Posts Tagged ‘lane’s end farm’

Edited Press Release

The 2010 stud fee for two-time Horse of the Year CURLIN, who stands at Mr. and Mrs. William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Kentucky, has been reduced to $40,000 stands and nurses.

In a statement released today, majority owner Jess Jackson discussed the decision:

“We are delighted with the three CURLIN foals that we’ve seen so far, and are eagerly awaiting our home bred CURLIN babies.

We also know that times are tough for our friends in the breeding business. To continue to attract the best book of mares for CURLIN and further help our breeders, we have decided to lower CURLIN’s fee for the 2010 breeding season to $40,000.”

A classic winner of seven Grade 1 events, CURLIN is North America’s richest racehorse with earnings of $10,501,800. CURLIN, who entered stud last year, is by Lane’s End’s two-time leading sire Smart Strike.

By Ray Paulick
A summit meeting between the leader of the Kentucky state senate’s majority Republican Party and a group of prominent Thoroughbred owners and breeders began shortly after 3:30 p.m. in the offices of the U.S. Pony Club at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington on Tuesday afternoon. The expected subject matter was the future of Kentucky’s beleaguered signature industry and the gulf that exists between horsemen and Sen. President David Williams on the issue of VLTs or expanded gambling at state racetracks.

Williams has repeatedly used his power and influence to block slots or VLT legislation that most in the horse industry see as necessary in the wake of competition from bordering states—this despite a reported penchant for gambling at out of state casinos and riverboats that has earned Williams the nickname of “Blackjack” here at the Paulick Report (more about that later). Williams has come under fire recently from fellow Republicans in the horse community, most notably Bill Farish, general manager of Lane’s End Farm in Versailles and son of William S Farish, a close friend to former Presidents George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush.

Williams met with the board of directors of the influential Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, along with representatives of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club. David Switzer, executive director of the KTA/KTOB, said the decision was made to keep it a closed meeting from the press and others in order to ensure what he called “free speech.” 

Also attending the meeting was Scott County Republican Sen. Damon Thayer, a Thoroughbred industry consultant and former executive at Breeders’ Cup and Turfway Park whose silence and lack of support for VLT legislation during a special session of the legislature in June  was widely criticized by individuals in the horse industry. Ed Worley (D-Richmond), the minority leader in Kentucky’s Senate, also was on hand.

As one reader pointed out in a comment, it’s curious why the Kentucky Equine Education Project was not invited to the meeting, which the KTA’s Switzer said Williams had requested two months ago.

WILLIAMS, THAYER TO INTRODUCE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Following the meeting that lasted nearly two hours the dynamic duo of Williams and Thayer  (pictured, left) emerged first, telling reporters about their plans to introduce two constitutional amendments involving gambling in the 2010 legislative session. Williams spoke first, saying he was going to introduce a bill calling for a constitutional amendment to ban the expansion of gambling in Kentucky without what he called "the vote of the people". 

Thayer then said he will sponsor legislation giving voters a chance to decide whether to permit VLTs in seven counties where racetracks are located. If passed, both amendments would go before voters in November 2010. If approved by a majority of Kentuckians, Thayer’s proposed constitutional amendment would then require enabling legislation and a local option vote in all seven counties, followed by a licensing approval process. He did not give a concrete date for when that entire process, which would include a bidding process and licensing of VLT facilities, could be completed.

Click here to see an outline of Thayer’s proposed constitutional amendment. 

If the measure passed and VLT facilities were fully operational (they aren’t necessarily tied to racetracks in the seven counties, based on the proposal), Thayer said Kentucky owners and breeders would get $100 million annually or 25% of net revenue , whichever is higher.

Williams said he would personally oppose the constitutional amendment permitting VLTs but would not attempt to stop it from going through the Senate chamber. Both constitutional amendments would require super majority votes in the Senate (23 of 38 votes) and House (60 of 100 votes). Currently, the House is controlled by Democrats, while Williams and his fellow Republicans hold a 20-17 edge over Democrats in the Senate, with one member independent.

Legislation permitting VLTs passed the House during the special session of the legislature in June, but it was killed in a Republican controlled Senate committee, preventing the measure from getting a full vote on the Senate floor. Since the bill was killed, the Republicans lost one seat in a special election and could conceivably lose another if Republican Sen. Dan Kelly is offered and accepts a judgeship from Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. Republicans currently control the Senate by a 20-17 edge over Democrats, with one independent.

Williams said if the VLT legislation had been passed by the Senate, "we’d be tied up in litigation" over the constitutionality of the bill. Besides, Williams said, Gov. Beshear ran on a platform that would permit Kentuckians to vote on whether to allow racetracks to offer expanded gaming. "The governor has some opportunity to show some leadership on this situation," Williams said. "It was his campaign promise that he wanted the people to decide. These two amendments, if the governor will support them, will allow the people to decide. In the intervening time, we can try to do some things to supplement the (horse racing) purses."

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Beshear issued a statement calling the proposed constitutional amendments "cynical" and "political."

When asked about the reaction of horse industry representatives to the proposals, Williams said the discussions were "spirited". Thayer added, "They were courteous."

Williams seemed defensive when asked by one reporter if he would "allow" Thayer’s amendment to be voted upon by the full Senate. "What do you mean ‘allow’?" he responded. He then said it was wrong to blame the failure of the VLT bill on one person (presumably Williams was referring to himself) and said the measure passed the House by a "skinny majority." He chided VLT supporters for calling the opponents of the measure "disingenuous, dishonest and corrupt." 

Thayer said he has not heard much criticism over his lack of support for the VLT bill from his constituents in Scott County but admitted he has been criticized by members of the horse industry. He said he has been consistent in his support of a constitional amendment but said legislators have been too busy on other issues to introduce a bill calling for a constitutional amendment over the last 10 years.

"This is a horse industry protection bill," insisted Thayer. "We will have the most desirable year-round racing circuit in the country."
 
DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP, HORSE INDUSTRY OPPOSES
Democratic Senate Floor Leader Ed Worley (pictured, left), who also attended the meeting, dismissed chances of members of his party supporting the legislation. "It ain’t gonna happen," Worley said, adding that Thayer’s constitutional amendment would be "dead on arrival." He was highly critical of Thayer for not contacting him "as a courtesy" to outline his plans for the legislation before going public with it. Worley said he had canvassed all but one member of the Democratic caucus  and said none of them would support the constitutional amendments.

"What this is about is politics," Worley said. "This buys (the Republicans) time and divides the industry, and that’s what it is intended to do"–calling it a "wedge issue." Meanwhile, "the multi-billion-dollar industry" is suffering, Worley said. "The rank and file of the industry aren’t sheikhs. They don’t all have million-dollar horses."

Bill Farish said the lengthy time line for the constitutional amendment, statewide referendum, enabling legislation, local option votes and licensing process was not acceptable to a horse industry that needs more immediate help. A statewide referendum and local-option elections "give out-of-state casinos two shots to oppose" the measure, he added, saying they would spend millions in advertising in an effort to sway public opinion against VLTs at racetracks.

"We have our position and he (Williams) has his position," Farish said, though he added the horse industry will continue to seek common ground with legislators. In the meantime, he said, the industry will work to elect senators and House members who understand and support the horse industry’s position.  "As an industry we are united." 

It was startling to hear Farish, whose family has such longstanding, close ties to Republican Party politics, using the word "we" while discussing the horse industry’s support of Democratic candidates for state Senate and House seats. And if it’s startling to me, imagine how high-ranking Republicans like U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell feel about the manner in which Williams has alienated so many Republican Party supporters.

Don Robinson (pictured, left, with Bill Farish), the president of the KTA/KTOB, said one of the horsemen in the meeting called the presentation by Williams and Thayer "smoke and mirrors". 

"By acclamation, (KTA/KTOB) supports  the Senate having a full hearing of the House bill," Robinson added,  He said the horse industry would have supported a constitutional amendment several years ago, but "it’s a different timetable now. We are in trouble. Mares are leaving the state. It’s too little, too late."

Thayer disagreed, saying, "It’s never too late to let the people decide."

If the VLT amendment passed and got local-option approval, the KTA’s Switzer said, it would be late 2013 or early 2014 before any revenue would find it’s way to the horse industry and state coffers. "Our backs are to the wall," he said. 

WILLIAMS DENIES ANY GAMBLING TIES
A final note: I asked Williams about his cease and desist demand in the wake of recent published comments from Lebanon, Ky., attorney James Avritt Sr., which suggested Williams’ opposition to racetrack VLTs might trace to out-of-state casino companies. "Who are  you?" Williams wanted to know after I said some people were interested in any personal experience with gambling he might have at out-of-state casinos.  When I said I wrote for the Paulick Report, he replied, "You’re the only who’s been saying anything about that." I also asked the Senate president if his law firm has represented any casino interests. "Absolutely not," he replied.

After that exchange, I got the feeling Williams probably would not invite me to Frankfort for a tour of the state capitol or a lunch at his favorite hangout (or, for that matter, on a road trip to Indiana’s Horseshoe Casino, located  just 20 minutes from downtown Louisville, Ky.).  But, on the other hand, he was in hostile territory and didn’t seem to be in the best of moods when I asked about any personal interest he has in gambling.

"We’re not his friends," said KTA/KTOB president Robinson. 

That might have been the understatement of the day.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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In the latest of a series of editorials between Kentucky’s horsemen and Senate President David Williams, Bill Farish of Lane’s End Farm writes a scathing indictment of the constitutional amendment. He claims it is a cop-out by Senate Republicans and that by David Williams’ own admission, an amendment is an unnecessary step.

While we both agree that slots are essential to the survival of Kentucky racing, how we get there is where the Paulick Report splits. Ray has been against a constitutional amendment, believing it will only stall the process and ultimately lead to nothing. I understand the current make up of the Senate and believe the only way to have this signed into law by 2011 is through the people. If 70% of Kentuckians want this, then it should be a slam dunk, right? And there is no guarantee the Senate will flip in 2010 as it is shaping up to be a Republican year nationally.

What say you? - Bradford Cummings

While our signature industry continues to exit the Commonwealth, our Republican leaders in the Senate continue to insist on playing politics with the future of the Thoroughbred business in Kentucky. For the last few years, Senate Republicans led by Senate President David Williams have steadfastly opposed a constitutional amendment to allow expanded gaming opportunities at Kentucky’s racetracks. Their longstanding opposition has allowed our competitor states to establish racing and breeding programs subsidized by expanded gaming, and those states have put us at an enormous competitive disadvantage. We are losing race horses, stallions, mares and a significant number of jobs to those states, and we are in danger of seeing major farms shutter their operations and move to friendlier jurisdictions.
 
As a final insult to our signature industry, Sen. Williams did not even bother to bring legislation that would have allowed VLTs at Kentucky race tracks for a full vote of the Senate. After the bill passed the House it was promised a fair hearing in the Senate, but was instead sent to a committee where the chairman declared it dead before testimony was even heard.
 
So after years of outright neglect and hostility toward an industry that employs 100,000 Kentuckians, it appears that Senate Republicans are beginning to feel the heat from their constituents. As almost 70 percent of Kentuckians support putting VLTs at racetracks, and as their Senate majority has shrunk with the loss of two straight special elections, one would hope that Senate Republicans would finally listen to the majority of Kentuckians by supporting legislation to put our industry on a level competitive playing field. But sadly, it appears that Senate Republicans will continue to play political games with the livelihoods of so many hard working Kentuckians.
 
The word around Frankfort is that Senate leadership is preparing to offer up the old idea of putting forth a constitutional amendment to permit gaming at Kentucky race tracks. This sounds great on the surface but, as usual in politics, there is more to it than meets the eye. First, a constitutional amendment is unnecessary, and Sen. Williams has already conceded this point. Allowing VLTs at racetracks is already constitutional, as affirmed by two recent Attorney General Opinions. Sen. Williams agreed that a constitutional amendment is not required to put VLTs at racetracks. So why then are they preparing to support a constitutional amendment? Politics.
 
Senate Republicans are struggling to retain their majority, and several of their members are facing tough re-election fights next November. It seems that Senate leadership has made the cynical decision to try and put expanded gaming on the ballot in an effort to drive up social conservative turnout in the next election cycle, hoping that the increased turnout will help their Senate candidates, in much the same manner that the gay marriage amendment helped Republican candidates a few years ago.
 
Never mind that a constitutional amendment is not necessary. Never mind that it could not be voted on until November 2010, and then if it passed, could not be implemented until late 2011—costing Kentucky jobs and doing further damage to our industry in the mean time. Never mind that out-of-state casinos will pour in tens of millions of dollars to defeat an amendment, and will once again make Senate Republicans the biggest defenders of out-of-state casinos. Never mind that the time for an amendment has come and gone, and that the industry desperately needs immediate statutory action.
 
None of these things matter, because it is clear that Senate Republican leadership is not really interested in helping the horse industry. Rather, they are only interested in helping themselves, by trying to hold onto whatever power they can in Frankfort. Senate Republicans seem determined to play political games with thousands of Kentuckians’ livelihoods, and their retention of power and privilege has trumped all else. It is truly disheartening that a handful of Senators have decided that retaining their political power is more important than helping our entire state, helping our signature industry and protecting the jobs of 100,000 Kentuckians.
 
As a lifelong Republican, I am hopeful that rank and file members of the Senate caucus will rise up against their cynical leadership, and act in the best interest of Kentucky by supporting an immediate statutory solution that will enable our signature industry to fairly compete with our out of state competition.
 
Bill Farish
General Manager, Lane’s End Farm

By Ray Paulick
Based on comments from trainer John Oxx, there seems little doubt that Sea the Stars, who ran his consecutive Group 1 win streak to six with a victory in Sunday’s Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, will be retired to stud for the 2010 breeding season. There has been no indication, however, that 27-year-old Christopher Tsui, owner of this racing superstar, has had serious discussions with any specific stallion station in Europe or the United States. Bloodstock experts peg the colt’s value at stud in excess of $50 million, even in the currently depressed market.

Thirty or more years ago a horse like Sea the Stars would almost certainly stand in Kentucky. That’s where the money was for major stallion syndications, and it was home to the world’s finest broodmares, giving a stallion prospect the best chance possible to succeed at stud. John Galbreath brought Roberto home to his Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky after the son of Hail to Reason raced to glory in the United Kingdom. Nijinsky II, a son of the great Northern Dancer, was retired to Claiborne Farm following his outstanding career in Europe carrying Charles Engelhard’s colors. John Gaines populated his stallion roster at Gainesway Farm with a number of top Europeans runners.

Times have changed. Like those horses mentioned above, Sea the Stars has raced exclusively on grass, and American breeders in the present era have shown an aversion to breeding to turf horses, no matter how accomplished they were on the racetrack. There are a few exceptions, among them Kingmambo at Lane’s End, Dynaformer at Three Chimneys, and Giant’s Causeway at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud. In addition, European sire power has skyrocketed, particularly at John Magnier’s Coolmore Stud in Ireland and Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley divisions at Kildangan Stud in Ireland and Dalham Hall Stud in England. European breeders have upgraded the quality of their broodmare bands to match this increased sire power.

“There is a prejudice here against grass horses,” said Barry Irwin of Team Valor. “The Keeneland sales have dictated what kind of stallions are accepted. I’ve got three mares I’m selling in Europe next year, but there’s nothing we can breed to here. The good thinkers like John Gaines have been replaced by guys who don’t have the same scope.”

That begs the question of whether a horse like Roberto or Nijinsky II would succeed in the United States in the current climate, and if contemporary American breeders would support Sea the Stars. Will Farish, owner of Lane’s End, thinks the answer to both questions is “yes.”

“I think Roberto and Nijinsky would succeed today if they got the support,” Farish told the Paulick Report, “though there are fewer people breeding for the classics now. Breeders over here have tended to have much more luck with our mile and mile and an eighth sires. They are the ones in most demand.”

Farish said he believes American breeders would support Sea the Stars even though “it’s been much harder to get people to breed to a grass horse.” He cited Giant’s Causeway as an example of a top-class European turf horse who has been well supported in the United States, though the son of Storm Cat is out of an American Graded Stakes-winning mare and showed good dirt form when narrowly beaten by Tiznow in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. “With his outstanding race record and that pedigree (by Darley’s leading sire Cape Cross out of Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea, who produced Epsom Derby winner and top sire Galileo) I would think you could stand Sea the Stars anywhere and he would get tremendous support,” Farish said.

Headley Bell of Mill Ridge Farm in Kentucky concurs. “He’s exceptional in that same kind of category (as Nijinsky II and Roberto). He’s an extraordinary horse, and the cream of Thoroughbred breeders around the world would want to breed to him,” Bell said. “You could make 40 phone calls and sell him out (for syndication as a stallion).”

The Irish National Stud has been the only farm mentioned as a leading candidate to land Sea the Stars, and that’s because of an existing relationship with the horse’s owner. Urban Sea, dam of Sea the Stars, was kept there until her death earlier this year. “They’ve done an incredible job of making stallions,”  Bell said of the National Stud. “John Oxx is such a class person. I would think they would lean in that direction.”

Standing Sea the Stars in the U.S. would seem to be a longshot at this stage. The increased size of stallion books and the emphasis on commercial breeding has contributed to the squeezing out of turf sires in the U.S.

“Grass horses haven’t been very popular the last 10 or 15 years,” said one breeder who asked not to be named. “Maybe breeders will start breeding for the winner’s circle instead of the sales ring.”

“Commercial breeders have hit a bubble,” said Thomas Gaines, son of the Gainesway Farm founder who co-owns Gaines-Gentry Thoroughbreds. “We’ve grown the commercial breeding part of the marketplace more than we’ve grown the number of people who show up and buy yearlings. Commercial breeding is contracting now because there are not enough people to buy the horses. Supply and demand has to recalibrate.”

Gaines said one mark of a stallion’s success today is “when the breed-to -race people start breeding to them, and half or more of a stallion’s book consists of people breeding to race. There are still a lot of those people out there, and they’ll support a horse like Sea the Stars. If he stood at a farm in Kentucky, you’d also have a lot of Europeans sending their mares here. That’s how it was in the 1980s.”

Bernie Sams of Claiborne Farm isn’t so sure. “Grass horses are a hard sell whether they ran overseas or here,” said Sams. “I wonder how many grass-type mares are left in Central Kentucky. Look at those races run over the weekend in France and England; Europeans are breeding to European stallions.”

It’s not just the bias against grass horses that adds to the challenge of making a stallion, said Sams, it’s getting a competitively sized book of mares. “How would you do with a horse like Danzig nowadays?” he asked of Claiborne’s late three-time leading stallion who went to stud off just three races, none in stakes. “Because of book size, if you had to get a horse like him started, it would be tough. Book sizes have hurt to an extent.”

Clifford Barry of Pin Oak Stud agrees. “Trying to get 150 mares to a horse is the biggest difference between now and 20 years ago,” he said. “But if you’ve spent a lot of money on a stallion prospect, you’ve got to try and recoup that cash. And there’s going to be some guys that aren’t going to recoup that money.