Stanley Cup and an Oaks, Johnson Wants It
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2016 IT=S VALUE SIRE TIME by Bill Oppenheim STANLEY CUP AND AN OAKS, Here we begin the series where it becomes clear why, after meeting me for 10 minutes, the late John Finney asked: Awhat JOHNSON WANTS IT ALL was your name again? Opinionheim?@ Yes, here we talk about horses which for some reason or another strike me as >good value=, although--caution to commercial breeders--my definition of >good value= is probably more about producing racehorses than it is about sales results. So let=s begin. AMERICAN SIRES AT $25k+: Three Chimneys= Will Take Charge (Unbridled=s Song) remains at $30,000. This seems a very reasonable price. After running unplaced in all three legs of the Triple Crown, after which he had a record of 3-1-0, including a win in the GII Rebel S., from his first 10 starts, the Wayne Lukas trainee suddenly got good, seemingly as soon as the Triple Crown was over, and in his subsequent eleven starts he was Erik Johnson | Colorado Avalanche 4-5-1 with two Grade I wins (the Travers and the Clark H.), two Grade II wins, and four Grade I placings, including dropping a by Bill Finley nose decision to Mucho Macho Man in the GI Breeders= Cup Erik Johnson could be the co-owner of the filly who will be the Classic. Cont. p6 favorite in the 2017 GI Kentucky Oaks. But he=s hoping he can=t make the race. Business before pleasure. IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Johnson=s business is professional hockey. He=s an All-Star defenseman for the Colorado Avalanche, a former member of HAZARIYA A CLASSIC GEM FOR COOLMORE the U.S. Olympic team and was the first pick in the 2006 NHL Harzand’s dam Hazariya lived up to expectations on Entry Draft when selected by the St. Louis Blues. His pleasure is Tuesday, selling for 2 million guineas to MV Magnier and horse racing, and get him talking about the subject and it=s hard Mayfair Speculators at Tattersalls. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. to slow him down. The 28-year-old from Minnesota loves the sport, even more so now that he has a part of a horse that very well could be the best 2-year-old filly in the country. Shane=s Girlfriend (Adios Charlie) was extremely impressive winning the GIII Delta Princess Nov. 19 at Delta Downs. Trained by Doug O=Neill and ridden by Flavien Prat, she won by 13 1/4 lengths and covered the mile in 1:37.98. Two races earlier, the $250,000 Delta Mile, a race that consisted of seasoned, classy older males, was won in 1:38.64. AI=m just excited for the journey going forward,@ Johnson said. AYou never know what can happen going forward, but so far it has been beyond what I could have imagined after I bought into her. I feel very fortunate and very grateful that I had a chance to get involved with such a great horse.@ Because the GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Fillies came up weak this year, it=s not a stretch to say that at this early point Shane=s Girlfriend looks like a leading candidate for the GI Kentucky Oaks. She=s two-for-two and, obviously, very fast. But the only way Johnson can make the race is if the Avalanche make an early exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs. He doesn=t want that to happen. Cont. p3 Sire of back-to-back winners of the Golden Rod (G2) Churchill Downs’ premier race for 2-year-old fillies Three Chimneys Farm’s Coffeepot Stables’ CARINA MIA FARRELL 2015 winner by 4 1/4 lengths 2016 winner by 6 lengths Fee: $75,000 S&N The Breeders’ Farm spendthriftfarm.com | 859.294.0030 PRESIDENT & CO-PUBLISHER Barry Weisbord @barryweisbord [email protected] SR. V.P. & CO-PUBLISHER Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] Wednesday, November 30, 2016 EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Assistant Editors Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Dazzling! Eblouissante (Bernardini) (lot 1759), the half-sister to Horse of the Year Amanda Crelin Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}) and multiple Grade I winner Balance (Thunder Gulch), Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield became the first seven-figure transaction of the Tattersalls December Breeding Stock Michelle Benson Sale when hammered down to Summer Wind Farm for 1.1-million guineas on Tuesday. The 7-year-old, who this year produced her first foal, a colt by Oasis Dream (GB), was Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution sold by The National Stud in foal to Dansili (GB). See TDN Europe for story. | Tattersalls Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Social Media Strategist Justina Severni EFFINEX RETIRED, TO STAND IN NY RR1 Tri-Bone Stables' GISW New York-bred Effinex (Mineshaft) has been Director of Customer Service retired from racing and will stand the 2017 season at Questroyal Stud Vicki Forbes in Stillwater, New York. [email protected] Director of Information Technology Ray Villa [email protected] MOORE NAMED WORLD’S TOP JOCKEY E11 Ryan Moore has been named the recipient of the Longines WORLDWIDE INFORMATION World’s Best Jockey Award, an honor he has won twice in International Editor the last three years. Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 8 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 30, 2016 Johnson cont. attract that kind of crowd. Last summer, I spent all of July at Del AEver since I was a little kid I always dreamed of winning the Mar and couldn=t get over how much fun it was.@ Stanley Cup,@ he said. AEvery year, every summer, I work Johnson, whose NHL salary is $6 million per year, knew he extremely hard to get my body into shape to be ready for the wanted to be an owner but didn=t decide to take the plunge grind of the NHL season. The Stanley until watching a feature on TVG about Cup is my ultimate goal. As much as a horse named Bad Read Sanchez I=d like to be there in person to see (Warrior=s Reward). For reasons he her run in the Oaks, I=d rather be still doesn=t quite understand, the playing in the playoffs. I=ll be cheering name of the horse intrigued him and out of my mind watching on TV if he found out the gelding was trained she=s lucky enough to race there. I=d by O=Neill. He emailed O=Neill and told love the daily double of the Stanley him he was interested in becoming an Cup and the Oaks.@ owner and shortly thereafter he went Growing up in Minnesota, Johnson in on a horse bought by O=Neill=s watched all the major racing events brother, Dennis, at the Ocala sales. on TV and made an occasional trip to He currently co-owns nine horses in Canterbury Park. But he said it was a training, six of them with O=Neill. Prior trip to Del Mar on opening day that Johnson and Crosscheck Carlos to Shane=s Girlfriend, the best horse turned him into a devoted fan. he has been involved with was AI went to opening day at Del Mar when I was 15,@ he said. AI Crosscheck Carlos (Custom for Carlos), who won the D.S. Shine was in awe of the spectacle that it is. I went there with one of Young Futurity for Louisiana-breds at Evangeline Downs in July. my buddies and just thought it was greatest thing ever. Filling up Johnson knew enough about racing to understand coming up Del Mar with thousands of people is just like filling up a stadium with a good horse is not easy, but still he was growing impatient. for a hockey game. It was kind of cool for me to see horse racing Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 8 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 30, 2016 Johnson cont. ATo be honest, over the past three years, I started to wonder, >Am I ever going to have a good horse, is it ever going to happen?=@ he said. Had he made different choices in his NHL career he may at least have had a good horse named after him. With Paul Reddam being both a huge hockey fan and another client of O=Neill=s, Johnson became fast friends with the businessman. When Johnson was a free agent, Reddam implored him to sign with his beloved Detroit Red Wings. ADennis, Paul and I were golfing and Paul said to me, >You should really sign with the Wings.= I said, >Paul, there=s zero chance I=m signing with your Wings.= He said, >Ok, I=m going to name a couple of horses after Red Wings players just to bug you.=@ One of those horses became Nyquist (Uncle Mo), the 2015 Eclipse Award winning 2-year-old male and the 2016 GI Kentucky Derby winner. He was named after The Detroit Red Wings player Gustav Nyquist.