2011 Kentucky Derby | Horse Racing Free Tips

With the end of the Keeneland September yearling sale clearly in view for Friday, readers and buyers can pause to reflect on sales past and the classic season from 10 years ago when all three Triple Crown winners walked the path of the Keeneland pagoda through the September sale of 2009.

Yes, each of the 2011 Triple Crown races – the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes – went to a different September sale yearling, and all of them were chestnuts too.

The sales season of 2009, however, was not the bustling and booming market we have seen at Keeneland, and elsewhere, this year. Instead, 2009 was the first yearling sale season fully impacted by the global economic crisis and Great Recession that began in 2008.

As a direct result, prices for some of the better yearlings were lower than expected, but two of our subject horses – Animal Kingdom and Ruler On Ice – brought $100,000 when put through the Keeneland auction. And the third, Shackleford, brought the highest hammer price of the trio at $275,000 but was bought back by breeders Mike Lauffer and Bill Cubbedge.

A big, rangy chestnut with a “turf” pedigree, Animal Kingdom (by 2005 turf champion Leroidesanimaux) was bred by a Team Valor partnership and was consigned by Denali Stud. The buyer was another Barry Irwin partnership under the banner of Team Valor International. The colt's results were surely the best for any Team Valor partnership because Animal Kingdom was a truly world-class racer at 10 furlongs, and he won the Kentucky Derby at three and the Dubai World Cup at five.

In contrast to those who previously had perceived the colt as a turf horse, the Derby is raced on dirt, and the World Cup was on the synthetic track at Meydan in 2013.

In between those two victories, Animal Kingdom had suffered a cracked hind cannon in the Belmont Stakes, was laid off for the rest of his 3-year-old season, and had a recurrence of a bone crack after his 4-year-old season debut. Then, Animal Kingdom showed what a truly versatile animal can do.

After more than six months away from racing, the big chestnut returned to Grade 1 competition in the 2012 Breeders' Cup Mile on turf at Santa Anita. Sent off a little-considered 10-1, Animal Kingdom rallied like a champion and finished second to turf champion Wise Dan.

Following the World Cup victory in 2013, Animal Kingdom was retired at the midpoint of his 5-year-old season to enter stud in Australia, having earned $8.3 million. He retired to stud at Arrowfield in Australia and shuttled to Darley at Jonabell in Kentucky. In October 2019, Animal Kingdom was sold to the Japan Bloodstock Breeders' Association and now stands in Japan.

At the same 2012 Breeders' Cup, Shackleford (Forestry) raced in the G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, where he finished seventh. The previous year, Shackleford had been second in the Dirt Mile, and earlier in 2012, the prancing chestnut had won the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

The flashy grandson of Storm Cat had personality plus, making him a favorite with fans, and he had denied Animal Kingdom's closing rush in the 2011 Preakness to prevail by a half-length. Amazingly enough, the Preakness was the first stakes victory for Shackleford, although he had been second in the G1 Florida Derby earlier in the year.

After the Preakness, Shackleford finished second in the G1 Haskell, likewise the BC Dirt Mile, then won the Metropolitan at four and ended his career with victory in the G1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs in 2012.

A winner of $3 million, Shackelford retired to stud in Kentucky at Darby Dan Farm in 2013 and, in 2020, was sold to the Korean Racing Authority to stand at stud in South Korea.

Just as Shackleford had done in the Preakness, Ruler On Ice (by the Fusaichi Pegasus stallion Roman Ruler) won his first stakes in the classic Belmont Stakes. Amazingly enough, it proved the only stakes the gelding ever won.

Bred in Kentucky like the two other winners of the 2011 Triple Crown races, Ruler On Ice was bred by Liberation Farm and Brandywine Farm, then sold at the September sale to George and Lori Hall.

Stakes-placed coming into the Belmont against the winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, Ruler On Ice was a genuine longshot to win the Belmont, and only two of the 12 racers were at odds longer than his 24.75 to 1. One of those, Isn't He Perfect, broke to the inside sharply at the start, pushing Mucho Macho Man into race favorite Animal Kingdom, who came out of the race with an injury.

Ruler On Ice tracked the pacesetting Shackleford from the start, and when the Preakness winner tired after 10 furlongs, the son of Roman Ruler took control and held off Stay Thirsty to win by three-quarters of a length.

Subsequently, Ruler On Ice was third in the G1 Haskell, fourth in the Travers, second in the Pennsylvania Derby, and third in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Those performances confirmed the racer's quality, and he raced to the midpoint of his 5-year-old season. Retired, he now lives on the farm of his owners near Versailles, Ky.

As with the classics a decade ago, when we look back on the September sale of 2021, someone may very well have taken home a classic winner.

The post Bloodlines: Looking Back On A Classic Trio From Keeneland September A Decade Later appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Archarcharch, a Grade 1 winner and veteran sire, died in Korea on Oct. 15, per Korea Racing Authority records.

According to Alastair Middleton of the KRA, who spoke with representatives of Sungsoo Farm where Archarcharch resided, the 12-year-old son of Arch had spent an extended amount of time battling an illness believed to be caused by a parasitic infection. He was treated over the autumn, but his condition worsened, and the decision was made to euthanize the stallion.

Archarcharch had resided in Korea since late 2017, and he covered his first book of mares there in 2018, making his oldest Korean-sired crop yearlings of 2020. Prior to that, he stood at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, where he began his stud career in 2012.

Domestically, Archarcharch has sired six crops of racing age, with 274 winners and combined progeny earnings of $23.2 million.

Archarcharch's top runner to date is Next Shares, who won the G1 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes and continues to compete against high-level turf competition. His other runners of note include Grade 2 winners Mr. Misunderstood and Ivy Bell, and Grade 3 winner Toews On Ice. Internationally, the stallion has been led by Irish-born Qatar Man, who was named Singapore's Horse of the Year in 2018 (where he competed under the name Elite Invincible) and finished in the money in a U.A.E. stakes race.

Archarcharch stood three seasons in Korea at Sungsoo Farm in Icheon, just south of capital city Seoul, primarily covering the farm's own mares. He saw 35 mares in his debut season in the country, and he followed up in 2019 with 48 mares. The report of mares bred for 2020 has not yet been released.

While those numbers might seem fairly low compared to some of the other notable U.S. stallions who have been sent to Korea – five U.S.-born stallions covered more than 100 mares in 2019, led by To Honor and Serve at 164 – there are a few factors that explain it.

Icheon is about 270 miles over land and sea away from Jeju Island, Korea's southernmost point, which serves as the heart of the country's Thoroughbred breeding industry. Furthermore, the Korean government owns and subsidizes many of the country's most notable stallions, allowing breeders to to send their mares to them at minimal cost, which drives up their numbers.

As a private-standing stallion far from the country's hub of activity, Archarcharch went against the current, but Middleton said the stallion's number of mares bred was actually quite high considering that criteria.

During his own on-track career, Archarcharch won three of seven starts for earnings of $832,744. He was bred in Kentucky by Grapestock, and he raced for for Robert and Val Yagos, who bought him as a yearling for $60,000 from the Paramount Sales consignment.

After finishing second in his debut start, Archarcharch broke his maiden in the Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds. Two starts later, he established himself on the Kentucky Derby trail with a wide-running victory in the G3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

He remained at Oaklawn for the remainder of his Derby prep races, finishing third in the G2 Rebel Stakes, then formally punching his ticket to Churchill Downs by taking the G1 Arkansas Derby by a late-running neck at odds of of 25-1.

Archarcharch drew the dreaded inside post during the 2011 Kentucky Derby, and he finished a non-threatening 15th. He pulled up lame after the race and was vanned off after suffering a condylar fracture in his left-front leg. The colt underwent surgery soon after the race and his retirement was announced shortly thereafter.

Archarcharch currently has one son at stud in the U.S., Toews On Ice, who resides in New Mexico.

The post Illness Claims Grade 1 Winner Archarcharch In Korea appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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