Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓
November 6th, 2022 — Uncategorized
If you were watching the R75 1100 event at Riccarton yesterday, it would have been hard not to be impressed by Amberecho’s emphatic victory.
The word on the street before the race was that front-runners were going to find the head-wind difficult to manage. Our daughter of Echoes of Heaven has always liked to lead, so there wasn’t an over-abundance of confidence in my mind as to how matters would turn out.
I shouldn’t have worried. Amberecho jumped well, settled outside the leader and engaged her afterburners with 300 to go, leaving her rivals well and truly astern.
Hopefully, she’ll be competitive in black-type events before the end of the season.
Our other Echoes of Heaven progeny, the four-win gelding Our Echo, scored a comprehensive victory at last week’s Ashburton trials. He’d been suffering from a wind affliction before his Trentham win in January; shortly afterwards it worsened to the extent that an operation was required.
We’re very grateful to Australian vet Ian Fulton for performing said operation, which to date has been successful. Echo won’t be appearing over the Riccarton carnival; he could well kick off at Cromwell later in November.
And there’s more. Our broodmare Misty Trella foaled an Echoes of Heaven filly some three weeks ago. The mare has produced nothing of note so far but, in my opinion, the mating is a cracker. Will the EoH factor be enough to produce a decent racehorse?
September 18th, 2022 — Uncategorized
That’s the question which so many of us are currently asking.
We are part of an industry with declining numbers of mares being bred, declining numbers of stallions available and – unsurprisingly – declining numbers of foals making an appearance each Spring.
Last breeding season, 4586 mares were covered – 1918 fewer than 14 years previously; 2893 foals were born – 1660 fewer than in 2008-2009.
Even more dramatic was the decreasing numbers of stallions at stud: 170 to 106 over the same time-period.
And yet we are told that the industry is doing just fine. Really?
Our breeders are continuing to produce a quality product. Studs are investing in stallions as cleverly as they’ve ever done but we’re getting to the stage where stallion choices for breeders are so limited we’ve got to ask the question – is it all worth it?
I have a policy of never paying more than $4000 – ish for a service fee. According to www.arion.co.nz just 34 stallions stand at this figure or below. Once you eliminate the proven failures, horses that stand at the other end of the country and those with pedigrees that simply don’t suit your mare, there’s not a lot left.
So what to do? The only answer I can think of is to patronise those stallions which offer excellent value.
I’ll name just six of them. I’m not saying that the other 28 are not worth considering but for my mares I really like – in no particular order – Echoes of Heaven, Pure Champion, Jon Snow, El Doute, Mongolian Falcon and Embellish.
Or is it smarter to just do nothing?
June 7th, 2022 — Uncategorized
Isn’t it a wonderful thing to read that an exciting stallion prospect will stand at an affordable fee?
So often you read in a press release that stallion Y is to be retired to stud. Your eyes are conditioned to flick to the bottom of the article to look for the number with the dollar sign in front of it. So often you’re disappointed to discover that the horse’s management considers that he’s well on the way to being champion sire before he’s even served a mare and have priced him accordingly.
But not today.
When assessing a stallion, we breeders look for high levels of athletic ability, soundness and temperament. Sometimes we have to compromise on one of these factors if we really like a stallion.
The Chosen One ticks all these boxes. In addition, he’s by our champion stallion from what is arguably New Zealand’s best female family. And yes, this the same family which underpins Grangewilliam’s promising The Bold One.
Many of The Bold One’s initial books of mares were modest. It’s hard to imagine The Chosen One is going to suffer from the same affliction.
May 27th, 2022 — Uncategorized
Like most breeders, I need to find a way of turning offspring into income. This year, there are four yearlings which need to find new homes via sale or lease.
Currently on Gavelhouse is the first of these, an impressive rising colt by Pure Champion ex the Fast ‘n’ Famous mare Zayzay. Having extolled the virtues of Pure Champion on this site, I thought that I’d put my money where my mouth was and buy a mare which suited him down to the ground.
The reasons behind the mating are explained on the Gavelhouse blurb (Lot 29); the way this strapping chestnut has grown out gives me cause for hope that I’ve got the mating right.
On her day, Zayzay had ability well above the average: feel free to check out her winning performances on www.loveracing.co.nz
If you have any queries about this racing prospect, do get in touch.
May 23rd, 2022 — Uncategorized
It’s always important to have a strategy when you’re breeding thoroughbreds. In the case of Manhattan Melody, the best strategy seems reasonably obvious.
The performance of the mare’s current foals is going to be a key factor in increasing her value, but it also makes sense to find a stallion on the rise so that if the Toronado, Charm Spirit and Turn Me Loose offspring turn out to be unremarkable, then we still have a chance to make a decent profit on breeding a foal from her.
Also, there seems to be little point spending a heap of money on the 2022 service fee as the mare has yet to prove herself.
So what stallions are clearly “on the rise” and still affordable?
A horse I’ve a lot of time for is Derryn. His 2YOs are looking promising; many of them are good physical types who should improve with age. There are also a heap of his progeny out there: he has 59 2YOs and another 68 yearlings to follow.
It’s too early to say exactly what bloodlines will suit our mare best, but there does seem to be a strong likelihood that Sir Tristram will suit both the Manhattan Rain and the Broad Brush aspects of her pedigree. Many of Derryn’s foals to date do seem to throw to Lonhro to a reasonable extent, so he does appear to be worth serious consideration.
May 12th, 2022 — Uncategorized
Following my previous post, I’ve had some strong enquiries about this mare and have kept on digging.
The first thing that attracted me about her was that she was out of a Broad Brush mare, herself a full-sister to a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner.
Broad Brush’s figures are exceptional. 83% winners to starters (cf Zabeel and Savabeel – both 72%); 19% stakeswinners to winners (cf Zabeel and Savabeel – both 15%).
Concern was the Breeders’ Cup winner referred to above. His victory in the 1994 renewal of the Classic is remarkable (and available on Youtube). His career as a stallion was handicapped by starting off in Maryland and then being relocated to Oklahoma but his figures as a broodmare sire are respectable: 146 winners from 204 runners and an AEI of 1.31.
I’ve tracked down Manhattan Melody’s first foal, the 2g by Toronado, as far as Lindsay Park. I’ve messaged them but have received no reply as yet. Leanach Lodge prepared him for the HIT sale and reported that as a yearling he was nothing spectacular, but as he got older, he became increasingly impressive.
The mare was previously domiciled at Windsor Park. I spoke to Steve Till about her. He mentioned that she’d been originally bought by a Hong Kong investor in New Zealand bloodstock who had a policy of turning over his mares on a regular basis. He was very positive about the mare.
MM is currently at Norwegian Park. Peter Westend described her as a “nice, big mare with a very nice nature.”
May 4th, 2022 — Uncategorized
Four years ago this broodmare daughter of Manhattan Rain from a serious black-type American family and in-foal to the High Chaparral stallion Toronado made $30,500 at an Inglis on-line sale.
That Toronado colt attracted a bid of $120,000 at the NZB HIT sale last year.
Yesterday his dam made $500 as Lot 43 in a Gavelhouse mixed sale. She was not in foal but, in addition to her first foal, she had left a yearling Charm Spirit colt and a Turn Me Loose filly.
I’ve long been looking for a winning mare with a strong pedigree to act as a standard bearer for an initial Cloughmore Breeding Partnership; this mare is just what I’ve hoping to find.
If you’re interested in joining me in the ownership of this mare – at cost – just flick me an email (jeffreys@inspire.net.nz)
March 19th, 2022 — Uncategorized
It’s been three years since I’ve discovered a yearling prospect from the Karaka Sales that I’ve really liked and which seemed to offer good value for money.
Northern Racing purchased Lot 487 from Book 1, a brown filly by Belardo from the Carnegie mare Petit Verdot. She’s a correct, medium-sized filly with a good walk. To my eye, she resembles her half-brother Antonio Lombardo (13 wins, six of which were in Group or listed events). Her dam has also left the very capable Group 3 winner Master of Arts (Mastercraftsman) and four other winners. A non-winner by O’Reilly has left a couple of very handy Queensland winners.
What’s really interesting in her pedigree is that it possesses two highly successful nicks – Danehill x Sadler’s Wells and Storm Cat x Centaine – and that the female family has been throwing up class animals for generations. This filly’s seventh dam, Pay Roll was the grand-dam of the brilliant Cadiz, winner of 22 races, including the Hollywood Gold Cup; there have been a host of black-type winners between then and now.
The filly was purchased for $50,000. Trainer Chris Gibbs estimates that with GST, insurance and entry for the Karaka Millions series, the total cost will be around $67,000. Therefore a 1% share will equate to approximately $670; monthly costs are estimated at $30-$35. I will be taking a share myself and, as always, there will be no administration fees.
If you’re interested do have a good look at www.nzb.co.nz and/or just flick me an email: jeffreys@inspire.net.nz
January 4th, 2022 — Uncategorized
I’ve been a fan of Pure Champion for quite some time now and it’s encouraging that he’s left a horse with undoubted class.
Tyler Eight has started four times and recorded three impressive victories; it’s hard to imagine him not gaining black type in the near future.
So what of his pedigree? He comes from a consistent family but one that has failed to gain black type in its most recent three generations. His fifth dam is the speedy Pakistan 11 mare, Taj Rani, herself a half-sister to the dam of the brilliant Weenell. Stars from the family in recent decades include Confiscate, Sarah Fay and Eastern Classic.
There’s a lot to like about Tyler Eight’s pedigree mix. To begin with, both sire and dam feature the Rahy – Nijinsky cross. There’s also the Storm Cat – Sir Tristram nick, Inbreeding to Danzig, Ribot and Mr Prospector, not to mention Secretariat and Sir Ivor. Most importantly, all these influences work well together.
One of my favourite duplications is Grey Sovereign, especially when it’s coupled with Princely Gift. Given Grey Sovereign’s temperament, inbreeding to him might seem to be anything but a smart move, but one of the first things I noticed when I started to observe pedigrees closely back in the late 1960’s, was that Grey Sovereign duplications could work effectively and that many pedigrees of good horses featured both Grey Sovereign and Princely Gift. Tyler Eight has two lines of Grey Sovereign and one of Princely Gift.
Racing needs star performers; I strongly suspect that Tyler Eight will be a star of the not too distant future.
December 28th, 2021 — Uncategorized
If you read posts on this site regularly, you’ll recall that back in January I mentioned that our recommended purchase Dee and Gee had just broken the Wingatui 2200 record with a time of 2:13.25. I pointed out that this was a remarkable performance as the undulating nature of the course really does mitigate against the fastest times being recorded there. The best time ever recorded in New Zealand was Caruba’s 2:12.5 at Trentham, back in 1978.
Caruba’s record still stands but El Gladiador, one of our recommended matings, went within a breath of setting new national figures yesterday. The son of Ghibellines had won the Dunedin Guineas earlier in his career but had since indicated that he really needed a strong pace to show his best form. On Sunday, he got just that and stormed home to win by the best part of a length in a stunning 2:12.58 – highly likely to be the second fastest time ever recorded for 2200 metres in New Zealand racing history.
And there’s more. On both occasions, the runner-up was our homebred Riviera Rock. Superbly ridden by Lee Callaway, his front-running style was the making of the race. His 2:12.73 is almost certainly the third-fastest 2200 time recorded here.
Not bad for a quirky, cantankerous individual who has a strong preference for doing things his way. He’s often tested Graham and Michael Eade’s patience, but their amazing horsemanship has been responsible for his success.
