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Keeneland Catalogs 79 Lots for December Digital Sale

Keeneland has cataloged 79 lots, including mares in foal to such noteworthy stallions as Not This Time, Nyquist, Practical Joke and Yoshida (Jpn), for its December Digital Sale, to be held Tuesday, Dec. 15 as part of Keeneland’s Digital Sales Ring platform. The December Sale catalog is available at keenelanddigital.com.

The catalog features 41 broodmares or broodmare prospects, 12 yearlings, eight weanlings, six racing or broodmare prospects, two racing or stallion prospects, one stallion prospect, six stallions, two shares and one breeding right.

Online bidding opens at 10 a.m. ET Dec. 15 and closes that day at 2 p.m. Buyers are encouraged to register for an account in the Keeneland Digital Sales Ring in advance of sale day. In order to log in to the Keeneland Digital Sales Ring, you should register for an account or log in through the Keeneland Sales Portal. Your universal login applies to both the Sales Portal and the Digital Sales Ring.

For more information about the December Sale, contact Dean Roethemeier at droethemeier@keeneland.com, Kyle Wilson at kwilson@keeneland.com or Chip McGaughey at cmcgaughey@keeneland.com.

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Half to Expert Eye Debuts at Kempton

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. Wednesday’s Insights features a half-brother to Breeders’ Cup winner Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}).

4.20 Kempton, Novice, £6,300, 2yo, 7f (AWT)
DUTY OF CARE (GB) (Kingman {GB}) debuts for Khalid Abdullah and Sir Michael Stoute, who combined to capture the 2018 GI Breeders’ Cup Mile with his half-brother Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}). The March-foaled bay, whose family also features the dual Classic winner Special Duty (GB) (Hennessy), gets a seven-pound allowance from Shadwell’s Chelmsford winner Maraakiz (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}), a William Haggas-trained son of the South African Group 1 winner Entisaar (Aus) (More Than Ready).
4.55 Kempton, Novice, £6,300, 2yo, 7f (AWT)
HIGHLAND AVENUE (IRE) (Dubawi {Ire}) is another notable newcomer in this second division of the novice races on the card, being the first foal out of the G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Lumiere (GB) (Shamardal). Charlie Appleby has charge of Godolphin’s January-foaled grey and early indications are that he is expected to score first time as his dam and second dam did to such impressive effect.

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Sad Circumstance Allows Researchers To Study How Feral Horses Perceive Death

Researchers in Portugal who witnessed the decline and death of a foal in a feral herd were given a unique opportunity to see how wild horses reacted to the situation. Drs. Renata Mendonça, Monamie Ringhofer, Pandora Pinto, Sota Inoue and Satoshi Hirata watched the foal, who had been injured in a presumed wolf attack, for six hours; they noted his behavior as well as that of his dam and other herd members in the vicinity. Every two minutes, they recorded things like the distance between the horses and the injured foal; every five minutes they recorded horses moving, resting, eating and interacting with others.

The herd walked during the first several hours and the foal moved when prompted by his dam. He eventually went down and could not rise. His dam stayed near him and nuzzled him occasionally. After 15 minutes, the herd left the mare and foal behind. The stallion returned and attempted to move the mare from the foal, and succeeded on the seventh try. The dam whinnied to the foal 10 times and the foal responded once.

A second group of horses arrived and stood within 20 yards of the foal for 40 minutes. Though all members of the group were interested in the foal, two mares remained interested after the others had left to graze. These mares licked and sniffed the foal for several minutes, while the foal's dam watched from a distance.

During this interaction, the dam whinnied for the foal 44 times, but the stallion prevented her from returning to her foal. The foal responded only once after the other mares had left.

The dam returned to the foal once and fought with bachelor stallions who were interested in her. She left the foal to join the herd that was about 200 yards away. The foal stood and called for her one time after she left, then fell and died within an hour.

The research team notes that the mare moving away even though her foal was alive makes sense from an evolutionary context; it ensured her own survival, which allows her to reproduce again and benefit the species. The scientists were surprised by the reaction of the other two mares toward the foal. Traditionally, horses are antagonistic toward foals that are note their own; that the two mares were not could mean that they perceived something different about the foal.

Though there is still much to learn about how horses perceive death, the research team advises that owners and managers take equine emotions and reactions into account when dealing with the death of a domesticated herd mate.

ARCI Strengthens Rule Restrictions On Crop Use

Jockeys will be prohibited from using the riding crop more than two consecutive times before being required to wait three full strides in order to give the horse a chance to respond under an expanded Model crop Rule adopted by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) last week.

The modified rule tightens restrictions already in place but clearly says that any use of the crop to “urge” the horse must be limited. The new RCI Model Rule continues to rely upon the judgement of the Stewards as to when to impose sanctions, but is clear that using the crop more than two consecutive times or not waiting three full strides before reuse is to be regarded as a rule violation.

The RCI did not include an overall strike count in the actual rule but did approve corresponding guidelines to advise officials that use of the crop for more than six strikes during the race is something to be assessed.

“If our accredited Stewards cannot judge when a jock has crossed the line then perhaps they should not be in the stand,” said former jock and racing official Doug Moore who is Executive Director of the Washington State Racing Commission and Chair of the RCI Rider and Driver Safety Committee. “If the officials fail to exercise their responsibility in this matter then the feeling at the meeting was that the matter must be reviewed up top in assessing someone’s job performance and deciding whether to keep them on.”

“Several years ago we changed the riding crop requirements to rely upon poppers which provide an audible stimulation to the horse in addition to the visual one of showing the horse the crop,” said RCI Chairman Tom Sage. “As a result, it is extremely rare to find a horse with evidence of crop misuse coming in off the track. In helping to protect the horse we may have created an opposite impression with the public as they now hear the noise coming from the crops.”

RCI President Ed Martin noted that testimony from the Jockey Club as to public perception was taken to heart and the regulators found it compelling to help address that by defining clearly what the chance to respond should be.

“The image of someone wailing away on a horse coming down the stretch is not a good one for a sport struggling to assert a positive image. But controlled and limited use with three full strides to respond was something the regulators believed would help mitigate that,” he said.

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