Casey’s Racing Blog

Canadian businessman Frank Stronach’s Magna Entertainment (MEC) is in trouble. MEC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 5, 2009. Although many were not surprised by this, since MEC has had growing debt over the last year, it still comes as a blow to the horseracing industry.

Magna Entertainment Corporation (MEC) consists of racetracks, racehorse training centers, an off-the-track wagering business called Xpressbet, a 50% interest in the satellite channel HorseRacingTV, horse bedding company StreuFex, and property developments in North America and Europe. MEC is majority owned by Magna International Developments (MID), a shareholder spinoff from Magna International, Stronach’s auto parts company.

The depth of Stronach’s involvement in horseracing is astonishing. He privately owns Adena Springs, a large breeding and racing operation with facilities in Aurora, Ontario, Kentucky and Florida.

MEC’s racetrack holdings include some major players: Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields in California, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course (home of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown) in Maryland, Gulfstream Park in Florida, Lone Star Park in Texas, as well as Remington Park, Thistledown Racecourse, and Portland Meadows in Oklahoma, Ohio, and Oregon respectively. That’s a lot of racetracks in trouble.

MEC’s assets will be auctioning off. Santa Anita Park, host of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup will be one of the racetracks on the auction block, as well as Pimlico Race Course. MID has made a “stalking horse bid”, an advanced bid to buy some of MEC’s assets including Gulfstream Park, Golden Gate Fields, the Palm Meadows Training Center, Lone Star Park, and XpressBet from debtors. In these economic times, the fate of the racetracks not in MID’s bid is up in the air. Who out there could possibly have the money or determination to buy assets that drove MEC to bankruptcy in the first place? Could there be closures? And with so many racing operations at stake, can racing handle to take such a hit?

MEC’s debt is estimated to be well over $500 million. According to the Blood-Horse.com, their 2008 net loss was estimated to be $294 million. Their working capital deficit was $501 million with an additional $453 million in debt. One of MEC’s major creditors is the Bank of Montreal, so the financial implication of the bankruptcy run deep for Canadians as well.

Is the future of horseracing as we know it at risk? Being a young person trying to get into the industry, I sure hope not! But times are looking bleaker at the moment. I look forward to some good news about this mess – like who these racetrack’s financial saviours might be…

Rags to Riches beating Curlin in the 2007 Belmont Stakes

Rags to Riches has a foal at foot. Born March 9, the filly looks just like her champion mum with a big white face. It is very exciting when a mare of Rags’ status has her first foal. The anticipation and expectation are still high as memories of the mare’s career still linger in everyone’s minds and her ability to pass on her great qualities is still unknown.

Rags to Riches found her place in racing history by winning the mile and a half Belmont Stakes in 2007. She beat two-time horse of the year Curlin and was the first filly to win the grueling race in more than 100 years. She also won the Las Virgenes, Kentucky Oaks, and Santa Anita Oaks that year.

Rags’ dam is the record price setting Better Than Honour, who was bought back for $14 million by Hill’N’Dale earlier last year when they dissolved their partnership with Southern Equine. Will Rags be the next Blue Hen mare in the family?

Dancethruthedawn '09

At Sam-Son Farm, we’ve also had an exciting new arrival. The mare Dancethruthedawn, a Queen’s Plate winner, had a colt by the stallion Stormy Atlantic. Maybe ‘baby Rags’ and ‘baby Dawn’ will face off in future? Maybe in the 2012 Triple Crown, who knows? But the hope is always there at these early stages.

I love the anticipation and optimism that arrives with each new foal. Just the idea possible great matings is exciting, and the potential that they hold. Although they don’t always pan out to be successful racehorses, they can still be loved for their bloodlines and looks alone!

To see a gallery of baby Rags and mum from the Blood-Horse.com go to:

http://gallery.bloodhorse.com/SlideShow/default.aspx?gallery=RagstoRiches1stfoal

Back to our theme of stallion selection…

Another factor in selecting stallions is the “X-factor” or heart size. Having a large heart is a good thing for athletes – human or horse. A larger heart means better capacity to oxygenate blood and circulate it to the muscles that need it to work harder. The X factor is the possession of an overly large heart, as seen in some of the most successful racehorses of all time, such as Secretariat who had a heart that was found to weigh around 22lbs.

Heart size is a co-dominant X-linked trait, meaning that a mare, with her XX genotype, has the possibility of carrying the gene on both her alleles. A male has the XY genotype and only has the option of carrying the gene on the X allele and meaning that he must get the trait from his mother. The large heart gene has been traced back through the Thoroughbred pedigree to the stallion Eclipse and through the broodmare Pocahontas.

A Heart Score is used to gain an idea of a horses heart size and can be measured simply by using an electrocardiogram since the height of the QRT wave directly correlates to heart size. A large heart, able to pump much more oxygenated blood than an average size heart, is obviously an advantage to a racehorse who needs maximal cardiac output during a race. A Heart Score over 120 is considered a large heart. Mares pass this X linked trait to their offspring, but mares are rarely double carriers, so results are hard to predict with certainty and the Thoroughbred heart is not full grown until age three, so using Heart Score as a prediction measure for horses of pre-racing age is hit and miss. It is useful to try to select for double X factor broodmares to ensure large hearted colts and fillies as offspring.

The lovely Stardom Bound

Again, there were some big Derby prep races this past weekend and some results that changed a few horse’s paths. The Gotham Stakes (GIII) at Aquaduct shot down the Whirlaway winner Haynesfield. His eighth place finish will do nothing for his reputation after winning three straight stakes races. Unless he gets another good performance under his belt, he could be off the Derby trail.

I Want Revenge came up the winner in the Gotham, and blew away his competition, winning by 8 ½ lengths. From his previous finish of third in the Robert B. Lewis, he really looked sharp and swept to a powerful win after sitting close behind the leader Mr. Fantasy the entire race. It was a really great win and I can’t wait to see him run again.

Imperial Council, an Empire Maker colt, finished second and Mr. Fantasy third.

The fabulous filly Stardom Bound, owned by IEAH Stables also raced on the weekend. She won the Santa Anita Oaks against the fillies, but just by a nose, and with some serious effort to do it. After so many decisive victories in the past, this tight win has raised some questions about whether or not her connections will decide to stick with racing against the girls and go for the Kentucky Oaks or if she will run against the boys in the Kentucky Derby come the first weekend in May. Hopefully we’ll see her back in her top form again in her next race.

Acronym, a filly that was one of my charges working at Juddmonte this past summer was scheduled to race against Stardom Bound, but unfortunately was scratched from the race. She won her first race in January and has yet to return. Hopefully we’ll get to see her out on the track again soon!

Now that a good number of foals of the ’09 season have been born, the breeding sheds are once again coming to life for the 2010 crop. Since the gestation of a mare is 11 months, mares are re-bred as soon as they start cycling again. But who to breed them to?

Picking the right stallion for your mare can truly be a game of luck, but there is strategy behind the method. Breeders usually use their own mix of selection parameters when deciding the perfect pairing of stallion and mare. Some of the best advice that one might hear is from a bloodstock agent, a specialist in deciding on matings and bloodline purchases. One method that bloodstock agents might use is the Dosage system.

Using the Dosage system, certain stallions from the general population are classified as “chef-de-race” stallions because of their ability to produce stakes winning offspring. These stallions are then categorized based on the quality or qualities that they pass on to their offspring. The possible qualities are Brilliant, Intermediate, Classic, Solid, and Professional. The system works as a scale with horses with high speed as their main quality being classified as Brilliant, and at the opposite end of the scale, horses having superior stamina are classified Professional with the range in between. To date there are 209 possible stallions listed as chef-de-race.

To use this in order to help our breeding decisions, the number (or dose) of Brilliant, Intermediate, Classic, Solid, and Professional chef-de-race ancestors that the horse has in its pedigree is calculated four generations back. This is called the horse’s Dosage Profile. This Dosage Profile shows the mix of speed and stamina that the horse has from its’ pedigree alone. A chef-de-race in the first generation of a pedigree is weighted eight times higher than a chef-de-race in the fourth generation to realistically assess each stallion’s impact on the horse in question.

An easier number to work with from the Dosage Profile is an interpretation called the Dosage Index, which is calculated by Brilliant+Intermediate+½Classic divided by ½Classic+Solid+Professional; that is to say, the ratio between the amount of speed versus the amount of stamina in the horses’ pedigree. A Dosage Index from 2-2.5 is ideal and has historically shown to be the most successful ratio for Grade 1 “Classic distance” winners. Classic races have the biggest purses and often the most public appeal for owners – for example the Kentucky Derby is North America’s premier Classic race. If breeding for a stayer, or longer distance racehorse, a number closer to one is to be desired while for sprinters a higher number is better.

This information can be used as a part of a breeding decision, by calculating the Dosage Profile or Index for the hypothetical foal using your mare and different potential stallions. If you want your next foal to win the Derby, then avoid too many chef-de-race stallions in the pedigree that are classed as Brilliant, unless they are equally balanced by stallions classed as Professional.

The Dosage system has its pros and cons as many selection methods do, but why not use all the tools available to you to help you make your decision? When used in conjunction with other selection methods, such as conformational suitability, “nicks” or sireline affinities, and simply breeding the best to the best, you will probably find some success.

To learn more about the Dosage System, see Dr. S.A. Roman’s “Dosage: Pedigree & Performance”

With foaling season well under way, it’s a good time to talk about foal health. I work part-time at the Ontario Veterinary College Hospital with the Foal Watch program in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. There, we take care of foals that are high dependency and require round the clock care.

When things go wrong during foaling, the outcome is sometimes known as a “dummy foal” or a foal that has been deprived of oxygen during parturition. Unlike with human babies, foals can regain brain function after they have been oxygen deprived and eventually can turn out to be completely healthy and normal foals. Oxygen deprivation is not the only cause of dummy foals; TheHorse.com states that is can also be caused by “low glucose levels in the blood, septicemia, or other susceptibility due to the failure to receive adequate colostrum (first milk)”. Many of the foals are born premature.

After they are born, most dummy foals are truly all over the place, flailing and in serious danger of hurting themselves. This means that attendants are needed to keep the foal in place and prevent injury. Dummy foals are often unresponsive when it comes to nursing and standing on their own, so feeding can be done via a naso-gastric tube until a suckle response is achieved. Supplemental oxygen is administered to try to speed up healing from the effects of deprivation.

When oxygen deprivation is the only problem, regaining brain function can occur relatively quickly over the course of a few days and the improvements are stunning to watch. The foals are taught first on a bottle, and then taught to stand and nurse on their own. It’s very rewarding to watch a foal that had been completely dependent on people only days earlier, to get up and nurse on its own.

But it isn’t always that easy and there are many problems that can hamper recovery in these susceptible foals. Pneumonia, lung infections, septicemia, joint issues, seizures can all occur, complicating the foal’s chances of survival.

Working with dummy foals is hard. It’s often backbreaking work trying to stop a foal from hurting itself, but trying not to get caught by the flailing hooves yourself. The foals can be big- and considering they can be as floppy as a fish out of water, it can be hard to maneuver them. But the rewards from saving a foal that might not have made it otherwise and getting to watch it go on to be completely self-sufficient…well that’s just the greatest feeling there is.

Pioneerof the Nile

It has started – the countdown to the Kentucky Derby and the initial “Derby Dozen” by the Blood-Horse Turf writer and Triple Crown expert Steve Haskin has been released. Haskin’s list includes such horses as Square Eddie, Old Fashioned, Patena, Capt. Candy Man, and Giant Oak. With only 82 days to go, the excitement is certainly building!

Racing for 3-year-olds this past weekend was a bit of a big deal to say the least. Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Stardom Bound returned to the racetrack and wiped the floor with her competition in the Las Virgenes (GI). Some “Derby dozen” members were in action with Poineerof the Nile winning the Robert B. Lewis (GII) coming away and Friesan Fire beating a stiff crowd of competition including Giant Oak in the Risen Star(GIII).

Juddmonte has nominated three horses to this years’ Triple Crown, two of which I got to work with this past summer. Eagle Poise and Degree of Power are two Juddmonte USA homebreds, and the other Juddmonte horse nominated is from Europe. Sam-Son Farm has nominated a son of their champion racemare Eye of the Sphynx, named Eye of the Leopard. But a nomination doesn’t mean any of these horses will run in the Derby, Preakness, or Belmont, simply that the nomination fees have been paid, so that the option is there. But what a great experience it would be to see a horse in the Derby that I have worked with. Maybe one day!

Until then, I’ll be content watching all the Derby prep races in the coming weeks. Happy wagering everyone!

Click here to listen to this entry as a podcast.-> And Derby countdown gets underway… 

Owner Jess Jackson with Curlin's second Horse of the Year Eclipse Award

The “Oscar’s” of American Thoroughbred racing took place on January 26^th in Miami, Florida. Known as the “Eclipse Awards” and named after the 18^th century undefeated racehorse and prolific stallion, the awards showcase the cream of the crop of Thoroughbred racing based on voting. Voters are members of the events main sponsors: the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers Association.

And once again, my beloved Curlin won Horse of the Year. It is his second straight win. It was a close match up for the title with the amazing four-year-old filly Zenyatta also in contention. A very deserving win for Curlin, the most money-winning Thoroughbred in the Americas.

Zenyatta’s Breeders Cup Ladies Classic win was named Eclipse Moment of the Year and she won Eclipse Older Female. It was announced that Zenyatta would return for a five-year-old season. Also returning for another season is IEAH’s Benny the Bull, winner of the Eclipse Male Sprinter, who was previously announced as retired.

IEAH’s Big Brown won Eclipse Male 3-year old title for his wins in the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Haskell, and Monmouth Stakes. A well deserved win in my opinion, even if his record was somewhat sullied by the tremendous upset in the Belmont and the steroid use that trainer Rick Dutrow admitted to. Big Brown still accomplished some great wins and is the only horse deserving of the title.

Canadian Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs won Outstanding Breeder for the fifth straight time. With operations in Aurora, Kentucky, and Florida, the farm turned out 2008 winners Ginger Punch and Harlem Rocker. Adena had really turned into a powerhouse in this category – and with some very successful stallions on the roster like Ghostzapper, Awesome Again, and El Prado I don’t see them slowing down any time soon.

All in all, there were really no big surprises at the awards. Personally, I was torn between Indian Blessing and Ventura for Eclipse Female Sprinter. Indian Blessing had six wins to Ventura’s four, but Ventura did win the Breeders Cup Mare and Filly Sprint over Indian Blessing. Ventura is a Juddmonte homebred by the sire Chester House who died very prematurely at age eight. His offspring are now really proving themselves on the track so it’s great to see that Ventura will pass on his bloodlines as a valued member of the Juddmonte broodmare band when she retires. Ventura’s just recently won the Santa Monica. You never know, she could take the title next year if she has a good season!

Ventura winning the Breeders Cup M&F Sprint

A nurse mare at Juddmonte Farms, KY

Nurse mares are a common sight around the world on Thoroughbred farms. You can usually spot them easily when looking out on the huge grassy pastures. They are the paint, dun, or palomino in a sea of bay, chestnut and grey Thoroughbreds. Or they are the large drafty type mare, or ex-riding pony, or huge Friesian.

Nurse mares are a necessity in a world where catastrophic leg injuries are often part of the game. A mare who may have been injured as a racehorse will probably have been good enough on the racetrack to want to breed her. But she may not be able to keep up with her foal, so a nurse mare is needed to raise the foal.

This situation is just one example of the many reasons why nurse mares might be used; others include debilitating illness, or poor quality or quantity of milk. Needless to say, they are a common sight.

The problem with nurse mares is that, like dairy cows, they need to have a baby to produce milk. These foals are then separated from their nurse mare mothers so that they can provide milk for the Thoroughbred foal. Since they usually come with mixed breeding and little pedigree, it can often be hard to find homes for nurse mare foals. And since they have to be separated from their mothers at an early age, the whole process of obtaining a nurse mare is less than desirable.

Or so the problem was.

A recent advancement as reported by TheHorse.com by the operators of Walnut Hall, a Standardbred nursery in Kentucky, has shown that having a foal at foot is not needed for the onset of lactation. A drug protocol for open mares using oral domperidone gel administered once a day to induce milk production and oxytocin, prostaglandin, and vaginal/cervical massage to induce maternal behaviour has proven successful to create nurse mares from non-pregnant females. Any mare that has had a foal in the past can become a nurse mare. This opens up the market to retired Thoroughbreds that just aren’t able to carry a foal to term anymore, but still may be able to nurse a foal. Or to rescued mares whose foals would have little chance at finding homes.

This new drug protocol is definitely a step in the right direction. It is truly a great application of science to a problem facing the industry. Many nurse mare foals do find good homes – with the large number of horse-loving farm employees, nurse mare foals are often successful pleasure horses. But sometimes they don’t end up so lucky, so this method of inducing lactation I’m sure will become a popular way to reduce the number of unwanted horses out there.

I love the nurse mares on our farm, they are great characters to be sure. And their foals are always very adorable. But to have the mares not have to have a foal taken away would be an even better sight to see.

Whywhywhy

Since Thoroughbreds all age a year on January 1st, the foals of 2007 are now two year olds and in need of some official names! The Jockey Club requires names to be entered by February 1st. With the American Stud Book containing over 435,000 registered Thoroughbreds, it can be tricky to pick an original and catchy name. So it’s time for owners to put on those thinking caps!

No name can be re-used unless the horse that formerly had the name is over ten years of age and has not been raced or bred for the past five years. This rule is voided for certain iconic horses that have had a large impact on the breed and whose names are in many Thoroughbred pedigrees.

Sometimes it works nicely to mesh the name of the stallion and mare to create a mixed name of the two, such as the horse Media Giant, whose dam is Media Nox and sire is Giants’ Causeway. Or to mix the meanings of the sire and dam’s names such as Native Dancer, who was by Polynesian and out of the mare Geisha. If only it was that easy for every horse! Some owners go for names with a personal meaning. A clever name currently in racing is that of Tale of Ekati. He is owned by Canadian diamond prospector Charles Fipke, whose first mine, and consequently the first Canadian diamond mine, was called the Ekati mine. Fipke’s horse is by the stallion Tale of a Cat, so the name Tale of Ekati fit the bill perfectly.

And then, some people just like originality, like the stallion named Whywhywhy. Or they go with names that all start with a certain letter. No matter what though, every Thoroughbred owner wants his or her horse’s name to be iconic. Would Secretariat would have been so great without such a regal name? Or Man O’ War? A name must be deserving of a racehorse. Who really wants a horse named Mutt or Slouchy or something along those lines? Funnily enough, a horse named Onion once beat Secretariat.

And me, what would I call a horse? Well my favourite names right now in racing are Soldier of Fortune and Evita Argentina (who is by the Argentinean sire Candy Ride). If I had one of my own though, I like using the sire and dam’s names, but originality is important. Growing up, we used to compete on our hunter ponies and the best pony around was named Never Before Copper, so I’m sure I’d be tempted to use that one since it will always remind me of that perfect, never-put-a-foot-wrong pony. Maybe it would rub some good qualities off onto my racehorse!