What's Going On Here : jockey club

The Weight - by Evan Hammonds

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT

The icy conditions and sub-freezing temperatures of the last week in Central Kentucky gave us good reasons to catch up on some reading. Awaiting Steve Haskin’s first Derby Dozen, I went to the bookshelf at home and pulled down The Archjockey of Canterbury and Other Tales by former Blood-Horse editor Kent Hollingsworth.

Published by The Blood-Horse in 1986, Hollingsworth’s book is a collection of some of his best writing—and some of the best writing about Thoroughbred racing—while he served as editor from 1963-86.

Cracking it open for the first time in too long a while, I wasn’t hard-pressed to find a poignant point.

In the preface Hollingsworth noted “racing is much the same today as it was 20 years ago, or a century ago—only the names and numbers have changed.”

In a column on Northern Dancer’s victory in the 1964 Kentucky Derby, Hollingsworth addresses that particular crop when they were 2-year-olds and their status on the previous year’s Experimental Free Handicap. Noting Northern Dancer, at 123, was just three pounds off highweight Raise a Native, and Derby runner-up Hill Rise was at 115, he wrote, “one usually does not think of looking that far down among the 2-year-olds to find the Kentucky Derby contenders.”

It was then that I peered up from the book and stared out the window. Perhaps more than just the names and numbers have changed since then.

The Experimental Free Handicap, published by The Jockey Club since 1935, is not only a detailed analysis of last year’s 2-year-old crop crafted by the nation’s top racing secretaries, but a crystal ball-like offering of racing class for the coming classics. The time-honored handicapping tool suggests the top-weighted male and those within 10 pounds of him on the scale have a better chance of standing up to the rigors of negotiating 11⁄4 miles on the first Saturday in May.

But that hasn’t been the case of late, suggesting a seismic shift in how Thoroughbreds have been raised, fed, conditioned, and trained over the past 20 years.

Prior to Street Sense, who won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) in 2007 after being highweighted at 127 pounds in 2006, the last 2-year-old highweight to win the Derby was mighty Spectacular Bid in 1979. In that span of 28 years, only one highweight even won a classic race—that being Timber Country, who won the Preakness (gr. I) in 1995 after being the top-weighted juvenile the previous year.

Here’s how recent Derby winners stacked up as juveniles on the Experimental:

• Big Brown, last year’s Derby and Preakness winner, had just a maiden win to his credit at 2 and was not weighted. One has to have won or placed in an open stakes to be included.

• Barbaro, the 2006 winner, was weighted at 114 pounds off his win in the Laurel Futurity, 12 pounds below Stevie Wonderboy.

• Giacomo (2005) fit the 10-pound criterion with an assignment of 122 pounds off his runner-up effort in the Hollywood Futurity (gr. I), four pounds less than co-highweights Declan’s Moon and Wilko.

• Neither Smarty Jones (’04), Funny Cide (’03), War Emblem (’02), nor Monarchos (’01) had proved enough at 2 to be weighted on the Experimental.

Has the “bottom” dropped out of the “body of work” angle? Has racing soundness become passé?

At the head of the 2008 crop is champion Midshipman, who tops the list at 126 pounds, the standard weight assessment for the best male.

Twelve other 2-year-old males are weighted at 117 or higher on this year’s scale. Will one of these guys have what it takes to win this year’s Run for the Roses? We’ll have to “weight” and see.

Aftercare - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:14:00 GMT

Two industry announcements separated by only a day were related in a way—the Safety and Integrity Alliance initiative put forth by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and the annual Report of Mares Bred issued by The Jockey Club.

Alex Waldrop, CEO of the NTRA, noted five areas Oct. 15 that were targeted for health and safety reform, among them what his organization called the “implementation of placement programs for Thoroughbreds that can no longer compete.”

In its release Oct. 16, The Jockey Club, the breed’s official registry, noted the number of mares covered by stallions in North America in 2008 experienced a 7.7% decline.

They may not seem connected, but they are.

The health and safety reforms seemingly all relate to the racetrack, such as implementing uniform medication rules and regulations. But finding homes for horses that can no longer race extends well beyond the racetrack.

Which in turn relates to the Report of Mares Bred, because logic says fewer mares bred means fewer foals, which, in the end, means fewer unwanted horses.

Granted, Thoroughbreds that can no longer compete do not necessarily translate to Thoroughbreds that are unwanted. Certainly many, if not most, breeders, owners, and trainers care for their horses throughout their lives. We were reminded of this the previous week when Princess Rooney and Cozzene, both 28, were humanely euthanized after happy and productive lives both on and off the racetrack, by owners who refused to let them suffer needlessly.

But even those who conscientiously care for their horses often lose track of animals purchased privately, lost through the claiming box, or sold at public auction.

Interestingly, in September, Waldrop submitted a letter to the House Judiciary Committee taking “no position” on House Resolution 6598, which would ban the transportation of horses for slaughter. Though the last slaughterhouses in the United States were closed in 2007, thousands of horses of all breeds are still packed on trailers and transported to our border neighbors, Canada and Mexico.

The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act was originally introduced in 2003 as HR 857. That measure never got out of committee, but in 2006 a similar resolution did, passing the House before languishing in a Senate committee.

The latest resolution is backed by many in the Thoroughbred industry, the charge led by Pin Oak Stud owner Josephine Abercrombie.

Breeders and owners, admittedly, are partially responsible for the growth in the number of unwanted horses. As the market for horses became considerably more commercial in nature, stallion books grew and breeders were more willing to take a chance with many marginal mares. As such, the number of horses needing homes following their racing careers—certainly not forgetting those who never make a start on a racetrack—has also risen.

Now, as we approach the largest catalog ever for a Keeneland November sale, there is a growing concern about those hips that will fail to get a live bid and/or find a new home. There is some hope that shoppers looking for event and sport horses, or perhaps mares to breed to Quarter Horse stallions, will see an opportunity.

Among the primary functions of the NTRA are the marketing and promotion of the sport, and lobbying efforts on its behalf in our nation’s capital. So, it is encouraging that among the five major areas of concern addressed by the NTRA in its new reforms is the acknowledgment that we need “placement programs for Thoroughbreds that can no longer compete.”

The NTRA’s new initiative is designed to address the health and safety of the horse. Surely, opposing the transportation of horses for slaughter is good for the health and safety of horses.

Applaud the NTRA for its leadership in regard to the reforms, which will bring needed change to the entire industry. At the same time, insist it step up to the plate against anything related to the slaughter of horses.

Paint By Numbers - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:13:00 GMT

Based on Reports of Mares Bred, The Jockey Club recently announced its projection of the foal crop of 2009 as 35,400, which would represent a 3.3% decline from the estimated 36,600 foals of 2008.

Many believe the foal crop should be much smaller.

Consider this quote from pinhooker Eddie Woods, speaking at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s yearling sale, which Aug. 18-21 suffered major declines in business: “Basically, we’re seeing the results of the overproduction of mediocre stock…there are too many mares (in production).”

The size of the Thoroughbred foal crop grew dramatically in the 1980s, when auction prices boomed and everyone wanted a piece of the action. There were 35,679 foals in the first year of the decade, but by 1985, the number had soared to 50,433, peaked at 51,296 in 1986, and was 50,917 in 1987. In just a few years, the crop size had jumped nearly 44%.

What followed was pure economics. With high supply and low demand, prices fell and many limited investors fled. The foal crop was back to 35,341 in 1994 and has remained around that number ever since.

During the decade of the ’80s, there were 463,827 registered foals, a number that fell 19% to 375,302 in the ’90s. Based on crop totals and estimates for the ’00s, the decade will see 371,633 foals registered, a drop from decade to decade of less than 1%.

What makes it tough for breeders to scale back is the emphasis on the commercial market and the solid average price for yearlings sold throughout North America. In 2007, there were 10,159 yearlings sold at public auction for an average of $55,306. At the world’s largest shopping venue, Keeneland September, the average has been more than $100,000 each of the past three years.

For its 2008 sale, Keeneland has cataloged a record 5,555 youngsters, about 14% of the entire estimated foal crop.

A year ago, 4,901 yearlings went through the Keeneland sale ring over the course of 15 days, with 3,799 listed as sold. But only 1,235 yearlings, 25%, were profitable, based on stud fee returns, according to Blood-Horse calculations.

This is not to say many breeders are not making a profit. If you send 10 through the ring and two or three sell for enough to carry the others, the bottom line can wind up being positive.

But now comes a year in which breeders have higher stud fees and pinhookers have larger investments in yearlings. Combine that with a struggling economy, and there is plenty of reason for concern.

Many breeders/consignors have expressed a belief that they expect the first week of the Keeneland sale, when most of the better pedigreed and conformed horses are cataloged, to remain healthy, while the rest of the sale could experience significant downturns. At the OBS sale, the number sold was down 20.5%, the gross dropped 34.6%, and the average was off 17.7%.

With mares currently carrying what will be the final crop of this decade, breeders should again assess the size of the crop as it relates to the economics of the game. The crops of 2000-09 will drop only about 1% because of larger books and fewer stallions. That fewer stallions are standing at stud may not be such a bad thing, but larger books have pushed catalogs to record sizes. One need only look at the list of freshman sires in the Keeneland sale and the number of offspring representing each to see this at work.

There were 4,513 active stallions in the United States in 1998, though obviously only a small number were considered truly commercial. By 2006, when this crop of yearlings was conceived, there were 3,682.

Fewer stallions and more broodmares. As Woods so succinctly said, the overproduction of mediocre stock does no one any good.