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Wild Again, one of the three horses in the slam-bang finish to the first ever Breeders Cup Classic, has been euthanized at age 28. Sad. Like Northern Dancer a scion of the Nearctic line; his sire Icecapade was a half-brother to Ruffian.
Wild Again was out of *Khaled mare, Bushel-n-Peck. Remember *Khaled? Rex Ellsworth, breeder of Swaps, was unsuccessful in buying *Nasrullah from HH The Aga Khan; so Ellsworth bought *Khaled to stand at stud at his dry and dusty ranch in Chino.
Chino was about as far removed, appearance-wise, from the Irish countryside or the verdant pastures of Kentucky as it was possible to go. While a student at Cal Poly Pomona in the mid-1970's, I went with classmates to visit the Ellsworth ranch in Chino. This was about a year before the Humane Society was called in to rescue the mares at the ranch.
God knows Ellsworth and Mesh Tenney proved to the world that world-class racehorses could be produced on dry-lot pastures in an environment that might charitably be called "utilitarian." Ellsworth had his own feed mill on the premises, and obviously was successful at balancing rations so that horses raised in Chino grew strong and athletic. But over time he ran into financial difficulties, and purportedly had problems with alcoholism. For whatever reason, the horses that remained on the ranch weren't fed enough and fell into conditions of emaciation. Slow starvation, in fact.
My roommate at the time, like me an Animal Science major, made the comment that Ellsworth could have sold half the horses and fed the other half on the proceeds. Very good point.
Website with some interesting photos and memories about Ellsworth, *Khaled and the Chino ranch: Really Long Link
It used to be that a lot of the Cal-bred horses you'd see coming to the races in the 70's had Ellsworth breeding, one way or another. *Khaled sired Linmold, who sired some good Cal-breds. Ellsworth-breds made a mark on the California racing world, but that had all pretty much petered out by the time I visited the ranch.
Ellswoth was absolutely a man who knew his horses. Nobody breeds and raises the kind of horses he bred and raised unless he knows what he's doing. And through the influence that Wild Again has had on the breed, Ellsworth's legacy as iimporter of *Khaled will continue.
I see that Azeri has been consigned to the Keeneland January sale. She's reported in foal to Ghostzapper. Her first foal, an A.P. Indy colt already named Vallenzeri, went through Keeneland's September sale and was an RNA at $7.7 million; I think it's safe to assume that as the "factory" that produced a yearling that drew that large a final bid, Azeri's reserve is probably somewhere in the $7-10 million range.
While it's true that Azeri was one heck of a racehorse, she won her Horse of the Year title in a weak year-- the males who were her competition for the title were a weak lot. Vindication was champion 2-year-old male off an abbreviated campaign that culminated in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile victory; War Emblem was champion three-year-old male, but was not considered an outstanding champion; Left Bank beat out Volponi for champion older male, but neither of the two was considered memorable; Orientate was champion sprinter but not considered a force outside the sprints; High Chaparral was the champion turf male, and in my opinion the best of the male champions, but his only US victory was his Breeders Cup score. So the voters gave the Horse of the Year title to Azeri off an undefeated season in which she never raced outside her division.
Azeri isn't from a a strong female family, certainly nothing like Better Than Honour's family. I have to wonder, just a little, why Michael Paulson is consigning Azeri for the family trust that owns her, because I think, based on the RNA on Vallenzeri, that he has unrealistic expectations for price. Was it Preston Madden of Hamburg Place who said, "It's better to sell and regret than keep and regret"?
FWIW, the number of horses consigned to the Keeneland January sale is down from last year, with 554 fewer horses catalogued. I wonder if some potential consignors are holding onto mares, hoping that the market will go up by next fall...or if some of the mares that represent the bottom of the market are culled at other auctions or sales where the mjnimum bid is lower than at Keeneland or the commission and expenses for sale are lower. From a business standpoint it would be insane to hold onto a low-end mare, continuing to put expenses into her, hoping the market will turn around. "You don't get out of a hole with a shovel," as the saying goes.
From a humane standpoint, I sure hope people out there with mares they can't afford to keep (or weanlings or yearlings or racehorses, for that matter) will do the right thing by their stock and try to find good homes for at least some of them...and have the cojones to pay for euthanasia for those who they can't find homes for, rather than selling them at a meat auction.
I'm sure that at the January sale, there will be people sifting through the offerings late in the sale, hoping against hope to find that hidden diamond in someone else's discards. It happens. That's the wonder of breeding horses.
Spent some time today on eBay, feeding one of my horse racing sub-passions: collecting horse racing pins.
There are an amazing number of pins, of all different types (and all different prices!) available. There are, of course, the Triple Crown Pins: Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont pins. And along with the Derby pins, there are the Pegasus Festival pins.
...And in addition to the official pins for these events, there are the "unofficial" pins: sponsor pins, media pins, and other peripheral event pins. Pins pins pins pins.
I've seen "starter sets" of Derby pins (usually from the 1990's to present, only the official pin for each year with the logo for the event) offered for several hundred dollars, and one set that went back to the 70's offered for $6500. Amazing.
There are the Breeders Cup pins, too: more manageable, as there are only 25 to collect. I have 19 of the 25 (I started collecting them this year).
Occasionally, there is bigger prey to be bagged. For each Breeders Cup, there are pins issued as passes to the owners and trainers of the horses entered, and to selected VIP's or special guests. I managed to snag some of these from eBay, my mosgt prized being one from 2007 that came in the envelope with the paddock pass and other official paperwork. According to the paperwork, this was A. B. Hancock's Owner's badge! Totally cool.
Most of the BC Owners, Trainers or VIP pin badges go for $60-150. While not common, they aren't rare, either, showing up with regularity from time to time.
One of the other categories of pins I collect are buttons (or "pinbacks" as they are called) that have pictures of specific horses on them. The "holy grail" of buttons are the Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure buttons that were sold at the match race in 1975. These cost fifty cents or a dollar the day of the race, and in good condition sell on eBay for $40-75 each, with the Ruffian pins selling for more than Foolish Pleasure.
Most of the buttons with horses on them sell for considerably less than that, from $1 to $15. There are several Curlin pins, there are Rags to Riches pins, there are Big Brown pins. There are other pins for horses that weren't quite so well known to the public at large-- I have a Fourstardave pin, a Saratoga promotion, and a King Swan pin. I also have a pin commemorating the tenth anniversary of Secretariat's Belmont, and pins commemorating Forego and John Henry.
There are lots of other pins that bring back memories: pins from defunct Ak-sar-ben racetrack; Bill Shoemaker Farewell Tour pins; Santa Anita 50th Anniversary pins; pins from a variety of tracks commemorating or promoting a variety of races or events. A veritable tour of racing events, pin to pin, some very beautiful and most very reasonable in price. A great way to get into collecting racing memorabilia.
(I don't know why I want to promote this, since I'm a pin buyer, not a seller...the more people collect them, the more the price goes up! But they are pretty neat items.)
Saw the news today that Wanderin Boy was euthanized after breaking down in the Cigar Mile. Brought back memories of another "Boy" who broke down 25 years ago.
How many people remember Roving Boy, winner of the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old male of 1982? A son of Olden Times, Roving Boy suffered a broken cannon bone (left fore) in February of 1983 and missed the Triple Crown races. Brought back to the races in the fall, he seemed to have returned to form as he crossed the finish line the winner in the Alibhai Handicap at Santa Anita. But strides past the finish line, he collapsed, suffering a catastrophic breakdown in his hind legs
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...Erstwhile technical writer in the aerospace industry. One-time vet school aspirant. Animal Science major in college. Wife, mother, caregiver to an aged parent, many threads that together have woven the fabric that makes up my life. But throughout the 52 years I've lived, there's been one constant thread:[
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