Interesting stats in today's RP about Montjeu's Guineas runners: SOLENT 16 of 19 in 2005 2000 Guineas DRUMBEAT 6 of 9 in 2009 Irish 2000 Guineas HAIL CAESAR 7 of 9 in 2009 Irish 2000 Guineas ST NICHOLAS ABBEY 6 of 19 in 2010 2000 Guineas ENCOMPASING 13 of 13 in 2010 Irish 2000 Guineas Of course, SNA aside, this was a motley bunch, but still, not an encouraging record.
Hey all, finally made it to the new site. PN, do you know the status of Byword? I haven't heard anything about him and was wondering if he'd been retired. Thanks.
I've had a check on the France Galop website and they list that he had been entered to run in the G2 Prix Du Muguet at Saint Cloud yesterday, but was not declared. That suggests to me that he is still in training.
According to Twitter, STARSPANGLEDBANNER has been taken out of stud duties due to "ongoing fertility issues". He may be returned to training: "A decision on his future will be made later this month but it is possible that he may go back into training at Ballydoyle."
Another question for you Princess. I was wondering if you know of the status of Goldikova? Is she definitely in foal to Galileo, any updates on her etc. I've scoured the internet and haven't seen anything, and compared to the constant stream of information from Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta's connections, there's a real dearth of news on Goldi. Thanks!
From what I understand Goldikova was covered by Galileo within days of the season starting on 14 February. Coolmore tweeted a picture of her settling in to her box at Coolmore in January, but I have not heard any news since. I guess it is down to the owners, the Wertheimer Family, if they want to make the news public they will.
Thanks PN. I hoped they'd put out an update on her at some point- she had many fans round the world who would love to hear about her.
Darley have tweeted this morning that ZARKAVA has been scanned in foal to Dubawi. He has had a stellar book of mares this year having also covered 5 Oaks winners in: ESWARAH, OUIJA BOARD, CASUAL LOOK, KAZZIA and LOOK HERE.
Talking to one of my mates this week and the we got onto the breeding side of horse racing and something cropped up that we both couldnt answer - not that we know much on the breeding side of horse racing mind... Might not be a tough answer but i will ask you... What is their training regime...? Do they keep them tip top, like maybe as if they were preparing for a race or is the stud trained down...? We both thought that the fitter the horse then the better the results... A bit like if the horse had stopped training full stop, puts weight on, then maybe his genes wouldnt be as strong... If you get my drift... - a bit like middle aged spread for most men... Plus at what age do they stop being a stud and will that come down to how the foals then go on to perform... Thanks PN...
redcgull, the mares are wound down when they come out of training. Some will need to spend a bit of time on a horse walker before being introduced to a few hours turn out a day, whereas others will go straight out in the field. A broodmare will usually spend from 8am till 3pm every day in the field, being brought in at night during the winter and the early part of their foals life. Once the foals are strong enough the mares and foals will live out in the paddock 24 hours a day until the weather turns cooler. Once the foals have been weaned (at about 6 months old) they will be brought into a stable for a few hours during the day so that they can get used to being handled. The routine for a stallion is quite different, firstly he has to be taught that it is ok to act on his natural instincts. A colt will be punished if he shows stallion-like behaviour when in training, so they have to learn that this is now ok. The easiest thing to do is simply bring an in-season mare to him and just let him find his way! An active stallion has to be kept very fit, covering 100+ mares a season requires a lot of effort. From January each year they will be walked in hand for an hour or so a day, and lunged 2-3 times a week to get them fit. Once the season gets going in full swing, from March/April onwards, they will not require any additional work to keep them fit. Each stallion will get several hours a day out in a lone paddock to relax and graze, being brought in when duty calls! Some stallions have a tendancy to get fat so will have restricted access to grazing - for example I know DUBAWI is only allowed out in the field for 2 hours a day and has to be stabled on wood-shavings as he is such a glutton that he tries to eat all the straw bedding! It is very rare these days for a stallion to get ridden exercise, though I think Juddmonte used to ride RAINBOW QUEST around the stud.
I forgot to add, retirement depends on the individual horse. Some stallions can keep going, if there is demand, into their late-20s - Sadler's Wells covered his last book of 64 mares at the age of 26 and Green Desert was 28 before he was taken out of stud duty. Most stallions, even the very successful ones, will find that their books become smaller and smaller in their twilight years. Part of this is down to careful management to get the best of their fertility, and partly because, hopefully, they will have successful sons also at stud.
Obviously its down to results as to how good the stud is and there is a lot of money involved, but its interesting to see that they dont get ridden... prob to protect them really... Thanks very much...
Morning Princess. Is it possible to identify all horses in training and all stallions that have Northern Dancer more than once on both sides of their pedigree?
Oo heck that sounds complex! The only way I can think of is to carry out a manual search of the pedigrees of certain horses but that would take an age. I am not aware of any databases that are searchable in the way that you want - most only record the sire and dam of each horse, so unless you knew already what the bloodlines of each parent were it could be a very long process.
