Author: Victor Sheahan

  • The other Santa Claus…

    ‘Tis the festive season and here at Montjeu.com we are keen to enter into the spirit of things.  Not wishing to upset anyone with religious sensitivities I won’t speculate on the pedigree of Jesus 🙂 and I won’t mention King of Kings to avoid upsetting the hundreds of breeders who used that flop. I considered writing about the Blandford Stakes winner Kris Kringle, the great Generous and decent sire Cadeaux Genereux but at the end of the day it was an easy decision. These days Christmas has little to do with religion and everything to do with the man in red, so I dusted off my history books and did some research on Santa Claus.

    The equine Santa Claus was one of the best horses trained in Ireland in the 20th Century. At two he won the National Stakes and entered the winter as ante-post Derby favourite. At three he was successful in the Irish 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and Irish Derby. He also finished second in the King George to the four year old Nasram and the Prix de l’Arc to Prince Royal (beaten 3/4 length).  He was trained on the Curragh by Mick Rogers who had won the 1958 Derby with Hard Ridden. His sire Chamossaire was a St Leger winner and he sired another Leger winner in Cambremer along with 2 other Irish Derby winners in Chamier and Your Highness. His grandsire Precipitation was a winner of the Ascot Gold Cup and his great grand sire Hurry On was one of the leading sires of the early 20th Century siring three Derby winners in the 1920’s in Captain Cuttle, Coronach and Call Boy. His broodmare sire Arctic Prince won the 1951 Derby for Joe McGrath. Interestingly Santa Claus was the last representive of the Godolphin Arabian line to win an Epsom Derby. At stud Santa Claus died early but from 121 foals he had 89 runners, 54 winners and 9 (7%) Black Type winners. These included a pair of Irish classic winners in Reindeer (winner of the 1969 Irish Leger for Vincent O’Brien) and Santa Tina winner of the 1970 Irish Oaks (and closely related to Reindeer).  Bonne Noel won an Ebor and became a National Hunt sire, Father Christmas won the Rose of York stakes and also got a shot at stud. None of his sons made much impact with Reindeer more of a National Hunt sire before he was moved to New Zealand. I noticed Reindeers name in the pedigree of Yachtie the sire of Happyanunoit, who was a Group/Grade 1 winner in Australia/New Zealand and the US. As a broodmare sire Santa Claus’ record is solid but not spectacular. Santa Tina became the dam of Young Mother who won a Prix Vermeille and she is granddam of Equalize a Grade 1 winner of the United Nations Hcp. Santa Claus also sired Sleat winner of the 1970 Sun Chariot stakes and ancestress of Reprimand, Wiorno and a host of other stakes horses. Canaan was an unraced filly who became the great granddam of Yeats and Solskjaer. His stats read 50 mares responsible for 371 foal, 147 winners and 13 (4%) black type winners.  He may not have been a major influence on the breed but Santa Claus is a reminder of a radically different bloodstock world, when stallion books were small but carefully managed and maybe that’s something we should all wish for a return to this Christmas.

    SANTA CLAUS (GB) 1961 c

    Chamossaire
    (GB) 1942
    Precipitation
    (GB) 1933
    Hurry
    On (GB) 1913
    Marcovil
    (GB) 1903
    Tout
    Suite (GB) 1904
    Double
    Life (IRE) 1926
    Bachelor’s
    Double (GB) 1906
    Saint
    Joan (GB) 1918
    Snowberry
    (GB) 1937
    Cameronian
    (GB) 1928
    Pharos
    (GB) 1920
    Una
    Cameron (GB) 1922
    Myrobella
    (GB) 1930
    Tetratema
    (GB) 1917
    Dolabella
    (GB) 1911
    Aunt
    Clara (GB) 1953
    Arctic
    Prince (IRE) 1948
    Prince
    Chevalier (FR) 1943
    Prince
    Rose (GB) 1928
    Chevalerie
    (FR) 1933
    Arctic
    Sun (GB) 1941
    Nearco
    (ITY) 1935
    Solar
    Flower (GB) 1935
    Sister
    Clara (GB) 1938
    Scarlet
    Tiger (GB) 1930
    Colorado
    (GB) 1923
    Trilogy
    (GB) 1923
    Clarence
    (GB) 1934
    Diligence
    (GB) 1919
    Nun’s
    Veil (GB) 1930
  • What Goes Up? Recession Busters

    Chicken Little aka Chicken Licken wasn’t wrong, she was just ahead of her time. Nowadays it seems that the sky really is falling down as asset values crash around the world. Stallion fees are understandably under pressure as the recent sales season showed falls in the grosses, averages, and medians. However there are still some stallions bucking the trend, who’s fees for 2009 are showing increases on 2008. So in the words of Bugs Bunny “Whats up doc?”

    Starting with Coolmore- Montjeu and Danehill Dancer are both now listed as private from last years fees of €125,000 and €115,000. Both sires had good years with Montjeu adding another classic winning colt in Irish Derby winner Frozen Fire and the very impressive Grand Prix de Paris winner Montmartre. His older horses included Group 2 winners Honolulu and MacArthur and the Autumn saw him reveal some promising 2 year olds including a one-two in the final Group One of the Season at Saint Cloud with Fame and Glory and Drumbeat, alongside the Royal Lodge success of Jukebox Jury who also finished second in the Racingpost Trophy. Danehill Dancer had a great year in Ireland where his star turns were Mastercraftsman who won the Phoenix and National Stakes as well as Again who won the Moyglare. These had a large back up cast including Ice Queen who  was just touched off in the Irish Oaks, Caribbean Sunset who was narrowly beaten in the Irish 1000 Guineas and Westphalia who won the Group 2 Champagne Stakes. Both stallions have the offspring of better books of mares on the way and normally you would say that the fee hikes could be justified but in the current environment it is more questionable.  In the case of Danehill Dancer I would contrast his situation with that of Pivotal who sired Guineas winners in three countries but saw his fee cut from £85000 to £65000- and Danehill Dancer whilst a good sire is no Pivotal. It is possible, indeed probable that the decision to list the fees as private is just the famed Coolmore spin machine at work. I strongly suspect that any breeder prepared who offered last years fees for either Danehill Dancer or Montjeu would have no problem getting an appointment for his mare. The other Coolmore giant is Galileo and his fee is advertised as private in 2009, the same situation as 2008.  Galileo had a fantastic year with his three year olds New Approach and Lush Lashes, older horses Soldier of Fortune and Red Rocks and promising two year olds Kite Wood, Cuis Ghaire and Rip Van Winkle. Although there is no advertised change in his fee, with the retirement of Sadler’s Wells he is probably ‘more private’ now than he was before!

    Darley have raised two of their stallions. Kheleyf has gone from €5000 to €12000 and Exceed and Excel was raised from €10000 to £12000. It’s easy to understand these increases given the success of both stallions with their two year olds, finishing first and second with 27 and 21 individual winners respectively, including a respectable number of stakes performers.

    The Irish National Stud also had a good year with its first season sires. Elusive City was responsible for Group winners Elusive Wave and Soul City and it was no harm that Soul City also won the Goffs million. The success of Raven’s Pass, another son of Elusive Quality was also timely. His fee has now moved from €8000 to €12500 which seems pricey to me. Indian Haven also had two Group winners in Ashram and Aspen Darlin and has fee has increased slightly from €6000 to €7500. I would expect his progeny to train on well and I think he is represents very good value and could be the one to replicate the success enjoyed his sire Indian Ridge and grandsire Ahonoora at the Irish National Stud.

    Amongst the second season sires Dalakhani was the star. Two classic winners in Moonstone and Conduit were backed up by Group 2 winners Centennial and Democrate and four other stakes winners. His results justify an increase from €40000 to €50000.

    Nayef matched Dalakhani by siring two Group 1 winners in Lady Marian and Tamayuz. Like Dalakhani he is free from Northern Dancer and he represents very good value at his new fee of £15000 up from £10000 in 2008.

    Bizarrely Shadwell also increased the fee for Sakhee from £10000 to £12000. He had a few useful performers in Samuel and the Italian Permesso who was twice Group 1 placed but it hardly constituted a successful season. I certainly can’t see the rationale behind this increase.

    Juddmonte have not increased any of their fees, nor have Rathbarry or Lanwades, although Lanwades would have been forgiven had they given Hernando an increase after the exploits of Look Here and Casual Conquest.

     The National Stud raised Bahamian Bounty from £9000 to £10000. This was surprising as although he had plenty of winners he had no Group winners all year and his best performer was Gallagher who finished runner up in the Prix Morny. Time will tell whether this decision was brave or foolhardy, but I found it surprising.

    The brevity of the above list tells you all that you need to know about the current state of the market.  Confidence is in short supply but no doubt commercial breeders are hoping that when it comes to selling the outcome of their 2009 matings that the financial outlook will be a lot rosier. I hope they will be proved right but I’m always reminded of the saying “anyone who wants to make a small fortune out of horses, needs to start with a big fortune”……..

  • Arc Weekend-winners and losers

    With 7 Group Ones and four Group 2’s spread over the Saturday and Sunday, Arc weekend is as good as it gets in Europe. All age groups, all distances all sexes are catered for with championship honours up for grabs. This years results threw up a lot of surprises with plenty of items to debate.

    A good weekend for

     1. French trainers- only two races went to overseas trainers with Paco Boy winning for Richard Hannon and Lady Marian for Germany. It probably emphasises that Arc weekend is the ultimate target for many French trained horses whereas it is often coming at the end of a long hard season for Irish and British trained horses who had peaked earlier in the summer

    2. Juddmonte. A stellar weekend for Juddmonte stallions with Zamindar’s daughter Zarkava’s win in the Arc reinforcing her superstar status. For good measure Beat Hollow emerged from the doldrums with Proportional putting up a very impressive performance in the Prix Marcel Boussac to give him his first Group One winner. The jam on top was provided when Naaqoos won the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere giving Oasis Dream his first Group One winner.

    3. The Aga Khan’s methods. Zarkava represents a triumph for the Aga Khans belief in certain families. It is remarkable that her 10th dam is his grandfathers foundation mare Mumtaz Mahal and her fifth dam is Oaks and Guineas winner Petite Etoile a filly Lester Piggott regards as the best he ever rode. Despite a number of moderate non-entities since Petite Etoile the Aga Khan never loses faith in his families and got his just reward with a great performance from the best filly since Miesque.

    4. Dyhim Diamond. The unherealded Dyhim Diamond had a sparkling weekend that emphasised his versatility. Firstly five year old Bannaby won the 20 furlongs Prix de Cadran defeating Yeats and on Sunday Milanais came within a neck of winning the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. Dyhim Diamond was a son of Night Shift who never won above Group 3 level, but previously gave notice of his ability to upgrade his mares with the exploits of Prix Jean Prat winner Turtle Bowl.  Dyhim Diamond stood in France for €2000 at Haras de la Tuilerie, but is now plying his trade in Haras de Ulzama in Spain. This weekends results might see efforts to repatriate him to France.

    5. Nayef. Lady Marian’s win in the Prix de l’Opera caps  a fine year for the Shadwell stallion who has emerged as an important sire as earlier highlighted by Tamayuz’s Group 1 double and Spacious runner-up slot in the 1000 Guineas. His fee has been increased to £15000 for next year but that still represents tremendous value.

    6. Desert Style.  Paco Boy provided Desert Style with his second Prix de la Foret winner in three years, following in the hoofprints of Caradak. He has always been an inconsistent sire but is well capable of getting a top class performer such as Mandesha and Bachir. At a fee of €12,000 he could no longer be considered cheap but this was a nice reminder of his ability.

    Disappointing weekend

    1. Coolmore. Amazingly Peintre Celebre’s son Trincot’s victory in the Group 2 Prix Dollar was the only pattern success for a Coolmore stallion at the weekend.

    2. Ballydoyle/Aidan O’Brien. Before his horses left Tipperary Aidan O’Brien would have expected at least two Group One wins with hopes of adding another one or two. He left with none after odds-on defeats for Yeats and Mastercraftsman and disappointing runs by Duke of Marmalade and Moonstone. Only Soldier of Fortune performed with credit.  His odds of reaching the record of 26 Group ones in a season lengthened after the weekend.

    3. Gallic Farce: The failure of Fleeting Spirit’s stalls to fully open in the Prix de l’Abbaye led to a false start. Unfortunately a number of jockeys didn’t notice the false start flag and Hungarian superstar Overdose ran flat out for the five furlongs ‘winning’ the race in a time just outside the course record.  Had he triumphed it would have been a real fairytale success for an unwanted son of Starborough who cost just £2000

  • Compton Place for Pace

    Compton Place is after a fantastic few weeks. On the 19th July the six year old Intrepid Jack won the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes over 6 furlongs. On the 1st August the two year old Prolific won the Group 2 Richmond Stakes and then to cap it all on the 22nd August another 6 year old Borderlescott won the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes (following in the footsteps of his grandsire Ahonoora) when the race was run at Newmarket after York was cancelled. Borderlescotts victory was his first ever Group win and was Compton Place’s first ever Group One victory. Compton Place has earned a reputation as a good sire of tough speedy horses and is good value at his current fee of £7500.

    Racecourse Career:

    Compton Place’s racecourse career is really all about one race the 1997 July Cup. He triumphed at 50-1 defeating Royal Applause. As his price suggests this was a massive improvement on his previous form although at 2 he did finish runner up in the Gimcrack and the Flying Childers. In his previous run he had been well beaten in the King’s Stand and he must be one of the few Group One winners about which the trainer had to explain the improvement in form! The rest of his career was a big disappointment, his final run at three was in the Nunthorpe but he missed the kick and only beat one horse home. Kept in training at four he ran three times but finished close to last on all his runs including when bidding for a repeat in the July Cup.

    Stud Career.

    The below table taken from his home stud (http://www.whitsburymanorstud.co.uk/) shows an analysis of Compton Place first 6 crops.  His foal sizes are relatively small in the modern era dropping to a mere 39 recorded foals in 2002.  Despite his current success it it refreshing that it is advertised that his books are restricted to 100 mares.  It is impressive to note his very large percentage of runners to foals which indicates that he is siring sound animals and another intriguing stat I came across was in relation to the number of lifetime runs per runner (13) which reinforced the soundness of his offspring. His percentage of stakes winners at around 3% is not impressive but considering the quality of mares it is not too disappointing. A cursory analysis of the winning distances of his offspring tells you at a glance all you need to know about the distance preference of his offspring with 5 furlong and 6 furlong races dominating in terms of wins and runs.  He was viewed by breeders as a source of cheap speed and he has delivered them just that.  HIs previous best progeny include Godfrey Street who went one better than Compton Place and won the Flying Childers (defeating his paternal half brother Hunter Street), Passified who is Grade 2 winner and Grade 1 placed in the US, Boogie Street who was only a listed winner but came within a head of winning a Kings Stand, multiple stakes winners Angus Newz and . Many of his better runners including Boogie Street, Godfrey Street and Prolific were trained by Richard Hannon who is an enthusiastic supporter of the stallion and his been well rewarded for his foresight. There are no obvious nicks when looking at the pedigrees of Compton Place’s previous stakes winners although he has two out of Night Shift mares in Passified and Italian Group 3 winner Champion Place. Intrepid Jack is out a Primo Dominie mare, Prolific out of Bahamian Bounty mare, Judd Street out of a College Chapel mare, Boogie Street out of a Distant Relative mare and Godfrey Street who is out a Caerleon mare. Incidentally Caerleon also appears in the third generation of Prolific.

    Indian Ridge as a Sire of Sires

    Compton Place’s sire Indian Ridge was an unexpected success at stud rising from humble beginnings to be the star in the Irish National Stud roster with two Breeders Cup mile winners in Ridgewood Pearl and Domedriver along with champion sprinter Namid, Irish Guineas winner Indian Haven, National Stakes winner and Irish Derby runner-up Definite Article and dual group one winner Indian Ink. Indian Ridge has mixed results as a sire of sires. Definite Article was atypical of the best Indian Ridges in his aptitude for middle distances and at stud he followed suit by siring an outstanding stayer in Vinnie Roe, who is himself now at stud. Despite or more likely because of the success of Vinnie Roe, Definite Article is now covering large books as a dual purpose sire. Ridgewood Ben ( a brother to Ridgewood Peal) was disappointing even for a cheap sire and the likes of Fumo Di Londra , Handsome Ridge, Indian Rocket and Tumbleweed Ridge also failed to sire anything of note from admittedly poor quality mares.  Namid started promisingly with his first crop and sires lots of winners but needs a few top class horses if he is to justify his reported fee of €10000. Domedriver received a quality book of mares but although his oldest progeny are still only three, results to date are very disappointing and he has left Lanwades for France. Munir has a quality pedigree as a son of Al Bahatri but also has failed to deliver any offspring of note. Thus it is fair to rank Compton Place as the best son of Indian Ridge currently at stud but that could change quickly if Sleeping Indian or Indian Haven start to deliver with their large initial crops.

    Borderlescott’s pedigree:

    It is a rarity nowadays to find a pedigree devoid of Northern Dancer or Mr Prospector but Borderlescott is one of those rarities. His dam Jeewan was a 12 furlong winner as a three year old at Catterick, and this was her sole success in seven outings for Harry Thompson Jones. She was a daughter of Touching Wood (also trained by Jones) who was runner up to Golden Fleece in the Derby but notched a classic double in the Irish and English St Legers. He spent only two seasons at stud in England befor being sold to New Zealand. His most notable offspring was Ascot Gold Cup winner Ashal (also trained by Jones) and it is likely Borderlescotts breeders were hoping to inject some speed into the pedigree. Jeewan was previously the dam of 4 winners but none of them displayed stakes class. They did however display toughness and longevity with Woodbury (by Woodborough) running 58 times from the age of 2-6 and she registered 6 wins and 9 places, Harry Browne by Al Hareb ran 26 times winning 5 times and Patricia Philomena by Prince of Birds ran 37 times winning on 4 occasions. The moderate sires she visited Woodborough, Al Hareb, Prince of Birds, Gallic League, Classic Music and Primo Dominie are appropriate given her own pedigree and moderate racecourse performance and the 13000 guineas given for Borderlescott as a yearling at Doncaster must have seemed a fair price at the time. It is now looking like a real bargain and there could be more to come from this tough, progressive horse.

    Crop Foaled

     

     Live Foals

     

    Runners

     

    Winners

     

    Wins

     

    SW

     

    GW

     

    2000

     

    68

     

    61

     

    41

     

    166

     

    2

     

    1

     

    2001

     

    47

     

    36

     

    20

     

    65

     

    3

     

    0

     

    2002

     

    39

     

    32

     

    23

     

    75

     

    2

     

    1

     

    2003

     

    55

     

    44

     

    21

     

    61

     

    4

     

    3

     

    2004

     

    72

     

    58

     

    33

     

    75

     

    1

     

    1

     

    2005

     

    71

     

    50

     

    15

     

    21

     

    0

     

    0

     

    First 6 crops

     

    352

     

    281

     

    153

     

    463

     

    12

     

    6

     

     

     

    BORDERLESCOTT (GB) 2002 g b

    Compton Place (GB) 1994 Indian Ridge (IRE) 1985 Ahonoora (GB) 1975 Lorenzaccio (IRE) 1965
    Helen Nichols (GB) 1966
    Hillbrow (GB) 1975 Swing Easy (USA) 1968
    Golden City (GB) 1970
    Nosey (IRE) 1981 Nebbiolo (GB) 1974 Yellow God (GB) 1967
    Novara (GER) 1965
    Little Cynthia (IRE) 1974 Wolver Hollow (GB) 1964
    Fazilka (IRE) 1965
    Jeewan (IRE) 1985 Touching Wood (USA) 1979 Roberto (USA) 1969 Hail To Reason (USA) 1958
    Bramalea (USA) 1959
    Mandera (USA) 1970 Vaguely Noble (GB) 1965
    Foolish One (USA) 1957
    Adeebah (USA) 1980 Damascus (USA) 1964 Sword Dancer (USA) 1956
    Kerala (USA) 1958
    Transylvania (USA) 1969 Bold Ruler (USA) 1954
    Cascade 2nd (USA) 1951