Stallion News

[Personal Ensign]

Isn't Zenyatta carrying one of his foals or am I confusing him with a different stallion?

[mariasmon]

Isn't Zenyatta carrying one of his foals or am I confusing him with a different stallion?

Into Mischief

[Personal Ensign]

Thanks MM

[Northport]

He was a consistently great stallion. Not many stallions can boast siring a Kentucky Derby winner, a BC Classic/QEII winner, a Blue Diamond/Golden Slipper winner, a Prix Marcel Boussac/Falmouth winner, etc. His progeny ran, and won, everywhere, on every surface, and at almost every distance.

[Ridan_Remembered]

He was a consistently great stallion. Not many stallions can boast siring a Kentucky Derby winner, a BC Classic/QEII winner, a Blue Diamond/Golden Slipper winner, a Prix Marcel Boussac/Falmouth winner, etc. His progeny ran, and won, everywhere, on every surface, and at almost every distance.

He was, indeed, a great sire, as was his own sire, Gone West.

[Sparrow Castle]

Glenye Cain Oakford tweeted an article written in 2004 after Smarty Jones won the Derby...gives some insight into his personality and his contemporaries. Struck again by the size of the books back them compared to today.

Elusive Quality: From solid to star

The day after Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby, trainer John Servis and his wife, Sherry, gathered up the family to escape the post-race hubbub in Louisville. They drove east on I-64 for about an hour, until they reached the edge of Versailles in Woodford County. They were making a sentimental pilgrimage to the place where the Smarty Jones story began - Gainsborough Farm.

On March 18, 2000, the Gainsborough stallion Elusive Quality covered the mare I'll Get Along, who gave birth to Smarty Jones on Feb. 28, 2001. The mating was just one of 106 for Elusive Quality in 2000, but its result has had spectacular impact - and not only for Servis, Smarty Jones's owners Roy and Pat Chapman, and jockey Stewart Elliott. Smarty Jones's bid for the Triple Crown has put 11-year-old Elusive Quality, a Gone West horse, at the top of North America's sire rankings and solidified his reputation as a bright young star among stallions. It comes at an opportune moment for the stallion and his handlers, who are unabashedly proud of his role in the Smarty Jones story.

"He brought all his family, his wife, his parents, his cousins," recalled Gainsborough stallion manager Steve Clark, referring to the visit by Servis. "There were about 25 people. They got the horse out and had their pictures taken with him. And it was like we all really knew each other because we had the Smarty Jones bond."

To casual racegoers, the Smarty Jones bond might seem pretty tenuous by the time it stretches from Philadelphia and Belmont Park to Versailles, Ky. But Elusive Quality and the Gainsborough staff played a critical role.

From a strict business sense, a Triple Crown hopeful can give his sire a powerful boost. Smarty Jones certainly has done that by contributing his 2004 earnings - including the $5 million bonus he received for winning the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby, and Kentucky Derby - to his sire's progeny earnings. That jumped Elusive Quality to the top of the North American stallion rankings with a staggering $8.6 million in progeny earnings this season. He leads the second-place stallion, the late Pleasant Colony (sire of Pleasantly Perfect), by more than $4.2 million. Without Smarty Jones's contribution of more than $7.3 million, Elusive Quality would rank 46th.

There's poetic justice in this windfall in Elusive Quality's progeny earnings. Two years ago, when his first runners arrived as 2-year-olds at the racetrack, Elusive Quality was in a statistical dogfight with another young sire, WinStar Farm's Distorted Humor, for top honors as 2002's leading freshman sire - an important designation for attracting breeders. Elusive Quality lost that race when one of his runners in Europe lost two wins because of a drug violation.

Elusive Quality never ran at 2, and many people, including Gainsborough's managing director, Michael Goodbody, were surprised that he got such early runners. Elusive Quality has surprised them again by siring a runner who can win at the classic distances, bucking conventional wisdom that focused on the stallion's own propensity for speed. Elusive Quality ran a world-record mile in 1:31.63 when he won the 1998 Poker Handicap on the turf, and set a seven-furlong track record of 1:20 at Gulfstream the previous year.

By the end of the 2002, Elusive Quality had made a convincing case that he could sire quick-maturing, speedy juvenile runners. He eked out a $14,898 lead over Distorted Humor, but the glory didn't last long. When his leading earner, an English-based runner named Elusive City, was disqualified from two wins for a medication positive, Elusive Quality lost $74,005 in earnings and promptly fell to third on the freshman sires' list. The following year, in 2003, Distorted Humor's son Funny Cide won the Derby and Preakness, making Distorted Humor something of a household name in the breeding industry. Now it's Elusive Quality's turn.

More: http://www.drf.com/news/elusive-quality-solid-star

[Ridan_Remembered]

On the brighter side, Taylor Made announced that they have acquired a mini horse for California Chrome. They have named the mini Kentucky Chrome (Tucky is his barn name). See here:

https://www.facebook.com/taylormadeadva ... =3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/RaisingTheBaar ... 4177065124

[Izvestia]

Why?

[Northport]

It kind of sounds more like a trick pony that lives in the stallion complex than an actual companion animal for Chrome.

[BaroqueAgain1]

The Facebook piece said that the Mini would be a companion for 'Chrome, but it's possible that he will only be turned out with the stallion when he's out in his paddock. When 'Chrome is inside, or attending to his stud duties, 'Tucky would have plenty of time to entertain visitors. I'm not sure why he can't be both a companion and a 'trick pony.'
I'm pleased that TM is trying to find a way to accommodate 'Chrome's natural needs to socialize with his kind. A mini might do that, without triggering aggression in the stallion because he's so tiny.

[Summer Bird]

The Facebook piece said that the Mini would be a companion for 'Chrome, but it's possible that he will only be turned out with the stallion when he's out in his paddock. When 'Chrome is inside, or attending to his stud duties, 'Tucky would have plenty of time to entertain visitors. I'm not sure why he can't be both a companion and a 'trick pony.'
I'm pleased that TM is trying to find a way to accommodate 'Chrome's natural needs to socialize with his kind. A mini might do that, without triggering aggression in the stallion because he's so tiny.

Taylor Made said he’s not going to be in the same paddock as Chrome. Basically he’s just going to be there to entertain guests, not be Chrome’s companion.

[Northport]

As I was saying...

[Ridan_Remembered]

Why?

For fun and to help entertain guests, nothing more. Got to make room for fun in this world.

[Sparrow Castle]

Candy Boy retires from racing, will stand in Russia

Grade 2 winner Candy Boy has been retired from racing, and will begin his stallion career in Russia, trainer Doug Watson told Michael Adolphson of the Meydan Group on Thursday.

The 7-year-old Candy Ride horse has raced exclusively in the U.A.E. since being purchased by Ramzan Kadyrov in 2015. Kadyrov is head of the Chechen Republic, a federal subject of Russia, bordering the country of Georgia.

Candy Boy retired with two wins in 15 career starts for earnings of $1,286,800. He began his career in the barn of trainer John Sadler for owner C R K Stable, and he finished second in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at age 2. The colt became a classic contender the following year with a win in the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes and a third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, before finishing 13th in the 2014 Kentucky Derby.

The second half of Candy Boy’s 3-year-old campaign saw him finish second in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby and West Virginia Derby, and third in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby, before finishing the year with a start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park.

Candy Boy was then sent to Dubai, where he finished fourth in his debut and lone start of 2015, the Dubai World Cup. He finished seventh in the 2016 World Cup, and came back in December of that year to run in a stakes race at Meydan for what would be his final start. He was training toward a return in this year’s World Cup before the decision was made to retire him.

Bred in Kentucky by Lee and Susan Searing, Candy Boy is out of the stakes-winning In Excess mare She’s an Eleven, who is the dam of three winners from five foals to race. His extended family includes Grade 1 winner Leave Me Alone, Grade 1-placed Tap to It, and Grade 2-placed All Out Blitz.

http://www.drf.com/news/candy-boy-retir ... and-russia

[Ridan_Remembered]

In Russia?!!! Collusion for sure.

[Treve]

I hope he will be standing somewhere at a stud in Russia 'proper' as opposed to Chechnya.

[Northport]

I have no idea what stallion farms there are in Russia, maybe he will go where Henrythenavigator went. Maybe he will stay close to Kadyrov so that he can fill the void that Kadyrov's cat left when it ran away (please PLEASE google "Kadyrov Cat" )

[Sparrow Castle]

I have no idea what stallion farms there are in Russia, maybe he will go where Henrythenavigator went. Maybe he will stay close to Kadyrov so that he can fill the void that Kadyrov's cat left when it ran away (please PLEASE google "Kadyrov Cat" )

Haha, what a story! Thanks for the laugh.

[Treve]

I have no idea what stallion farms there are in Russia, maybe he will go where Henrythenavigator went. Maybe he will stay close to Kadyrov so that he can fill the void that Kadyrov's cat left when it ran away (please PLEASE google "Kadyrov Cat" )

There are a couple of national stud farms that used to have breeding programs for arabians, akhal-tékés, Orlov (trotter and Rostopschin now known as Russian Saddle Horse/Russian Warmblood). Perhaps a few of these also stand a few Thoroughbred stallions, much like the illustrious Babolna Stud Farm in Hungary (whose main claim to fame is basically creating the Shagya Arabian which they continue to breed along with Purebred Arabians, and they stand at least 3 Thoroughbred stallions for racing).

My concern was mainly with regards to the instability in the region... but to his credit he does seem to care for animals a bit better than human life.

[Catalina]

I have no idea what stallion farms there are in Russia, maybe he will go where Henrythenavigator went. Maybe he will stay close to Kadyrov so that he can fill the void that Kadyrov's cat left when it ran away (please PLEASE google "Kadyrov Cat" )

There are a couple of national stud farms that used to have breeding programs for arabians, akhal-tékés, Orlov (trotter and Rostopschin now known as Russian Saddle Horse/Russian Warmblood). Perhaps a few of these also stand a few Thoroughbred stallions, much like the illustrious Babolna Stud Farm in Hungary (whose main claim to fame is basically creating the Shagya Arabian which they continue to breed along with Purebred Arabians, and they stand at least 3 Thoroughbred stallions for racing).

My concern was mainly with regards to the instability in the region... but to his credit he does seem to care for animals a bit better than human life.

And it's really unkind to mock him like that when he's apparently just as upset about losing his pet as we would be had we lost our cat.