Posts Tagged ‘ifha’

The rankings of horses from around the world are updated throughout the year, and can be viewed at the Web site of the IFHA, which maintains historical rankings as well. Click here to see the complete list of 2008 World Thoroughbred Rankings.

From a nationalistic point of view, American interests dominated the standings by placing 84 U.S.-trained horses on the list of Northern and Southern Hemisphere runners, aged 3 and up, who were weighted at 115 pounds or higher. That list is headed, of course, by the 2007 Horse of the Year, Curlin, who was weighted at 130 pounds, equal to the weight assigned the Irish-trained 3-year-old, New Approach. The number of U.S.-trained horses is nearly twice as many as the 43 from Great Britain making the list, but it only stands to reason since there are far more races and graded stakes in the United States than in any other country. Following Great Britain was Australia ,with 36; Japan, 28; France, 27; Ireland, 21; Hong Kong, 13; Germany, 11; United Arab Emirates, 10; South Africa, 6; New Zealand, 3;  Spain, 3; Canada, 2; Brazil, 1; Hungary, 1; Italy, 1; and Turkey, 1.

Not surprisingly, Aidan O’Brien, the young master of Ballydoyle in Ireland, trains the most runners on the list with 14. O’Brien is private trainer for Coolmore’s John Magnier and his associates. Sir Michael Stoute and Saeed bin Suroor were next, with nine each, followed by Robert Frankel, 8, Andre Fabre, 7, and Mike de Kock, with 6.

From a sire standpoint, Coolmore was a dominating force, as the accompanying table shows, led by their trio of the pensioned legend, Sadler’s Wells, along with young stars Galileo and Montjeu, both of whom were sired by Sadler’s Wells. Each of the three was represented by eight horses on the World Rankings. Following that top trio is another stallion associated with Coolmore, Danehill, who shuttled between Australia and Ireland. He has seven horses ranked at 115 pounds or higher for 2008, and also is the sire of two of the others on this list, Flying Spur and Rock of Gibraltar.

The highest American-based sire on the list is the Lane’s End stallion Kingmambo, who is represented by six runners on the World Rankings. Next is Chester House, a son of Mr. Prospector who stood at Juddmonte Farm before his unfortunate and premature death at age 8 in 2003. He was produced by the preeminent broodmare, Toussaud, who died most recently.

The 2008 World Thoroughbred Rankings were compiled by the World Rankings Supervisory Committee (a panel of handicappers/racing secretaries affiliated to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities) in Hong Kong in December 2008. The committee comprised :

Nigel Gray (co-chairman)
Hong Kong

Garry O’Gorman (co-chairman)
Ireland

Greg Carpenter
Australia

Gerald Sauque
France

Dominic Gardiner-Hill
Great Britain

Phillip Smith
Great Britain

Harald Siemen
Germany

Marco Rinaldi
Italy

Kazuhito Matano, Dr
Japan

Takahiro Uno
Japan

Dean Nowell
New Zealand

Mike Wanklin
Singapore

Roger Smith
South Africa

Melvin Day
UAE

Tom Robbins
USA

with the following also present as observers :

David Hunter
Australia

Steven Lym
Canada

Bahadir Gur
Turkey

Nigel Gray, co-chairman World Rankings Supervisory Committee
Head of Handicapping and Race Planning, Hong Kong Jockey Club
Telephone +852 2966 8337
Email nigel.c.gray@hkjc.org.hk

Garry O’Gorman, co-chairman World Rankings Supervisory Committee
Senior Flat Handicapper, Irish Turf Club
Telephone +353 5997 26596
Email gaogorman@eircom.net

Tom Robbins, chairman North American Ratings Committee
Vice President (Racing), Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
Telephone +1 858 792 4230
Email tomr@dmtc.com

News of the JRA’s expected policy change was a hot “hallway topic” at the Asian Racing Conference, which officially began in Tokyo on Monday night with opening ceremonies that featured a traditional lion dance, Japanese music, and a handful of speeches from Asian Racing Federation officers, JRA officials and the minister of Japan’s department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, under whose umbrella the JRA falls.

Presentations and panel discussions on a host of subjects begin on Tuesday. The conference, the world’s largest international gathering of its kind, will attract more than 800 people from as many as 35 countries. The Asian Racing Federation, which organizes the conference, has 22 member nations, including two new members, the Saigon Racing Club of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Jockey Club of Russia.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, chairman of the Asian Racing Federation and CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, warned the gathering of the ominous problems the racing industry faces in light of the current global economic crisis and the growing competition in the gambling market. “This is not a gentle breeze that we face,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said. “In Hong Kong it’s what we would call a typhoon.”

The licensing of foreign owners became a big issue two years ago when Sheikh Mohammed was originally denied a license for Darley Japan, which operates a stallion and breeding farm on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Eventually, Darley was awarded a JRA owner’s license in the name of its Japanese manager, veterinarian Riki Takahashi (a former JRA employee), but it was relinquished in December 2007 when Takahashi abruptly left Darley after 15 years.

Details of the new licensing rules are not confirmed, but it is expected that foreign applicants will be required to meet the same financial and personal wealth standards the JRA sets for Japanese owners who compete for the racing world’s highest purse structure. Owners will not be required to have a Japanese base for breeding, however.

It is likely those foreigners approved for a JRA owner’s license will have to buy or breed five Japanese foals to fill their initial stable, and thereafter maintain a minimum percentage of Japanese-bred horses within the stable. That rule, which some may see as a continuation of the JRA’s historic protectionist policies favoring Japanese breeders, could be a boon to the foal sale held annually in July by the Japan Race Horse Association. The sale was launched by the Yoshida family, which for decades has dominated Japanese racing and breeding.

Darley, almost certainly will be issued a JRA owner’s license, but it will be interesting to see which other large-scale international Thoroughbred operations will apply. According to Teruya Yoshida of Shadai Farm, the Niarchos and Wertheimer families have been breeding mares in Japan for a number of years and could be among the early entities to apply for a JRA license.

The rule change is not expected to allow horses that began their careers outside of Japan to participate in JRA races, with the exception of graded stakes, which are now open to foreign competitors. It wasn’t so long ago that the only graded stakes open to international horses was the Japan Cup.

UPDATE: Louis Romanet of France, who chairs the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, reminded me that the JRA’s agreement to open up the licensing of owners to non-Japanese was part of the agreement that allowed JRA races to be recognized in Part 1 of the International Catalogue Standards book published by the International Catalogue Standards Committee. That means JRA graded and stakes races are recognized for black-type in Thoroughbred auction catalogues around the world.

SPEAKING OF TERUYA YOSHIDA, the master of Shadai Farm said the recent turnabout by the once-shy stallion War Emblem is nothing short of a “miracle.” War Emblem, the 2002 Kentucky Derby winner who was purchased for $17 million by Shadai from the late Prince Ahmed’s Thoroughbred Corp., barely had 40 foals from his first three crops, and produced no foals in 2007 or 2008.

This year, with the help of horse behavior specialist Sue McDonnell of the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, War Emblem appears to have overcome his breeding shyness, and now has about 30 mares in foal, according to Yoshida. “We are breeding him every month, at least one mare per month,” Yoshida told the Paulick Report. “We hope to breed him to as many as 60 or 70 mares next year.”

The improvement in War Emblem’s attitude (the problem was never infertility, but disinterest in breeding) could not have come at a better time. Just last month, War Emblem was represented by his first Grade 1 winner when Black Emblem won the Shuka Sho at Kyoto Racecourse.

“War Emblem’s best horses are just like he was,” Yoshida said. “They are very fast early and are dangerous if they are on the lead by themselves.”

YESTERDAY’S REPORT FROM THE TOKYO RACE COURSE mentioned an encounter with Michael Dickinson, the former trainer and founder of Tapeta Footings who is exhibiting his product at the Asian Racing Conference and appearing in a panel discussion focused on synthetic tracks. Dickinson, in his first visit to Japan, is notorious for walking turf and dirt courses to get a feel for their composition, and was eyeing the Tokyo Race Course grass surface in hopes of taking a stroll after the races were completed on Sunday.

The "mad genius" did, indeed, test the grass surface, calling it a "very firm" course. Did anyone really think he would come this far without walking the course?