Stallion News

[Izvestia]

Ashford offering a 2 for 1 deal on American Pharoah covers - if the second mare has graded stakes/blacktype credentials.
http://bloodstock.racingpost.com/news/b ... d/2030695/

$200k a little too high huh.

Yeah. Wtf? Why is that happening? Either his book isn't full or they want to breed him to 300 mares?

[Treve]

Well seeing as the breeding techs at Ashford told Justin that Pharoah's performance to the test mares was 'just like on the track: A champion' they might be trying to get a ridiculous amount of mares. Either that or they're trying to attract as much as possible of the quality mare population, considering they're asking for blacktype winners and ergo trying to give him the best chance at producing covetable yearlings and runners. Because from what I recall most outlets saying it sounded like he had gotten a lot of interest hadn't he? Will be interesting to see.

At any rate the first mare to be visiting him this year will be Bodemeister's dam, Untouched Talent (Storm Cat)

[Izvestia]

Maybe they are trying to sway breeders with top mares away from his sire and grandsire?
Essentially they are giving him every chance to succeed. How many sires have started high and remained high? At Ashford?
This isn't a story like Tapit.

[Treve]

Maybe they are trying to sway breeders with top mares away from his sire and grandsire?
Essentially they are giving him every chance to succeed. How many sires have started high and remained high? At Ashford?
This isn't a story like Tapit.

Indeed... Tapit started at the bottom now he's all the way at the top... It seems general sires that start high have a much better chance of taking a tumble and landing back at the bottom instead...

[Somnambulist]

I thought I heard/read that Coolmore was having difficulty filling his book. Maybe I'm misremembering.

[Insane Crazy]

I thought I heard/read that Coolmore was having difficulty filling his book. Maybe I'm misremembering.

I think it may have come up in the stallion fees thread, or one of the threads specific to AP. I think HB (just a guess?) may have even mentioned rumblings of this specific two-for-one deal way back when, so I'm not surprised to see it pop up. I mean, that fee on an unproven stallion when his grandpappy is back would certainly be hard to justify. I wonder if the "trouble" they're having is filling a reasonable book, or filling a huge book that they hope will give him a better chance of a lightning strike in his first-crop?

Granted...as long as they're still looking for black type winners/producers and giving him the best shot to succeed, they could make him a Match.com profile and I would be nonplussed by it.

[Horsebagger]

I thought I heard/read that Coolmore was having difficulty filling his book. Maybe I'm misremembering.

I think it may have come up in the stallion fees thread, or one of the threads specific to AP. I think HB (just a guess?) may have even mentioned rumblings of this specific two-for-one deal way back when, so I'm not surprised to see it pop up. I mean, that fee on an unproven stallion when his grandpappy is back would certainly be hard to justify. I wonder if the "trouble" they're having is filling a reasonable book, or filling a huge book that they hope will give him a better chance of a lightning strike in his first-crop?

I'd say all of the above. They wanted the high advertised fee deserving of a Triple Crown winner, but now the economics of profitably breeding to him have reared their head and forced them to get back in line with more viable economics if they want a full book. Not unforeseen by a lot of people (go back and read the discussions about breeding to him, and anticipated fee, etc.) Not sure what a full book means in terms of numbers, but they want as many as possible for the highest price they can achieve, obviously. But he is still a first year stallion, and this is Ashford, after all.

[Izvestia]

Add to all of the above that breed-to-sell breeders need his offspring to sell well (I recall the number $500,000 for them to profit... I read that somewhere...not sure why).

[Horsebagger]

Add to all of the above that breed-to-sell breeders need his offspring to sell well (I recall the number $500,000 for them to profit... I read that somewhere...not sure why).

basically the metric of 2.5x the stallion fee paid/risked as a benchmark for many breeders.

[Izvestia]

Thanks.

[Sparrow Castle]

Ray Paulick ‏@raypaulick
Thanks to @hernon_michael & @Gainesway crew for braving the cold & letting me look at repatriated Empire Maker

[Treve]

I love his dorky little expression hehe. Is it me or did he lose weight? Either way I like his body and his legs. Photo angle makes it hard to judge his neck or head though.

[Flanders]

I love his dorky little expression hehe. Is it me or did he lose weight? Either way I like his body and his legs. Photo angle makes it hard to judge his neck or head though.

He came back from Japan looking fit, like this picture. I prefer this look over the US's normally fat stallions that look like pregnant broodmares. So I'm sure it wont be long until he is super fat.

[Treve]

I love his dorky little expression hehe. Is it me or did he lose weight? Either way I like his body and his legs. Photo angle makes it hard to judge his neck or head though.

He came back from Japan looking fit, like this picture. I prefer this look over the US's normally fat stallions that look like pregnant broodmares. So I'm sure it wont be long until he is super fat.

I don't like the overly fat look either a lot of them end up looking like quarter horses instead of thoroughbreds, but I had seemed to recall he had a bit more of a crest and shape to him in his pictures from Japan so I wondered if shipping had affected him at all. It's not like he's thin - I just had the impression of a weight loss. Then again that impression might have been accentuated by the odd angle of the picture, with the head and neck distorting the proportions to my eye.

[Sparrow Castle]

Not sure where this belongs but is interesting, if it turns out to be true. I was scrolling through the AOBFS twitter feed that CoronadosQuest posted in the "2014 Names" thread and saw this posted today.

AOBFS
‏@aobrienfansite
JFK Is in America Probably for breeding duties but to be confirmed but thats where he has ended up.
https://twitter.com/aobrienfansite/stat ... 7355705344

The thread says he was sold and they are trying to confirm details. I think he's been a disappointment as a racehorse for Coolmore, but his breeding is excellent: Galileo (IRE) - Rumplestiltskin (IRE), by Danehill. I wonder who manages that twitter feed. It also says this, "just didnt work out too many mental issues."

The guy who runs that twitter used to run the Coolmore fan page on Facebook and is pretty legit when it comes to intel.

To say JFK was a disappointment is an understatement. He finished his 2 year old season as the favourite for the Derby but finished 3rd of 3 and 7th of 7 in his first 2 races as a 3 year old, before managing 3rd of 5 in a G3 at Leopardstown in - then poof! He's gone.

In a similar vein of high expectations/amazing pedigree/good 2 y/o season - I wonder what will become of Ol Man River (Montjeu X Finsceal Beo)

Just to close the loop on this (because I couldn't stand not knowing what became of him). No workouts yet in Equibase, but it's possible we'll see him run in California.

John F Kennedy sold to stand in Argentina

BY ZOE VICARAGE11:40AM 28 JAN 2016

GROUP 3 winner John F Kennedy has been purchased by an Argentinian group of breeders with the intention of racing this season in the US before retiring to take up stallion duties in Argentina.

Trained by Aidan O'Brien, John F Kennedy finished second on his debut as a two-year-old before going on to win a one-mile maiden, and the Group 3 Juvenile Turf Stakes at Leopardstown.

At three, he was last of three runners behind Success Days in the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes and third in the Group 3 KPMG Enterprise Stakes to subsequent Champion Stakes winner Fascinating Rock.

John F Kennedy, a four-year-old son of Galileo, is out of the dual Group 1-winning Danehill mare Rumplestiltskin, who is also responsible for Yorkshire Oaks winner Tapestry. Further back it is the family of outstanding racemare and broodmare Miesque.

He will now be trained by Paulo Lobo in California.

http://www.aidanobrienfansite.com/january-2016.php

[Izvestia]

Ray Paulick ‏@raypaulick
Thanks to @hernon_michael & @Gainesway crew for braving the cold & letting me look at repatriated Empire Maker

He looks incredibly fit. Did they exercise him in Japan?

[Private Thoughts]

American Pharaoh has his first breeding session on February 12th.

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_ ... ng-session

[Insane Crazy]

American Pharaoh has his first breeding session on February 12th.

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_ ... ng-session

Was this the first time we've been given a number of mares for his book? 175 sounds like more than I'd like, but less than I expected, so I guess it's not so bad

[Flanders]

American Pharaoh has his first breeding session on February 12th.

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_ ... ng-session

Was this the first time we've been given a number of mares for his book? 175 sounds like more than I'd like, but less than I expected, so I guess it's not so bad

Last fall they had said they only wanted 150.

[Admin]

I thought I heard/read that Coolmore was having difficulty filling his book. Maybe I'm misremembering.

Clearly that's the case. There's no other plausible explanation.

The $200k was too high.