Stallion News

lurkey mclurker · Sat Sep 15, 2018 6:57 pm

Oh yeah Wixom would've been great too!

Mylute · Sun Sep 16, 2018 6:14 pm

Mor Spirit Retired to Spendthrift Farm

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... pendthrift

~ Got to wonder how many people will be interested in this boy for $10K. Never know though. Also wonder why Spendthrift is interested.

Mylute · Sun Sep 16, 2018 6:52 pm

Havana Gold Gets First Grade I Winner

https://www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/b ... agh/346243

Izvestia · Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:40 pm

Mylute wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 6:14 pm Mor Spirit Retired to Spendthrift Farm

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... pendthrift

~ Got to wonder how many people will be interested in this boy for $10K. Never know though. Also wonder why Spendthrift is interested.

Yep, he’s off the radar now. Not convinced he’ll be any better than his sire, but Spendthrift likes having 400 stallions in the barn. They ruined this horse in the Met Mile.

Northport · Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:52 pm

I thought share the upside required breeders to produce two live foals in the first two seasons of the sire in order to secure a lifetime breeding right. For Mor Spirit one only needs to produce a foal from his first season?

Mylute · Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:25 pm

Izvestia wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:40 pm
Mylute wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 6:14 pm Mor Spirit Retired to Spendthrift Farm

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... pendthrift

~ Got to wonder how many people will be interested in this boy for $10K. Never know though. Also wonder why Spendthrift is interested.
Yep, he’s off the radar now. Not convinced he’ll be any better than his sire, but Spendthrift likes having 400 stallions in the barn. They ruined this horse in the Met Mile.

Not accusatory by any means (cause I know it probably sounds that way) but how did they ruin Mor Spirit in the Met Mile? Or more specifically, how did winning impressively ruin him? I was told that Mor Spirit was a head case that they just couldn’t do anything with, which is why he started racing less and less after the Derby.

Come to think of it, I’m more surprised that he’s at their Kentucky facility, rather than being based in a regional market (like my boy Normandy Invasion and Super Ninety Nine).

BaroqueAgain1 · Sun Sep 16, 2018 10:02 pm

I can understand why Spendthrift wants to give the horse a fair shot at stud. He obviously had a ton of talent, is a good-looking horse and has a nice pedigree. He's out of a MSW Dixie Union mare, and his sire, Eskendereya, has a ton of pedigree: By Giant's Causeway and out of a Seattle Slew mare who was out of an Alydar mare.
If the support doesn't show up in Kentucky, I suspect he'd head to Pennsylvania, since he's a PA-bred.

Izvestia · Sun Sep 16, 2018 11:41 pm

Mylute wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:25 pm
Izvestia wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:40 pm
Mylute wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 6:14 pm Mor Spirit Retired to Spendthrift Farm

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... pendthrift

~ Got to wonder how many people will be interested in this boy for $10K. Never know though. Also wonder why Spendthrift is interested.
Yep, he’s off the radar now. Not convinced he’ll be any better than his sire, but Spendthrift likes having 400 stallions in the barn. They ruined this horse in the Met Mile.
Not accusatory by any means (cause I know it probably sounds that way) but how did they ruin Mor Spirit in the Met Mile? Or more specifically, how did winning impressively ruin him? I was told that Mor Spirit was a head case that they just couldn’t do anything with, which is why he started racing less and less after the Derby.

He didn’t make a start after that impressive win. The Met Mile was in June... the BC was October. 21 weeks off!? And then he runs 8th in the Dirt Mile and never races again.
That sound like he didn’t get cooked in that race?
He was never a good work horse, was lazy, pulled himself up, etc.

Curtis · Mon Sep 17, 2018 12:57 am

I always thought the Met Mile placement was fine. Any other placement and he’s running against his own horses, e.g. Collected in the Californian. What happened, I believe, is that Baffert tightened the screws more than he needed to and in the end Mor Spirit was cooked.

BaroqueAgain1 · Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:31 am

When you say 'cooked,' are you suggesting that the effort in the race somehow harmed him physically? Has he been dealing with a lingering injury for the past 10 months, and he just couldn't recover 100% from that?
Or were you thinking that the effort affected him mentally and turned him into a 'I don't think I want to do this racing thing anymore' horse. That 'never a good work horse, was lazy' description makes me think this was already a horse who had his own opinions about what he was going to do.

Flanders · Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:31 am

BaroqueAgain1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:31 am When you say 'cooked,' are you suggesting that the effort in the race somehow harmed him physically? Has he been dealing with a lingering injury for the past 10 months, and he just couldn't recover 100% from that?
Or were you thinking that the effort affected him mentally and turned him into a 'I don't think I want to do this racing thing anymore' horse. That 'never a good work horse, was lazy' description makes me think this was already a horse who had his own opinions about what he was going to do.

I can't find the article but right after the BC, Baffert said Mor Spirit had soured on training and racing so they were going to give him some time off hoping that would make him want to race again. Apparently it didn't work.

Izvestia · Mon Sep 17, 2018 8:40 am

^ that, and I recall him wanting to get the horse to Saratoga last summer, but had to scrap that idea and turn him out. There was also some bad workouts following the Met Mile and a strangely fast one( or two).
Mental, physical(although mental can be tied into physical), whatever - he was never the same after that brilliant race.

Mylute · Mon Sep 17, 2018 8:50 am

Izvestia wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 11:41 pm
Mylute wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:25 pm
Izvestia wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:40 pm

Yep, he’s off the radar now. Not convinced he’ll be any better than his sire, but Spendthrift likes having 400 stallions in the barn. They ruined this horse in the Met Mile.
Not accusatory by any means (cause I know it probably sounds that way) but how did they ruin Mor Spirit in the Met Mile? Or more specifically, how did winning impressively ruin him? I was told that Mor Spirit was a head case that they just couldn’t do anything with, which is why he started racing less and less after the Derby.
He didn’t make a start after that impressive win. The Met Mile was in June... the BC was October. 21 weeks off!? And then he runs 8th in the Dirt Mile and never races again.
That sound like he didn’t get cooked in that race?
He was never a good work horse, was lazy, pulled himself up, etc.

If anything the Dirt Mile is what ruined him. He was in a really good position before the Met, having won a Gr.III as a prep beforehand, so I don't see why that was an incorrect place for him to run.

Now Bolt d'Oro is an example of a horse who should never have run in the Met.

FlyToTheStars · Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:57 am

Normandy is now in KY- I saw him a couple of weeks ago and was told he is to start breeding there in the next upcoming season

Mylute · Mon Sep 17, 2018 11:22 am

FlyToTheStars wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:57 am Normandy is now in KY- I saw him a couple of weeks ago and was told he is to start breeding there in the next upcoming season

Huh. Didn’t see anything about that posted anywhere. He’s been based at Keane since he retired. I guess that means he has enough interest to warrant the move, which is good since I like him.

FlyToTheStars · Mon Sep 17, 2018 12:18 pm

Mylute wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 11:22 am
FlyToTheStars wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:57 am Normandy is now in KY- I saw him a couple of weeks ago and was told he is to start breeding there in the next upcoming season
Huh. Didn’t see anything about that posted anywhere. He’s been based at Keane since he retired. I guess that means he has enough interest to warrant the move, which is good since I like him.

Me either. He arrived on the same day I was at the farm. I was surprised to see his nameplate in front of his stall and was like... he is standing here now? The person who showed me the boys said- Yep! In fact he arrived today.

An announcement should be out soon enough.

Curtis · Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:20 pm

Flanders wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:31 am
BaroqueAgain1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:31 am When you say 'cooked,' are you suggesting that the effort in the race somehow harmed him physically? Has he been dealing with a lingering injury for the past 10 months, and he just couldn't recover 100% from that?
Or were you thinking that the effort affected him mentally and turned him into a 'I don't think I want to do this racing thing anymore' horse. That 'never a good work horse, was lazy' description makes me think this was already a horse who had his own opinions about what he was going to do.
I can't find the article but right after the BC, Baffert said Mor Spirit had soured on training and racing so they were going to give him some time off hoping that would make him want to race again. Apparently it didn't work.

And that’s what I’m referring to by “cooked.” There’s always a very fine line between getting a horse healthy, happy and at their best and having them over the top. In my opinion, Baffert sent Mor Spirit, Cupid and Arrogate over the top. He was in danger of such with Collected and West Coast and so it’ll be interesting to see how they come back. That’s why I have no problem with the ultimate end of Justify’s career. He probably would have needed 120 days off minimum and at that point who knows how he would have trained. Sometimes it’s okay to take your winnings and go home.

Flanders · Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:42 pm

Mylute wrote: ↑Mon Sep 17, 2018 8:50 am
Izvestia wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 11:41 pm
Mylute wrote: ↑Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:25 pm

Not accusatory by any means (cause I know it probably sounds that way) but how did they ruin Mor Spirit in the Met Mile? Or more specifically, how did winning impressively ruin him? I was told that Mor Spirit was a head case that they just couldn’t do anything with, which is why he started racing less and less after the Derby.
He didn’t make a start after that impressive win. The Met Mile was in June... the BC was October. 21 weeks off!? And then he runs 8th in the Dirt Mile and never races again.
That sound like he didn’t get cooked in that race?
He was never a good work horse, was lazy, pulled himself up, etc.
If anything the Dirt Mile is what ruined him. He was in a really good position before the Met, having won a Gr.III as a prep beforehand, so I don't see why that was an incorrect place for him to run.

Now Bolt d'Oro is an example of a horse who should never have run in the Met.

It was the effort in the Met Mile that put Mor Spirit over. He didn't want to race or train afterward. Its why they had to give him a break. Then they put him in the Dirt Mile with a huge layoff and said that he soured afterward. He shouldn't have raced in the Dirt Mile.

Izvestia · Tue Sep 18, 2018 9:57 am

I’m saying what Curtis and Flanders are saying, but in different words... he was ruined, cooked, f**ked up from that huge effort in the Met Mile! He was never the same. Really incredible effort, but it did something to him. I never said he should not have been in the race, just that it ruined him. Clearly it did because he needed a long break, ran terrible in the BC, and spent the last half year in a lay-off/therapy, only to be retired. I like a trainer who can prolong a career and not have them run eyeballs out only to go off the grid.

Baffert did bizarrely the same thing to Arrogate.

Hoppertunity might be the greatest horse Baffert ever trained based on his ability to last... and Game on Dude too.

Treve · Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:32 pm

Tbh I think the Baffert method of 'time off' is even more problematic than his cranking up and tightening the screws approach. His 'time off' is no time off at all, and that'll sour a horse quicker than a monster effort.
Either way, I agree... Hoppertunity is remarkable by his durability in general but especially in this barn.