Posts Tagged ‘edward p. evans’

Press Release

Adena Springs heads the list of leading individual breeders in North America in 2009 with earnings of $12,853,329, according to statistics released today by The Jockey Club Information Systems Inc. (TJCIS). In topping the list for the seventh consecutive year, Adena Springs bred the winners of 568 races from 3,903 starts and is followed by Eugene Melnyk, who bred the winners of 291 races from 1,588 starts for earnings of $7,513,369.
 
Adena Springs also tops a second breeder list that includes partnerships. Including partnerships, Adena Springs bred the winners of 568 races from 3,908 starts for earnings of $12,856,254. Runner-up was Eugene Melnyk, who alone or in partnership bred the winners of 291 races from 1,589 starts for earnings of $7,513,696.
 
Rounding out the list of top 10 individual breeders were Juddmonte Farms Inc., $7,055,634 (46 wins/310 starts); Brereton C. Jones, $6,184,957 (265/1,676); Edward P. Evans, $4,356,533 (99/554); Pam Wygod and Martin Wygod, $4,328,166 (138/777); Stonerside Stable, $4,064,060 (104/644); Gulf Coast Farms LLC, $3,683,500 (62/401); Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, $3,459,377 (152/1,132); and Maverick Productions Ltd., $3,368,507 (6/14).
 
Completing the list of top 10 breeders including partnerships were Juddmonte Farms Inc., $7,055,634 (no horses bred in partnership); Brereton C. Jones, $7,025,758 (295 wins/1,915 starts); W.S. Farish, $5,198,485 (184/1,173); WinStar Farm LLC, $4,888,763 (124/830); Stonerside Stable, $4,825,395 (127/792); Martin J. Wygod, $4,603,613 (155/867); Edward P. Evans, $4,356,533 (no horses bred in partnership); and Pam Wygod $4,328,166 (138/777).
 
The complete lists of the top 100 breeders of 2009 are accessible through equineline.com.
 
The Jockey Club Information Systems Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Jockey Club, is an industry leader in the areas of technology and information services for industry professionals, including owners, breeders, trainers, veterinarians and farm personnel. TJCIS utilizes state-of-the-art technology to enhance the services it provides through equineline.com as well as its cataloguing and software sales and consulting divisions.

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.