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Home , Aptitude (horse), Araafa, Grandera, Haafhd, Nearco, Pharos (horse)

Bill Oppenheim, December 13, 2006–Top Value: George Washington FROM THE DESK OF... Bill Oppenheim

TOP VALUE: GEORGE WASHINGTON It=s not often the market leads Coolmore--usually, it=s the other way around. So the fact that even they evidently succumbed to the hype about George Washington=s quirks, by setting his initial stud fee at what, in my opinion, is half price compared to his >true= market value, is a hint that shrewd breeders on both sides of the Pond should be taking. Here=s your chance to breed to a horse who should be standing at stud for $150,000 for i60,000--roughly the equivalent of $75,000. That=s why--in spite of the fact that >value= stallions usually stand for either side of $10,000-- George Washington is my choice as >number one value stallion= of the year for 2007. He=s a spectacular individual (top-priced yearling of his year in Europe: 1,150,000gns at October 1 in 2004). He=s by , and he=s closely related to the top-class Grandera out of an mare bred by the Wildensteins. As a two-year-old, he ran an RPR (Racing Post Rating, roughly the equivalent of ) 121 when running off (by eight lengths) with the G1 Phoenix S., and followed that up with a win (not nearly so high a rating, though) in the G1 National $12,500 live foal (859) 233-4252 www.claibornefarm.com S., always Ireland=s best race for two-year-olds. This year, he won the G1 2000 Guineas first time out (RPR 127), defeating subsequent Derby winner , As a three-year-old won the St. James=s with fourth. He ran an RPR 131 in the autumn, Palace S. at Royal Ascot over a mile and the Irish when handily defeating Araafa again in the G1 Queen S. at the Curragh over 10 furlongs. At four, Elizabeth II S. at Ascot. Timeform=s final >black book= he won the Prince of Wales=s S., again over 10 rates him 133. Yes, he laid a few eggs, too, but a furlongs, at Royal Ascot-at-York, then later won the horse=s true prospects as a sire are best predicted by 12-furlong King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. (run his racing class (as long as he hasn=t got some truly in 2006 at Newbury). Every one of those is an zany pedigree). This guy has the credentials to be absolutely top-class Group 1, and he was rated 130 by standing for double what he is. I=m certainly wrong as Timeform at four. Top-class horses are on often as anybody else, but if I were a breeder with a everybody=s wish list and, though breeding to a son of mare good enough to go to that kind of horse, I=d be Night Shift isn=t the most obvious way to get Roberto, first on the list. You get the idea: I think he=s dirt cheap if he throws himself physically and in terms of racing at i60,000. , top-class Roberto is what you=ll get. There=s one other horse standing in Ireland for a fee a FIVE GREAT VALUES IN AMERICA little higher than I would normally be touting as a >top Now, to our more conventional list--$15,000 and 10 bargain.= That is Azamour, who retired to the Aga under--here are five horses I think represent really good Khan=s Giltown Stud for i25,000 this year and will be value for 2007, in America. They=re in order of >oldest standing his second season for the same amount in foals= first: 2007. He=s got kind of a strange pedigree, in that he=s : Winner of the 1996 GI Breeders Cup by Night Shift, but he=s very untypical of Night Shift, = Classic, Alphabet Soup sired 22 stakes winners in his both to look at and in terms of his racing aptitude: very first two crops. You could breed to him for $10,000 in few good Night Shifts win Group 1 races at 12 2003, the year his first foals were four-year-olds. He furlongs. But Azamour is out of a Lear Fan mare, and finished 16th on the North American General Sire List he looks and ran like much more of a Roberto type. (GSL) that year, and ninth in 2004, when he sired the Moreover, his form is outstanding: he won four Group 1 earners of over $6.3 million. He slipped to 31st in 2005 races from a mile to 12 furlongs, and not just your sort- (still $3.9 million, 10 SW), but is barely in the top 100 of average Group 1s, either. this year ($2.7 million, seven SW). Oppenheim cont. Mind you, the 2006 Blood-Horse Stallion Register No matter: the Jackpot win propelled him to third lists Alphabet Soup with only 25 named foals in 2003, place among this year=s freshman sires. He=s sired five so that could be a big reason for it. He stood for stakes winners and the earners of $1,254,656, behind $25,000 this year, but is dropping back down to only Street Cry ($1,775,315) and Johannesburg $15,000 for 2007. This is a serious bargain. Now, you ($1,702,649), and ahead of Officer ($1,191,051), probably won=t get a two-year-old--his ABC rating for ($942,876) and Include ($840,135). As the two-year-olds is 0.58, contrasted to his all-age ABC rest of them stand for $20,000 or more, it=s rather rating of 1.86. But he=s 2.25 for A Runners, with 5.83- obvious that makes Pure Prize still a bargain buy. Oh, percent A Runners/Foals--right up there with the best and he=s by out of Heavenly Prize, by sires in this new >6 percent= era. He=s certainly Seeking the Gold; that can=t hurt either. Cozzene=s best son at stud, and consistently one of the most underrated sires in Kentucky, if you=re trying to Whywhywhy: Why exactly I am impelled to recommend breed a racehorse. a horse who=s about to have his first two-year-olds is open to question. Most pundits in their right mind duck Trippi: Through Aug. 1 he had only sired one A Runner, all questions about the impending crop of freshman but that has changed quite dramatically this fall. Three sires as long as possible. But if ever a horse had the colts from his second crop (2004) have been popping credentials to make a name for himself as a freshman up all over the place in those Calder two-year-old sire, this guy has. It=s not that he particularly has a two- stakes, capped by a Trippi 1-2 in the Jack Price year-old=s pedigree: his sire, Mr. Greeley, is the new Juvenile S. Nov. 11. Among them, Dream of Angels, commercial golden boy, but he=s only an average sire of Green Vegas and Villainage have won or placed 10 two-year-olds. None of Whywhywhy=s first three dams times in Calder or Tampa Bay stakes since Aug. 1; the won at two, and they=re by Quiet American, Honest first two are definitely >A Runners,= and Villainage might Pleasure and Arts and Letters, respectively. It is a great make it by year=s end, too. Trippi is now number three old King Ranch family, but it hardly screams precocity. on the 2006 sophomore sire list, according to On the other hand, Mr. Greeley is by Gone West bloodhorse.com, behind only Aptitude and Point Given; (who had a similar rocket two-year-old, Grand Slam, in and he is number five on the North American list of 1997), by Mr. Prospector, by ; it is Leading Sires of Two-Year-Olds. Though he was by End actually the top two-year-old sire line in America, hands Sweep out of a Valid Appeal mare, none of Trippi=s first down. Anyway, Whywhywhy was a two-year-old: three dams managed to win at two, and he never raced second in his first start, in May, he subsequently won, at two himself. However, he made up for lost time at consecutively, the GIII Flash S. at Belmont (five three, going off as part of a 6-1 entry in the 2000 furlongs) in June; the GII Sanford S. at Saratoga (six (finished 11th), having won his first furlongs) at the end of July; and the then-GI Futurity four starts, including the GIII Swale S. and nine-furlong (one mile) in September. He actually went off the 5-2 GIII S. They kept him sprinting after that. He favorite over Vindication (4-1) in the 2002 GI Breeders won three times at seven furlongs, all at Belmont, = namely the GII , GII Tom Fool and GI Cup Juvenile, but never threatened, finished 10th, and, Vosburgh. He was third over six furlongs in the GIII in the tradition of many successful sires from this line, Amsterdam at Saratoga and ninth behind Kona Gold, never won again (four starts at three). having contested the pace, in the GI Breeders= Cup But the reason Whywhywhy makes this list is the Sprint. Right now, that $7,500 ticket for 2007 looks way his yearlings sold: in the sales covered by outstanding value. Insta-Tistics, he had 29 sell (of 39 offered), which averaged $79,489 (over 10 times his stud fee), with a Pure Prize: Two of the easiest winners of the 21st median of $50,000 (almost seven times his stud fee). century came Sept. 14, 2002, the day friend Larry The buyers liked them, and there were plenty of them Ensor and I made a field trip to Turfway Park for the buyers liked. Usually (but not always) these days, Kentucky Cup day. Vindication won the 10th race that that=s a very good sign. day, say the record books, by nine lengths. His next stop was the Breeders= Cup Juvenile, which he duly Tapit: He was a $625,000 yearling and he comes from won, clinching the champion two-year-old colt title. about a successful sire family: his dam is a half-sister to When Larry saw the field come out for the 13th he Rubiano; his third dam produced Glitterman; and his turned to me and said, AThere=s the winner.@ I=d never fourth dam, Foggy Note, was the dam of Relaunch. heard of Pure Prize before then, but he won the GII However, there=s an entirely different reason Tapit Kentucky Cup Classic that day as easily as Vindication makes this list: his first foals were deeply impressive. had won his race (7-1, Beyer 108). Unfortunately, he There were 12 sold at the November sales (of 18 didn=t make the Breeders= Cup Classic, never ran again, offered), which averaged $109,333 (over seven times and retired to Vinery for $7,500, the winner of one his stud fee) and with a median of $83,500 (over five stakes race. They were going to stand him for $8,500 and a half times his 2005 fee--which has now again next year (same as =06), but after dropped!). Interestingly, I thought, only one sold for Birdbirdistheword won the $1-million GIII Delta Jackpot below $65,000, and even the three not-solds were all S. last week, he=s been raised to $12,500. bought back between $37,000-$47,000. This is the profile of a horse whose stud fee should and so impressed the judges that two of the very best be going up, not down. Commercially, part of the judges in the world independently took the trouble to appeal of trying to pick sires in this price range is that, call me up and say they were going to be urging their if you=ve read the runes right and they run like they clients to book mares to Muhtathir. For i7,500, it=s not look, they=re going to be standing for three times this like it will cost breeders that much to take that hint. amount in a year or two. Often, when selecting stallions from the available numbers, the buyer is going GREAT BRITAIN B Tobougg: Trained by Mick Channon to have to give up two-year-old racing, as with for Prince Ahmed as a two-year-old, when he went Alphabet Soup, in hopes of a bigger payoff later. With three-for-three, including the prestigious G1 Dewhurst, the likes of Whywhywhy and Tapit, it=s a completely Tobougg=s subsequent career didn=t do =s different story: here it is the market, not the racetrack, reputation much good. He did run third to and that is providing the data. What we can tell so far, from in the G1 for Godolphin, and the data we have about Tapit, is that he is throwing second to in the G1 Champion S. as a good-looking, and evidently pretty uniform, foals. three-year-old (when he received a year-end Timeform Recent history confirms these are strong hints. rating of 125), but you couldn=t find him with a searchlight in his four starts at four (Timeform 111). By EUROPEAN VALUE STANDOUTS the time he retired to Dalham Hall, in 2003 for ,5,000, IRELAND B Intikhab: On the other hand, when you he was pretty much forgotten and unconsidered. see a proven stallion standing for a four-figure fee, then Tobougg was always described as a very good- maybe it=s more of a play for racehorse breeders than looking horse, and he does have a good pedigree, being for the commercial teams. Here=s a case in point. They by the solid though unspectacular , and out of did sell quite okay this year: according to the Racing the G1 Prix de Diane winner Lacovia. She=s by Majestic Post website, 49 yearlings by him averaged 22,311gns, Light out of a half-sister to Miswaki. There which translates to more than four times his i8,000 are some pretty good names in there, and Tobougg was stud fee. But the real appeal of Intikhab is as a an unbeaten Dewhurst winner at two. Now, still racehorse sire: in APEX terms, to August, 2006, he without a lot of fanfare, he is the number four freshman sported a 2.91 A Runner Index; a 2.38 B Runner Index; sire in Europe (behind Invincible Spirit, Rock of and a 2.07 Index for two-year-old ABC Runners. A Gibraltar, while ahead of ), with 23 devastating winner of the 1998 Queen Anne S. at winners, four stakes horses, and the earners of Royal Ascot (then Group 2), he was rated 135 at ,348,410 (these statistics from Promotions). year-end by Timeform, so it=s not a huge shock that he Is he still at ,5,000? You breeders should be lined up could be a useful sire. He=s evidently one of the last around the block. from the sadly fast-diminishing Roberto line out of a Crafty Prospector mare, and, not surprisingly, five of FOR THE XMAS STOCKING his six A Runners to date are out of Northern My library of books on breeding theory is pretty Dancer-line mares, including his flagbearer this year, limited--Tesio, Sir Charles Leicester, Varola (that=s the Red Evie. Three of those five, incidentally, are out of one that made the greatest impression on me) and Joe -line mares. Palmer=s >Names in Pedigrees.= Some might comment that the shallowness of my knowledge on the subject is FRANCE B Muhtathir: Sheikh Hamdan=s Shadwell Stud reflected by this small number of books. In either case, has three major-league sire prospects in play right now: make it five: Abe Hewitt=s seminal work, >Sire Lines,= has just had his first two-year-olds (some originally published in 1977 but long out of print, has promise, look for improvement); and been reissued this year by The Blood-Horse=s =s half-brother Nayef is just about to have his Press. It is the absolutely perfect Christmas gift for the first two-year-olds (38 yearlings averaged 43,373gns); horse breeding on your list, so if you know and, perhaps most exciting of all, 2004 G1 2000 one of those, get your pencil and paper ready. Guineas and Champion S. winner Haafhd, by Blood-Horse editors have left the text essentially as it out of , had 10 foals from his first crop was originally written, adding only >end notes= at the average 73,900gns at the recent foal sales. In the end of each of the 86 chapters, and correcting or meantime, they have a few others on the go, including updating anything in the text that required it. Intikhab (above), who stands at Derrinstown, in Ireland; Otherwise, this is the essential reference work and this new find, Muhtathir, a boarder at the de covering the major sire lines, particularly as they applied Moussac family=s Haras du Mezeray in France. Again, to North America, from 1900 until, really, the beginning it=s not the most obvious pedigree for sire success: of the contemporary era about 1970: Ruler Muhtathir is by Elmaamul, who was a dual Group 1 (1954), for example, is included, as are winner over 10 furlongs, by Diesis. He was very (1950) and Round Table (1954). Raise a Native (1961) well-bred, but not a very successful sire. Nonetheless, and (also 1961--what was in the Muhtathir won the G1 Marois himself, and has sired water that year?)--the two seminal sires of the last 40 four group winners already (2.44 A Index) from two years--are not. So this book is about what happened crops averaging 40 foals. A full sister to one of them, before their time, and it=s an absolutely invaluable Doctor Dino, sold for i290,000 at Deauville in August reference work. Abram S. Hewitt was a very distinguished man, and a great raconteur. The book is replete with anecdotes, and therefore eminently readable. You forget that, when the great sire line of (1902), (1913) and (1920) developed, leading to the great (1935), that Polymelus=s dam never won a race and changed hands in a seller; Phalaris=s dam was a winner in 10 starts, and the only winner out of 10 foals her dam produced; and that Pharos=s dam, Scapa Flow, was described as a mile-and-a-half plodder who also ran for a tag. So much for >class in the dam= producing the breed=s great sires. Nor had I remembered that Princequillo started life as a $1,500 claimer, and came into his own after he had been claimed by the incomparable >senor,= Horatio Luro, for $2,500. I was disappointed that the book does not include Discovery, who Hewitt refers to in various chapters, but does not devote a chapter to. As Discovery was the damsire of Native Dancer and both, it could just about be argued that he was the most influential in North American pedigrees in the 20th century! But this omission really does not detract from a book that is a wonderful addition to the library of anybody even remotely interested in pedigrees. Available for $49.95 by calling 1-800-582-5604 within the U.S., or by going to the site: www.exclusivelyequine.com.

Bill Oppenheim may be contacted at [email protected]. Please cc TDN management at [email protected].