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Shadow Play for New Zealand mares

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , on August 5, 2013| 3 Comments »

In my last blog I looked at the pedigrees of some of Shadow Play’s first racing age crop winners in North America, and found that he appears to enjoy mares carrying plenty of the same good genetic influences that he has himself.

Now I’ll take a quick look at what mares he received in his seasons so far in New Zealand and specifically the cross with my mare The Blue Lotus who is Grinfromeartoear-Zenterfold, and therefore a half sister to the very good pacer and now sire Tintin In America.

Any analysis/comments for the Australian mares would be interesting – send to me, or add as a comment.  Richard, my Australian colleague, has also done analysis of the maternal families that Shadow Play’s North American winners have come from so far. That’s not an area I know much about at all so I will bring you more of his comments in another blog.

Shadow Play has had two crops in New Zealand to date so they have (as at 1 August) just become 2yos and yearlings.  On HRNZ database it records 27 live foals (19 in the first year and 8 in the next) although I can count only 25 foals listed as progeny.

Pedigree-wise, Shadow Play would be playing in quite a different pool of broodmares than in North America.

Artsplace mares are scarce as hens teeth here, so the Artsplace connection would come through his sons, not his daughters, unlike the rich tap of Artsplace mares he has accessed in North America.

New Zealand also does not have so much No Nukes influence in our maternal lines.  Probably one of the most successful sires in New Zealand who have No Nukes as a damsire is Washington VC, a son of Presidential Ball who flies under the radar for many of us because he is basically only available to lower South Island/Southland mares – he is the sire of very good horses like Imthemightquinn, Foreal and Georgetown. We’ve had Riverboat King with a No Nukes damsire and there are a decent number of Riverboat King mares around, but none so far as a match for Shadow Play. Live Or Die is from the No Nukes/Oil Burner sire line and carries Breath O Spring as well, but as yet no Live Or Die mares have been matched with Shadow Play here. Tinted Cloud, the In The Pocket son, has No Nukes as his damsire and Race Time-Breath O Spring on his maternal line, and there is one match so far between a Tinted Cloud mare and Shadow Play – and of course that will have the Direct Scooter double up as well. For many others the No Nukes connection will be as the sire of Western Hanover, which brings in a probably too close a cross for most breeders with Shadow Play being a son of Western Hanover sire The Panderosa. (I think in Australia there will be many more mares with Artsplace as their sire and with No Nukes in their pedigree).

However New Zealand mares do have a lot of other things to offer Shadow Play that he seems to enjoy – plenty of Adios, plenty of Tar Heel (who of course crossed so well with Adios himself and traces to Rose Scott, the full sister to Scotland).  Plenty of other links to Old Maid/Spinster/Scotland blood. A couple of our early sires U. Scott (a son of Scotland) and Light Brigade (a son of Spinster) tap into this fantastic old blood, and yet another very good sire and damsire here Bachelor Hanover in the 1970s was a son of The Old Maid.

Shadow Play’s damsire is Matt’s Scooter, and Matt’s Scooter is about the only Direct Scooter influence you find now in North America. New Zealand mares can also offer Direct Scooter througha different stunningly  successful branch  – In The Pocket, his mares and his successful sire sons, and also through some other sons of Direct Scooter who stood here (mainly OK Bye and to a much lesser extent Deal Direct and Tinted Cloud). In The Pocket brings both Direct Scooter and Tar Heel into the picture up close.

Our other hugely influential sires of recent times – Holmes Hanover and Falcon Seelster – also have pedigrees that have are interesting with Shadow Play. Holmes Hanover bring Tar Heel , Adios and The Old Maid, and Falcon Seelster brings Warm Breeze (Shadow Play’s grandamsire) and therefore Good Time and Breath O Spring/Scotland/Spinster, and also a couple of doses of Adios.

Shadow Play is not the only sire that has or will relish the way New Zealand mares can deliver these influences!  That is one reason why our breeding stock have been well regarded – their genetic structure is often deep with quality.

A quick look at the mares Shadow Play has had here to date indicate that Shadow Wave is also present, in spite of a lack of No Nukes. Mares by Elsu, New York Motoring, Artiscape and Pacific Rocket are all bringing Shadow Wave in via the dam (Peaches N Cream) of New York Motoring or his full brother Happy Motoring, and in future we have an increasing number of commercial mares who have the Shadow Wave-Golden Miss combo in their maternal lines.

None of this will necessarily give the mares a “golden cross” with Shadow Play, but it is food for thought for breeders. As always, type, temperament and Shadow Play’s own ability to be a successful sire must be there as well. The jury will still be out on that for another year or so. It is interesting that he got so few mares here to date, and that the link to our mares (particularly Direct Scooter and Warm Breeze connections to In The Pocket and Falcon Seelster) were not picked up on so much in the marketing or by breeders so far.  His first crop success in North America will probably deliver him a much better book this season.

The Blue Lotus match

OK now to my own mare. You can use Tesio or whatever system you have to look more closely at this if you want, but here is a snapshot.

The Blue Lotus is a Grinfromeartoear daughter of Zenterfold (In The Pocket), and a full sister to the promising Destination Moon. So she carries heaps of the blood we have seen in Shadow Play’s most successful foals. The resulting foal would also be 4×4 to Direct Scooter – that’s the closest cross.

Here’s Richard’s summary and comments on the match:

Direct Scooter is 4 x 4 and reinforced, which is great. She has some great old Spinster type influences fairly prominent on her strong heart lines that will connect to Shadow Play, quite nicely. Shadow Wave is further reinforced with a couple more doses. The mating also brings Albatross into play quite strongly and is reversed 5 x 5 , I think this is a very important connection. Sampson Direct’s kid sister, Dottie Hal also comes into the mix to reverse the Sampson Hanover affect. I really think that Lottie’s speed influences are coming from the Direct Scooter/Spinster aspect of her pedigree and a mating with Shadow Play could see another dose of extreme speed injected into the foal from a totally different and new influence, NO NUKES.

For me, genetically this feels a very balanced match which reinforces quality genes rather than outcrossing to completely new blood. I like the presence of siblings Touch Of Spring, Race Time and Storm Damage all bringing Breath O Spring into the equation. And Zenterfold brings in The Old Maid via Bachelor Hanover.  There are 4 duplications of Shadow Wave in the background, two via Oil Burner in Shadow Play’s pedigree, and 2 via other lines (Shifting Sands and Peaches N Cream) in The Blue Lotus’s pedigree.

The Blue Lotus is a good sized mare and was a tough, gutsy type of race horse. She has been heart-scored and is well above average in that department.  Although she took a 1.56.6 record, I am looking for speed and athleticism to add to her, and that is also what Shadow Play may offer.

Her first foal is by Bettor’s Delight for The Blue Lotus Syndicate and will be entered into the 2014 yearling sale at Karaka in the Breckon Farms draft.

Shadow Play – The Blue Lotus cross

Shadow Play x The Blue Lotus

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Shadow Play – what can winners tell us?

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , on July 29, 2013| 7 Comments »

Looking for ‘clicks’ in a new sire can be dangerous.  And even hindsight can be tricky with established sires. Mainly because we focus our analysis of the pedigrees on a sire’s top foals rather than say 20 of his average foals or perhaps his bottom 20 foals that never succeeded as racehorses.  It’s something I’d like to do one day.  Or if it has been done, i.e. a sort of “control group’ experiment, I’d be very interested to know about it.

But having said that, I’m going to focus on the pedigree of Shadow Play’s American winners in this blog.

Richard, one of my blog friends, has been conversing with me about Shadow Play. This is a sire that is making a bold debut in North America and has a pedigree that could match well with some of our mares.  I’ve been seriously considering him for my Grinfromeartoear mare, and Richard is doing the same for his Bettor’s Delight mare.

I’ve looked at the pedigrees of 17 of Shadow Play’s American winners to date. I haven’t done detailed analysis, just a quick look to see if there anything that stands out. (Note: Names and some additional information on these foals has been added to the bottom of this blog, 30 July)

Shadow Play

Shadow Play – looking for Shadow Wave

Two things stand out for me:

  1. Of those 17 winners,  6 have Artsplace has the damsire (another 3 have Artsplace as the grandamsire). And yet I’m not sure the volume of Artsplace “nicks” tells us too much yet, after all, the proportion of Artsplace mares available to a promising sire will be high and a high speed sire from the Western Hanover line would be flagged as a good match for those breeders who want that Artsplace/Western Hanover line cross.
  2. This is one of those sires/families that loves getting “more of the same” blood and specifically an uncanny amount of doubling up with No Nukes and Shadow Wave.

It’s that 2nd point of interest I want to focus on, because it is intriguing. While Shadow Wave is an influential sire, he’s not an especially common one. In commercial families he is present usually via No Nukes/Oil Burner or Big Towner, or in the best of the Golden Miss family.

But in the pedigrees of these 17 mares, Shadow Wave comes in from a range of directions.

The total number of times Shadow Wave appears in those 17 dams’ pedigrees is 22  23 times.

10 of those are via No Nukes.

That leaves another 13 Shadow Wave connections, 4 of which are via Big Towner.

All Shadow Wave’s credits except one are as a damsire.

In 7 of those 17 dams, Shadow Wave appears TWICE in their pedigrees.

And of course that’s not counting the fact he appears twice in Shadow Play’s own pedigree. So 7 of the 17 winning foals have Shadow Wave 4 times in the first 7 generations.

What makes this unusual is that Shadow Wave is not a sire like Meadow Skipper, Cam Fella, Albatross who had much larger numbers of foals and became sires of sires which means they appear quite often in these sorts of numbers in the pedigrees of horses.  Shadow Wave was not a ‘go to’ sire. He had a total of 524 foals over 14 years at stud, many of them in his last few years.  Just to compare, Meadow Skipper had 1267, Albatross 2642, Abercrombie 1816 and Bret Hanover (like Shadow Wave a son of Adios) had 1724 foals.  Artsplace must be close to 2000. Shadow Wave left very few sons who became sires, and none were particularly successful. So he is popping up almost entirely as a damsire.

Very interesting.

The pedigrees of these 17 Shadow Play foals are packed with goodies, certainly packed with the influence of Adios through two very different sons. Shadow Wave, like Bret Hanover and Adios himself, like having ‘their best blood returned to them’, as they say.  Shadow Play seems to be carrying on that tradition.

Those of you who know my blogs will recall that I sometimes use cooking as a way of describing my approach to breeding and pedigree analysis.

In terms of recipes, I see these Shadow Play foal pedigrees as a “chicken three ways” sort of dish or a dessert that uses white chocolate mousse, dark bitter chocolate base and grated chilli chocolate on top. Initially you sort of think “oh, way too much of a good thing.” Then you start to eat it and think “Yum”.

Shadow Play’s maternal line includes Warm Breeze (Bret Hanover-Touch Of Spring) which brings in Good Time-Breath O Spring and the classic Old Maid/Spinster/Scotland connections. So does No Nukes’s maternal lines through Tar Heel and Gogo Playtime.  Shadow Play will enjoy getting those influences returned from the mares he gets – .

It works both ways – those mares with No Nukes/Oil Burner/Shadow Wave/Adios in their pedigrees seem to love getting what Shadow Play offers.

And look at the great families Shadow Play is getting to play with:

  • Two of his progeny (Shadowbriand and Shark Festival) are out of mares who are from the wonderful Rodine Hanover family (both those mares are from the No Nukes mare Romanticize).
  • Arthur Blue Chip’s dam is a grand-daughter of Tarport Cheer.
  • Shadow Place’s great grandam Loving Proof is, I think, a full sister to Camtastic.
  • Play It Again Sam – that maternal family is one I mentioned in my last blog about the Meadowlands damsires – He’s from a daughter of Orchid Island, who is a full sister to Island Fantasy and a great producer.
  • Reasonable Force – the grandam Shady Katie is a half to the great mare Shady Daisy (by Falcon Seelster).
  • Of interest to NZ breeders, Book Babe’s greatgrandam is No Secrets (Oil Burner-Treachery) who is also the greatgrandam of Attorney General, who stands at stud here, and has a very talented 2yo filly Imhisdaughter (from an Artiscape mare) starting her racing career. Attorney General is a son of Falcon Seelster. Falcon Seelster is of course by Warm Breeze, who features in Shadow Play’s maternal pedigree. Falcon Seelster also appears as Imhisdaughter’s greatgrandam. Of course Imhisdaughter’s damsire Artiscape carries Shadow Wave through Happy Motoring.
  • That’s just some of them I can spot at a glance, I will have missed others.

It sure helps if a sire can get some well bred mares that bring something to the table – especially if they come with the goodies he likes.

All of the above makes me think again about whether I can resist the match with The Blue Lotus, as that pedigree would have some of the elements I see producing good results here.

I’ll look closely at that in my next blog soon, as well as some comments from Richard “across the ditch in Australia”, and a look at the very different overall broodmare pool that Shadow Play will be accessing in New Zealand and also in Australia.

Additional information/names

The 17 winning foals of Shadow Play I looked at are: Book Babe, Shadowbriand, Alibi Seelster, Shark Festival, Reasonable Force, Brookdale Shadow, Lady Shadow (grandam is by Dallas Almahurst, a full brother to Oil Burner), Play It Again Sam, Performing Art, Shadversary, Twin B Spy, Skippin By, Shadow Place, Courageous C, , Yoselin Seelster, Nefertiti Bluechip, and Arthur Blue Chip (the only one whose dam doesn’t carry any No Nukes/Oil Burner/Shadow Wave in her pedigree).

The damsires are: Artsplace (6, plus 3 as grandamsire), Cam’s Card Shark (3), Bettor’s Delight (1), Jate Lobell (1, plus 3 as a grandamsire), Armbro Operative, Camluck, Blissful Hall, Life sign, Intrepd Seelster, Abercrombie (all 1).

No Nukes and Big Towner appear 2 times as grandamsires.

Confessions of a Shadow Wave lover. Yes, it’s true, I love this old guy. And for good reason. Check out my blog about Shadow Wave and his influence as a damsire and in my own mare’s family.

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Positives in harness racing

Posted in Harness racing, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , on July 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This heading is a bit of a teaser, because it is so easy to associate the word “positives” with not-so-positive news about drug administration etc in racing.

But those who follow my blog know that I’m more interested in promoting and advocating positive changes/ideas in harness racing.

So here’s a tip o’ the hat to a couple of very good initiatives I’ve come across lately, all well promoted and discussed elsewhere….but refreshing to see people thinking outside a small square.

Tip o’ the hat to:

  • Tim and Anthony Butt for importing some Scandanavian trotters for racing – and perhaps a siring career in the long run? The Butts’ love of mature trotters is well documented. There is a growing awareness amongst breeders of the need to build in European stamina  and gait as well as the North American speed factor to give our trotters a better commercial foothold in New Zealand racing. This sort of initiative is risky but exciting, but it is an example of trotting having an eye for opportunity – the Great Southern Star is another example, and what a success that new concept was!
  • Lincoln Farms for a ownership concept that guarantees you will experience the thrill of winning. I love the passion in this proposal, to carry on a legacy and make it even better. Also note that harness racing and thoroughbred racing are brought under one roof, without any need to establish a pecking order or have harness racing as the ‘tack on’.  Here’s hoping owners will move across both codes, or be part of syndicates that might own a horse from each code and find excitement in both.
  • The amalgamation plan for clubs that race at Alexandra Park – just a proposal at this stage, but in a couple of days a special general meeting of the Auckland Trotting Club will vote on whether to change its name to Alexandra Park Inc. That signals a much wider and more important change being proposed – to bring together the four other tenant clubs and combine resources for the benefit of northern harness racing.

There are no guarantees that these initiatives will be a raging success – but they show a determination to invest in the future harness racing.

 

Update: Results of ATC special general meeting – a hedged bet, sort of half acceptance with provisos, which may be good caution but may also just be reluctance to grasp the nettle. However that’s the first step taken – good on them for going forward at least.

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Conundrum – Bettor’s Delight over Falcon Seelster mares

Posted in Harness racing, Horses, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , on July 1, 2013| 1 Comment »

Harvey tweeted this question: “Got a conundrum for you. Bettor’s Delight=great stallion. Falcon Seelster=great broodmare sire. In USA, Falcon Seelster mares have crossed exceptionally well with Bettor’s Delight. In Aust/NZ, the cross has been very average. Why do you think this is so?”

I don’t want to approach this like a train spotter. More a helicopter view of the railway network. I don’t have a nice clean answer.

Comparing stats from different hemispheres or even countries can be tricky. Just as tricky as comparing horses from different eras.

Bettor's Delight at Woodlands Stud NZ

Bettor’s Delight at Woodlands Stud in New Zealand

The latest USTA stats I’ve got indicate Bettor’s Delight x Falcon Seelster mares has delivered 22 foals of racing age, all have started, 21 have won, and half of them have won $100,000 plus. Those are amazing statistics.

Therefore it seems a big drop down to find, via the HRNZ current statistics on Info Horse, that Bettor’s Delight’s foals 2yo and older out of Falcon Seelster mares have numbered 51, for 20 winners to date. Which is a foals to winners percentage of 39%. Sorry haven’t had time to check the Australian equivalents.

Using the latest published Crosses of Gold stats on the NZSBA website (at end of 2011/12 season) the stats are 43 foals of racing age, 17 starters (39%), 13 winners (30%), and 1 (2%) winning $50,000 plus. Compare that to Falcon Seelster’s stats as a broodmare sire for all sires – 49% starters and 35% winners.  And Bettor’s Delights stats as a sire with all broodmare sires – 47% starters and 33% winners.

When figures from North America and Australasia get so far out of alignment, I would look to three possible reasons:

  1. The different types of racing which may skew results e.g. less emphasis here on 2yo racing, different types of tracks and distances, etc etc.
  2. Different genetic pool. Even though the sire and damsire are the same, it ignores the very different genetic maternal lines an grandamsire lines that we have in New Zealand, and different again in Australia. These may have as much influence on the success of a pedigree match as the more obvious sire/damsire cross.
  3. The statistics themselves – are we comparing apples with apples? How are the stats compiled and what are they saying?

I don’t know the answer to the conundrum, if there is one. I’m not so sure that the statistics for Australia and New Zealand are that bad, just average so far, remembering that Bettor’s Delight has some big crops still to move through the 2-5 yo age groups. It seems more to me that the US stats are remarkably good. And not just for Falcon Seelster as a damsire. Looking down the list of other damsires Bettor’s Delight has crossed with in America, starter percentages are mainly in the 80-100% and winner percentages in the 70-100% range. These would be extraordinarily rare in New Zealand.

Let’s look at some of our other top or enduring sires:

  • Live Or Die for example comes up with 51% starters to foals and 36% winners to foals. (56% and 43% with Falcon Seelster as a damsire)
  • Mach Three at 51% and 38% (46% and 32% with Falcon Seelster as a damsire)
  • Christian Cullen shone at 67% and 50% (70% and 56% with Falcon Seelster as a damsire)

So even where Falcon Seelster mares really seems to have clicked with a top sire, the percentages for starters/foals and winners/foals is much lower than commonly seen in the USTA statistics.

Let’s have a look at another 100% USTA statistic for Bettor’s Delight – Beach Towel as a damsire – 11 foals, 11 starters, 11 winners. But in New Zealand? The stats so far for that cross are 50% and 40% – 10 foals for 5 starters and 4 winners. Other 100% US winner crosses with Bettor’s Delight are Laag, Goalie Jeff, Presidential Ball, On The Road Again and Sonsam. In The Pocket has 100% starters as a damsire for Bettor’s Delight in the USTA stats, but only only 47% here in NZ – and yet is regarded as a potent cross here. It certainly rates well compared to our average ratios – but compared to what is “a cross of gold” in the US, we are far behind.

What makes the US stats so much higher? That’s the puzzle I have buzzing around in my Bee brain.

I don’t think the answer lies with Bettor’s Delight and Falcon Seelster. I don’t think the conundrum is unique to that cross.

There’s the a conundrum that crossing a great sire with a great damsire will not necessarily be the most compatible match. But that still doesn’t explain the difference in statistics between the hemispheres.

So the question for me is more: How come US achieves such high starters/winners to foals statistics?

I’d like to throw the original conundrum and also my own question out to readers for some wider responses and insights.

What answers do you have?

(Use the Respond/comments facility at the bottom of each blog to add your views, or you can email me direct at bee.raglan@xtra.co.nz and I’ll collate some replies and add to the blog.

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Kicking up my heels

Posted in Harness racing, Horses, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , on June 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Here’s a photo that captures the joie de vivre of young horses, given a bit of sunshine in the middle of winter.

The happy chappy is a weanling colt from bred by Kym Kearns at Isa Lodge, and a full brother to Flying Isa (Pegasus Spur x Sun Isa), and is aptly named Isaputtingonmytophat, after the song “Top hat, white tie and tails” made famous by the likes of Fred Astaire, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald, but originally written by Irving Berlin.

The full lyrics are below the photo. But I love the line “And I trust that you’ll excuse my dust when I step on the gas…”

Isaputtingonmytophat

Top Hat, White Tie and Tails

I just got an invitation through the mails:
“Your presence requested this evening, it’s formal
A top hat, a white tie and tails”
Nothing now could take the wind out of my sails
Because I’m invited to step out this evening
With top hat, white tie and tails

I’m putting on my top hat
Tying up my white tie
Brushing off my tails

I’m dudeing up my shirt front
Putting in the shirt studs
Polishing my nails

I’m stepping out, my dear
To breathe an atmosphere that simply reeks with class
And I trust that you’ll excuse my dust when I step on the gas

For I’ll be there
Putting down my top hat
Mussing up my white tie
Dancing in my tails.

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Virtual yearling stable results to date

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , on June 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Time for a quick catch up on the virtual yearling stable picks – yearlings from the Sales that we pick without having to pay for them, and then track the results.

Briefly my four  2011 stable picks (now 3yos) have been a mixed lot. Sugar Ray Brogden (Grin-Swift Mirage) sold as a hack (palate problem), Outlaw (Bettor’s Delight-Gift Of Grace) going around in Australia for little reward, Eye For A Deal (American Ideal-Illmakemyname) cranking up 6 wins from 22 starts but in the lower staked Australian races,  and that leaves Alto Christiano (Christian Cullen-Right This Time) as the standout performer for me, although he had a major injury setback, came back and won the WA Derby and then got another injury. But he’s won over $240,000 to date, so I am ahead on my initial outlay of $120,000!

Now for the 2012 picks. I invited others to participate and Sam and Ray joined in. From me (4 colts, 4 fillies from the Australasian at Karaka), Sam (4 colts, 4 fillies from the Premier) and Ray (3 colts, 3 fillies across both) – currently 2yos of course so we don’t expect miracles. And some of them may still be racing over the next month or so, so I will update again at the endof the season.

Bee’s stable (fillies first)

  • Kamwood Courage (Courage Under Fire-Kamwood Lass) – 1 start for a 2nd in May $1071
  • Schleck (Muscle Mass-Merckx) – 6 starts for 2 wins, 2 places $4349
  • Stolen Secret (Mach Three-Hot Secret) – nothing yet
  • Delia (American Ideal-Merrily Merrily) – nothing yet
  • Charlie Chuckles (Grinfromeartoear-Charioteer) – nothing yet
  • Derringer (Bettor’s Delight-Bury My Heart) – nothing yet
  • Crixus Brogden (Real Desire-Swift Mirage) – Now named Real Impulse – nothing yet
  • Destination Moon (Grinfromeartoear-Zenterfold) – 4 starts, 1 win, 1 place $8060

So 3 out of 8 starting as 2yos.

Sam’s stable (fillies first)

  • Going To California (Art Major-Child In Time) – qualified and 1 start in Young Guns heat for 6th
  • Code Cracker (Art Major-Cracker Kate) – Nothing yet
  • Petite Royal (Monarchy-Petite Sunset) – 2 starts for 5th and 9th but showing up at trials
  • Digital Art (Art Major-Wave Runner – been to the trials once for a 5th
  • Romeo Denario (American Ideal-Presidential Sweet) – exp to Australia, no starts yet
  • (My) Mach Scooter – (Mach Three-Gail Devers) – exp to Australia, 4 starts 1 win, 2 places $4125
  • On The Rantan (Bettor’s Delight-Funontherun) – renamed On The Town. Nothing yet.
  • Rattling Thunder (Santanna Blue Chip-Tammy Franco) – Nothing yet

Sam also has 3 out of 8 actually making it to the races.

Ray’s stable (fillies first)

  • Change Time (Christian Cullen-Changeer) – 6 starts, 1 place (YSS Graduette) $12,143
  • Going To California (see Sam’s picks) – 1 start
  • Charleston Belle (Christian Cullen-Elite Belle) – nothing yet
  • Gotta Go Artelect (Art Major-Elect To Live) – 4th in a trial 28 May 2013
  • Nureyev (Christian Cullen-Idancedallnight) – nothing yet
  • The Pacman (Christian Cullen-Black Maire) – 2 starts at trials for a 2nd and 5th

So Ray gets 2 out of 6 to the races as 2yos, and a couple of trialists.

Overall we are tracking okay. Go to my blog of 25 March 2012 for my original picks and view the Responses/comments for Sam and Ray’s rationales for their picks. You can use the search function on my blog to find all references to the virtual yearling stables concept.

For the virtual stable for 2013 I’m joined again by Sam and Ray and also Ken Mackay (of Premier Pedigrees)  and his daughter Alana. (see blogof 21 February 2013)

 

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Mach Three sons at stud

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , on June 15, 2013| 1 Comment »

It looks like shaping up as a battle of the Mach Three sons, in the same way that several sons of Christian Cullen are going head-to-head as sires in New Zealand.

Auckland Reactor vs Sir Lincoln. If you look at these things as a contest.

Both have very impressive records, but struck niggles and health issues that led to lost opportunities at critical moments.

Sheer brilliance with flaws, vs talented professional with niggles.

It’s a bit like trying to compare Lady Gaga and Adele. Or Brad Pitt and Colin Firth. lol

The temptation is to go with the one you most admired on the racetrack. But as a breeder, my focus won’t be on a close examination of their race or stakes statistics but more on the attributes they showed,  and even more importantly family genetic strengths PLUS what would suit my mare in regard to both of those things.

Let’s have a quick squizz at these two boys. The Direct Scooter sire line legacy here is via In The Pocket, and mainly his son Christian Cullen. In North America the Direct Scooter sire line has survived through Matt’s Scooter, and mainly his son Mach Three.

The sons of Mach Three are in the same position of sons of Christian Cullen – exciting prospects, some already showing huge potential but – a bit like the story of In The Pocket himself – it will depend on the opportunities they get, including whether the mares on offer (geographically and at the time) are what each one needs to really establish himself as a top sire.

The Direct Scooter line has a reputation for leaving speed, often early speed. Some people call it a “hot headed” line, but that’s probably the flip side of having an injection of “want to go”.

Mach Three raced very successfully as a 2yo. And of course with a reputation as a horse with early speed himself, he would attract many mares looking for exactly that quality: speed – which they may not have in large doses themselves. It’s not surprising, then, to find lines with toughness coming up in his mares’ pedigrees – Live Or Die, Cam Fella and his sons, and Beach Towel of course. None of these horses were slow, but their mares tended to be more staying types, tough types rather than sprinters. Falcon Seelster mares also fall into that category – as a generalisation.

Auckland Reactor did not race as a 2yo. But in the next year won the Sires Stakes 3yo Final against Fiery Falcon, Benny Mac, Cavalier, Ohoka Arizona and Steve McQueen. He would have been a big lanky 2yo and wisely not pushed.

Sir Lincoln raced but did not win as a 2yo, but was well represented in the Young Guns Heats of his year – with a 3rd, 4th, 4th, and 6th to the likes of Smiling Shard, Five Star Anvil and Devil Dodger before firing off his 3yo season with a win in the Sires Stakes 3yo Final. His 3yo opposition including Courage To Rule, Smiling Shard, Russeley Rascal, Gomeo Romeo and Kotare Mach.

Auckland Reactor won 11 of 11 starts as a 3yo. Sir Lincoln won 8 of 18.

Auckland Reactor has a reputation of brilliance, and the ability to be super-fast. But did he sometimes win more by dominating through his reputation? Did others sit back in awe and let him get his way? And when he was challenged, was there sometimes a weakness? At times there were nagging doubts, and in this industry the critics are quick to pounce if a champion turns out to have hooves of clay sometimes.

Sir Lincoln has a reputation of strength, but his niggles meant there were times when he underperformed in races, and disappointed. There was always a reason. But he didn’t stamp his dominance on top fields in the way you really wanted him to do. He is an extremely handsome, well conformed horse, but lacks the dashing, exciting aura that Auckland Reactor had.

Do either of them come from a family strong enough to give thoughtful breeders reassurance?

That’s the big question. If Sir Lincoln’s dam Clare De Lune (by Beach Towel) clicks so well with Mach Three – the same Mach Three x Beach Towel cross of Somebeachsomewhere – that is one thing to ponder on. Her filly Lincoln’s Megastar won just last night, first up and impressive. But Clare De Lune’s lack of real success with any other sire leaves me asking some important questions. Is this a family going places, an engine room that is cranking up power? Or is it serendipity – a happy coincidence of a specific nick that works well, a narrow window of opportunity that may relate to a particular mix rather than compatibility with a wider pool of sires and (for Sir Lincoln) mares?  Clare De Lune’s first foal by Bettor’s Delight could not get a win in 48 starts. And the 2012 foal to Rocknroll Hanover is her only other live foal deviation from Mach Three to date. Even though there may well be non-genetic reasons for these outcomes, one thing breeders do look for (or should look for) in a mare is her ability to leave successful foals by several different sires which indicates what some call a “double copy” mare, or perhaps a mare that is calling some important shots in the genetic roll of the dice and really adding value.

Ray Chaplin from equineexcellence.biz in Australia has looked at the same issue for Somebeachsomewhere and his super son Captaintreacherous (by an Artsplace mare) and has a warning for breeders who are latching on to copying that as the next generation cross. Copying successful matches may not be the oracle it appears. You can get a copy of his very interesting article by contacting him at equineexcellence.biz – the link is on my home page.

An interesting note is Cam Fella appearing in both Sir Lincoln’s pedigree and Somebeachsomewhere’s pedigree in a similar role.  (Mach Alert, Mysta Magical Mach and others also has Cam Fella but in a different position so in my humble view maybe not contributing in the same way. )

Auckland Reactor’s family has a stronger look to it in terms of producing qualifiers and winners. Atomic Lass had wide ranging matches for progeny and overall deserved her prize as Broodmare of the Year. That is exactly the “double copy” type indicators I was referring to above.  There are a couple of active branches of Atomic Lass’s family now from her fillies, and Tony Parker is doing a great job in managing this family’s fortunes – although I wonder if the success of Auckland Reactor and the subsequent matching of several different mares from the wider family to Mach Three is more for commercial reasons or pedigree matching reasons or a combination of both. Personally, I believe each branch starts to add complexities to the equation and it is not as obvious as going to the same sire. Having said that, the October Brown filly by Mach Three from the Badlands Hanover sister to Auckland Reactor (Twilight Beauty) looks a promising type. Devil Dodger, May Fly and Silence Is Golden (a beautiful Grinfromeartoear mare who will be the best producer from this family I predict) are others recently or currently making their name. And Mr Parker is an extremely astute breeder!

Where would I go – Sir Lincoln or Mach Three? I imagine the price difference will not be great. Sir Lincoln will be marketed on his “Somebeachsomewhere” cross and his handsome conformation. Auckland Reactor on his brilliance and fantastic public aura.  It’s a choice I delight in seeing, two classy customers with something to offer, both of which individual breeders need to assess carefully in regards to their own mares – rather than their own preferences for the horse they saw racing.

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Destination Moon launches race career

Posted in Harness racing, Horses, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , , , on May 30, 2013| 2 Comments »

Destination Moon racehorse

Take off – Destination Moon at 2012 yearling sales with Kym Kearns

He’s named after a book about flying to the moon. And from the photo, you can see he was keen to take off long before race day!

It was great to see Destination Moon get his first win last Friday at Alexander Park. The field was not nearly as strong as his first race a couple of weeks earlier, which was a Sires Stakes heat with the speed on, but the way he won was impressive.

He reached the front early and ran confidently in the lead, not switching off, keeping a good margin to the others and pulling away to win by over 2 lengths with little encouragement needed from Joshua Dickie in the bike.

Destination Moon is the half brother to Tintin In America and full brother to The Blue Lotus (3rd in Sires Stakes Fillies 3yo final), from my wonderful mare Zenterfold. His sire Grinfromeartoear is not highly commercial but if you get the right match he adds a lot of value and leaves some tough horses with speed.  “Duncan” (as we nicknamed Destination Moon) was a lovely type as a yearling and sold for $68,000 to Rosslands Stud Ltd (Kerry Hoggard) at the 2012 yearing sales.

He has shown up in his workouts and qualifying trial just prior to racing, but pleasing to see there wasn’t a rush to get him into the 2yo Sires Stakes if he wasn’t ready.

Recently I spoke to trainer Steven Reid about Destination Moon’s next steps, and he says he will be racing till the end of June then have a spell before being aimed at the 3yo Sires Stakes heats, which come up early in the new season and culminate around NZ Cup time.

Destination Moon pacer

Destination Moon wins on 24 May 2013 at Alexandra Park

Steven says he was “rapt” with the win – “He just cruised that, and it is how he’s been working at home.”

He describes Destination Moon as having the potential to step up and be quite a good horse.

Tintin In America and The Blue Lotus now have a Real Desire half brother weanling who is hanging out in our paddock with a full brother to Flying Isa, great mates.

More about him and an update on other branches of the family coming in a blog soon.

Destination Moon’s pedigree is one I wanted because Grin offers some physical and genetic influences that really complement his dam Zenterfold.  I have always taken on board Aria Small’s advice that the family love the old blood – the Spinster/Old Maid/Scotland connections, which it has on its bottom line through Bachelor Hanover. And that has been a touchstone for me in getting a good nick for the mare. Grin hauls that old blood up through his remarkably close-up Storm Damage damsire, and also in his maternal line through Shifting Scene and Race Time (a son of Breath O Spring and half brother of Storm Damage). Shifting Scene is part of the lovely Golden Miss maternal line that you see in many classy families (Rich N Elegant, Real Desire’s maternal line etc) and of course the overlooked element in that line is my dear old Shadow Wave.  In Zenterfold’s pedigree, Shadow Wave pops up promptly as the damsire of New York Motoring, who I believe is a key figure in what have developed into the two best branches of the Zenover family – Interchange and Zenola Star, both sired by New York Motoring. Finally you have the Direct Scooter and Tar Heel influences of In The Pocket, the sire of Zenterfold and so grandamsire of Destination Moon. These are again classy old bloodlines and with a fairly up close dose of trotting blood and both are descending from Volomite and maternally tracing to the wonderful Roya McKinney and Scotland/Rose Scott. Zenterfold’s grandam Now And Zen is also chokka with trotting blood via her sire Chiola Hanover. Chiola Hanover goes back to Volomite and the Scotland influences as well. But none of that is an issue for Grin, thanks to his breeding, especially Storm Damage who is described by John Bradley as having “some of the oldest bloodlines still available for pacers” – his dam was 24 years old when she foaled him, and he is a remarkable “sleeper” in the pedigree of a modern day sire.

Phew! that’s a little peep into some deep old echos in a 2yo pacer just launching his career.

Of course what I also liked about Grin was his ability to leave guts, character and grittiness, which The Blue Lotus showed in her races too. That gave the Zenterfold speed-at-all-cost attitude something to hang its hat on.

Cover Destination Moon book

Cover of Tintin book

It’s what might work for a particular family that counts. And that’s what I think about, more than what is the most fashionable option at the time.

Destination Moon has a long, long way to go. The rocket is just launched, yet to fire the booster engines and go into the statosphere.

I hope he ends up amongst the stars.

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Catching up with Tintin In America

Posted in Harness racing, Horses, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , , on May 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

A bonus from my trip to the NZSBA breeders conference in Christchurch was the opportunity to visit Nevele R Stud and see Tintin In America, whom I bred, and some of his weanlings.

My visit was a lovely echo of my only other trip to Nevele R, which happened the year I decided to put Zenterfold to McArdle, which resulted in Tintin In America being born.

That day was just the same – raining, and the array of famous racehorses/sires standing in their paddocks with their covers on, looking just like any horse. I particularly recall Courage Under Fire (standing at Nevele R at that stage) who looked almost lost under his cover, being the small horse he is, as the rain poured down around us.

Tintin In America, Sire

Breeder Bee Pears with Tintin In America at Nevele R Stud, May 2013

That was about 8 years ago. Kym and I were shown around personally by Bob McArdle;  it was a fascinating tour with plenty of commentary by Bob, followed by a fairly robust discussion as we all sheltered in our Hilux ute and debated the merits of putting my mare Zenterfold to Falcon Seelster (which Bob advocated) or McArdle (which I was more interested in doing).

As history shows us, I stuck with McArdle.

So it was lovely last Saturday to come full circle and be standing alongside Tintin In America the sire, in the rain, at Nevele R all these years later.

Tintin retired very sore in one leg joint after super seasons as one of our top racehorses from 2yo to 4yo, and almost reaching a million dollars of earnings.

The good news is: he is very well in himself and full of attitude in the paddock, and very fertile in the barn. Thanks to Nevele R in doing such a good job in settling him in to his new career.

There’s no doubt what sticks in people’s mind about Tintin is his incredible acceleration and speed.  As he grew older he developed the strength to hold that sprint longer. At times, he appeared to be low flying down the home straight. That sort of acceleration is hard to come by.

He was a medium sized horse, but a first foal from a medium sized mare. From what I have seen, his foals are quite striking types of good size. I saw two at Nevele R and both had white blazes which could be their own family influences but I have also noted the blaze/snip influence in Tintin’s family. Interesting.

I’d love to hear from people who have foals/weanlings by Tintin. Email me at bee.raglan@xtra.co.nz and tell me about them.

Personally, I am negotiating a share in a well bred weanling filly by Tintin In America, and have leased another mare to put to him with a very interesting pedigree match. But more about those  at a later date.

I’m a careful and thoughtful breeder and I believe he’s worth a good punt as a sire.

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Breeders conference food for thought

Posted in Harness racing, Horses, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , , on May 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

I’ve just returned from the NZ Standardbred Breeders Conference in Christchurch on Friday 17 May. I applaud the organisers for gathering a great line up to get us thinking, and tip o’ the hat to Michael Guerin – his Q&A sessions with Karen Parsons and Cran Dalgety were a highlight, and his summing up at the end of the conference was a call to action that would have set the conference alight if it had come at lunchtime.

My only quibble with an otherwise very good conference:  poor timing at the start meant the workshop/discussion session at the end was truncated and lacking focus. It was an ideal opportunity for John Mooney et al to get some support and direction from active and interested breeders through real workshopping of ideas. Having that number of well informed breeders from different parts of the country in the same room is rare. It creates an exchange of ideas that surveys and submissions can never achieve.

Perhaps a raft of workshops on specific ideas arising from the conference (and elsewhere) could be held around the country over the next 6 months to put some flesh on the bones and give some life to Mick Guerin’s apt comment that the breeding industry must settle on its priorities and get much more coordinated and clever about its tactics to push those into the wider harness racing (or general racing) agenda.

A quick note on two of the presentations:

Dr Jenny Cahill spoke on the importance of genetics. Her recap on the basic principle of “pairs” was an apt salute to the equal importance of sire and mare. It takes two to tango, right down to the chromosone level! She also placed a realistic perspective on the contribution of genetic making up to a performance horse, noting that complex inherited traits ( e.g. some performance measures, height, temperament, and a number of diseases) are affected by a number of genes and usually also modified by environmental factors (such as training and nutrition).

As equine genetic research moves into the field of complex traits, Dr Cahill said breeders need to feed into research programmes what they are most interested in finding out. For example, the dairy and beef industries are further down that path and have clear objectives of what research can help them produce better products for a changing market.

For some equine breeders, genetic research will be a step too far to contemplate, but it is going to happen. We must embrace and direct it, or we are just burying our heads in the sand. Dr Cahill says “the ultimate goal of this research is to be able to use the information gained for the good of the horse, owners, breeders and trainers and to be able to screen individual horses for these traits.”  This would include testing for heritable conformation faults and diseases, and also good gaitedness and even the type of performance they are “wired” to achieve (speedy sprint, medium distance fast, stamina/slow).

All this has HUGE implications for breeders, buyers and sellers. Some thoroughbred markets are already using available information. How would we use it? What impact would it have on numbers bred and sold if we cut out all those horses in advance who will only make up the numbers in a race? How would it change our yearling sales, if overnight buyer-requested testing became available? Fascinating stuff to ponder!

Dr Clarissa Brown Douglas, speaking on nutrition of the mare and foal, gave a wealth of useful information, emphasising the importance of feeding correctly in those critical formative times. Her take-out messages were simple: Managing growth is a balancing act. The last trimester is a vital time to ensure the foal gets the minerals, trace elements and vitamins required. Get to know the nutritional value of what you are using – pasture and hay as well as commercial feeds and balancers.

Some of the facts that stood out for me:

  1. Mares milk lacks minerals so in that vital last trimester, the foal stores the minerals it needs in its liver for use during the first 90 days of its life.
  2. A foal is born with only 17% of mature bone mineral content, and maximum bone mineral content is not achieved until a horse is about 5 years old.
  3. The 6-12 month period of feeding a weanling is a “window of opportunity” and you need to monitor growth rate so you don’t overload the immature skeleton structure.
  4. Yearling preparation is best done gradually over 90 days.
  5. Be aware of the potential for high glucose/insulin response in young horses – low glycemic feeds are a good way to prevent this.

So it really makes you think about the pressure we put on such an undeveloped creature when we race horses as 2yos! And if we continue to do that, it places a big responsibility on breeders to lay the best foundation possible.

I am sure NZSBA will be publishing the papers presented by all speakers at the conference on their website. It’s great food for thought.

The industry analysis (both harness racing in general by Edward Renall, and breeding industry by John Mooney) provides some good basis for discussion.

But as Mick Guerin said, we need to pin down and agree on our priorities, and push our agenda forward in a united way. We will get nowhere by griping and sniping, riding the ocean like flotsam and jetsam, carried on currents that seem out of our control.

I grabbed a chance right at the end to raise my idea of increasing the breeding option to one foal and one ET per mare per season, outlined in other blogs. I got a strong positive response from several breeders to this suggestion – including a commitment from John Mooney to start following it up.

Likewise Brian West raised the need to get a monetary return into breeders’ hands via a % slice of stakes, as they do in France where breeders are recognised as the key investors in the industry’s product.

These ideas are not as “out of the box” as we might think. As I said, a series of workshops or think tanks around the country could pull together some recommendations.

Let’s get some fresh voices and fresh ideas in the mix.

Great conference, exciting times!

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