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Gavelhouse Debut For Cloughmore

Most of us will have watched the All Blacks’ loss to France this morning. How to cope with those feelings of disappointment, anger, maybe even grief?

My solution has been to replay the recent wins of Ever Laugh (HK), Our Echo, Amberecho and Riviera Rock. Ever Laugh’s victory was exceptionally special as his seventh win took his stakes-winnings to over NZ$1 million; he thus became the third Cloughmore product to reach this milestone, the earlier two being the legendary All In Fun and the 2010 Singapore Derby winner Race Ahead.

Getting back to the headline, I’ve had no luck attempting to sell or lease a couple of 2YO fillies I’ve bred. Both are quite appealing.

The Darci Brahma filly ex Make Your Move has been a stunner since the day she was born. She’s a strongly-built filly, correct, with a good attitude. Her dam is by Rip Van Winkle, so she’s bred on the phenomenal Danehill- Sadler’s Wells nick.

The Derryn filly is ex the five-win mare Tuscany Rose, dam also of the winner, Slim. She’s clearly the best looking of her dam’s five foals and is a great walker – a real athlete.

I’d normally retain both fillies and syndicate them amongst friends and a trainer’s clients but it’s been a bit of a battle in the current climate and it’s time they generated some income.

The reserves will be reasonable.

300 Individual Winners For Cloughmore

Yesterday’s Wingatui meeting saw Cloughmore runners reach a milestone with Amberecho (3f Echoes of Heaven – Sita) winning the 1250 maiden event.

I’d noticed the filly in last year’s South Island Sale catalogue and was impressed by both her pedigree and her type. I phoned client Karen Parsons who has had much success with the filly’s elder half-sister Sitarist and recommended that she purchased her. Karen duly did so and offered me a 10% share which I accepted with alacrity.

Amberecho developed good trials form and, after a promising fourth at her first raceday start, was too quick for her opposition yesterday. She isn’t far away from a well-deserved spell, but may have another start before she goes to the paddock.

I’ve always admired Echoes of Heaven as a stallion and have been lucky enough to have had a significant level of success with his progeny. Recommended matings have produced the brilliant Singaporean galloper Siam Blue Vanda, SP filly Tears of an Angel and last season’s 2YO winner, All in Echoes. Our homebred Our Echo won well over 1200 at a recent Riccarton meeting and will hopefully continue with his good form.

Echoes of Heaven’s statistics tell a very interesting story. Not only is his winners to runners percentage a very healthy 56%, but his wins to winners ratio is very close to 3.0. In other words, his average winner wins three races. Few stallions can boast such a figure, which is, of course, indicative of soundness and excellent racing temperament. Given that many of his progeny are still in action, this figure is likely to become even more impressive over time.

The other benefit of using Echoes of Heaven is that he does appear to respond to certain bloodlines in his mares. The Best In Show family and Never Bend appear to be especially effective.

This season I’ve sent my Thorn Park mare Misty Trella to the stallion. If you have a look at her pedigree, you’ll quickly see why.

Tardis Immense At Newbury

It’s always exciting when you’ve got a mare in foal to stallion who’s just having his first runners and it’s especially exciting if two of those progeny are entered for a black-type event.

So just imagine you have a mare in foal to Time Test, go to YouTube and find the video of Race 5 at Newbury last night. The race concerned is the Listed St Hugh Stakes and the Time Test juvenile Tardis falls out of the gates, is all over the place in the run and then simply explodes over the last 100 metres.  The other Time Test entrant, Romantic Time, whose dam is bred on a Sir Percy x Entrepreneur cross, surely needs more ground than the five furlongs and a few yards of the event. (She’s already had a couple of victories, so no worries there).

Tardis’ dam is by the speed influence Equiano out of a dam by the legendary Green Desert: it’s no surprise that she’s a quick filly. However, most breeders try to produce a fast horse with gears, as opposed to a speedy squib and it’s unarguable that Tardis has gears aplenty.

The mare I have sitting in the front paddock is the Rip Van Winkle offspring, Make Your Move. I bought her from Pencarrow and if you saw her you’d understand why she was sold on. She has a lovely head but she otherwise resembles a beer barrel on reasonably short legs. However, she produced a cracking filly by Darci Brahma, now a 2YO (and available for lease), so I’m looking forward to her Time Test foal arriving.

The foal will be closely inbred to both Dansili and Sadler’s Wells. The Dansili duplication is something of a gamble but I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work.

Top Brass Impressive At Te Rapa

One bonus of getting older is that it’s fascinating to track the progress of families you’ve had something to do with back in the day.

Yesterday’s victory by Top Brass (Epaulette) is a case in point. Back in 1998 I suggested to long-time client Terry Archer that the Jetball – Precious Platinum (Sir Tristram) filly in the National Yearling Sale catalogue might be a good buy. Marscay x Sir Tristram appealed strongly and anything tracing to one of my all-time favourite horses, Ajasco, had to be worth serious consideration. Terry shelled out $80,000 for the filly and as Superjet she obliged by winning a couple of 2YO stakes races for him.

Superjet turned out to be a successful but not outstanding broodmare. One of her offspring was the Kaapstad filly Golden Lights and I was consulted again to advise how best to mate her. The result was the five-win High Chaparral mare Highlight – not far from being a very good mare indeed.

Highlight concluded her racing career in Australia and Terry decided that breeding her there was a smart option. I’d always liked Epaulette and the pedigrees matched up really well. The result is Top Brass – as yesterday showed, a very smart sprinter indeed.

Another blast from the past was yesterday’s impressive triple Derby winner, Explosive Jack. I had nothing to do with the mating which produced him, but I did advise on the mating which produced his dam, the Ekraar mare Extra Explosive. I rate Ekraar mares highly and used him on three occasions in the hope of producing a good filly. All I succeeded in doing was to produce the slowest horse I’ve ever had anything to do with (his dam turned out to be entirely useless), a filly which bled and a chestnut gelding still at home as a 3YO. He’s a gorgeous walker who has yet to learn that getting entangled in fences is not a smart thing to do.

Breeding thoroughbreds is a great way of keeping humble.

Another Prospect for Cloughmore Racing

This year’s Karaka Sales have been a roller-coaster in terms of prices and consequent value for money.

Day One featured some 25% of lots being passed in; many had acceptable pedigrees, good X-rays and impressive physiques.

An example is Lot 143, a bay colt by Vadamos out of the Zabeel mare Stanica. He’s one of his Group 1 winning sire’s second New Zealand crop and his dam is a Group 1 placed daughter of Zabeel from a strong American family. Stanica has already left five winners including the Group 3 winning Pins gelding Rhythm To Spare (11 wins, A$812,000).

The colt walks well and appears to have an excellent attitude. He is slightly offset in one knee but his X-rays are clear.

To date our racing partnership has invested in eleven yearlings with a total cost of $162,000 over the last ten years. Three are either still racing or are about to do so but our purchases have generated over $1,000,000 so far.

We generally buy a minority share (10 to 20%) in our selected yearlings; spreading the risk has much to recommend it. Chris Gibbs has purchased this colt for $25,000 – excellent value, in my opinion. If you’re interested in being part of Cloughmore Racing, check out this yearling on www.nzb.co.nz then get in touch with me at jeffreys@inspire.net.nz or 0210455855

Dee and Gee Smashes Wingatui Track Record

The Cloughmore quinella in today’s Waikouaiti Cup was a real thrill but even more exciting was the performance of the Darci Brahma mare Dee and Gee. The previous record for the Wingatui 2200 metres was 2:14.9 but these figures were consigned to history and replaced by a stunning 2:13.25.

Wingatui is an undulating course and therefore not especially conducive to fast times but today’s effort is not far behind the 2:12.5 posted by the Bandmaster 11 gelding Caruba at Trentham in 1978. It is to this venue that Dee and Gee will return in an attempt to win the Group 1 Wellington Cup in a fortnight’s time.

If there is a strong pace she will be very hard to beat.

CLOUGHMORE WIDENS SERVICES

Earlier this year I adopted a “fee free” policy for mating advice. Several clients took advantage of this offer, a response to the Covid emergency, but it didn’t do much for my cash-flow, as you’ll appreciate.

For this year’s breeding season, I’ll continue my traditional mating advice service – at the reduced fee of $65.00 +GST per mare.

As regards the yearling sales, I have once again analysed the catalogues for prospective buyers. Rather than printing and publishing my analyses in full, I’m encouraging clients to approach me re an evaluation of specific lots that they are interested in. Pricing will be on a case by case basis.

In addition, I’m offering a valuation service for all types of bloodstock at an introductory fee of $100+GST per horse. This should be especially useful for breeders wishing to transfer horses from their breeding accounts to racing propositions.

How To Survive the 2019 Breeding Season

I’m not a fan of the Messara report for two reasons. Firstly, the racing industry has never been an easy one to make a dollar in and, secondly, I can see no reason why some of the best tracks in the country are earmarked for destruction when rubbish ones will apparently survive.

The purpose of this article is not to get into the second argument, but to focus on the first. I’ve been breeding horses since 1974 and have never made heaps of money, I’ll admit, but I haven’t gone broke either – largely because I’ve managed (sometimes only just) to keep costs under control. For me and many fellow racing and breeding enthusiasts, the attraction of the industry is all about producing decent horses while keeping the balance sheet more or less in the black.

And it can be done by using reasonably priced stallions and avoiding over-priced agistment costs. (It’s only fair to mention here that, as a vendor, I avoid yearling sales like the plague. They’re great places to buy at but the unpredictability of the market and the eye-watering costs involved make them a financial nightmare.)

So which stallions are value for money? The following list is not an exclusive one, just a few horses which have caught my eye recently. And they’re in no particular order.

SATONO ALADDIN was a freakish racehorse with a pedigree which should suit a range of New Zealand mares. $12,500 is ultra-reasonable and the Japanese-born foals look just like him.

PURE CHAMPION was a warrior. As we become increasingly fascinated by inbreeding, we ignore soundness at our peril: this bloke started 50 times and ended his globe-trotting career by winning a Group 1 here as a 7YO. $4000.

EMINENT appeals strongly at $8000. A Group-winning and Group 1 placed son of Frankel and a real looker into the bargain.

EL DOUTE is a son of Redoute’s Choice with much more ability that his SP status would suggest. $2000 INCLUDING veterinary costs and agistment during the breeding season.

ROAD TO ROCK has always been a favourite of mine. The sire of Beauty Generation is only $2500 per mare if you send two of them and his winners to starters ratio is an impressive 60%.

NADEEM has an even more impressive ratio of 66% and he’s a stallion who responds especially well to one of our key bloodlines. $5000

BULLBARS hasn’t set the world on fire as yet but is tracking nicely nonetheless. He appeals as likely to leave decent stayers in the next few years. His fee is either $5000 or $4000 depending on whether you consult Arion or the current Stallion Register.

ROC DE CAMBES is just a nice horse. The sire of a Derby winner and a Group 1 victor in Australia is good value at $5000. You’ve usually got to wait for his progeny, but what’s an extra 12 months if you get a good one?

KEANO is still $2000 despite his 16 winners from 24 starters.

And yes, I have put my money where my mouth is. So far I’ve booked mares to Pure Champion (2), El Doute and Road to Rock. One mare, Flirtation, to go.

All the best for the breeding season.

Emily Margaret Wins Wellington Guineas

When I included the Pins – Seven Schillings filly in my list of recommended lots in the Select session of the 2017 Karaka Yearling Sale, it wasn’t a difficult choice.

I wrote at the time…” Pins has reached that stage in his career where buyers are taking him very much for granted and forget his outstanding statistics. This filly has a late foaling date, something which can be safely ignored in assessing her potential. She’s also out of a Group winning O’Reilly mare. Case closed.”

Understandably, I’ve followed the filly’s progress closely since she was knocked down to the bid of long-time client Kevin Hughes. And progress she certainly has. It’s one thing to win the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes on your home track; it’s quite another to beat a genuine Group 1 contender at Trentham after a lengthy season.

It’s also one thing to win a Listed fillies’ event at Wingatui at your previous start by running your opposition into the ground with an impressive display of sustained speed; it’s another to settle near-last in a Group 2, loop the field and simply out-tough your rivals.

What staggers me about Emily Margaret is that toughness. After her Canterbury Belle success she spoilt her chances on several occasions by racing over-enthusiastically and failing to settle. Kevin has clearly worked his magic on the filly by turning this behaviour around without giving her a lengthy spell. Also, the decision to book experienced rider Robbie Hannam was an inspired choice.

Getting back to Emily Margaret’s pedigree, the success of the Pins – O’Reilly cross has been well-documented but I suspect that the influence of the Three Legs stallion Shannon has also been a factor. Clearly, he has passed on his grey colour but his ability to find that extra gear when necessary is also replicated in Emily Margaret.

Three Yearlings For Cloughmore Racing

The Karaka Sales are always bursting with hype of one sort of another. What spins my wheels is being able to buy into yearlings which are at the very top of my list. I’ve learned over the years that “OK” yearlings are best avoided; the ones who repay you are the ones you really, really want.

This year we are now the proud co-owners of two colts and a filly which not only have strong pedigrees; they are also excellent types.

The first purchase was Lot 982, the colt by Proisir out of the three-win Yamanin Vital mare Yamanna. The female family abounds in stamina and I felt that Proisir would maintain the staying-orientation of the mare whilst adding a touch of speed and class. The son of Choisir pushed Dundeel hard in the Group 1 Spring Championship Stakes and has been well-supported at stud. We are fortunate to currently part-own the Derby prospect Super Gee; hopefully our new colt has the ability to follow a similar path.

The sale then moved onto Book 3. Astute trainer Frank Ritchie outlaid $13,000 for Lot 1113, a chestnut filly by El Roca out of the Sir Percy mare Lady Grace. I was quickly on the phone as this was the filly I rated as the best prospect in this section of the sale. The dam was herself a $75,000 yearling and, in spite of being somewhat injury-prone, had scored a facile maiden victory over 2200 at Wingatui. The pedigree is jam-packed with desirable crosses and the recent performance of El Roca’s 2YOs indicates that we may just have pulled the right rein.

Finally, there was Lot 1278 – a stunning colt by Jimmy Choux – Danness (Danske). Although Jimmy Choux is unlikely to ever be champion sire and is anything but currently fashionable, he can leave a good horse. I’ll analyse our colt’s pedigree in depth should his performances match his looks, but suffice to say it has a range of highly desirable features. At $5000, he could turn out to be a bargain.