Tag: Bloodstock

Speed was the name of the game for the two horses selected for induction into the Maryland-bred Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2022.

Eclipse Award-winning sprinters Star de Naskra and Smoke Glacken are the newest inductees after a vote by a committee of Maryland racing industry members coordinated by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland Racing Media Association.

“It's a testament to the quality of Maryland-breds over the years that the 30th and 31st horses in our Hall of Fame were both Eclipse Award-winning sprinters,” said Maryland Racing Media Association president Frank Vespe. “Star de Naskra and Smoke Glacken both tackled and often defeated the best of their generation, and they are truly deserving of this recognition.”

Star de Naskra earned national championship honors as a 4-year-old in 1979, the year he won six of 10 starts (and was disqualified from first in another), including the Whitney and Bold Ruler Stakes, and Cornhusker and Carter Handicaps, the latter while defeating Alydar. In a 36-start career from two to four, he won 15 races, eight stakes, and finished worse than fourth only three times.

Trained throughout his career by Dick Ferris, Star de Naskra was campaigned by his breeder, Carlyle “Jiggs” Lancaster, until early in the 1979 season when Lancaster sold a half-interest to William duPont III's Pillar Stud in Lexington, Ky. The son of Naskra—Candle Star, by Clandestine, earned $587,391 before an injury following a fourth-place finish in the 1979 Grade 1 Vosburgh forced his retirement. He was named Maryland-bred Horse of the Year and Maryland-bred champion older male in 1979.

Smoke Glacken took home his Eclipse Award 18 years later, after a 3-year-old season in 1997 in which he captured six of eight starts, all by daylight margins. He wrapped up a championship with wins in his final three starts – the Grade 3 Riva Ridge at Belmont Park, Grade 3 Jersey Shore at Monmouth and Grade 2 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes at Laurel, the latter facing older runners for the first time. A Grade 1 winner at two in Saratoga's Hopeful Stakes, which he won by nine lengths, the son of Two Punch out of the Magesterial mare Majesty's Crown was Maryland-bred Horse of the Year at three and a two-time divisional champion. He retired with 10 wins, nine in stakes, two seconds and a third and earnings of $759,560 in 14 starts in a racing career which lasted just over a year.

Trained by Henry L. Carroll, who picked the colt out of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale for $65,000, he raced for the partnership of Alex Karkenny, William Roberts and Robert Levy. His breeder, Perry M. Rosebrock, had sold the colt as a weanling at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December sale for $14,700.

“With the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame inductees each year we are able to shine a light on important Maryland-bred horses. This year two Eclipse Award-winning Champion Sprinters have been selected,” said Cricket Goodall, executive director of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, “and it is a chance for many to learn about these horses and their connections. We congratulate them.”

This year's inductees will be celebrated during a ceremony between races at Timonium on Saturday, Sept. 3.

Under the collaboration of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland Racing Media Association, the Hall of Fame was initiated in 2013 as a means of celebrating the excellence of state-bred Thoroughbred horses and debuted with an inaugural class of 12. There are now 31 members. Smoke Glacken and Star de Naskra join MTHOF members Awad, Broad Brush, Caesar's Wish, Challedon, Cigar, Concern, Conniver, Dave's Friend, Deputed Testamony, Devil's Bag, El Gran Senor, Find, Gallorette, Heavenly Cause, Jameela, J. O. Tobin, Kauai King, Little Bold John, Politely, Safely Kept, Social Outcast, Twixt, Vertex, What a Summer and Youth and steeplechasers Elkridge, Good Night Shirt, Jay Trump and Tuscalee.

The newest honorees, with biographies, photos, videos and complete race records, will be showcased on-line at www.mdthoroughbredhalloffame.com.

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One of the more accomplished entrants in the 2022 Queen's Plate, The Minkster has three wins at three different distances, 6 1/2 furlongs, seven furlongs, and 1 1/8 miles. These victories reflect the philosophy Lindo Hyka employed when breeding Cabriole, The Minkster's dam, to English Channel.

English Channel a multiple Grade 1 winner, Breeders' Cup Turf winner, Eclipse champion turf male, and a leading turf sire before his passing in 2021. Cabriole earned over $150,000 on-track winning six times at six and seven furlongs.

“I always I love to breed milers and up, but I have seen lately that people like to have sprinters in their stables,” said Hyka. “So, I am trying to pick mares that have the sprint, and sires that can go a mile and up. Then I can have that in between.”

Hyka is partners with his brothers John and Tan, but he manages their breeding program which has had worldwide success. Over the last few years, he has re-focused on breeding in Ontario.

“It is such a great program that we have in Ontario,” said Hyka. “We want to support Ontario breeding, and the last three years we have been breeding to Ontario sires and supporting the program and the future of Ontario racing.”

The Minkster has two full siblings, and while his brother and sister both made the races, the third time was the charm when it came to this mating.

“Since the day The Minkster was born, and until the he was sold, he was perfect,” said Hyka.

The Minkster sold for $39,853 as a yearling at the 2020 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Sale, and since then, Hyka and his brothers have continued to benefit from Ontario Racing's Thoroughbred Improvement Program Breeders Awards.

The highlight being a $25,000 bonus for The Minkster winning the Coronation Futurity to cap his 2-year-old campaign.

“We are so thankful of the support of the program in Ontario,” said Hyka. “I have been lucky collecting bonuses from Ontario Racing and hopefully it continues this way. I can't say enough of a thank you, it's such a good support to the breeders.”

The program offers a $50,000 reward to the breeder of the Queen's Plate winner, another reason Hyka and his brother's will be cheering The Minkster on in Canada's biggest race.

“We are just lucky. (Danny Vella) is a good trainer, who has taken care of him and allowed the horse to step up,” said Hyka. “Danny is a special guy, and he got that yearling and has done a great job and will continue to do a great job with him.”

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Susan Rasmussen has been breeding Thoroughbreds for over 25 years. When the gate opens for the 163rd Queen's Plate and her homebred Hunt Master breaks Openwood Stable will have its first runner in Canada's richest race.

“Hunt Master has been an exciting little horse,” said Rasmussen. “He's not very big and there isn't much body to him, but he is all heart this horse. We are putting him in the Queen's Plate because who knows, maybe his heart and his breeding will give him a chance.”

Hunt Master is the third-generation family member bred by Rasmussen, after his dam Lady Marchfield, and second dam Dancing Leaves. She sold Lady Marchfield to Lanny MacDonald and Linda Barron, who she partnered with when breeding Hunt Master.

Lady Marchfield and, Dancing Leaves were successful racehorses, with Dancing Leaves earning over $150,000, but Hunt Master is a tier above both.

“I have never had a horse of this quality before, and never had a horse eligible for the Plate,” said Rasmussen. “And if you don't give it a shot, you'll never know. I am sure it's going to be a fun day for all.”

The colt is by Hunters Bay and his name aptly combines another equine past time of Rasmussen's breeding hunt horses for English fox hunting. She is a master fox hunter and has been a member of the Eglington and Caledon Hounds for over 60 years.

Rasmussen's breeding philosophy begins with nicks, and then she focusses on the physical components of the mating.

“I like to see the stallion I breed to, and I try to get correct confirmation foals,” said Rasmussen. “A lot of people breed paper to paper, I don't. I go for conformation, and disposition. I try to look at all the qualities of each horse and try to match.”

Hunt Master will be in tough on August 21, facing Canada's top 3-year-olds, and stepping up to stakes company for the first time. But he will have Rasmussen cheering him on from the grandstand, the same way she has for every racehorse she's owned since she got in the game.

“I always say when I see my horses come up the stretch in front, there are tears in my eyes,” said Rasmussen. “It's exciting because there is nothing better than seeing your horse come up the stretch in front.”

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