Today, Coolmore Australia trotted out their hot filly Atlantic Jewel, for the $500,000 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield in Melbourne. Unbeaten in three amazing wins to date, the daughter of Fastnet Rock, from the Zabeel mare Regard, went into the G1 event as an odds on chance. From the 4 slot, she jumped out with the field, but quickly dropped back to third last, a dozen lengths off the pace. Michael Rodd eased her into the race, allowing her to coast up, hard held, on the outside as they cornered. For a few strides where she wanted to drift in, she looked a bit at sea. But once straightened, she came right away. A very nice prospect. She was in Coolmore's dark Blue. http://www.racingnetwork.com.au/sch...ate/2011-10-12/race/6/trackid/16/default.aspx
What's amazing is that the IT Hitlers in this place allow me to watch a race replay but I can't get access to Sporting Life ! That was impressive Cyc, how does the race stand up in G1 terms ? I thought she was very straightforward, she may have leant in for one stride but was quickly corrected and straightened well, then went away with the minimum of fuss. If this is a classy race then the horse is top drawer.
How good is the field? Hard one to answer mate. The second filly, Mosheen, another Fastnet Rock filly is pretty good, but as to how good the winner is, it's hard to say. All 4 wins have been really easy, so I guess we'll have to wait and see. The Coolmore push for her is big though.
On other associated Aussie business, it is interesting to see that Darley will reverse-shuttle their top Australian sire LONHRO to their Kentucky farm next year. There is no doubting his credentials as a sire, but it will be interesting to see if American breeders are prepared to take a chance on an unfamiliar bloodline. His fee is usually AUS$77,000, but they've yet to set an American fee for him.
As Lonhro's dam has Raise A Native and Never Bend in her blood, will it help? Is it Sir Tristram they might worry about? I would have thought that he might get some decent mares, but as he's an outsider, I suppose he might find it a bit hard. Any idea if Darley will support him, to try kick start his US bid? Ta Princess.
I imagine Darley will send him plenty of mares, but my thought would be that many American breeders will struggle with him as there is nothing recent and relevant in his pedigree, to their eyes. They are naturally very wary of bloodlines they are unfamiliar with - as an example, NORTH LIGHT has struggled since retiring to stud in the US, usually only attracting about 50 mares per year.
Any idea why they are trying this if he's a $77,000 prospect here? Do you think that maybe he's becoming surplus to requirements?
No, I think they are experimenting with trying to bring in new bloodlines. There is so much talk about how weak the US breed has become that they are playing the "inject some toughness" card by using a horse far removed from the medication/drug discussions that have dominated US racing in recent years. The press release from Darley reads as follows: Australia's reigning Champion sire Lonhro to shuttle to Darley in America Lonhro, Australia’s reigning Champion sire will shuttle to Darley’s stallion farm at Jonabell in Lexington, Kentucky for the 2012 breeding season from its stud in Australia. John Ferguson, Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock advisor put Lonhro’s unique move from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere into perspective: “Lonhro is a rare thoroughbred – a Horse of the Year on the racetrack and then a Champion sire. He is among the most talented horses to have graced the Australian turf in living memory and will bring to America the soundness and toughness for which Australian horses are known. As a stallion, his rise has been meteoric.” Lonhro was a Group-winning juvenile, a G1 winner at three and went on to be one of the greatest older horses Australia has ever seen. Lonhro’s 11 G1 victories came at ages three, four and five, and ranged from seven furlongs to five wins at a mile-and-a-quarter. Lonhro became Australia’s Champion sire for the first time this year after having only four crops to race. To achieve this he defeated international sires Galileo and Redoute’s Choice, and fellow Darley stallions Street Cry and Elusive Quality. He has already sired G1 winners Beaded, Benfica and Denman, who now also stands alongside Lonhro at Darley in Australia. Ferguson added, “Lonhro is coming in at the top of his game. He’s young. He’s fresh. He’s already proved he’s a stallion of influence. He stamps his stock. And he’s a great looking horse. Lonhro has totally rewarded our faith in the southern hemisphere and we believe he will be perfect for mares in the northern hemisphere and a real asset to breeders.” His fee will be set at a later date.
Re Lonhro. Looks like a very prudent move,the US racing scene is in decline,with the new restrictions coming soon for Lasix etc, North American breeders will start looking for alternative breeding lines, that have proven win lines without the benefit of drugs.Over the next year or so this will become the norm ,when everyone jumps on the bandwagon. It will be interesting to see how these new foals from sire /mares who ran their wholelife on drugs, do without them. My money will be on the ones like Lonhro's siblings.All in all this can only bring better racing to the North American scene and hopefully change the outlook , because 5f and 6f racing is not all there is to racing. One thing that is interesting is, does this mean that in the future there will be more and more turf racing in the US,because of the importing of " international studs " and longer distance races. Also speed and times is very important to North American racing, so this could play a factor in which studs are sent over.
Lonhro's trip to the U.S. is going to be very interesting. The choice of a son of Octagonal is a bit of a surprise to me, but only because I'm a lightweight on the subject. I realise that US racing has a lot of speed to it, but it's always seemed to me that stayers in that country, were pretty tough. With the pace often on from the outset, it sort of became a last man left standing sort of thing. From what I've read on this and other forums, there is a opinion that the anti bleed products have damaged the breeding scene, possibly weakening it. The sending of Lonhro seems to confirm this. At least it looks as though Darley think the same. Lonhro's sire Octagonal, was as tough as teak. If he was involved in a struggle for the line, he just about always got the photo. He had a will of iron, a trait he seems to have passed onto his son.
Covering mares to "opposite time" is becoming more and more common. Some stallions do not travel well, or the owners are not prepared to take the risks associated, so will cover mares during the off-season so that they can be sent to the opposite hemisphere to foal. For example a horse in Newmarket can cover a mare in October/November so that she can produce a September/October foal the following year in Australia, and vice-versa. REDOUTE'S CHOICE has been the highest profile stallion in Australia to cover significant numbers of mares during the off-season, but the numbers involved (usually 20 or so mares) means that they are not able to compete on a level playing field with the stallions that will have 100 or so foals on the ground. Coolmore cover a few mares in the off-season in the souther hemisphere, both ENCOSTA DE LAGO and FASTNET ROCK have had runners/foals born in the northern hemisphere prior to their shuttling.
