HEADLINE NEWS • 8/10/07 • PAGE 2 of 6
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Todds Hope for Million repeat p. 2 HEADLINE For information about TDN, call 732-747-8060. NEWS www.thoroughbreddailynews.com FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2007 HENNESSY DEAD CHANNEL MEETS TALK AGAIN Coolmore Stud=s prominent sire Hennessy (Storm Veteran runners English Channel (Smart Strike) and Cat--Island Kitty, by *Hawaii) died yesterday in Argen- Better Talk Now (Talkin Man) face off for the seventh tina at La Mission Stud, where he was standing the time in Saturday=s GI Sword Dancer Invitational S. at 2007 Southern Hemisphere Saratoga. Better Talk Now edged season. He was 14 years old. out English Channel to win the AHe died of a heart attack,@ June 9 GI Manhattan H., but the said Coolmore spokesman chestnut turned the tables on his Richard Henry. AIt was one of rival while winning the July 7 GI those freak things. He=s been a United Nations H. AThey have great servant to us and we=re been two mainstays in some of sorry for the Argentinians.@ A the country=s biggest turf races Hennessy coolmore.com Grade I winner on the track, for quite some time and they=re Equi-Photo Hennessy has been repre- English Channel nice horses,@ said Todd Pletcher, sented by a number of top runners as a sire, including who trains English Channel for champion Johannesburg, Henny Hughes, Madcap Esca- James Scatuorchio. AThey always pade and Silver Tree. Hennessy cont. p3 show up and run hard. I have a FLASHY BULL RETIRED ton of respect for Better Talk Now. It s a great match-up be- Flashy Bull (Holy Bull--Iridescence, by Mt. Livermore), = tween the two. Now eight, Better winner of the GI Stephen Foster H., has been retired @ from racing due to an ankle injury. Racing for West Talk Now captured the 2004 GI Point Thoroughbreds, the gray culminated a four-race Breeders= Cup Turf and came up win streak with his June 16 Stephen Foster victory just a half-length short of a second over Magna Graduate. He also won the GIII William win in the race when runner-up Donald Schaefer H. at Pimlico. The ankle injury was behind Red Rocks (Ire) last year. Better Talk Now discovered after Flashy Bull=s seventh-place finish in the AEventually, I think people will real- A Coglianese July 28 GI Whitney H. AFlashy Bull was a little off when ize he is one of the best American we took him back to the track after the Whitney,@ ex- turf horses ever,@ trainer H. Graham Motion said of plained trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. AWe did some tests Better Talk Now. AHe=s second to only John Henry in and it looks like he injured himself in the race. It is quite turf earnings. He=s won nearly every big turf race you a disappointment because were just starting to see how would want to win.@ good Flashy Bull could be. He was one of the soundest horses I have trained and he ran against the best of his Saturday, Saratoga SWORD DANCER INVITATIONAL S.-GI, $500,000, peers at age two, three and four.@ As a two-year-old, Flashy Bull was second in the 2005 GII Remsen S. He 3yo/up, 1 1/2mT was also second in last year=s GII Fountain of Youth S. PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY WT and third in the GII Ohio Derby. On the board in 13 of 1 Fri Guy Theatrical (Ire) Prado 116 19 races, he won five races and earned $844,313. 2 Trippi=s Storm Trippi Castellano 116 AHorses like this don=t come along too often,@ said West 3 Better Talk Now Talkin Man Dominguez 123 Point Thoroughbreds founder and President Terry 4 Embossed (Ire) Mark of Esteem (Ire) Coa 116 Finley. AHe was the stable=s first Grade I winner. We 5 English Channel Smart Strike Velazquez 123 wish that his racing career could continue, but we=ve 6 Crown Point Honor Grades Bejarano 116 gotten a tremendous amount of interest in him as a 7 Grand Couturier (GB) Grand Lodge Borel 116 stallion. We are weighing all our options and will make 8 Ramazutti Honor Grades Desormeaux 118 a decision on his stallion plans at a later date.@ 9 Always First (GB) Barathea (Ire) Velasquez 116 (859) 233-4252 www.claibornefarm.com TDN P HEADLINE NEWS • 8/10/07 • PAGE 2 of 6 AShe was worth it as a broodmare, if nothing else. She wound up winning the Autumn Days [at Santa Anita] in 1976. But the ankle became a problem.@ Referred to Buck Pond Farm in Kentucky, Todd struck up a friendship with the owners, George and Susan Proskauer, and sent Dancing Liz to Kentucky to be bred. He recalled a visit to Darby Dan Farm in 1978. HEART OF THE MATTER AWe went over to Darby Dan and were speaking to On Saturday, The Tin Man will attempt to do some- Olin Gentry=s secretary,@ Todd said. AThe door was open thing that even John Henry couldn=t: win consecutive to his office, and he said >Send >em in.= It was a warm, renewals of the GI Arlington Million. But the nine-year- sunny day and he showed us around the farm. I learned old doesn=t need another trophy to keep his place in the more about the horse business that day than I had in hearts of owner/breeders Aury and Ralph Todd. my entire life. [Gentry said about Dancing Liz], >You=ve AI=d love to be the first to win back to back, but it=s got a gold mine here.= He told me to stand my ground always the same thing,@ Ralph Todd said yesterday via and make sure I get who I wanted, not get involved in telephone. AAs long as he runs well and comes back some deal with a first-year horse.@ healthy, that=s the important thing.@ AI really wanted to breed her to Buckpasser, but he A resident of Santa Ynez, California, Todd was keep- died that year, and that=s how we wound up going to ing an eye on fires burning near Santa Barbara and Riva Ridge.@ Montecito, but plans to fly out to watch The Tin Man=s Dancing Liz=s first foal was the winning Riva Ridge attempt to make history. colt Restrike, but it was her later foals who wound up AAs long as the winds don=t change drastically, we=ll having an impact for Todd. Her second, the Cornish be OK,@ the 74-year-old said. Prince colt Secular, was one of the first horses Richard Married in 1956, Todd worked for a plumbing con- Mandella trained for him; her third, a daughter of Tom tractor. AThe owner=s dad was a race fan, so we used Rolfe named Lizzie Rolfe, became the dam of MSW to drive over to Hollywood Park,@ he recalled. AI used to Mama Simba (Mamaison) and, later, The Tin Man him- talk my wife into giving me $10 to bet on the horses.@ self. Todd went into the wholesale plumbing supply busi- In 1985, Dancing Liz produced a powerful *Forli colt ness on his own in 1966, establishing Todd Pipe & named Oraibi. The chestnut rattled off four straight Supply. After attending some auctions at Hollywood wins for the Todds at three, capped by the GII Malibu Park, he began to be interested in owning racehorses in S. He later added the GIII Sierra Madre H. and earned the early 1970s. $383,100, but never reached his full potential due to a AA high school friend said there was a guy in Orange cracked cannon bone. County selling his horses--mares, two-year-olds,@ Todd ABefore The Tin Man, he was absolutely the best said. AWe got together and decided to have some fun.@ horse I had,@ Todd said. AHe was better than what you The partnership bought a group of horses for Aabout see. He was built like Mike Tyson. He was so mellow, $100,000,@ but didn=t have much success. you could have him sit on the couch with you--The Tin AI thought they knew what they were doing. I knew I Man is like that, too--I=d stand in front of the webbing didn=t know what I was doing,@ Todd explained. AOf with my back to [Oraibi]. He=d put his head on my course, we sold the best and kept the worst.@ shoulder and just relax.@ Shortly afterwards, Todd went on his own, buying a There were some inquiries from Kentucky regarding filly who wound up becoming his foundation mare. Oraibi as a stallion in 1991, but, as Todd put it, AThings AWally Dollase said there was little Northern Dancer were tough at that time for everyone,@ and the chestnut filly that was for sale,@ he said. AShe was recuperating went on to stand in California, siring stakes winners from an ankle chip. I had my friend Dave Remstein go Saylo and Rio Oro from nine crops to race. look at her. He said she was really good looking, but Mama Simba bankrolled $505,775 during five sea- tiny. I looked at her past performances and saw she=d sons of racing for the Todds, and her daughters Call held her own at Saratoga against some nice fillies.@ Mama (Phone Trick) and the stakes-placed Midnite Todd paid $30,000 for Dancing Liz (Northern Mama (Affirmed) remain as mainstays of the Todds= Dancer). AI thought it was fair value,@ he said. broodmare band. Cont. p3 TDN P HEADLINE NEWS • 8/10/07 • PAGE 3 of 6 Hennessy: Bred to Be a Good One (cont.