Entries Tagged 'News' ↓
July 16th, 2012 — Horse Racing, News, Winners
Saturday’s Parliamentary Handicap victory by our tough Shinko King gelding was a a great thrill for his breeders. There may only have been six runners in this year’s renewal but the manner of his win confirmed that he is an above average winter stayer.
Rising Tide was bred by a partnership consisting of Athol and Diane Hunter, Fred Gianone, Vaughan Cronin and myself – a similar partnership to the one responsible for his older half-brother The Jungle Boy (Jungle Pocket).
In 2002 the three win mare Ballina Wave came on to the market. She had previously left the good wet track galloper Vinny’s Image and I had done the mating for her 1997 colt, later named Bodie, who was showing highly promising form. The Lord Ballina mare seemed too good an opportunity to miss so I put together a partnership which included the subsequent breeders of Rising Tide.
However, as any breeder will attest, there are always setbacks to any breeding venture. In December 2002 I was congratulating myself at having selected Pentire as Ballina Wave’s consort and on the mare having returned a positive test to the Rich Hill stallion, then standing at a fee of $6500; the following month came the dreaded phone call – the mare had slipped her foal. The partners accepted the news philosophically and we agreed that Bodie’s sire, Stark South, was the way to go. Bodie had just won the 2003 Auckland Cup so this was just about as obvious a mating as you can get. Who wouldn’t want a full sibling to a Group 1 winner?
In the Spring of 2004 Ballina Wave delivered a filly prior to her covering by Jungle Pocket. Unfortunately, the filly was so bad legged that the only sensible course of action was to give her away when she was old enough to be weaned.
Our luck had to get better – and it did. At least, up to a point. The Jungle Pocket foal turned out to be a colt, if a somewhat plain one, so it was decided to sell him as a weanling. He made $18,000 at the National Weanling Sale – which just about covered what he had cost us.
Undeterred, we continued. In 2006 Ballina Wave produced another plain colt, this time by Shinko King. Declined by New Zealand Bloodstock as a candidate for the Select Sale, he was retained to be raced from the Awapuni stable of Mark Oulaghan. We were joined in the racing partnership by racing stalwart Bill Freeman, Wellington enthusiast Kevin Kane and Stratford vet Philip Jeffreys jnr.
At last we got it right. May the ride continue!
June 23rd, 2012 — Horse Racing, News, Winners
Yesterday’s Amberley meeting at Riccarton featured two $25,000 open events; both were won by Cloughmore representatives. Too Much Torque cantered home in the open sprint over 1200m and in the very next event Comanche Gold out – toughed his opponents in the Greenwood Amberley Cup (1600).
Too Much Torque is product of one of my favourite crosses: Tale of the Cat – Sir Tristram. Dual Group winning sprinter Durham Town is bred on a similar genetic pattern and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Too Much Torque ended up being competitive at a similar level. Taking a three – or four – wide position for the entire journey, the son of juvenile SW Superjet managed to complete the journey in a slick 1:10.48, a remarkable time on the Dead 8 surface.
Thirty – five minutes later Comanche Gold did what he does best. Settling on a strong pace, he hit the front early in the run home and fought off the strong finishing The Hammer Head to win by a narrow margin. This was his fourth win over the Riccarton mile; hopefully he will be back to contest the Group 3 Winter Cup in early August. His sire, the Danehill son Hawkeye, hasn’t done much as a stallion but clearly was well suited by the speed – bred Festal mare Treadgold. Her dam Can Lah (Riverton) was a quick on – pace performer; she’s also the grand-dam of the useful Howbaddouwantit mares Malissimo (6 wins) and Vincitore (4 wins to date).
Malissimo was catalogued in the recent NZB May sale and I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase her in foal to Nom Du Jeu. As Comanche Gold was Treadgold’s last foal, I’m really looking forward to breeding from this family again.
Fingers crossed!
June 18th, 2012 — Horse Racing, News, Winners
Cloughmore’s golden June run continued on Saturday with a double at Ellerslie. Only the day before the much improved Miss El Bee Dee had completed a double of her own at Timaru’s Phar Lap Raceway.
We all knew that The Jungle Boy was a more than handy horse but even his most enthusiastic admirers were expecting no more than a strong finishing run in the $25,000 Chevalier Produce Mile. The track conditions were in his favour and he was aided by a clever ride from top jockey Matthew Cameron but what was really impressive was his determination not to be headed by the very good winter milers Matost and Taking the Mickey.
It appears that the son of Jungle Pocket and the good producer Ballina Wave will be heading to Melbourne next month with the express aim of winning some nice handicaps over ground. Given Saturday’s performance, one would not want to bet against this happening.
Just one race earlier on the Ellerslie card, the Terry Archer- bred Splitfire broke through for her maiden win. Her previous form had not indicated that she was capable of winning a good race at any level on a major track but her determined finish over 1400 showed how wrong I – for one – was. The Keeper mare is out of the speedy SP Mi Signora, a very challenging mare to provide mating advice on. She had previously left nonentities by Zabeel and Stravinsky (2) but did leave the very good Malaysian Group 1 winner Professional Man to Royal Academy. Her last foal, a now 2YO filly by Any Suggestion, has recently been named Mi Idea.
Nothing’s ever perfect in racing and it was disappointing that The Jungle Boy’s half-brother Rising Tide could do no better than fourth in the open stayers’ event at Awapuni. Still, we did learn that running him close to the pace isn’t the way to go – so it wasn’t all bad news.
June 8th, 2012 — Horse Racing, News
Yes, it’s been a while since something headline – worthy occurred but today Pamina, Miss El Bee Dee and Browne Sugar combined to do just that at Phar Lap Raceway
Pamina was a recommended purchase last year at the Karaka sales, as Browne Sugar was three years previously. Both were purchased by Riccarton trainer Kevin Hughes. Miss El Bee Dee was a recommended mating for Cloughmore client Donald Tait.
Apart from today’s success, things have ticking over well enough with 24 individual winners doing us proud prior to today. However, it’s the near misses in black-type races that have been my personal highlights since my last article appeared. Our homebred Comanche Gold ran a strong second in the CJC Easter Cup (Group 3) and O’Reilly filly Thy (recommended mating) did even better with her Group 1 third in the Randwick ATC Oaks. Comanche Gold will be aimed at the Riccarton winter carnival; Thy is apparently being reserved for Melbourne spring events.
As always at this time of the year, new stallions have been announced and the crystal ball dusted off. I’ve never been a great fan of recomending first-season horses, preferring to wait until at least the first crop of foals have hit the weanling sales but this year has seen the retirement of one of our best Kiwi-bred stallion prospects for some time – Jimmy Choux. I was contracted by Rich Hill to give my opinion on what bloodlines would especially suit the five-time Group 1 winner and one point I do want to pass on is that he could well develop an affinity with descendants of supersire Sir Tristram. My rationale, together with my other thoughts on the subject, can be found on the Rich Hill website.
On the topic of websites, in the next few weeks I hope to develop a new page on this site. Clearly, times are hard and money is tight so it seemed a good time to focus on stallions standing at $3000 or less. Two horses I intend to feature are Mettre En Jeu and Tobique.
March 3rd, 2012 — Horse Racing, News
It’s been a steady start to 2012 but Ellerslie provided a spectacular boost to the Cloughmore fortunes today with both The Jungle Boy and Durham Town recording impressive victories.
Homebred The Jungle Boy trialled encouragingly for Wednesday’s Group 1 Auckland Cup, showing impressive acceleration from the back to the field to narrowly defeat a game Titch and the favourite Shez Sinsational in the Nathans Memorial Handicap. The Cup field will also feature Single Minded and Blood Brotha, to name but two well-credentialled rivals, so it will be anything but a walk in the park next week for the Jungle Pocket 6YO. Nevertheless, there’s certainly cause for hope.
The absence of Nash Rawiller indicated that Durham Town had every chance of success in the Group 3 Darley Plate over 1200 metres – and so it proved. This horse is one serious sprinter: he’s got good gate speed, the ability to relax and a devastating turn of foot, even on tracks that don’t really suit him. In my opinion, he still has room for improvement and you wouldn’t be surprised if ultimately he was competitive in Australia.
As readers are well aware, the Falkirk gelding was bought by Donna Logan out of the Festival Sale of 2009, Cloughmore providing pedigree advice in support of the purchase. This year’s sales resulted in six lots ending up in the ownership of Cloughmore clients: fillies by Sir Percy – Devant (Zabeel), Elvstroem – Evana (Entrepreneur), Keeper – Giuliana (Zabeel), Sakhee’s Secret – Louders (Danasinga), Thorn Park – Lyric (Grosvenor) and a colt by Any Suggestion – Diaga (Kinjite). Although Premier Sale vendors found the going difficult, it was not easy to buy a quality individual at either the Select or Festival levels.
Talking of quality individuals, I was much impressed by the stock of Mettre En Jeu in the Festival Sale. The colts I saw all looked very much the same and, as Mettre En Jeu looks very much like Montjeu, this has to be good news. On following up my observations with studmaster Nigel Auret, he commented that Letham has some yearling fillies available at a reasonable price. Given the increased advantages enjoyed by fillies through the revamped handicapping system, buying a nice filly is becoming an interesting investment option.
January 9th, 2012 — Breeding Theory, News, Value For Money
I mentioned in my last article that there were 12 lots with a Cloughmore connection in the 2012 catalogues and promised to give readers some details about them. So here we go.
The Premier Sale includes two recommended matings, both colts. One is by Darci Brahma ex Showileo and the other a son of O’Reilly out of the Group 2 winner Star Affair. The Darci Brahma colt is a standout in terms of athleticism and I’m thrilled by the recent progress of the Danehill – Sadler’s Wells cross, Frankel being the star. The O’Reilly comes from another rock-solid family; he is a good type with an outstanding temperament. Star Way mares are always something of a challenge to mate but this one has already produced a colt and a filly by O’Reilly which have been well received in the sale ring and are showing promise in the early stages of their careers.
The Select Sale features colts by Falkirk – Baci, Bachelor Duke – Lady Cherokee, Magic Albert – Quiet Please, Strategic – Sotela and Iffraaj – Straight Lake.
The Falkirk mating had a significant conformation aspect to it; Baci is a chunky mare and Falkirk was suggested as a stallion which should provide more scope whilst retaining the mare’s speed.
Lady Cherokee is by Cherokee Run from a superb family. Cherokee Run has had mixed success as a broodmare sire but he crosses well with two stallions in particular – Seattle Slew and Mr.Prospector; Bachelor Duke has both these influences close up.
The Magic Albert and Strategic colts were in utero when their dams were purchased by clients; in both cases I felt that the unborn foals contributed significantly to the value of the packages.
As regards Iffraaj, there seems to be a very strong likelihood that his stock will represent good value. Last year his yearlings brought ridiculous prices; now that his second NH crop has not done as well as his first, the market will no doubt over-react. Buyers should remember that Iffraaj was a much better racehorse as a 4YO and a 5YO than he was in his younger days.
The Select fillies are by Pentire ex Eyes Light Up, Thorn Park – Lady Cavalier and Pins – Sheza Gem.
The Pentire is bred on the highly successful Tudor Minstrel – Star Kingdom nick with some strong Djebel influences thrown in. This is a consistent family which has produced some smart fillies over the years.
Consistency is also a major attraction of the Thorn Park filly’s family. The dam was only narrowly beaten at Group 1 level and the sire was selected to inject just a little more class into the pedigree.
The Pins mating for Sheza Gem was an obvious way of reinforcing the key Star Kingdom and Northern Dancer elements of her pedigree. It never pays to ignore the obvious.
Finally, in the Festival catalogue there are the Don Eduardo – Prangelica and the Perfectly Ready – Superbly Bred colts, both very strong matings. The former pedigree imitates that of the classy stayer All In Black; the latter is a mirror pedigree featuring some of the leading stallions and female families of thoroughbred breeding.
Incidentally, photos of the Magic Albert, Don Eduardo, Perfectly Ready and Pins yearlings can be viewed on the Totara Park Stud website.
Please feel free to contact me if you’d like further information on the above yearlings.
December 21st, 2011 — Breeding Theory, News, Winners
One of the difficulties of advising clients about mating their mares is keeping a track of their eventual decisions and the results of those decisions.
In yesterday’s edition of the Manawatu Standard there was a short article about the impressive Awapuni winner, Nashville. The writer referred to the gelding being by Darci Brahma out of the Royal Academy mare Royal Kiss. That sounded familiar so I went to the filing system and it all came back to me.
I also remembered many interesting conversations I had with the late Bob Tait on the subject of breeding thoroughbreds. One such conversation involved Bob’s determination to send a mare to the first-season sire Darci Brahma. Should he send Royal Kiss or Key of Future? On analysing their pedigrees it became apparent that both mares would suit the son of Danehill very well indeed; I wrote to Bob and commented that “both appear to be excellent matings”. The Royal Kiss mating could “produce a racehorse with real brilliance”.
I am normally quite conservative in the way I phrase recommendations but this mating did appear to be somewhat special as it contained what I regarded as at least four major nicks. There certainly was a degree of inbreeding but the nicks were the key point I raised in my letter. It is going to be very interesting indeed to follow Nashville’s progress: if he turns out as good as I suspect him to be, he’ll be a very handy point of reference for future recommendations. I’ve long been doubtful about the wisdom of slavish devotion to inbreeding; identfying successful crosses which work well with other successful crosses seems to make much more sense.
Very much on the same theory one of my own mares, Mi Minnie, had been sent to D’Cash. Her second foal by him contracted a virus in his first few months of life and when I went to inspect my colt he was so unimpressive that I decided that as soon as he was weaned I would give him away. He wasn’t worth the expense of entering him in a sale. One had to be realistic.
Well, Lucario has yet to run out of the money. The recipients of the gift horse did a great job of making him the best he could be and after three consecutive placings sold him to clients of top Australian trainer Mark Kavanagh. After a placing and a spell Lucario was entered for a 1400 metre maiden at Ballarat on Sunday. As you’ll imagine, I watched the race with mixed feelings. Still no oil painting, he nonetheless was one of those horses which you’d describe as “big enough if he’s good enough”. On this occasion he was clearly good enough and beat his nearest rival, an expensive Encosta de Lago colt, convincingly.
Hm!
November 22nd, 2011 — Horse Racing, News, Winners
It might have been only a modest R68 event at provincial Moe but Firejet’s impressive win today was a real milestone for Cloughmore.
The product of a recommended mating, the Tale of the Cat gelding showed impressive acceleration over the final 150m to score a facile victory. He’s a son of SW Superjet and, although he has the challenging temperament typical of the mare’s progeny, he clearly has the ability to win races in much better company.
I’ve always liked the Tale of the Cat – Sir Tristram cross and it’s encouraging to see that other examples of the cross are also showing considerable ability. A case in point is the highly promising sprinter Durham Town (Falkirk – Durham Walk by Marju out of a Sir Tristram mare). On the subject of Falkirk, isn’t he doing well? He’s got three really good ones in Hong Kong – plus some progressive types at home.
Getting back to the headline, it’s always pleasing to surpass previous achievements. October was a record month, producing ten winners, but narrowly missing a couple of black-type victories has served to keep the feet on the ground. Rising Tide finished a game second in his first start in open company, the listed Feilding Cup, and his half-brother The Jungle Boy almost won the race that, as a breeder, I’d like to win more than anything else – the Group 3 New Zealand Cup. This was just three days after Comanche Gold’s chapter of accidents in the Coupland’s Mile (Group 2). Let’s hope he used up all his bad luck in the process!
On the subject of hope, the recent results of the Horses In Training Sale are a great confidence booster. It’s particularly encouraging that the sale is producing more consistent results across the whole catalogue; it’s a significant boost to breeders to be presented with another viable means of marketing their stock.
October 9th, 2011 — Horse Racing, News
Four wins in the last four days have brought our total of 2011 winners to 48, equalling last year’s record. However, of more significance than mere numbers has been the degree of promise shown by Comanche Gold, Rising Tide, The Jungle Boy and Showcause.
Certainly, Showcause – last season’s Mercedes Stayer of the Year – is a proven galloper but his run in The Bart Cummings last weekend held real promise for his Australian campaign. He appears to have been thrown into the Melbourne Cup with just 50.5 kg, but the downside of that is that he’s going to have to win something significant between now and the first Tuesday in November. If he can get a firm track he must have a serious chance of a win and that vital re-handicap.
Comanche Gold’s win at Riccarton on Saturday raises the question of just how good he is. One never wants to get too far ahead of oneself in racing but I was thrilled with his win. Until now he had appeared to be a little one-dimensional, all his wins having been from the front, but his finishing burst to beat a good field of sprinters was encouraging to say the least.
The previous day, Rising Tide clearly appreciated his return to Trentham and the distance of 2100m to score a tough win against an admittedly weak field of Rating 90 gallopers. This was his third win this preparation and it’s great to see our syndicate members enjoying the ride. He will be aimed at a R90 2200 event at Trentham’s Labour Weekend meeting.
Not to be outdone, our Shinko King gelding’s older half-brother The Jungle Boy scored a strong win at Whangarei last month. I note that he is a late nomination for the New Zealand Cup; he’s certainly got the pedigree to run a strong 3200.
On the subject of pedigrees, our mares are booked to Any Suggestion (Tuscany Rose) and Duelled (Sakura Cluden). Another mare may also be bred from but this does seem to be a season to go cautiously. Some studs are really meeting the market and deserve to be supported by breeders; if you know of any good deals that can be publicised, do let me know and I’ll put together another article in a few days.
August 14th, 2011 — News, Winners
Our Hawkeye gelding capped off a very pleasing Winter carnival by again being too strong for his opposition in Saturday’s Rating 90 1600 event.
It takes a good horse to step up from Rating 75 to Rating 90 but Comanche Gold handled the class rise with aplomb – not a bad effort for a horse having only his eighth start. It will be interesting to see where Graham Eade takes him next.
The Eades have done a great job with the horse which they race on lease. They also have another of my homebreds, a four year old Mr Nancho – Antonella gelding; a big horse, he is taking time but is showing promise at this stage.
Another winner for Cloughmore at the Grand National meeting was Super Glow, an impressive winner of the maiden hurdles on the middle day. Resulting from a recommended mating, he has always looked like a jumper and I wouldn’t be surprised if he went on to show good form over the bigger obstacles.
One of the attractions of the Riccarton meeting is the excellent stakes on offer – a reminder that it can be a profitable strategy to race your own horses or lease them instead of depending on the vagaries of the yearling sales market to get a return. With the Festival Sale being a buyers’ paradise and even the Select offering breeeders an excellent chance to lose large sums of money, I suspect that broodmare owners will increasingly look at alternative means of marketing their stock.
The recently announced stakes increase from 1 March 2012 was great news and offers breeders renewed hope of gaining a return from racing. However, indications that several of our Group races may well be downgraded to bring our racing in line with international standards was anything but welcome information. Why would you deliberately downgrade your product in tough financial times?
