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Stallion Reviews

The best bunch of broodmares you will ever see?

I recently rewatched the 1985 Oaks and I was struck by both the quality of the field and the remarkable success they subsequently enjoyed as broodmares.  I am curious if anyone can recall a better collection of broodmares who all competed in the same race? For the record there were only 12 runners in the 1985 Oaks but 4 of them became the dams of Group 1 winners, another the dam of a Group 2 winner and all this success was achieved despite the tragic demise of the great Triptych before she had any offspring.

The race was won by the great Oh So Sharp (Kris- Oh So Fair by Graustark). She is the last filly to win the triple crown and probably the best filly trained by the late Henry Cecil.  Her record at stud is very good (although understandably she never produced anything comparable to herself) with a Group 1 winner of the Prix Saint Alary in Rosefinch (by Blushing Groom) to her credit. She is also dam of Grade 2 winner Shaima (by Shareef Dancer) who went on to be the dam of Shantou by Alleged who won the St Leger in 1996 and subsequently added two Italian Group 1’s to his cv. Two of her sons by Sadler’s Wells in  Sacho and Savoir Vivre were Group placed and Savoir Vivre found a place at stud in Tasmania.

Second home was Triptych (Riverman-Trillion by Hail to Reason). She was a remarkable racemare in many ways, running 41 times and being a standing fixture in the top European races of the mid 80’s.  She was a Group 1 winner every year aged 2-6. She had three different trainers (David Smaga, David O Brien and Patrick Biancone), she was the first filly to win the Irish 2000 Guineas and her dam Trillion was also an outstandingly tough and talented racemare who ran 31 times and her dam Margarethen ran 64 times! Her background was such that she cost over 2 million dollars and she must have been the only European trained mare to earn back such a purchase price on the racetrack. She died in bizzare circumstances when she collided with a truck that was driving without lights whilst carrying to Mr Prospector.  It is intriguing to think what she would have produced had she lived to visit Sadler’s Wells.

Third was Dubian (High Line-Melodina by Tudor Melody). She went on to become an outstanding broodmare. Her most successful offspring was Sayeddati (by Shadeed), who won five Group 1 races -the 1000 Guineas, Sussex Stakes, Jacques Le Marois, Cheveley Park and Moyglare Stud Stakes.  Sayeddati is in turn dam of Almushahar (by Silver Hawk) who looked destined for great things after winning the Royal Lodge, but unfortunately never ran again.
Dubian is also dam of Golden Snake (by Danzig) who retired to the National Stud in the UK having landed four Group 1 events including the Prix Ganay and Prix Jean Prat.
Dubian almost had a third Group 1 winner in Race Leader (by Gone West) who was runner up to Giant’s Causeway in the Prix de la Salamandre.

In fourth was Kiliniski (Niniski-Kilavea by Hawaii). Kiliniski is a grand daughter of the breed shaping mare Special.  When I first published this article, I wrote that she made no impact as a broodmare. However in 2014 her grandaughter Madame Chiang (Archipenko ex Robe Chinoise by Robellino) struck in the British Champion Fillies and Mares race for Kirsten Rausing.

In fifth came  Bella Colora (Bellypha- Reprocolor by Jimmy Reppin) who had only been just touched off in a three way finish with Oh So Sharp and Al Bahatri in the 1000 Guineas.  Reprocolor was herself fourth in the Oaks before becoming an incredible broodmare whose legacy keeps expanding.  Bella Colora did her bit for the family as dam of Stagecraft (by Sadler’s Wells) who won the Prince of Wales Stakes (then a Group 2) before being narrowly beaten in the Eclipse.  Another of her sons was Group 3 winner Mullins Bay (by Machiavellian) who is now at stud in South Africa. Her daughters have continued the legacy and a host of good winners including Poet, France, Caspar Netscher and Shirocco Star trace to Bella Colora.

In seventh was Morning Devotion (Affirmed-Morning has Broken by Prince John). She compiled a superb record as a broodmare highlighted by the brilliant Balanchine (by Storm Bird) who followed up her win in the 1994 Oaks with victory over the colts in the Irish Derby.  Morning Devotion is also dam of Romanov by Nureyev who was a Group 2 winner of the Jockey Club Stakes and finished third in the 1997 Derby. Red Slippers (also by Nureyev) was also a Group 2 winner, her success coming in the Sun Chariot Stakes and she became the dam of West Wind (by Machiavellian) who gained classic success in the French Oaks.

Last in the Oaks but not to be overlooked was Dance Machine (Green Dancer-Never A Lady by Pontifex. She achieved fame as the dam of Halling who won five Group 1’s for Godolphin in the mid nineties including consecutive runnings of both the Eclipse Stakes and Juddmonte International. He has compliled a decent record at stud see (http://www.montjeu.com/archives/135) .

Conclusion

The Epsom Oaks is meant to be the premier European fillies classic, so in one sense we should expect its participants to pass on their superior racing merit. However racing is rarely so predictable and it is unusual to have such a high percentage of fillies make the grade as broodmares. 1985 may just have been an above average crop of fillies, it could be just one of those statistical quirks or perhaps the explanation lies in the changing nature of European bloodstock in the 1980’s with the old European lines ready to be crossed with potent Northern Dancer blood to subsequent great effect.  Whatever the explanation, it is interesting to look back on some very talented fillies whose offspring subsequently made a significant impact on the racing world and to pose the question- when was there a better bunch of broodmares in a single race?

Henry Cecil- a belated tribute

With the passing of Henry Cecil in June it is worth considering his place in the pantheon of the great trainers. It is also worth looking back on the subsequent impact of his runners in the breeding sheds.  Surprisingly, for such a successful trainer over such a long career, Henry trained very few important stallions.

Ranking as a trainer

As a ten time champion trainer, its obvious that Henry Cecil must take very high rank amongst the list of great trainers.  However for me, there are a few factors that temper my enthusiasm for ranking him anywhere near Vincent O’Brien, who is the benchmark for trainers.

1. Firstly Henry had it easy. He came from a privileged background being a stepson of champion trainer and Royal trainer Cecil Boyd Rochfort and his early marriage to Julie Murless (daughter of another champion trainer and Royal trainer) meant he was quickly seated at racing’s top table.  His starting position would have taken others a decade or more to achieve.

2. Apart from Wolver Hollow’s Eclipse in his first season his early years were underwhelming. A lot of tributes talk about Henry’s instinctive way with horses, however to me if there is nothing significant happening for a number of years it looks less like genius and more of a gradual tweaking of the same old methods used by others. Henry may have had a reputation for working his horses hard at Newmarket but he wasn’t much of an innovator in his methods. Gradual improvements in staff, methods and stock are a road map to training success but they are rooted in the ordinary rather than in genius.

3. Henry largely ignored the rest of the world. Henry may have felt that British racing was the best in the world but in his heyday he spurned many opportunities for his runners overseas. His tally of two US wins (Yashmak  in 1997 and Midday in 2009) is very underwhelming given the relatively easy pickings available in the US for turf horses. His tally of 6 Irish classics is also less than one would expect.  In my view, his Anglo-centric approach didn’t do justice to his horses or his owners by ignoring the opportunities that were available throughout the world.

4. He didn’t succeed with sprinters. I don’t know the reason for this but it is noticeable that he never trained a really top class sprinter and almost all of the big sprints are absent from his cv.

Great Stallions trained by Henry

none

Very Good Stallions trained

1. Kris (1976 Sharpen Up- Doubly Sure by Reliance).

Kris was a superb miler who should have won the Guineas and won 14 of his 16 races. His first crop yielded the outstanding Cecil trained triple crown winner Oh So Sharp (1982 Kris ex Oh So Fair by Graustark). His second crop yielded Irish 2000 Guineas winner Flash of Steel (1983 Kris ex Spark of Fire by Run the Gauntlet). His final career stats show 75 black type winners from 846 foals, a very creditable 9% and include other Group 1 winners such as Shavian, Rafha and Balisada. However Kris is regarded as a fillies sire and no important sire sons have emerged to continue his male line.

2. Diesis (1980 Sharpen Up- Doubly Sure by Reliance)

A brother to Kris, Diesis was a brilliant two year old who achieved a rare Middle Park, Dewhurst double.  Like his brother he made an immediate impression with an outstanding filly in his first crop-namely Diminuendo (1985 Diesis ex Cacti by Tom Rolfe).  Other Oaks winners followed in Ramruma (1996 Diesis ex Princess of Man by Green God) and Love Divine (1997 Diesis ex La Sky by Law Society). However unlike his brother there was not the same sex bias amongst his offspring who ranged from sprinters such as Keen Hunter (1987 Diesis ex Love’s Reward by Nonoalco) to milers such as Docksider (1995 Diesis ex Pump by Forli) and superb 10 furlong performers in Halling (1991 Diesis ex Dance Machine by Green Dancer) and Elmaamul (1987 Diesis ex Modena by Roberto). His final stud statistics showed 82 black type winners from 1069 foals (8%) and his sire line is just barely hanging on through Muhtathir (a son of Elmaamul and sire of Doctor Dino) and Halling who  has a few sons at stud.

Really Disappointing Stallions Trained by Henry

1. Reference Point (1984 Mill Reef ex Home on the Range by Habitat)

An above average Derby winner who won a Futurity at two and seemed to have the pedigree to succeed at stud.  He was very disappointing and his early death was not lamented by many breeders.

2. Hello Gorgeous (1977 Mr Prospector ex Bonny Jet by Jet Jewel)

As a winner of a Dante and Futurity (aka Racing Post Trophy) and a son of the new American sensation Mr Prospector, Hello Gorgeous proved popular at Coolmore and big money was paid for many of his early offspring. He was a disaster and led to a distrust of sons of Mr Prospector in Europe that took a long time to fade.  His final stats show 10 black type winners from 510 foals (2%).

2. Old Vic (1986 Sadler’s Wells ex Cockade by Derring Do).

From the first crop of Sadler’s Wells, Old Vic was a brilliant winner of the Irish and French Derby’s. Retired to Dalham Hall he was very disappointing as a flat sire before proving to be an exceptional jumps stallion.

Mixed bag

Of Henry’s other Derby winners, Oath (1996 Fairy King ex Sheer Audacity by Troy) and Commander in Chief(1990 Dancing Brave ex Slightly Dangerous by Roberto) found themselves in Japan and failed to make much impact.  Slip Anchor (1982 Shirley Heights ex Sayonara by Birkhahn) did reasonably well, but as a stamina source was never fashionable enough to attract sufficient high quality mares.

National Hunt sires

Henry was associated with many great stayers such as Le Moss (1975 Le Levanstall ex Feemoss by Ballymoss),  Ardross (1976 Run the Gauntlet ex Le Melody by Levmoss) and Buckskin (1973 Yelapa ex Bete A Bon Dieu by Herbager) . He trained a lot of other horses who also made names as national hunt stallions such as Gunner B (1973 Royal Gunner ex Sweet Councillor by Privy Councillor), Moscow Society (Nijinsky ex Afifa by Dewan). In addition to the previously mentioned leading jumps sire Old Vic, he also trained the King George winner King’s Theatre (1991 Sadler’s Wells ex Regal Beauty by Princely Native) who became champion NH sire.

Conclusions

Henry’s standing as a great trainer is not in doubt and only Michael Stoute has stronger claims to be regarded as the outstanding British trainer of the modern era. A trainers job is to train horses for the racecourse and he has no influence on whether they succeed as stallions. It is of no relevance to Henry’s standing as a trainer that he was not associated with any horses who proved to be great stallions. It is just one of those statistical curiosities. His  success as a trainer of stayers inevitably meant that he was associated with horses who ended up earning their oats as national hunt stallions. Henry’s greatest project, Frankel is now embarking on his stud career and he has every prospect of success, so there could yet be a great stallion associated with the Cecil name.

 

 

2013 value sires

Just as the stallion ranks are full of over-priced, over-hyped dross there are also a few examples of good value sires for the canny breeder.  Below are four sires that I believe represent good value for either owner breeders or commercial breeders and sometimes both.

1. Medicean (1997 Machiavellian ex Mystic Goddess by Storm Bird) 2013 fee £10,000

I wrote about Medicean last year when he stood for £8000 and after an exceptionally good year on the track a modest increase to £10000 is fully justified.  In my view he is now the best value sire around. 2012 saw him sire three Group 1 winners in Siyouma ex Sichilla by Danehill, Bayrir ex Balankiya by Darshaan and Capponi ex Nawaiet by Zilzal to bring his lifelong total to 9 Group 1 winners. A strong supporting cast included other Group winners Sapphire ex Polished Gem by Danehill,  Casaca ex Priena by Priolo, Mince ex Strut by Danehill Dancer, Regal Realm ex Regal Riband by Fantastic Light and Al Shemali ex Bathilde by Generous.  Those are the sort of results that outperform many sires standing at a multiple of that fee and will bring market recognition.  His 2012 sales results were decent with a median of 26,000 guineas.  His son Dutch Art has also made a very impressive start to his stud career,which might bring some reflected glory. Medicean’s overall stats at 4% stakes winners are decent and he represents great value for owner breeders, particularly anyone who likes the thought of a horse who will improve with age and racing or for commercial breeders as he is modestly priced for such a proven stallion, with solid sales results.

2. Dalakhani (2000 Darshaan ex Daltawa by Miswaki) 2013 fee €25,000

Dalakhani is now half the fee he was in 2009 and 2010. He is a proven sire of 5% stakes winners and the proven successor to his sire Darshaan. He has already sired 4 classic winners in Moonstone, Duncan, Reliable Man and Conduit. His sales median was 72000 gns in 2011 and 47000 guineas in 2012, so he should still be of interest to commercial breeders as a sire who offers a good prospect of commercial success.  In addition the risk for breeders is reduced as his fillies have almost the same median as his colts, which is not surprising given that Dalakhani is free from Northern Dancer and there are plenty of people willing to use his daughters to  try and follow the famous Sadler’s Wells /Darsahaan cross. In conclusion he is a high quality proven stallion, with very sound percentages who is reasonably priced on his achievements to date and who can be profitably utilised by owner breeders and commercial breeders alike.

3.Kendargent (2003 Kendor ex Pax Bella by Linamix) 2013 fee €6000

I wrote about Kendargent last year when he stood for €4000 and his very small first and second crops continued to give the impression that this is a sire going places.  If he continues his rate of progress with bigger and better crops in the future he might just go and become a Gallic rags to riches story to rival Ahonoora.

4. Azamour (2001 Night Shift ex Asmara by Lear Fan) 2013 fee €10,000

Azamour is a good sire with good percentages whose fee has dropped from €15,000 to a reasonable €10,000. 2012 also saw him sire his first Group 1 winner and classic winner in Valyra, who unfortunately died shortly after her French Oaks win. He has sired plenty of high class performers but lacked a real standout in the UK or Ireland, hence the drop in fee and for commercial breeders the fact that his 2012 median dropped to 12000 gns will have activated the alarm bells and he is not recommended for commercial breeders. However for owner breeders, I think he is a useful sire for the money who is well capable of getting a decent horse with some regularity.

 

2013 stud fees- some overpriced examples

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and defining value is a very subjective measure. Looking at the published fees for 2013 there were a few fees that took my eye as representing particularly poor value.  I wouldn’t have time to list all the overpriced first season sires, so I’m restricting myself to those sires with runners……

Poor Value Sires

1. High Chaparral (1999 Sadler’s Wells ex Kasora by Darshaan) 2013 fee €25,000

I could just cut and paste my comments from last year regarding High Chaparral- yes he was a great racehorse, yes he has done very well in Australia/New Zealand but there is no way his European results merit a €25000 fee.  It is extraordinary to think that he has yet to sire a European Group 1 winner from his huge number of European conceived progeny. His sales returns have been good for the past two years but  sooner rather than later European breeders will wake up to the fact that he is only managing 3% stakes winners and is due a significant cut in fee. By way of comparison for the same fee you could access Dalakhani who has 5% stakes winners and has sired 5 individual European Group 1 winners.

2. Footstepsinthesand (2002 Giant’s Causeway ex Glatisant by Rainbow Quest) 2013 fee €10000

Not as egregiously bad value as his stud mate but nonetheless I think Footsteps has been a disappointment and is now overpriced.  He has managed only 2% stakes winners and if you take into account that his stud fee was over 20k for his first three years at stud, his record is not going to improve in the coming years. His median for the past two years has hovered around his stud fee so the commercial market is hardly in love with him. Interestingly he is the last and only Storm Cat line horse now in Coolmore Ireland but I’m sure if a suitable offer came from overseas, Coolmore would be happy to offload him and that particular experiment would come to an end without too many tears being shed by Ireland’s breeders. By way of comparison you could use Azamour for the same fee and he has 4% stakes winners.

3. Elusive City (2000 Elusive Quality ex Star of Paris by Dayjur) 2013 fee €12,500

I wrote about Elusive City last year when he was France’s most expensive stallion at €15000. He no longer holds this particular title but he still remains a sire who manages only 2% stakes winners and he remains considerably overpriced. You could pick 20 stallions who represent better value but two similarly priced Mr Prospector line stallions that are far better sires (albeit standing in the UK) are Medicean and Zamindar.

4. Teofilo (2004 Galileo ex Speirbhean by Danehill ) 2013 fee €35,000

I might be eating my words on this one, given that he produced three very nice two year old colts last year in Loch Garman, Havana Gold and Trading Leather. However I’m not arguing that Teofilo isn’t capable of producing high class horses but to me he didn’t do enough last year to justify a hike from €25000 to €35000. This is particularly the case when I felt that his three year olds were somewhat disappointing although admittedly the absence of his first crop star Parish Hall had a big impact on this.  His stud fee owes a lot to the growing belief in Galileo as a sire of sires and the fact that he shares the Galileo/Danehill cross with Frankel probably helps along with some strong Autumn sales results. People are taking a punt of fashion and on potential and  although he is an interesting sire his fee should have stayed at its 2012 level until he truly delivered on that potential.  By way of comparison at the exact same fee, his stud mate Cape Cross has demonstrated his ability to produce the goods and I would rather the proven over the possible any day.

the opposite of nostalgia

So now its official- Frankel is the top rated horse since the beginning of the international rankings.  So how did he achieve this feat? Well his stunning performances in the Queen Anne and Juddmonte International certainly played a part, but they were not in themselves sufficient to garner him that accolade.  The fact that the handicappers strangely rated his 11 length Queen Anne victory as being akin to 12.5 lengths and his 7 length Juddmonte victory as being akin to 9.25 lengths also helped, but was still not enough to give him the top honours. No he achieved the top spot by virtue of the handicappers rewriting history.

At the end of his three year old career, Frankel was rated 136, a long way short of Dancing Brave’s 141. At the time Phil Smith, the British Horseracing Authority’s senior handicapper was quoted as saying “I don’t believe that Dancing Brave would get that rating now, but it’s in the book and that’s what [Frankel] has got to aim for, because we are not going to rewrite history.” Fast forward twelve months and rewriting history is exactly what Phil and his colleagues have done. I can’t find a suitable antonym for nostalgia but it is clear that the handicappers don’t think much of the greats of the past and  they don’t trust their predecessors. When Phil Smith explained that Shergar’s rating was a retirement ‘gift’ to a former handicapper it hardly counted as an endorsement of his predecessors and somewhat undermined a statement in their explanatory piece see link that “the purpose of this paper is absolutely NOT to say that the current Handicappers are right and those who compiled the ratings between 1977 and 1991 were wrong”. Some of the other arguments in their justification are also odd as for instance “Much easier travel coupled with an increase in valuable International races enabled connections of the better horses to avoid each other” could just as easily be an argument supporting the thesis that we have more competition not less between the best horses of the world. Also the statement that “The ownership of so many of the top horses in just a few hands meant competition and higher ratings suffered.” is as valid now as ever before. The statement that ” The extension of the Classification to 115 and above in 1985, to 112 and above in 1989 and to 110 in 1990 had a depressant effect as there was now a safety net in which to include the type of horse that had been overly promoted in the past”, again seems to imply that past handicappers were assigning ratings for reasons other than merit. Finally I’m not sure there is a solid basis to the statement that the increase in the number of handicappers means “It is much more likely that horses will be downgraded with a larger Committee” unless larger groups are somehow assumed to be more negative in mindset, and a strong voice is somehow incapable of swaying a committee.

In Orwell’s 1984, the Ministry for Truth was responsible for updating records to ensure that the recorded ‘facts’ of history matched the current needs of the regime. History was rewritten on a daily basis and documentation was destroyed or updated as required. To be fair to the handicappers they probably won’t resort to destroying my books containing old ratings.  There were three slogans outside the Ministry for Truth namely “WAR IS PEACE,” “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,” “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”, perhaps if there was a section dealing with sport, a fourth slogan “FRANKEL IS THE GREATEST” would have been included?