ZERKAZA is not currently registered in training according to France Galop, so I can only assume she has suffered problems. The 2yo Sea The Stars colt has been named ZARKASH and is in training with Alain de Royer Dupre, though he holds no entries. There is also a yearling colt by Galileo, as yet unnamed. I believe she was has a Dubawi foal this year and was covered by Redoute's Choice.
The Chester stat is an interesting one, and I honestly don't know anything about it! Chester is a very tight-turning track and my own thoughts would be to look for horses that have acted on undulating or switchback tracks like Epsom, as you are going to need a well balanced horse to get round the turns.
Thanks very much Princess trains_potter --> anything less than a mile and you want a horse drawn low who likes to front run I don't believe there is any other track in the UK which resembles Chester, it is truly unique - just 7 furlongs around the whole course. Course form is a huge plus. I used to be a regular visitor to the May meeting in my youth, always a fantastic day out. Have a great time
Cheers OddDog....... I have been quite a few times now and still enjoy the day out. Chester is a great city and the atmosphere on race day gives the place a real buzz. Difficult to pick winners but the low draw stat certainly helps in sprints. The Chester Cup is always tough to workout and have only won it once, but we''l give it our best shot.....TP
You may find this helpful Trains_potter Recent Chester Cup Winners 2012 – Il De Re (10/1) 2011 – Overturn (11/2) 2010 – Mamlook (7/1 fav) 2009 – Daraahem (7/1) 2008 – Bulwark (33/1) 2007 – Greenwich Meantime (14/1) 2006 – Admiral (28/1) 2005 – Anak Pekan (16/1) 2004 – Anak Pekan (2/1 fav) 2003 – Hugs Dancer (9/1) 2002 – Fantasy Hill (8/1) Key Chester Cup Stats - The race has seen repeat winners three times since 1997 - Since 1975 we’ve only seen 4 winning favourites - The Hills yard took the race in 1980, 1999, 2001 and 2009 - Since 1975 all winners have been aged 8 or younger - Since 1975 there have only been two winners aged 8 years-old - Since 1981 only 5 winners have carried more than 9-2 to victory - The average winning SP in the last 11 years is 12.5/1 - Richard Hughes rode the winner in 2001 and 2010 - The last three winners came from NH yards Chester Cup 11 Year Betting Trends 11/11 – Aged 7 years-old or younger 10/11 – Winning distance – 2 lengths or less 9/11 – Finished unplaced last time out 9/11 – Aged 5, 6 or 7 years-olds 8/11 – Officially rated between 93-99 8/11 – Had won previously over at least 2m on the flat 8/11 – Carried 9-2 or less 7/11 – Won from stall 7 or lower 7/11 – Returned 10/1 or shorter in the betting 7/11 – Had raced within the last 2 months 6/11 – Irish bred 6/11 – Placed favourites 5/11 – Favourites were unplaced 3/11 – Had won at the track before 3/11 – Ran at Aintree over hurdlers last time out 3/11 – Ran at Newmarket last time out 2/11 – Won by the favourite 1/11 – Won their previous race 0/11 - Irish-trained winners
I've been told this morning that Warren Place are extremely excited about JOYEUSE. She has been burning up the gallops and she is all set for a run in the next few weeks before her pitch at Royal Ascot. The words used were: "She's good. Very good." I'll keep an eye out for her maiden entry and post details in due course.
Bit of news from down under (from tomorrow's Sydney Morning Herald) Darley's hot-shot stallion New Approach showed why he is in record demand with breeders in both hemispheres at Newmarket last Saturday when his unbeaten son Dawn Approach produced a five-length demolition in the English 2000 Guineas over a mile. Dawn Approach was resuming after winning all of his six starts at two - the last two in group 1s - and he made it a top-line trifecta for breeder-trainer Jim Bolger. New Approach is one of Galileo's best sons - Frankel is obviously his best - and his popularity in Australia has been amazing as breeders queue up to get one of the 80 nominations available. New Approach was responsible for another black-type winner at the Newmarket meeting last Sunday when Talent took out the listed Pretty Polly Stakes, run over 10 furlongs (2000 metres). The weekend racing resulted in New Approach becoming the second-leading flat sire in Europe this year for progeny earnings. He has had seven individual winners and earnings of £274,433 ($416,500). Cape Cross is leading with 21 winners. Galileo is third with 25 winners. Despite a hefty increase to $55,000 this year, New Approach was the first of Darley's 23 sires to be fully booked. ''His demand is unbelievable and we have had to reject so many breeders. But our instruction is for only 80 broodmares to be available,'' Darley's Aaron Bott said. ''We've also closed our books on Exceed And Excel. He's got 200 mares, which isn't surprising considering the phenomenal year he is experiencing,'' Bott added. New Approach retired after his three-year-old season with a Timeform rating of 132. He won eight of his 11 starts, plus had two seconds and a third, and his progeny were immediate sale-ring hits, fetching big money in Europe and here. Peter Snowden has more than 30 two-year-olds by New Approach and has already produced one stakes-winner in Montsegur. Snowden loves the breed and racegoers can expect plenty from his progeny in the coming seasons.
New Approach was obviously a very good horse but when he first went to stud there seemed to be a few naysayers around the patch. Maybe it was his temperament. He's certainly proved them wrong.
He definitely had temperament issues when he first went to stud - I was told by several people at Darley that he threw himself on the floor in a tantrum on several occasions at the start - they were terrified he would break his neck! But they managed to resolve it after a few months. He's a pussycat now by all accouns.
PN, a question for you. Fastnet Rock has a runner at Ascot tonight, can you tell me about the pedigree, how his S Hemisphere crops have done and whether you think he will be a success as a N Hemisphere sire.
Fastnet Rock was Australia's Champion 3yo and Champion Sprinter in 2004/05. He was Champion Sire in Australia 2011/12. In his first 4 crops he has sired 14 individual G1 winners: - Wanted, Newmarket Handicap-Gr.1 - Irish Lights, Thousand Guineas-Gr.1 - Rock Classic, Australian Guineas-Gr.1 - Lone Rock, Goodwood Handicap-Gr.1 - Atlantic Jewel, Thousand Guineas-Gr.1 etc - Mosheen, Australian Guineas-Gr.1 etc - Planet Rock, NZ 1,000 Guineas-Gr.1 - Rock ‘N’ Pop, NZ 2,000 Guineas-Gr.1 - Foxwedge, William Reid Stakes-Gr.1 - Sea Siren, BTC Cup-Gr.1 - Nechita, Coolmore Stud Stakes-Gr.1 - Super Cool, Australian Cup-Gr.1 His stud fee in Australia is AUS$275,000, but he is advertised as Private in Ireland. You can see his pedigree page here. This year sees his first Northern Hemisphere 2yos, so we'll see what happens.
I've carried out some major updates to the Sea the Stars thread (link in my first post on this thread). I've managed to track down names for all bar 25 horses and have trainers for 83 of them. Keep an eye on the three by Sea the Stars that are set to sell at the Arqana Breeze Up in France tomorrow, the half-brother to Naqoos looks very nice indeed.
Hi PN, I'm hoping you can help me with some sciency related queries. I'm trying to think of examples of horses that have received stem cell therapy and returned to racing, but the names keep dancing out of reach. Do you (or anyone else) recall any good examples? I'm sure one of the top NH horses received the treatment, but can't remember if it was Neptune, Taranis or someone else. Also, I'm looking at how racing surfaces affect horses and am trying to find studies into soft vs firm turf in Britain. So far, most studies have examined American courses, which I don't think are quite applicable to ours. Many thanks!
Hi RD. Interesting question. The study on US courses (I read one some time ago) was frightening wasn't it. It will be interesting to see any study of turf courses in the UK. Hopefully it will take account of the horses' conformation, particularly the angle of the pastern. Also, a horse with a high knee action (round action) will cope much better with soft ground than the smooth actioned horse which is probably more likely to be prone to tendon injuries on a soft surface. It would also be interesting to see what % of injuries are on race courses, as opposed on the home gallops/in the field, and whether any courses have a higher incidence of injuries. Another interesting split would be between chases, hurdles and flat racing.
The vast majority of racehorse deaths in the UK are at jumps meetings Ron - details here Very few deaths on the flat but Wolverhampton had a spate last year (all in the home straight) and there have been a few on the AW tracks this year Didn't realise Taranis had lost his life recently ..................... very sad to read that.
I think Goland and Neptune Collonges received stem cell treatment with NC's being more successful. I also know of a 148cm European Champion show jumper who had stem cell treatment and came back as good as ever. Unfortunately it then suffered an injury on another leg which recovered more naturally with time. I think it may even be back in training again but not 100%.
Thanks for the responses guys, really appreciate it. Reading about the variation in dirt tracks is insane- how on earth was that ever thought to be a safe, logical surface? Especially as I read in one summary that the dirt tracks were originally just for training to spare the turf tracks. If I find any interesting papers then I'll post them for all to see.
Just thought, in case anyone wondered why anyone would splash out on stem cell treatment for a pony, there are some very wealthy people in pony show jumping and I believe this particular pony changed hands for £250,000 on more than one occasion.
