Horse Racing News | Horse Racing Free Tips

Uncle Mo, Justify Top 2021 Ashford Stud Roster

Coolmore America has announced its fees for the 2021 breeding season.

Joining the roster are Grade 1 Allen Jerkens winner Echo Town and multiple G1SW Maximum Security whose fees will be announced upon retirement. Also new is Caravaggio who re-locates to Kentucky from Coolmore's headquarters in Ireland.

“Our established sires have enjoyed great success on the racetrack this year, but in recognition of the challenging times we find ourselves in, we have reduced the fees of all of our sires yet to have runners with the one exception of Mendelssohn who we have probably under-priced all along,” said Ashford's director of sales Charlie O'Connor. “We have three exciting new additions to our roster and we look forward to watching Echo Town and Maximum Security continue to show their brilliance on the racecourse before they retire.”

Following are the advertised fees for Ashford Stud's 2021 stallion roster:

Air Force Blue – $10,000
American Pharoah – $100,000
Caravaggio (NEW) – $25,000
Classic Empire – $17,500
Competitive Edge – $5,000
Cupid – $5,000
Echo Town (NEW) – TBA
Justify – $125,000
Lookin at Lucky – $20,000
Maximum Security (NEW) – TBA
Mendelssohn – $35,000
Mo Town – $7,500
Munnings – $40,000
Practical Joke – $22,500
Tale of the Cat – $12,500
Uncle Mo – $175,000

The post Uncle Mo, Justify Top 2021 Ashford Stud Roster appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Laminitic Horses May Benefit From Hoof Casts And Heel Wedges

New research from shows that elevating a laminitic horse's heel using a wedge and hoof cast can help alleviate some of the pain associated with the condition.

The breakover phase of a horse's stride is the most painful part for horses suffering from acute laminitis. This is when the heaviest load is placed on the toe and middle region of the hoof. The goal of the new therapy was to try to shift the load from the most-painful area of the hoof onto undamaged areas.

Drs. Al Naem, Lutz-Ferdinand Litzke, Klaus Failing, Johanna Hoffmann, Michael Röcken and Florian Geburek medically treated eight horses with acute laminitis and also applied a hoof cast with a heel wedge.

Measurements were taken with the cast in place and when the cast was removed, when the horse was barefoot. The hoof print was divided into toe, middle hoof and heel region, and measurements were taken that included vertical force, stance duration, contact area while standing, duration of breakover, vertical force on the toe during breakover, and location of the center of force.

The scientists determined that both the vertical force and contact area were higher in the heel region when the horse was wearing both the wedge and the cast, but that decreased once each was removed. The breakover phase lasted just 2 percent of the stance phase when the horse had the cast and wedge in place; it was 6 percent of the stance phase when the horse was barefoot.

The team concluded that heel elevation significantly shortened the breakover phase and decreased the vertical force in the toe region. They suggest that the application of a wedge and a cast to the affected hooves of a horse with laminitis will decreases the stress on the lamellae and reduce pain. The researchers did note that long-term application of a wedge and cast may result in crushed heels, cracks or misplaced bulbs, so they suggest that these tools be limited to two to three weeks of use.

Read the full article here.

In Mares Bred Category, Uncle Mo Back on Top

According to The Jockey Club, which released its annual Report of Mares Bred (RMB) Friday, Uncle Mo covered 257 mares this year, the most among any stallion standing in North America. That puts Uncle Mo back on top for the first time since 2016 when he was bred to 253 mares. He was bred to 241 mares in 2019.

With the year winding down, it was the latest positive development for the 12-year-old Coolmore sire. His progeny have accounted for 19 graded stakes wins in the U.S. on the year and he has shown that he is a sire of sires as the first-crop stallions Nyquist, Outwork and Laoban, all sons of Uncle Mo, are among the leading first-crop sires in North America.

Uncle Mo edged out Into Mischief, who was second with 248 mares covered. Into Mischief is a perennial leader in this category, having topped it in 2017 and 2018 before finishing third last year behind Justify and Mendelssohn.

For 2020, Mendelssohn came in third, covering 242 mares. The Spendthrift stallion and GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso was fourth, covering 238 mares. He was tops among all first-year stallions.

As has been the case over the last several years, Coolmore and Spendthrift stallions dominated the list. Eight of the top 10 on the list stand at either Coolmore or Spendthrift, with each having four sires among the top 10.

Their dominance, however, was challenged this year by WinStar, which had two horses place in the top 10. Constitution checked in fifth with 231 mares and Audible was eighth with 219. With GI Florida Derby, GI Belmont S. and GI Travers winner Tiz the Law leading the way for Constitution on the racetrack, he went from 85 mares to the 231 in a year’s time. Audible is a first-year sire. Last year, the top sire on the list among WinStar’s group was 2017 GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, who came in 19th place after being bred to 165 mares.

The horses in the top 10 represented a number of different levels when it comes to stud fees. While Uncle Mo, whose 2020 stud fee was $125,000, and Into Mischief, whose stud fee this year was $175,000, took down the top two spots, several modestly priced stallions were also among the leaders. That list includes three sires that stood for $35,000 or less in Mendelssohn ($35,000), Vino Rosso ($30,000), Mitole ($25,000) and Audible ($25,000).

Darby Dan had a good showing, with three sires in the top 20, all of them standing for $10,000 or less. The list consists of Tapiture (186 mares, $7,500), Flameaway (183 mares, $7,500) and Klimt (172 mares, $10,000).

As expected, Kentucky-based sires dominated the list. Khozan, who stands in Florida at Journeyman Stallions, was the leading non-Kentucky sire. Having been bred to 181 mares, he was in 17th place.

In the years ahead, the list of sires who have covered the most mares will change drastically. In May, The Jockey Club adopted a rule that will limit the number of mares a horse can be bred to to 140. There is, however, a grandfather clause, and the rule will only cover horses born in 2020 or later. A total of 42 stallions exceeded the 140 number in 2020. In 2019, 41 stallions covered 140 mares or more.

In terms of individual state RMB leaders beyond Kentucky and Florida, the following stallions topped the covers list for their respective states/provinces:

New York–Solomini, 123

California–Stay Thirsty, 108

Pennsylvania–Hoppertunity, 107

Maryland–Golden Lad, 103

Oklahoma–Flat Out, 85

Ontario–Frac Daddy, 76

The Jockey Club disclosed a total of 1,067 individual stallions covered 27,970 mares in North America this year, with an estimated 2,500-3,500 additional mares having not yet been reported. The 200 reported stallions in Kentucky covered 16,391 mares (58.6% of all mares reported), a decrease of 4.3% compared to this time last year. Of the top 10 states and provinces (by number of mares bred), stallions in Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Mexico covered more mares in 2020 than in 2019.

Statistics for all reported stallions of 2020 are available at The Jockey Club’s Fact Book.

The post In Mares Bred Category, Uncle Mo Back on Top appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Fillies’ Mile Result Officially Amended

The British Horseracing Authority has officially amended the result of the G1 Fillies’ Mile, where Aidan O’Brien’s fillies Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) had been saddled incorrectly, wearing each other’s saddle cloths and riders. It appeared that Snowfall had finished third and Mother Earth eighth, but it was actually the reverse.

An investigation remains ongoing in relation to the incorrect saddling of the horses. Grounds for disqualification in the BHA’s rules of racing do not include horses starting from the wrong stalls or carrying the wrong jockey. Because the horses that ran in the race were duly entered and carried the correct weight, the only possible disqualification ground would be if the horses were the subject of fraudulent practice. O’Brien said in the immediate aftermath of the race that the switch was a mistake borne from the fact that British-based staff unfamiliar with the fillies had been handling them due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. O’Brien was not at the race.

The post Fillies’ Mile Result Officially Amended appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post