What's Going On Here : Lane's End Farm

Affirmation by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:42:00 GMT

For racing fans, the stars aligned for Curlin, the 2007 Horse of the Year, to return and race at age 4. Now, for just the sixth time since the Eclipse Awards were first handed out in 1971, a runner has repeated as Horse of the Year.

Curlin Slide Show
Curlin

Had Curlin, a son of Smart Strike, been raced by nearly any other owner, he probably would have been retired following his 3-year-old campaign and whisked off to stud. But stallion farms were reluctant to make a deal to stand Curlin because of legal questions regarding the minority interest owned by jailed attorneys William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. Luckily, the horse’s majority owner was Jess Jackson, a man whose finances are such that a decision to return a valuable horse to training is made much easier.

The owner of Kendall-Jackson wineries, Jackson, who will turn 79 in a few weeks, is a billionaire ranked on the Forbes list of The “World’s Richest People.”

Next month, Curlin begins a life of covering mares at Will Farish’s Lane’s End Farm as a horse that won four group/grade I races at 4 and left the racetrack as the all-time leading North American-based runner by earnings. He shipped to Dubai and won the world’s richest race, that country’s World Cup (UAE-I), returned to win his first start back, the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. I), and also scored in the Woodward Stakes (gr. I) and, for the second straight year, the Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I).

Yes, some money was left on the table by not retiring Curlin following his 3-year-old season, when he won the Preakness Stakes (gr. I), was beaten a nose in the Belmont (gr. I), and finished his campaign with wins in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Breeders’ Cup Classic - Powered by Dodge (gr. I). Had Curlin stood last year, his stud fee certainly would have been more than the $75,000 he will command in 2009 in a down economy. The fees for foals that would have been born this year would have generated more than the $5,399,000 he earned on the racetrack last year.

When he picked up his first Horse of the Year title, Curlin became the 12th 3-year-old to be awarded racing’s top prize. When his name was called as Horse of the Year Jan. 26 at the Eclipse Awards ceremony, he became only the second to repeat as a 4-year-old, the other being Affirmed.

Six of the horses named Horse of the Year at age 3 did not race at 4, four of them because of injuries:

• 1982 Horse of the Year Conquistador Cielo was retired following a third-place finish in the Travers Stakes (gr. I). Trainer Woody Stephens said X-rays taken prior to the race showed “fuzz around the sesamoids” in his left fore. The horse had been syndicated for a then-record $910,000 a share.

• 1985 Horse of the Year Spend a Buck was retired in September of his 3-year-old campaign after an injury to his right ankle during a workout in preparation for the Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II). He had won the Monmouth Handicap (gr. I) in mid-August in what would be his final start.

• 1999 Horse of the Year Charismatic suffered a career-ending injury in the Belmont, in which he was trying to complete the Triple Crown. He finished third and was then pulled up by jockey Chris Antley, having fractured a cannon bone.

• 2001 Horse of the Year Point Given was retired in late August of his 3-year-old year because of a strain to a tendon in his left foreleg. The injury was noticed as he returned to the track a few days after winning the Travers.

The two retired following their 3-year-old seasons were Secretariat, the only horse to be Horse of the Year at 2 and 3, and A.P. Indy, whose last start was a win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Those who were Horse of the Year at 3 and raced at 4 but did not repeat were Seattle Slew, Tiznow, Holy Bull, and Sunday Silence.

Affirmed and Curlin pulled it off. Curlin is in good company. So, too, is Affirmed.

Marked Down - by Dan Liebman

cdawahare — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:41:00 GMT

Just a few weeks ago, this column opined that some stud fees were coming down in 2009, but it was not enough. They needed to be reduced more.

Since then, the Keeneland November sale has come and gone, the nearly 50% drop in gross clearly illustrating the global economic downturn has not only reached the Thoroughbred industry, but had a clear effect upon it.

There was no reason to think the insular world of Thoroughbred breeding and racing would be immune to economic pressures. With less expendable income, people are wagering less. With more stock market worries, people are wanting to pay less for racing and breeding stock. With lower returns at public auctions, breeders must decide if they should breed fewer mares and spend less on stud fees.

It should not have been hard for stallion managers to come to the realization that they would have to re-evaluate stud fees. Other than the cost of the mare, this is the biggest expense a breeder has every year. In a competitive business, where stallions that don’t attract mares don’t last long, it is imperative to price each stallion correctly.

The telltale sign for the owners of stallion farms has been the silence of the telephone. At a time when mare owners should be calling to secure seasons for the 2009 season, they are not doing so. Many have been quoted as saying they will postpone booking mares until January or February, with a longer wait for those not due to foal until late spring.
Things are happening very quickly in today’s economic climate, as evidenced by the bank failings, bankruptcy filings, and government bailouts. Things are happening quickly in the Thoroughbred industry as well.

On Nov. 4, Lane’s End Farm released its stud fees for 2009, keeping A.P. Indy, Smart Strike, and Kingmambo the same at $300,000, $150,000, and $250,000, respectively. Of the farm’s 20 stallions, one fee went up (Lemon Drop Kid), while six were lowered.

Just 20 days later, Lane’s End made another announcement, becoming the first farm to further reduce some advertised fees. A.P. Indy dropped to $250,000 and Smart Strike was lowered to $125,000. Eleven other stallions had their fees reduced, including six for the second time in three weeks.

Buying a season to all 20 Lane’s End stallions Nov. 4 would have cost a breeder $1,150,000, while that amount following the Nov. 24 announcement was 16% less, or $967,500. (Between the two press releases, it was announced Curlin would stand at Lane’s End in 2009 for $75,000.)

Lane’s End owner Will Farish had the courage to be the first stallion manager to react to the economic pressures affecting the breeding of Thoroughbreds. On Nov. 25, WinStar Farm announced Distorted Humor, who stood for $300,000 in 2008, would not stand for $225,000 as previously announced, but instead for $150,000. The following day, Taylor Made Farm announced the fee for Unbridled’s Song would drop from $150,000 to $125,000.

Farish understood it was not enough to drop a stallion like A.P. Indy, affordable to only a few breeders to begin with, but also to adjust the fee for a stallion such as Mineshaft, who stood last year for $75,000, was first announced as dropping to $40,000, and then saw another adjustment to $30,000.

For Mineshaft, when selling a yearling in 2011 and trying to get twice the stud fee, there is a big difference between needing the bidding to reach $60,000 rather than $80,000.
Of course, like every other farm owner that stands stallions, Farish is also a breeder, meaning he, too, is cognizant of the fees he will be paying to breed the mares he and his partners own.
Remember the old commercial: “When E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen?” WinStar and Taylor Made heard Farish, who is one of the leading owners, breeders, consignors, and stallion managers. Breeders now wait to hear if other stallion farms listened.