profanity-spewing ‘j cowles’ here

There’s been a case of mistaken identity on this blog. Joe R. Cowles of Lexington, Ky., is not the same “j cowles” or “jr cowles” who has posted on this blog in the past, frequently spewing profanities. I wrote this in a comment recently:

“I am also perturbed that someone assumed the identity of Joe R. Cowles to post on here. That individual, who posted as j cowles (email was jrcowles), also mentioned in a post comment that he had a son named Wally. The real Joe R. Cowles also has a son named Walter, so this was not simply a case of mistaken identity on my part, of assuming that j cowles was Joe R. Cowles. This was premeditated deception, with someone posting on here to make me and blog readers believe that the poster j cowles was the actual Joe R. Cowles..”

Click here to view more on the subject.