Category: Updates from the yard

So it’s 12:14 a.m. here in France, and I’m desperately trying to find the results of the Fountain of Youth Stakes, run at Gulfstream Park a half-hour ago, and nowhere on the Internet can I find the results. Nowhere. My friend Ellie Crowder in Tampa ran her old war horse Major Park at Tampa Bay Downs, and I could watch the race live (he finished a game second, by the way – so congrats to Ellie). But not Gulfstream, which appears to have one of the word’s worst web sites. I see on the Paulick Report that Eskendereya won, but that seems to be the best we can do. Wow, in this day of Internet rapid technology. The Gulfsteam site redirects me to a bunch of other sites, which seem to want money before offering anything, including race replays. This now puts me solidly in the camp of those wondering why race results are not immediately made available. Geez, even in here in France, where technology is still in the dark ages in many ways, we manage to get race results out for whoever wants them. Guess I’ll have to go to bed and wait until tomorrow to see how Aikenite, who is owned by a couple of really nice folks I met at the Breeders’ Cup, did…

The worst seems to be over. The tracks are thawed and it actually smells a little bit like spring. I no longer need a flashlight to feed in the morning, or to fill water buckets at night. Turfani and Blessing Belle worked on the fibersand this morning and they are both close to ready to get racing, which should happen in the first week of March. Hard Way is working his way back, relearning how to be civilized on the training track and stop acting like a yearling. Skid and Little Brazilien will come back from the field Tuesday; we are way behind getting the horses that have been out started back, but with the weather like it was, there was no point in bringing them home. George (Email Exit) and Timelord will come back March 2. Bay and Versaki are ready to go, too, and have races in early March. We have two new horses now in pre-training who should come in by April.  I can’t wait to get everything moving again.

Pixie’s Blue was bought by BBA Ireland at the sales today, so she will go back to her native country to be a brood mare. Apparently she will have a date with Soviet Star. She sold for only 2,000 euros, but I’m very happy she is going off to breeding in Ireland, so the price doesn’t really matter. There were many, many horses unsold today, so just to get her placed was a victory. Good luck, Pixie! Maybe one day I’ll be racing one of your babies.

Pixie’s Blue goes to the Arqana mixed sale at St. Cloud tomorrow, so we spent the day spiffing her up for her big day. She got clipped and her mane trimmed, and tomorrow off she’ll go with braids and Show Sheen in her tail. Pixie has been an exercise in frustration for us, so I’m hoping she sells tomorrow to someone primarily interested in breeding her. She won her race in Maisons-Laffitte really impressively, and has shown us plenty in the morning, but I’ve never able to get her back in the money and I’m not sure why. She has been unlucky in many ways, but she is a nice horse with a great paper, and deserves to be a brood mare. She has a brother and sister who were Listed winners, and another sister has already produced winners as a brood mare. She has plenty of black type on her page, so I’m hoping she will catch someone’s eye. If she doesn’t sell, she will go back to David Henderson’s yard in Mont de Marsan, so we do have a backup plan. This will be the first time I’m taking a horse to the sales, so it should be an interesting experience, if a cold one. It’s still below freezing here, although the weather is supposed to warm up to a balmy 4 degrees – starting Wednesday, just 24 hours too late.

DerringBay finished second AGAIN in Lyon today, beaten just three-quarters of a length. He’s going to hit it down there one of these days…that said, he needed to be in the first three to make the trip worth it, and he was, so I can’t complain too much. It was one of the most dismal winter days we’ve had yet, with minus 5 Celcius and a frozen track. For a bit there I wasn’t sure we would race, but they worked over the track with heavy harrowing before every race, and it turned out to be usable, but not more. DBay hated it, actually, so we were sort of lucky to grab second. He lugged left horribly in the stretch, which is what he does when something is not to his liking, but he managed to stick his neck out when it counted. That makes three second places on the fibersand in Lyon. It was the usual lovely five-and-a-half hour drive each way, with the trip home complicated by several bits of blizzard. Probably the leftovers of what the Americans were struggling with this past week. But DBay adds 2,400 euros to his bank account, which is growing far more than I ever thought it would.

We’ve finally got a little racing to give us a break from winter. DerringBay goes to Lyon on Wednesday with a good chance to win. It’s a PMH meeting, unfortunately, which means we have to drive ourselves and it all costs more, but it looks like a great entry, since there are only nine runners in our handicap. DBay is at the top of the second half of the handicap, carrying 59.5 kilos, but the competition looks pretty slim. He seems in fine form, and it’s a track he likes (although I have to say it’s certainly not one of my favorites, considering it’s a five-hour drive and is situated in one of the most dismal urban areas I’ve seen in France). We have a new jockey up, Mikael Forest, who works for  Jean-Claude Rouget (I had said Pantall earlier – this is a correction. I don’t know why I always confuse the two…) and seems to be a promising kid. We have the far outside post, which shouldn’t hurt us at this track. There are two or three horses that look like they can run a bit, so it won’t be a walkover, but if DBay decides to win this, he can. Now we just have to hope he’s in a good mood on Wednesday – because if he’s not, it’s going to be a long drive home…

This past weekend several stud farms across Normandy opened their doors to show off their stallions. It was the first time the Breeders’ Association staged a coordinated effort on a single weekend, and it was extremely well-organized. My breeder friend Genvieve, who has brood mares at her stud next to the Aga Khan’s Bonneval operation, mapped out a route that allowed us to see most of the bet stallions on offer in France. The stallion selection is getting better than is used to be, with the addition this year of proven talent like King’s Best and Dr. Fong, along with some good-looking newcomers like Zafeen and Naaqoos. Many are standing for less than 10,000 euros, which is ideal for breeders breeding to race rather than sell. On the commercial side there is less to choose from, but Elusive City and King’s Best can be marketable in Deauville in August.

My favorite of the day was Orpen, standing at the Haras du Thenney for 8,000 euros. I don’t think there is better value for money in France. He has sired 45 black-type winners and I often see his products in the winner’s circle at all level of racing. He’s a bit long in the back, but other than that a stunning horse with a good eye. I also have a soft spot for King’s Best, but at 15,000 euros he’s a little on the expensive side for France. I also got a chance to see Ultimately Lucky, the sire of our own Hard Way and a foal due in May. He was beautifully presented and has that swingy, supple big-cat walk that Hard Way has inherited. It does make you worry about the hocks, but he has sired some solid racehorses and has a book of 60 mares so far for this year. He stands for 2,200 euros at the Haras de Grandcamp. Not all the stallions were much to look at; Anabaa Blue, at the Haras d’Etreham, was one of the most unappealing sires on offer. He has tree trunks for legs, the neck of an overweight draft horse and the sleep eye of one, too. Country Reel, a three-quarter brother to the deceased Anabaa, has the same legs but is slightly more appealing up top. I suppose if you need to add bone, these guys would be on your list.

Nearly every stud offered a buffet of some kind, the two most impressive were at the Aga Khan’s Bonneval and the Haras de Thenney. But the jambon a l’os and the home-made terrines at the Haras de Petit Tellier were pretty good, too. And there was an impressive array of petit fours at the Haras de Logis…let’s just say we never had to think about stopping to buy food. There were a good number of English speakers in the groups tour the region, many attracted by the French owner/breeder premiums. As for me, I don’t have a  mare to cover this year since Well Done Clare will foal too late, so she will have a year off. But it was interesting to see what’s out there, and to hear what the breeders are thinking. I think I’ll start saving for Orpen next year.

There is yet another amazing meltdown happening in American racing that sort of defies the imagination. Michael Gill, known as the King of Claimers, is in trouble again after jockeys at Penn National refused to ride races in which his horses were entered. Gill’s horses are breaking down at an alarming rate (although what exactly that rate is seems open to argument, and it seems other owners and trainers are killing horses at a similar rate but attracting less attention doing it). I’ve been following the story and the outrage at the Paulick Report. It’s hard not to be amazed and horrified by this situation for lots of reasons, but the primary one for me is this: There is no system of authority in place in the United States that can ban irresponsible owners and trainers and get them out of the sport. Every state sets its own rules, and from what I can tell, individual tracks seem to be able to play by their own rules, as well. That means that everyone is in charge, so no one is in charge. And despite the latest flare-up over Michael Gill, nothing will change.

What is amazing to me is now narrow-minded my fellow Americans can be. After riding hundreds of dangerously infirm horses, jockeys finally draw the line at Gill, so now Gill is villain No. 1 in American racing. No one seems to be looking or caring about breakdown numbers of other owners or trainers. Same with synthetic racing surfaces. “Plastic,” as Jess Jackson likes to call it, didn’t completely stop horses from snapping their over-medicated bones on the track, so it must be no good. Let’s get rid of it. But let’s keep up the medication and breeding for speed, because that’s what America is all about. I am more convinced than ever before that horse racing in America is going the way of dog racing – destined to die out. Unfortunately for the horses, it looks like the death will be a long and painful one.

We’ve added a tab on the home page called “Press” that takes you to a list of the articles written about my training operation over the past year. The photo gallery also has been updated. Seems like the off-season has at least been good for updating our web site…

We’ve updated our “horses available” page on the Gallop France web site, so take a look for offerings for the spring/summer season. The half-leases available are a good way to get started; of those, Email Exit and Turfani run in the silks of owners who have the other half, but Skid Solo could run in the colors of whoever takes the remaining available half. Now is the time to plan that trip to Paris to see your horse running this summer…