Posts Tagged ‘Diamond A Racing’

By Ray Paulick
Voting for the Eclipse Awards will begin in just over a month, and the biggest debate and perhaps most hotly disputed division will be for Horse of the Year, where early- and mid-season leader Rachel Alexandra and undefeated Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta will vie for the most votes from members of the National Turf Writers Association, Daily Racing Form staff, racing secretaries at National Thoroughbred Racing Association tracks and Equibase chartcallers.

I hope voters will spend as much time assessing the relative merits of some of the other categories as they will on Horse of the Year. Specifically, if they take their responsibilities seriously, they will examine as much of the season-ending statistics on leading breeder as possible before casting their votes. As I’ve written before, I don’t think that’s been the case in some years. Too many voters simply look at which breeder has won the most money.

If that’s the criteria, then Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs will win the outstanding breeder award for the sixth consecutive year. But Adena’s breeding program has produced just two American Graded Stakes winners of 2009, a far cry from some of its previous Eclipse Award winning years. Adena Springs-bred horses have won all that money through the size of Stronach’s broodmare band, producing runners that started 3,568 times in North America so far this year, far more than any other operation. The average earnings per start for Adena-bred horses is just $3,286. Those aren’t bad numbers, nor is the 14% win rate, but I don’t think they should qualify Adena for another Eclipse Award.

The award for outstanding breeder shouldn’t be about who has the biggest operation or who wins the most money. Scanning the list of leading breeders of American Graded Stakes winners of 2009, there are 10 entities that have bred at least three AGS winners alone or in partnership. They are Darley and Stonerside, with five each; Juddmonte Farms and Edward Evans, four each; and with three each are Gainsborough Stud, Phipps Stable, Classic Star, Diamond A Racing, William Farish,  and Wertheimer et Frere. Our leaders list only includes Gainsborough and Phipps Stable in the group with three as their AGS winners won a total of five graded stakes, versus four or three for the others.

So if the Eclipse Award for outstanding breeder should go to one of those operations, which one? You can make a case for several, but special attention should be given to Saudi Prince Khalid’s Juddmonte, which has won four previous Eclipse Awards in this category (1995, and 2001-03). Juddmonte is third behind Adena in money won in North America, with $6,771,260, and has done so with only 280 starts, 41 one of which resulted in winners. That works out to an average of $24,183 per start.

Unlike some of the other breeding operations, Juddmonte sends the majority of its homebreds to Europe to begin their careers, and they don’t normally bring the poor performers back to the U.S. once they have established their form. So its North American stable is stocked with quality from the outset.

A large part of Juddmonte’s success is attributable to the consistently top-class work done by Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, whose death earlier this week was mourned by the Juddmonte family and everyone in racing who knew him.

Another breeder having an outstanding year with his homebreds is Edward P. Evans, whose four AGS winners have won six races (though one of them, Charitable Man, was sold at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Evans has a much more select broodmare band than Juddmonte but has still managed to produce the winners of $4,154,264 from 506 starts (89 winners), putting him eighth in the money rankings. His average earnings per start is $8,210.

There are still some big races to be run, so it’s too early for me to say who I think should win as outstanding breeder. But the hope is when the ballots are sent to voters, the voters will spend some time assessing the overall quality of the horses a breeder produces.

By Ray Paulick
It’s not the least bit surprising to see horses like Giant’s Causeway, A.P. Indy and Unbridled’s Song among the leading sires of American Graded Stakes winners, a weekly feature brought to you by Keeneland. After all, Giant’s Causeway leads all American-based sires by progeny earnings in 2009, A.P. Indy is fifth on the list and Unbridled’s Song ninth, according to bloodhorse.com.

A.P. Indy has seven AGS winners of 2009 that have won 10 graded stakes; Giant’s Causeway has six AGS winners of nine races, and Unbridled’s Song and Pulpit (16th on the general sire list) each have five AGS winners of seven graded stakes.

But right in the middle of those five sires–which had 2009 stud fees ranging from a high of $250,000 for A.P. Indy, $125,000 each for Giant’s Causeway and Unbridled’s Song and $80,000 for Pulpit—is a stallion who is priced much more affordably and is quietly having his best year at stud, as represented by his offspring on the track and the sale ring. That stallion is Dixie Union, a multiple-American Graded Stakes-winning son of Dixieland Band who stands at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky. Dixie Union has been represented by six AGS winners of 2009 that have won eight AGS races.

Dixie Union’s 2009 stud fee was $35,000, payable when foal stands and nurses.

Thoroughbred owners have taken notice of Dixie Union’s success, even though he only ranks 21st on the list of leading American sires by progeny earnings. Through the first three days of the Keeneland September yearling sale, Dixie Union has had five yearlings sell from seven offered for an average price of $235,000 and a median of $205,000. His two RNAs were bought back at $140,000 and $235,000. Those are very good numbers–even at his earlier stud fee of $50,000.

Dixie Union was a top-class racehorse at ages two and three for trainer Richard Mandella and his breeder, Herman Sarkowsky, who co-owned the colt with Gerald Ford of Diamond A Racing. At 2  in 1999 he won three AGS stakes: the Hollywood Juvenile Championship at Hollywood Park, Best Pal at Del Mar and Norfolk Stakes during the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting at Santa Anita. He finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and came out of that race with a bone chip in his knee. Dixie Union’s return was too late to make the 2000 Triple Crown races, but he won a pair of Grade 1 races at 3: the Haskell Invitational and Malibu Stakes. He retired to stud with a slight tendon injury following the Malibu.

Dixie Union’s six AGS winners of 2009 are: Justwhistledixie, winner of the Grade 2 Davona Dale and Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream Park; Dixie Chatter, winner of the Grade 2 Arcadia at Santa Anita; Bold Union, winner of the Grade 3 Endine Stakes at Delaware Park; Dixie Band, unbeaten winner of the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity; Hot Dixie Chick, a two-time Saratoga stakes winner of the Grade 2 Schuylerville and Grade 1 Spinaway; and most recently, Gone Astray, winner of the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby.

While Lane’s End has other, higher-profile stallions among its roster of 22 (most notably, Horses of the Year A.P. Indy, Mineshaft and Curlin, and leading sire Smart Strike, among others) no one at Will Farish’s successful Versailles, Ky., operation may offer better value than Dixie Union.