PEPITE ROSE, the highest rated Chase mare in Britain, is to be covered by new recruit to the stallion ranks TELESCOPE. GARSWOOD has his first foal on the ground. Michel Henochsberg, breeder of URBAN SEA, has died in France at the age of 69.
Champion Miler and highly influential sire KINGMAMBO has died in retirement in the USA at the age of 26. He was retired from stud duties in 2010 but was responsible for the likes of EL CONDOR PASA, DIVINE PROPORTIONS, LEMON DROP KID, HENRYTHENAVIGATOR and RUSSIAN RHYTHM. He was also broodmare sire of horses such as MIDDAY, CAMELOT and RULER OF THE WORLD. He will be buried at Lane's End Farm where he spent his entire stud career.
More bad news for the US breeding industry, top sire ARCH died of a heart attack at Claiborne Farm earlier today aged 21. Best known as the sire of BLAME, he was also responsible for ARCHARCHARCH, HYMN BOOK, LOVE THEWAY YOUARE and Royal Ascot winner LES ARCS. He is also the broodmare sire of young stallion UNCLE MO.
SKY LANTERN has also recently delivered her first foal, a colt by Dubawi born on 19th January. The mare will return to Dubawi this year.
A rare Southern-Hemisphere bred Frankel yearling sold in New Zealand yesterday for NZ$1.3 million (£589,997/€744,011) to an interesting syndicate. The syndicate is made up of Coolmore, the Niarchos family, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and Apollo Ng from Hong Kong. The colt, out of OUR ECHEZEAUX (dam of several Group winners), has not been allocated to a trainer yet.
Just read this: http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/...ed-following-the-discovery-of-an-equine-virus Hope all is well with you Princess and nothing is spreading
Hopefully they find a solution fast or else it will have repercussions on the beginning of the fast approaching flat turf season.
I haven't heard any more on the EHV case at the National Stud, but it is obviously a worry. The July Course and David Elsworth's yard both border the stud but it is on the outskirts of town so shouldn't impact on racing activity unless more cases are found. As EHV-1 can cause abortions in pregnant mares it could be serious, although there are no reports of abortions at the stud and the mare concerned is a maiden. If they can go 14 days without any more cases then the stallion activities should be OK to start as normal. The National Stud is actually well set up for this kind of thing as it was built so that all of the yards (10 in total) are far enough from each other that, in the event of a disease outbreak, they can be shut off from the rest of the stud. Each yard has its own dedicated paddocks and access roads so you can significantly cut down on the risk of spreading anything unwanted.
I did laugh when I saw this Telegraph article which proclaims that the Queen's breeding operation is in disarray. Obviously their reporter failed to do any research whatsoever as if he/she did they would have realised that the Queen has nothing to do with the running of the National Stud and that all of her breeding horses are stabled at Sandringham. They did mention Sandringham in reference to it's "two stallions - Royal Applause and Motivator", though the fact that Motivator has not stood at the stud since 2013 seems to have escaped them
Handicapper to G1 winner Halling is no longer with us http://www.darleyeurope.com/news/press-release-3-february-2016
Sad to report that Darley stalwart HALLING has died at the age of 25. The sire of last year's Irish Derby winner JACK HOBBS had been in retirement. When I worked and lived at Darley, Halling's paddock backed onto my back garden. I often saw his nose peeking over the top of the fence looking for a scratch
Lousy article. Strangely the Queen did send 3 mares to Toronado last year. Rarely sends a mare to the National Stud but someone decided she should in 2015.
Why do some horses have a preference to jump either to the right or to the left? Pont Alexandre shifted out right to some degree at every fence yesterday, Vautour jumps out left. The magnificent Denman once had a nightmare at Punchestown jumping alarmingly right losing many lengths at every fence. Is there anything the trainer does to try and resolve it or is it just part of a horses character and just influences which courses to avoid. Thanks
I think it's just something that some horses do, a little like us being left or right handed. You can try to teach a horse to jump straight, perhaps using a jumping lane, but if it's very ingrained it can be easier to just work around it by picking courses to suit.
There is a natural tendency for some horse to jump left or right. However, in a lot of cases (maybe most), this should have been eradicated by proper schooling at an early age. When breaking in a youngster it's often the case when lungeing that the horse works better on one reign. More help on the other reign should help. When schooling the horse needs to be given confidence in jumping straight. There are well established ways of doing this. Of course, the older the horse gets, the more difficult it becomes to rectify the problem. Another cause of jumping to the left or right can be that the horse is hurting somewhere. It's amazing how often a back problem can go unnoticed. It can show up in all sorts of ways but it is blatantly obvious to someone who knows their horse. Checking the back should be a routine procedure for horses that are expected to jump.
Nice article from Darley on Golden Horn's pre-season preparations: Golden Horn - pastures new Derby and Arc hero Golden Horn settles into his new career at Dalham Hall Stud please log in to view this image Golden Horn with his groom John Weldon So you want to be a stallion? You have an outstanding race record? Check. A stellar pedigree? Check. The kind of physique that breeders yearn to produce? Check. Then surely you’re ready to go? Well… Almost. Settling a new recruit into his second career as a stallion is not just a matter of sitting back to await the arrival of mares. A team effort drives the development and promotion of the stallion’s new role, spearheaded by those who oversee his daily routine. The young stallion arrived at Dalham Hall Stud in mid-November, coincidentally at the start of a glittering awards season which saw him sweep the board in the category for Horse of The Year at the prestigious Cartier awards, where he also scooped the Champion three-year-old male award, and at the Racehorse Owners’ Association awards where he also claimed top honours as Horse of The Year and champion middle distance horse. please log in to view this image Fresh from the hustle and bustle of the busy racing yard at John Gosden’s Clarehaven stables, Golden Horn once again displayed his remarkable temperament by settling straight into the more sedate pace of life in the stallion yard at Dalham Hall Stud after his arrival. Afforded a box in the middle of the stallion yard, Golden Horn can survey his new kingdom from the ideal vantage point, keeping track of all that goes on around him. “He’s an intelligent horse with a fantastic temperament but he has an active mind — he takes a real interest in other horses,” Sam Bullard recently told journalists. “He certainly appears to be enjoying his new role and getting to grips with it." “He’s a very happy horse and a very proud horse; I think he likes showing himself off to people!” Golden Horn has certainly had plenty of opportunity to do just that since his arrival at Dalham Hall Stud. Unsurprisingly, the four-time G1 winner is a huge draw for breeders and enthusiasts alike, and the horse has had press calls from various media outlets including Channel 4’s The Morning Line, the Racing Post, Owner & Breeder magazine, and other publications. please log in to view this image Breeders got their first official look at the new stallion recruit during the four open days in December, and Golden Horn was once again the star attraction over the two days of the Dalham Hall Stud open days in January. His popularity is of course no surprise, and Golden Horn will cover a full book of 140 mares this season. “We’ve promoted him to the world’s biggest breeders to try and get the best mares that we can to him. He’s been so hugely popular that we have been able to make quite a lot of selections,” Sam confirmed recently. “We need a good spread of mares for him as we want to breed a Classic winner in his first crop, and we want to get two-year-old winners from his first crop.” As the winner of the several of the crown jewels of European racing, Golden Horn’s first book of mares is fit for a king, including no fewer than 72 Stakes performers, and 123 mares who are either the dam, siblings or daughters of Group winners. The G1 winners who will be welcomed to his court include two of Godolphin’s racetrack stars – Folk Opera (Singspiel) who landed the EP Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, and Hush Money who triumphed in both the Derby and Oaks in her native Chile. Golden Horn’s owner-breeder Anthony Oppenheimer, who now owns the stallion in partnership with Sheikh Mohammed, will also support his star with mares including the winning Galileo mare Sinnamary, a three-parts sister to the G1 Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita, purchased for 700,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares sale last year. Another blue-blooded mare due to visit Golden Horn in the coming months is Juddmonte's multiple G1 winner and Breeders' Cup winner Banks Hill. Since his arrival at stud in mid-November, Golden Horn has been walked out daily in-hand to keep him in peak fitness for the task ahead. Along with some of his fellow stud mates, he covers approximately six kilometres each morning at a brisk pace around some of the 2,000 acres at Dalham Hall Stud. With his groom John Weldon, Golden Horn is either at the head of the string each day that also includes Dubawi and fellow new recruit Outstrip, or takes second place behind the dual G1 winner Farhh, who shares his own long stride and also enjoys setting the pace on the morning walk. Golden Horn passed the sternest of challenges on the racecourse in scintillating fashion, and he has also passed a test of a different kind by successfully covering his test mares, another vital step in his education as a stallion. With less than a week to go until the start of the northern hemisphere breeding season, Golden Horn looks set fair to begin his second career, giving rise to dreams of what lies ahead.
