All part of the service folks! I'm about to put up a thread updating on Sea the Stars first crop, but I will link to it in my post up thread with the other links to sales threads, etc.
One of the most disappointing new sire over the last 3 years has to be authorized he has been really poor !
Hi PN. I was reading a debate about drug testing in Europe vs the US, and someone commented that they thought the latter had more precise tests, e.g. more sensitive at detecting banned substances. What are your thoughts on that? I always thought we had stricter controls with smaller amounts of a drug permitted before it was classed as doping compared to the US. Thanks.
Random, the medication issue is a complex one that I still struggle to get my head round. I've also heard US racing people claim that their thresholds are much lower than in Europe, but I've not seen any evidence to back it up. For me a major sticking point is that the penalties for positive tests are so pitiful in the US. You rarely see a trainer get more than 90 days and a paltry fine, and some trainers are blatant about it. This year's Kentucky Derby winning trainer Doug O'Neill has been caught out 17 times since 1997! Mick, in short - no! Triple crown win or not, Camelot still has much to do before his value reaches the level of Frankel. He has yet to take on his elders, and he needs to beat some decent horses. To date he has only actually beaten 2 G1 winners!
It's been confirmed that POWER, SO YOU THINK, and EXCELEBRATION will go to stud at Coolmore Ireland for 2013. In addition HENRYTHENAVIGATOR will be moved from Ashford Stud in Kentucky to Coolmore's Tipperary base.
Do you think this would be one of the reasons for the yard to keep Camelot in training for next year and not to send him to stud. They were talking about this being Camelots last year in racing not so long ago... They wouldnt want to put these 4 horses into to stud all at once would they...?
The pedigrees are all very different, as were their racing careers, so in theory they would not attract the same mares. I imagine their fees will vary considerably too.
Look at the horses Frankel descends from, some great names and many of them are hugely important horses that can be found if you look back far enough in practically every top horse going today, just a few generations back you have Nearco, Native Dancer, Almahmoud, Buckpasser, Natalma, Ribot, Flower Bowl, then further back to Havresac, Phalaris, Mahmoud, Blenheim, Blandford, Mumtaz Mahal, The Tetrarch, Man O War, right back to Derby winners St Simon and Ormonde. He wouldnt have that speed if it wasnt for those great sprinters like Phalaris and The Tetrarch. Amazing how much speed there is in the best middle distance horses pedigrees. Sorry to edit your post Joe. Just had to highlight Ribot. Also in Harbinger's pedigree.
Nice artcle from ATR today: Frankel will be offered the very best mares at his owner Khalid Abdullah's Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket once he begins his new career as a stallion. The four-year-old ended his flawless racing days with a 14th victory in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday and will wind down at Sir Henry Cecil's stables until he is ready to make the short journey to his new home. "Prince Khalid hasn't really sat down and done the matings yet with Philip Mitchell (Juddmonte Farms general manager)," the owner's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe told At The Races. "What we can say is that our very best mares, if they think they might be suited to Frankel, will certainly go there. We have liaised with Henry. Frankel will be let down now and the real point will be to get him to the stage when he's relaxed and he's going to get used to a different life. "That will take a week or so, maybe longer, until everyone's happy and then he'll come over to Banstead." Mitchell added: "He's just awesome, and we look forward to having him return to the place he was born. We'll leave that to Sir Henry. He will decide when he comes here. Sir Henry will probably give him a few days to let himself down, so it probably won't be next week. It will be more likely the following week. "Everyone seems to be talking about him being worth £100 million, but that might be somewhat exaggerated. He's like a painting. How do you value a horse which has never been seen before? "I'd like to say we recognised him as a complete star as a foal and a yearling, but it never quite works out like that. Good horses almost go under the radar - they are never ill and always seem easier to deal with than other horses. Frankel certainly fell under that category." Mitchell felt Frankel retaining his unbeaten record was more relief than anything else. He went on: "It wasn't a case of celebration time on Saturday night, I think it was more a case of huge relief. It was a strange feeling at Ascot before he ran and it would have been awful if he had been beaten. It was the ultimate day. It simply doesn't get any better." I would be very surprised if Juddmonte's Blue Hen HASILI was not on the short list for his mates. My suspicion would be that they will plan to send about 50 or so of their own mares to him, and then offer up the remainder of places to outside mares. Knowing Juddmonte, they won't see him cover more than 150, though I would not be surprised if they put a strict limit on his book, knowing that they can afford to be very picky with his prospective mates.
This might be a very stupid question Princess but ............................ do you think Frankel (and other horses for that matter) actually miss going to the races and being the centre of attention once retired? For those who become stallions I suppose not, since they have plenty of "work" to keep them occupied , but I guess I'm wondering what a day at the races actually feels like for the horse? Positive as in: Change of scenery, being the centre of attention, lots of people looking at him and clapping him; or negative: loud, scary, all that travelling, strenuous, stressful?
It is hard to try and analyse what goes through their minds without putting a human spin on it. I am sure that many horses are a little frightened when they first go to a racecourse, hence why you often hear two year olds hollering in the paddock pre-race: they are calling out to their friends for reassurance. It is also why you hear many jockeys talk about trying to give an unraced two year old an easy introduction. If the horse is very green there is no point in the jockey flogging it half to death trying to win, all that will happen is the horse will learn to associate being at the racecourse with a bad experience and will continue to be nervous and green at future outings. In Frankel's case, I get the impression he believes himself to be ruler of the roost. So we are told, they tried to move him from his existing stable at Warren Place, which overlooks the yard and the ramp for the horse box, but he was having none of it - he is intelligent and inquisative and likes to see everything that is going on. He also reportedly has the largest appetite of any horse in Warren Place (23lbs of oats, plus hay every day, the equivalent of 35,000 calories) and sleeps more than any other horse. The head lass said that, on his return from racing at Newmarket in the Guineas, he was hollering for his dinner within minutes of returning to his stable! Some horses revel in the attention - Dubai Millennium was another horse who seemed to pose for photos, knowing that he was something special and felt deserving of all the attention he received! I suspect the clapping and cheering can be unnerving, and I also admit that I was always very concerned about the flags, etc that people were waving around Frankel - some horses will react very badly to that sort of thing. They are flight animals after all - their natural instinct is to run from danger. But Frankel seemed to take it all in his stride. The process of "letting down" will take a good while. As they say, he will have his workload wound down over the next few weeks at Warren Place, just leaving the yard to walk and trot before being transferred to the stud. There he will be walked in hand everyday to maintain some condition, but allow him to lose his racing fitness. After a while he will be allowed limited turnout in a field (probably in a pen to begin with) and when they are sure he is relaxed enough they will allow him full access to a field of his own. It is very dangerous to turn a race fit Thoroughbred straight out into a field, particuarly as he won't have been out in such open spaces since his yearling days. There is too high a risk he will do something stupid like gallop at full speed and slip over, or try to jump out of the field. The difference in colts once they have gone to stud can be incredible sometimes, their physique can totally change. Look at New Approach as a racehorse: And look at him now as a stallion, just a few years later:
Many thinks for the thorough answer Princess - New Approach looks like "before and after" pictures of RV with the Rustler Burgers
Rio de la Plata has been retired to Darley's Haras du Logis in France. Fee to be set at a later date.
One of my favourites. Interestingly he has no Northern Dancer in his pedigree. In fact it he has a pedigree with very little inbreeding at all.
Helsinge, dam of Black Caviar, has foaled a full-sister to the great mare. See here for more photos of the newborn
From ATR this morning: Caviar on the Menu for Frankel Frankel has been shortlisted as a possible first date for Australian superstar Black Caviar. The two highest-rated horses in the world last season could meet in the breeding sheds once time is called on the racing career of the Peter Moody-trained six-year-old. Frankel signed off at Ascot on Saturday with an unblemished 14-win record, whereas Black Caviar is unbeaten in 22 starts. "We would consider going to Frankel because he is clearly the best distance horse in the world," Black Caviar's co-owner Neil Werrett told The Age. "There would have to be a few conditions that would have to be worked out to make it happen, but the two best horses in the world together - that would be something. "I might be a little biased, but I would say he is the second-best horse I have ever seen." Obviously if she did visit him she would have to travel to the UK for the off-season as I sincerely doubt Frankel will be shuttling anywhere.
