Archive for August, 2009

By Ray Paulick
Renowned but controversial equine fertility expert W.R. “Twink” Allen lambasted the Thoroughbred breeding industry’s decision-makers for their continued failure to even discuss possible approval of artificial insemination (AI) or embryo transfer (ET) for the breed, moves he said would be beneficial from a practical, economic and equine health standpoint.

“I’m sick to death,” Allen said during a talk before what appeared to be a sympathetic audience attending a two-day international breeders conference hosted by the Cape Breeders Club in Somerset West, South Africa, near Cape Town. “They refuse to even discuss it. A handful of wealthy stallion owners are afraid of it and frightened by a change in the status quo. In their minds, they see their stud farms would diminish or disappear.”

Professor Allen, who served as the Paul Mellon chair at Cambridge University and was head of the college’s Equine Fertility Unit in nearby Newmarket, England, is on a global mission to change the Thoroughbred industry’s opinions about AI and ET. Along with researcher Sandra Wilsher, Allen has prepared a paper on the subjects of AI and ET, and with funding from the Havemayer Foundation is giving similar talks around the world highlighting what he sees as the benefits to the use of a technology permitted in virtually every other horse breed.

Allen said he would speak on the subject at Keeneland on Oct. 20.

AI, Allen said, is less stressful on stallions, reducing the number of ejaculates needed from busy studs from three or four times per day to once. Conception rates are as high or higher using AI, he said, and the increased safety for stallions, mares and handlers is significant. “AI is the obvious choice to prevent physical contact or the movement of horses during a disease outbreak,” he added.

Allen didn’t address the economic impact of artificial insemination on boarding farms, though he did say it was “utter nonsense” that stallion books would become exceedingly large if AI were permitted. He produced a slide comparing the average number of foals from the 10 busiest Thoroughbred stallions through natural covers over a multi-year period with the 10 busiest Standardbred stallions utilizing AI over the same time frame. The average of the busiest Thoroughbreds was considerably higher than that of the Standardbreds, which has been declining in number in recent years. Allen also said the United States Trotting Association has instituted a policy limiting the number of foals by each stallion, reducing it by 10 per year to an eventual maximum of 130. (Whether that policy will hold up in U.S. Courts is in question, especially in light of a precedential case involving a Quarter Horse breeder’s right to produce multiple embryos from the same mare each year.)

“People won’t buy yearlings from (a stallion) if there are 200 of them in a sale,” Allen said. As for one sire or sire line dominating a breed, Allen said that is already occurring without AI. “In Australia, one-third of current foals have Danehill blood,” he said.

He took particular umbrage with Kirsten Rausing, the powerful head of Lanwades Stud in England and chairman of that country’s Thoroughbred Breeders Association. Though he didn’t mention her by name, a reference to the “Grand Duchess” was clearly pointed at Rausing, as was a reference to a myth he called the “Tesio love match” that would be lost if AI were approved. “It’s drivel,” he said of the Tesio love match. “But people actually believe this, particularly women owners with a title.”

Ironically, Selkirk, one of the top stallions at Rausing’s Lanwades Stud, was kicked in the penis by a mare during a live cover earlier this year and taken out of the breeding shed because of subsequent infertility. A recent press release said Selkirk would attempt to return to breeding in 2010.

Allen has had a simmering feud with Rausing and Philip Freedman, her predecessor as chair of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association, since their decision in 2007 to close down the Equine Fertility Unit in Newmarket, which some breeders and veterinarians felt was unjustified.

Many South African breeders attending the conference said they support a change allowing AI or ET, in part because of the difficulty of importing top-class stallions (due to the strict quarantine regulations surrounding African Horse Sickness), but also because of the vastness of the country’s breeding industry (stud farms are not centrally located or convenient to all breeders). Allen said many breeders in New Zealand and Australia also support the change, and he said he will be urging AI/ET supporters in those and other countries to lobby the individuals and organizations who represent them at international breeders conferences and at the International Stud Book meetings and insist, at the very least, that the international bodies fully discuss AI and ET and provide a written explanation as to why the procedures are not permitted.

“It is now high time that the existing ban on the use of AI and ET in Thoroughbred breeding be reviewed in light of the very obvious potential health, welfare and economic benefits,” Allen said.

 

By Bradford Cummings

As I have said many times before on the Paulick Report, I am an outsider looking in on a sport I have grown to love and admire. Like when I had that first drink with my now wife, I could not shake the sentiment “where have you been all my life?” And after a talk with Director of Communications and Media Relations Dan Silver and Director of Marketing Neema Ghazi at the New York Racing Association, it appears to me the new direction for New York racing has new fans like myself in mind. With a little nudging and some tender loving care, the industry would do well to follow their lead and open up this beautiful sport to the masses of potential fans.
 
Catching them in the middle of Saratoga madness, it is clear these two young men take their jobs extremely seriously because they themselves are lifelong fans. In a previous conversation, Ghazi had told me he actually grew up in Saratoga so racing was in his blood. As he would tell me several times in a short period of time, he considered Saratoga to have the best jockeys, best trainers and best horses in the country during its historic meet each summer. I suppose it would be like growing up next to Yankee Stadium, a bit hard to avoid the hype.
 
Silver on the other hand, was a Philadelphia boy who gravitated to horse racing through the television, a medium he regrets we do too little with as an industry. “TV has been neglected,” said Silver. “One of the great mistakes the industry ever made was not jumping on TV like football did.”
 
This regret, though he is certainly not old enough to remember, has informed much of what he puts emphasis on when considering his communications plan. Both Dan and Neema put a lot into the necessity of quality television for the sport to grow. Both gentlemen touted MSG + as a great way to fill that gap, specifically when considering the racetracks under their watch. This well-known regional signal essentially reaches the Midlantic region of the United States and can also be tuned in through DirecTV. This exclusive feed gives NYRA racetracks an advantage others do not have as experts like handicapper Andy Serling among others gets exposure and helps to build a local and national brand.
 
Of course, Andy Serling can now be found online through his Twitter feed, largely the brainchild of these two Young Turks. “You can find Andy Serling, one of the top handicappers in the world, tweeting his picks each day,” said Ghazi. “Currently, his Twitter page has 1,281 subscribers in just four weeks.” With such gems as “Maybe the Linda Rice supporters can tell me why Sextant is 3:1 and not 30:1 in the 5th” and “Kiaran McLaughlin is 0 for 16 with 2YO filly firsters on dirt over 5 years at Saratoga” it is clear this feature will be a mainstay for racing fans during the many years to come.
 
Under their watch, NYRA has created a dedicated YouTube channel with nearly 2,000 archived videos and 36,716 views, a Facebook page with 2,836 fans and a blog called Saratoga Insider that covers the backside at Saratoga from the insider perspective. Most will remember Curlin’s Corner during last year’s Woodward and NYRA is back at it again with Rachel’s Sandbox, an exquisitely simple and effective fan page that leads with a video of the her historic Preakness win. Others in our industry could take a page from this marketing plan which is far more reminsincent of a Lebron James push than the strategies that have made racing a footnote in the American lexicon.
 
Due to these obvious improvements, it is no wonder attendance and handle are both up over last year despite a near depression. While factors like lower gas prices and the propensity for “staycations” play into the hands of improved financial figures, other racetracks could use similar reasons to boast if they had improvement. But just like with Churchill’s successful Downs After Dark, innovation is often rewarded in an industry that oftentimes looks left out of the evolutionary cycle. Much credit should be given to Charlie Hayward and the rest of the NYRA leadership for understanding that in order to move forward, we must try new things and not look back at old solutions.
 
With the economy still not in full recovery and a sport still not back into the spotlight, it is good to know that Ghazi and Silver understand at its essence what they have to sell. “A young family of four can come to Saratoga for as little as $6,” said Ghazi. “They can bring all their own stuff and just have a picnic.” There’s simplicity in this statement that should assure the industry these two and the rest of the NYRA staff truly gets it.  
 
If you get them in the door, they’ll become lifelong fans. Take it from a Chicago boy now writing for the Paulick Report and a Philadelphia guy who stumbled upon racing while flipping the channels on his way to a different destination.

What’s that old expression: When the cat’s away the mice will play? Well, while Ray Paulick is en route to Cape Town, South Africa, for an international Thoroughbred breeders conference, Patrick Patten was asked to put his keyboard and mouse to good use and look back at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s 2008 marketing summit, during which a group of bloggers and racing fans presented a marketing proposal they were solicited to create and submit to the organization.

Patten has been writing Handride for five years and is an original member of the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance. He does have a real job in the natural gas industry, and, contrary to the stereotype given many bloggers, does not live in his mother’s basement. He in fact lives in Monmouth County, N.J.,  20 minutes north of beautiful Monmouth Park where he has spent many summer weekends over the last 25 years.—Ray Paulick

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By Patrick Patten
One year ago I was part of a group given the task to create and propose a new marketing plan for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. It was about six weeks of hard negotiating, yelling, and writing with a group of other bloggers and passionate fans.  In the end I think we produced a professional document many consultants would be proud of, and the price for the financially-challenged NTRA was right: free. I think this guy charged $500,000 for pretty much the same thing. The document we created is still online (pdf warning) and more importantly still waiting for someone to implement it.

Getting up on stage at the NTRA’s marketing summit in Las Vegas was a dream come true. I had started my blog in hopes that someone, anyone, would say, “Hey, that’s not a bad idea” and that’s exactly what happened. It was the culmination of four years of writing and thinking. And, while it would be easy to label any blogger as a tinfoil-hat-wearing-mama’s-basement-living-crazy-person who thought after one presentation the world of racing would bow down at his or her feet… I knew change wouldn’t come fast, my expectations were decidedly low. However, a year later I thought there would be somewhere that the group could claim “That’s our idea.” This has not been the case.

I won’t rehash the ideas, I can’t really blame anyone directly, but I sure can be disappointed with everything involved. First, I’ll give credit where credit is due. Race-day medication laws in this country are a mess and give the sport a black eye; the work here (NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance and the new Breeders’ Cup race day rules) should be commended. However, you have to think, what horse has to die in order to get the overall house of ours in order? And, you have to wonder why banning drugs and getting tracks to adhere to common sense practices are MARKETING successes in the first place. How screwed are we?

The largest complaint I have is with the lack of cooperation at the highest level; this was one of the main points of the report. The NTRA and the Breeders’ Cup share the common goal of expanding the brand of our sport, and yet they compete with each other. Our marketing report was about sharing information, and putting in place ideas where common ground could lead to growth. Allow me to cite the perfect example of how this is NOT happening. It should also be noted that I was part of a BC advisory committee recently convened to talk about and have ideas bounced off of about the BC, and I definitely advised on this glaring problem.

On July 25 the Eddie Read Handicap was held at Del Mar. The race was shown on ESPN2. It is a Grade 1 race and has major implications when it comes to the Breeders Cup Mile. Its field included Artiste Royale and Thorn Song and was won with an upset by Global Hunter; all well known horses to regular players; a great race to put on TV to say the least. However, to the casual fan it’s a bit confusing. The week before, two races were held, the Greenwood Cup Handicap and the Delaware Handicap, and neither was shown on TV.  However, their winners were guaranteed a spot in the Breeders Cup. So, are the races not shown on TV more important? Why is this race on TV if it doesn’t lead to anything important? This was a Grade 1 race, but the previous week’s Grade 2 was more important to get into the Breeders’ Cup. I think I’ll go back to watching Dancing With The Stars.

The rallying cry of our marketing plan was “Take Back Saturday” and to do this the BC and the NTRA have to work together. The solution we proposed was to have all graded stakes (and some non graded races for the newer BC categories) count toward standings with the top horses awarded gate choice. We saw it as a home-field advantage, a small change that would have a large impact. Everything in the report after that was based on this “Take Back Saturday” mantra. A little cooperation would be a small hurdle to jump over, and we’d be on our way to relevancy in the sports world.

We were wrong. There is no cooperation in this sport when it comes to marketing. When a horse dies and millions of people are yelling everyone is on their best behavior: Pumping water out of a sinking ship. When do we fix the ship?

The people in charge are still getting rich, and everyone else is still willing to give them even more money and power, so no changes will occur. What really hammered this home recently was Headless Horsemen, the new book by Jim Squires. If a man that well known can point a finger at everyone and have nothing happen, not even a discussion on whether he’s right or wrong, what could a bunch of bloggers do?

It’s disappointing because of the hard work put into that report. The goal of that project was marketing, and I made sure we stuck to that cause. We didn’t tackle the high level of take-out, or drugs, or security–it was only marketing. And, I think we did a fantastic job at keeping the report realistic. We did this because we knew we were up against the perception of what a blogger is, and we didn’t want to come off as asking for the moon or for being too broad or for being tinfoil hat wearing crazy people. We didn’t.  We hit that report out of the park  Was it too good? I wonder now, after being on an advisory board that supposedly had a hand in the Breeders’ Cup saddle cloth color change, what is expected of these panels and groups. I mean seriously, they need a bunch of outsiders to tell them that saddle cloths were a big issue? Meanwhile all that was talked about last year was the renamed Ladies’ Classic (not the saddle cloths) which I’m sure will take another group to fix next year so they can put out a press release saying, “Look we listen to our fans! Have fun at the Filly & Mare Classic” I digress.

I was told directly to hold Alex Waldrop’s feet to the fire. Here it is:

Alex, the NTRA has done a good job of putting out the fires that seem to come up so frequently for this industry. But, how long can this industry be reactive instead of proactive?  How long can tracks sit idly by protecting their own “turf” at the cost of cooperation and getting real reform? How long can the industry get by on contracts written decades ago because no one has any faith in real negotiation and cooperation? How long will you allow yourself to be pushed and pulled in a myriad of directions when I believe you want to move forward?

The marketing report, for me, was hope that someone was looking forward. Are you?

 

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“He is one of the five most influential people in Los Angeles,” Minor said of Burkle. “He’s an extraordinary investor with a sterling reputation, and he’s plugged in to the Hollywood crowd, something racing could use.

“After we submitted our offer I sent an email to MID asking if we could talk with this major casino company,” Minor continued. “I don’t want to name them, but they are extremely profitable and were interested.” Minor said he got an answer saying the offer would not be presented to the MID board because of the new issue involving a casino company.

“It’s so irrational,” Minor said. “They don’t even have a reason. They’re violating their duty, which is to get the maximum amount of money. When these guys are holding me back from doing that, when I have the strongest offer, it’s unconscionable. I’ve pursued this for a long time and spent a lot of money, but there is a limit as to how far someone will go to try and buy a business.”

Minor also accused Magna’s interim chief executive officer, Greg Rayburn (who served as chief restructuring officer for WorldCom during what then was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history), of having a duel role as an adviser to MI Developments, giving him an “utter and complete conflict of interest.”

Because numbers at Magna tracks are “falling off the cliff,” Minor said, the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBIDTA) has “absolutely nosedived.” He said Santa Anita’s EBITDA will have gone from $22 million to $8 million next year. As a result, he said, the track properties have dramatically fallen in value. “There are sub-$100-million bids for Santa Anita,” Minor said. Stronach paid $126 million for the Arcadia, Calif., track in 1998.

“The bids (for some Magna tracks) will be so bad that MID is going to have to credit bid, use their $400 million in debt to go in and buy back the assets, so the track will come back into the same parent company that bankrupted them in the first place,” he said. “That will trigger (investment fund) Greenlight and others to have a conniption because MID will not just lend the money but own the assets outright. There are bidders, but there’s no one to say ‘I will pay more.’

“I told (MID chief executive) Dennis Mills last year Magna was going bankrupt, and he said I was completely wrong, didn’t know what I was talking about, was a bomb thrower. I told Frank (Stronach) that if he went forward with the 363 process (stalking horse bid) and the unsecured creditors got nothing, they would sue him corporately and personally. I’ve told him the money will be tied up in escrow as litigation drags on for years, and said I believe from the work I’ve done that he will lose. The banks will get paid, the unsecureds will get paid, and what’s left will come to him after two years.

“All I’ve asked is, ‘Can I put something together with each of the parties that prevents going down the path of two years of litigation?’ But the basic answer is ‘no.’

“I said a year ago I wanted to prevent an ugly, destructive bankruptcy. We are about to see one hell of a an ugly and destructive bankruptcy. Who knows where these assets will end up? We won’t even know when they are sold who the beneficiary is.

Minor said he is stunned that Stronach is considered a front-runner to acquire the German automobile company Opel from General Motors.

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Nearly three hours later, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, TVG will be showing the 53rd running of the Del Mar Oaks, a 1 1/8-miles on the grass.

For those who can’t get wait for the weekend to get their dose of televised racing, there’s Friday afternoon’s Grade 2 Lake Placid at Saratoga, also for 3-year-old fillies. It was scheduled to go off at 4:56 Eastern time on TVG and HRTV, but NYRA officials have moved up post time because of inclement weather and that race could go off around 4:25 p.m. No word yet on whether or not it is off the turf.

With Rachel Alexandra skipping the Alabama for upcoming races unknown, favoritism is likely to fall on Careless Jewel, a Tapit filly trained byJosie Carroll coming off three consecutive daylight victories. Her last two wins—an allowance race on Polytrack at Woodbine and the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks on dirt at Delaware Park—were nearly identical. Under Robert Landry, Careless Jewel went to the front at the start in both 1 1/16-mile contests, opened up by five lengths at the eighth pole, then cruised to the wire to win by 7 1/4 lengths.

This will be her biggest test, in terms of competition and distance. Funny Moon, Don’t Forget Gil and Wynning Ride, the 1-2-3 finishers in a hotly contested Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont Park last time out July 25, figure to provide Careless Jewel with her stiffest opposition. Casanova Moon, fourth in the CCA Oaks, and Canadian stakes veteran Milwaukee Appeal also could be in the thick of it in the spa’s biggest race for 3-year-old fillies going a route of ground.

The Del Mar Oaks has attracted 10 fillies, including Well Monied, the daughter of Maria’s Mon who closed well to be second to Gozzip Girl in the Grade 1 American Oaks at Hollywood Park last month. That defeat ended a three-race winning streak for the Howard Zucker-trained miss, who will be ridden by red-hot Joel Rosario.

Lightly raced English-bred Hermione’s Magic, a daughter of Systematic, could be a factor for trainer Kathy Walsh. She won her U.S. debut, only her third career start, in impression fashion, finishing with a rush to beat entry-level allowance horses on the Del Mar turf Aug. 5.

Also, don’t forget that Friday night marks the second-season debut of the popular Animal Planet series, which airs at 10 p.m. Eastern and repeats at midnight and 5 a.m. the following morning. Click here  for more information on the series.

 

Jess Jackson issued the following statement in the wake of TVG and BetFair’s agreement to add $400,000 to the purse of the Grade 1 Beldame at Belmont Park Oct. 3 if unbeaten champion Zenyatta and 3-year-old filly sensation Rachel Alexandra both are in the starting line-up for the 1 1/8-mile dirt race at the New York Racing Association track:“Our strategy has not changed in scheduling Rachel Alexandra’s campaign this year. We will always take it one race at a time.

“Right now, we are focused on her next start. I hope to have a decision on that early next week. After that race, we will need to see how she recovers and then determine her next start. 

“I understand the growing excitement around a race that involves these two magnificent athletes competing but both camps need to do what is in the best interest of the horse. And for us, that means waiting until she completes and soundly recovers from her next race before any decisions are made about the Beldame Stakes or any other venue.” – Jess Jackson

 

By Ray Paulick

There is good news and bad news in this week’s Good News Friday feature, sponsored by Liberation Farm.First, the bad news: Ercel Ellis signed off for the very last time on his “Post Time” radio show last Saturday, Aug. 15. The final broadcast of the nightly Lexington, Ky.-based race results show ended an amazing run of more than 50 years on the air. His folksy and humorous rapid-fire delivery provided a great service enjoyed by generations of horsemen and racing fans, and his love and loyalty to horses bred in the Bluegrass State run as deep as his roots to the Thoroughbred industry.

Now for the good news: Ercel will continue his weekly show, “Horse Tales,” heard each Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon on Lexington’s AM sports radio, ESPN 1300. And the archives of those shows, which feature candid and insightful interviews with some of the Thoroughbred industry’s legendary players, will have a permanent home at the Keeneland Library.

When I first came to Kentucky in 1988, I was introduced to “Post Time” by Mark Simon, my boss at the Thoroughbred Times, and was amazed at how much information Ercel could cram into a 15-minute show. There were results from numerous tracks and stakes from around the country, pedigree information on Kentucky-bred winners and plugs for sponsors smoothly woven in to the “script.” Frankly, I don’t know how he did it.

Back then, getting race results was no simple matter. This was pre-Internet, pre-cell phone, pre-TVG and HRTV. Ercel had a teletype machine rattling off the results via the Associated Press throughout the day, and he had Daily Racing Forms to get pedigree and race information. Without question, he was the fastest and best source to find out who the winners were each day. He was always good for a laugh, too, when he would stumble over some of the horses’ names, putting on, he said, “his best Southern accent and slurring through it.”

Ercel eventually struck a deal with Happy Broadbent at Bloodstock Research Information Services (BRIS) to have the results programmed for him on a computer, making his job a whole lot easier. But the computer couldn’t help him with the pronunciations.

Now 78 years old, Ercel was working for Blood-Horse magazine in the late 1950s when bloodstock agent Art Baumohl asked him to fill in for him on his nightly radio show. “Then Art kind of backed off, and eventually quit altogether,” Ellis said. “That was in 1958 or ’59. I’ve been doing it ever since—until last Saturday.”

Ercel admits to having taken the occasional night off for a dinner out and getting someone to substitute for him. For the most part, though, it’s been seven nights a week, 52 weeks a year, for 50 years. He and wife Jackie haven’t had a vacation since 1982.

“But we love what we do,” he said. “We both are licensed trainers. We’ve got this small farm (in Bourbon County). Never named it. It’s only 22 acres, but we raise our own and race our own.”

Ercel’s father, also named Ercel Ellis, was manager of Dixiana Farm from 1929-64. His late sister, Peg Simpson, worked as a researcher at the Blood-Horse for more than 50 years. It’s obviously a family of stayers.

He worked for the Daily Racing Form from 1968-83, managing the newspaper’s Kentucky bureau and writing the popular “Kentucky Notebook” column. “I hired Logan Bailey, the best thing I ever did,” Ercel said. “He replaced me when I left.”

For the last six years, Ercel has clocked horses in the mornings at the Thoroughbred Center training facility on Paris Pike outside of Lexington. “I can’t believe they pay me to go out there and look at horses every day,” he said.

Times have changed, with TVG, HRTV, online video streaming, web sites and mobile phone platforms providing live racing or instant results. Business has fallen, though “Post Time” was still making money because of loyal advertisers, Ercel said. He and Jackie are taking care of a daughter injured in a riding accident, and they had to make special arrangements any time they wanted to go out for dinner. “I hated to end it, but it was very confining, even though I did the show from home,” he said.

So, last Saturday, without any fanfare, Ercel signed off with his trademark: “Those are the results, and that’s it for ‘Post Time.’” Only this time that really was it. He didn’t mention that it would be his final “Post Time,” remembering how the late Hall of Fame broadcaster Cawood Ledford ended his career calling University of Kentucky basketball without saying it was his final game.

“I’m not comparing myself to Cawood, but I just thought it was the right way to go,” he said, adding, “well, maybe I’ll give myself a gold watch.”

“Horse Tales,” the weekly show Ercel has been doing for eight years now, will continue on AM 1300 in its regular time slot at 10 a.m. Saturdays.

Keeneland president Nick Nicholson, who said he remembers hearing Ercel Ellis on the radio while growing up in Lexington, said the show “might have been the first recollection when I began to understand that Kentucky horses not only won at the local track but all over the country. I remember him reporting on Gulfstream Park, Saratoga, Santa Anita, all the big tracks. To think he’s been doing this for 50 years is amazing, and his voice today sounds just like it did when I was a kid.”

When Nicholson became Keeneland’s sixth president in January of 2000, one of his priorities was to preserve as much Thoroughbred history as possible. “I talked to Ercel some time ago about saving all the interviews and those essays he does each Saturday,” Nicholson said. “I’m happy to say the Keeneland Library will have an Ercel Ellis archive.

“A lot of the people he’s interviewed start out a little shy, because they’re not used to being on the radio, but Ercel brings them out of that, and the next thing you know they’re having a casual conversation. They’re fascinating interviews and I hope future generations will enjoy them.”

“Nick told me people will want to listen to those old tapes 50 years from now,” Ercel said. “I told him I’d like to be around then to listen to ‘em, too.”

(To learn more about Ercel Ellis, visit his web site, www.ercelellis.com.)

 

Liberation Farm celebrates the many horsemen and horsewomen who strive each day to make things better for horses and those who work with them.  To learn more about Liberation Farm, click here.

 

 

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By Ray Paulick
I make no apologies for my dissent with Eclipse Award voting results in the outstanding breeder category on at least three different occasions in the years since the vote was taken away from a six-member committee and given to the larger group of voters that determine the other Eclipse Award winners–members of the National Turf Writers Association, Daily Racing Form staff and racing secretaries at National Thoroughbred Racing Association tracks and select Breeders’ Cup employees.

When that decision was made earlier this decade, the NTRA might as well have said it would give the annual award to the breeder whose horses earned the most money. It’s gone to Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs Farm each of the last five years, whether the operation had a truly good year or not, simply because he dominated the money standings by breeding the most horses and winning the most money. I’m not knocking Stronach, who has built a breeding empire and deserved the Eclipse Award in years that he produced champions and a number of high-quality, graded stakes-winning racehorses. His success in those years didn’t happen by accident or through sheer numbers. Adena Springs has been a top-class operation, and it’s something for which Stronach should be proud.

However, I disagree that the breeder who wins the most money should automatically win the Eclipse Award in that category, something that is now occurring routinely. Voters have done a great disservice in recent years to individuals who have had incredible success with a far smaller number of mares.

Full disclosure: I served on that six-member Eclipse Award outstanding breeder committee as editor of Blood-Horse magazine, as did Mark Simon, editor of Thoroughbred Times, along with two editors with expertise in bloodstock matters at Daily Racing Form and two representatives of the NTRA or its Eclipse Awards-sponsoring predecessor, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America. The committee would be presented with a wide array of breeding statistics, have the opportunity to study them, then meet via teleconference to discuss the merits of the leading candidates before taking a vote. In my opinion, the committee got it right far more often than the general Eclipse Award electorate has when determining outstanding breeder.

The committee tended to discount breeders who had simply led the money list. That cost the late Harry T. Mangurian an Eclipse Award several years when he or his Florida-based Mockingbird Farm led the list by earnings from 1999-2002. When some Floridians cried “foul,” the Eclipse Award steering committee gave Mangurian an Eclipse Award of Merit at the 2002 Eclipse Awards dinner. Shortly thereafter, the vote went from committee to the larger body, which I think was a mistake.

Why was it a mistake? Twice in the last seven years, breeders who produced two of the 10 Eclipse Award champions—with a small number of broodmares—didn’t even get enough votes to be among the three finalists as outstanding breeder, much less win the Eclipse Award. That happened in 2002, when Virginia Kraft Payson bred champions Farda Amiga and Vindication and wasn’t a finalist, and again in 2004 when Aaron and Marie Jones bred champions Speightstown and Ashado and were ignored by the voters.

Think about that for a minute. You are a breeder with a relatively small group of mares and produced two out of the 10 Eclipse Award champion horses. Yet you weren’t even recognized as one of the three outstanding breeders in North America. That is an insult to all breeders who work hard to produce a good horse. Eclipse Award voters really should be ashamed for their ignorance or lack of interest on breeding matters.

Last year, Adena won its fifth consecutive Eclipse Award as leading breeder by a wide margin—receiving 139 votes, more than twice as many as runner-up Stonerside Stable. Adena won the most money, by far, $19.2 million, but produced no champions. With far fewer runners, Stonerside-bred horses earned $8.5 million but included 2-year-old male champion Midshipman and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Raven’s Pass.

That brings us to this week’s spotlight on leading breeders on our weekly feature, American Graded Stakes Standings, brought to you by Keeneland. Stonerside–the Paris, Ky., operation founded by Robert and Janice McNair and sold last year to Sheikh Mohammed when Robert McNair said he needed to spend more time on his Houston Texans of the National Football League team–is the leading breeder of American graded stakes winners, with five, led by Grade 1 winner Santa Teresita. The others are Grade 2 winners Tizaqueena, Skylighter and Cowboy Cal, along with Grade 3 winner Stormalory.

Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley, Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, and Edward P. Evans are next in the list of breeders of American graded stakes winners, with three apiece.

Stronach’s Adena Springs, which is the leading breeder by money won so far this year, with $7,054,476 earned from 2,322 starts, has bred just one graded stakes winner, the Grade 3 winner My Princess Jess. Stonerside has had 481 starts and earnings of $3,252,001, ranking fifth by money won. Evans has had 360 starts and ranks sixth with earnings of $2,936,973; Juddmonte is 18th with $1,948,227 from 175 starts; and Darley is 19th with $1,943,075 from 328 starts.

In terms of money won per start, which I think is a good overall indication of quality, of those listed above, Juddmonte is the leader, with $11,323 earned for each start; followed by Evans, $8,158/start; Stonerside, $6,760/start; Darley, $5,924/start; and Adena, $3,038/start. Those statistics include international racing. The lists presented below strictly represent American graded stakes, those approximately 500 races designated by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s American Graded Stakes Committee as the best races in the United States.

We hope that by focusing each week on the leading breeders, owners, trainers, sires, sale companies and consignors of the winners of American graded stakes, which define the best races in the United States, Eclipse Award voters might start to look beyond the simple exercise of seeing which breeder earned the most money in a given year.