Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓
September 15th, 2024 — Uncategorized
To be entirely honest, I had forgotten that such awards existed, so was surprised to learn that our homebred Our Echo had been judged top South Island sprinter for the 2023-2024 season. I assumed that his victory in March’s WRC Lightning Handicap had clinched the deal.
So, as you do, I got Googling to discover more details. There was nothing about the awards celebration, except for a list of winners. As I scanned down the list, I noticed that the Champion Stayer award had gone to Shockallia. Readers of this site will recall that this son of Shocking was a Cloughmore recommended mating back in the day.
To be fair, I was pretty chuffed. Both horses deserve some sort of recognition – as do their trainers, jockeys, work riders, stablehands, vets and farriers.
Racing is very much a team sport.
August 13th, 2024 — Uncategorized
Readers of this site will be familiar with my enthusiasm for the Waimate-based son of Footstepsinthesand. Recent events have done nothing to dull that positive attitude.
Day 1 on the carnival saw the tough Street Fightin’ Man win the open sprint; Wednesday was Peecee Pussycat’s turn in the limelight with his victory in the open staying event; the final day featured the exciting Riviera Rebel dominate his rivals in the R75 1600 race.
It is certainly fair to say that these three winners don’t resemble each other much and they certainly operate over a variety of distances. However, they all are tough, sound individuals who show a strong will to win.
And isn’t that what breeding thoroughbreds is all about?
July 20th, 2024 — Breeding Theory, Uncategorized
A couple of days ago I was engaged in a conversation with a successful South Island trainer. We were discussing the value of inbreeding and the word “incestuous” came up. Back in the mid 1900’s and beyond, this heavily emotive term was frequently used to discredit attempts to produce inbred thoroughbreds.
However, we’re always looking to find clever ways – preferably at minimum cost – to produce a faster horse, and inbreeding really does seem to work, however one defines that contentious term.
So I had a quick search for some expert commentary on the issue and almost immediately discovered the article linked below.
I also discovered another article which clearly assumed that the concerns raised were of no importance compared with our need to produce thoroughbreds which turned out to be more successful than their peers. This article will appear in a day or two.
Finally, I’ll write a piece which summarises my experiences, both successes and failures.`
Thoroughbred inbreeding now threatening most horse breeds (horsesandpeople.com.au)
March 17th, 2024 — Uncategorized
It is a wonder to me why more people aren’t involved in horse racing. It does require patience and resilience on the part of breeders and owners but surely these are qualities vital for success in just about all aspects of life.
Moreover, in these days of microsyndicates, it’s not an expensive activity. My Cloughmore Racing Partnership owns 9% of a 3YO filly called Vita Amoroso; each partner owns 1% of the horse and is billed around $30 per month. I have no idea what a night on the town costs nowadays, but I’m sure that it’s more than $30.
Sure, some horses are slow and never earn anything back from their owners’ expenses, but it generally doesn’t take long to figure out whether a horse is any good. True, sometimes the trainer isn’t sure on this key point and sometimes the trainer is just plain wrong. An example that still hurts is Dee and Gee. We bought a chunk of her for $1600; five of us outlaid $320 each. She had three starts as a young horse, one of which was quite promising, but the trainer decreed that she had limited ability and our partners were not patient people. So off she went to a South Island stable.
Dee and Gee ended up winning close to $500,000 and included the NZ Cup in her victories. Character building, but at least I had the satisfaction of knowing that I’d selected a good’un – and my resilience levels went through the roof.
But sometimes everything goes right. Judgement and patience are rewarded. And, believe me, there is NOTHING more exciting in life than watching your pride and joy winning a big race.
Yesterday, the Lightning Handicap was run at Trentham. It’s a biggish sprint race and one of the entrants was Our Echo, a horse I’d bred and retained a racing share in. The experts didn’t fancy his chances.
Yet everything went right.
Incidentally, I currently have another Echoes of Heaven for sale or lease. She’s a yearling filly ex the two-win Thorn Park mare, Misty Trella.
February 5th, 2024 — Uncategorized
In recent years, Cloughmore has seldom been without a representative in the time-honoured Wingatui staying test. La Nouvelle Vague led almost all in the way to win in 2017 and Riviera Rock competed every year from 2020 to 2023 for a return of two seconds and a third.
Our son of Road to Rock retired recently after a gallant career which netted him seven wins and a touch over $250,000. When I scanned the Cup acceptances, I noticed that Shockallia was on the minimum but had little hope that he could be competitive against the likes of Capo Dell Impero and Noble Knight.
My Shockallia story began with a phone call from long-time client Terry Archer in early 2011. There was a yearling filly by Bernardini ex Zalinda for sale. Should he and his partners bid on her? It didn’t take too much research for the answer to that question to be a resounding yes.
My enthusiasm for this pedigree was deflated a couple of years later when the filly, now named Berzallia, reached the racetrack. She was an attractive type but no athlete. In a word, she was slow.
It’s always difficult to know what to do with a slow mare with a strong pedigree. Berzallia’s owners decided to try to breed their way out of her. I recommended Shocking as his progeny were tough, athletic and had good base speed.
About this time, management of Rich Hill Stud had come to a similar conclusion. This was a mare that was worth breeding from and a lease arrangement was agreed upon.
Shockallia was the first product of this mating. If you missed his last to first victory at Wingatui last Saturday, do have a look at the replay. It’s seriously impressive.
It’s worth noting that the most recent manifestation of this cross is The Weapon, currently an entrant for the NZ Derby.
December 17th, 2023 — Uncategorized
Next to having kids, the greatest thrill I’ve had in life is when horses I’ve bred have won significant races on more than one occasion.
Picture this. Nine years ago, a mare I’d been gifted, the three-win Sheezashotseye (Cicerao), produced a colt foal by middle-range stallion Road to Rock. The mare was a “shy breeder”, being hard to get pregnant and problematic in terms of maintaining that pregnancy. I’d been injecting her with a magic formula at regular intervals to greatly lessen her chances of aborting the embryo and the hard work paid off.
As a young horse said colt was moody in the extreme, but he moved like silk: I’ve always thought that natural athletes can be forgiven almost everything. Unsurprisingly, he’s still moody; trainer Graham Eade once commented that training him was never boring – you got a new horse every morning.
Anyway, Riviera Rock’s now in the twilight of his career. Each season he’s raced he’s won at least one race and has accumulated no fewer than 13 second placings. He’s no champion but always gives 100%.
Yesterday he raced in the Southland Racing Club’s Southland Crystals, a $50,000 open handicap over 2200 metres. He’d won this event last year but this time around the field was stronger and we’d decided to employ a new jockey. Moreover, had time caught up with him?
As it turned out, trainer Graham Eade was right. He’s at least as good as he was last season.
July 29th, 2023 — Uncategorized
It’s certainly taken longer than I expected but it’s happened. On Friday at the Riccarton polytrack, the imposing 3YO filly Mumbo Jumbo gave her sire his first victory.
And what a win it was. The filly, jumped, drifted, refused to settle, fought her rider and showed every sign of greenness. The upside was that, whereas this sort of equine behaviour usually results in a horse becoming an also ran, Mumbo Jumbo overcame her waywardness to storm home to claim an impressive victory over the 1200 trip. The video is well worth a look.
I’ll admit that this article is partly motivated by a feeling of relief. I have the Savabeel mare Desiree currently in foal to Mongolian Falcon and I also bred and still own a powerfully built rising 2YO filly by the sire. I confess that I still like the stallion, although sending a slow-maturing mare to him might not be the smartest move ever.
My rising 2YO is out of the Rip Van Winkle mare To Love You. She won three races but suffered a tendon injury when the NZ Cup seemed a realistic target. She then died of a twisted bowel eight days after foaling. The filly is 3×3 Galileo, so I’m looking forward to her racing career with some anticipation.
June 30th, 2023 — News, Uncategorized
As some of you will be aware, I have two lives. One is as a breeder and thoroughbred consultant; the other is as a secondary-school teacher of English. In this latter role I’ve spent the last 48 years at Feilding High School. It’s been an absolute blast, but the body is telling me that enough is enough.
Anyway, I won’t be able to afford to keep all my horses when I exit FAHS in early December, so I’ll leave it up to the market to pick through the following animals.
Racehorses for Sale or Lease.
Nortolose (4g Highly Recommended – Flirtation). Slow developing stayer, similar to most of his recent relatives. Has been patiently handled by Danny Frye and is currently spelling. Dam is a ¾ sister to our homebred SW La Nouvelle Vague, the St Reims gelding who holds the Australasian record for 2600 metres Other close relatives are Bodie (G1 Auckland Cup), SP The Jungle Boy and SP Rising Tide.
Unnamed 2f by El Doute – Kool Connection (Iffraaj). The dam is a winning daughter of G3 winner Sokool. Recently broken in by Ilone Kelly, this filly has been spelling for six weeks and is ready to go into full work.
Weanling filly by Echoes of Heaven – Misty Trella (Thorn Park). I deliberately purchased the two-win dam of this filly to go to EoH, a stallion I’ve been fortunate enough to have a fair amount of success with. I can forward you some photos of this filly; they show that she is powerfully built and correct. She’s currently being agisted at Norwegian Park at Karapiro. Peter Westend reports that she has an outstanding attitude.
Mares for Sale or Lease
Desiree (Savabeel), Jenna (O’Reilly), Manhattan Melody (Manhattan Rain), Make Your Move (Rip van Winkle), Flirtation (Colombia), Kool Connection (Iffraaj), Chambon (Jimmy Choux) and Zayzay (Fast n Famous) are all available. The latter two mares are domiciled in the South Island.
Contact details: jeffreys@inspire.net.nz or 0210455855.
April 10th, 2023 — Uncategorized
As I’m sure you all realise, two essential aspects of having a degree of success with thoroughbreds are doing your homework and being patient.
A couple of years ago, the winning Savabeel mare Desiree was offered on Gavelhouse. A couple of detractions were that she was in foal to the unpopular Mongolian Khan and that her first four foals had done absolutely nothing. Nevertheless, she came from a very acceptable family so some further digging was clearly justified.
Hm. The stud which looked after the mare were unable to tell me what had happened to the second and third foals, but a quick Google search informed me that the fourth foal, a colt by Wrote, had made $80,000 as a yearling. The video on the sales website looked impressive enough so I checked the identity of the buyer.
Neil Connors.
I was now seriously interested as it was Neil who, back in the day, had purchased a Stark South yearling later named Bodie that I had done the mating for. A few years later, after Bodie had won the Auckland Cup, Neil asked me to recommend a mating for a speedy Spectacular Love mare he owned; the resulting Al Akbar gelding, later named Race Ahead, won the Singapore Derby.
Today, the Wrote – Desiree gelding won a 1600 maiden event at Woodville. Aptly named Script, he won with some style. Let’s hope he keeps on winning.
Last Winter, I needed to cut down on my numbers so put Desiree and her Mongolian Khan filly on the market. Firstly, there were no takers; then I managed to quit the filly. OK, let’s just find a home for the mare, I thought. I had one nibble but no-one came to pick her up.
I’ve always thought that fortune does indeed favour the brave, so I resolved to keep Desiree and breed from her. Off she went to Mongolian Falcon. A few weeks later, a positive test was returned.
She’s now looking particularly attractive.
November 8th, 2022 — Uncategorized
I’ve learned a lot today.
If you are a regular reader of this site, you’ll have noted that the sidebar of the front page records a steadily increasing number of winners.
And I’ll admit that ever since the consultancy side of my involvement in racing and breeding began in the early 1990’s, I’ve toyed with the idea of accumulating 1000 winners. I’ve always had a soft spot for records – why not set one of my own?
Well, the magic number popped up last Saturday, but it wasn’t until this afternoon that I figured out what had happened.
I knew – or thought – that Amberecho’s Riccarton victory was win #998 so was looking forward to checking out the entries for the final day of Riccarton Carnival. From nowhere came the idea to check out the produce of Terry Archer’s Thorn Park mare, Shaylee Wilde.
I quickly discovered that the recommended mating I’d done for her back in 2016 had morphed into the Zacinto gelding, Joey Jaws. Last year he won a maiden at Queanbeyan and just last Saturday he scored an unexpected victory at Cunnamulla. This was a non-tote meeting featuring a five-race card so it’s fair to say the competition could fairly be described as being weak as it’s possible to find.
Moreover, I’d never heard of Cunnamulla and, for once, Google wasn’t overly helpful. I did learn that the town was some 750 kms from Brisbane and that the railway line goes no further. Accommodation is available at reasonable rates (mixed reviews) and outback tours are offered by enterprising locals.
Anyway, surprises (of both sorts) are an integral part of racing so it’s symbolic that the milestone arrived how it did.
And isn’t it symbolic that this 1000th win was a product of the concerted efforts of so many people. (One gets the impression that Joey’s Jaws is less enthused about racing than his succession of owners and trainers).
So I’d just like to pay tribute to all those industry professionals who have helped me on my way from August 1974 to 5 November 2022. It’s been a blast!
