Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred January 2017

167 MB·English

by  MHBA

The heart and soul of the Thoroughbred in the region
Mid-Atlantic
Thoroughbred
Vol. 25, Issue 1
JANUARY 2017
New Kid in Town
Bonita’s Norumbega joins region’s stallion lineup
Assessing the stallion market • Moorheads breed success in PA • Steeplechase Times
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c
c
New for 2017
M
War Front’s
osler
A B
NS
O
N P
ELLE
NESE (2)
A
GLI
O
M C
A
D
A
WAR FRONT–GOLD VAULT, by ARCH
Brilliant speed, on dirt or turf.
The best blood of Kentucky has come to Maryland.
Mosler was a $1,050,000 Keeneland Yearling; he won the Laurel Dash S in 1:081⁄ .
5
He is a half-brother to Gr. 1 Test and Acorn S winner CONTESTED (sold for $2.3 million).
Fee: $4,000 LF
c Owned by Country Life, Seth Hancock and Adele Dilschneider
Country Life Farm • Bel Air, MD 21014 • 410.879.1952 • www.countrylifefarm.com • [email protected]
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Steeplechase season underway with
Page 22 ELLEN PONS
New Maryland stallion Mosler strikes a pose for some fans at Laurel Park Dec. 10.
DEPARTMENTS
In this issue
Post Time 6
Mid-Atlantic Report 8
Game of chance for stallions, farms, breeders Pensioner on Parade
by Maggie Kimmitt 18
The region welcomes some new names, and says hello to some familiar ones too, in a look
Editorial by Joe Clancy 20
at the stallion lineups in advance of breeding season. By Joe Clancy. Page 22
Around the Ovals
by staff and correspondents 34
Beginner’s Luck and then some
Stallion Notes 60
New to racing homebreds, if not necessarily new to horses, Rod and Alice Moorhead get
Stallion Rankings 66
off to a quick start with six wins in first eight starts with offspring of mares purchased by
Stakes Winners 68
trainer Jonathan Sheppard. Unbeaten 2-year-olds Downhill Racer and Rose Tree lead the
Maryland newsletter 79
way with stakes wins in Pennsylvania. By Joe Clancy. Page 28
New Jersey newsletter 85
Ivan proves fast enough in De Francis North Carolina newsletter 89
Pennsylvania newsletter 91
Texas-bred shipper Ivan Fallunovalot, a former claimer whose name tested Laurel Park
South Carolina newsletter 95
announcer Dave Rodman (and everybody else), rolls to fourth win of 2016 (in as many
Virginia newsletter 97
starts) in Grade 3 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash. By Tom Law. Page 32
West Virginia newsletter 99
Maryland-bred strikes in season finale NSA newsletter 101
History Lesson 104
Top Striker, bred in Maryland by Sycamore Hall Farm, pulls upset
Looking Back 106
of likely champion Rawnaq in Grade 1 Colonial Cup to cap 2016
steeplechase season in Camden, S.C. Kieran Norris gets his first Calendar 108
championship in wild finish to jockeys’ race. Irv Naylor, Jack Fisher Classifieds &
take home familiar titles. By Joe and Sean Clancy. Page 52 Advertisers’ Index 110
Acrostic 111
Cover: New stallion Norumbega, a Grade 2 winner by Tiznow, gets familiar with his surroundings at
Past Time 112
Maryland’s Bonita Farm. Photo by Anne Litz.
2 Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred JANUARY 2017
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Take advantage of the improved PA-Bred program–
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WELLS • First foals arrive in 2017
$2,500 LFSN $4,000 LFSN
LORD SHANAKILL MORE SMOKE
Speightstown–Green Room, byTheatrical (Ire) Smoke Glacken–Saunter, by Strolling Along
• G1 winner of $910,021 • G3 winner by 141/2 lengths posting a
• Leading third crop sire in the region 112 BEYER.
• Sire of G1 MY DREAM BOAT, and • Sire of RAGING SMOKE ($422,282)
graded-placed Great Dancer (IRE), and $100,000-plus winners A Lil More
Mister Brightside (Ire), and two A J, Smoking for Free and Throw’n
Owned and managed by additonal stakes horses Smoke.
• Precocious sprint turf specialist racing in • From the family of champions
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[email protected]
MULTIPLE MARE DISCOUNTS OFFERED ON ALL PIN OAK LANE STALLIONS
PinOakLaneRoster1216.indd 1 11/18/16 12:13 PM
MARYLAND-BRED FUND STAKES* Mid-Atlantic
Thoroughbred
Volume 25, Issue 1
Four-Year-Olds and Up
P.O. Box 427, Timonium, MD 21094
[phone] x116
March 18 Not For Love S $75,000-guaranteed 6 fur.
Fax [phone]
MidAtlanticTB.com
i. Fillies and Mares, Four-Years-Old and Up Facebook.com/Mid-AtlanticThoroughbred
Director of publications: Barrie B. Reightler
March 18 Conniver S $75,000-guaranteed 7 fur.
[email protected]
*Preference to 1. Md-bred, 2. Md-sired Editor: Joe Clancy
[email protected]
410-392-5867
Associate editor: Cindy Deubler
The stakes schedule is approved through May 7, 2017.
[email protected]
For more information, contact the Maryland Horse Breeders
Editorial assistant: Lydia Williams
Association at [phone], fax [phone] or visit
[email protected]
MHBA’s website at www.marylandthoroughbred.com.
Senior writers:
Sean Clancy
For a complete breakdown of Maryland-bred bonus [email protected]
ADMINISTERED BY awards, please refer to the current condition book. Tom Law
MARYLAND HORSE BREEDERS ASSOC.
[email protected]
Circulation & member services: Anne Litz
[email protected]
National Advertising: Ken Ward
[email protected]
Social media: Anne L. Frederick
Register your [email protected]
Mid-AtlanticThoroughbred (ISSN 1056-3245) is owned
and published monthly by the Maryland Horse Breeders
Association at Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley
Maryland stallion Road, Baltimore, MD 21204. [phone]; Fax (410)
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
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Single copies: $5 current issue ($7 back issues past 12
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add 6% sales tax.
Mid-AtlanticThoroughbred is mailed to paid
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PROGRAM the eight-state region; and to active members of
those breeder associations which comprise the
Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Council:
Maryland Horse Breeders Association,
Cricket Goodall, executive director, P.O. Box 427, Timonium,
MD 21094. [phone].
If your stallion has offspring of racing age, make sure you Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of New Jersey,
Mike Campbell, executive director, 265 Highway 36,
register him for the Maryland Fund program! STALLIONS Suite 1R, West Long Branch, NJ 07764.
[phone].
MUST BE REGISTERED EVERY YEAR to be eligible to North Carolina Thoroughbred Association, Rebecca Montaldo,
president, NCTA, P.O. Box 76, Fayetteville, NC 28302.
receive stallion bonuses. Registration fee is $250. [phone].
Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Brian N. Sanfratello,
executive secretary, 701 E. Baltimore Pk., Ste. C-3,
DON’T MISS Kennett Square, PA 19348. [phone].
South Carolina Thoroughbred Association,
Jack Sadler, president, 130 Glass Rope Ln., Aiken, SC
29805. [phone].
Virginia Thoroughbred Association, Debbie Easter, executive
A BONUS!
director, Easter Associates Inc., 250 West Main St.,
Suite 100, Charlottesville, VA 22902. [phone].
West Virginia Thoroughbred Breeders Association,
P.O. Box 626, Charles Town, WV 25414.
[phone].
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Call Anne Frederick at [phone] x114 Burlington, VT
or visit www.marylandthoroughbred.com. Printed in the U.S.A.
Copyright 2017
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Association Inc.
4 Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred JANUARY 2017
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GULFSTREAM PARK, MIAMI | Sat Jan 28
Tickets available at PegasusWorldCup.com
Wager at Xpressbet.com
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POST TIME
SO FAR AWAY. Alcazar de Maram and jockey Darren Nagle build
an insurmountable – and ridiculous – lead in a maiden hurdle race
at Springdale Race Course in Camden, S.C., on the final day of the
steeplechase season Nov. 19. Officially, they won by 393⁄4 lengths.
Photo by Tod Marks
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MID-ATLANTIC REPORT
SAY IT AGAIN
“It’s a necessity on my part. If I don’t do that, I won’t be
able to slow her down. If I don’t do that, it can get ugly.”
Exercise rider Robbie Walsh, on why he and Grade 1
winner Miss Temple City (right) wait for the track
to clear before galloping at Fair Hill Training Center
“I can smell a really good horse coming through
here. I don’t know where he is. He might be
looking right back at me. I hope he is.”
Country Life Farm’s Mike Pons,
on the potential of the Maryland stallion roster MITT
M
“I came down here four years ago and I couldn’t MAGGIE KI
get five rides let alone ride five winners.”
Jump jockey Kieran Norris, on his big day at the International Gold Cup in October
“Homebreds and horses people claim . . . you don’t have to put your neck
on the line to buy them like you do with other horses.”
Trainer Richard Valentine, on pressure (and a little less pressure)
“One horse got by him all year.”
Jump jockey Sean McDermott, about likely steeplechase
champion Rawnaq (left) whose 2016 campaign included three
wins and a second in four starts over 107⁄ miles
8
“Better than 23 thirds.”
Jump jockey Sean McDermott, on what
it was like to have 23 seconds (and 12 wins) in 2016
“I have to say this carefully or you’ll put it in Say It Again . . .”
Heritage Stallions’ Louis Merryman, while explaining the stallion business
“My view is the best things for our industry are 14 horse fields and as
many races as we can have. It’s good for the tracks, good for the owners,
good for the trainers, good for the breeders, good for the stallion guys.”
Merryman, getting it right
MARKS “Judgment comes from experience and great
TOD judgment comes from bad experience.”
Motivational message, written long ago by an unknown philosopher, on the
dry-erase board (though it won’t erase) at trainer Jonathan Sheppard’s barn
“Gaskins . . . he’s got great gaskins.”
Bonita Farm’s Bill Boniface, talking up new stallion Norumbega (for the non-old-school, the
gaskin is the muscle at the top of a horse’s hind leg between the stifle and the hock)
8 Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred JANUARY 2017
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