Putting a Circle Around 2011 - by Evan Hammonds

aspradling — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:44:00 GMT

(Originally published in the December 24, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Evan Hammonds

The ball hasn’t dropped yet on New Year’s Eve, but the verdict is already in: It’s highly unlikely the year 2011 will go down as one of the more memorable ones in the history of Thoroughbred racing. There were a couple of bright spots but few, if any, signature moments. We’re still discovering just how long the shadows are that Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra cast over the racing landscape.

For some of the key story lines of the year, previous events put the wheels in motion that eventually brought things full circle.

Breeders and sellers of Thoroughbred bloodstock had a pretty good year, all things considered. After three tough years for the bloodstock market, most indicators flashed “up arrows” for the year. There’s a sense we’ve found the floor, and those that have remained in the business can hopefully start making some money again.

Greasing this rebound, most breeders began turning wheels two years ago when they did their homework, evaluated their stock, and decided which mares to breed and which to take out of production. The shrinking foal crop has helped put supply more in line with demand and has added strength back to the market.

While compiling the “Milestone” pages for the year-in-review section of this magazine, one gets the chance to find a certain level of hindsight that perhaps allows for a fresher perspective. Remembering the passing of top-level horses and outstanding individuals only enhances the legacy they’ve left behind. A few key departures remind us of how Thoroughbred racing, and life, eventually comes back around.

It was just this last week we received an e-mail from Turkey regarding the passing of 1991 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Strike the Gold. With a cast of characters including an up-and-coming trainer named Nick Zito, jockey Chris Antley (who was featured in an ESPN documentary film on Charismatic this year), and owners B. Giles Brophy, William Condren, and Joe Cornacchia (who also passed in 2011), “Strikey” blazed a colorful path through the Triple Crown trail in the spring of ’91.

Strike the Gold’s victory marked a turning point in Derby handicapping. Some pundits had determined that Dr. Steven Roman’s Dosage Index (a point system based on certain sires in a horse’s pedigree) had helped predict Derby contenders since 1929. All winners up to that point had a DI of 4.00 or lower…Strike the Gold won the Roses with a DI of 9.00. Following Derby scores by Real Quiet (5.29) in ’98 and Charismatic (5.22) the next year, the Derby/Dosage theory lost its steam.

Steaming toward an unprecedented fourth attempt to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IT) this year was the Freddy Head-trained Goldikova, which brought to mind the Head-ridden Miesque, who had been euthanized in January.

Back when seven Breeders’ Cup races were enough, mighty Miesque became the first to win back-to-back Breeders’ Cup events, and her effort in ’88 at Churchill Downs made for perhaps one of the greatest days of racing in North American history. The gray day—and early evening—of the first Breeders’ Cup day under the Twin Spires also gave us Gulch’s surprising win in the Sprint (gr. I); 2011 Hall of Fame entrant Open Mind’s Juvenile Fillies (gr. I); the shocking loss of Easy Goer in the Juvenile (gr. I); Personal Ensign’s unbelievable comeback to edge Winning Colors in the Distaff (gr. I)—still considered the Breeders’ Cup’s most memorable moment—and Alysheba’s Classic (gr. I) win in the dark that tabbed him as “America’s Horse.”

Now that was a day of racing.

Few enjoyed a day of racing more than Jim Hurst, who at 51 left The Blood-Horse, the industry, and his family all too soon in August. It was back in the early 1980s when we were first introduced to the young salesman with enthusiasm for the game, enthusiasm for life, and a mean jump shot on the basketball court. We spent a lot of time shooting the breeze with Jim in the office, shooting hoops after work, and shooting holes in our wallets at the track—be it Keeneland, Latonia (now Turfway Park), or his favorite haunts of Del Mar and Santa Anita.

It’s doubtful he was a stellar student in math at Shelby County High School, but we’d put his talents at assembling a Pick 6 ticket with the best of them.

Jim knew and loved the game and could sell it to anyone, but most of all he knew the importance of relationships and, with Jim, there was no distinction between business and personal relationships—they were one and the same.

Jim’s departure has left a big hole for Blood-Horse Publications, for the industry, and for us personally. We’ll be long past 2011 before we can even begin to come full circle on our loss.

A Friend Lost - By Eric Mitchell

aspradling — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:14:00 GMT

Blood-Horse Publications and the Thoroughbred industry lost a dear friend this week.

If there were a person more open and genuine than Jim Hurst, I haven’t met him or her, and I doubt he or she exists. Jim passed suddenly from this world Aug. 11 and left the staff here at Blood-Horse Publications stunned and saddened. It is hard to wrap one’s mind around the magnitude of this loss; the extent of the emptiness he’ll leave behind.

I began to get some semblance of the void while making a list of the people who needed to be notified after we learned he was gone. He touched and befriended so many across the racing industry it would be impossible to name them all. His loss will be felt most keenly on the West Coast, his advertising territory for most of the 23 years he worked as a sales representative and which he continued to serve even after he was promoted in March to Advertising Director.

What made Jim so effective as a salesman was his ability to connect with people. He built long-lasting, personal relationships with his clients and worked hard to meet their needs. He was an important supplier of feedback, critique, and new ideas from our customers. Many times during the year he would show up at my office door with a freshly opened can of Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Mountain Dew.

“Hey, man, you got a minute?” the conversation usually began. “I know you’re busy, but this will only take a couple of minutes.”

“You know that new section we’re working on? You all have got some great ideas. I mean, I love the product, but a client was wondering if you could add a new list, say of leading consignors. Of course, they would be on the list, but it’s good information, you know? People need to know that stuff.”

Do you see how Jim worked? He complimented us on putting together a good product, but, oh, by the way, it would be even better if we added a new list. “Just a suggestion, mind you,” he would add.

No pressure needed. By the time Jim was done talking with you, you were looking for ways to help him out.

Jim was fierce competition for other ad executives because his connection with clients was so genuine and strong, according to Doug Burge, a friend and executive director of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

Besides being good at his work, Jim was a gifted storyteller. A favorite of mine was the way he described a visit he made to a customer who lived near Bryan-College Station, Texas. When he went to her home, he found a deer roaming around in her living room.

He enjoyed and understood well the game of Thoroughbred racing. In addition to understanding the complexity of putting together a Pick 6 ticket at Del Mar, he understood how challenging the sport could be for owners, the risks that breeders took every year in trying to produce a good crop of foals, and admired everyone who stuck it out through lean years and were eventually rewarded with a big win or a home run at an auction.

Jim suffered his own unexpected and painful loss last year when a plane crash took the life of longtime California owner/breeder Frank “Scoop” Vessels. He could never tell me enough about what a down-to-earth and generous friend Vessels had been to him during his multiple trips to California.

“Scoop, man, he was such a good guy. I mean a really good guy who would do anything for you. He invited me to stay at his house and barely knew me,” he once said. “I don’t know how they are going to replace him.”

And now we’re left with our own loss to deal with.

Jim, we don’t know how we are ever going to replace you, either.

Memorial contributions for the children’s education fund can be made to:

Hurst Memorial Fund
Central Bank
3700 Palomar Centre Dr
Lexington, KY 40513
(or any Central Bank Location)

What's Going On Here : jim hurst

Putting a Circle Around 2011 - by Evan Hammonds

A Friend Lost - By Eric Mitchell