Racing Post are reporting that Danedream will go to Frankel next year. Depending on what happens with her quarantine situation, she will either go to Dubai to run in March before returning to visit Frankel, or go straight to stud without another run.
Top Lot at the December Mares sale so far is TWYLA THARP, dam of THE FUGUE, sold for 1.7million Guineas to Mandore International.
For those that are interested, Darley have launched a digital brochure for their 2013 stallion roster. You can view it here. For those of you that are even more technologically minded, they have also created an App version for iPhones and iPads. Go to the App Store and search for "Darley Europe".
Of course, for the more traditional amongst you, you can request a hard copy of the Darley 2013 brochure on their website.
A little thing got me annoyed this morning listening to the radio, though it did come out of the mouth of Richard Keys on Talksport so i should have known better. They were discussing the drugs case on Frankie and what it meant, he was asking Patrick Barclay on his morning programme the questions. Keys asked if 'our', obviously a reference to the fact the Frenchies caught Frankie out, horse racing industry is doing enough to catch the drug cheats be it performance enhancing or recreational...? But after Barclay said he wouldnt know how many jockeys get tested or not, so he couldnt comment on the fact, he didnt really give a yes/no answer. But Keys carried on with his question that other sports do drug tests and asked again why are we not catching the drug cheats in horse racing...? Again Barclay said that drug testing/procedures would almost certainly be done within horse racing as all sports have to. Keys still persisted with his angle and referred to the fact that Lance Armstrong got tested over 400 times in a 5 year spell, so why are other sports not doing so. They might have caught Frankie over here then...!! Firstly, i dont like Keys so maybe im being a bit frivolous with his line of questions, but i do think that drug cheats get found out in the end, whatever sport they maybe in now a days. I didnt like the fact he was insinuating that 'our' horse racing testers are not catching cheats, and thus implying that we have jockeys taking drugs who should be caught... Or dos he know that Frankie has tested positive over here and we have brushed it under the carpet...!!! If that's the case i can see why he went down the avenue of asking these questions... So, as ive calmed down a bit from this morning, can i ask you Princess what scale dos the industry go to catching people within the horse racing fraternity who maybe using recreational or performance enhancing drugs...? Dos the sport have a history of people who have used drugs before...? And what measures do they go to to try and stop them from repeating the crime...? Many thanks...
The BHA most certainly do drug test jockeys. The testing is random and is contracted out to a testing agency. According to this morning's Racing Post 873 random tests were carried out during 2011. Of these 575 were breathalyser tests and 298 were urine samples. Young jockey Jack Mitchell was the only positive, testing positive for cocaine in May 2011 and was banned for 6 months from September 2011. Since 2007, 3 jockeys have tested positive for cocaine and 2 for diuretics in the UK. The general consensus seems to be that there is not an endemic problem in the industry, jockeys are much better educated on lifestyle and dietary issues than they have been in the past and with the number of jockeys around, they know that they have to be 100% to be able to get rides. There is more of a trend for young jockeys to follow Tony McCoy's lifestyle and give up smoking and drinking altogether. Jack Mitchell said that he was given cocaine by a "hanger on" and there is some evidence that there is a problem with stable staff in some areas lke Newmarket and Lambourn.
Princess I have always thought there might be a link between drug use and the permenant denial that a jockey (especially flat jockey) must live under, in order to keep their weight. I may well have asked this before, but is there any good reason (apart from being able to compare New Approach to Sea Bird) why we couldn't just up the entire weights system by a stone to give these guys a break. I mean, would it affect the result of the Derby massively if the horses were to carry 10 stone instead of 9 stone???? Or if the Ebor protagonists carried 9 stone - 11 stone? ANd for NH 11 stone - 13 stone? Sure it would slow the races down a little, but so what?
I never thought that the jockeys would be that stupid to be caught out as its a very competitive in getting a ride now a days... And your point about them looking at the top jockeys, AP for example, shows a understanding at the lower levels of how to be away from the course and in your social life... It must be so hard to keep weight off and perform at the highest level day in day out, week in week out, all season long. that any help, from a drug especially, must be a thought that goes through a lot of the jockeys minds...
Princess, good morning. After another scintillating performance from Sprinter Sacre, I wondered if you had any comments about his German sire, Network? Apart from recent progeny like Sprinter Scare, Rubi Light, and one or two good French horses, his previous stud record seemed pretty dire. I'm guessing that Network is somehow transmitting the ability of Sprinter Sacre's grandsire, Monsun. Is that fair to say? Regards, Tam.
Tamerlo: Good morning to you! If I may butt-in here, and PN will be quick to correct me if I've got it wrong, but I see nothing in Sprinter Sacre's breeding to suggest that he would become (already) a jumper of such high quality. Information on dam Fatima III, and damsire Bayolidaan, is hard to come by, and sire Network, well, as you say, pretty dire. I can't see grandsire Monsun either, not yet anyway, he was a total mudlark in his racing days and appears to transmit this trait to his progeny, but surely it's a bit early to suggest he's going to be a class source of jumpers? In short, breeding-wise, Sprinter Sacre has to be a one-off?
Not heard anything of Princess for a few days now, hope everything is OK Maybe she buys her PC hardware from the same place as RV?
Jongleur, good morning. No I'm not suggesting Network is anything but a failure overall, even though Monsun was very successful. I just wondered if Princess could come up with something in the pedigree which may show something- as well as Monsun's blood.
Tamerlo: Yes, she probably will, if there is a connection to the breeding of good jumpers it could possibly be on the dam's side, and PN would have access to the French bloodstock scene, and old form lines too? Also I see that Monsun died as a 22-year-old; that must have been quite recently, this year possibly? He was a product of the Konigsstuhl/Dschingis Khan line (distaff side Tiepoletto), so we'll have to wait for PN to see if all that means anything!
Apologies all, I've been run off my feet with work and college assignments so haven't been able to get on here! To answer a few questions, in no particular order: MONSUN died about 2 or 3 months ago. He had been blind for a number of years and had only covered very limited books of mares - no more than 50 or so per year. NETWORK has only been at stud since 2002, so his oldest progeny are 9, rising 10, so we've only had 4 or 5 years of racing from them. He's not doing too badly, with 5 runners rated over 140 and 5 runners (not the same 5) earning over £200,000 in prize money. SPRINTER SACRE is a half sibling to 6 other runners, none of them any great shakes! His dam, FATIMA III, has only visited, shall we say, "mediocre" stallions in her stud career. She ran just once, placing 5th. Her dam, VIVA SACREE, raced 5 times and failed to make the frame. In short, the family appear to be nothing of any real note. Sons of MONSUN are proving popular as National Hunt stallions. People are looking for the stamina so often associated with the German bloodlines and this is a great source of that proven blood.
Thanks from me too, PN, that was interesting. As you say, must be the stamina and toughness things that attract owners and trainers to German-breds for NH racing. They just don't do much NH in Germany, at least certainly not in the south. When I was going to the Munich-Riem racecourse regularly, think I must have seen about two hurdle races in total the whole time (Ben de Haan rode in one of them). Thoroughbred flat racing and standard-bred harness racing are the most popular here, and for betting purposes, it's football all the way. They really do bet on match results down here; attracts a bit of notoriety too sometimes!
New Banstead Manor recruit BATED BREATH has reportedly received over 200 applications for his services next season. The son of Dansili who won the G2 Temple Stakes in a record time and placed in no less than 5 G1 sprints is due to take up stud duties in 2013 at a cost of £8,000.
