Entries Tagged 'Winners' ↓
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!
December 12th, 2011 — Horse Racing, Winners
There are certainly some differences between a Group 2 at Ellerslie, an open handicap at Traralgon and a Rating 65 event at Ascot Park, but what they do have in common are some very promising performances by the Cloughmore team.
Durham Town was a yearling selection after trainer Donna Logan phoned me to say that she’d seen an outstanding Falkirk colt. What did I think of the pedigree? It didn’t take too long to figure out that, putting aside the mare’s lack of racecourse performance, there weren’t any danger sigals in the pedigree. Even better, the Tale of the Cat – Sir Tristam cross plus some more Round Table and My Babu via Marju provided a highly arractive pedigree mix. The Group 1 Railway Handicap will be a significant step up from the Group 2 Concorde, but Durham Town does appear to have a touch of class about him.
Firejet was also asked to step up yesterday: in his case it was from a Moe R68 race to an open handicap, the $50,000 Traralgon Cup. This is not an event which traditionally stops the nation, but the favourite was a Group 2 winning son of Rock of Gibraltar and the Group 1 mare La Bella Dama so one could argue that there was some substance to the small field. Firejet scored a tough win, coming from well off the pace to narrowly defeat the public elect. As mentioned in my last article, Firejet is another successful example of the Tale of the Cat – Sir Tristram cross; he also appears to have scope for further improvement.
On the theme of improvement, our homebred Amigo’s performance at Ascot Park on Saturday represented just that. For the first time he handled a firm track and showed the ability to accelerate off a strong pace. He’s still a work in progress in terms of his racing manners but Daniel Bothamley rode him expertly to score a convincing win. Hopefully, the son of Mr Nancho and Antonella, a Bassenthwaite mare from the family of Scenic Shot, will develop into a handy stayer.
Best wishes for the Festive Season to all subscribers, casual readers and anyone who finds this site by accident. I’m off to read 1400 – odd pages of yearling catalogues; let’s hope I can find another Durham Town!
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.
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?
July 17th, 2011 — Value For Money, Winners
Our total of races won may be approaching 500 but never before have three of our representatives been successful on the same day.
Yesterday’s Whangarei meeting featured the Whangarei Cup and the $30,000 final of the Aussie Butcher fillies and mares series. Both were won by brave front-running performances: Ace High – a recommended purchase as a yearling – won the Cup and Highlight – the result of a recommended mating for Northland breeder Terry Archer – narrowly defeated the hot favourite Cap Eden Roc in the latter event. Incidentally, Highlight is a grand-daughter of another Cloughmore recommended yearling purchase, the SW Jetball filly, Superjet.
However, there’s nothing like one of your own horses winning at a metropolitan track. Late in the day, our homebred Shinko King gelding Rising Tide lined up in the Rating 80 1600 event at Trentham. The half-brother to Auckland Cup winner Bodie had won his previous start, a Rating 70 2100 at Awapuni but had little trouble adjusting to the rise in class and reduction in distance. Aided by an excellent ride by Buddy Lammas, Rising Tide threaded his way though the field and accelerated impressively in the last 200 metres.
Shinko King is certainly one of our most consistent sires; if you’re looking to upgrade your mare and – like most of us – are operating on a restricted budget, he’s a horse that really ought to be on your short-list, especially if you’re breeding to race. It’s especially encouraging that he’s also making a promising start as a broodmare sire: the classy 3YO filly Shez Sinsational is out of one of his mares.
As we approach the breeding season, do feel free to get in touch to discuss your plans. For once, mare owners do appear to have the tactical high ground when negotiating stud fees.
November 13th, 2010 — Winners
Showcause’s courageous win in today’s Group 3 New Zealand Cup was a watershed achievement for Cloughmore in a variety of ways.
To start with, it marked yet another success for one of my major clients, Northland breeder Terry Archer. Showcause’s dam, the Lord Ballina mare Showella, was rated the top filly in our inaugural Yearling Sales buyers’ guide. After Terry had purchased Showella, I contacted him via trainer Frank Ritchie and let him know that I’d rated the filly very highly. With Showella’s ability becoming apparent, Terry asked me to advise him as regards both yearling purchases and mating advice. Showcause is the fifth black type performer resulting from this arrangement.
Showcause is Cloughmore’s twentieth stakeswinner and our third individual SW this year. His win is also our 43rd victory this calendar year – a new record.
The opening race on today’s Riccarton programme was also won by a Cloughmore product, the promising All In Tempo. The Shinko King gelding hasn’t been the luckiest horse in commission this season, but top jockey Opie Bosson made a significant difference, piloting the backrunner to a narrow win in the R90 1800m event. I’ll admit to being biased, but I rate the son of Grosvenor mare All In Tune as being a serious prospect for major handicap events in the not too distant future
If life was perfect, our homebred Jungle Pocket 5YO would have won the final event on the Riccarton card. However, it was hard to be disappointed with his game effort to finish second in the R90 2500m race. The half-brother to the 2003 Auckland Cup winner Bodie appears to have inherited a fair amount of the family’s staying ability; he looks well suited to the maximum distance.
December 28th, 2008 — Winners
Professional Man (4g Royal Academy – Mi Signora by Mi Preferido) – the product of a Cloughmore recommended mating – scored an easy win in yesterday’s Yang di Pertua Negeri Gold Cup.
According to the report posted on www.turfonline.com , the Kevin Coetzee trained runner failed to settle early in the 2200m event but after running midfield was too strong for his opposition in the straight. This latest success was his fifth from only six starts and was his first attempt at a distance in excess of 1700m.
Professional Man was bred by Terry Archer and his success represents a welcome change of fortune for Mi Signora. A very useful SP sprinter, her earlier fillies by Zabeel and Stravinsky both failed to win and a Stravinsky gelding, Stravar, won one race in the South Island. The Royal Academy mating was something of a last resort as the mare was clearly not passing on her own speed even when mated to one of the best sprinters of his generation. The attraction of Royal Academy was his consistency and his ability to sire runners at a variety of distances, my theory being that if the mare couldn’t leave sprinters she just might be able to produce a decent horse which could run over ground. I was aware that Royal Academy had done well with some mares strong in Bold Ruler, but in this case I wasn’t at all sure what Mi Signora was throwing to.
This black type victory has rounded off a pleasing year, being the 40th win and the third stakes success for Cloughmore. Promising performers for the future include Align to Infinity, Leica Scotch, Cadonna and the South Island based fillies Kay’s Dream and Brown Eyed Grace so let’s hope luck goes our way.
December 12th, 2008 — Winners
It’s always a great feeling when a horse which you have had a significant input into wins a major race, but Tinseltown’s dominant victory in this year’s renewal of the Avondale Gold Cup raises some interesting pedigree issues which go well beyond the conventional considerations of why he is as good as he is.
As a breeder, it is hard to avoid becoming increasingly concerned with soundness issues. The horses we are producing today seem to be a lot less resilient than their forebears of even 40 years ago and one has to wonder why. Veterinary science has advanced considerably, the development of equine nutrition is impressive and training and racing surfaces are undoubtedly much improved. Is it simply a question of owners needing a quick return and consequently putting too much pressure on immature animals? Or has our fascination with inbreeding also played its part?
When I first looked at Tinsel’s pedigree, the first question I asked was – is there anything here that we need to inbreed to? Apart from Tudor Minstrel, the answer was quickly obvious – nothing. I then looked at a range of stallions I liked and tried to figure out which potential mating might involve some successful crosses. Pentire had already produced good results with Marscay and Vain; given that Jetball had not been a raging success as a stallion and that it was thus imperative to find some influences which complemented him, Pentire was not a difficult recommendation to make. Interestingly, Tinsel’s owner, veterinarian Bill Stewart, has since repeated this mating; the resulting yearling was sold at this year’s Karaka sales. Apparently he resembles Pentire much less than Tinseltown does, being a chestnut and significantly bigger at the same age.
In recent seasons I have become a lot more focussed on recommending matings and selecting yearlings which feature a range of crosses; it is also important that those crosses complement each other. Inbreeding has a role in what I do, especially if the priority with a mare is to duplicate a particular strength of her pedigree, but I’ve maintained my suspicion of overdoing things in this regard.
One of the statistics I keep is a wins:winners ratio as this seems to be a valid method of measuring the resilience of horses produced. At the moment it is hovering around 3.1.; one of my goals is to increase this to 3.5 over the next ten years.
