Group 1 winner and top-level sire Havana Gold (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}–Jessica's Dream {Ire}, by Desert Style {Ire}), passed away at the age of 13 after sustaining a fatal pelvis injury, Tweenhills announced on Thursday afternoon.
Bred by Sir Eric Parker in Ireland, the bay was a 50,000gns buyback at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale turned 80,000 gns Tattersalls October yearling. Bearing the colours of Qatar Racing Limited and CSH on the racecourse, Havana Gold won his first two starts, and by the end of his juvenile season was a victor of both the G3 Somerville Tattersalls S. and the Listed Ascendant S. for Richard Hannon. At three, he added the G1 Prix Jean Prat and was second in the G3 Craven S. and retired to Tweenhills with a mark of 11-5-2-0 and earnings $625,567.
Retired to stud in 2014 where he stood initially for £8,500 and commanded as high a fee as £15,000 in 2018 and 2019, Havana Gold became both the leading UK-based first-season sire in 2017 and the leading UK-based sire of 2-year-olds in 2021.
His first son to stud, Havana Grey (Ire), 3-year-old hero of the G1 Flying Five S. at the Curragh (Ire), was crowned leading UK-based first-season sire last year. Havana Gold was also the sire of 14 other stakes winners including Group 2 winner El Caballo (GB) and Group 3 winners, Tabdeed (GB) and Treasuring (GB). He also is responsible for last season's unbeaten 2-year-old Streets of Gold (Ire).
It was a perfect “circle of life” moment: breeder Christian Black watched Angel of Empire upset the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds from the foaling office at Blackstone Farm in Pennsylvania, patiently awaiting the birth of the next generation.
“I believe I ran out and jumped up and down like a 20-year-old for a couple minutes out there,” said Black. “(Trainer) Brad Cox obviously had three horses in there, and this one was the less well-meant of the three, but I was obviously a little biased so I didn't quite understand that. He's always wanted to go long; he was a horse that looked like that even as a yearling. Watching him win with my night watch person … If you don't get excited about that you probably shouldn't be in the business. It's why we're in the game.”
The aforementioned mare foaled a healthy baby about an hour after the race.
“It was a very good evening on Saturday,” Black said. “As much as this interview is happening because there's something good going on, that's not the most important thing to me. When you walk out each morning and see your babies in the fields and just see the life out there, that's when I truly appreciate everything. It's that simple.”
Born and raised in Denmark, Black became involved with horses via riding lessons. When he went to university, Black took a job mucking stalls to make extra money.
Black moved to the United States in 2006, and met his wife Christina in New York City. Christina was from Lancaster, Pa., so the couple began looking for property nearby.
There was a farm for sale in Pine Grove which was owned by Douglas Black (no relation), though the owner wasn't especially motivated to sell. Instead, Christian Black sat down with the owner and came up with a partnership. Officially, the two partnered in 2010.
Christian Black is now best-known as a managing partner in Blackstone Farm, the leading breeder in Pennsylvania since 2019. The 350-acre Blackstone operation, located about 40 miles northeast of Harrisburg, has produced horses like millionaire Tom's Ready, MATCH Series Champion Bronx Beauty, as well as Pennsylvania champion and graded stakes winner The Critical Way.
“The state has a great program that was associated with the slots being approved,” said Black, “but we decided when we came in here that we wanted to make sure that we bred mares and foals that had commercial value for any owner, whether in Pennsylvania or not.”
Angel of Empire is also a Pennsylvania-bred, though Christian Black bred this particular colt under an entity he solely owns. Black purchased Angel of Empire's dam, Armony's Angel (by To Honor and Serve), for $67,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November sale. She was in foal to Classic Empire at the time, carrying Angel of Empire in utero.
The mare was included with a group of others who were supposed to have gone on to another owner, but the deal fell through and Black wound up keeping the lot.
“Sometimes we take it on the chin,” he quipped. “Of course, looking back, it's a pretty good deal now.”
Angel of Empire winning the Risen Star under Luis Saez
Like most of the mares Black purchases for the Blackstone program, Armony's Angel wasn't classified as a top of the market, high-end broodmare prospect.
“We don't buy in the top end of the market, because we didn't want to build our broodmare band like that,” he said. “You hope to find the best individual that you can with the best gene pool you can, but you have to compromise; sometimes you buy gene pool and sometimes you buy individual.
“The way we do it, we look far down in the pedigree, looking for talent that might jump up in the next generation. Sometimes we have to build or develop that strain of the family ourselves, but I'm a big believer in that there can be very good racemares that can produce daughters that aren't so good on the track, but who then produce an excellent next generation.”
Armony's Angel is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Conquest Big E, so her page had a bit of class to it, but Black said she was purchased more on the merits of her physical type. When the colt was born the following April, Black continued to be pleased with the investment.
“We all kind of stand there and look at them and see if we can look into the future,” Black reflected. “He was kind of an immature sort, kept kind of growing and turning into a two-turn yearling, so I think his sales price reflected that. He was probably not what the main market wants, because he didn't have that big hip developed yet. But always had a big walk and big movement, and he was very straightforward as a foal. Sometimes we want to kind of reinvent the wheel, or to tell you that we knew, but he was just straightforward. When you'd walk out there to the paddock to check on him, he just looked at you and said, 'Hey, I'm good.'”
Angel of Empire brought a final bid of $70,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale from Albaugh Family Stables, and went into training with Brad Cox. Including the Risen Star, the colt now boasts three wins from five starts for earnings of $330,000.
Armony's Angel has gone on to produce a 2021 colt by Collected, Third City, as well as a 2022 full brother to Angel of Empire. Third City brought $23,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton July sale, a price Black believes belied a lack of commercial appeal at that time.
The full brother, now a yearling, is a May 20 foal, but Black is excited for his future.
“He's an absolute cracker of a May foal; you would not point him out in the field with all the other colts and say he's a May foal,” said Black. “He may go to Keeneland September or to Fasig-Tipton Saratoga. I don't think he's going to be the one to make that decision for us.”
While it may be a bit early to be looking at plans for the first Saturday in May, the 50 points earned via his Risen Star win will likely ensure that Angel of Empire has a spot in the Kentucky Derby if his connections so choose.
When Tom's Ready entered the 2016 Kentucky Derby, Black was unable to make it to Churchill Downs to watch as the colt finished 12th. This year, if Angel of Empire should make it into that starting gate, Black will make plans to attend the race in person.
“You know, this is four years on from when we started the process,” he reflected. “There are a lot of hands they have to go through to get to this point, and everything has to go right at each step along the way. I'm very grateful for the connections that buy these horses and all the people that take such good care of them.”
Yuichi Fukunaga, one of the most decorated jockeys in Japanese racing history, paid an emotional tribute to his fans ahead of his retirement rides at the Saudi Cup.
The 46-year-old had his final rides on the Japan Racing Association (JRA) circuit at Tokyo Racecourse earlier this month but will close the chapter on his storied career when he partners Remake (Jpn) (Lani) in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint presented by Sports Boulevard and Ecoro Ares (Unified) in the G3 Saudi Derby presented by Boutique Group on Saturday.
The veteran rider will concentrate fully on his training career upon his retirement from the saddle and told fans of how that new ambition outweighed his desire to continue riding.
“I have found other things I really want to do as my job,” he said. “I never felt I did not like being a jockey. The attraction of becoming a trainer outweighed the motivation to continue my riding career because I have had enough as a jockey. As a trainer, I can be more deeply involved with horses.”
Fukunaga will retire with a spectacular list of achievements. As an established rider, he has collected 45 Grade/Group 1 wins which include 34 on the JRA circuit, six at the National Association of Racing (NAR) level and five overseas.
Those were the American Oaks on Cesario (Jpn) (Special Week {Jpn}) in 2005, three times in Hong Kong on Eishin Preston (Green Dancer) and the Dubai Duty Free on Just A Way (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) in 2014. In 2022, he won the G1 February S. on Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup entrants Cafe Pharoah (Jpn) (American Pharoah) and Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) on Geoglyph (Jpn) (Drefong), having helped Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) land the Japanese Triple Crown in 2020.
He continued, “I'd like to thank all the racing fans for supporting and cheering the horse racing in Japan, I never thought I wanted to quit as a jockey in these 27 years. I am very grateful to all the people involved in my jockey life. I will go to the next stage as a trainer, and I do hope I can train horses that many people want to cheer.”
Fukunaga added, “I want to express my gratitude to the connections for the chances to ride in Saudi Arabia for my final rides. Hopefully I can show their best runs and bring the best results to all the fans in Japan.”
Jun Park and Delia Nash's Sibelius, who became a graded-stakes winner in the Mr. Prospector (G3) on New Year's Eve at Gulfstream Park, is headed to Dubai to run in the $2 million Golden Shaheen (G1) March 25 at Meydan Racecourse.
“We have accepted an invitation to go to Dubai,” trainer Jerry O'Dwyer said. “He came out of his last race good and is doing really well.”
Sibelius has put together back-to-back wins for the first time in his 18-race career, both coming in stakes, starting with the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector, which was just his third graded-stakes attempt.
In that race, his fifth straight with jockey Junior Alvarado, Sibelius raced along the inside in second behind pacesetter Uncle Ernie before being swung out on the far turn to take the lead at the top of the stretch and go on to win by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:23.04. Uncle Ernie returns in Saturday's $125,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint.
“He put it all together that day,” O'Dwyer said. “The Mr. Prospector worked out a bit different than the way he had been running. He was in behind the speed getting dirt in his face and had to rate a little bit and then tip out and go do it. He had to do everything like a proper racehorse does. He didn't get everything his own way.”
Sibelius tuned up for Dubai with a 1 ¼-length victory in the Feb. 11 Pelican at Tampa Bay Downs, completing six furlongs in a stakes record 1:08.75, just .08 off the track record, with Alvarado aboard.
“I was very impressed with him, because he really had to battle off and fend off that other horse [Doctor Oscar] that put it to him the whole way,” O'Dwyer said. “He really had to dig in deep to put that horse away towards the wire.”
Sibelius has won four of his last six starts including his first stakes in the six-furlong Lite the Fuse last September at Pimlico Race Course, a front-running 7 ½-length romp over favored fellow Grade 3 winner Jaxon Traveler.
O'Dwyer said Sibelius will continue his preparations at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, before leaving for Dubai next month.
“He'll have a couple breezes here at Palm Meadows and then he'll ship out. He'll probably have his last breeze on [March] 10th. He doesn't need a lot of hard training,” he said. “He'll have a couple of half-mile breezes. The plan is to breeze him on the 10th, check him over on the 11th and, if all is well, get on the plane on the 12th. He might have a little blowout, maybe an easy three-eighths in 38 [seconds] or something, just to let him stretch his legs over the track out there.”
O'Dwyer traveled to Dubai in 2020 with Grade 2 winner Shotski, who ran fourth in Gulfstream's Fountain of Youth (G2), to take part in the UAE Derby (G2). The card was ultimately canceled following the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic.
“We're excited. I love shipping horses, but I don't like shipping them anywhere unless I think they're live, and I do think he's a very nice, genuine horse and hopefully he can get a nice piece of it out there,” O'Dwyer said.
“It was kind of our target all along if everything went according to plan,” he added. “Our long-term goal since the end of last year was to go to Dubai with him if he kept continuing to run well and progress.”
