FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2019 CHURCHILL DOWNS NORTH AMERICAN FOAL CROP, NUMBER OF STALLIONS, MARES BRED ALL DECLINE ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT by T.D. Thornton Three key North American bloodstock metrics regarding 2018 TO BUY TURFWAY PARK matings and 2019 live foal reports all posted declines from previous-year breeding statistics, The Jockey Club (TJC) announced Thursday. With the reporting of 2019 live foals now estimated at 90% completion, TJC stated in a press release that the 20,363 live foals reported through Sept. 26 represent a 3.6% drop over same-time reporting from last year. Based on that figure, TJC is projecting that the 2019 registered foal crop will ultimately top out at 20,800, which would be the lowest total since 1966, when 20,228 Thoroughbreds were foaled. Cont. p3 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY ENABLE DRAWS NINE AS SHE AIMS FOR THIRD ARC Juddmonte’s Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) drew stall nine as Racing at Turfway Park | Coady Photography she bids to become the first three-time G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc Churchill Downs Incorporated has signed a definitive de Triomphe winner on Sunday. Click or tap here to go agreement to acquire Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky from straight to TDN Europe. Jack Ohio LLC and Hard Rock International for total consideration of $46 million in cash, CDI announced Thursday. The move comes after CDI applied for Turfway’s 2020 dates and announced plans to build a competing racetrack in the region last month. In a press release, CDI also said Turfway’s existing grandstand will be demolished “to make way for a new state-of- the-art facility.” The closing of the transaction is contingent upon approval by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. The KHRC has scheduled a meeting for Oct. 8 and, if the change of control is approved, the parties expect to close the transaction shortly thereafter. “Subject to KHRC approval, the 2019-2020 winter Thoroughbred racing meet at Turfway Park will be conducted on racing dates previously awarded to Turfway Park for December 2019 and in accordance with the schedule of racing dates submitted by JACK to the KHRC for 2020,” the release said. “Upon receiving approval for the change of control, CDI will not pursue its previously announced New Latonia Racing & Gaming project in northern Kentucky and will withdraw its New Latonia race dates application with the KHRC.” Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Friday, October 4, 2019 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN News and Features Editor Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Amie Morosco Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Social Media Strategist Justina Severni An Audible reaction. Onlookers check out WinStar’s newest stallion, Audible (Into Mischief), at his welcoming party Thursday night. Read more on page 9. | Jon Siegel Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes [email protected] THIS SIDE UP: ALIBI REACHING FOR THE SKY 5 Marketing Manager Chris McGrath profiles GI Darley Alcibiades S. contender Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Perfect Alibi and her sire, Sky Mesa. Director of Information Technology Ray Villa CHRB COMMISSIONER FORFEITS OWNER’S LICENSE 9 [email protected] Amid possible conflict of interest charges, CHRB commissioner Bookkeeper Dennis Alfieri has surrendered his California owner's license. Terry May [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES WORLDWIDE INFORMATION EST Race Click for TV International Editor 10:06a Prix Thomas Bryon Jockey Club de Turquie-G3, STC -------------- ------- Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 4:57p Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S.-GII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 5:30p Darley Alcibiades S.-GI, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN 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 13 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • OCTOBER 4, 2019 Churchill Agrees to Buy Turfway cont. from p1 “We are thrilled to welcome Turfway Park to the Churchill Downs racing family,” said Kevin Flanery, President of Churchill Downs Race Track. “Our team is poised to restore Turfway to its former glory, anchored by northern Kentucky’s first historical racing machine facility. The result will be a first-class racing product fueled by increased purses that keeps high-quality horses in Kentucky year-round and appeals to horseplayers nationwide.” TJC Breeding Stats Revealed cont. from p1 The high mark for the continent’s crop was in 1986, when 51,296 Thoroughbreds were foaled. With the exception of one Sunrise at Turfway | Patrycja Szpyra very small (12-foal) uptick in 2015, the North American foal crop has declined every year since 2006. CDI said that, immediately after closing, it will commence According to TJC, 1,630 stallions (down 8.3% from last year) planning for the demolition of Turfway’s grandstand to allow for covered 32,508 mares (down 5.2%) in North America during the development of Turfway Park Racing & Gaming, also called 2018. “New Turfway Park,” which it will invest up to $150 million into For a historical perspective, the number of active stallions on for live racing and a historical Thoroughbred racing machine the continent has now declined in every single year since at facility with up to 1,500 machines. The release additionally least 1991 (the oldest date for which TJC publishes those online stated that plans are in place to build a new inner dirt track to statistics), when TJC reported 6,696 active stallions. The 2018 complement the existing one-mile synthetic main track. figure represents 24.3% of that 1991 year-end stallion total. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 13 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • OCTOBER 4, 2019 And the number of mares bred in 2018 is now just 51.2% of normal,” Morris offered a two-part answer. what the year-end report was for 1991, when 63,479 mares “We’d love to breed more horses if there were buyers for were bred. them. That’s the first part,” Morris said. “But the second part is, The individual leading stallions in terms of foals produced in you see what the percentages are of how much [Kentucky] is 2019 are Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) with 199; Klimt contributing. We’ve never contributed this much to the foal (Quality Road) with 158; Cupid (Tapit) with 153; Overanalyze crop, ever. Not to tempt fate, but if you look at Books 1 through (Dixie Union) with 151, and Practical Joke (Into Mischief) with 4 of Keeneland September and compare those averages and 147. medians from 2018 to 2019, there was appreciable growth. Most of those were our horses. So it shows that there is an appetite for what I’d characterize as the commercial market, still, for our horses. Into Mischief produced 199 foals in 2019, “As far as larger questions that are outside of the realm of easily pacing all North American stallions | Joy Gilbert breeders, [the answers] really depend more on the health of racing, not only in North America but around the world,” Morris The state of the states continued. “We’d love to breed more horses. I think we’re As expected, perennial bloodstock epicenter Kentucky topped breeding quite a bit here in Kentucky. And hopefully, at some the continent in terms of Thoroughbred breeding activity. point, we outlast this plateau and have growth.” Kentucky-based stallions accounted for 53.7% of the mares Cont. p5 reported bred in North America in 2018 and 59.9% of the live foals reported for 2019. Individual Kentucky stallions took the top 36 placings on TJC’s list in terms of number of foals produced, and they also occupied the top 18 positions in number of mares bred. The 17,446 mares reported bred to 241 Kentucky stallions in 2018 produced 12,200 live foals, a 1.4% decrease on a year-to-year comparison. The number of mares reported bred to Kentucky stallions in 2018 increased slightly, by 0.3%. Chauncey Morris, the executive director of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders (KTA/KTOB), told TDN that even though the industry has contracted for the better part of a decade, “We’re still the deepest part of the lake here in Kentucky as far as breeding is concerned. The Kentucky-bred horses really distinguish themselves in open company in North America and also around the world.” When asked if he thought the year-after year declines now require bloodstock benchmarks that are based on a “new TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 13 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • OCTOBER 4, 2019 Among the 10 states and provinces with the most mares TJC reported that 279 stallions mated but did not produce a covered in 2018, three produced more live foals in 2019 than in live foal. 2018: Maryland (up 11.2%), California (up 2.2%), and Louisiana (up 2.1%). The 80/20 Rule “It’s really competitive in this region,” said Cricket Goodall, the You’ve heard of the 80/20 rule. That’s the long-established executive director of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association. economics axiom that rings true across all sorts of large-number “We’ve got some new and exciting stallions, and I think that endeavors, consistently showing that the top 20% in any given piques people’s interest and gets people to pay attention here.