Mathletic Hammers For €500k To Top Arqana Online

Kingman (GB)'s Mathletic (Fr) (lot 1), second by a neck in the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau, topped the Arqana Online December Sale at €500,000 from Ballymore Stables Australia/Paul Moroney Bloodstock. Also second in the Listed Prix Tantieme, the dual winner is a half-brother to GIII Seaway S. heroine Marbre Rose (Smart Strike), as well as the stakes-winning multiple graded-placed Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and the Listed Prix de Saint-Cyr victress Aviatress (Ire) (Shamardal). The extended family features GI Selene S. winner Zoftig (Cozzene) and her Grade I-winning daughters Zo Impressive (Hard Spun) and Zaftig (Gone West).

Triple group-placed Gregolimo (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) (lot 15) is also bound for Australia, after being picked up for €220,000 by Ballymore and Moroney, as well. Part of the Simone Brogi draft, the 4-year-old won the Listed Prix Nureyev as a 3-year-old.

Wertheimer et Frere consigned Ondulee (Ire) (Adlerflug {Ger}) (lot 2) went to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock. The €150,000 winning 3-year-old filly has been placed twice at listed level and is a daughter of listed winner Wanderina (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}). Hong Kong star Akeed Mofeed (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and two-time Group 1 winner turned sire Hernando (Fr) (Niniski) are also members of the family.

Second on the leaderboards on Thursday was a 1/50th share of rising sire Zarak (Fr), whose eldest foals are just 3-year-olds, that went for €450,000 to David Redvers Bloodstock. The son of Dubawi (Ire) and the Arc heroine Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar) already has nine stakes winners to his name, five at the group level led by seven-figure auction darling G2 Prix de Sandringham heroine Purplepay (Fr), who was third in the G1 Criterium International.

Another lot to make six figures on the day was lot 11, a 1/50th share of Persian King (Ire). Success Bloodstock Agency shelled out €150,000 for an interest in the three-time Group 1-winning French Classic winner. Gestut Sohrenhof snapped up a 1/50th share of Group 1 sire Almanzor (Fr) for €70,000. The shuttle stallion's Manzoice (Aus) claimed the G1 Victoria Derby earlier this year.

Listed winner and G3 Prix du Prince d'Orange third Epic Poet (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) (lot 18), offered by Jean-Claude Rouget, did not meet his reserve and was passed in at €370,000.

At the close of trade, 15 of the 19 lots changed hands for a gross of €1,845,500.

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Horse Racing Ireland Launches Guide

A health, safety and well-being guide for the horse breeding and racing sectors, meant as a resource for the industry covering legislation and detailing best practices was launched by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) on Thursday.

As the first step towards fostering improvements in health and safety standards in the industry, HRI commissioned Red C Research in Spring 2022 to conduct a survey of a cross section of members of the industry, both online and by interview, to canvas attitudes on the subject.

The survey results revealed:
• As many as 41% of respondents did not feel well informed on the subject of health and safety (the problem being most urgent in smaller yards)
• A culture of risk assessment is lacking in the industry, with only 41% confirming that they risk assess at least once a year, and many prepared to admit that they risk assess only in response to a problem emerging
• No more than 50% of respondents said that they have a current safety statement
• Only 44% of respondents provide their staff with training, and of those, 58% would provide only informal training, and many are only training new staff members (and many felt the quality of this is declining)
• There are no uniform standards of health and safety practice in the industry, with the most obvious divide being differences in practice between large and small yards

Carol Nolan, HRI's Director of People and equuip, said, “The results of the Red C Research survey was invaluable to help us create this guide for all of those who feel poorly informed about health and safety issues and don't know where to turn for information. We hope, as a first step, it will help everyone in the industry, especially trainers and breeders, understand all the legal and moral obligations required and provide practical tools and advice to help meet those obligations.”

Visit equuip's website for more information.

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Louis Cella Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Another Oaklawn meet is underway and with the Arkansas track offering the highest purse structure in the country during the winter months, expectations are that it will be another banner season in Hot Springs. To discuss the Oaklawn season, the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland called upon track president Louis Cella to explain why Oaklawn has become such a phenomenon. Cella was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“It's because we don't charge $12 for a beer,” Cella said when asked how Oaklawn continues to draw such big crowds. “We just gave away six tons of corned beef, two sandwiches and a Coke for a dollar last Saturday. To put that in perspective, we had thunderstorms and rolling electric blackouts all day Saturday. Yet we had close to 15,000 people giving away six tons of corned beef because that's their expectation. That's what they want to do. It's all part of having fun. It's part of the excitement of what we offer. We continually focus on affordability and the $2 bettor and more importantly, family.”

Cella has made some changes since taking over as track president in 2017, including the building of a hotel on track grounds. Another is a longer meet. For this meet, Oaklawn will be open from Dec. 9 through May 6. Cella said the extended season has been a success.

“It is working,” he said. “More importantly, our horsemen seem to love it. It fills in a gap. Equally important is that the city of Hot Springs and our community love it.”

And when it comes to the question that always seems to come up whenever Oaklawn is involved…

“I get asked that all the time, when are you going to put in a turf course?” Cella said. “We're not going to put in a turf course. The time of year that we run, call it December to April to May, means we might have to start turf racing in April. It's just not conducive for us.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV and West Point Thoroughbreds, Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley discussed the latest chapter of the Jason Servis story. Servis is facing four years in prison, which Finley said would be a surprisingly light sentence considering that Jorge Navarro got five years. Other subjects included the announcement by the Federal Trade Commission that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority cannot go ahead with plans to start its anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program on Jan. 1 and the suspension handed down by the New York Gaming Commission to NYRA clocker Rich Gazer for changing the distance of a workout. Moss called Gazer's suspension “an absolute joke.”

In on-the-track news, the crew took a look back at the win by Faiza (Girvin) in the GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos and looked ahead to this weekend's action, which includes the GII Los Alamitos Futurity and the Springboard Mile at Remington Park.

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TAA Board of Directors Elects Six New Members

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) Board of Directors voted at its meeting Dec. 14 to add six new directors in 2023. For a second consecutive year, Jeffrey Bloom, managing partner of Bloom Racing Stable, will serve as president of the TAA.

The directors beginning service in 2023 are: Price Bell, general manager of Mill Ridge Farm; Dr. Bonnie Comerford, DVM, veterinarian at Tiegland, Franklin, & Brokken; Joe De Francis, HISA director and managing partner of Gainesville Associates LLC; Georganne Hale–returning for a second term–vice president of racing development of Maryland Jockey Club; Ric Waldman, president of Ric Waldman Thoroughbred Consulting, Inc, Kentucky Thoroughbred Association member; Mark Simendinger, former development manager and general manager of Kentucky Speedway, former member of Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, and former president of Turfway Park.

They join current TAA Directors: Bloom, Madeline Auerbach, Craig Bandoroff, Laura Barillaro, Dr. Jeffrey Berk, Simon Bray, Donna Brothers, Boyd Browning, Aidan Butler, Tom Cannell, Jack Damico, Terry Finley, Melissa Hicks, John Keitt, Chip McGaughey, Josh Rubenstein, Richard Schosberg, Tom Ventura.

TAA directors may serve up to five consecutive years and after five years are required to rotate off the board for a minimum of two years before being eligible for renomination. However, directors are still eligible to serve on TAA committees. James G. Bell, former president and racing manager of Godolphin, served as TAA president in 2014, 2021, and remained on the TAA's board and executive committee for 2022 as immediate past president. After devoting five years of their time, expertise, and resources, Bell, Walt Robertson, Susie Hart, and Nicole Walker will rotate off the TAA Board of Directors come January 2023.

Bloom is joined on the executive committee by TAA Vice Presidents Craig Bandoroff, owner of Denali Stud and Madeline Auerbach, founding board member of the TAA, founder of the California Retirement Management Account (CARMA), and a Thoroughbred owner and breeder; TAA Treasurer Melissa Hicks, director of tax services at Dean Dorton; TAA Secretary Walter Robertson, attorney at Stites & Harbison; Aidan Butler, chief operating officer of 1/ST Racing and president of 1/ST Content; Terry Finley, founder and chief executive officer of West Point Thoroughbreds

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