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Seven Days: Hooked on Hukum

It's Goodwood, it's Galway, but this week's column comes to you from Glorious Golspie, 170 miles north of Britain's most northerly racecourse, and roughly the same distance across Scotland from the country's most recent retiree from the training ranks. Keith Dalgleish has packed up his stable at Carluke and moved to Oban in the western Highlands to pursue, at his own choosing, a life outside racing. A successful jockey in his days working for fellow Scot Mark Johnston, and later Scotland's most prolific trainer, Dalgleish will be missed both north and south of the border. We wish him well.

Life in the Highlands certainly has its appeal. Over the last week there have been peregrine falcons, seals, sheep and cattle, not to mention my faithful lurcher, to fan my love of fur and feather, but I miss the horses. I missed being at Ascot, too, for a proper humdinger of a 'King George'.

With August now upon us, the Arc is just two months away. It may still feel like we've only just dried out from a horribly wet Guineas weekend but the season, and life, gallops on. It appears that it will be at Longchamp that we next see Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in public, and thank goodness that he was allowed to gallop on, eventually, after the injury he sustained when winning the Coronation Cup last season.

The Classics are, of course, important tests by which we measure Thoroughbreds and, with such a premium on precocity, some budding young stars are never allowed to perform beyond even their juvenile season. The later-maturing types, however, may not even be ready to show their mettle in a Classic. Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}), beaten only a head by Hukum in the King George, is clearly still improving, despite having been a brilliant three-year-old who was third in the Derby before winning the Irish Derby. Hukum, whose Classic year was the Covid-delayed season of 2020, was given a Derby entry but didn't run at Epsom after winning the King George V H. and being struck into during that race. (Royal Ascot, in that strange season, was run before the Derby meeting.) It is impossible to say how much that may have been a blessing in disguise, and Hukum did run fifth in the St Leger, but the initial softly-softly approach of his trainer Owen Burrows, perhaps as much by necessity as by design, is certainly paying dividends now. Hukum's progression has been immense: from solid multiple Group 3 winner in the shadow of his celebrated younger brother Baaeed (GB) to star status himself.

Baaeed was the top-rated turf horse in the world last year. Hukum would have to win the Arc in sensational fashion to overturn Equinox (Jpn) or his fellow Shadwell colour-bearer Mostahdaf (Ire), but he is bearing down on them and, as we saw on Saturday, he doesn't shirk a battle.

It is not the first time, either, that siblings from this family, passed on from the late Queen to Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum through the sale of Height Of Fashion (Fr) (Bustino {GB}), have excelled. In 1989, Height Of Fashion's son Nashwan (Blushing Groom {Fr}) added the King George to his victories in the 2,000 Guineas, Derby, and Eclipse. That same year, his half-brother Unfuwain (Northern Dancer) won the G2 Jockey Club S. after landing the previous year's G2 Princess of Wales's S. Later, another half-brother, Nayef (Gulch), piled extra glory on the family with four Group 1 victories, including the Prince of Wales's and Champion S. Previously, for the Queen, both Height Of Fashion and her half-brother Milford (GB) (Mill Reef) won the the G2 Princess of Wales's S.

However long Burrows holds a training licence, it is unlikely any horse will ever surpass Hukum in his regard. The trainer's first Royal Ascot winner, first winner in Dubai at a crucial and emotional time for the Shadwell operation, and his first Group 1 winner, the six-year-old has been the most wonderful advertisement for the talents of Burrows, who spent many a year learning from Sir Michael Stoute, himself a master at handling progressive, middle-distance horses of this ilk.

Following a banner weekend for his stable, when Alfaila (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) also won the G2 York S. for his major patron, it is worth reflecting that Burrows has but a fraction of the equine ammunition gifted to some of the country's biggest stables. Of the top 20 trainers in Britain, he has been represented by the fewest number of runs (62 for 29 horses) with the next lowest in that group having been 142 runs for Julie Camacho's 53 runners. How wonderful, too, to have seen her stable shine through with a serious horse this year in the dual Group 1 winner Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}).

It is, of course, each owner's prerogative to send their horse wherever they like to be trained, and to run them where and when they like, even if the braying mob on Twitter (yes, I'm still calling it that) may think otherwise. But at a time when the trainer numbers are falling in Britain and Ireland, and racing could do with extra diversity in its stories, it would be refreshing to see some of the major owners consider their options more widely.

With so many of the better horses in increasingly fewer hands, one can't help wondering about the knock-on effect this has, not just on field sizes, but on that key tier of horses just below the top level who appear to be missing from our racecourses. Admittedly, a number of them are sold to race on abroad for more lucrative prize-money. But how many perhaps do not contest as many big races as they might do in other hands when situations might arise in which a trainer could have several realistic chances for a Pattern race but only wishes to run one, or maybe two, in it? A more even spread among a wider range of trainers would surely increase the competitiveness of a good number of Pattern races.

What next for Epsom heroes?

It was not a good week for Derby winners. Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who also won the 2021 King George, was officially retired after being well beaten into second in the G2 Princess of Wales's S. at Newmarket, having added the rescheduled G3 Gordon Richards S. to his wins' tally on his seasonal resumption.

Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) was again stood down, this time with a leg infection, while Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who started favourite for the King George, continued his 'all duck or no dinner' season when being eased down a long way out and cantering over the line in last place.

It is fervently hoped that both Desert Crown and Auguste Rodin will return to the fray and to the level of form that it took to win at Epsom in the first place. Racing careers for colts at this level are of course always conducted with a weather eye on a future stallion career. Losses can be costly, but the level of interest in Saturday's big race and those major weight-for-age contests to come show just how much giving such horses a chance to race beyond their Classic season enhances the level of engagement with the racing public.

It is worth considering, too, how much the World Pool is boosted by a decent double-figure field. For the King George card on Saturday, World Pool turnover reached a new high of HK$287.3m (£28.8m), up from HK$253.4m last year, albeit the number of races on the day increased from seven to eight. Of that, HK$49.4m (£4.9m), the highest turnover for any race on the day, was bet on the King George, which was up from HK$29.9m (£3.2m) in 2022 when there were only six runners.

The Rothschild for Rothschild

While Sea The Stars had bragging rights through Hukum at Ascot, it was his fellow Aga Khan Studs stallion Siyouni (Fr) who had a major say in events during Deauville's opening meeting on Sunday.

While being responsible for a new TDN Rising Star in the juvenile Elbaz (Fr), from the family of Siyouni's first Classic winner Ervedya (Fr), most notably he was represented by a new Group 1 winner, Mqse de Sevgine (Fr). The four-year-old's win was extra special for her owner/breeder Baron Edouard de Rothschild, whose family gave the race its name.

Rothschild, who under more normal circumstances would have been presenting the trophy, instead accepted it from his son Louis, and he admitted that his thoughts were very much with his father. The latter, Baron Guy de Rothschild, who died in 2007, not only bred the winner's dam, Penne (Fr), but also her sire, Sevres Rose (Fr), granddam Une Pensee (Fr), and that mare's sire, Kenmare (Fr).

The name Sevres Rose won't be jumping off too many pedigree pages. The son of Caerleon was unraced but, as a son of Rothschild's homebred G1 Prix Vermeille winner Indian Rose (Fr) (General Holme) and grandson of the classy stayer and top producer Lady Berry (Fr) (Violin d'Ingres {Fr}), he was afforded a place at stud, standing for several years at Haras du Quesnay and later at the Rothschild family's Haras de Meautry.

As a Listed place-getter and dual winner, Penne, one of six foals by her sire born in 2003, was certainly to the forefront of Sevres Rose's runners, though his best is arguably the G3 Prix de la Nonette winner Viane Rose (Fr), who was later bought as a broodmare prospect by Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm. Her group success in 2005 may well have helped Sevres Rose to his record number of foals in his 14 years of covering. From a total of 127 foals born through those years, 42 of them arrived in 2007.

Although Viane Rose has a pair of Listed winners among her seven winning offspring in Japan, she has been far outdone by Penne at stud. Mqse De Sevigne is the latter's second Group 1 winner following Meandre (Fr) (Slickly {Fr}), whose four wins at the highest level included the Grand Prix de Paris. A top-class winning filly ensures the line of succession for the equine family as much as it will encourage the humans involved to continue in their successful endeavours which have seen the Haras de Meautry remain in the family's ownership since its inception in 1875.

Renaissance

Hardly anyone will have been more delighted with the French resurgence on the track this season than Edouard de Rothschild, who combines his breeding activities with being president of France Galop.

All four French Classics run in 2023 have been won by French-trained horses, as well as five other Group 1s. Only Ralph Beckett and Owen Burrows have so far made off with a French Group 1 trophy, courtesy of Westover and Anmaat (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}). In Ace Impact (Fr) (Cracksman {GB}), Blue Rose Cen (Fr), and Feed The Flame (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), the French also look to have three of the best three-year-olds in Europe.

Sangster's Winning Combination

A chestnut filly by New Bay (GB), bred at Ballylinch Stud, winning a stakes race in the silks of Lucy Sangster? One could be forgiven for thinking that this was Saffron Beach (Ire) all over again, but there is one key difference for the young filly following in her considerable wake.

While Ollie Sangster was the co-owner, with his mother and James Wigan, of the dual Group 1 winner Saffron Beach, he is the trainer of Shuwari (Ire), the latest black-type winner for New Bay and the first to score at stakes level for Sangster, who is in his first season training at Manton. With seven winners from 29 starts to date, he has made a promising start to his career with his 27 horses on the books.

Shuwari, who is co-owned by her breeder Ballylinch Stud, added the Listed EBF Star S. to her maiden success at Newbury a month earlier, and is the stand-out of the string so far. The young trainer also now has one of the rising forces of the ownership ranks in his stable following the private sale of Per Contra (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {Ire}) to Wathnan Racing after his winning debut at Chepstow. Ruled out of a start in the G2 Vintage S. this week, the colt holds an entry for the G2 Champagne S. next month.

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Horowitz On OTTBs Presented by Excel Equine: New Information Will Go Long Way In Benefiting Horses

Horse racing is full of statistics, arguably as much as any other sport. Also, if you look at past performances or results charts from a century ago, you'll see much of the same information then as you do now.

The Jockey Club has been the curator of much of the information for horse racing in North America since its founding in 1894. It maintains and publishes the American Stud Book, the genealogical archive for Thoroughbreds in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The Jockey Club also partners with the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America to run Equibase, the archive that meticulously charts the action in horse races across North America.

Heading into its 130th anniversary, The Jockey Club is now exploring new information to track, and that information will be extremely valuable for the continued well-being of the equine athletes and the sport. It will go a long way to addressing horse racing's social license to operate. On Aug. 3, in her remarks at The Jockey Club's 2023 Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing, Kristin Werner, senior counsel for The Jockey Club, will present about the topic of traceability of Thoroughbreds.

To be clear, horse racing's historical statistics have always facilitated traceability, although it's been confined to a horse's racing career. However, there's now more focus than ever on tracking these horses after their racing careers are finished. Some of that is for positive reasons that celebrate the Thoroughbred. For example, the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover has revolutionized the market for OTTBs by spotlighting the viability and versatility of the Thoroughbred racehorse as a sporthorse. Since 2020, with thanks to the support from Excel Equine, this column has shared stories about Thoroughbreds like:

Sorocaima and Palm Crescent, who went from racing to competing at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event;
Cozmic One, who has become an ambassador for the partnership between the racehorse and sporthorse worlds;
Canton Comet, who inspired hunter/jumper and dressage trainer Samantha Fawcett to breed her first racehorse after they competed in the Thoroughbred Makeover; and
many more examples because there are plenty of stories like these.

Unfortunately, there are also negative reasons for motivating traceability after horses finish their racing careers. The kill pen economy is stronger than ever. When a former racehorse ends up in these situations, regardless of how long it's been since that horse has been on the track or how many hands through which that horse has passed since they retired from racing, the spotlight gets put on that horse's connection to the racing industry.

When Werner discusses traceability of Thoroughbreds at the Round Table Conference, the focus will be on how it will help horses that end up in bad situations. It will be an important step toward helping track the first steps racing connections make when their horse leaves the racing world for the world outside of the stable gates.

“My talk is really just going to be touching on the topic, and after that, we have some software development that we're going to be working on that's an effort of furthering traceability,” Werner said. “With digital certificates now, we have a great opportunity to be able to have information about horses that we didn't have when there were just paper certificates because the paper certificates were just out there floating around. So, we're hoping to leverage the digital certificates with traceability.”

The end result will be a framework that answers the question, “Where are these horses coming from before they go to the kill pen and can we capture that information ahead of time?” Werner said. “If we can capture the information from the owners or trainers that are sending them to bad situations, can we redirect their efforts to all these options that we have out there—whether it's an aftercare organization, a private organization, the racetracks with aftercare liaisons to get those horses to a better place—and remind people that these Thoroughbreds have value if they are sound and coming off the track in a healthy way.”

From there, the future possibilities are endless, and that is what I'd like to explore in this space, as well as an area that the Retired Racehorse Project is looking to lead the movement for the evolution of the influential organization and for the future of the industry.

“The vast majority of racing connections want to know where their horses end up,” RRP executive director Kirsten Green said. “So then the big question becomes who has the bandwidth, the capacity to take the responsibility to support what it's going to take to build something like that? That's the question we're in the middle of trying to answer right now. I certainly think RRP has a position to play a part in that where we don't have the capacity to gather the full picture, but we certainly have the groundwork for something like that because we are a very data-minded organization and have a proprietary system where we've been collecting data on Makeover horses over all these years.”

Here is one example of traceability based on what I do in my broadcasting of horse races and horse shows involving Emily's Pegasus, a 2016 chestnut mare bred in Louisiana that raced 23 times from 2018 to 2020. A quick look at her past performances shows how straightforward it is to trace her steps during her racing career in terms of who owned her, trained her, where she was stabled, and her record in races and workouts.

What she did after her last race on May 13, 2020, is not currently connected with her racing biography, although I happen to know it because she arrived at our Super G Sporthorses farm in Colorado five days after her last race. Brit Vegas, who transitions many OTTBs from the racetrack to new careers through her Royal Fox Stables in Nebraska, acquired Emily's Pegasus from her last racing connections at Fonner Park. My wife, Ashley, bought the mare she calls “Sussy” from Brit.

That Brit bought Emily's Pegasus from the racetrack, a private sale at the time, would become known through The Jockey Club's traceability initiatives. What Emily's Pegasus has done since with Ashley is actually traceable if you know where to look, and this potentially represents a future vision for traceability of Thoroughbreds. Emily's Pegasus has gone on to a successful career in the equestrian sport of eventing, and her record in horse shows through the United States Eventing Association (USEA) resembles her race record on Equibase.

She currently has two wins and nine top-three finishes in events that have taken place in seven different states, including winning the USEA's Area IX Championships and finishing third in the American Eventing Championships at the Modified level of 3-feet-5 in 2022. The eventing success of the daughter of Fusaichi Pegasus has greatly increased her value. Ashley sold Sussy at the end of last year to her teenage student, who was able to move up to a new level because of her partnership with the mare. Emily's Pegasus is a feather in the cap for the Thoroughbred industry.

However, a challenge to tracking all this is that Emily's Pegasus shows under a different name than her race name: Tiny Dancer.

“We know what happens is they go into sporthorse life and they get registered to USEF or whatever, and they may or may not have their race name or pedigree attributed to them,” Green said. “So, it makes it very difficult to maintain that records continuity.”

The onus on registering horses with a sporthorse organization like USEF or USEA is on the owners to provide information about their horses. The Jockey Club connects the race and show identities of Thoroughbreds through its database for The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.). If I'm announcing Thoroughbreds at horse shows, and their show names are different than their race names, I can still trace back to their racing career if they've been registered with their sire and dam by searching the dam's name and year of foaling on Equibase.

These challenges to traceability could be rectified if Thoroughbreds' show registration was accompanied by their Jockey Club number, either provided by the owners or through a framework that links the databases of racing and sporthorse entities, as it's successfully done through T.I.P. If there was an Equibase link to a horses' race record on their show page and vice versa, this would provide valuable information about where a horse came from prior to showing and where it has been after it finished racing.

“It's probably not even as much gathering data because a lot of it already exists, but whether we could ever conglomerate all those into one area, I would probably say initially lean on RRP, but never say never when it comes to Jockey Club, particularly if partnering with those major, larger organizations, as opposed to creating something new ourselves,” Werner said.

There have been a number of times where a rider at a horse show will come out of the competition ring and tell me, “You know more about my horse than I do,” because I've talked about their Thoroughbred's racing record. I take this as a huge compliment, but it's also a sign that the racehorse and sporthorse worlds are capable of coming together to share information about their horses that will benefit each other and better promote the lifelong journey that a Thoroughbred makes.

Announcing horse races inspired Jonathan Horowitz to become an advocate for off-track Thoroughbreds and Arabians, as well as to learn to event on horses he used to announce at the track. He also serves as Acting Director for the Arabian Jockey Club and runs the Super G Sporthorses eventing barn with his wife, Ashley. He can be reached on Facebook and Twitter at @jjhorowitz.

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Wixted To Take Over From Donworth As ITBA Next Generation Chairman

Conor Wixted is set to take over from Orla Donworth as the chairman of the ITBA Next Generation. Donworth was responsible for reigniting the organisation after a period of inactivity, largely down to Covid, and steps down after a successful time in charge.

Originally formed in 2008 and known as Young ITBA, the Association's junior wing enjoyed a lively year with a number of well-attended events taking place.

Most recently, a National Hunt Panel Discussion took place at Tattersalls Ireland, preceding the May Store Sale. Other activities held included a Pinhooking Panel Debate held at Goffs, a Stallion Tour to Coolmore and Castlehyde Studs and a table quiz that was held in conjunction with the Irish National Stud at which all monies raised were donated to Treo Eile.

Commenting on her time as Chairperson, Donworth said, “I was delighted to take on the role of Chairperson of ITBA's Next Gen and am grateful for all the hard work of the Committee which made the last 12 months a huge success. A huge thanks to Chairperson Cathy Grassick and the ITBA for the opportunity to re-launch its junior wing.”

ITBA CEO Una Tormey commented, “The ITBA's Next Generation has always been an integral part of ITBA activity and I am very grateful to Orla and the Committee for the drive and commitment they have shown over the past 12 months to reignite activity.

“From informative panel discussions to networking events the Committee put together a comprehensive plan which catered for young breeding and racing enthusiasts. I look forward to seeing the ITBA Next Gen continue to grow under the Chairmanship of Conor Wixted and the Committee for the next year and would encourage those who have not yet got involved to do so.”

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Observations: Daughter of G1SW Clemmie Set for Galway Unveiling

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Tuesday's Insights features a promising daughter G1SW Clemmie (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

18.10 Galway, Mdn, €20,000, 2yo, f, 7fT
Aidan O'Brien representative MAYFAIR (IRE) (Justify) is a full-sister to recent Listed Cairn Rouge S. runner-up Unless out of G1 Cheveley S. victrix Clemmie (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), herself a full-sister to three black-type performers headed by four-time Group 1-winning sire Churchill (Ire). Her seven rivals include Dermot Weld trainee Tannola (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}), whose four black-type siblings include last week's G2 Minstrel S. third and May's G1 Irish 1000 Guineas fourth Tarawa (Ire) (Shamardal). Tannola's multiple Group 1-winning stablemate Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) attained 'TDN Rising Star' status in this contest last year.

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