Archive for the ‘Keeneland’ Category

By Ray Paulick
Gulf Coast Farms, the Florida-based operation of veterinarian Jerry Bailey and Utah horseman Lance Robinson, is known more for its pinhooking of yearlings to 2-year-old sales than for breeding. However, 10 weeks into the 2010 racing season, Gulf Coast is one of two breeders in North America to be represented by a pair of American Graded Stakes winners (the other being the Overbrook Farm owned by the family of the late W.T. Young).

Both of Gulf Coast’s AGS winners are on the road to the Triple Crown. The first is Conveyance, a two-time AGS winner in 2010, having captured the San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita and the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park—both Grade 3 races. Conveyance, originally purchased by Legends Racing for $240,000 at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale, is now owned by Zabeel Racing, an entity owned by a son of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai. The Indian Charlie colt was produced from a mare by Holy Bull, who ran the worst race of his life in the Kentucky Derby but went on to be the 1994 3-year-old champion male and Horse of the Year.

The second, of course, is 2009 juvenile champion Lookin At Lucky, who made his season’s debut last week at Oaklawn Park in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes—a race that attracted two other Grade 1 winners, runner-up Noble’s Promise and third-place finisher Dublin. Lookin At Lucky, a son of Smart Strike out of Private Feeling, by Belong to Me, races for the partnership of Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman and Karl Watson. He was purchased by Baffert on their behalf for $475,000 at last year’s Keeneland April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Six months earlier, Bailey and Robinson entered Lookin At Lucky in the Keeneland September sale but bought him back for just $35,000 because the veterinary report on him showed several “minor” physical issues. (Click here <http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/american-graded-stakes-standings-brought-to-you-by-keeneland-lookin-at-a-bargain/> to learn more about those issues, which obviously have not prevented the colt from compiling an outstanding record of six wins in seven starts, including three Grade 1 wins, and earnings of $1,423,000.)

Though they may be known better for their pinhooking acumen, Bailey and Robinson have a large broodmare band in excess of 100, and it’s no surprise they are successful in this end of the business along with getting horses ready for 2-year-old sales. Both are consummate horseman, Bailey having years of experience running his own business along with a stint as farm veterinarian and manager of E.K. Gaylord’s Lazy E. Ranch in Oklahoma, and Robinson plying his trade as a professional rodeo cowboy for more than 15 years.

If you want to call someone an “accidental” breeder of an American Graded Stakes winner, that description might be more fitting for two trainers who have produced AGS winners of 2010: trainers Bob Baffert and Mike Machowsky.

Baffert is the breeder of Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap winner Misremembered, co-owned by his wife Jill and their good friend George Jacobs. Baffert probably didn’t envision winning the Big ‘Cap and more than $1 million with the offspring of the mare, Beyond Perfection (by Quack), when he bid $7,000 to buy her at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale in 2005—but that’s exactly what Misremembered has done. In this business, you can be good, but it also helps to be lucky.

Machowsky is the breeder, co-owner and trainer of Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes winner Caracortado. The 3-year-old gelded son of Cat Dreams was produced by Mons Venus, by Maria’s Mon. Machowsky bought Mons Venus for $45,000 on behalf of some clients at the Keeneland 2002 September yearling sale. After the filly kept having ankle problems, Machowsky told the owners she probably would never race and suggested they breed her. When they said they weren’t interested, the trainer contacted a friend in California who was standing the young Storm Cat stallion Cat Dreams and bred Mons Venus to him. Caracortado went on to win his first five races, including the Lewis, before losing for the first time in last Saturday’s Grade 2 San Felipe.

Mons Venus is the second mare Machowsky ever bred.

This only proves there are many ways to breed a winner of an American Graded Stakes race. You can cultivate the best bloodlines, do all the planning and research in the world, but sometimes the most important ingredient is good fortune.

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By Ray Paulick
The story of James E. Jones, the co-breeder with Randy Swanson of Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks winner Crisp, is one that is so unusual for the Thoroughbred business that it almost defies belief.

In decades and years past, Thoroughbred racing and breeding, especially at the highest levels, generally had been reserved for wealthy businessmen or titans of industry (in other words, old, rich, white men). Racing partnerships have made the game more accessible to people of more modest means, and the expansion of the commercial market brought more risk-takers and speculators into the breeding side of the business. Still, even with those changes, there has not been a great deal of diversity in the Thoroughbred industry, especially when it comes to race.

That’s what makes the story of the late James Jones, known as “J.J.” to his friends, so different.

Jones, the son of a Baptist minister named Joseph Jones, was one of 12 children raised in Jimtown, a small black community north of Lexington created in the 1880s to provide a home for freed slaves in the segregated south. Money was scarce, so Joseph Jones padded the income from his ministry by working as a groom at the famed Spendthrift Farm, then owned by Leslie Combs.

One day in the late 1960s, J.J. tagged along with his father, who was helping prep yearlings for an upcoming sale, and he was put to work, holding the yearlings while they were being shod. The blacksmith, a legend in the profession named John Madison who had worked with the likes of Man o’ War, saw something special in the way young J.J. handled the horses, and soon thereafter the younger Jones was working alongside Madison as he made his daily rounds.

He learned enough to go out on his own at the age of 18, and his clients included some of the biggest names in the industry, including Darby Dan Farm, managed for years by Olin Gentry, Spendthrift, Gainesway Farm, and many others.

Olin Gentry, grandson of the Darby Dan manager and co-owner of Gaines-Gentry Thoroughbreds, is the third generation from his family to have called on Jones for his expertise, his father, longtime breeder and consignor Tom Gentry, also having used him as a farrier and blacksmith. “He could spread a horse’s heels better than anyone,” the younger Gentry said.

John Hayes, who manages the farm for Gaines-Gentry, said Jones “had a technique that others tried but couldn’t do as well,” but added there was much more to the man than his knack with shoeing a horse. “He always, always, always had a smile,” said Hayes, “and he could never say ‘no’ to anyone. He was a gentleman, very generous, and I never heard him say a bad word about anyone and I never him use a swear word. Just one of the greatest guys I ever met in this game.”

Jones wanted to breed his own horses, and with the help of former Spendthrift owner Bruce Kline and yearling manager Randy Swanson in the late 1990s claimed a mare named Thorough Fair for $5,000 at Turfway Park. Bred to Mr. Greeley (then standing at Spendthrift), Thorough Fair produced eventual Grade 1 stakes winner Whywhywhy, who now stands alongside his sire at Gainesway Farm. Jones sold the bargain mare, in foal to Giant’s Causeway, for $825,000, at the 2005 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. The following year her son Spellbinder, also bred by Jones, won the Grade 2 San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita.

Jones liked that family enough to buy Thorough Fair’s half-sister Cat’s Fair, for $14,500 at the 2004 Keeneland September yearling sale. Though unraced, she went on to produce Crisp, the second Grade 1 winner bred by Jones.

Were it not for the nose defeat of Quiet Temper in the Grade 2 Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds, Jones would be one of only two breeders to have bred a pair of 2010 American Graded Stakes winners. The other breeder is Overbrook Farm, which has bred two individual AGS winners of 2010.

That’s pretty heady company for James Jones to be mentioned in, but he is a man who rose above his humble beginnings to excel in Thoroughbred breeding and in life. A little over a year ago, B. Wayne Hughes, the current owner of Spendthrift Farm, invited Jones to his office one day to talk horses with a special guest, George W. Bush, who had only recently left the White House after serving two terms as president.

A couple of weeks later, on March 17, Jones collapsed and died from an apparent heart attack while shoeing a yearling at Sparks View Farm near Lexington. He was only 56 years old.

Fortunately, Jones passed along much of his knowledge about horses and foot care to a son, Jerard, who is following in his footsteps as a blacksmith after working with his father for nearly 10 years. His widow, Linda Denise Jones, and a daughter, Lisa, are carrying on the breeding business that had such remarkable success and showed so much promise at the time of James Jones’ death.

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By Ray Paulick
Every now and then you see a pedigree that brings back great memories, and that was the case for me when looking at the results of last Saturday’s Grade 3 Sabin Stakes on the main track at Gulfstream Park.

The winner, Aurora Lights, was winning her first American Graded Stakes in the Sabin, although she captured last year’s Canadian Grade 3 Selene Stakes as a 3-year-old. The daughter of Pulpit out of the Lord At War mare, Lady Lochinvar, races for the Chiefswood Stables of Canadian investment banker Robert Krembil and his son, Mark. They bought her for $800,000 during Tuesday’s select session of the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale from Darby Dan Farm, agent for breeders Mr. and Mrs. Larry D. Williams.

Pulpit, a son of A.P. Indy who has gone on to be  a very successful sire at Claiborne Farm, was an exciting racehorse whose career was cut short by an injury while running fourth to Silver Charm in the 1997 Kentucky Derby. The Derby was his sixth and final career starts—all as a 3-year-old. He had earlier American Graded Stakes victories in the Fountain of Youth and Blue Grass Stakes.

But it’s the female side of Aurora Lights’ pedigree that really brings back the memories for me. Lady Lochinvar was bred by the Wimborne Farm of Diane  Perkins, who raced Lord At War and stood him to a very successful career at stud. Lady Winborne (spelled differently than Wimborne Farm), the dam of Lady Lochinvar, was an exceptional broodmare, producing 15 foals, 12 of which started and won. Among those foals are American Graded Stakes winners Al Mamoon, La Gueriere (herself an outstanding broodmare), and Lost Soldier, plus two other stakes winners.

Lady Winborne was sired by Triple Crown winner Secretariat out of Priceless Gem, who beat the great Buckpasser as a 2-year-old. Priceless Gem, by Hail to Reason, was produced by the Hall of Fame mare Searching. The female pedigree traces back to one of the most influential broodmares of all time, La Troienne.

It goes without saying that Aurora Lights has the pedigree and now the racing record to be a very valuable broodmare in the future.

I can’t say that I remember Priceless Gem’s defeat of Buckpasser, though I do remember as though it was yesterday when Lord At War won the 1985 Santa Anita Handicap for trainer Peter and Diane Perkins, trainer Charlie Whittingham, and jockey Bill Shoemaker.

Shoemaker had to choose between two horses for that year’s Big ‘Cap, Greinton, who was part-owned by Whittingham and trained by the Bald Eagle, and Lord At War, who was imported from his native Argentina the previous year and came into the race with four consecutive victories. Shoemaker made the right choice, going with Lord At War, giving the Hall of Fame jockey the 11th and last Big ‘Cap victory of his career. It was the sixth win in  Santa Anita’s big race for Whittingham, who would come back to win it the following year with Greinton and get his eighth and final Big ‘Cap with Sir Beaufort in 1993.

As great as it was to see Shoemaker and Whittingham carry the day in 1985, the amazing thing about that year’s Big ‘Cap was the crowd: an all-time Santa Anita record attendance of  85,527. It wasn’t Lord At War they came out to see, it was the race itself, which Santa Anita’s creative marketing director, Alan Balch, promoted heavily as THE day to come out to the races in Southern California.

This Saturday will mark the 73rd running of the Arcadia, Calif., track’s signature event. And while the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap may not be the race it once was, with the Dubai World Cup later this month taking away some of the best horses, it’s still a race that’s worth a lot more than just memories.

A field of 14 will go in this year’s $750,000 Big ‘Cap, and though the turnout will be south of 85,527, there will still be a roar from the crowd when the horses break from the starting gate at the top of the stretch for the mile and a quarter run, just as there was back in 1935, when Azucar won the first edition of this great race.

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By Ray Paulick
Todd Pletcher isn’t the only who had a big weekend last week, winning three American Graded Stakes races for 3-year-olds on Feb. 20: the Grade 2 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park with Eskendereya, the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds with Discreetly Mine, and the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields with Connemara.

Coolmore Ashford’s Giant’s Causeway sired two of the Pletcher-trained AGS winners, Eskendereya and Connemara, giving the 13-year-old Storm Cat stallion a total of three AGS winners thus far in 2010 (San Pasqual Handicap winner Neko Bay is the other one). For good measure, another top 3-year-old prospect by Giant’s Causeway, Northern Giant, finished a solid third for Pletcher’s mentor, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, in the Risen Star. Only 16 days earlier, Northern Giant turned in a huge effort winning an Oaklawn Park maiden race by 11 1/4 lengths. He’s obviously a slow developing colt, the win coming in his sixth start.

On the strength of those AGS winners, Giant’s Causeway is atop the general sire list thus far in 2010 after being leading North American sire in 2009 for the first time since his first crop reached the racetrack in 2004. He was a truly outstanding racehorse and it’s no surprise that he’s developed into an elite sire. Giant’s Causeway has yet to sire his first American classic winner, but Eskendereya, who moved to the top of many Kentucky Derby lists with his Fountain of Youth victory, could easily change that.

With his weekend victories, trainer Pletcher now has won eight AGS races of 2010 with seven different horses. That’s 16% of the 50 AGS races run so far this year. Pletcher is on a brief “vacation” now, the result of a suspension stemming from a positive test at the 2008 Breeders’ Cup. His stable is deep in talent, is coming off a very strong 2009, and is ranked as the leading trainer by money won so far in 2010 (with reigning Eclipse Award winner Steven Asmussen in hot pursuit) while winning at a 27% clip. With Quality Road leading the way in the older male division, an incredibly deep roster of 3-year-old talent, and undoubtedly a talented group of 2-year-olds now going through early training, this could be a year to remember for Pletcher.

By Ray Paulick
With Santa Anita running extra American Graded Stakes last weekend due to the cancellations the previous week because of drainage problems with the Pro-Ride synthetic track, there were 13 AGS races run over the three-day President’s Day weekend. One stakes, the Southwest at Oaklawn, was lost on President’s Day because of bad weather and has been rescheduled for this Saturday.

A quick review of the 13 races shows there was a parade of chalk into the winner’s circles, with eight favorites winning for a 61.5% rate, nearly double the national average of roughly 33% for all races run in North America.

Four trainers doubled up on AGS victories over the Feb. 13-15 weekend: Todd Pletcher (Rule in the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs and Munnings in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship at Gulfstream Park); Mike Mitchell (Kays and Jays in the Hurricane Bertie at Gulfstream Park and St. Trinians in the Santa Maria Handicap at Santa Anita); Jerry Hollendorfer (Blind Luck in the Las Virgenes and Tuscan Evening in the Buena Vista Handicap, both at Santa Anita); and Christopher Grove (Greenspring in the General George Handicap and Sweet Goodbye in the Barbara Fritchie Handicap, both at Laurel).

There have been 38 AGS races run so far this year, with 18 of the winning horses having sold at public auction (RNAs are not included). Of those 18, eight of them have sold for less than $100,000. Three of those eight sold on two different occasions for less than $100,000—Kinsale King, for $27,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale and $67,000 at the Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training; Cat by the Tale, for $75,000 at the Keeneland September sale and then for $52,000 as a 3-year-old at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale; and Jeranimo, for $50,000 at the OBS August yearling sale and $70,000 at the Barretts May sale.

At the other end of the spectrum is Munnings, the highest-priced auction horse to win an AGS race so far in 2010, having been purchased by Demi O’Byrne for $1.7 million at the Fasig-Tipton Calder February sale of 2-year-olds in training. Leprechaun Racing pinhooked him at that sale after buying the son of Speightstown for $150,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s August select yearling sale.

Keeneland’s September sale, the largest yearling sale in the world, continues to dominate as expected, with 12 of its graduates winning AGS races thus far in 2010.

Eaton Sales and Taylor Made Sales Agency, the two biggest-volume consignors, each have sold three AGS winners of 2010 (all sold at Keeneland September); Gainesway and Warrendale Sales are next on the list of consignors of 2010 AGS winners, with two each.

El Corredor and Smart Strike are the only two sires to be represented by two AGS winners thus far in 2010. El Corredor, who stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale for $15,000, has sired Santa Ysabel Stakes winners Crisp and Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap winner El Caballo. Smart Strike, who stands for $75,000 at Lane’s End, has sired San Fernando Stakes winner Papa Clem and La Canada Stakes winner Striking Dancer.

This is our first look at American Graded Stakes Standings for 2010, and though it’s early in the year, there are some patterns established that I think we can count on to continue in the coming months.

Trainer Bob Baffert is the leader by American Graded Stakes wins, with three in the first five weeks of 2010, and with several top contenders for the 3-year-old classics, there is no reason to believe he will not double that number before the first Saturday in May. Rick Dutrow and Todd Pletcher have two each, and Pletcher has yet to unleash his deep roster of Triple Crown prospects. Both of his AGS victories were supplied by Quality Road, who at this point has to be considered the top older male in training.

Among jockeys, Robby Albarado and Garrett Gomez have three AGS wins apiece, with four riders with two each: Martin Garcia, Joel Rosario, Chantal Sutherland, and John Velazquez. Gomez and Albarado each ride for top stables and can be expected to win a bunch more AGS races before the year is out.

Zabeel Racing International has two AGS winners, both of which were private purchases over the winter: Richard’s Kid, winner of the Grade 2 San Antonio Handicap, was bought from Arnold Zetcher and is headed to the Dubai World Cup next; and Conveyance, winner of the Grade 3 San Rafael Stakes, was sold Zabeel by Legends Racing after winning his first two starts. Zabeel is the racing stable of Sheikh Mohammed’s eldest son, Sheikh Rashid.

Also with two AGS winners is IEAH Stables, which owns Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap winner Court Vision with Resolute Group Stables and WinStar Farm; and Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes winner Amen Hallelujah with Whizway Farms.

Eleven of the 24 individual AGS winners thus far in 2010 were sold at public auction at least once, with three of them consigned by Eaton Sales, and two by Taylor Made Sales Agency. Nine of those 11 auctioned horses were purchased during the Keeneland September yearling sale for prices ranging from $27,000 for Grade 2 Palos Verdes Handicap winner Kinsale King to $310,000 for Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes winner Winslow Homer.

By Ray Paulick
It’s Triple Crown season, so owners and trainers have begun to compile roadmaps to Louisville for their Kentucky Derby hopefuls. So much has changed in recent years with the advent of synthetic tracks, a shuffling of dates for important prep races, and the emergence of new graded stakes with purses fueled by casino money.

The Derby is generally the only race in the Triple Crown that has an oversupply of candidates. Derby Fever strikes otherwise knowledgeable horsemen and sound businessman to the point that getting a runner into the big dance is a small victory of some sorts—even if it means the only picture their horse is in at the finish is the wide-angle shot taken from the blimp flying overhead.

Getting into the Derby field is simple. Your 3-year-old has to rank in the top 20 by money earned in graded or group stakes—not just in America but anywhere in the world. The amount to make the top 20 varies from year to year, but it’s generally somewhere in the $100,000-$150,000 range.

All graded stakes, however, are not created equally.

There was an exception to the graded stakes rule in 2009, when Churchill Downs and Kempton racetrack in England offered a guaranteed spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate to the winner of the Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes in March (it also included some travel money). The purpose of the Challenge was to stir up some interest in the Kentucky Derby among bettors in the United Kingdom. The fact it was a one-and-done promotion (not to mention that Churchill canned Tom Aronson, who came up with the idea) suggests it was not successful in its maiden voyage.

The reliance on global graded stakes earnings has worked OK, but there are some obvious pitfalls. What if, for example, Sheikh Mohammed owned the first four finishers in the UAE Derby, a graded stakes in his backyard with a $2-million purse, and he wanted to run all horses in the Kentucky Derby. He might have that opportunity, since the winner of the race gets $1.2 million, the runner-up $400,000, $200,000 to third and $100,000 to fourth.

Then we have the imbalance in American Graded Stakes purses. For example, Uh Oh Bango, last year’s runner-up in the $750,000 Delta Jackpot, a Grade 3 race at Delta Downs, is almost assured to have a starting spot in the Derby, thanks to the $150,000 he earned. Same with the upcoming Sunland Derby, an $800,000 race that will be graded this year for the first time (it’s one of the races Mine That Bird didn’t win last year). The winner and runner-up of that race will likely earn enough to make the field.

That relegates traditionally important Grade 2 races like the Fountain of Youth ($250,000 purse) or San Felipe Stakes ($150,000) to lesser roles on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Doesn’t seem right.

The answer is simple, and it’s not one that I can claim as my idea. Churchill Downs should come up with a comprehensive points scale for top three or top four finishes in Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 races, so that the runner-up in a Grade 3 race doesn’t get put ahead of the winner in a Grade 2 race just because the Grade 3 race carried a higher purse.  It shouldn’t be that difficult, and will be a much more fair process for determining who deserves to be in the Derby’s starting field.

This will not happen in 2010, as the nominations have already been solicited for this year’s Triple Crown races, and the conditions for each of the races spelled out. But with the contract between Churchill Downs and NBC expiring this year (along with NBC’s contract to televise the Preakness and ABC’s deal on the Belmont), it’s a perfect time to address this type of issue.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
With the Experimental Free Handicap released today, it seems the appropriate time to take a look at the 2-year-old winners of 2009 American Graded Stakes. There are a few trends among the 33 individual 2-year-old AGS winners that jumped off the data pages compiled by the Paulick Report. Among them: homebreds are the exception and not the rule when it comes to winning 2-year-old graded stakes; Todd Pletcher was the king among trainers of 2-year-olds; and finally, despite the ready to race aspect of 2-year-old auctions, graduates of those sales do not appear to have much of an edge when it comes to winning an AGS race at two.

Here are some nuggets of information that came out of the research:

-Of the 33 2-year-old AGS winners, 11 of them were repeat AGS winners in the United States; champion 2-year-old male Lookin at Lucky was the only one to win more than two individual AGS races (Best Pal Stakes, Del Mar Futurity, Norfolk, CashCall Futurity).

-Todd Pletcher trained five of the AGS winners: Ailalea,. Devil May Care, Interactif, Rule and Super Saver; Steve Asmussen had three (Hot Dixie Chick, Thiskyhasnolimit and Western Smoke); training two each were Wayne Catalano, Rick Dutrow, Wayne Lukas, and Jerry Romans. So nearly 50% (16 of 33) of the 2-year-old AGS winners came from six barns. Interestingly, Lookin at Lucky was Bob Baffert’s only 2-year-old AGS winner.

-Seven stallions accounted for 14 of the 33 AGS winners (42%); siring two AGS winners each were Broken Vow, Dixie Union, Maria’s Mon, Northern Afleet, Pulpit, Roman Ruler, and Tiznow.

-Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt’s WinStar Farm had an outstanding year with 2-year-olds, breeding and racing a trio of AGS winners: Rule, Super Saver, and American Lion (the latter bred in partnership with William Lockridge). In fact those three represent half of the six AGS winners who raced for their breeders. That means that 27 of the 33 AGS winners were either sold at public auction or privately by their breeder. One that wasn’t sold was Nancy Mazzony’s homebred 2-year-old filly champion, She Be Wild.

-Of those sold at public auction (our statistics do not include horses offered and not sold or those catalogued and withdrawn), more came from Keeneland’s September yearling sale than anywhere else. Fourteen graduates of that sale went on to become 2009 AGS winners as 2-year-olds; with three each were Fasig-Tipton Kentucky’s yearling sale and Keeneland’s November mixed sale (weanlings). Two AGS winners came out of the 2009 Fasig-Tipton Calder 2-year-old. OBS had one graduate each from its February, March and April 2-year-old sale go on to win an AGS race, and one from its August yearling sale. Lookin at Lucky was the lone AGS winner sold at the Keeneland April sale of 2-year-olds.

-All told, 19 yearling sale graduates won AGS races at 2; six came from 2-year-old sales, and three were sold as weanlings. These stats include several horses that were pinhooked from year to the next. By age, the weanlings sold represented 11% of the total 2-year-old AGS winners; yearlings 68%, and 2-year-olds, 21%. If we total all foals of 2007 sold at auction as weanlings, yearlings or 2-year-olds, the breakdown is very similar: 15% weanlings; yearlings 66%; and 2-year-olds 19%.

-Finally, Taylor Made Sales Agency and Gainesway were the top two consignors of horses that went on to win AGS races at two. Taylor Made had five (Ailalea, Backtalk, Devil May Care, Negligee and Who’s Up. Gainesway sold three: Buddy’s Saint, Noble’s Promise, and Who’s Up (who sold as a weanling by Taylor and as a yearling by Gainesway).

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The final day of Keeneland’s January Horses of All Ages Sale, while a difficult sale to compare from year to year, did show some positive signs in the equine marketplace. While there was a 26.6% decrease in horses sold and a 27.2% decline in the gross, the average sale price was $24,333 or down less than 1% from 2009.

Does this mean the bleeding is over? Probably not. But it could be a possible sign that things are beginning to turn around. "The whole world economy is readjusting at the moment, and the Thoroughbred industry is readjusting," said Sales Director Geoffrey Russell. Hopefully, that sort of self-adjustment will mean a better equine economy by the end of the year.

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- Bradford Cummings

By Ray Paulick
Will Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs win a sixth consecutive Eclipse Award as outstanding breeder, or will Saudi Arabian Prince Khalid Abdullah break Stronach’s streak and win a fifth Eclipse Award as outstanding breeder in the name of his Juddmonte Farm?

Adena Springs, Juddmonte and Dolphus Morrison are the three finalists in the breeder category.

Stronach’s massive operation finished atop the list of North American breeders by money won for the seventh year in a row, though the total earnings of horses bred in the name of Adena Springs took a substantial drop in 2009 from the previous year. Adena had 568 winners in 2009 from 3,903 starts and total earnings of $12,853,329. The average earnings per start was $3,293. In 2008, Adena Springs-bred horses earned $19,217,703.

Stronach’s operation produced only two American Graded Stakes winners of 2009—both of them Grade 3 winners.

Juddmonte Farm finished second in money won, with $7,055,631 in earnings from 310 starts and 46 wins. Juddmonte-breds earned an average $22,760 per start, and the operation produced four American Graded Stakes winners—three of them Grade 1, Ventura, Midships and Midday. No other breeder produced three individual Grade 1 winners of 2009.

For my money, Juddmonte far outperformed Adena Springs in 2009, but Eclipse Award voters haven’t looked beyond the earnings list in recent years, and it would not surprise me to see Adena Springs win again. Juddmonte received its first Eclipse Award as outstanding breeder in 1995, then won three in a row, from 2001-03. Adena Springs has won each year since 2004, and Stronach won a previous award in his own name in 2000.

The third finalist, Dolphus Morrison, bred just one American Graded Stakes winner, Rachel Alexandra, a finalist for Horse of the Year with Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta. It seems a bit odd that Morrison received the third highest-number of votes, given the fact that breeders of one big horse are seldom recognized with an Eclipse Award.

In fact, in the history of the awards, only one breeder, Golden Chance Farm, was voted an Eclipse Award primarily because of one horse. Golden Chance bred John Henry and won the outstanding breeder award in 1981 in the first of John Henry’s two Horse of the Year campaigns.

There were three breeding operations that bred five individual American Graded Stakes winners of 2009, and none of them received enough support to be a finalist for an Eclipse Award. Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley bred five American Graded Stakes winners of 10 AGS races; Mr. and Mrs. Robert McNair’s Stonerside bred five AGS winners of seven races; and Kenny Troutt and Bill Casner’s WinStar Farm bred five AGS winners of five races.

In my opinion, quality should come into play when Eclipse Award voters assess each year’s outstanding breeders. Having the largest operation and breeding the winners of the most money does not equate to quality. Adena Springs has had some very good years and has produced a number of champions, and several of those previous Eclipse Awards were well deserved. If Adena Springs wins this year, however, the voters got it wrong.

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