November, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Desert Debuters: Expensive Nyquist Fillies Get Started

In this series, we will have a look at first-time starters entered for age-restricted maiden races on the week's main live program at Meydan Racecourse, focusing specifically on pedigree and/or performance in sales ring, both domestic and abroad. With the exception of Thursday, Dec. 1, Super Saturday, Mar. 4, and Dubai World Cup night Mar. 25, the main meeting at Meydan takes place on Fridays. Six meetings are to be staged at the UAE's flagship racecourse prior to the start of the Dubai World Cup Carnival Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. Nine Carnival cards are programmed from January through March. Here is a look at this this Thursday's entries:

Thursday, December 1, 2022
2nd-Meydan, AED82,500 ($22,464), Maiden, 2yo, f, 1400m
ASAWER (f, 2, Nyquist–How My Heart Works, by Not For Love) is a half-sister to fellow Maryland-bred dual stakes winner and Grade III-placed Monday Morning Qb (Imagining) and cost noted reseller Cary Frommer $200,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October Sale before hammering for $450,000 after breezing a furlong in :10 2/5 at this year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale. There is further pedigree to recommend her, as How My Heart Works is a half-sister to MSW & MGSP Awesome Flower (Flower Alley), the dam of current dual Grade I winner and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile runner-up Cyberknife (Gun Runner). This is also the female family of G1 Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed (Tiznow). Pat Dobbs rides for perennial leading trainer Doug Watson.

Habooba (f, 2, Nyquist–Westside Tapstress, by Lookin At Lucky) is out of a half-sister to Grade III winner Discreet Hero (Honour and Glory) and was also purchased out of this year's Midlantic sale, where she breezed an eighth of a mile in :10 flat and was knocked down for $475,000. The Feb. 17 foal is from the family of MGSW Informed (Tiznow).

The post Desert Debuters: Expensive Nyquist Fillies Get Started appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

EPM Recurrence: Does It Happen?

A horse that has been infected with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) has inflammation and tissue damage to the brain and spinal cord which may cause transient lameness or incoordination. Infected horses may also be weak, lethargic, or have gait changes.

Some horses may show mild signs of infection, while others become severely compromised. EPM can be confused with other equine issues, so a clear diagnosis is imperative to ensure the horse is being treated for the proper condition.

EPM is primarily caused by Sarcocystis neurona, but it can also be caused by a similar organism, Neospora hughesi. Most horses with EPM respond well to treatment, which includes antiprotozoal or antiparasitic medications like ponazuril, diclazuril, or sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine, reports EQUUS magazine.

However, neurologic signs can return months or years after the original diagnosis and treatment, and treatment may be again required. Unlike viruses and bacteria, to which a horse can develop lifetime immunity, the parasites that cause EPM are skilled at surviving even a concerted medicinal treatment plan.

Making complete clearing of the parasite even more complicated is the fact that the protozoa crosses into the horse's central nervous system, an area of the body that allows the protozoa to “hide” from treatment.

How often horses experience EPM relapses is not known. In one study, 8 percent of horses being treated for EPM relapsed within 90 days after the EPM treatment was stopped. Multiple factors are most likely related to EPM relapses in horses, including the type of drug used for treatment, its dosage and the duration of treatment, as well as the individual horse's immune system function.

[Story Continues Below]

There may also be variations in EPM strains, though this has not been investigated.

If a horse experiences an EPM relapse, the treating veterinarian may recommend an additional round of treatment or that the owner treat the horse with ponazuril or diclazuril and lengthen treatment duration.

Bloodlines Presented By Mishriff: Instant Coffee Heats Up Bolt d’Oro’s Chances At Freshman Sire Title

Although there is still quite a bit of purse money to race for in the coming 30-odd days of 2022, the freshman sire list has firmed up considerably. Atop the rankings is the juvenile Grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro (by Medaglia d'Oro). If the bay colt retains his position, he will become the first son of Medaglia d'Oro to lead a sire list and the first descendant of the Sadler's Wells branch of Northern Dancer to lead a sire list in the States since Kitten's Joy in 2018.

On Nov. 26, Bolt d'Oro's son Instant Coffee became the stallion's fifth stakes victor with a 1 1/4-length success in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. Instant Coffee is his sire's third graded winner, and the sire has nine racers who are stakes-placed.

Unhurried early behind slow fractions, Instant Coffee came strongly through the final three-sixteenths to win as the 1.54-to-1 favorite over Curly Jack (Good Magic), who was the second choice, had won the previous G3 Iroquois Stakes, and is one of five stakes winners by freshman sire and Eclipse champion juvenile Good Magic (Curlin), who is second to Bolt d'Oro on the freshman sire list.

If $100,000 in earnings represents a length, Bolt d'Oro is currently about three-quarters of a length ahead of Good Magic, and Justify (Scat Daddy) is about 1 ¾ lengths back in third. Then, Army Mule (Friesan Fire) is 3 ¼ lengths back in fourth, with a length on Sharp Azteca (Freud) in fifth.

Clearly, this is no 2021, when Gun Runner won the freshman sire contest by a pole, because even now there is significant room for competition among the leading cadre, and less than two lengths covers the next quartet: Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy), Girvin (Tale of Ekati), Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy), and Mo Town (Uncle Mo).

Other points of importance to consider among the freshmen sires is that numbers matter. Of the 73 stallions with first-year starters, only 10 had more than 100 foals. Five of those fill the top six positions, and all 10 rank among the top 18. Only Army Mule (93) broke through the barrier of the most popular stallions, and he's not far from 100 first-crop foals.

Oscar Performance has the smallest number of foals (72) among the stallions in the top 10, and three in the top set have more than double that number: Mendelssohn (152), Bolt d'Oro (146), and Good Magic (145). In contrast, the stallion with the fewest foals among the top 20 is 12th-place Awesome Slew (Awesome Again), with 36. Yes, some of the stallions have crops exceeding his by more than 100.

Awesome Slew stands at the O'Farrell family's Ocala Stud in Florida, and Girvin also stood there until the exploits of his first crop racers, notably four stakes winners, including G2 Saratoga Special winner Damon's Mound, propelled a transfer to Airdrie Stud in Kentucky.

Two of the stakes winners by Girvin won restricted races in Florida, parts of the Florida Stallion Stakes Series, and the chief winner by Awesome Slew, Awesome Strong, won the In Reality and the Affirmed divisions of the stallion stakes.

Although both of those young sires benefited somewhat from standing in a regional market, that fact also circumscribed their opportunities to a degree because there are not as many mares elsewhere as in Kentucky, nor all of an equal quality.

One such good, young, well-pedigreed mare beginning her producing career is the dam of Instant Coffee.

Bred in Kentucky by Sagamore Farm LLC, Instant Coffee may be the last horse bred by Kevin Plank's Maryland-based operation that was dispersed in 2018. Hunter Rankin, who was president of Sagamore, said that Instant Coffee's dam, the Uncle Mo mare Follow No One, “didn't sell at the Keeneland November sale as a broodmare prospect, and Kevin did a deal with my parents [who own Upson Downs Farm]. That's why Sagamore is listed as the breeder. She and the foal were both at Upson Downs all along.”

Support our journalism

If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.

Rankin also bought the mare for Sagamore as a 2-year-old in training. He said, “Gatewood Bell had bought her as a yearling for $20,000 at the September sale, sent her to Eddie Woods as a 2-year-old, and I bought her for $100,000 at the April sale.” Still noticeably immature by the time of the sale, Follow No One showed some athleticism while working a quarter on synthetic in :21 1/5.

“Eddie thought she'd run through her conditions,” Rankin continued, “maybe get black type – which is exactly what happened [third in the Alma North Stakes at three]. She had some little things to work through, but she had some talent. It's really exciting to have her get a really nice colt as her first foal.”

Upson Downs consigned Instant Coffee for Sagamore at last year's September sale, and the dark brown colt brought $200,000 from Joe Hardoon, agent, and races for Gold Square LLC. “He won his maiden at Saratoga the week before the September sale,” Rankin recalled, which advertised the upside potential of his year-younger half-sister, a filly by Frosted (Tapit). Upson Downs sold their filly at the 2022 Keeneland September sale for $160,000 to HR Bloodstock.

Follow No One slipped to Speightstown (Gone West) but is in foal to Maclean's Music (Distorted Humor) for 2023. A mate for next spring hasn't been chosen.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mishriff: Instant Coffee Heats Up Bolt d’Oro’s Chances At Freshman Sire Title appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Alcohol Free Joins Waterhouse/Bott Stable with Everest the Aim

Four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never), who topped the Tattersalls December Mares Sale on Tuesday evening when selling for 5,400,000gns to Yuesheng Zhang's Yulong Investments, will be trained in Australia by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Yulong's chief operating officer Sam Fairgray confirmed to TDNAusNZ on Wednesday that the 4-year-old, formerly trained by Andrew Balding and a Group 1 winner at two, three and four, will potentially be aimed towards the A$15-million The Everest.

He said, “If everything fell into place she would definitely take her place for us in The Everest and, given her race record, I think she would be very competitive. She is going into training with Gai and Adrian so it is going to be really interesting to see how she will perform over here.

“It is fantastic. She is a very exciting mare and she is obviously high-class and it is great for the industry that she is coming down to race here against the Australian competition, but then she will have a great career as a broodmare as well. It is what Mr Zhang is about and trying to achieve and to have her race on is a bonus as well.”

Fairgray continued, “There is no limit to the options for any of the mares he buys. He has a very broad mind and he is very passionate about racing.

“It is a nice thing to be able to interchange some of these mares between hemispheres and obviously with Lucky Vega (Ire) he is going to get supported with some fantastic mares in his second year, it's really very good for him.”

Yulong Investments already own Alcohol Free's dam, the Hard Spun mare Plying, who was bought for for €825,000 at last year's Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale and is currently in foal to Irish National Stud resident Lucky Vega with a foal by the son of Lope de Vega (Ire) on the ground.

The Yulong team has been working in partnership with Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland, who purchased over 30 fillies and mares at Tattersalls this week. Another of those, the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Gan Teorainn (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), is also heading south to Sydney. Formerly trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger, she will join Chris Waller's stable.

Donohoe said, “She's a big 2-year-old and what she did this year is extraordinary for a big filly. Again, she vetted exceptionally well and we'll give her a little bit of time to acclimatise in Australia. She's for the same syndicate of people who bought Alcohol Free.”

The post Alcohol Free Joins Waterhouse/Bott Stable with Everest the Aim appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post