Claude ʻʻShugʼʼ McGaughey III, the legendary trainer of champions
![Claude 'Shug' McGaughey IIIBy Bill Heller Sustained excellence is a rare commodity in any endeavor, even more so in Thoroughbred racing when success is tied to 1,000-pound horses traveling 35 miles per hour, guided by jockeys making rapid strategic decisions one after another. “For every good thing that happens, 20 bad things happen,” Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley advised his young assistant, Shug McGaughey, decades ago. McGaughey didn’t listen, made it into the Hall of Fame, and continues to succeed. He recently turned 70, and his horses have earned more than $2 million for 37 straight years, thanks to a win percentage of 21 at the highest level of racing. GREATEST HONOURHe won one Kentucky Derby with Orb in 2013—the best victory of all for a Lexington native. And he hoped to do it again this year with Courtlandt Farm’s Greatest Honour, who fired off consecutive victories in the Holy Bull Stakes and the Fountain of Youth Stakes before finishing third in the Florida Derby as the 4-5 favorite. Doing the right thing for your horse is easier when he’s doing well but much more difficult when he isn’t. McGaughey noticed something wrong with Greatest Honour and acted accordingly. “I wasn’t pleased with the way he galloped Saturday and Sunday,” Reported Shug on Thursday, April 8. “I said on Monday, `We have to get to the bottom of this.’” That meant X-rays, a bone scan and consulting with Dr. Larry Bramlage, who has always been close to Shug’s heart. Bramlage’s successful surgery on Personal Ensign when she suffered a broken pastern as a two-year-old allowed her to come back at three to resume her historic, unblemished career, culminating with her victory in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.McGaughey said Greatest Honour had a minor problem in his ankle which wouldn’t require surgery. On Wednesday, April 7, just 24 days before the Kentucky Derby, McGaughey announced that Greatest Honour would get 30 days off at Courtlandt Farms and then be re-evaluated, hopefully in time for him to race in the midsummer Derby— the Travers at Saratoga. “We just need to give him a little time. I feel bad for Don Adam [the owner of Courtlandt Farms] and for the horse.”McGaughey had to make that difficult phone call to Adam to tell him the bad news. “It’s not easy, but I’ve made that call a lot of times,” As Shug put it. “It’s part of the game.”Greatest Honour would have been one of the top contenders in the Triple Crown series. By doing the right thing, McGaughey is allowing Greatest Honour to reach his potential, no matter how much McGaughey wanted to win another 3yo classic race. The challenge of getting Greatest Honour back to the winner’s circle is one McGaughey has enjoyed his whole career. “I enjoy the horses, the competition, the clients; I don’t enjoy the politics in racing today. It makes it hard to keep focused on training: the visas, the cost of workman’s comp, knowing how far out you can give horses medication. Certain states have certain rules. Other states are different. I will be happy when we get some kind of uniformity.” Thanks to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, that is about to happen. “I think the Horseracing Integrity Act is a good thing; it’s definitely a good thing. We weren’t going to do it ourselves. We tried policing ourselves, and it didn’t work.” What has worked for McGaughey is letting his horses earn their way into major stakes by their performances. Greatest Honour would have been only McGaughey’s ninth starter in the Kentucky Derby. “He doesn’t put a horse in a race just to have a horse in a race,” his 34-year-old son Chip, an administrator at Keeneland, said. “He wakes up every morning and goes to sleep every night thinking about his horses. He wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about his horses. He has dedication to getting everything he can out of his horses by developing them. His training philosophy has always been doing what’s best for his horses. He’s always had that. He is a very patient trainer, allowing a horse to tell him what the next step is.” LET THE HORSES TALKMcGaughey said, “I think the biggest thing is you have to watch them and let them tell you what’s going on. I try not to wake them up too soon. I like to see them go well within themselves. I tell the exercise riders not to get them tired when they work them. I don’t want to overdo it. I want to teach them how to run, breeze them up in company, breeze them behind horses, a half in :50 or :51. They get enough out of the workout.”Reeve, Chip’s 31-year-old brother, who is off to a promising start on his own training career, saw Shug’s approach first-hand, working for his dad after stints with Eion Harty and Reeve’s uncle, Charlie LoPresti: “There are only a handful of guys who have sustained excellence for the duration of his career, he works hard. He’s a very good trainer. Obviously, what’s worked for him has worked for him for a very long time. It helps to get good horses.”It helps even more to get good horses with patient owners. Asked if he enjoys the process of understanding horses as individuals, McGaughey said, “Very much so. That’s the way I sort of centered my career around: try to develop good horses. One of my big breaks was working for Loblolly, and that’s what they wanted. Then I stepped into the Phipps job, and also Stuart Janney. That’s what they were interested in, trying to develop a nice horse that can compete in big races. All the people I train for—that’s what they want: getting a horse to stakes quality.”And winning with them. That’s what great trainers do. Their work ethic is a given. Long hours. An open mind is a decided asset. “I think that you’re still learning; you see something new almost every day. I don’t know if I’m a better trainer, but I understand it more. I think you understand the game better placing horses. I know when I was young, I thought they should win every race. If they didn’t, I thought it was my fault. Now I understand the circumstances of the race. You can get in trouble. You might not be in the right place. You can get stopped.”McGaughey hasn’t stopped attacking his profession. “That son of a gun is like the Energizer bunny,” Shug’s wife Allison said. “He works his butt off. He lives, eats and sleeps those horses. I’m younger than him, and I don’t know how he does it. He gets up at 4:30ish, leaves the house around 5, 5:15. Works at the barn til 11. Maybe plays a little golf, showers and goes back to the barn. He wants to be at the barn all day, run them and go back to the barn. It’s like a constant, non-stop. Won’t go out to dinner if there’s a horse to cool out or he’s waiting for a shipper to arrive. I say, `Why don’t you take it easy?’ ‘No.’ Why don’t you take a nap?’ ‘No.’ Why don’t you take a vacation?’ ‘No.’ But we enjoy it.”She enjoys the races a bit differently than Shug. “I get very excited; I like to yell. And his thing is, he takes them over there. He wants them to run well. If they don’t, he wants to work it out. If he runs well, he’s already thinking what the next start is. I’m more in the moment.” LOOKING BACKMcGaughey’s happiest moments include Personal Ensign’s last-gasp nose victory under Hall of Famer Randy Romero in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs to retire undefeated—a race chosen by fans in 2009 as the most exciting Breeders’ Cup race in its first 25 years. “I thought she was hopelessly beaten,” said McGaughey. Instead, she won, retiring as the first major undefeated horse with at least 10 starts since Colin, who retired with a 15-for-15 mark in 1908. No horse has done it since Personal Ensign, so it’s now 113 years. McGaughey’s saddest moment came 18 years later, in the same race—the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, at the same track—Churchill Downs. McGaughey’s three-year-old filly Pine Island, who had won the Gr1 Alabama and Gazelle Stakes, suffered a fatal injury early in the race. “This was the worst; it’s bad when it happens at Aqueduct. It’s not that easy to say, but I’ve always tried not to let myself get too close to them because I know this is something that can happen. They can be here today and gone tomorrow. When the newspaper arrived, I told them to put it in the trash. I didn’t want to see the pictures.”There were many more happy pictures than sad as McGaughey churned out one talented Thoroughbred after another. Shug’s nine victories in the Breeders’ Cup are topped only by D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert. Fourteen of McGaughey’s horses earned more than $1.5 million. Eight of those topped $2 million. Their common denominator was treating out-of-money finishes as if they were the plague. Personal Ensign’s 13-for-13 set the bar impossibly high, but McGaughey’s Easy Goer, Inside Information, and Heavenly Prize, never finished worse than third. Inside Information was 14-for-17 with one second and a pair of thirds. Heavenly Prize, whose losses included a lopsided one to Inside Information in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, was nine-for-18 with six seconds and three thirds. Easy Goer was 14-for-20 with five seconds and one third, and earnings of $4,873,770, over $2 million more than any of McGaughey’s horses.THE EARLY YEARSBut McGaughey’s life could have been much different. His family was in the laundry and dry cleaning business in Lexington. McGaughey was 12 or 13 when his dad took him to Keeneland. Soon, McGaughey and his buddies were sneaking into Keeneland. “I’d pick up the Daily Racing Form from the people who had taken out just the Keeneland PPs and bring the rest of it home. I’d read the articles and maybe look at the horses that were running at Arlington.”McGaughey got a job with trainer David Carr, a brother-in-law of one of his friends. “I became enthralled with the whole atmosphere. I mean I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed being around the barn. I enjoyed the after hours. When the work was done in the morning, I’d like to hang around. They were teaching me, and I was intrigued. If anything had to be done, I always wanted to be there to watch. I was always looking over the veterinarian’s shoulder. I felt that if I ever had to do it by myself, I wouldn’t want anyone standing over my shoulder and telling me what to do. I wanted to be able to make those decisions by myself.”When he decided to move on, he landed a job with Frank Whiteley in South Carolina. Ignoring Whiteley’s career advice, McGaughey went into training. Judging by his $154 million in career earnings—10th highest of all time and his 20 horses who have won at least one Gr1 stakes—he’s done all right.Catching on with John Ed Anthony’s Loblolly Stable was a huge break for McGaughey, and he made the most of it, guiding Vanlandingham to an Eclipse Award as the 1985 Champion Handicap Horse. He also guaranteed a painful decision by McGaughey: to leave Loblolly and accept an offer to train for the Phipps family. “John Ed Anthony was very, very good to me; I think he was stunned. It was a very, very difficult thing for me to tell him.” THE PHIPPS YEARSHere’s how it happened on October 5, 1985: McGaughey journeyed to Dinny Phipps’ home in Old Westbury, Long Island, to interview that morning to take over as the Phipps family’s trainer. “I was scared to death, but he immediately put me at ease.” The interview went well. “I felt like I was going to get the job,” said McGaughey.That afternoon at Belmont Park, Vanlandingham won the Gr1 Jockey Club Gold Cup by 2 ½ lengths under Pat Day. Dinny, the chairman of the Jockey Club, presented the winning trophy to McGaughey. How’s that for a deal closer? Shug was hired four days later and has been training for the Phipps ever since. “We had a wonderful relationship for years; they not only made my career, they made my life, too.”Dinny passed April 6, 2016, at the age of 75. “I still have eight or nine of their horses in training and some two-year-olds and foals; they’re trying to keep it going.”DEVELOPING A DYNASTYAfter hiring McGaughey, Dinny Phipps explained to his new trainer that the foundation of the racing stable is based around broodmares. And to be good broodmares, they had to perform on the racetrack. Some trainers are better training fillies. In the Phipps operation, you had to be able to train fillies.McGaughey didn’t wait long to address that concern. Twelve days short of a year after he was hired, McGaughey unveiled Personal Ensign, who won her debut by 12 ¾ lengths, then the Gr1 Frizette by a head. She was the personification of McGaughey’s career, coming back from ankle surgery after the Frizette was thought to be career-ending. Instead, she returned, was managed brilliantly by McGaughey and resumed her unforgettable career. She eased back into Gr1 competition and punctuated her perfect career by running down loose-on-the-lead Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors at Churchill Downs—a track Personal Ensign had never raced on—to finish 13-for-13. “That was going to be her last race,” McGaughey said.But she wasn’t done, producing Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly winner My Flag, a daughter of Easy Goer, who got up in the final strides to win the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly. It had to feel like déjà vu—a horrible version of one—for Winning Song’s trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who also trained the two fillies that My Flag ran down seven years later: Cara Rafaela and Golden Attraction. As a three-year-old, My Flag finished third in the Belmont Stakes. She then produced Storm Flag Flying—the 2002 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly whose four-for-four season culminated with a half-length score in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly. Three generations of Breeders’ Cup winners over a 14-year period. Patience can pay off. Personal Ensign’s brother Personal Flag won the 1988 Gr1 Suburban and earned more than $1.2 million in his career. McGaughey’s Seeking the Gold posted eight victories, including the 1988 Gr1 Super Derby, and six seconds in 15 career starts, earning more than $2.3 million. In 1989, Easy Goer, the 1988 Two-Year-Old Champion Colt, avenged his losses to his nemesis Sunday Silence in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness by denying him the Triple Crown, winning the Belmont Stakes by eight lengths. Easy Goer added the Whitney Handicap, Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup before losing to Sunday Silence again—this time by a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Classic—a result that cost Easy Goer the Three-Year-Old Colt Championship and Horse of the Year honors. Even with three losses to Sunday Silence, Easy Goer finished his career 14 of 20 with five seconds, one third and earnings of $4,873,770—McGaughey’s top money maker by more than $2 million.Rhythm, the 1989 Two-Year-Old Champion Colt, gave McGaughey consecutive victories in the Travers, winning the 1990 Mid-Summer Derby by 3 ½ lengths before losing his final seven races.McGaughey celebrated another Travers victory in 1998 with Coronado’s Quest, a head case who had tested even McGaughey’s patience, occasionally freezing on the way to the track. Following up on his victory over Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop in the Gr1 Haskell at Monmouth, Coronado’s Quest defeated him again in the Travers. Asked if Coronado’s Quest was his most difficult horse to train, McGaughey answered, “For a star horse, yes. It just took us a while to understand him. The Travers was really special—to win a race like that at Saratoga stretching out to a mile and a quarter. I give Mike Smith a lot of credit for that.” Coronado’s Quest finished 10-for-17 with earnings topping $2 million.On September 15, 1993, at Belmont Park, McGaughey unveiled two incredible two-year-old filly Phipps’ home-breds an hour apart. Inside Information won her debut by 7 ½ lengths in 1:11 3/5 under Mike Smith in the third race. In the fifth race, also under Mike Smith, Heavenly Prize won by nine lengths in 1:10 4/5.The two fillies’ careers then diverged. Inside Information finished third in an allowance race and didn’t start again as a two-year-old. Heavenly Prize won the Gr1 Frizette by seven lengths but lost the Two-Year-Old Filly Championship when she finished third by three lengths to Phone Chatter in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly. As a three-year-old, Heavenly Prize won the Gr1 Alabama by seven lengths, the Gr1 Gazelle by 6 ½ and the Gr1 Beldame by six lengths. Though she lost the Breeders’ Cup Distaff by a neck to One Dreamer, Heavenly Prize won the Three-Year-Old Filly Eclipse. At four, Heavenly Prize won four consecutive Gr1 stakes: the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park, the Hempstead at Belmont Park, and the Go for Wand and John A. Morris at Saratoga. In the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, she finished second by 13 ½ lengths to her incredible stable mate Inside Information.Inside Information won 13 of her 15 starts as a three- and four-year-old, the lone misses a distant third to Lakeway in the Gr1 Mother Goose and a non-threatening second to Classy Mirage in the Gr1 Ballerina. Inside Information won the Gr1 Ashland and Acorn Stakes as a three-year-old. At four, she captured the Gr1 Shuvee, the Ruffian by 11 lengths, the Spinster by a head and, in as dominant fashion as a race can be, the final start of her career: the Breeders’ Cup Distaff by 13 ½ lengths. Mike Smith rode Inside Information in 16 of her 17 starts. José Santos was aboard when she won the Shuvee by 5 ½ lengths.Lest McGaughey be classified as a top dirt trainer, two horses 20 years apart proved McGaughey’s prowess with grass horses. The speedy Lure posted 11 victories, including back-to-back victories in the Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1992 and 1993. In 18 grass starts, Lure posted 11 victories and six seconds, earning $2,515,289.Twenty years later, the powerful closer Point of Entry—who rallied from 26 lengths behind to win an allowance race by a length and a quarter—captured five Gr1 stakes: the Man o’ War, Sword Dancer, Turf Classic Invitational, the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap and the Manhattan. In two starts in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, Point of Entry finished second by a half-length to Little Mike in 2012 and fourth by 1 ¾ lengths to Magician in 2013. He made $2,494,490. Then came Orb, who made $2,612,516. “Orb was just a special, special thing—me being from Kentucky—to win the Kentucky Derby for the Phipps[es] and Stuart Janney was special. Going there to Louisville with the favorite for the Derby was a very special week for Allison and myself. We did enjoy it very much.” He expected to enjoy the Preakness, too. “He came out of the Derby very well; he had a good work before we went to Pimlico. But he drew inside when he wanted to be outside. He finished fourth. He was a victim of circumstances. I was disappointed. I would have loved to bring him to Belmont—a special place for me—to have a chance to win the Triple Crown at Belmont. That’s my favorite place to train. I’m comfortable there. There’s nobody else in my barn. It makes it easier. It’s not real busy. And I love a big racetrack.”Honor Code—a gorgeous black closer who was from the last crop of A.P. Indy out of Serena’s Cat by Storm Cat—was McGaughey’s next star. He only raced 11 times but made the most of it with six victories, including two emphatic 2015 Gr1 scores in the Met Mile, when he made an astounding rally to win going away, and the Gr1 Whitney. He finished his career by running third to American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, earning just over $2.5 million. Will Farish’s home-bred Code of Honor stamped himself as a top Kentucky Derby contender by winning the 2019 Gr2 Fountain of Youth. He finished third to Maximum Security in the Gr1 Florida Derby then gave McGaughey quite a thrill in the Kentucky Derby, making a bold move on the inside of Maximum Security as if he’d spurt by him coming out of the far turn. “There was a second and a half it looked like he was going to win,” Shug’s son Reeve said. “Then he lost his momentum.” Still, Code of Honor finished third and was moved up to second when Maximum Security became the first horse ever disqualified from a Kentucky Derby victory.Code of Honor came right back to win the Gr3 Dwyer, the Gr1 Travers and the Gr1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. He then finished seventh to Vino Rosso in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. After a seven-month vacation, Code of Honor returned to win the Gr3 Westchester. It was his last victory to date. He finished third in the Gr1 Met Mile, fourth in the Gr1 Whitney, second in the Gr2 Kelso, second in the Gr1 Clark and, in his last start on January 23, 2021, fifth in the 2021 Pegasus World Cup. LOOKING FORWARDGreatest Honour is poised to join McGaughey’s most accomplished horses when he returns. The son of Tapit is out of Better Than Honour, who has produced two Belmont Stakes winners: Jazil and Rags to Riches. “With his pedigree, the further he goes, the better for him.”Earlier on the Florida Derby card, Allen Stable’s three-year-old filly No Ordinary Time won a maiden race by a neck under Julien Leparoux for Shug. She was shipped to New York to make her next start. Shug might have another top three-year-old. Will Farish’s Bears Watching was mighty impressive, winning a seven-furlong maiden race by 7 ¾ lengths March 13, but he too is being freshened. “I had to stop on him too; he had a little chip in his ankle. He’ll be out for 30 days.”Shug will develop his horses the way he always has—prudently. It’s what made Shug a Hall of Famer. “Of course I’m proud of him, but not all of his accomplishments are in racing,” Allison said. “He’s a great guy—very kind, very understanding. He’s fun. We have a great relationship. We go fishing together. We golf together.” And now, Shug and Allison have a new member in their family. Chip and his wife Jenny have a baby daughter, Lily, who was born on February 2. She is Shug’s first grandchild. “She lives in Lexington, and we’re looking forward to meeting her.” Is Shug ready to be a granddad? “He’s mellowed a little bit,” Reeve said. “He’s still working every day, but he might take off a day or two. He needs to ease back and try to enjoy life a little bit more.” Lily may just make that happen for Shug. She may require patience, but her accomplished grandpa knows all about that.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/517636f8e4b0cb4f8c8697ba/1619185270908-34LKUMNTZJULHFJ5T31Q/_Z9A6617.jpg)
Sustaining Excellence
By Bill Heller
Sustained excellence is a rare commodity in any endeavour, even more so in Thoroughbred racing when success is tied to 1,000-pound horses traveling 35 miles per hour, guided by jockeys making rapid strategic decisions one after another.
“For every good thing that happens, 20 bad things happen,” Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley advised his young assistant, Shug McGaughey, decades ago.
McGaughey didn’t listen, made it into the Hall of Fame, and continues to succeed. He recently turned 70, and his horses have earned more than $2 million for 37 straight years, thanks to a win percentage of 21 at the highest level of racing.
Greatest Honour wins the Holy Bull Stakes, at Gulfstream Park, 2021.
• Greatest Honour
He won one Kentucky Derby with Orb in 2013—the best victory of all for a Lexington native. And he hoped to do it again this year with Courtlandt Farm’s Greatest Honour, who fired off consecutive victories in the Holy Bull Stakes and the Fountain of Youth Stakes before finishing third in the Florida Derby as the 4-5 favorite. Doing the right thing for your horse is easier when he’s doing well but much more difficult when he isn’t. McGaughey noticed something wrong with Greatest Honour and acted accordingly. “I wasn’t pleased with the way he galloped Saturday and Sunday,” Reported Shug on Thursday, April 8. “I said on Monday, ‘We have to get to the bottom of this.’” That meant X-rays, a bone scan and consulting with Dr. Larry Bramlage, who has always been close to Shug’s heart. Bramlage’s successful surgery on Personal Ensign when she suffered a broken pastern as a two-year-old allowed her to come back at three to resume her historic, unblemished career, culminating with her victory in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
McGaughey said Greatest Honour had a minor problem in his ankle which wouldn’t require surgery. So, just over 3 weeks out from the Kentucky Derby, McGaughey announced that Greatest Honour would get 30 days off at Courtlandt Farms and then be re-evaluated, hopefully in time for him to race in the midsummer Derby— the Travers at Saratoga. “We just need to give him a little time. I feel bad for Don Adam (the owner of Courtlandt Farms) and for the horse.” McGaughey had to make that difficult phone call to Adam to tell him the bad news. “It’s not easy, but I’ve made that call a lot of times,” As Shug put it. “It’s part of the game.”
Greatest Honour would have been one of the top contenders in the Triple Crown series. By doing the right thing, McGaughey is allowing Greatest Honour to reach his potential, no matter how much McGaughey wanted to win another 3yo classic race.
Shug with current stable star Greatest Honour.
The challenge of getting Greatest Honour back to the winner’s circle is one McGaughey has enjoyed his whole career. “I enjoy the horses, the competition, the clients; I don’t enjoy the politics in racing today. It makes it hard to keep focused on training: the visas, the cost of workman’s comp, knowing how far out you can give horses medication. Certain states have certain rules. Other states are different. I will be happy when we get some kind of uniformity.”
Thanks to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, that is about to happen. “I think the Horseracing Integrity Act is a good thing; it’s definitely a good thing. We weren’t going to do it ourselves. We tried policing ourselves, and it didn’t work.” What has worked for McGaughey is letting his horses earn their way into major stakes by their performances. Greatest Honour would have been only McGaughey’s ninth starter in the Kentucky Derby. “He doesn’t put a horse in a race just to have a horse in a race,” his 34-year-old son Chip, an administrator at Keeneland, said.
“He wakes up every morning and goes to sleep every night thinking about his horses. He wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about his horses. He has dedication to getting everything he can out of his horses by developing them. His training philosophy has always been doing what’s best for his horses. He’s always had that. He is a very patient trainer, allowing a horse to tell him what the next step is.”
Shug with Storm Flag Flying, 2002.
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
From the ground up - Preakness Stakes winning trainer Michael McCarthy worked his way into the training ranks, forming a solid foundation of success along the way.
By Annie Lambert
Trainer Michael McCarthy felt an immediate connection to the racing industry after attending the races with a few high school buddies. Following graduation, he found his way to the backside, working a variety of jobs while attending college at night. His most prominent employment was spending more than a decade as assistant to Todd Pletcher, a seven-time Eclipse Award winning Trainer of the Year.
McCarthy, now 50, attained his trainer’s license in 2006 and began training his own stable of horses in 2014. Since then, the Southern California-based horseman has saddled 1,063 starters with 174 wins, 138 seconds and 172 thirds, earning $18,083,294—including multiple graded stakes.
Pletcher once called his former protégé “reliable, confident and capable.” McCarthy has also proven himself to be responsible and patient with perseverance.
• Racing intrigue
At the age of six, McCarthy moved to Arcadia, Calif., with his family. The family home was near enough to Santa Anita to hear the races being called. Although McCarthy’s parents were not horse racing enthusiasts, he became smitten by the industry. His father, a high-end office furniture dealer (now semi- retired), was always a big sports fan—“a basketball, football kind of guy,” who was not initially into racing but now closely follows his son’s career. Young McCarthy’s first job at Santa Anita was working for trainer John O’Hara. He was at the track during the day and attending his freshman year at Cal Poly Pomona with night classes in animal husbandry. He also worked for veterinarian Dr. Wade Byrd and got handy with a stopwatch with help from Santa Anita clocker Gary Young.
Michael with Proud Accolade at Hollywood Park, 2004.
In about 1994, McCarthy had the opportunity to spend four months at a training center in Japan as well as several months at The National Stud in England. He worked as an intern in a variety of jobs, including breeding to training aspects of the racing business. While still in college, McCarthy soaked up experience working for trainer Doug Peterson and was an assistant at Santa Anita for Ben Cecil.
• Upward mobility
Working for Cecil was his final job prior to heading east to work for Todd Pletcher. Jockey agent Ron Anderson negotiated a meeting between McCarthy and Pletcher, who was looking for an assistant trainer to replace George Weaver who was leaving to start his own public stable. After some phone calls back and forth, McCarthy headed to Belmont Park in July of 2002 for an introduction of sorts. He began his new job on August 25, 2002—a date he has no trouble recalling.
Michael with Friendly Island after winning the Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa Anita Park, 2007.
“Moving east was certainly an adjustment period,” McCarthy admitted. “But when you’re young and single, it’s easy to do.” There was a learning curve going to work in an expansive stable like Pletcher’s—a fast-moving organization with many horses and a lot of moving parts. McCarthy quickly caught up to speed, and by November of that year, he found himself traveling to Hong Kong with Texas Glitter.
Texas Glitter was a six-year-old when he headed to Southeast Asia with McCarthy. Their first stop was at California’s Hollywood Park, where the son of Glitterman won the Gr3 Hollywood Turf Express Handicap. Sixteen days later, the multiple graded stakes winner found no luck in the Gp1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin— the final race of his career. …
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Can we use biomarkers to predict catastrophic racing injuries?
![Promising developments in quest to prevent catastrophic racehorse injuriesUniversity of Kentucky study shows association between mRNA biomarkers and catastrophic injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses—a positive step forward in the development of a pre-race screening toolCatastrophic injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses is a top-of-mind concern for the global racing industry and its fans. That sentiment is shared by researchers at the University of Kentucky and their collaborators, who are working to learn more about changes happening at a cellular level that might indicate an injury is lurking before it becomes career or life ending. Could it be possible to identify an early marker or signal in horses at risk of catastrophic injury, allowing for intervention before those injuries happen? And, if so, might this type of detection system be one that could be implemented cost effectively on a large scale?According to Allen Page, DVM, PhD, staff scientist and veterinarian at UK’s Gluck Equine Research Center, the short answer to both questions is that it looks promising. To date, attempts to identify useful biomarkers for early injury detection have been largely unsuccessful. However, the use of a different biomarker technology, which quantifies messenger RNA (mRNA), was able to identify 76% of those horses at risk for a catastrophic injury. An abstract of this research was recently presented at the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ annual meeting in December 2020 and the full study published January 12 in the Equine Veterinary Journal (https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/20423306). In this initial research—which looked at 21 different mRNA markers selected for their roles in encoding proteins associated with inflammation, bone repair and remodeling, tissue repair and general response to injury—three markers showed a large difference in mRNA levels between injured and non-injured horses. For almost four years, Page and his University of Kentucky colleagues have been analyzing blood samples from almost 700 Thoroughbred racehorses. The samples, collected by participating racing jurisdictions from across the United States, have come from both catastrophically injured and non-injured horses in a quest to better understand changes that might be happening at the mRNA level and if there are any red flags which consistently differentiate horses that suffer a catastrophic injury.According to Page, the ultimate hope is to develop a screening tool that can be used pre-race to identify horses at increased risk for injury. The results of this study, which was entirely funded by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s Equine Drug Research Council, suggest that analysis of messenger RNA expression could be an economical, effective and non-invasive way to identify individual racehorses at risk for catastrophic injury.Joining Page in the research from UK’s Gluck Center are Emma Adam, BVetMed, PhD, DACVIM, DACVS, assistant professor, research and industry liaison, and David Horohov, PhD, chair of the Department of Veterinary Science, director of the Gluck Center and Jes E. and Clementine M. Schlaikjer Endowed Chair.Previous research has shown that many catastrophic injuries occur in limbs with underlying and pre-existing damage, leading to the theory that these injuries occur when damage accumulation exceeds the healing capacity of the affected bones over time. Since many of these injuries have underlying damage, it is likely that there are molecular markers of this that can be detected prior to an injury.The identification of protein biomarkers for these types of injuries has been explored in previous research, albeit with limited success. The focus of this project, measuring messenger RNA, had not yet been explored, however. The overall objective was to determine if horses that had experienced a catastrophic injury during racing would show increased inflammatory mRNA expression at the time of their injury when compared to similar horses who were not injured.The genetic acronyms: A primer on DNA, RNA, mRNA and PCRThis research leverages advances made in genetics during the last several decades, both in a greater understanding of the field as well as in applying that knowledge to specific issues facing the equine industry, including catastrophic breakdown in racehorses.The genetic code of life is made up of genes and regulatory elements encoded by DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, which is found in the nucleus of cells in all living organisms. It is arranged in a double helix structure, similar to a twisted ladder. The rungs of that ladder are nucleotide base pairs, and the ordering of those base pairs results in the specific genetic code called a gene. The genetic code in the genes and the DNA tell the body how to make proteins. RNA (ribonucleic acid) is created by RNA polymerases, which read a section of DNA and convert it into a single strand of RNA in a process called transcription. While all types of RNA are involved in building proteins, mRNA is the one that actually acts as the messenger because it is the one with the instructions for the protein, which is created via a process called translation. In translation, mRNA bonds with a ribosome, which will read the mRNA’s sequence. The ribosome then uses the mRNA sequence as a blueprint in determining which amino acids are needed and in what order. Amino acids function as the building blocks of protein (initially referred to as a polypeptide). Messenger RNA sequences are read as a triplet code where three nucleotides dictate a specific amino acid. After the entire polypeptide chain has been created and released by the ribosome, it will undergo folding based on interactions between the amino acids and become a fully functioning protein. While looking at inflammation often involves measuring proteins, Page and his collaborators opted to focus on mRNA due to the limited availability of reagents available to measure horse proteins and concerns about how limited the scope of that research focus would be. Focusing on mRNA expression, however, is not without issues. According to Page, mRNA can be extremely difficult to work with. “A normal blood sample from a horse requires a collection tube that every veterinarian has with them. Unfortunately, we cannot use those tubes because mRNA is rapidly broken down once cells in tubes begin to die. Luckily, there are commercially-available blood tubes that are designed solely for the collection of mRNA,” he said.“One of the early concerns people had about this project when we talked with them was whether we were going to try to link catastrophic injuries to the presence or absence of certain genes and familial lines. Not only was that not a goal of the study, [but] the samples we obtain make that impossible,” Page said. “Likewise for testing study samples for performance enhancing drugs. The tubes do an excellent job of stabilizing mRNA at the expense of everything else in the blood sample.”In order to examine mRNA levels, the project relied heavily on the ability to amplify protein-encoding genes using a technique called the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). By using a variety of techniques, samples from the project were first converted back to DNA, which is significantly more stable than mRNA, and then quantified using a specialized machine that is able to determine the relative amount of mRNA initially present in the individual samples. While it is easy to take for granted the abilities of PCR, this Nobel Prize winning discovery has forever changed the face of science and has enabled countless advances in diagnostic testing, including those used in this study.The research into mRNA biomarkers Catastrophic racing and training injuries have long been a target for researchers due to the high societal and welfare impacts on the racing industry. With the nearly universal requirement for necropsies on horses that succumb to these injuries, work by researchers has demonstrated that most horses with catastrophic injuries have pre-existing damage in their legs. This pre-existing damage presents an opportunity to detect injuries before they occur, whether that be with advanced imaging or less invasive techniques, such as screening of blood for injury biomarkers. Horses eligible for inclusion in the study were Thoroughbreds entered into any race in one of five participating jurisdictions from September 2017 to June 2020. To look at the mRNA, these jurisdictions collected specific blood samples either pre-race or post-race from a selection of non-injured horses or immediately from a horse after a catastrophic injury. Once collected, samples were sent to the Gluck Center where they were analyzed using PCR. The names of horses and sample types (injured, pre-race or post-race) were kept from the researchers until the samples had been fully analyzed.Once the names and dates of samples were revealed, public records were then used to learn more about each horse. Information examined included the horse’s sex, age, race type and whether non-injured horses raced again within three months of the sampled race. For horses who had been catastrophically injured, necropsy results were used to categorize the type of musculoskeletal injury that occurred. “Out of the 21 markers (genes) that were measured, three of them immediately stood out as being able to predict injury. The three individual markers of interest were Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1), Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) and IL-1 Receptor Antagonist (IL1RN). Taken together, the changes seen in all three of these markers suggest that there is increased inflammation in the injured horses and that the inflammation arises from bone, just as was suspected,” Page said.“Based only on these three markers, we were able to correctly identify horses at risk for injury 76% of the time and exclude horses for being at risk 88% of the time,” Page said. “Obviously, we want to maximize those numbers as much as possible, so while there’s room for improvement, this is significantly better than any other option currently available.”One of the limitations of the study was that horses were only sampled once, so there was no ability to identify changes in individual horses over a period of time. Once horses start being sampled repeatedly on a regular basis with this testing, Page said he believes the ability to identify at-risk horses will improve dramatically.What does the future hold?“Since the ultimate hope is to develop a commercially-viable screening tool that can be used pre-race to identify horses at increased risk for injury, we anticipate adding multiple other markers with a new study that is just getting started,” Page said.As part of the new study, also funded by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Page and two Gluck Center colleagues, James MacLeod, VMD, PhD, John S. and Elizabeth A. Knight chair and director of UK Ag Equine Programs, and Ted Kalbfleisch, PhD, associate professor, plan to utilize RNA-sequencing, a relatively new technology, to expand their search to all of the approximately 22,000 protein-coding genes horses have. This will dramatically increase the likelihood that they will be able to identify additional markers for horses at risk of injury. They plan to do this by using the large number of samples that have already been collected, further leveraging their initial research and decreasing the amount of time it will take to complete their new study.“We are really excited about this new project and the promise that it holds,” Page said. “In our first study, we drove the data because we had to select which mRNA markers we wanted to examine. In our new study, the RNA-sequencing data is really what will be driving us.”While that project is ongoing, Page and his colleagues continue to refine and improve upon the various laboratory steps required to isolate and analyze mRNA. Guided by the hope of providing the racing industry with a high-throughput screening tool, the group has employed multiple robotic platforms that can already handle 100 samples per day and be easily scaled up to handle more.“As a researcher, I see it as being my job to provide practical and reliable solutions to the horse racing industry,” Page said. “I know that change can be scary, but we can all agree that something needs to change to help better protect racehorses and the jockeys who ride them. Ultimately, the racing industry will decide when it wants to give this screening tool a chance. I’m confident that, when the industry is ready, we will be too.” The full study published in the Equine Veterinary Journal can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.13423](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/517636f8e4b0cb4f8c8697ba/1619181103562-L9SRTHKK0L6C0FFYFXA2/Screenshot+2021-04-23+at+13.31.27.png)
By Holly Wiemers
University of Kentucky study shows association between mRNA biomarkers and catastrophic injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses— a positive step forward in the development of a pre-race screening tool.
Catastrophic injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses is a top-of-mind concern for the global racing industry and its fans. That sentiment is shared by researchers at the University of Kentucky and their collaborators, who are working to learn more about changes happening at a cellular level that might indicate an injury is lurking before it becomes career or life ending. Could it be possible to identify an early marker or signal in horses at risk of catastrophic injury, allowing for intervention before those injuries happen? And, if so, might this type of detection system be one that could be implemented cost effectively on a large scale?
According to Allen Page, DVM, PhD, staff scientist and veterinarian at UK’s Gluck Equine Research Center, the short answer to both questions is that it looks promising.
Allen Page
To date, attempts to identify useful biomarkers for early injury detection have been largely unsuccessful. However, the use of a different biomarker technology, which quantifies messenger RNA (mRNA), was able to identify 76% of horses at risk for a catastrophic injury. An abstract of this research was recently presented at the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ annual meeting in December 2020 and the full study published January 12 in the Equine Veterinary Journal (www.beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/20423306).
In this initial research—which looked at 21 different mRNA markers selected for their roles in encoding proteins associated with inflammation, bone repair and remodeling, tissue repair and general response to injury— three markers showed a large difference in mRNA levels between injured and non-injured horses.
For almost four years, Page and his University of Kentucky colleagues have been analyzing blood samples from almost 700 Thoroughbred racehorses. These samples, collected by participating racing jurisdictions from across the United States, have come from both catastrophically injured and non-injured horses in a quest to better understand changes that might be happening at the mRNA level and if there are any red flags which consistently differentiate horses that suffer a catastrophic injury. …
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Small but mighty - the role of antioxidants for horses in training
By Catherine Rudenko
Antioxidants are substances that slow down damage to organisms created by the presence of oxygen. The need for antioxidants is always there, in all species, increasing as exercise intensity and duration increase. Is there merit in specifically supplementing antioxidants to enhance performance?
• The nature of antioxidants
There are many forms of antioxidants naturally present within the body and supplied through the diet. One key feature of antioxidants is that they are “team players.” No one antioxidant alone can maintain the system, and some will only function in the presence of another antioxidant. The role of an antioxidant is to keep reactive oxygen species (ROS) or free-radicals created in the presence of oxygen at an optimum level. Oxygen is required for life; it is always present, but as an element, it is highly reactive and so can also have an adverse effect on the body. The reactivity of oxygen in the body produces ROS which cause damage to cellular components such as DNA, proteins and lipids of cell membranes. Some ROS also have useful cellular functions, and so the purpose of antioxidants is not to eliminate ROS altogether but to maintain a healthy balance. In general, antioxidants operate in two ways: either preventing the formation of an ROS or removing it before it can cause damage to a cell component.
• Sources of antioxidants
There are multiple sources of antioxidants including vitamins, enzymes and nutrient derivatives. Other nutrients such as minerals, whilst not having antioxidant properties, are also involved as their presence is required for the functioning of antioxidant enzymes. Two key examples are zinc and selenium.
Oxidative stress
As with many body systems, the ideal healthy balance can often go awry. When the level of ROS present overwhelms the capacity of antioxidants present, the body experiences oxidative stress. There are three main reasons for a horse in training experiencing oxidative stress:
• Increased exposure to oxidants from the environment
• An imbalance or shortage in supply of antioxidants
• Increased production of ROS within the body from
increased oxygen metabolism during exercise Oxidative stress is of concern as it can exaggerate inflammatory response and may be detrimental to the normal healing of affected tissues. Oxidative stress during strenuous exercise, such as galloping or endurance, is typically associated with muscle membrane leakage and microtrauma to the muscle. Oxidative stress is now understood to play a role in previously unexplained poor performance. …
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing and Bill Strauss, Jonathan and Leonard Green (D.J. Stable) and Mark, Stacy and Bob Krembil (Chiefswood Stables)
By Bill Heller
In this issue we profile the owners of three horses who have been major players in the key Triple Crown prep races.
Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing and Bill Strauss – Hot Rod Charlie
Five football-playing fraternity brothers seeking a way to stay connected after graduating from Brown University in Providence, R.I., did just that by connecting with two veteran Thoroughbred owners in Southern California. Now all of them are having the ride of their lives with their Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie.
“It’s astounding,” said Greg Helm, the managing partner of Roadrunner Racing, which owns 50% of Hot Rod Charlie after being convinced by bloodstock agent Dennis O’Neil to take a step away from claiming horses and take a shot with a yearling he liked. “Dennis has a good feel for the personnel groups that would fit together,” Greg said. “Thanks to him, we have a unique ownership.”
The world got a glimpse of this unique group immediately after Hot Rod Charlie won the Louisiana Derby. TVG’s Scott Hazelton was interviewing one of his owners, Bill Strauss, in the winner’s circle. Wildly enthusiastic and raspy after cheering his horse home, Bill fairly shouted, “This is what you get in the game for, to go to Kentucky on the first Saturday of May.” In the background, the brothers were jumping up and down on one another’s body as if they were, well, frat brothers playing boat racing—the beer chugging game they used to name their stable.
“We bring a youthful enthusiasm,” said Patrick O’Neil, the frat brother who is a nephew of Dennis and who bought Hot Rod Charlie as a yearling for $110,000, and his brother Doug, their trainer.
What do the frat brothers get from their elder partners? “The best thing that happened from this is you get to meet a lot of great new people along the path,” Patrick said. “We are meeting so many amazing people in the world. We are attached to Greg and Bill, who have had very impressive careers. They became mentors to us.”
Working together? “We all have the same mindset about racing, about what’s important to us,” Greg said. “All the decisions that had to be made were unanimous and simple.”
Greg, a 73-year-old retired advertising agency owner, and his wife Glenna formed Roadrunner Racing with five other couples. At their golf club, they watched Hot Rod Charlie’s coming-out party in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, when he led late before finishing second by three-quarters to still unbeaten Essential Quality at 94-1. “They said they could hear the cheering miles away,” he said. “At 94-1, we were pretty pleased.”
His golf club, which had offered a special on its menu that afternoon—the Hot Rod Charlie (a spicy, crispy chicken sandwich)—made it a permanent lunch option. “They have a picture on the menu,” Greg said proudly.
He said of the partnership with Boat Racing, “We’re a pretty lively group ourselves. When you get around the Boat Racing people, it’s hard not to get further energized. We met all of them in New Orleans. That was fantastic. We all sat together, partied together and had lunch together.”
Now he has a horse that deserves a start in a Triple Crown race. “I can almost sleep,” he laughed. “It’s tough to get to sleep.”
Maybe a few beers would help. He could ask any of the brothers—all 28 and in successful careers in California, far removed from those New England winters in college. “I was born and raised in Hawaii,” Patrick said. “Providence was a huge cultural change. I had no boots or a jacket when I went to Brown.”
At Brown, all five brothers played football. Patrick was a cornerback; Eric Armagots a safety; Dan Giovaccini, a linebacker and a senior captain; Reilly Higgins a wide receiver and Alex Quoyeser a tight end. All five joined Theta Delta Chi, where they proved themselves as normal college students by playing boat racing. “Reilly was the best at it,” Patrick said. “Now, after a long and tiring day, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying the great relationship we have over a beer or two.”
Patrick, who admitted watching TVG while he was in class, was drawn into racing by his uncles, especially after Doug won the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness with I’ll Have Another and the 2016 Derby with Nyquist. “We talk every day,” Patrick said. “My dad passed away when I was 22.”
When Patrick took his frat brothers to Santa Anita and Del Mar, they were hooked. “Doug won a couple of races, and he allowed us to go to the winner’s circle,” Patrick said. “They were like, `Wow!’”
Patrick said of their college football days, “We were very, very competitive. We missed it a lot. We got into this game as an excuse to get together. We missed the competition. Horse racing has given that to us.”
Bill, a 62-year-old native of the Bronx who was raised in New Jersey, attended Syracuse University, which allowed him to frequent Vernon Downs, a harness track a half-hour drive away. “I was a trotter guy long before I did Thoroughbreds,” he said. “I’ve always been attracted to the animals. And I love the action. It’s over in two minutes, not three hours. And you can get money back. I loved handicapping. I really loved the puzzle. Am I smart or not?”
He was smart enough to have a successful career, doing high-tech software in California. He did well enough that he helped his brother Jeffrey, now a master chef who has cooked for five Presidents, to pursue his dream. He now runs The Pamplemousse Grille. “It’s one of the highest-rated restaurants in San Diego,” Bill said. “I’m a silent partner. I write the checks. It was a pleasure writing a check so he could chase his dream.”
At the Pamplemousse Grille, Bill met a frequent diner, bloodstock agent Alex Solis II. “He was always there with friends and owners celebrating,” Bill said. “I became friends with him. I approached him about getting my first Thoroughbred, and I was with him for years.”
Bill and his wife Margie won back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprints with Mizdirection in 2012 and 2013 with trainer Mike Puype.
Now he’s chasing victory in a Triple Crown race, with a lot of partners. “It’s an amazing experience,” he said. “In the beginning, you’re alone and get excited. Then you’re with these guys all the way. We discuss what to do—the next race. Patrick recommended the Louisiana Derby. We were completely on board with that because we have so much respect for each other—mutual respect—and we care about each other. Who’d have thought at 62, you’d make lifetime friends?”
Jonathan and Leonard Green (D.J. Stable) – Helium
Jonathan Green’s priorities crystalized for him at an early age. “I was probably eight or nine years old,” he said. “Our neighbor had a $5,000 claimer. He was racing at Monmouth Park, just minutes from our home. My dad took me. The horse won. I cashed a $5 ticket, ate a hot dog and got to go to the winner’s circle.”
Hooked for life.
Fast forward to college. “I went to Lehigh because Comcast showed Philadelphia Park,” he said. “I’d set up my classes to see the races. I took night classes.”
Now, at the age of 51, he is living his dream as the general manager of his and his father’s D.J. Stable—one of the largest racing and breeding operations in the entire country with more than 100 racing stock, foals and broodmares in five states. “As a family, we’ve really enjoyed it,” Jonathan said. “You have to treat it as a business, but it’s such a thrill to win a big race or sell a big yearling and enjoy it with your family. We’ve won more than 2,400 races and over 150 stakes.”
There is one race they covet winning. They’ve had one starter in the Kentucky Derby—a horse they owned in partnership with former Duke University basketball star Bobby Hurley, Songandaprayer, who set the fastest pace in the Derby’s long history: a half-mile in :44 86 and three-quarters in 1:09.25 before tiring to finish 13th in 2001. But the race they want to win most is the Haskell at Monmouth Park July 17th. “Our Kentucky Derby is the Haskell,” Jonathan said. “We’ve always wanted to run a good horse in the Haskell. We’ve never started a horse in it. The Haskell is a million-dollar race in our backyard…. We’ve done unorthodox things before.”
If Helium were to win a Triple Crown race, that would be tough to resist. That’s what’s classified as a good problem to have. And Lenny and Johnny are good at solving problems. They both succeeded in financing. “My father is 84, and he still works 70-hour weeks and loves every minute of it,” Jonathan said. “My grandfather, Abe, lived to be in his late 90s. He said, `Your mind is a muscle, and you must exercise it daily.’
Lenny is an accountant and CPA who explored the business side of horse racing before getting involved. “He wanted to explore the tax laws to see if there was a benefit for owning horses,” Jonathan said. “He remembered something about the tax codes. He studied it for eight, nine months. Doing that was about as exciting as it sounds.”
Lenny survived and dived in. “He found an industry that he enjoyed that he wanted to be a part of—one that had tax benefits,” Jonathan continued. “He was an athlete. He was a tennis player. He loved competition. In the late 70s, he was a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets.”
The Nets, in the American Basketball Association before it merged with the National Basketball Association, had an outstanding guard named Super John Williamson, who helped the Nets wins two ABA titles. “He was the first actual star I met,” Jonathan said. “He was very gracious. We named a horse Super John.”
Jonathan & Leonard Green with jockey Joel Rosario after Jaywalk wins the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filies
Super John was not a superstar, but an allowance winner who is still racing. The Greens have had many major stakes winners and one champion, Jaywalk, as partners with Cash is King Stable. Jaywalk won the 2018 Gr1 Frizette and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly on the way to the Two-Year-Old Filly Championship.
In 1989, Jonathan went to his first sale by himself to check out the New Sire Showcase section of the Fasig-Tipton July Sale in Lexington. “I couldn’t take my eyes off a beautiful, steel gray filly across the walking ring,” he said. “She walked with a certain confidence, an aura around her, and had a long stride and peaceful walk. I spent 15 minutes watching her walk, graze and stand in the summer sun. Needless to say, I was in love.”
He got the filly, hip No. 11, a daughter of freshman sire Pancho Villa, for $23,000. “I ran back to the phone bank, made a collect call to my parents and excitedly reported the stunning news of our purchase,” he said. “I was almost 19.”
That filly, Do It With Style, broke a track record at Philadelphia Park in her first start, ran second to Meadow Star in the Comely and won the Gr1 Ashland as a three-year-old.”
Thank goodness for night classes at Lehigh. Actually, Jonathan did benefit from his college education, becoming a certified financial planner. “I started my own company and sold it,” he said. “My primary occupation is managing D.J. Stable.”
He is deeply involved in racing, regularly co-hosting the weekly Thoroughbred Daily News Writers’ Room Podcast, and is on the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association Board of Directors. He has been the guest lecturer at the University of Louisville Equine Studies Program.
Now Helium, who has made just three career starts, has them thinking about the Triple Crown races and the Haskell. When pinhooker Bo Hunt touted Helium, he told Jonathan he travels so well that his feet don’t hit the ground, that he floats over it. “I looked at the periodic table,” Jonathan said. “I wanted a name of gas to convey that, and helium was the one I picked.”
Helium had won two sprint starts on synthetic at Woodbine in his lone starts at two for trainer Mark Casse, then showed up for the mile-and-an-eighth Gr2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 6th to make both his distance and dirt debut off a 4 ½ month layoff.
Helium won the Tampa Bay Derby impressively. “It was a sensation I’ve only had a couple times,” Jonathan said. “My father called me after the race and said, `The only times I was this excited was when I got married and when your two sisters were born.’” Of course, Lenny could have told him when his three children were born. Jonathan laughed. “My father and I have formed a tremendous friendship over the horses,” Jonathan said.
The team decided not to give Helium another start before the Triple Crown series of races. “We don’t want to wear him out,” Johnathan said.
Yeah, there’s the Haskell coming up.
Mark, Stacy and Bob Krembil (Chiefswood Stables) – Weyburn
Weyburn (inside) fends off Crowded Trade to win the 2021 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct
Some people talk about doing the right thing. The Krembil family, who breeds and races as Chiefswood Stables, has been doing the right thing for humans and horses for decades from their base in Schomberg, Ontario. Along the way, they have emerged as one of Canada’s most powerful stables, winning multiple owner titles at Woodbine and receiving two consecutive Sovereign Awards as Canada’s Outstand Owner in 2018 and 2019.
Now their colt, Weyburn—named for a small town in Saskatchewan—has emerged as the early favorite for this year’s Queen’s Plate, (Woodbine on Saturday, August 22) following his extremely game victory in the Gr3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct March 6th for trainer Jimmy Jerkens.
Before his intended start in Ontario, Weyburn will likely make his next starts in the Gr3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8th and then onto the Gr1 Belmont Stakes in early June.
Bob Krembil, the 78-year-old patriarch of the family, founded a mutual-fund company and sold it in 2000. In 2001, he launched the Krembil Foundation. “It focuses on neurosciences,” his 54-year-old son Mark said. “One of my interests is biology. We’re trying to make a difference helping people solve their problems. We’re hoping to help people with Alzheimer’s.” The Foundation also deals with the immune system and arthritis.
Mark is in charge of the stable’s 125 horses with the help of general manager Rob Landy, a Hall of Fame jockey who rode the stable’s lone Queen’s Plate winner in 2004. “Rob makes the wheel go round,” Mark said. “He does the daily things. My dad really likes the breeding part of it, determining matches. I really enjoy the animal, and I’m competitive. There is nothing like winning a race. Stacy [Mark’s wife] works on after-care, and she follows up on them. My mom, Linda, keeps my dad going. She tolerates all of us, and she loves the animals. Everyone plays a role.”
The family’s fascination with Thoroughbred racing stretches back to Mark’s grandfather, Jake. “He was an avid fan,” Mark said. “My grandfather would go every day if he could have. I’d go with him and my dad to the Queen’s Plate every year. Later in life, when my father was in a position to enter the business, we started in the mid-90s. Things changed for us when we sold the business, and we started escalating this hobby, and it grew. We have a broodmare farm, a yearling farm and a 7-8ths dirt track. Our goal has been to race at the top of this game.”
They have won at the top of the game, taking their cherished Queen’s Plate with Niigon, who was ridden by Landry in 2004. Niigon’s more than $1.1 million in earnings is Chiefswood Stables’ second-leading earner. Tiz a Slam, who captured the Gr2 Nijinsky Stakes, earned over $1.26 million. Chiefswood Stables now has 344 victories and more than $20.5 million in earnings.
In a February 25, 2020 story in the Canadian Thoroughbred, Bob talked about recreating a new brand for the sport he loves: “We need to build a brand that features honesty, integrity and fair competition so that we can grow the fan base. We need to create an atmosphere where people want to bring their families and groups can be part of the horse racing lifestyle. Part of building that brand is doing a better job showing our love for horses. In a good year, Chiefswood will breed 20 babies, and we will also transition 20 of our racehorses away from the track.”
Mark’s high school sweetheart, Stacy, administers the unique and highly effective Chiefswood Aftercare Program. “I started attending the Queen’s Plate when I was 16 with Mark,” she said. “That’s our Kentucky Derby.”
Asked why having a program transitioning racehorses after their career, she made it sound simple: “They race for our pleasure. We have to take care of them.”
On its website, Chiefswood Stables tells visitors, “Chiefswood Stables is a family owned and operated Thoroughbred racing farm. Our goal is to breed quality Thoroughbred horses to compete in the classic races. It is our belief that the responsibility of care for our horses extends beyond the finish line of their last career races. It is with this belief that we have developed the Chiefswood Aftercare Program (CAP). Our goal is to find lifelong adoptive homes for our horses. We do this by trying to match the right horse with the appropriate adapter.”
What sets the Chiefswood program apart is its follow-up. For the past 10 years, it has had eight to 12 horses adopted annually. “We only had six last year because of the pandemic,” Stacy said. “About five years ago, they finally built me a barn nearby. It works well because the horses can transition slowly. We list them on FaceBook. We follow the horses for a couple of years after their adoption. Then, people voluntarily keep in touch. We get lots of pictures.”
Mark is justifiably proud of his wife’s program. “For two years, the adopted horses can’t be sold,” he said. “They’re happy, and they have a home. Stacy is a fan just like I am.”
The entire Krembil family wants to see the sport they love prosper. “From an outsider’s perspective, the industry appears fragmented with many vested interests,” Bob told Canadian Thoroughbred. “The industry players need to be open minded and work together for the betterment of racing.”
Unraced since December 5th when he won a maiden race, Weyburn fought every step of the way to win the Gotham Stakes under Trevor McCarthy three months later. After the race, Landry said, “We’ve had high hopes for Weyburn all along. We thought he was the real deal, but until they meet those kind of horses you just never know. He ran a fantastic race. He looked like he really dug in hard in the stretch when it counted. He had every reason to give up.”
In return, whether he wins the Queen’s Plate or Belmont Stakes, or never wins another race, Chiefswood won’t give up on him, making sure he—as all of the Chiefswood horses—has a good home, long after his last race.
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
A safer Santa Anita - How the Santa Anita vets & trainers made a positive difference in 2020
By Ken Snyder
Some media observers have opined that bad journalism is not just reporting inaccuracies or things made up to suit a narrative, but also what isn't reported. From the perspective of many people in the racing industry, especially in Southern California, the absence of even the slightest acknowledgment of the safety turnaround at Santa Anita in 2020 is an example of the latter.
Here are the facts with one apples-to-apples comparison of statistics between 2019—when Santa Anita suffered a horrific spate of fatalities—and last year. According to The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database, there were 13 racing fatalities on the dirt track in 2019 at Santa Anita. In 2020, there were zero racing fatalities—zip, nada, none—on the dirt track. Pick your adjective to describe that: incredible, astonishing, miraculous? The public is still waiting, by and large, on adjectives, or anything else for that matter, from the media.
Looking at all statistics, the dirt stat is no anomaly. With training fatalities, there were 17 in 2019 and 10 in 2020. Only with turf racing are the numbers close; in fact, they're even—six turf fatalities in both 2019 and 2020.
Hall of Fame Trainer Richard Mandella is perhaps charitable when he says the absence of reporting is "suspicious."
The one indisputable fact is that animal rights activists want racing shut down, he said. Why the governor and the politicians "jumped on board last year," as Mandella states it, is anybody's guess.
He speculates that a decline in marketing spending by the California racing industry—advertising in media outlets—may be at the root of not reporting the turnaround. Perhaps People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA, the principal anti-racing activist group) exert powerful political pressure (and funding to political campaigns). Maybe public perception crafted by media reporting (and "not reporting") impacts things at the ballot box far more than those in racing can imagine.
There is no question that a cluster of fatalities like those that occurred in 2019 at Santa Anita will produce an outcry from the public, and deservedly so. "We were warned that if we didn't get it straight," referring to 2019, "that they were going to 'cut our cord' and stop racing," said Mandella.
Bullet dodged. Mission accomplished. Racing continues. So, what was the story-behind-the-story of the success at Santa Anita in 2020?
Mandella expresses the principle behind the solution: "Two heads are better than one." In actuality, a training inspection program established by The Stronach Group (TSG) brought to bear not just two heads but four veterinarians led by TSG Equine Medical Director Dr. Dionne Benson.
As many as three vets hired by Santa Anita and reporting to Benson space themselves around the track every morning, watching workouts and coordinating with another vet in the barn area. They will observe all the horses but particularly those on a daily list of horses deemed at "elevated risk," as Benson terms it, who will breeze that day. A horse exhibiting lameness, whether it is on the list for close observation or another horse merely out for a gallop, will be examined by the vet serving backside duty that day once it leaves the track. Often that vet will meet a horse and exercise rider at the barn and examine the horse while still under saddle.
An on-track vet will sometimes radio an outrider to get a horse off the track immediately if it appears to be in distress. The vet will then call the trainer to alert them to a possible injury and have the barn-area vet waiting as well. On-track vets have even followed a distressed horse and rider from the track to the barn.
The program began informally in 2019 when the state shut down Santa Anita because of the fatalities. Benson came onto the Santa Anita racetrack in May 2019 and had the foresight to assign Santa Anita vets with downtime to watch training.
"Prior to that time, the responsibilities of the track and training were the track surface, making sure that it was well taken care of, setting the training hours, and providing outriders to catch loose horses. We really felt we could do a lot by adding some oversight and supervision to training.
"We really refined it as we proceeded, and it progressed to a more active role for the veterinarians."
The refinements and staffing meant an unprecedented degree of inspection and effort in terms of time and money. "When you're watching horses one day a week or one day a month, it's not the same as watching five days a week for five hours," said Benson. Santa Anita veterinarians rotate days off to make certain of training coverage daily. "You start to know the horses, and because we also do physical inspections on horses in training, we have a really good idea of which ones we're most concerned about."
Benson said her vets develop "a good sense of the horses. They'll say, 'Oh, that's so and so. He looks great today.' They not only have the ability to pick out unusual movement patterns for the horses, but they also know enough about the horses that each one has a profile in their mind."
Inspection is not a matter of random selection. A requirement for Santa Anita trainers mandates they must register any horse they intend to breeze 48 hours before that workout. A horse working Wednesday, for example, requires registration with the racing office on Monday. The office will compile expanded past performance data that includes races and workout times plus injury and vet's list history. The office passes these on—usually 70 to 80 pages—for Benson or a member of her team to review. The reviewer will apply as many as eight criteria to determine horses that may be at higher risk for injury and fatality. Things looked for include inactivity for more than 90 days, unusual work patterns, horses coming into California from another state, and, as one might expect, horses that have a history of being on the state veterinarian's list for unsoundness.
Also, a horse scratched from a race, who flipped in the gate or that finished 20 lengths behind in a race are additional things noted in reviewing past performance and history, said Dr. Jay Deluhery, a Santa Anita inspector.
Of, say, 200 horses scheduled for workouts, an average of 50 makes the "watch list" for close observation while on the track, according to Deluhery. The team will then divide and examine each horse on the following day. Vets will flex and palpate the limbs and have the horse jog in the shedrow or just outside it. "From there, they can make the decision of, 'Do I want this horse to breeze or not?'" he added.
"In some cases, we'll say, 'Yeah, this horse is good,' or we want more information about this horse. 'It's had a long layoff. Why?' Or, 'I want to talk to your vet about this horse, or you need this diagnostic before you can breeze.'"
"We maybe see a couple to five horses a week that we actually turn down for works.
"In some cases, we'll say, 'Come and jog in front of the vet on the track under tack.' Sometimes you see different information there."
If the workout registration and subsequent inspections sound extreme, it has gained acceptance by Santa Anita trainers, by and large. "I think learning is setting in that maybe mistakes were being made, and we're learning to correct them," Mandella said.
Benson estimates that since the program's inception, the team has performed 3,700 to 3,800 examinations of horses both routinely and before breezes at Santa Anita.
An unexpected result of the program beyond reduced fatalities is what Benson calls a "culture change" among the racing community at Santa Anita. "We have trainers who are more willing to go directly to diagnostics instead of saying, 'Let's see if we can medicate the horse through this problem.'"
Deluhery added, "They are seeing the value of having more MRIs [magnetic resonance imaging] and increasing PET scans [also for tissue and organ functioning], and even more nuclear scintigraphy [essentially a bone scan] on the horse."
"Some of them have taken the initiative, and we don't have to tell them; they just do it. Horses with bone scans? It's unprecedented. They're doing it on their own."
Benson added, "There are always going to be outliers, but the majority of the trainers that we have at Santa Anita, San Luis Rey and Golden Gate Fields [all California TSG facilities] really want their horses to be healthy and safe; and they don't want to be the person who has a horse that's injured."
Important to the inspection is not only the cooperation of trainers but private vets employed by trainers. Whether intended directly or not, the TSG inspection program has "instituted private vets doing exams prior to works and prior to entry," said Benson. "We've actually involved the veterinarians to do things that they had not been doing, but they're reaping the benefits.
"It's a very collegial atmosphere for the most part. I mean, no one wants to have their horse scratched. No one wants to be told, ‘Your horse has to go and have this diagnostic,’ but instead of the pushback that we might have gotten two years ago, people now are like 'Absolutely, we'll do the right thing,'" said Benson.
Deluhery believes acceptance by trainers was the key factor in the success of the program. "I expected them to either accept this or the inspection program would die," he said. "Now that they've seen the results, they're wanting to cooperate, and they're happy to show me any horse in the barn."
He believes trainers have seen the value in replacing guessing, hunches and risk-taking with "putting a little science into things" where horse health is concerned. Too, he believes they see "the economics of it on a big scale." A healthy horse will be a more productive horse with a potentially maximized racing career.
The inspection program has drawn the interest of others in racing. "I've had a few calls with different regulators, different individuals, different jurisdictions; and I think there is a desire to do it," said Benson. Currently, TSG has veterinarians watching training at all of its California tracks and is working to expand the full program elsewhere.
"It is costly. Hiring three to four vets per track to cover your days is not inexpensive, but I think it is an investment that is well worth it. The more interventions, the more eyes we have on these horses, the better we can see something before it happens."
Whether covered or ignored by those professing to be journalists, one thing is inescapable and captured by Mandella in an overview of the inspection program: "The facts are there. It's worked."
Dr. Benson and her team are, without question, pleased with the success of the inspection program and look for continuing improvement statistically. One unrecorded statistic, however, means more to them than anything: horses that, because of the workout inspections and examinations, have been retired.
She recounted just one story among many: "I had a vet come up to me and say, 'You know, there was a horse that was on the track that your vets kept flagging. They just kept saying, 'We don't like the way it moves.' I could never really see it as that lame. You guys kept at it so I finally sent the horse for a bone scan and sure enough, it had a humeral stress fracture brewing.'"
Horses with stress fractures, with time and therapy, can come back. In this case, the owners and trainer elected to retire the horse.
"Those kinds of things have certainly happened more than once, but that was one that really stuck out to me because humeral stress fractures are really hard to identify by a private vet. This guy trusted our vets," said Benson. "If they're saying there is something wrong, then there's probably something wrong. Let's do something that probably saved that horse's life."
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act: Review, analysis and concern
By Peter J. Sacopulos
For nearly a decade there has been an effort to have national legislation that governs Thoroughbred horse racing. The first major effort began in 2011, when the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 2011—an attempt to amend the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 1978—was introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM). This bill was not successful. Another effort was advanced when, in 2015, Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) and Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the Thoroughbred Horseracing Integrity Act. That same year, Representative Joe Pitt (R-PA) introduced the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (the first HISA). It too failed to pass.
Fast forward to 2020: the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act is introduced by Representatives Barr and Tonko and passes in the U.S. House of Representatives on September 29, 2020. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) then introduced corresponding legislation in the Senate that was approved.
Senator Mitch McConnell and member groups representing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act meet at Keeneland, August 2020.
On December 28, 2020, President Trump signed into law a government funding bill and COVID-relief package. Tucked away into this massive omnibus bill was the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). Since that time, there has been considerable reporting on HISA. Several issues have dominated the discussion of this new legislation. Those include the elimination of furosemide (also known as Lasix) on race day in two-year-olds and Stakes Thoroughbreds for the first three (3) years and, ultimately, in all Thoroughbreds after that.
President Donald J. Trump signs the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 which included the incorporation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, December 2020.
A second issue receiving attention is how the new federal bill that places the United States Anti-Doping Association (USADA) at the head of the recently established Horse Racing Anti-Doping and Medication Control Authority will be funded. Additionally, there has been and continues to be discussion of whether the HISA, which presently only governs Thoroughbred racing, will ultimately include both Standardbred and Quarter Horse racing, as well. However, there is a section of the HISA that is critically important to those in the Thoroughbred industry that has received limited discussion. That is Section 1209 of the HISA. For three primary reasons, Section 1209 of HISA is of particular concern for horsemen. First, it truncates the horsemen’s constitutionally protected right to due process. Second, instead of replacing the state system(s) of regulatory enforcement, the HISA creates a second system of review and enforcement for alleged medication and track safety violations that results in both additional expense and redundancy. Finally, the HISA, as presented, guarantees a multitude of constitutional challenges. Section 1209 of HISA entitled “Review of Final Decisions of the Authority” outlines the disciplinary process. Under the current systems, when a licensee elects to contest an alleged medication or safety violation, the dispute proceeds through an administrative law process followed by a judicial process. ….
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Scientific research quantifies the impact different pads have on the horse's performance
![[Headline]Scientific research quantifies the impact different pads have on the horse’s performance [Standfirst]The use of pads under the saddle has been common for years, but now scientists are using dynamic testing technology to discover how well they really work [INTRO]In everyday yard situations where multiple horses use the same saddle, putting one or more pads under has been seen as a way of providing cushioning and comfort for the horse, or even relieving pain. However, there has never been any research in racehorses to demonstrate whether this reduces saddle pressures or provides comfort. Furthermore, there is limited scientific evidence to suggest which type of pad is most effective. A recent study suggests that, depending on the material and design, using a pad beneath the saddle might not always achieve the desired pressure-relieving effect. And using multiple ineffective pads under the saddle might not only be a waste of time and money, but it could potentially cause areas of high pressures, compromising the horse’s locomotor apparatus and affecting race performance. [CROSSHEAD] Material matters[FIGURE 1] caption:Peak pressure of more than 35kPa were recorded in two of the three pads. Peak pressure of >35 kPa can cause compression of the capillaries, leading to soft tissue and follicle damage (ischemia) which, in extreme or prolonged cases, results in white hairs, muscle atrophy, skin ulcerations and discomfort. A recent published study evaluated saddle pressure distribution in sports horses using pads made from sheepskin, viscose gel and a medical-grade closed-cell foam. When using a gel pad, the peak and mean pressures increased in the front region of the saddle in trot and canter. This is possibly due to the gel’s lack of ability to dissipate shear forces compared to wool or foam. Similar findings were seen in a pilot study of thoroughbreds galloping at half speed over ground. The same dynamic testing was used (see Technology & Anatomy panel) to compare the forces and peak pressures under polyfill pads, as well as viscose gel and medical-grade closed-cell foam. From the initial trials, the overall forces recorded were significantly higher than those seen in the sports horse study. This seems reasonable, given the difference in locomotion and speed (see Speed & Force panel). Preliminary findings show the forces were 75% lower, and peak pressures were 65% lower under the medical-grade closed-cell foam pad than those recorded under the gel pad. Interestingly the polyfill pad, which deforms to the touch, reduced the forces and peak pressures by 25% and 44% respectively compared to the viscose gel pad. The role of the pad is to act as a dampening layer between the horse and the saddle, reducing pressures and absorbing the dynamic forces which occur during locomotion.Based on findings from the sports horse study, and initial findings from the racehorse study, it appears that the medical-grade closed-cell foam pad is superior in its effectiveness at acting as a pressure-reducing layer between the saddle and the horse. [CROSSHEAD] Pressure to perform Reducing saddle pressures improves gallop locomotion. Horses will still perform when asked, despite areas of high pressures induced by the saddle and pad; but they develop a compensatory locomotor strategy in an attempt to alleviate any discomfort. To increase speed, a galloping horse will either increase stride frequency or increase stride length. Both mechanisms can be used, but the horse will have a natural preference. Published pressure studies have shown that stride length is increased when saddle pressures are reduced. Now, new research is underway quantifying whether a stride frequency approach, which has higher peak forces, could be a compensatory strategy in response to discomfort caused by pressure. Forces are influenced by speed and weight and are produced when the hoof comes in contact with the ground. At racing speeds of 38 mph, the hoof hits the ground approximately 150 times a minute. Stride frequency is an important consideration because a study has suggested that horses have around 100,000 gallop strides before the soft tissues fail. Therefore, any reduction in loading cycles (number of strides) could potentially help reduce injury risk. Harder, faster, longerEvery stride impacts the horse’s joints, causing wear and tear (see Speed & Force panel), so fewer longer strides is the preference for optimum training efficiency. Although horses have a naturally imprinted option, the pressure studies demonstrate that they switch between the two in response to certain extrinsic factors, such as high saddle pressure. Our task as trainers is to optimise the horse’s locomotor efficiency by removing any impediment that might force it to adopt the shorter-stride compensatory gait. We speculate that equipment which increases pressure (such as an unsuitable design of saddle, bridle, girth or saddle pad) will be counterproductive because it may encourage an increase in stride frequency and compromise natural locomotor efficiency. [CROSSHEAD] Contouring is key[FIGURE 2] caption: A saddle pad that is shaped to follow the contours of the back is able to maintain better spinal clearance under the saddle when galloping. In both studies, the saddle pads that were designed to follow the contour of the horse’s back and withers performed better than those that were flat with no shaping. Furthermore, pads with a midline seam connecting the two sides were able to maintain traction and position, providing spinal clearance even at speed. In contrast, pads that were flat without any contouring or with no central webbing seam were observed to slip in response to the horse’s movement, drawing down against the spine under the saddle. This was seen even when the pads were pulled up into the saddle channel before setting off. Quality vs quantityIn an attempt to improve comfort, it’s standard practice to use multiple pads under an exercise saddle. However, adding more shapeless padding can lead to instability and potentially saddle slip. This feeling of instability can encourage the jockey to overtighten the girth in an attempt to keep the saddle still. One study demonstrated a relationship between increased girth tension and a reduced run-to-fatigue time on a treadmill, indicating that girth tension can affect the breathing of the galloping horse. In addition, bulk under the saddle puts a feeling of distance between the horse and rider. This compromises the close contact feel and balance all jockeys strive to achieve and hinders the lowering of the jockey’s centre of mass relative to the horse. Age concernIt’s worth noting that the ability of a material to absorb pressure can be significantly compromised with use and washing, as well as changes in climate. As some materials age, they degrade and lose any initial shock-absorbing qualities. For example, wool loses its ‘crimp’ over time and becomes less effective, so a well-used wool pad may not absorb as much pressure as a new one. The medical-grade closed-cell foam used in the saddle pad studies was developed to prevent capillary damage in bed-ridden hospital patients and the pressure relieving properties are not affected by extremes of weather or machine washing. Saddle systemIt is becoming clear that the saddle, pad and girth operate best when they are viewed as a complete system. When choosing a pad, it’s worth bearing in mind that these pressure studies were carried out under correctly fitted saddles with wide channels and ample spinal clearance. The benefits of a pressure-relieving pad are diminished by a badly fitting or poorly designed saddle with a narrow channel and limited spinal clearance. Likewise, trainers who are experiencing the performance gains associated with advances in saddle design will not reap the full benefits of a pressure-relieving saddle if the fit and effectiveness are compromised by poorly performing pads underneath. [PANEL] Speed & force [FIGURE 3] caption: The hoof exerts a force against the ground, and the ground exerts a force against the hoof, which is transferred through the muscles and tissues of the forelimb. In gallop, the forelimbs have to support two-and-a-half times the horse’s body weight with every motion cycle (stride). In each motion cycle, a fast-moving front foot interacts with the stationary ground and, as the hoof comes to an abrupt halt, the forelimb has to absorb these forces. The forces are transmitted through the soft tissues and muscles to the thoracic vertebrae in the region where the saddle and jockey are positioned. These thoracic vertebrae in front of T16 (the anticlinal vertebra) are responsible for force transmission from the forelimbs, head and neck. The horse’s back does not just have to deal with the large forces from the forelimbs (and hindlimbs) but also the dynamic forces of the jockey, which can be in excess of two-and-a-half times the jockey’s body weight. As speed increases, so do pressures beneath the saddle and pad. There’s a 5% pressure increase when the walk speed rises by 10%, and in trot it goes up to 14%. As the racehorse is travelling at a faster pace the forces involved are inevitably increased and, at gallop with the jockey ‘up in his pedals’, approximately 80% of his weight is focused on the front part of the saddle—the T10-T13 region (see Technology & Anatomy panel). If the saddle pad draws down along the spine during locomotion and creates restrictive pressure, this will interfere with muscle activation and force transmission, potentially causing the horse to adopt the compensatory short-stride gait.The horse will not only need more strides to cover the same distance, but it will also experience more forelimb loading every stride due to the increased speed of each cycle.Studies are ongoing into the long-term impact of this extra limb loading, but we speculate it will potentially result in poor performance and increased risk of injury.[END PANEL] [ PANEL] Stability in Motion[FIGURES 4a,b,c caption: The three axes of rotation]The spine rotates in three directions, providing stability, forcing transmission and generating power efficiently. Lateral bending – left to right Flexion-extension – up and down Axial rotation – rolling one side to the other For optimum locomotor efficiency, the vertebral column needs to be dynamically stable. Stability is the combination of strength and suppleness; it isn’t stiffness. The muscles in the back and neck must be strong so they can support the spine but flexible enough to allow the necessary range of movement and transmission of the dynamic forces required during locomotion.Studies have shown that when the saddle and rider are stable and symmetrical, the horse’s back can stabilise through the cranial thoracic spine at T13 (see Technology & Anatomy), allowing the efficient transfer of forces from the hindlimb.A saddle pad that is causing pressure is likely to compromise this dynamic stability. From a preliminary study, it appears that high pressures are associated with increased spinal instability. This instability is likely to cause the horse to seek a compensatory locomotor strategy and adopt a posture where the back is stiffened. Previous research has shown that back function and gallop kinematics are compromised by a stiffened spine.[END PANEL] [PANEL] Technology & Anatomy[FIGURE 5] caption: Pressure mapping and 3D motion capture are used to quantify the effects of saddle pads on performance at gallop on the track. Thanks to extensive research, scientists now have a greater understanding of the importance of the area around the 10th-13th thoracic vertebrae (T10- T13). This is the location of a high concentration of muscle activity related to posture and movement. Repeated studies have demonstrated how pressure at T10-T13 compromises the locomotor apparatus of the horse and consequently performance. Relieving pressure here affects the mechanics of the whole back, allowing the transfer of propulsive forces from the hindlimb, creating increased power and longer stride length. Testing equipmentResearch teams employ pressure mapping (using a mat with 128 sensor cells on each side of the spine) and 3D gait analysis (using Inertial measuring units) to show precisely how changes in pressure affect spinal movement. The measuring units (IMUs) quantify flexion-extension, axial rotation and lateral bending. The combination of these state-of-the-art measuring systems allows researchers to prove that relieving pressure has a direct effect on spinal kinematics. Long-term trials using pressure testing and gait analysis have demonstrated that back discomfort associated with pressure can affect the development of the horse’s posture, gallop stride and potentially long-term back health. [END BOX OUT] FURTHER READINGR Murray, Journal Equine Vet Science 2019 81 102795 K von Peinen, Vet Journal 2010 538 650-3 S Latif, Equine Vet Journal 2010, 42 630-6 R MacKechnie-Guire, Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 2020ML Peterson, Racing Surfaces white paper, http://www.racingsurfaces.org/bulletins 2012](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/517636f8e4b0cb4f8c8697ba/1619171002004-MBXCIWLV6YDQRJDIHBBU/OPENING+SHOT+%281%29.jpg)
By Dr. Russell Mackechnie-Guire
The use of pads under the saddle has been common for years, but now scientists are using dynamic
testing technology to discover how well they really work.
In everyday yard situations where multiple horses use the same saddle, putting one or more pads under the saddle has been seen as a way of providing cushioning and comfort for the horse, or even relieving pain.
However, there has never been any research in racehorses to demonstrate whether this reduces saddle pressures or provides comfort. Furthermore, there is limited scientific evidence to suggest which type of pad is most effective. A recent study suggests that, depending on the material and design, using a pad beneath the saddle might not always achieve the desired pressure-relieving effect. And using multiple ineffective pads under the saddle might not only be a waste of time and money, but it could potentially cause areas of high pressures, compromising the horse’s locomotor apparatus and affecting race performance.
MATERIAL MATTERS
Peak pressure of >35 kPa can cause compression of the capillaries, leading to soft tissue and follicle damage (ischemia) which, in extreme or prolonged cases, results in white hairs, muscle atrophy, skin ulcerations and discomfort. A recent published study evaluated saddle pressure distribution in sports horses using pads made from sheepskin, viscose gel and a medical-grade closed-cell foam. When using a gel pad, the peak and mean pressures increased in the front region of the saddle in trot and canter. This is possibly due to the gel’s lack of ability to dissipate shear forces compared to wool or foam. Similar findings were seen in a pilot study of Thoroughbreds galloping at half speed over ground. The same dynamic testing was used (see Technology & Anatomy section) to compare the forces and peak pressures under polyfill pads, as well as viscose gel and medical-grade closed-cell foam. From the initial trials, the overall forces recorded were significantly higher than those seen in the sports horse study. This seems reasonable, given the difference in locomotion and speed (see Speed & Force section). Preliminary findings show the forces were 75% lower, and peak pressures were 65% lower under the medical- grade closed-cell foam pad than those recorded under the gel pad. Interestingly the polyfill pad, which deforms to the touch, reduced the forces and peak pressures by 25% and 44% respectively compared to the viscose gel pad. The role of the pad is to act as a dampening layer between the horse and the saddle, reducing pressures and absorbing the dynamic forces which occur during locomotion. Based on findings from the sports horse study, and initial findings from the racehorse study, it appears that the medical-grade closed-cell foam pad is superior in its effectiveness at acting as a pressure-reducing layer between the saddle and the horse.
PRESSURE TO PERFORM
Reducing saddle pressures improves gallop locomotion. Horses will still perform when asked, despite areas of high pressures induced by the saddle and pad; but they develop a compensatory locomotor strategy in an attempt to alleviate any discomfort. To increase speed, a galloping horse will either increase stride frequency or increase stride length. Both mechanisms can be used, but the horse will have a natural preference. Published pressure studies have shown that stride length is increased when saddle pressures are reduced. Now, new research is underway quantifying whether a stride frequency approach, which has higher peak forces, could be a compensatory strategy in response to discomfort caused by pressure. Forces are influenced by speed and weight and are produced when the hoof comes in contact with the ground. At racing speeds of 38 mph, the hoof hits the ground approximately 150 times a minute. Stride frequency is an important consideration because a study has suggested that horses have around 100,000 gallop strides before the soft tissues fail. Therefore, any reduction in loading cycles (number of strides) could potentially help reduce injury risk.
• Harder, faster, longer
Every stride impacts the horse’s joints, causing wear and tear (see Speed & Force section), so fewer longer strides is the preference for optimum training efficiency. Although horses have a naturally imprinted option, the pressure studies demonstrate that they switch between the two in response to certain extrinsic factors, such as high saddle pressure.
Our task as trainers is to optimize the horse’s locomotor efficiency by removing any impediment that might force it to adopt the shorter-stride compensatory gait. We speculate that equipment which increases pressure (such as an unsuitable design of saddle, bridle, girth or saddle pad) will be counterproductive because it may encourage an increase in stride frequency and compromise natural locomotor efficiency.
CONTOURING IS KEY
In both studies, the saddle pads that were designed to follow the contour of the horse’s back and withers performed better than those that were flat with no shaping. …
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Roarers - surgery for recurrent laryngeal neuropathy -impact and outcomes
By Safia Barakzai
Recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN), more commonly known as “roaring”, “laryngeal paralysis” and “laryngeal hemiplegia” is a disorder affecting primarily the left recurrent laryngeal nerve in horses >15hh. This nerve supplies the muscles that open and close the left side of the larynx. The right recurrent laryngeal nerve is also now proven to be affected, but only very mildly, thus affected horses very rarely show signs of right-sided dysfunction. Horses with RLN become unable to fully open (abduct) the left side of their larynx. During exercise they then make abnormal inspiratory noise due to collapse of both the vocal fold(s) and the left arytenoid cartilage (Fig. 1), and airflow to the lungs can become severely obstructed in advanced cases. There is a proven genetic component to RLN, but in many cases the disease progresses over months or years. The age at which clinical signs become apparent is highly variable. Foals can show endoscopic and pathologic evidence of RLN, but some horses do not develop clinical disease until >10 years old. Severity of disease can be reasonably estimated using endoscopy in the resting horse (grades 1-4), but the gold standard for assessing this disease is endoscopy during exercise, when the high negative pressure—generated when breathing—test the affected laryngeal muscle, which is trying its best to resist the “suctio”’ effect of inspiration (Fig. 1).
Horse undergoing exercising endoscopy to ascertain how the left arytenoid performs when the airway is under pressure. Inset photos show resting (top) and then exercising endoscopy (bottom) of a larynx with grade D arytenoid collapse (green arrow) with additional deformation of the arytenoid cartilage shape and bilateral vocal fold collapse (red arrows).
During exercise, RLN is graded from A to D, depending on how much the left side of the larynx can open (Table 1).
• Treatment of RLN
TABLE 1: Grades A-D of laryngeal abduction during exercise. Figures c/o F. Rossignol.
Traditionally, left-sided ventriculocordectomy (“Hobday”/ ventriculectomy plus vocal-cordectomy surgery) and laryngoplasty (“tie-back”) surgeries have been used to treat the disorder, depending on which structures are collapsing and how severely. The intended use of the horse, the budget available and other concerns of the owner/trainer also come into play. New techniques of providing a new nerve supply (“re-innervating”) to the affected muscle are now being trialled in clinical cases. Pacing the muscle with an implanted electronic device has also been attempted in research cases.
• Ventriculocordectomy
Ventriculocordectomy is commonly now referred to as a “Hobday” operation; however, the “Hobday” actually only refers to removal of the blind ending sac that constitutes the laryngeal ventricle. Currently, surgeons tend to remove the vocal cord as well as the ventricle, because it is vocal cord collapse that creates the “whistling” noise. It is a relatively straightforward surgery to perform with minimal risks and complications for the patient. In the last 15 years, there has been a shift to performing it in a minimally invasive way, using a diode laser under endoscopic guidance in the standing sedated horse rather than with the conventional method, via an open laryngotomy incision on the underside of the neck with the horse under a general anesthetic. However, transendoscopic laser surgery is technically difficult with a very steep learning curve for the surgeon. All ventriculocordectomies are not equal (Fig. 2) and for both laser and ‘open surgery’ methods, incomplete resection of the fold can leave behind enough tissue to cause ongoing respiratory noise and/or airway obstruction after surgery.
Two horses after ventriculocordectomy surgery. The horse on the left has an excellent left-sided ventriculocordectomy, with complete excision of the vocal fold tissue (black arrow). The right cord is intact, but the right ventricle has been removed (‘Hobday’). The horse on the right has bilaterally incomplete vocalcordectomies, with much of the vocal fold tissue left behind (green arrows).
Sports horses, hunters and other non-racehorses were often previously recommended to have a ventriculocordectomy performed rather than a laryngoplasty, even if they had severe RLN. This decision was often made on the grounds of cost, but also due to fear of complications associated with laryngoplasty (‘tie-back’ surgery). A new study has shown that for horses with severe RLN, a unilateral ventriculocordectomy is actually extremely unlikely to eliminate abnormal noise in severely affected horses, because the left arytenoid cartilage continues to collapse.3 The authors recommended that laryngoplasty plus ventriculocordectomy is a better option than ventriculocordectomy alone for all grade C and D horses if resolution of abnormal respiratory noise and significant improvement of the cross sectional area of the larynx are the aims of surgery.3
Advancements in laryngoplasty (‘tie-back’) surgery
Laryngoplasty is indeed one of the most difficult procedures that equine surgeons perform, and suffice to say that with such an advanced surgery, using a registered specialist veterinary surgeon that has considerable experience in airway surgery will likely minimise the chances of a negative outcome. Laryngoplasty surgery has an unjustified poor reputation in my opinion, …
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Recruiting runners - the lengths racing secretaries are going to to field runners for their races
By Bill Heller
From New York to California, racing secretaries are working diligently to recruit horses, a task made significantly more difficult by the ongoing pandemic.
“Everybody is struggling to get horses,” New York Racing Association Senior Vice-President of Racing Operations Martin Panza said. “Everybody has empty stalls. Tracks that were running five days a week, now are running three or four.” Del Mar Racing Secretary David Jerkens put it this way: “It’s always a challenge. Any racing secretary in the country will tell you it’s hard to land new inventory.” Panza and Jerkens are veteran executives who have seen good times and bad.
Santa Anita’s Chris Merz began his first job as race secretary in February 2020. His timing couldn’t have been worse. “I think it was just before the pandemic,” Merz said. “You’re trying to come up with these ideas to get horses out here, and then you have the pandemic. Any plans get thrown out the window. Recruiting went out the window. You’re just trying to survive.” Thankfully, the New York Racing Association’s three tracks: Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga did survive, as did Santa Anita and Del Mar, which is the site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup. Yet the racing industry has shriveled considerably following the closing of Hollywood Park, the recent loss of Calder Raceway and, unless a miracle happens, Arlington Park.
“If tracks such as Arlington go away, if you lose a city like Chicago and take a big track out of the picture, it hurts the industry,” Panza said. “They’re not going to build new tracks to replace Calder, Hollywood, Arlington Park. It’s sad what you lose, but it’s a sign of the times. The industry is changing so quickly. What maybe worked 15 years ago might not work today.”
For smaller tracks, survival may depend on finding a niche. At Indiana Grand, Chris Polzin, who had been working at Arlington Park before moving to Indiana at the end of last October, was asked how his track competes with larger ones. “We race Monday through Thursday,” He said. “So we don’t really run against them. The big tracks gather all the attention. Who’s going to pay attention to us if we run on weekends?”
In mid-March, a month before Indiana Grand opened its 2021 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meeting, Polzin said, “Our stalls are jam packed. We have 900 stabled. I’ve got a list of 140 stalls people want and there are none.”
In mid-March, a month before Indiana Grand opened its 2021 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meeting, Polzin said, “Our stalls are jam packed. We have 900 stabled. I’ve got a list of 140 stalls people want and there are none.” Mike Anifantis, the racing secretary at Prairie Meadows in Iowa, hopes his Thoroughbred/Quarter Horse meet, which runs from April 30 to September 26, will be smoother than 2020. “This year, obviously, is a little bit easier than last year,” he said. “We didn’t know when we were opening. This year, we’ve got 15 to 18 new trainers coming in and eight or nine people who couldn’t come last year. We start out with Thoroughbreds, then mixed breeds; both run on the same card.”Asked if it’s a challenge to survive, Anifantis replied, “It’s a challenge for sure.”
Lone Star, which has both a Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meeting, relies on its neighboring tracks. “We have a good circuit,” Lone Star Assistant Race Secretary Matt Crawford, a former trainer, said. “Sam Houston runs from January to April, then we start and run through July. Remington Park runs from August through December. We primarily get 75 to 80 percent of our horses from here. We get some horses from Oaklawn Park. We get some interest from Louisiana Downs, and it’s only a three-hour drive from Turf Paradise.” Asked about his hopes for this year’s meet, Crawford said, “We hope to be okay. It might be a little light the first couple of weeks. Around the first of May, we’ll start rolling pretty good.”…
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
#Soundbites - The Jockey Club just proposed limiting a stallion to 140 breedings a year. We asked breeders, owners and bloodstock agents: Is this a good idea?
By Bill Heller
According to The Jockey Club, the number of mares bred in 2020 were down 12.5% in California, 7.6% in Florida, 5.3% in New York and 4.3% in Kentucky; while the number was up 7.0% in Pennsylvania, 3.4% in Louisiana and 3.3% in Maryland. The Jockey Club just proposed limiting a stallion to 140 breedings a year.
We asked breeders, owners and bloodstock agents: Is this a good idea or bad? If it’s bad, then what’s the alternative?
# John Harris - Harris Farms, California
I think it’s a good idea, but it’s kind of academic in California. We rarely have stallions in California who breed over 140 mares. Some are over 100, but none over 140. 140 is quite a few. We breed horses here to race. The declining mares— that’s the tip of the iceberg. The problem in California is a lot of people aren’t making a lot of money racing here, and their interest starts to wane.
# Rob Whiteley – Liberation Farm, Califon, N.J.
Rob Whiteley
I’m very happy that the Jockey Club is taking action. 140 is a lot of mares. In 2020, there were nine stallions that bred over 200 in Kentucky, averaging 232 mares. That’s 2,088 top mares going to just nine stallions. I don’t think that’s good for the mare owners or for the long-term wellness of the industry to have huge books for a number of reasons. Mares need to be bred when they’re ready to breed. Spreading them out is important so that other stallions have enough runners to be competitive in the marketplace. Finally, whatever the number, stallion owners should be transparent in the number of mares their stallions breed.
# Brent Fernung - Journeyman Stallions, Ocala, Fla.
Brent Fernung
It would be beneficial to regional breeders like me and everybody else. The industry’s changed considerably over the years. If one stallion breeds 250 mares, they’re taking out other people’s pools. I don’t know if you can legislate that. I guess we’ll find out because there are lawsuits about it.
# Ken Ramsey – Breeder and owner, Kentucky
I have mixed feelings on it. I don’t believe in a lot of government control— the government telling a man what to do—but at the same token, I do think the breed needs more diversity. …
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Alan Balch - Toast?
Those of us of a certain age vividly remember Walter Annenberg, friend of presidents, Ambassador to the Court of St. James, master of Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, and publisher of Daily Racing Form.
We tend not to remember his criminal father Moses (Moe) or the Chicago and Capone connections integral to the success of the racing wires and Form, leading to his imprisonment for evading over $20 million in U.S. taxes (in today’s currency). For those interested in the birth and ongoing life cycle of American racing, further research would be enlightening.
Suffice it to say that our sport was once highly lucrative. An oligopoly, and even monopolistic in some respects.
Tycoon Warren Buffett, now styled “The Oracle of Omaha,” long ago teased his audiences by asking them to name the nation’s most profitable newspaper, having little advertising, costing the buyer a dollar when other papers cost a dime. He started out as a teen-aged publisher of his own tip sheet, was ruled off for not sharing his proceeds with the track operator—a student of “speed” vs. “class” handicapping. Most of those at his feet had no idea that he was talking about The Morning Telegraph, which was succeeded by the Form, of course.
In the many decades since, Buffett’s investing led him far, far away from speed and concentrated on staying. He took a cue from the Annenberg son, whose Triangle Publications was founded on what Walter termed “essentiality.” Anyone seriously interested in business had to have The Wall Street Journal; in horse racing, the Daily Racing Form; in television, TV Guide. For the nation at large, two of the three were essential. Even the Form was essential, in the sense that no other sport, early on, permitted legal betting on its contests; any bet on a race, without critical information, was literally uninformed to a significant extent. In the early days, racing was undoubtedly America’s leading professional sport.
Until recently, Buffett was a major investor in newspapers, and one of his first jobs, along with that track publishing stint, was as a paperboy. Over a decade ago, he bought 28 local papers for $344 million. In 1977, he had gotten The Buffalo News for $36 million. Lately, he sold all those at a loss, although financing terms of the transactions may make him better than whole in the long run.
In a 2019 interview with Yahoo Finance, he described the evolution of newspaper publishing, along with the essential nature of local news and advertising, and how the business had changed. “It went from monopoly to franchise to competitive to ... toast.” Gulp.
That racing and its place in the gaming universe also have been dramatically changing isn’t exactly a secret, right? Or unforeseen, long before now? New York OTB was authorized in 1970. The New York Lottery had begun in 1967. Out on the island of California, its state lottery was authorized by a vote of the people in late 1984. Despite its 50% takeout, giant payoffs to the brain-dead and a very few with real luck began luring our clientele away the next year.
While we in racing haven’t exactly been asleep, maybe we’ve been dreaming ... that somehow this reality would never actually bite. And chew. That simulcasting, satellites, ADW and sports betting would see us through? And just exactly how would that work? Decades, literally, largely have been wasted. Racing’s leaders could have invested wisely in research, development, and acquisition, dedicated to competing successfully in the evolving world of gaming. There was a time when we should and could have better marshaled our financial resources for critical future orientation.
Not to mention keen, deep appreciation for our unique selling proposition in the gaming world: the horse.
The last time the North American foal crop was under 20,000, as it is now, was 1965, but then it was on an upward trend. That year, the average field size was stable at just under 9 horses per race. In 2019, it was 7.5, or a decline of 17%. Average annual starts per runner has declined from 11 in 1965, to barely over 6 in 2019, or about 45%. In California alone, 3,365 races were run in 1965; in 2018, 3,874. Make sense?
Most industries use similar objective data to guide decision making and policies. We do not. Despite our fans’ mania over the most minute data to drive betting! Is it any wonder we face the most uncertain of futures?
To make matters still worse, greater and greater numbers of the declining stock of horses are increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, leading to far less attractive betting contests for the public. Racing associations, governing bodies and horsemen’s organizations seem reluctant even to discuss, let alone act on, what the data present. For racing to have a serious chance to flourish again, stall limits on trainers must be gradually but increasingly implemented. A far broader distribution of horses among trainers is essential to growing field size and enhancing our fundamental game. The business reasons are starkly clear.
But that’s only one essential tactic in what should be a strategy based on all the intellectual capital the entire industry can assemble.
So, do I believe we’re toast? No, not necessarily ... racing will continue, survive and possibly thrive.
However, true prosperity is only ours if we remember, no matter the obstacles, the fundamental reasons for our sport’s adaption to change through the centuries. Its foundation is the majesty and attraction of horses to the vast public, and the socialization our shared affection inspires. In turn, that requires vigorous commitment to equine welfare, allegiance to the principle of breeding a better, sounder horse, and genuine, loving, sincere observance of good horsemanship.
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
BUY THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DOWNLOAD
ISSUE 60 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Mark, Stacy and Bob Krembil - Chiefswood Stables
Some people talk about doing the right thing. The Krembil family, who breeds and races as Chiefswood Stables, has been doing the right thing for humans and horses for decades from their base in Schomberg, Ontario. Along the way, they have emerged as one of Canada’s most powerful stables, winning multiple owner titles at Woodbine and receiving two consecutive Sovereign Awards as Canada’s Outstand Owner in 2018 and 2019.
Now their colt, Weyburn—named for a small town in Saskatchewan—has emerged as the early favorite for this year’s Queen’s Plate, (Woodbine on Saturday, August 22) following his extremely game victory in the Gr3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct March 6th for trainer Jimmy Jerkens.
Before his intended start in Ontario, Weyburn will likely make his next starts in the Gr3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8th and then onto the Gr1 Belmont Stakes in early June.
Bob Krembil, the 78-year-old patriarch of the family, founded a mutual-fund company and sold it in 2000. In 2001, he launched the Krembil Foundation. “It focuses on neurosciences,” his 54-year-old son Mark said. “One of my interests is biology. We’re trying to make a difference helping people solve their problems. We’re hoping to help people with Alzheimer’s.” The Foundation also deals with the immune system and arthritis.
Mark is in charge of the stable’s 125 horses with the help of general manager Rob Landy, a Hall of Fame jockey who rode the stable’s lone Queen’s Plate winner in 2004. “Rob makes the wheel go round,” Mark said. “He does the daily things. My dad really likes the breeding part of it, determining matches. I really enjoy the animal, and I’m competitive. There is nothing like winning a race. Stacy [Mark’s wife] works on after-care, and she follows up on them. My mom, Linda, keeps my dad going. She tolerates all of us, and she loves the animals. Everyone plays a role.”
Jonathan and Leonard Green - D.J. Stable
Jonathan & Leonard Green with jockey Joel Rosario after Jaywalk wins the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filies
Jonathan Green’s priorities crystalized for him at an early age. “I was probably eight or nine years old,” he said. “Our neighbor had a $5,000 claimer. He was racing at Monmouth Park, just minutes from our home. My dad took me. The horse won. I cashed a $5 ticket, ate a hot dog and got to go to the winner’s circle.”
Hooked for life.
Fast forward to college. “I went to Lehigh because Comcast showed Philadelphia Park,” he said. “I’d set up my classes to see the races. I took night classes.”
Now, at the age of 51, he is living his dream as the general manager of his and his father’s D.J. Stable—one of the largest racing and breeding operations in the entire country with more than 100 racing stock, foals and broodmares in five states. “As a family, we’ve really enjoyed it,” Jonathan said. “You have to treat it as a business, but it’s such a thrill to win a big race or sell a big yearling and enjoy it with your family. We’ve won more than 2,400 races and over 150 stakes.”
There is one race they covet winning. They’ve had one starter in the Kentucky Derby—a horse they owned in partnership with former Duke University basketball star Bobby Hurley, Songandaprayer, who set the fastest pace in the Derby’s long history: a half-mile in :44 86 and three-quarters in 1:09.25 before tiring to finish 13th in 2001. But the race they want to win most is the Haskell at Monmouth Park July 17th. “Our Kentucky Derby is the Haskell,” Jonathan said. “We’ve always wanted to run a good horse in the Haskell. We’ve never started a horse in it. The Haskell is a million-dollar race in our backyard…. We’ve done unorthodox things before.”
If Helium were to win a Triple Crown race, that would be tough to resist. That’s what’s classified as a good problem to have. And Lenny and Johnny are good at solving problems. They both succeeded in financing. “My father is 84, and he still works 70-hour weeks and loves every minute of it,” Jonathan said. “My grandfather, Abe, lived to be in his late 90s. He said, `Your mind is a muscle, and you must exercise it daily.’
Lenny is an accountant and CPA who explored the business side of horse racing before getting involved. “He wanted to explore the tax laws to see if there was a benefit for owning horses,” Jonathan said. “He remembered something about the tax codes. He studied it for eight, nine months. Doing that was about as exciting as it sounds.”
Lenny survived and dived in. “He found an industry that he enjoyed that he wanted to be a part of—one that had tax benefits,” Jonathan continued. “He was an athlete. He was a tennis player. He loved competition. In the late 70s, he was a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets.”
The Nets, in the American Basketball Association before it merged with the National Basketball Association, had an outstanding guard named Super John Williamson, who helped the Nets wins two ABA titles. “He was the first actual star I met,” Jonathan said. “He was very gracious. We named a horse Super John.”
Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing and Bill Strauss
Five football-playing fraternity brothers seeking a way to stay connected after graduating from Brown University in Providence, R.I., did just that by connecting with two veteran Thoroughbred owners in Southern California. Now all of them are having the ride of their lives with their Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie.
“It’s astounding,” said Greg Helm, the managing partner of Roadrunner Racing, which owns 50% of Hot Rod Charlie after being convinced by bloodstock agent Dennis O’Neil to take a step away from claiming horses and take a shot with a yearling he liked. “Dennis has a good feel for the personnel groups that would fit together,” Greg said. “Thanks to him, we have a unique ownership.”
The world got a glimpse of this unique group immediately after Hot Rod Charlie won the Louisiana Derby. TVG’s Scott Hazelton was interviewing one of his owners, Bill Strauss, in the winner’s circle. Wildly enthusiastic and raspy after cheering his horse home, Bill fairly shouted, “This is what you get in the game for, to go to Kentucky on the first Saturday of May.” In the background, the brothers were jumping up and down on one another’s body as if they were, well, frat brothers playing boat racing—the beer chugging game they used to name their stable.
“We bring a youthful enthusiasm,” said Patrick O’Neil, the frat brother who is a nephew of Dennis and who bought Hot Rod Charlie as a yearling for $110,000, and his brother Doug, their trainer.
What do the frat brothers get from their elder partners? “The best thing that happened from this is you get to meet a lot of great new people along the path,” Patrick said. “We are meeting so many amazing people in the world. We are attached to Greg and Bill, who have had very impressive careers. They became mentors to us.”
Working together? “We all have the same mindset about racing, about what’s important to us,” Greg said. “All the decisions that had to be made were unanimous and simple.”
Greg, a 73-year-old retired advertising agency owner, and his wife Glenna formed Roadrunner Racing with five other couples. At their golf club, they watched Hot Rod Charlie’s coming-out party in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, when he led late before finishing second by three-quarters to still unbeaten Essential Quality at 94-1. “They said they could hear the cheering miles away,” he said. “At 94-1, we were pretty pleased.”
His golf club, which had offered a special on its menu that afternoon—the Hot Rod Charlie (a spicy, crispy chicken sandwich)—made it a permanent lunch option. “They have a picture on the menu,” Greg said proudly.
He said of the partnership with Boat Racing, “We’re a pretty lively group ourselves. When you get around the Boat Racing people, it’s hard not to get further energized. We met all of them in New Orleans. That was fantastic. We all sat together, partied together and had lunch together.”
Now he has a horse that deserves a start in a Triple Crown race. “I can almost sleep,” he laughed. “It’s tough to get to sleep.”
Ron Moquett - trainer of Champion Sprinter Whitmore
By Bill Heller
Upon reaching the winner’s circle after the $2 million Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint on November 7th at Keeneland, Laura Moquett hugged her seven-year-old gelding Whitmore, telling him, “You’re a total badass.”
Talking about that moment a week later, she added, “That applies to my husband, too.”
She says that with justifiable pride in both. She is the co-owner, assistant trainer and galloper of Whitmore, who was seeking his first victory in his fourth start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
If there was an equine dictionary and you looked up the word “rogue,” Whitmore’s picture would probably be there. He is the poster horse of bad behavior.
ALL ABOUT MOQUETT
Laura’s 48-year-old husband Ron, co-owner and trainer of Whitmore, has survived three years with atypical sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease affecting the lungs. Think you were scared about COVID? Ron hasn’t missed a step training his stable of 38 horses. “This ain’t nothing,” he said. “A lot of people got through worse than I got. I get to go to the barn. I get to do my job. I was wearing a mask before it became a fad.”
There’s a third member of this Whitmore team—former jockey Greta Kuntzweiler, now Whitmore’s breeze rider and an assistant trainer. Ron calls her a hippy. Greta laughs when asked about it. “He thinks I’m a hippy because I’m a Democrat,” she said.
Together, the Moquetts and Kuntzweiler reached that remarkable Breeders’ Cup moment when Whitmore won the Sprint by 3 ¼ lengths, thanks to a perfect ride by Irad Ortiz, Jr. Whitmore had peaked as a seven-year-old in his 38th career start—a testament to Ron’s conviction that doing right by the horse allows you to maximize success. Ron defers credit to his horse. “He tells me everything,” Ron said. “Every day. He’s honest, very honest. He’s very forthcoming with information on what he needs.”
That only matters if his trainer listens. Ron has been listening to animals his entire life. At a young age, he preferred the company of animals rather than people.
His mother died when he was four-years-old. “We went from place to place for a while,” he said. “We ended up with our grandparents. I gravitated to animals—any kind of animals. I didn’t care—dogs, cats, horses, chickens. An animal will never lead you astray. An animal is very honest. For whatever reason, they respected me, and I respected them. Without cats, dogs, horses and chickens, I would need a lot of therapy. That’s what I used for therapy. It’s where I got comfort. I like people, but I’d rather be with my animals.”
He built his life with horses. “A horse never lies to you,” he said. “If he’s afraid, he shows it. If he’s hungry, he shows it.”
And if that horse is Whitmore, he’ll kick you to hell if you touch him in the wrong place. Or at the wrong time. Or just for kicks. His specialty was a double-barrel kick. Ron can live with that because Whitmore also has an incredible amount of talent.
Ron was born near Blue Ribbons Downs, a Quarter Horse track in Sallisaw, Okla. Ron pursued his interest in horses at bush tracks. “We used to go on Sundays,” he said. “They would have racing on a 400-yard strip. We’d have big-name riders come in.”
Ron couldn’t get enough. “I worked at the gate,” he said. “I would get the horses ready to run. I’d help the trainers pony horses. My friend rode—that was my first introduction. They were gambling and riding. I just wanted to be with the horses. I thought that was cool as hell. I was probably 13.”
Then came a sobering realization. “There was nobody making money doing this,” he said.
So he began supplementing his income with toughman fighting. “It was kind of like a predecessor to Ultimate Fighting,” he said. “There are three one-minute rounds with 16-ounce gloves. The winner moves on. If you win five or six, you’d get up to a money fight. I did all right from 18 to 24. I didn’t do it all the time. It got to the point where other people were getting better. It got to where I was making money with horses; I didn’t have to do it anymore.”
That happened at Oaklawn Park, where he started training. “I was 22,” Ron said. “I lived in a tack room probably the first six months. That’s no different than a lot of people today. I was nobody special.”
Ron caught a huge break, landing a job working for trainer Bernie Flint. “Bernie was the perfect guy for me,” Ron said. “He allowed me to do everything and taught me a lot about handling different situations. He was always kind to the animals. For a claiming trainer, he was very kind. He’s 6-3, 300 pounds, an ex-cop. Bernie was a natural horseman. I was with him less than two years, and he showed me so much more than if I had gone to a big operation.”
Ron was about as far removed from a big operation as possible when he started his own stable, posting only one second and one third in seven starts in 1997. “How bad do you want it?” Ron asked. “Everybody loves it when you’re doing well with a barn full of great horses. Try doing it whenever you got a barn full of other people’s cast-offs. You don’t have a lot of money to fall back on. Mike Tyson said, `Everybody’s got a plan until you get punched in the face.’”
He had been literally punched in the face when he was a toughman fighting for years. He was able to abandon his second career when his numbers improved in his first full year of training in 1998 with five victories from 82 starters and $80,354 in earnings. In 1999, he had 12 wins from 141 starts with $259,385 in money. He was on his way.
“I just wanted it too bad to not keep doing it,” Ron said. “How are you going to make it? First, you have to have a love for the animal. Second, you have to have a hatred of money, because you’re not going to get it for a long time. I’ve been doing this for 20-something years, and I finally wound up winning a couple of them. The third thing is you got to be where you don’t require sleep. If you don’t love money, and you love horses, and you don’t sleep, then you’ve got a shot at becoming a trainer. It’s so hard. The game is frustrating and so hard.”
Having a partner helps navigate the tough times, and Ron has a 24-7 partner in Laura. Raised in Lawton, a small town in Iowa, she discovered her passion for horses as a child “I had my own horses at my house,” she said. “I was 16 when I started galloping. There’s a different way to look at the world through their eyes. I speak horse. It’s like a second language. They communicate with you through their body language.”
Ron was working for Bernie Flint when Laura got a job with him. She saw a kindred spirit. “He cares about horses,” she said. “He’s not in a hurry. He cares to get to the bottom. A team aspect comes into play.”
They married. “Roughly, it was in 2014,” Laura said. “I’m guessing. We’re both terrible about the anniversary.”
Breeze rider and assistant trainer Greta Kuntzweiler with Whitmore.
They weren’t too good at weddings either. They both arrived late separately for their ceremony. “We kind of live in the moment, which is great for horses,” Laura said.
Having a talented exercise rider is great for horses, too, and they have one in Greta, who won 555 races and $12,248,599 before stopping in 2015. “My business was slowing down, and Ron asked me if I would break and gallop,” she said. “Then Laura began teaching me assistant trainer stuff. It’s a great job. I love horses. I’m happy.”
She, too, was impressed with Ron’s horsemanship. “He’s a really smart guy with a good memory,” Greta said. “He can remember a horse. When he watches training in the morning, he knows his horses and other people’s horses. It’s a huge advantage. He’s a really good horseman.
“He likes to get horses, walk them around the shed row and take them to graze, and try to get into their heads. He wants to spend time with them. I’ve seen him load difficult horses on a trailer. He knows how to ask them to do something they don’t want to do. His wife is really good at that, too. They’re great horse people that I want to be around.”
But suddenly, in the spring of 2018, there was a question if Ron could ever be around his horses. He was diagnosed with atypical sarcoidosis. “What happens is, it attacks your lungs,” Ron said. “My breathing is compromised by one lung, which is working at 40 percent. But I feel great now, between active spurts. I have to be very careful with the COVID. If somebody with my condition gets it, then it’s a big deal.”
For a while, he worked exclusively from home. Now he trains partially from home, subject to the pandemic numbers. “That takes a lot of up-to-the-minute tedious information,” he said. “I get a text from the night watchman at 4 a.m. on how everyone ate and if they’re doing all right. I get leg charts. My assistants tell me how the horses feel after racing. I get charts rating horses’ works, 1, 2 or 3. If there is a checkmark on the rider, it means there’s something I need to talk to him about.
“I’m able to go to the barn, just not be around people. I check legs. There’s nothing like hands-on. You have to have horsemen at every station with hands-on. I want a groom who knows the difference. And my exercise riders know the difference. We figured out how to get everything done.”
Asked if it gets wearing, Ron said, “It seems like I’ve been doing it forever.”
ALL ABOUT WHITMORE
Whitmore challenged him before he got sick. The son of Pleasantly Perfect out of Melody’s Spirit by Scat Daddy was bred by John Liviakis in Kentucky. Liviakis sold Whitmore to the Moquetts’ Southern Spring Stables.
ISSUE 59 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE 59 (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Safer racetracks - We look at the measures taken by The Fair Grounds and Santa Anita took action to make their main tracks safer
!["It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" so wrote Charles Dickens. For horse racing in 2020, it just wasn't where you would expect the best and worst, at least in a modern-day "Tale of Two Racetracks."To wit: Santa Anita began 2020 in the wake of a nightmare: 20 racing fatalities in 2019. The Fair Grounds in New Orleans, on the other hand, was on the cusp of two straight Januarys without a racetrack fatality. If you don't know the rest, you can probably guess what happened, 2020 being 2020: Santa Anita embarked on a record year in 2020 with zero fatalities on the dirt track and one less fatality in turf races than in 2019 [see sidebar]. Meanwhile, at the Fair Grounds—long known as having one of the best surfaces in America—six racetrack fatalities occurred in January, a number more than double the average for this month. Instantly, media attention focused on the Fair Grounds, interest made more acute, perhaps, by the highly publicized spate of fatalities at Santa Anita.Overlooked by a large portion of the media (perhaps conveniently, some would say) is the anomaly that January 2020 represented, not just for the Fair Grounds but also for Thoroughbred racing in America. In terms of catastrophic injury rate, the sport enjoyed the smallest rate of fatalities per 1,000 starts—1.53—in 2019. The Jockey Club created an Equine Injury Database (EID) in 2009, recording statistics and specifically compiling data from 14 leading tracks (including Santa Anita). In that first year, fatalities were 2.0 per 1,000 starts—the highest in the span of the 11-year-old EID. So what happened at the Fair Grounds? Dr. Michael "Mick" Peterson, executive director of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, led a team of track management and, perhaps more critical, trainers with horses at the Fair Grounds to examine and analyze the track surface, particularly maintenance practices. Fatalities are multifactorial, and the intent was to address potential issues with the track surface. According to Peterson, unexpected and unpredicted rainfall during training hours occurred in January. Making matters worse, the rain—while amounting to maybe a half to three-quarters of an inch—fell for 45 minutes to an hour. Harrowed before training, the track surface was "open," as Peterson termed it, enabling water to penetrate the surface rather than run off. The result was a surface possibly over-saturated and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities during races in the afternoon. Closing the door to this possibility meant closing the track if rain was expected or did fall during training and sealing or "floating it," which produces a flat surface for water to run off into the infield. If that sounds simple, it isn't. There are dozens of trainers with stalls full of horses each needing track time, either for leg-stretching gallops or, more importantly, workouts timed out a certain number of days before an upcoming race. Racehorses are athletes who absolutely have to get out of their stalls, and there are no days off. Weather can’t be a deterrent; they run in the rain, and they train in the rain. Stopping training to float and seal a racetrack—something commonly done between afternoon races—is uncommon during training hours and disruptive to trainers’ schedules. Simply put, trainers lose a hunk of training time if the track superintendent floats the surface during workout hours in the morning. Here is where, according to Peterson, the Fair Grounds achieved real success. A group of trainers met with Fair Grounds track manager Jason Boulet, track superintendent Pedro Zavala, and Peterson and basically said, "We're going to have to do that then," referring to track closure during training for surface sealing.For Peterson, Boulet and especially Zavala, this response from trainers with entries, races slated, and owners to whom they are accountable was as jaw-dropping as Santa Anita's zero dirt-track fatality statistic in 2020."It really was one of those perfect moments in interaction between track management and superintendent and trainers," said Peterson, who added, "It's hard to get up in the morning and not know which horses you can train. I was thoroughly impressed with the willingness of trainers to do that." Their only request was as much of a heads-up as possible to trainers if weather radar indicated rain looked likely. Track closure during training for floating was an option left on the table. It was part of “give and take,” as Peterson termed it, to enable trainers to send out horses needing a workout for an upcoming race ahead of a wet track. "If I'm a trainer, I know that I might lose the second half of training because they're going to shut it down and run the floats. Then I can train whatever horses I know I need to get out there in the first set."This is where the industry needs to go—the communication, being reasonable, recognizing the need for give and take at times."The cooperation of trainers at the Fair Grounds should not have been a surprise, given the history at the track. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 provides an anecdote that is very telling about the input of trainers into track conditions and management at this third oldest American racetrack.Katrina flooded the Fair Grounds and washed away the track surface. What replaced it was not nearly as good as pre-Katrina, according to regular Fair Grounds trainers. A group of them, principal among them Al Stall, provided a simple observation: "It was better with the darker sand," said Stall at the time, referring to reddish sand in the pre-Katrina surface.Peterson remembered Boulet calling him to report that trainers were convinced darker spillway sand from the nearby Mississippi River would bring the track back to what it was. "Jason said, 'I think they're crazy. I don't think the color matters,'" recalled Peterson with a laugh. "I said, ‘Jason what they are actually identifying is the little bit of iron oxide in the sand. It's hydrophilic and not hydrophobic, and you know what? I bet they're exactly right.’"In lay terms, hydrophilic means moisture-absorbing and not moisture-resistant (hydrophobic). Stall not only knew what the post-Katrina surface needed but where to find it. The New Orleans native drove Peterson and Boulet to different sand pits in the area, collecting samples of red sand. Peterson took it from there with something called X-ray diffraction testing to identify which source would be best.Sand, however, is far from the only reason for a Fair Grounds surface that was, arguably, the best and safest in America before last January. It is one part of many measures, initiatives and improvements implemented since the "Al Stall tour." And in what may be a shock to many in the media and public, those same measures are in place at other major U.S. racetracks. All account for the continuing decline in racetrack fatalities as recorded by The Jockey Club.The origin of the efforts was a safety initiative launched by Churchill Downs Incorporated in the wake of the breakdowns of Barbaro (2006) and then Eight Belles (2008) in Triple Crown races, according to Peterson. The initiative led to protocols for testing surface samples. At the Fair Grounds each year, testing takes place six weeks before the racing meet starts on Thanksgiving Day—the traditional opening day. "If the composition isn't right, by then we already have the material on-site to match target standards. Then what happens a few weeks before the race meet is we come in with ground-penetrating radar—the biomechanical surface tester—and go through every piece of equipment and test," said Peterson, who doubles as a professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering at the University of Kentucky. If the depth, literally and figuratively, of surface preparation and management is a surprise, a bigger one might be that 13 other leading tracks in America—again, including Santa Anita--perform the same testing to certify optimum track-surface composition. Separate from composition testing before a race meet is daily implementation of a Maintenance Quality System (MQS) with a breadth that is mind boggling. The Fair Grounds’ Zavala, as well as superintendents at the 13 other tracks, chart training times of all horses by workout length, make daily surface-depth or "cushion" measurements at as many as 16 different places on the racetrack and take moisture readings at 18 different spots. Data required in the MQS even calls for logging the speed of the tractors pulling harrows over the track and the direction they travel. The latest addition to the MQS arsenal for Peterson and racing is a new type of weather station that debuted at Keeneland during the fall meet and Breeders' Cup. It supplements daily reports summarizing data from the previous 24 hours of weather with improved real-time data. The objective is to counteract the effects of rapidly changing weather conditions like that experienced at the Fair Grounds last January. The benefits go beyond morning training with updates at, "say, the third race of a race day to enable adjustment for the fifth race by surface crews," said Peterson.The coronavirus, Peterson said, was a barrier to the expansion of MQS to new tracks but not expansion within racetracks already on board with the system. The new weather station is but one example. There is also a new integrated track tester that measures everything from all-important moisture content to something called dielectric constant. It provides improved real-time data to track superintendents on conditions at their specific track through a GPS.Can racing, through track surface improvements, continue to reduce catastrophic racetrack injuries beyond the 16% reduction over the last decade? Peterson is hopeful. "The endpoint I see on this is having in place a process for what they call in manufacturing continuous improvement where we don't just quit when we get a little better."The latest recorded racing fatality rate, again, represents the "best of times." With lessons learned at the Fair Grounds, protocols in the MQS and technology improvements in testing, there is potential that the best can become even better.[SIDEBAR"]A December 16, 2020, story in the Los Angeles Times attributed a reduction in the fatality statistics at Santa Anita Park in 2020 to a "combination of enhanced safety protocols and less racing because of shutdowns caused by the coronavirus.” The story added that "nearby fires could be considered factors [and track closures as a result] in cutting the death count by more than half."Here are the facts: 20 racing fatalities occurred at Santa Anita in 2019—13 on the dirt track and seven on the turf tracks--in 6,650 starts. In 2020, which saw 5,050 starters go to the post at Santa Anita, there were no fatalities on the dirt track and six on the turf surfaces. Averaging race fatalities for the number of starts per 1,000 starters, Santa Anita averaged .12 racing fatalities in 2020 and 3.01 in 2019. Averaging removes track closures due to COVID-19 and fires as criteria for the decrease. Also, the "death count" was reduced not by "more than half" but by almost two-thirds in racing fatalities in 2020 as compared to 2019. The numbers are conclusive: Safety protocols—and safety protocols alone—account for the reduction.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/517636f8e4b0cb4f8c8697ba/1614168160216-ZKX0BETIBU8P7PBBVWUG/Grandstand_morning.jpg)
By Ken Snyder
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" so wrote Charles Dickens. For horse racing in 2020, it just wasn't where you would expect the best and worst, at least in a modern-day "Tale of Two Racetracks."
To wit: Santa Anita began 2020 in the wake of a nightmare: 20 racing fatalities in 2019. The Fair Grounds in New Orleans, on the other hand, was on the cusp of two straight Januarys without a racetrack fatality. If you don't know the rest, you can probably guess what happened, 2020 being 2020: Santa Anita embarked on a record year in 2020 with zero fatalities on the dirt track and one less fatality in turf races than in 2019 [see sidebar]. Meanwhile, at the Fair Grounds—long known as having one of the best surfaces in America—six racetrack fatalities occurred in January, a number more than double the average for this month.
Instantly, media attention focused on the Fair Grounds, interest made more acute, perhaps, by the highly publicized spate of fatalities at Santa Anita.
Overlooked by a large portion of the media (perhaps conveniently, some would say) is the anomaly that January 2020 represented, not just for the Fair Grounds but also for Thoroughbred racing in America. In terms of catastrophic injury rate, the sport enjoyed the smallest rate of fatalities per 1,000 starts—1.53—in 2019.
Sealing or floating a track produces a flat surface for water to run off.
The Jockey Club created an Equine Injury Database (EID) in 2009, recording statistics and specifically compiling data from 14 leading tracks (including Santa Anita). In that first year, fatalities were 2.0 per 1,000 starts—the highest in the span of the 11-year-old EID.
So what happened at the Fair Grounds?
A harrowed track surface enables water to penetrate the surface rather than run off, causing over-saturation and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities.
Dr. Michael "Mick" Peterson, executive director of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, led a team of track management and, perhaps more critical, trainers with horses at the Fair Grounds to examine and analyze the track surface, particularly maintenance practices. Fatalities are multifactorial, and the intent was to address potential issues with the track surface. According to Peterson, unexpected and unpredicted rainfall during training hours occurred in January. Making matters worse, the rain—while amounting to maybe a half to three-quarters of an inch—fell for 45 minutes to an hour.
Harrowed before training, the track surface was "open," as Peterson termed it, enabling water to penetrate the surface rather than run off.
The result was a surface possibly over-saturated and potentially ripe for injuries and fatalities during races in the afternoon. Closing the door to this possibility meant closing the track if rain was expected or did fall during training and sealing or "floating it," which produces a flat surface for water to run off into the infield.
If that sounds simple, it isn't. There are dozens of trainers with stalls full of horses each needing track time, either for leg-stretching gallops or, more importantly, workouts timed out a certain number of days before an upcoming race. Racehorses are athletes who absolutely have to get out of their stalls, and there are no days off. Weather can’t be a deterrent; they run in the rain, and they train in the rain. Stopping training to float and seal a racetrack—something commonly done between afternoon races—is uncommon during training hours and disruptive to trainers’ schedules. Simply put, trainers lose a hunk of training time if the track superintendent floats the surface during workout hours in the morning.
Fair Grounds track superintendent Pedro Zavala uses a soil moisture meter to measure moisture content at different areas of the track surface.
Here is where, according to Peterson, the Fair Grounds achieved real success. A group of trainers met with Fair Grounds track manager Jason Boulet, track superintendent Pedro Zavala, and Peterson and basically said, "We're going to have to do that then," referring to track closure during training for surface sealing.
For Peterson, Boulet and especially Zavala, this response from trainers with entries, races slated, and owners to whom they are accountable was as jaw-dropping as Santa Anita's zero dirt-track fatality statistic in 2020.
"It really was one of those perfect moments in interaction between track management and superintendent and trainers," said Peterson, who added, "It's hard to get up in the morning and not know which horses you can train. I was thoroughly impressed with the willingness of trainers to do that."
Their only request was as much of a heads-up as possible to trainers if weather radar indicated rain looked likely. Track closure during training for floating was an option left on the table. It was part of “give and take,” as Peterson termed it, to enable trainers to send out horses needing a workout for an upcoming race ahead of a wet track.
"If I'm a trainer, I know that I might lose the second half of training because they're going to shut it down and run the floats. Then I can train whatever horses I know I need to get out there in the first set.
"This is where the industry needs to go—the communication, being reasonable, recognizing the need for give and take at times."
The cooperation of trainers at the Fair Grounds should not have been a surprise, given the history at the track. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 provides an anecdote that is very telling about the input of trainers into track conditions and management at this third oldest American racetrack.
Katrina flooded the Fair Grounds and washed away the track surface. What replaced it was not nearly as good as pre-Katrina, according to regular Fair Grounds trainers. A group of them, principal among them Al Stall, provided a simple observation: "It was better with the darker sand," said Stall at the time, referring to reddish sand in the pre-Katrina surface.
Peterson remembered Boulet calling him to report that trainers were convinced darker spillway sand from the nearby Mississippi River would bring the track back to what it was. "Jason said, 'I think they're crazy. I don't think the color matters,'" recalled Peterson with a laugh. "I said, ‘Jason what they are actually identifying is the little bit of iron oxide in the sand. It's hydrophilic and not hydrophobic, and you know what? I bet they're exactly right.’" …
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
ISSUE 59 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE 59 (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
Remembering Sunday Silence -30 years since he first entered the breeding shed. We look at the lasting legacy he has left on the racing world.
![For over a quarter of a century, there has been an air of inevitability within Japanese racing circles.Sunday Silence dominated the sire standings in Japan for 13 straight years from 1995 to 2007—his last championship arriving five years after his death. He was a true game changer for the Japanese industry, not only as a brilliant source of elite talent but as a key to the development of Japan as a respected racing nation. Any idea that his influence would abate in the years following his death was swiftly quashed by an array of successful sire sons and productive daughters. In his place, Deep Impact rose to become a titan of the domestic industry. Others such as Heart’s Cry, Stay Gold, Agnes Tachyon, Gold Allure and Daiwa Major also became significant sires in their own right. Added to that, Sunday Silence is also a multiple champion broodmare sire and credited as the damsire of 202 stakes winners and 17 champions.“Thoroughbreds can be bought or sold,” says Teruya Yoshida of Shadai Farm, which bought Sunday Silence out of America in late 1990 and cultivated him into a global force. “As Nasrullah sired Bold Ruler, who changed the world’s breeding capital from Europe to the U.S., one stallion can change the world. Sunday Silence is exactly such a stallion for the Japanese Thoroughbred industry.”Sunday Silence has been dead close to 20 years, yet the Japanese sires’ table remains an ode to his influence. In 2020, Deep Impact landed his ninth straight sires’ championship with Heart’s Cry and Stay Gold’s son Orfevre in third and fourth. Seven of the top 12 finishers were sons or grandsons of Sunday Silence. Another descendant, Deep Impact’s son Kizuna, was the nation’s leading second-crop sire. Deep Impact himself was the year’s top sire of two-year-olds.Against that, it is estimated that up to approximately 70% of the Japanese broodmare population possess Sunday Silence in their background. All the while, his influence remains on an upswing worldwide, notably via the respect held for Deep Impact. A horse who ably built on the international momentum set by Sunday Silence, his own sire sons today range from the European Classic winners Study Of Man and Saxon Warrior—who are based in Britain and Ireland—to a deep domestic bench headed by the proven sires Kizuna, Mikki Isle and Real Impact.In short, the Thoroughbred owes a lot to Sunday Silence.Inauspicious beginningsRoll back to 1988, however, and the mere idea of Sunday Silence as one of the great fathers of the breed would have been laughable.For starters, he almost died twice before he had even entered training.The colt was bred by Oak Cliff Thoroughbreds Ltd in Kentucky with appealing credentials as a son of Halo, then in his early seasons at Arthur Hancock’s Stone Farm.Halo had shifted to Kentucky in 1984 as a middle-aged stallion with a colourful existence already behind him. By Hail To Reason and closely related to Northern Dancer, Halo had been trained by Mack Miller to win the 1974 Gr1 United Nations Handicap.It was those bloodlines and latent talent that prompted film producer Irving Allen to offer owner Charles Englehard a bid of $600,000 for the horse midway through his career. Allen’s idea was to install Halo in England at his Derisley Wood Stud in Newmarket; and his bid was accepted only for it to be revealed that his new acquisition was a crib-biter. As such, the deal fell through, and Halo was returned to training, with that Gr1 triumph as due reward.Would Halo have thrived in England? It’s an interesting question. As it was, he retired to E. P. Taylor Windfields Farm in Maryland, threw champion Glorious Song in his first crop, Kentucky Derby winner Sunny’s Halo in his third and Devil’s Bag—a brilliant two-year-old of 1983—in his fourth. Devil’s Bag’s exploits were instrumental in Halo ending the year as North America’s champion sire, and within months, the stallion was ensconced at Stone Farm, having been sold in a deal that reportedly valued the 15-year-old at $36 million. Chief among the new ownership was Texas oilman Tom Tatham of Oak Cliff Thoroughbreds.In 1985, Tatham sent the hard-knocking Wishing Well, a Gr2-winning daughter of Understanding, to the stallion. The result was a near black colt born at Stone Farm on March 26, 1986.It is part of racing’s folklore how Sunday Silence failed to capture the imagination as a young horse—something that is today vividly recalled by Hancock.“My first recollection of him was as a young foal,” he recalls. “He was grey back then—he would later turn black. “I was driving through the farm and I looked into one of the fields and saw this grey colt running. The others were either nursing or sleeping, but there was this colt running and jumping through the mares. "We had a number of foals on the place at the time, and I wasn’t sure which one it was, so I rang Chester Williams, our broodmare manager. I said, ‘Hey Chester, who is this gray foal in 17?’ And he told me it was the Wishing Well colt. He was flying—he would turn at 45 degree angles and cut in and out of the mares. And I remember thinking even then, ‘well he can sure fly.’“Then on Thanksgiving Day later that year, he got this serious diarrhea. We had about 70 foals on the farm, and he was the only one that got it; we had no idea where he got it from. Anyway, it was very bad. I called our vet, Carl Morrison, and between 9 a.m. and midday, we must have given him 23 liters of fluids. “We really thought he was going to die, but Sunday Silence just wouldn’t give up. Obviously it set him back some; he was ribby for a few weeks. But I have never seen anything like it in a foal during 50 years at Stone Farm, and at Claiborne before then; and I remember thinking then that it was a spooky thing for him to get it and then to fight through it the way he did.”As Hancock outlines, Sunday Silence was very much Halo’s son—not just as a black colt with a thin white facial strip but as a tough animal with a streak of fire.Halo had arrived from Maryland with a muzzle and a warning. Confident that a muzzle was an overreaction, Stone Farm’s stallion men worked initially without it, albeit against Hancock’s advice. It wasn’t long until the muzzle went back on.Not long after his arrival, Halo ‘grabbed the stallion man Randy Mitchell in the stomach and threw him in the air like a rag doll.’“Halo then got on his knees on top of Randy,” recalls Hancock, “and began munching on his stomach. Virgil Jones, who was with Randy, starts yelling at Halo and hitting him with his fist. Halo let go, and they managed to get him off. “After that, the muzzle stayed on.”Sunday Silence possessed a similar toughness. Indeed, that mental hardiness is a trait that continues to manifest itself in the line today, although not quite to the danger level of Halo.“Sunday Silence had a lot of guts and courage, even then,” remembers Hancock. “I remember being down at the yearling barn before the sale and hearing this yell. It was from one of the yearling guys, Harvey. Sunday Silence had bitten him in the back—I’d never had a yearling do it before then and haven’t had one since.”He adds: “When he came back here after his racing days, we had a photographer come to take some shots of him. Sunday Silence was in his paddock, and we were trying to get him to raise his head. I went in there and shook a branch to get his attention. Well, he looked up, bared his teeth and started to come after me—he was moving at me, head down like a cat. And I said, ‘No you’re ok there boy; you just continue to graze’ and let him be.“He was Halo’s son, that’s for sure, because Wishing Well was a nice mare. Sunday Silence had a mind of his own, even as a yearling. I remember we couldn’t get him to walk well at the sales because he’d pull back against the bit all the time.”It was that mental toughness and the memory of Sunday Silence flying through the fields as a young foal that remained with Hancock when the colt headed to the Keeneland July Sale. Then an individual with suspect hocks—a trait that still sometimes manifests itself in his descendants today—he was bought back on a bid of $17,000.“I thought he’d bring between $30,000 and $50,000,” he says. “So when it was sitting at $10,000, I started bidding and bought him back at $17,000. I took the ticket to Tom Tatham out the back of the pavilion and said, ‘Here Tom, he was too cheap; I bought him back.’ And Tom said, ‘But Ted Keefer [Oak Cliff advisor] didn’t like him and we don’t want him.’ “I remember we had another one that was about to sell, so I just said, ‘Ok Tom,’ put the ticket in my shirt pocket, walked away and thought, ‘Well I just blew another $17,000.’ Another scrape with deathHancock then tried his luck at the two-year-old sales in partnership with Paul Sullivan. The colt was sent to Albert Yank in California and cataloged to the Californian March Two-Year-Old Sale at Hollywood Park, again failed to sell—this time falling to World Wide Bloodstock (aka Hancock)—on a bid of $32,000, well below his owner’s valuation of $50,000.“I told Paul and he said, ‘Well I’ll take my $16,000 then,’” recalls Hancock.So the colt was loaded up for a return trip to Kentucky. Then more ill luck intervened. The driver suffered a fatal heart attack while on a north Texas highway, and the van crashed, killing several of its load. Sunday Silence survived but was injured.“Sunday Silence was in the vets for about a week,” says Hancock. “He could hardly walk, and then Carl Morrison rings me and says, ‘Arthur, I think he’s a wobbler.’ I said, ‘What are you going to do?’ He said that all he could do was leave him in a paddock and see what happened. “So he left him out there, and about a week later, he rings me and says, ‘You need to come to barn 16 and see this Wishing Well colt.’ It was unbelievable. I went down there, and there he was, ripping and running around just like he was a foal. It was a miracle—a spooky thing.”Therefore Sunday Silence had already lived a pretty full life by the time he joined Charlie Whittingham in California. A true master of his profession, Whittingham handled over 250 stakes winners during his 49 years as a trainer, among them such champions as Ack Ack, Ferdinand and Cougar alongside the European imports Dahlia and Exceller. Appropriately, Cougar would go on to stand at Stone Farm, where he sired Hancock’s 1982 Kentucky Derby winner Gato Del Sol.“Charlie Whittingham had seen Sunday Silence in California and rang me to ask about him,” says Hancock. “I told him I’d sell him half to $25,000. And he said, ‘But you bought him back for $32,000.’ Well the year before, we’d had Risen Star [subsequent winner of the Preakness and Belmont Stakes] go through Keeneland for $250,000. Charlie had asked about taking half of him, but we had wanted $300,000, so said, ‘Sure you can buy half for $150,000.’ And he had declined. “I reminded him of that, and he chuckled and said, ‘Well I’d better take it this time.’”He adds: “Charlie was a brilliant horseman with a lot of experience. He was very smart. He had a sixth sense about horses. And he had great patience, like those great trainers do. Without Charlie, I don’t think Sunday Silence would have reached the level that he did. He just took his time with him.” Whittingham paid Hancock $25,000 for a half share in the colt and later sold half of that share to a friend, surgeon Ernest Galliard.Within no time, that looked a good bit of business. It is a fine reflection of the trainer and his staff, in particular work rider Pam Mabes, that Sunday Silence’s temperament was successfully honed. In Jay Hovdey’s biography of the trainer, the colt is likened to ‘Al Capone singing with the Vienna Boys Choir’—his morning exercise routinely punctuated by bad behavior.“They’d take him out every day before dawn,” recalls Hancock. “I remember he had a thing about gray lead horses. Every time he saw one, he’d just go after it. “Charlie called me one morning—4 a.m. his time; he’d always get to the barn at 4 a.m. I answered, thinking, What’s he doing calling me at this time? I said, ‘Hey Charlie, what you doing?’ He said, ‘Just waiting on the hill.’ I knew he had something on his mind. Then he said, ‘You know what, this big black son of a bitch can run a little’—Charlie was a master of the understatement.’” Brought along steadily by Whittingham, Sunday Silence romped to a 10-length win second time out at Hollywood Park in November 1988 and after running second in an allowance race, returned at three to win his first two races, an allowance and the San Felipe Handicap.While he was emerging as a potential Classic candidate on the West Coast, Ogden Phipps’ homebred Easy Goer was laying down the gauntlet in New York. A handsome red son of Alydar with regal Phipps bloodlines trained by Shug McGaughey, Easy Goer was evoking comparisons with Secretariat, capturing Gr1 Cowdin and Champagne Stakes at two before running out the 13-length winner of the Gotham Stakes in a record time early on at three. To many observers, he appealed as the likely winner of the Kentucky Derby, if not the Triple Crown.Indeed, theirs would become an East-West rivalry that would enthral racegoers during the 1989 season.The pair met for the first time in the Kentucky Derby. Sunday Silence, partnered by Pat Valenzuela, was fresh off an 11-length win in the Santa Anita Derby. Easy Goer, though, had won the Wood Memorial in impressive style and was therefore the crowd’s choice.Yet on a muddy track, Sunday Silence had the upper hand, winning with authority over an uncomfortable Easy Goer in second.“Of all his races, the Kentucky Derby stands out,” says Hancock. “We’d been fortunate enough to win it with Gato Del Sol and I’m a Kentuckian, so to win it again meant a lot.“It was an extremely cold day, it was spitting snow, and Sunday Silence was weaving all the way down the stretch. Yet he still won.” With many feeling that the track had not played to Easy Goer’s strengths, he was fancied to turn the tables in the Preakness Stakes. However, once again, Sunday Silence emerged as the superior, albeit following an iconic, eye-balling stretch duel.Easy Goer did gain his revenge in the Belmont Stakes, making the most of the 1m4f distance and Belmont Park’s sweeping turns to win by eight lengths. The Triple Crown was gone, but Sunday Silence would later turn the tables in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, where his ability to deploy tactical speed at a crucial moment turned out to be a winning move against his longer-striding rival.“The Breeders’ Cup just sealed everything—champion three-year-old and Horse of the Year,” says Hancock. “It was the great showdown. Chris McCarron was able to use him at just the right time and Easy Goer, with that long stride of his, was closing. It was a great race.”Crowned Horse of the Year, Sunday Silence underwent arthroscopic knee surgery which delayed his four-year-old return to June, when he won the Californian Stakes. A head second to Criminal Type in the Hollywood Gold Cup next time out brought the career down on a spectacular one.No takersPlans called for Sunday Silence to join his sire Halo at Stone Farm. A wonderful racehorse who danced every dance, there were grounds for thinking that Sunday Silence would be an asset to the Kentucky bloodstock landscape. But breeding racehorses even then also adhered to commercial restrictions, and as a cheap yearling with suspect hocks and an underwhelming female line, he did little to spark interest. This was in contrast to Easy Goer, who retired to much fanfare at Claiborne Farm.“We tried to syndicate him and called people everywhere—Kentucky, England, France, and the answer was always the same,” says Hancock. “It became apparent very quickly that people wouldn’t use him.“It was spread around the industry that he was a fluke, another Seabiscuit or Citation who could run but that would be no good at stud. It was said that he was crooked, which he wasn’t, and that he was sickled hocked, which he was as a young horse but grew out of. He was an ugly duckling that grew into a swan.“We had three people on the books to take shares and two that would send mares. Then I spoke to my brother Seth at Claiborne, and he had 40 contracts to send out for Easy Goer. “At the same time, Ronald Reagan changed the tax laws, and land suddenly became worth a lot less, as did shares in horses.”The Yoshidas had already bought into the horse and suddenly, Hancock was left with little choice.“At the same time, I got a call from a representative of Teruya Yoshida saying that Shadai would be interested in buying the whole horse,” he says. “They were offering $250,000 per share. I talked to a number of people about it—Bill Young at Overbrook Farm, Warner Jones, and they all said the same thing: that it was a no-brainer to sell. “At the end of the day, I had two contracts and three shares sold. I owed money. I had to sell.“The day he left, I loaded him up myself; and I don’t mind admitting that when that van went down the drive, I cried.”He adds: “Basically, the Japanese outsmarted everybody.” An immediate successOut of a first crop of 67 foals, Sunday Silence sired 53 winners. A total of 22 of 36 starters won at two, led by champion two-year-old Fuji Kiseki, whose success in the Gr1 Asahi Hai Futurity set the scene for events to come.A tendon injury restricted Fuji Kiseki to just one further start when successful in a Gr2 the following year. Yet that failed to stop the Sunday Silence juggernaut. Genuine and Tayasu Tsuyoshi ran first and second in the Japanese 2,000 Guineas and later dominated the Japanese Derby, with Tayasu Tsuyoshi turning the tables. Dance Partner also landed the Japanese Oaks. As such, Sunday Silence ended 1997 as Japan’s champion sire despite the presence of only two crops.That first crop would also come to include Marvelous Sunday, who led home a one-two for his sire in the 1997 Gr1 Takarazuka Kinen. In no time at all, Sunday Silence had sealed his place as a successor to earlier Shadai heavyweight Northern Taste.“I believe Sunday Silence was a stallion that possessed the potential to be very successful anywhere in the world,” reflects Teruya Yoshida. “We were just lucky to be able to introduce him to Japan as a stallion. “He changed the Japanese breeding industry completely, especially as he sired successful sons as race horses and stallions. Those sons have again sired successful grandsons.“It is extraordinary that one stallion had continued to produce good quality stallions over three generations. Today, it is said that approximately 60-70% of the Japanese broodmares have Sunday Silence in their female lines.”Another top two-year-old, Bubble Gum Fellow, emerged out of his second crop alongside a second 2,000 Guineas winner in Ishino Sunday and St Leger hero Dance In The Dark.Stay Gold, Sunday Silence’s first real international performer of note by virtue of his wins in the Hong Kong Vase and Dubai Sheema Classic, followed in his third while another Japanese Derby winner followed in his fourth in Special Week, also successful in the Japan Cup.And so it continued. In all, his stud career came to consist of six Japanese Derby winners (Tayasu Tsuyoshi, Special Week, Admire Vega, Agnes Flight, Neo Universe and Deep Impact), seven 2,000 Guineas winners (Genuine, Ishino Sunday, Air Shakur, Agnes Tachyon, Neo Universe, Daiwa Major and Deep Impact), four St Leger winners (Dance In The Dark, Air Shakur, Manhattan Cafe and Deep Impact) and three 1,000 Guineas winners (Cherry Grace, Still In Love and Dance In The Mood).While a number of those good Sunday Silence runners became fan favorites, there’s no doubt that the best arrived posthumously in the champion Deep Impact. A member of his penultimate crop and out of the Epsom Oaks runner-up Wind In Her Hair, Deep Impact swept the 2005 Japanese Triple Crown and another four Gr1 races, including the Japan Cup and Arima Kinen, at four. One of Japan’s most popular horses in history, he also ran third in the 2007 Arc.Fittingly, Deep Impact was also quick to fill the void left at Shadai by his sire’s death from laminitis in 2002.International acclaim The Japanese bloodstock industry during the mid-1990s was still relatively isolated from the rest of the world, better known certainly in Europe as the destination for a slew of Epsom Derby winners.Sunday Silence would change all that.As word of his dominance at stud grew, so did international interest. Teruya Yoshida was swift to capitalize. In 1998, he sent his homebred Sunday Silence filly, Sunday Picnic, to be trained in Chantilly by Andre Fabre. It was a successful endeavor as the filly won the Prix Cleopatre and ran fourth to Ramruma in the Oaks.By that stage, Shadai had also entered into a partnership with John Messara of Arrowfield Stud with the principal idea of breeding mares to Sunday Silence on southern hemisphere time. Again, the move proved to be a success. Out of a limited pool of Australian-bred runners, Sunday Silence threw the 2003 AJC Oaks heroine Sunday Joy, who would go on to produce eight-time Gp1 winner More Joyous, and Listed winner Keep The Faith, subsequently a Gp1 sire.Sheikh Mohammed also joined the fray, notably by sending a relation to Miesque, the Woodman mare Wood Vine, to Sunday Silence in 1998; the resulting foal, the Irish-bred Silent Honor, was trained by David Loder to win the 2001 Cherry Hinton Stakes at Newmarket.Silent Honor was the opening chapter of a successful association for the Sheikh with Sunday Silence that also came to include Godolphin’s 1,000 Guineas runner-up Sundrop, a JRHA Select Foal Sale purchase, and homebred Gp3 winner Layman.Layman was foaled in the same 2002 crop as the Wertheimer’s high-class miler Silent Name. Initially trained in France by Criquette Head-Maarek, Silent Name was a dual Listed winner before heading to the U.S., where he won Gr2 Commonwealth Breeders’ Cup for Gary Mandella.Similarly, patronage of Sunday Silence also reaped rewards for the Niarchos family as the sire of their influential producer Sun Is Up, subsequently the dam of their top miler Karakontie.At the same time, several Japanese-trained horses were advertising the stallion to good effect on a global scale, notably Zenno Rob Roy, who ran a close second in the 2005 Juddmonte International, and Heart’s Cry, who was third in the King George a year later.Sire of siresMeanwhile, it was becoming very apparent just how effective Sunday Silence was becoming as a sire of sires. Shadai was initially home to plenty of them, including the short-lived Agnes Tachyon, who left behind a real star in champion Daiwa Scarlet and Fuji Kiseki, the sire of champions Kinshasa No Kiseki and Sun Classique. Stay Gold’s successful stud career was led by the household names Orfevre, who ran placed in two Arcs and is now a popular stallion for Shadai and Gold Ship. Japan Dirt Derby winner Gold Allure became a leading dirt sire—his record led by champions Copano Rickey, Espoir City and Gold Dream. Manhattan Café is the sire of five Gp1 winners. As for Special Week, he sired champion Buena Vista and Gr1 winner Cesario, now regarded as something of a blue hen. Those sons still in production are entering the twilight years of their stud career, yet they remain a heavyweight group. Following the death of Deep Impact, the most popular is Shadai’s Heart’s Cry—an exceptional sire for whom an increasingly international profile consists of British Gp1 winner Deirdre, American Gr1 winner Yoshida and Japanese champion Lys Gracieux, the 2019 Cox Plate heroine. Fellow Shadai stallion Daiwa Major is well regarded as a fine source of two-year-olds and milers, and earned international recognition in 2019 as the sire of Hong Kong Mile winner Admire Mars. His stud record consists of six Gp1 winners.Neo Universe, best known as the sire of Dubai World Cup winner Victoire Pisa, and Zenno Rob Roy are also proven Gp1 sires as is Deep Impact’s brother Black Tide, the sire of champion Kitasan Black—himself also now based at Shadai.Without Deep Impact, Sunday Silence’s influence as a sire of sires would have been immense. Deep Impact, however, took matters to another level. To date, he is the sire of 47 Gp or Gr1 winners. They cover the spectrum, ranging from Horse of the Year Gentildonna to last year’s Triple Crown hero Contrail—one of six Japanese Derby winners by the stallion—and a host of top two-year-olds.Significantly, Deep Impact had been exposed to an international racing audience when third past the post in the 2007 Arc and that played out in a healthy level of outside support when he retired to Shadai for the 2008 season. For the Wildenstein family, that reaped major rewards in the form of their Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Beauty Parlour, her Listed-winning brother Barocci and French Gp3 winner Aquamarine. That success, as well as his growing reputation in Japan, helped to pique the attention of Coolmore. The Irish powerhouse began sending mares in 2013 and were rewarded by 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior—last year’s Prix de Diane heroine Fancy Blue and the Gp 1-placed September out of a limited pool of foals. Similarly, the Niarchos family, who patronized him from the outset, bred Le Prix du Jockey Club hero Study Of Man and the Gp3-placed two-year-old Harajuku, a smart prospect for 2021.Indeed, Deep Impact was at the height of his international powers when succumbing to a neck injury at the age of 17 in the summer of 2019.Global exposureWhile Deep Impact would build on the global foundations laid by his sire, there was a determination during the intervening years between Sunday Silence’s death and Deep Impact’s own success to expose the blood to a global audience.Chief among them was French-based agent Patrick Barbe, who sourced a number of sons to stand in France, and Frank Stronach, who purchased Silent Name to stand at his Adena Springs Farm. Barbe was the force behind importing an eclectic group of Sunday Silence horses to stand at Haras de Lonray during the mid-2000s. They were invariably priced towards the lower end of the market, yet Barbe was rewarded for his foresight, in particular through the addition of Divine Light, whose first French crop yielded the 1,000 Guineas and Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Natagora.“I have worked with Shadai for 35 years,” he says, “and I thought it would be interesting to bring the Sunday Silence bloodline to Europe—it hadn’t been tried very much at the time. It can be difficult to educate breeders about different blood, but people had already had slight exposure to Sunday Silence, so it wasn’t too bad. “Rosen Kavalier was one of the first we brought over. Then we imported Divine Light. Teruya Yoshida had mentioned to me that he thought he was going to do well at stud, as he had been an extremely good sprinter. But he covered only nine mares in his first season in Japan. So we brought him to France, and in his first crop, he sired Natagora.”As fate would have it, Natagora’s true ability came to light in the months following his sale to the Jockey Club of Turkey. Divine Light left behind just under 100 foals from his time in France and went on to enjoy further success in Turkey as the sire of champion My Dear Son.“Divine Light was a good-looking horse,” says Barbe. “He was out of a Northern Taste mare and was compact—very similar to Northern Dancer.”He adds: “Sunday Silence was a phenomenal sire, but he also had a pedigree that was similar to Northern Dancer. I feel that was the reason that he did very well with Northern Taste, who was obviously also inbred to Lady Angela [the dam of Nearctic] himself.”Divine Light wasn’t the only success story out of the French Sunday Silence experiment. While Rosen Kavalier was compromised by fertility problems, Gp3 winner Great Journey sired several smart runners, while Gp2 winner Agnes Kamikaze left behind a clutch of winners.“Great Journey was a very good racehorse and became a consistent sire,” says Barbe. “He did well as the sire of Max Dynamite—a very good stayer—and Soleil d’Octobre, who won two Listed races.”Today, the sole son of Sunday Silence available in either Europe or North America is Silent Name. Now 19 years old, he has found his niche within the Canadian market as a source of durable, talented runners—in a nutshell, what we have come to expect from the sireline.Despite never standing for more than C$10,000, Canada’s three-time champion sire is responsible for 27 black-type winners, making him the nation’s leading sire of a lifetime of stakes winners. They include champion sprinter Summer Sunday, Brazilian Gp1 winner Jaspion Silent and last year’s Gp2 Nearctic Stakes winner Silent Poet. So although entering the veteran stage of his stud career, momentum behind the stallion continues to remain robust at a fee of C$7,500, as Adena Springs North manager Dermot Carty explains.“Silent Name started out with us in Kentucky, but in 2008, we decided to bring him to Canada along with Sligo Bay,” he says. “He got three good books off the bat. At the same time, he shuttled to Brazil, and then just as his first Kentucky crop hit, he was sent to New York [where he spent two seasons with McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds]. “I pleaded to bring him back to Canada. People were starting to buy them, they were liking them, and the smaller trainers were doing well with them. “He’s a really good-looking horse—strong, a little bit sickle-hocked but with good bone. And he’s a tough horse, as tough as they go.“When we bought him, he was really the only big horse in the pedigree, but it’s a typical Wertheimer family, and it’s improved a lot since then.” In fact, Silent Name is a half-brother to Galiway—a current rags-to-riches story of the French scene whose early crops include last year’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Galilay.“He’s out of a Danehill mare who is out of a Blushing Groom mare who is out of a Raja Baba mare,” adds Carty. “They’re all big influences.“A lot of them can run on Polytrack, but they also excel on turf.“He’s been the leading sire in Canada for three years; the last horse to do that was Bold Executive. Frank has sent a pile of mares to him in recent years and done very well. He’s going to get you a tough horse—people who like to race like him.”Walmac Farm in Kentucky also made an early foray into Sunday Silence blood with the acquisition of Hong Kong Gp1 winner Hat Trick in 2008. Latterly based at Gainesway Farm, Hat Trick threw top French two-year-old Dabirsim in his first crop and in turn, that horse sired Albany Stakes winner Different League out of his own debut crop. Noted for siring stock that comes to hand quickly, Dabirsim remains popular at Haras de Grandcamp in Normandy, also home to Deep Impact’s talented son Martinborough.Hat Trick died last year and today, Kentucky representation of the Sunday Silence line relies on the young WinStar stallion Yoshida. A son of Heart’s Cry, he was sourced out of the JRHA Select Sale and went on to land the 2018 Woodward Stakes. He was popular in his first season at stud in 2020, covering 145 mares.Fruitful experimentMeanwhile, the retirements of Saxon Warrior to Coolmore in Ireland and Study Of Man to Lanwades Stud in Newmarket provide European breeders with quality access to Deep Impact blood. Saxon Warrior’s first crop sold for up to 280,000gns as foals last winter, while the first crop of Study Of Man are foals of 2021. As would be expected from a Niarchos homebred who has joined Kirsten Rausing’s Lanwades Stud, the latter is being well supported by his powerful connections.“The relationship between the Niarchos family and Shadai dates back to when they bought Hector Protector from us,” recalls Alan Cooper, racing manager to the Niarchos family. “We had breeding rights in the horse, and we said, well we better send some mares to Japan and use him, which worked out well as we went on to breed [champion] Shiva. “And that led us to using Sunday Silence. “The Sunday Silence adventure was very fruitful. It was lovely to get some fillies by him, and we’re still benefitting today from them.”Among the mares sent to Sunday Silence was Miesque’s Listed-winning daughter Moon Is Up. The resulting foal, Sun Is Up, never ran but went on to throw Karakontie, whose three Gp1 victories included the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Breeders’ Cup Mile. Another mare, Metaphor, foaled the Listed-placed Celestial Lagoon, in turn the dam of last year’s Dante Stakes runner-up Highest Ground.“We also obviously had a lot of success breeding from Deep Impact through Study Of Man,” says Cooper. “We also have a filly named Harajuku, who showed smart form in France last year. We have kept her Heart’s Cry sister in training as well since Andre Fabre thinks there’s more to come (they’re out of a Galileo mare Phaenomena). Another Deep Impact that we bred, Dowsing, is now at stud in Indiana. “It’s been a very good experience breeding in Japan. The Sunday Silence line seems to have a bit of character, but I think as with anything to do with Halo, if they’re good, they’re very, very good.”The Niarchos family are also in the privileged position of owning a yearling from the final, small crop of Deep Impact. The filly in question is out of the Listed-placed Malicieuse, a Galileo half-sister to Arc hero Bago.In Kentucky, the Niarchos family have also thrown their weight behind Karakontie at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky. The son of Bernstein has made a bright start at stud as the sire of six stakes winners in two crops, including British Gp3 winner Kenzai Warrior. However, interestingly his best horse, recent Gr2 Mrs Revere Stakes heroine Princess Grace, is the product of a Silent Name mare, meaning that she is inbred to Sunday Silence. Indeed, she is the first stakes winner outside of Japan to carry his inbreeding.Too much of a good thing?Can there be too much of a good thing? In Sunday Silence, the Japanese racing scene has been dominated to such a degree—through both his sons and daughters—that outcrosses aren’t always easily available. And when such an animal does retire to stud in Japan, quite often their success is a reflection of their ability to cross effectively with Sunday Silence-line mares—the likes of Lord Kanaloa and Harbinger being notable examples.In addition, successful inbreeding to Sunday Silence has taken time to gain momentum. However, in recent years, the tide has started to change.Aside from Princess Grace, there was a major flag bearer last year in the Japanese Fillies Triple Crown heroine Daring Tact. Recent Gr2-winning three-year-old Fine Rouge is another advert among a group of 14 stakes winners from a pool of close to 3,000 named foals. One of the greatestSunday Silence might be receding in pedigrees, but his influence has never been stronger. Many of the line remain easily distinguishable with their dark coat and rangy stature; for the most part, they are hardy runners with a physical and mental toughness to them. “All these horses, they ran forever,” says Barbe. “They’re tough, train on and they’re sound. Whatever their level, they are consistent horses with a longevity to them.”Granted, those descendants of Sunday Silence now coming through at stud in Japan aren’t always helped by having to compete with each other. But at the same time, the omens remain good, particularly in relation to Deep Impact’s own legacy as a sire of sires, which already includes the successful Shadai sires Kizuna and Real Impact. The latter became the first son of his sire to be represented by a Gp1 winner when Lauda Sion won last year’s NHK Mile Cup.The presence of Saxon Warrior and Study Of Man in Europe and other Gp1 performers such as Satono Aladdin, Staphanos and Tosen Stardom in Australasia fuels the idea that this branch of the line is only going to become more powerful on an international scale.In short, international respect for the sireline is also at an all time high.“Thanks to Sunday Silence, the Japanese racehorses earn respect from horsemen around the world today,” says Yoshida. “In return, breeders tend to find good broodmares to send to good stallions—Japanese breeders today buy a lot of good broodmares in the international markets. “This enables Japanese breeding to keep developing. So you can imagine how strong Sunday’s impact is to our industry.”](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/517636f8e4b0cb4f8c8697ba/1614240369120-9TQ4MVNWVEPICMUGOFKS/2002_SUNDAY_SILENCE_UDA.jpg)
By Nancy Sexton
For over a quarter of a century, there has been an air of inevitability within Japanese racing circles.
Sunday Silence dominated the sire standings in Japan for 13 straight years from 1995 to 2007—his last championship arriving five years after his death. He was a true game changer for the Japanese industry, not only as a brilliant source of elite talent but as a key to the development of Japan as a respected racing nation.
Any idea that his influence would abate in the years following his death was swiftly quashed by an array of successful sire sons and productive daughters. In his place, Deep Impact rose to become a titan of the domestic industry. Others such as Heart’s Cry, Stay Gold, Agnes Tachyon, Gold Allure and Daiwa Major also became significant sires in their own right. Added to that, Sunday Silence is also a multiple champion broodmare sire and credited as the damsire of 202 stakes winners and 17 champions.
Teruya Yoshida of Shadai Farm
“Thoroughbreds can be bought or sold,” says Teruya Yoshida of Shadai Farm, which bought Sunday Silence out of America in late 1990 and cultivated him into a global force. “As Nasrullah sired Bold Ruler, who changed the world’s breeding capital from Europe to the U.S., one stallion can change the world. Sunday Silence is exactly such a stallion for the Japanese Thoroughbred industry.”
Sunday Silence has been dead close to 20 years, yet the Japanese sires’ table remains an ode to his influence.
In 2020, Deep Impact landed his ninth straight sires’ championship with Heart’s Cry and Stay Gold’s son Orfevre in third and fourth. Seven of the top 12 finishers were sons or grandsons of Sunday Silence.
Another descendant, Deep Impact’s son Kizuna, was the nation’s leading second-crop sire. Deep Impact himself was the year’s top sire of two-year-olds.
Against that, it is estimated that up to approximately 70% of the Japanese broodmare population possess Sunday Silence in their background.
All the while, his influence remains on an upswing worldwide, notably via the respect held for Deep Impact. A horse who ably built on the international momentum set by Sunday Silence, his own sire sons today range from the European Classic winners Study Of Man and Saxon Warrior—who are based in Britain and Ireland—to a deep domestic bench headed by the proven sires Kizuna, Mikki Isle and Real Impact.
In short, the Thoroughbred owes a lot to Sunday Silence.
Inauspicious beginnings
Roll back to 1988, however, and the mere idea of Sunday Silence as one of the great fathers of the breed would have been laughable.
For starters, he almost died twice before he had even entered training.
Queen Elizabeth II meets Halo.
The colt was bred by Oak Cliff Thoroughbreds Ltd in Kentucky with appealing credentials as a son of Halo, then in his early seasons at Arthur Hancock’s Stone Farm.
Halo had shifted to Kentucky in 1984 as a middle-aged stallion with a colourful existence already behind him.
By Hail To Reason and closely related to Northern Dancer, Halo had been trained by Mack Miller to win the 1974 Gr1 United Nations Handicap.
It was those bloodlines and latent talent that prompted film producer Irving Allen to offer owner Charles Englehard a bid of $600,000 for the horse midway through his career. Allen’s idea was to install Halo in England at his Derisley Wood Stud in Newmarket; and his bid was accepted only for it to be revealed that his new acquisition was a crib-biter. As such, the deal fell through, and Halo was returned to training, with that Gr1 triumph as due reward.
Would Halo have thrived in England? It’s an interesting question. As it was, he retired to E. P. Taylor Windfields Farm in Maryland, threw champion Glorious Song in his first crop, Kentucky Derby winner Sunny’s Halo in his third and Devil’s Bag—a brilliant two-year-old of 1983—in his fourth.
Devil’s Bag’s exploits were instrumental in Halo ending the year as North America’s champion sire, and within months, the stallion was ensconced at Stone Farm, having been sold in a deal that reportedly valued the 15-year-old at $36 million. Chief among the new ownership was Texas oilman Tom Tatham of Oak Cliff Thoroughbreds.
In 1985, Tatham sent the hard-knocking Wishing Well, a Gr2-winning daughter of Understanding, to the stallion. The result was a near black colt born at Stone Farm on March 26, 1986.
It is part of racing’s folklore how Sunday Silence failed to capture the imagination as a young horse—something that is today vividly recalled by Hancock.
Staci & Arthur Hancock with Sunday Silence.
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
ISSUE 59 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE 59 (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
The differences between a healthy / unhealthy biome. We learn how gene sequencing technology can reveal common gastrointestinal disease.
By Carol Hughes PhD
Gastrointestinal diseases and upsets are common in Thoroughbred racehorses, causing discomfort, loss of performance and even mortality. Every common gastrointestinal disease can be linked back to disturbances (dysbiosis) of the gut bacteria. Currently, new gene technology is driving research at an intense rate, providing new insights into the equine microbial community (1) and providing both trainer and the vet with a powerful and accurate analytical tool to improve health and manage disease. The gastrointestinal tract of the horse is colonized by trillions of microorganisms, which includes 1,000-1,500 different species, making up around 95% of the biome; the other 5% are made up of archaea, protozoa, fungi and viruses. Though most studies concentrate on identifying species of bacteria and linking to health and disease. Other members of the biome have equally important roles to play. In the racehorse, a major player is the Enterobacteria phage PhiX174, which is a bacterial virus that protects the horse against E-coli.(2) The microbial community has co-evolved with the host, performing essential and vital activities such as the extraction of energy and nutrients from foodstuff, synthesis of vitamins, interaction with the immune system and cross talk with the brain, which is thought to affect temperament and behavior. Taxonomic and functional compositions of the gut microbiome are rapidly becoming viable indicators of horse health and disease. Each member of the microbial community has a different but synergistic role, which is beneficial to the health of the horse; e.g., the fungi break down the indigestible parts of forage plants, such as the polysaccharides, while the ciliate protozoa contribute to the process by producing a wide range of enzymes that the horse is unable to make, impacting and benefitting the immune system. Microbial fermentation of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin reduces the structural and non-structural plant wall material into carbohydrates, proteins (amino acids) and lipids, and produces volatile and short chain fatty acids,(2a) which are the primary source of energy for the horse. The bacteria contribute the most to the degradation of ingested food, producing the final components of the fermentation process, which are acetic, propionic and butyric acid, methane and carbon dioxide. The gastrointestinal tract of the horse is sensitive to change, stress, environment and medication, which cause imbalances or dysbiosis.(3)
Fig 1: Image of the analysis of the microbiome of a Grade 1 horse, compared to a non-group horse.
Establishing or profiling a healthy baseline in the horse is difficult as variations exist between individuals, breeds, diets and locations; the Thoroughbred racehorse is a very different animal to the Shetland pony or an Irish Draught. Fitness training alters the microbiome further; for these reasons it is important to study the Thoroughbred as a population separate from other breeds and to analyze, where possible, racehorses training in a similar environment and location. With this in mind, since 2017 there has been an ongoing project to study and profile the microbial populations of over 1,000 racehorses based in Newmarket, throughout the racing season; and the data produced has been used to develop profiles of the differences between a healthy/unhealthy biome. The project utilizes the cutting-edge Illumina MiSeq technology, which is the most accurate and up-to-date, preferred by genomic researchers around the world.
THE BIOME IN HEALTH ELITE RACEHORSES HAVE HIGHER LEVELS OF A SUPER-PHYLUM BACTERIA
Questions asked...
Elite racehorses are trained to achieve peak fitness, but is it possible that they can gain an extra edge from the input of the hind gut bacteria?
How different is the microbiome of a Grade 1 horse, and is it possible to identify the bacteria responsible for the extra edge?
Answers found...
Human scientists have known for some time that the microbiome of an elite human athlete is different,(4) with faster metabolic pathways (amino acids and carbohydrates) and higher levels of fecal metabolites (microbial-produced short-chain fatty acids) acetate, propionate and butyrate associated with enhanced muscle fitness. The human and elite equine athlete do share similar microbial profiles, having higher percentages of the bacteria that manufacture short-chain fatty acids and higher levels of the super-phylum verrucomicrobia; these increase as the season/training progresses. What is known about this super-phylum? It has two main members: Methylacidiphilaceae and Akkermansia
1) Verrucomicrobia Methylacidiphilaceae thrive and proliferate on the ammonia produced from the degradation of starch and protein,(5) whereas starch produces very high levels of ammonia. The bacteria make enzymes (ammonia monooxygenase),(6) which convert ammonia into nitric oxide.(7) The nitric oxide has three major benefits to a racehorse:
a. Helps repair and renew the gut wall (8)
b. Enhances performance and increases exercise tolerance (9)
c. Improves vascular function and metabolism (10)
2) Verrucomicrobia Akkermansia is a mucus-eating specialist, living and thriving within the gut wall, digesting mucin from the mucosal lining (10a) with a unique ability to metabolise galactose and melibiose (11) for energy. Akkermansia in the human biome significantly increases the numbers of metabolic pathways. Horses with gastric ulcers have very low levels, perhaps indicating its function in both performance and disease. …
CLICK HERE to return to issue contents or sign up below to read this article in full
ISSUE 59 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE 59 (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?
DON'T MISS OUT AND SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES!
Four issue subscription - ONLY $24.95
State Incentives 2021
![Incentives to breedNorth America provides breeder and owner incentive programs to reward horsemen for producing quality bloodstock.Article by Annie LambertBreeding Thoroughbred racehorses takes a passion for the animals and the racing industry as a whole. State incentive programs can enhance horsemen’s intense feelings toward their livestock and the efforts to direct and improve their individual breeding programs. Many states and Canadian provinces in North America have helped horsemen reap rewards for breeding better bloodstock.In some cases, incentives have helped save or resuscitate state racing programs and bolstered racing toward increasing rewards to those supporting their state programs. It becomes a win-win for states/provinces, racetracks, breeders and owners—success for a joint venture, if you will.Not everyone can agree with the Rules of Engagement within each state’s program, but that is human nature. As a whole, most breeders are ultimately looking to protect the value of their livestock and preserve racing in North America.The Kentucky BrandFor all its legendary history in the Thoroughbred racing industry, Kentucky is not known to have the strongest incentive program. It does, however, still provide a home to some of the best stallions and breeding farms in the world. According to Duncan Taylor, President of Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., by having the best horses, his home state also has the best infrastructure.“Kentucky is blessed with the best stallions, therefore we have the best infrastructure—veterinary care, nutrition, blacksmith—all the ancillary businesses that support the Thoroughbred business,” Taylor opined. “We have a weaker program when it comes to breeder incentives. The breeding program we do have is basically paid for by the tax on stallion seasons. There’s a six-percent sales tax on stallion fees, and that money goes into the Kentucky Breeders’ Incentive Fund.”Taylor pointed out that over time Kentucky, as most business does, has developed a brand. If a breeder aspires to be the best, it pays to go to Kentucky.“You can breed to horses in your own state,” Taylor said, “but if you’re trying to sell the most expensive horse at the Keeneland Sale, it’s going to be a Kentucky-bred.” “Wealthy people that are buying horses think the best horses come from Kentucky.”Taylor Made participates in several programs outside of Kentucky. They have bred and raced New York breds, for example, to “cover the downside.”“Let’s say my horse is just an allowance-winning horse versus a graded stakes-winning horse,” he explained. “If that [New York-bred] horse is an allowance winner at Churchill Downs or even Santa Anita or Gulfstream, but they can’t win a stake or graded stake, that same horse, with the same ability, could probably win a New York-bred stake. You would probably get a $100,000 to $150,000 purse. That’s what I’m talking about—protecting the downside. You can have less horse and still earn purse money.“I’ve bred and foaled horses in New York to get a New York-bred. If it does run good, I’m going to get some large breeder’s awards. Let’s say I have a New York-bred by our stallion Not This Time (half-brother to Liam’s Map and by Giant’s Causeway) that could win a Gr2 in New York. If you win a $300,000 purse, the winning share is $180,000. I’m going to get $18,000 for being the breeder—10 percent for being a New York-bred.”Taylor is not planning on moving out of Kentucky, but the government in his state, in his words, “keeps opting to take the horse business for granted.” With the best stallions, Taylor feels he could cut a good deal, load the vans and move out of Kentucky tomorrow, which would not be his first choice.His frustration comes mostly from the problems Kentucky is having with their slot machine-like Historical Horse Racing gambling machines. The Historical Horse Racing machines have been a huge moneymaker for Kentucky racing as well as where used in other states. The problem comes from other states legalizing the usage of those machines through their state legislatures, where Kentucky approved them through the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Now, Kentucky is facing opposition for their use from opposing groups and is in the process of having legislative approval to continue their cash flow to racing.Fortunately, Kentucky legislators did vote to approve Senate Bill 120, after clarification of what constitutes pari-mutuel wagering. The bill now goes to Governor Andy Beshear, who has expressed his support for it.B. Wayne Hughes, owner of Spendthrift Farm, in Lexington, Ky, has said, “The breeders are the backbone of our industry.” It is hard to argue that point. Most horses bred by Spendthrift Farm go to auction, although they do keep some to race, according to General Manager Ned Toffey.“These breeders’ incentives are very good programs,” Toffey offered. “Into Mischief had a number of Louisiana-breds when he was getting started, which was useful. We’ve also used the Pennsylvania and New York programs. Normally, if we’re going to use one of those programs, it’s because we have a stallion standing in those states. We may drop a foal by one of our first-year stallions standing here in Kentucky, then breed the mare back to our stallion standing in that state.”Toffey mentioned they have found it tough to find the types and numbers of mares they look for in the regional programs. Current Spendthrift stallions are able to get a good, solid book of mares at home.“If we have just the right horse for a regional program, we’re happy to utilize them, but with the horses we’ve brought in, in recent years, we’ve been able to get the numbers we felt they needed here for the most part.”Change Concerns & ImprovementsLouisiana has changed their state-bred rules beginning with foals of 2021. Babies out of resident mares, sired by Louisiana-domiciled stallions will receive full breeder awards per the schedule established by the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association Board of Directors.Foals out of resident mares, sired by out-of-state stallions and bred back to Louisiana stallions will collect 90 percent. Foals out of Louisiana-residing mares, sired by out-of-state stallions and bred back to out-of-state stallions will receive 50 percent of full breeder awards. Previously, breeders could send a mare to an out-of-state stallion, but that foal could not be an accredited Louisiana-bred unless the mare was bred back to a Louisiana-based stallion.Not all Louisiana stallion owners are happy with the new schedule. Jay Adcock, owner of Red River Farm in Coushatta, La., stands multiple stallions and feels the new rules will send the better mares out of state, causing a drop in the annual foal crop in his state.“In my opinion, the better mares in Louisiana will be going out of state now,” said Adcock, who sits on the LTBA Board. “Someone like myself and others standing stallions in the state had thought they at least had a chance at someone’s better mares every other year. I keep mares for myself and for other commercial breeders. They have already told me I have no chance of breeding those mares. It’s really going to penalize somebody with a young stallion. This is my opinion, but there’s a bunch of us that actually think that.” “I’m a mare proponent,” Adcock added. “Yes, I want a nice stallion, but I do believe it is the mares that prove a horse.”Adcock has concerns about the Louisiana foal crop shrinking due to the new rules. Commercial breeders sending a mare to Kentucky will most likely return that baby to the larger Kentucky market to sell. It doesn’t seem a reach to assume those auctions would bring a better price than in Louisiana.“I think the actual numbers in our foal crops are going to go down,” Adcock opined. “If you’re breeding in 2021, foaling in 2022, yearling sales in 2023...so it’s going to take a few years to prove me right or wrong. I just don’t see how this is going to help the Louisiana program.”“In Louisiana, to have a racino—where you have a casino at your track—the state law says you have to run an 80-day meet in 20 weeks or you don’t have your license,” Adcock pointed out. “The money is not necessarily commingled, but the licenses are commingled. The last seven years we’ve been running about a 1,000 foals a year in Louisiana. I do not believe the number of new foals coming into the state is going to outweigh the numbers of people that are going to get out. How are we going to fill those 80 days in 20 weeks?”Adcock believes Louisiana is being overly optimistic to think out-of-state breeders will send mares to their stallions year after year just to race in restricted races. He thought, because Mississippi has no racing, those mare owners may come to Louisiana; but Texans, who used to ship in mares, have grown their game and would probably opt to stay home.Politics Loom LargeTexas definitely has its game together in recent years. It has been a long road for horse racing in the Lone Star state.The Texas Racing Commission and pari-mutuel gambling were established in 1933. It was hoped pari-mutuel wagering would create revenue during the Great Depression. Sadly, pari-mutuel wagering was rejected in 1937 and was not revived until 1987. The Yankee Bet—a multiple selection wager—was activated about the same time and helped track handle.“Once pari-mutuel was reestablished in the late 1980s, we did have a good incentive program until about the 2000s,” explained Mary Ruhle, Executive Director of the Texas Thoroughbred Association. “Then our numbers began to decline as far as handle, purses and so on. That came about because our surrounding states were able to offer much better purses and incentives. They had additional forms of gaming that supported their purses, which Texas does not.”In 2019, House Bill 2468 was passed, which has been greatly beneficial to Texas racing. The bill authorizes up to $25 million per year to benefit the Texas equine industry. Seventy-percent of that sum is set aside for purses and 30 percent goes to various breed registries for implementation of their programs and to support the Texas horse industry as a whole. “The funds come from sales tax on equine goods and products,” Ruhle pointed out. “We are taking money out of the horse industry and putting it into a different form and multiplying it back into the horse industry.”With Texas foal crop numbers coming out of a slump, Ruhle doesn’t expect to see those numbers rising for a couple more years, due to breeders waiting to see how the program works. Ruhle does expect to see a generous increase in the mares bred in Texas this year.“As far as racing,” Ruhle said, “the additional funds have vastly improved our purses, our handle and our number of participants in horse racing. We are very happy about horses coming in to race from out of state, which improves our racing product. It enables our Texas breeders to aspire to breed a better racehorse.”The Massachusetts Thoroughbred Breeders Association (MTBA) is working hard to improve their incentive program and hopefully bring racing back to their state. Since Suffolk Downs closed about four years ago, they have had no in-state racing.To be a Mass-bred currently, a foal must be born in Massachusetts to a mare in residence since October 15 of the previous year, or the mare must be bred back to a stallion domiciled in the state.The MTBA has legislation pending, working its way through government bureaucracy during a pandemic and making it an uphill grind, according to Arlene Brown, secretary for the association and a longtime breeder.“The pending legislation introduces a program where, if you bring a foal into Massachusetts to live for six months before its second birthday, it becomes Massachusetts-accredited and is eligible for the incentive award as a Mass-bred would be,” Brown explained. “The accredited horses will be eligible for the same awards but will be second choice in Massachusetts-bred races. In other words, the rewards would be the same; the only difference would be that they could go into Massachusetts restricted races if [those races] are not already filled by Mass-bred and registered horses.”Also for this year, the MTBA is adding a $10,000 bonus to any winning purse won by a Mass-bred at any racetrack. Because there is no racing in Massachusetts presently, awards count toward earnings at any track in the country. The $10,000 bonus will be part of the program on a year-to-year basis until they build up their equine population enough to run their own restricted Mass-bred races.The new legislation, introduced last year, has not made it through committee but was reintroduced this year. Between government red tape and pandemic restrictions, there is no estimate of when the bill may be taken up. Brown remains optimistic.“We’ve got some very good backing in the House,” Brown, the owner of Briar Hill Farm, said. “Several of the members have been to my farm a few times. The big push is trying to preserve green space and farms, so breeding farms are a push in that direction. A lot of the legislators are on board with maintaining the green space.“The Senate is going to be a little bit more of a fight, but the Senator from my district has been to the farm several times and is behind the push in the Senate for us.”There are seemingly several reasons for optimism among Massachusetts breeders. In addition to their pending program changes, there are two proposals to build new racetracks in their state. “Both of them are very viable, very nice looking designs,” offered Brown. “Now it is just waiting for approval—you know, all the things you have to go through with towns and counties for approvals, but they are both moving along.” Dermot Carty, director of sales at Adena Springs in Aurora, Ont. and Paris, Ky., believes incentive programs can be helpful.“It helps the ups and downs,” Carty noted. “If the horse can run a little bit, you make some money back, which covers the cost of promotion. At the end of the day, they do help out the small breeder.”Carty has worked for Frank Stronach, owner of Adena Springs, a total of 46 years. He feels the Ontario breeding business is in a bit of limbo at the moment. Thoroughbred breeders, he believes, are not being represented properly.“They tried to go out and establish a voice for all breeds, and it doesn’t take into account that Thoroughbreds are a completely different animal altogether,” he said. “The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society took out any representation of Ontario racing.”“There are a lot of people up here committed to breeding horses, but a little break from Ontario Racing to allow their elected representatives to get a true pulse of what is going on would make a big difference,” Carty added.Coast to CoastMary Ellen Locke, who handles registrations and incentives for the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, feels they have one of the best programs in the country—with good reason.“Other associations have copied our program,” Locke offered. “We get calls often from other states trying to do a program and explain to them how ours works. I think Louisiana was the last one that called me. I don’t know if they copied it exactly; but I think they have slots now, and they are doing better on foal crops, so they are trying to reward their breeders program.”Locke often receives inquiries from out-of-state owners because you can breed out-of-state and still have a Cal-bred. “We can have a Nyquist Cal-bred,” Locke explained. “He stands in Kentucky, but if the mare foals here and is bred back to a California stallion, then the foal dropped here is a Cal-bred. It has been this way for quite a few years.” The CTBA rules have not changed in quite a while, and Locke has no knowledge of any changes in the near future.Henry Williamson is a California breeder who also raises some Kentucky breds. Williamson’s love of the Thoroughbred industry grew from his late father, Warren Williamson’s passion for the horses.Williamson Racing bred their mare Nashoba to the Kentucky stallion Silver Hawk in 2002 before moving the mare to Harris Farm in California for the prime purpose of having a Cal-bred. The resulting filly, Nashoba’s Key, went undefeated in her first seven Southern California starts before placing fourth in the 2007 Breeder’s Cup Filly & Mare Turf.“There was a process we had in place, because of the Cal-bred incentives, and we wanted to benefit from that,” Williamson said. “I also think that it opens up some opportunity for the horses to build confidence, where they are not running right off the bat against million-dollar Keeneland graduates. It opened the door, and we took advantage of the California incentives being there and the purses being comfortably strong.”Williamson currently has five broodmares in Kentucky—some of which will be moved to his new farm, Arroyo Vista in Valley Center, Calif., where they will join six California-based mares. Williamson is standing his Curlin stallion, Texas Ryano, at Arroyo Vista as well.“I’m a big believer in Cal-bred racing,” said Williamson, who resides in Pasadena, Calif. “We kind of got away from it for a while, but we want to take advantage of it now—even more than Kentucky-breds.”“It is interesting, starting a new business during a pandemic when the [California] race tracks have been struggling; I think I need my head examined,” Williamson laughed. “When you’re passionate about it and you believe in the horses and what you think they’re going to be able to do, you follow your heart.”Arizona horsemen and breeders have struggled with the pandemic and political issues for more than a year. But, there might be light at the end of their scuffles.According to Berdette Felipe at the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association, their program is doing well, with owners and breeders incentives awarded from one-percent of the in-state handle.“Because we don’t have a lot of stallions in Arizona,” Felipe said, “our program allows a mare to be bred anywhere with the resulting foal being an Arizona-bred, providing it is foaled in Arizona and spends six months of their first year in our state.”Another big boost to Arizona racing may come from proposed legislation that will authorize Historical Horse Racing. If approved, Senate Bill 1794 could generate up to $140 million in tax revenues.Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association President Bob Hutton believes HHR would provide much-needed support to all aspects of the state’s racing entities, revitalizing Arizona racing. Virginia passed Historical Horse Racing legislation in 2019, according to Debbie Easter, executive director of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association (VTA). Easter noted that the new pari-mutuel legislation has started to make a difference during the past six months.“Our [incentive] programs are growing due to the HHR money we are receiving,” she noted. “The awards are getting to be quite hefty; we are starting to pay a lot of awards out in both the certified owners program and the breeders program and the Virginia-bred owners program—our three different incentive programs. The awards are starting to amount to serious money.”Although it may be too early to say that the foal crop numbers have also been boosted, breeders are paying attention.“We’re fairly unique because we don’t have year-around racing like most states,” acknowledged Easter. “We’ve tried in the last few years to build our programs so they help our farms and owners year-around.”The VTA pays breeders for wins anywhere in North America. During the current year, due to increased wagering on Advanced Deposit Wagering and HHR, breeders received a 40-percent purse bonus for each of their offspring wins. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Virginia was still in the top 5 so far as the number of Thoroughbreds bred in the country.“Unfortunately, we’ve dropped down near the bottom of the list,” Easter explained. “In order to help those farms and breeders, we started a Virginia Certified Program about three years ago. That program allows people to come in and board and train for six month in Virginia; then if that horse wins in the mid-Atlantic region, the owners get 25 percent of the winning purse.“That has drawn a lot of horses into Virginia. It has filled up our farms, they are hiring people, investing in capital projects—it is doing everything it is supposed to do.”In addition, according to Easter, Colonial Downs has been resurrected over the past three years and it looks like they will be having seven weeks of racing with purses “at least” near $500,000. “The program is rounding out to be very beneficial for those that want to play in Virginia,” Easter added. “Eventually, our goal is to get 10 weeks of racing and the purses to go up substantially more. There will not only be good quality racing, but we’ll have restricted racing for the certified horses and Virginia-bred horses. There are a lot of reasons to come to Virginia right now.”New Age RacingWith the expense of owning a racehorse rising expeditiously, partnerships have become popular. In 2018, Michael Behrens founded MyRacehorse.com in California. The company sells micro-shares in horses so owners might own a very small piece of a Thoroughbred with an equally low investment—a micro of the normal expense—while still enjoying the thrills of racing. As of 2021, the company has horses across the country. “We started out in California the first year; we wanted to test the response of the industry to our micro share program concept,” said Joe Mishak, Racing Operations Manager. “July of 2019 was our first national expansion into a majority of the states.”MyRacehorse has purchased about 70 horses since their inception, including 2020 Kentucky Derby Champion and Horse of the Year, Authentic and now standing at Spendthrift Farm. Although the company is not in the business of breeding horses, they do pay attention to and value incentive programs.“We absolutely look at incentive programs,” said Mishak. “Kentucky is going through the HHR debate now, but it was phenomenal over the past few years. You have allowance races with $100,000 purses. If you go to Kentucky Downs, the purses are huge also. Of course, the level of competition you’re going to compete against is greater. The [breeder’s] programs come into play. There are lots of variables that go into the purchasing process.”While no incentive program will please all of the breeders all of the time, there seems to be some effective policies in North America for horsemen to take advantage of and reap just rewards. CAPTIONS:#DuncanTaylor (credit Taylor Made Farm)> Taylor Made Farm President, Duncan Taylor, has bred horses outside of Kentucky to “cover the downside” when horses fit better in a different situation. #BeholderHead (credit Annie Lambert)> Kentucky-bred Beholder, owned by B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm, enjoyed annual R&R on pastures in California where she earned most of her $6 million.# (credit Williamson Racing)> Henry Williamson’s Williamson Racing breeds and races homebreds in Kentucky and California. His stallion, Texas Ryano, stands at his Arroyo Vista Farm near San Diego. #Colonial Downs, Debbie Easter/Headshot (inset) (credit VTA)> Even though Virginia does not enjoy year-around racing, Debbie Easter noted improved incentive programs have greatly expanded opportunities for horsemen.#>#>#>#>#>POSSIBLE PULL QUOTES:](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/517636f8e4b0cb4f8c8697ba/1614248711277-556GVKV52YS9BBO6K09V/Screenshot+2021-02-25+at+10.24.09.png)
By Annie Lambert
Breeding Thoroughbred racehorses takes a passion for the animals and the racing industry as a whole. State incentive programs can enhance horsemen’s intense feelings toward their livestock and the efforts to direct and improve their individual breeding programs. Many states and Canadian provinces in North America have helped horsemen reap rewards for breeding better bloodstock.
In some cases, incentives have helped save or resuscitate state racing programs and bolstered racing toward increasing rewards to those supporting their state programs. It becomes a win-win for states/provinces, racetracks, breeders and owners—success for a joint venture, if you will.
Not everyone can agree with the Rules of Engagement within each state’s program, but that is human nature. As a whole, most breeders are ultimately looking to protect the value of their livestock and preserve racing in North America.
The Kentucky Brand
For all its legendary history in the Thoroughbred racing industry, Kentucky is not known to have the strongest incentive program. It does, however, still provide a home to some of the best stallions and breeding farms in the world. According to Duncan Taylor, President of Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., by having the best horses, his home state also has the best infrastructure.
Taylor Made’s Duncan Taylor, has bred horses outside of Kentucky to “cover the downside” when horses fit better in a different situation.
“Kentucky is blessed with the best stallions, therefore we have the best infrastructure—veterinary care, nutrition, blacksmith—all the ancillary businesses that support the Thoroughbred business,” Taylor opined. “We have a weaker program when it comes to breeder incentives. The breeding program we do have is basically paid for by the tax on stallion seasons. There’s a six-percent sales tax on stallion fees, and that money goes into the Kentucky Breeders’ Incentive Fund.”
Taylor pointed out that over time Kentucky, as most business does, has developed a brand. If a breeder aspires to be the best, it pays to go to Kentucky.
“You can breed to horses in your own state,” Taylor said, “but if you’re trying to sell the most expensive horse at the Keeneland Sale, it’s going to be a Kentucky-bred.” “Wealthy people that are buying horses think the best horses come from Kentucky.”
Taylor Made participates in several programs outside of Kentucky. They have bred and raced New York breds, for example, to “cover the downside.”
“Let’s say my horse is just an allowance-winning horse versus a graded stakes-winning horse,” he explained. “If that [New York-bred] horse is an allowance winner at Churchill Downs or even Santa Anita or Gulfstream, but they can’t win a stake or graded stake, that same horse, with the same ability, could probably win a New York-bred stake. You would probably get a $100,000 to $150,000 purse. That’s what I’m talking about—protecting the downside. You can have less horse and still earn purse money.
“I’ve bred and foaled horses in New York to get a New York-bred. If it does run good, I’m going to get some large breeder’s awards. Let’s say I have a New York-bred by our stallion Not This Time (half-brother to Liam’s Map and by Giant’s Causeway) that could win a Gr2 in New York. If you win a $300,000 purse, the winning share is $180,000. I’m going to get $18,000 for being the breeder—10 percent for being a New York-bred.”
Taylor is not planning on moving out of Kentucky, but the government in his state, in his words, “keeps opting to take the horse business for granted.” With the best stallions, Taylor feels he could cut a good deal, load the vans and move out of Kentucky tomorrow, which would not be his first choice.
Kentucky-bred Beholder, owned by B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm, enjoyed annual R&R on pastures in California where she earned most of her $6 million.
His frustration comes mostly from the problems Kentucky is having with their slot machine-like Historical Horse Racing gambling machines. The Historical Horse Racing machines have been a huge moneymaker for Kentucky racing as well as where used in other states. The problem comes from other states legalizing the usage of those machines through their state legislatures, where Kentucky approved them through the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Now, Kentucky is facing opposition for their use from opposing groups and is in the process of having legislative approval to continue their cash flow to racing.
Fortunately, Kentucky legislators did vote to approve Senate Bill 120, after clarification of what constitutes pari-mutuel wagering. The bill now goes to Governor Andy Beshear, who has expressed his support for it.
B. Wayne Hughes, owner of Spendthrift Farm, in Lexington, Ky, has said, “The breeders are the backbone of our industry.” It is hard to argue that point. Most horses bred by Spendthrift Farm go to auction, although they do keep some to race, according to General Manager Ned Toffey.
“These breeders’ incentives are very good programs,” Toffey offered. “Into Mischief had a number of Louisiana-breds when he was getting started, which was useful. We’ve also used the Pennsylvania and New York programs. Normally, if we’re going to use one of those programs, it’s because we have a stallion standing in those states. We may drop a foal by one of our first-year stallions standing here in Kentucky, then breed the mare back to our stallion standing in that state.”
Toffey mentioned they have found it tough to find the types and numbers of mares they look for in the regional programs. Current Spendthrift stallions are able to get a good, solid book of mares at home.
“If we have just the right horse for a regional program, we’re happy to utilize them, but with the horses we’ve brought in, in recent years, we’ve been able to get the numbers we felt they needed here for the most part.”
Change Concerns & Improvements
Louisiana has changed their state-bred rules beginning with foals of 2021. Babies out of resident mares, sired by Louisiana-domiciled stallions will receive full breeder awards per the schedule established by the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association Board of Directors.
Foals out of resident mares, sired by out-of-state stallions and bred back to Louisiana stallions will collect 90 percent. Foals out of Louisiana-residing mares, sired by out-of-state stallions and bred back to out-of-state stallions will receive 50 percent of full breeder awards.
Previously, breeders could send a mare to an out-of-state stallion, but that foal could not be an accredited Louisiana-bred unless the mare was bred back to a Louisiana-based stallion.
Not all Louisiana stallion owners are happy with the new schedule. Jay Adcock, owner of Red River Farm in Coushatta, La., stands multiple stallions and feels the new rules will send the better mares out of state, causing a drop in the annual foal crop in his state.
“In my opinion, the better mares in Louisiana will be going out of state now,” said Adcock, who sits on the LTBA Board. “Someone like myself and others standing stallions in the state had thought they at least had a chance at someone’s better mares every other year. I keep mares for myself and for other commercial breeders. They have already told me I have no chance of breeding those mares. It’s really going to penalize somebody with a young stallion. This is my opinion, but there’s a bunch of us that actually think that.”
“I’m a mare proponent,” Adcock added. “Yes, I want a nice stallion, but I do believe it is the mares that prove a horse.”
Adcock has concerns about the Louisiana foal crop shrinking due to the new rules. Commercial breeders sending a mare to Kentucky will most likely return that baby to the larger Kentucky market to sell. It doesn’t seem a reach to assume those auctions would bring a better price than in Louisiana.
ISSUE 59 (PRINT)
$6.95
ISSUE 59 (DIGITAL)
$3.99
WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?