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FTBOA Reelects George Isaacs as President

George Isaacs, general manager of Ocala's Bridlewood Farm, has been reelected as the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association (FTBOA) president, according to a release put out by the organization Wednesday. Following the annual member meeting, the FTBOA held a board meeting and also named Rustlewood Farm's George Russell the first vice president, Summerfield's Francis Vanlangendonck the second vice president, Ocala Stud's Joseph M. O'Farrell as treasurer, and Nick de Meric, who operates de Meric Stables and Sales, as secretary.

“I have been fortunate to lead FTBOA at a time of legislative success that has been decades in the making, and at a time of innovation for the media division,” said Isaacs, who has served six terms on the FTBOA board with intermissions as required by bylaws. “I am proud of these accomplishments and thrilled the board has elected me again to continue my service as president for the Association and its members.”

Isaacs also chairs the Equine Studies Program at the College of Central Florida and the FTBOA Ocala Downtown Thoroughbred Walk of Fame committee, serves on the FTBOA Farmland Preservation Work Group, and serves on other boards.

In addition to the officers, the FTBOA updated board members. Milan Kosanovich and Vanlangendonck extended their terms on the board while Beckie Cantrell was named to the board for the first time. After an absence from the board due to term limits, past presidents Valerie Dailey and Brent Fernung rejoined the board. They will each serve a three-year term that will run through October 2026.

Leaving the board because of term limits were Bobby Jones and Dr. Fred Yutani, who served on the FTBOA board from October 2017 through October 2023; and Richard Kent, who served briefly, taking the seat left with the passing of board member and past president Fred Brei in March. Past president and director Dailey, as immediate past president, also serves as an executive committee member.

Other returning FTBOA board members include T. Paul Bulmahn, Jerry Campbell, Marilyn Campbell, Laurine Fuller-Vargas, Mike Hall, and Mary Lightner. Lonny Powell will continue as CEO and executive vice president.

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Dr. Ryan Carpenter Gives Update on Echo Zulu Surgery

Veterinarian Ryan Carpenter told Zoe Cadman on this week's TDN Writers' Room that Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) continues to do well five days after surgery to repair broken sesamoids in her left front leg.

“The surgery went very well,” Carpenter told Cadman on her weekly segment, 1/ST Things 1/ST at Santa Anita. “We did a fetlock arthrodesis and we used a new plate called a distal femoral plate, which is an application from the human world to incorporate the pastern joint in our repair, because we were really worried about the integrity of the pastern joint and our biggest fear in these kinds of cases is that they subluxate their pastern in the weeks following surgery and that usually results in support-limb laminitis. So we're very proactive to address that problem in order to hedge our bets down the line.”

That said, Carpenter underscored that Echo Zulu still has a long way to go.

“We still have a long road ahead of us as. I've said before, these horses really aren't out of the woods for the next four to six weeks,” Dr. Carpenter said. “There's a lot that can go wrong. but we take each day by day and so far she's done really well, bearing equal weight, using her casted leg well so we're very encouraged initially in how things look and we'll keep our fingers crossed that we continue to have positive days. Every positive day is one day closer to a successful outcome.”

Cadman asked Carpenter what kind of patient Echo Zulu was.

“She has been awesome,” he said. “One of the things that I look for, honestly, is do they lie down and she has spent a lot of time lying down. Initially, she spent a lot of time lying down after surgery. She's up using her leg a lot more, so she's more comfortable, but she still lies down at night and sleeps and takes care of herself, and really when you're talking about these horses that develop laminitis, the best thing for a surgeon is a horse that lies down, because they unload their weight. They let the blood flow get to the feet and that's a real positive thing for us so hopefully she continues to do that in the coming weeks and that will bode well for us in the end.”

Cadman asked if there was any concern with her injuring herself trying to stand after lying down and Carpenter said that there was not.

“The accidents they have getting up are usually related to general anesthesia. So usually, these horses are asleep, and they're often uncoordinated when they get up. But if you look at a horse who stands up in the stall, it's actually a very slow, methodical process. They do it all the time. Horses lie down most of the time every day and they get up really well, and you watch them, and a lot of times, they'll protect a casted leg they'll do stuff to help themselves, and so the lying down in the stall, in the barn, is a good thing.”

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Nicolai Hoping Saratoga Sale Topper Just the Start of October Success

Richard Nicolai, who sold the record-setting sale topper at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale Tuesday, hopes the month ends on another high note in the winner's circle at Keeneland where Secret Money (Good Samaritan) goes postward in the Oct. 27 GIII Valley View S..

Nicolai knew he was sending a good horse through the ring when the weanling son of Good Magic was offered at Fasig-Tipton Tuesday, but the breeder admitted he was surprised when the colt brought a sale-record $230,000 from C F Farm.

“I thought he would sell well,” Nicolai said of the weanling, who was consigned by Vinery Sales. “I had a $175,000 reserve on him–not believing that I could hit the $175,000 reserve. But I figured, if I got the $175,000, I would let him go. If I didn't, I would sell him as a yearling. He was perfect in every way. But I was very, very surprised to see him bring $230,000. I thought he was a really good colt–good looker, good mover. His family was OK, it wasn't jumping off the page. It kind of surprised me when he went that high.”

The result provided a quick return on investment for Nicolai, who purchased the sale-topper's dam Popstar (Medaglia d'Oro), with the colt in utero, for $29,000 at the Keeneland January sale earlier this year.

“She is a beautiful mare,” Nicolai said of the 10-year-old Popstar. “She had a Catholic Boy 2-year-old this year and I thought I could get lucky if she hit. And I got lucky because the Catholic Boy 2-year-old finished second in a stakes race.”

Lady d'Oro (Catholic Boy) followed a maiden-breaking victory at Monmouth with a runner-up effort in the July 29 Colleen S. That result, plus the hot streak of Good Magic, prompted Nicolai to offer the weanling Tuesday.

“He was so good looking and all of the people that I consult with said, 'Good Magic is hot right now. You are going to get a premium for him. Take the money,'” Nicolai said. “I am investing a lot of money on other broodmares, so it was good to get a little bit of revenue stream.”

Popstar is currently in foal to Central Banker.

“I brought her back and I had to breed her to a New York stallion to make this colt New York eligible, so I bred her to Central Banker,” Nicolai said. “Next year we are going to send her to Kentucky.”

Nicolai's Fortune Farm bred and campaigned Sue's Fortune (Jump Start), winner of the 2018 GII Adirondack S. He sold that mare for $300,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November sale, but at the same auction purchased Pantsonfire (Ire) (Sir Percy {GB}) for $70,000. That mare's Gun Runner filly sold for $290,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale in August.

“I have about 15 broodmares,” Nicolai said. “And I have another 10 or 15 that I am partners on with Taylor Made. The plan is to keep improving, not more, just better quality. I have done a little of that in the last couple of years. Yesterday, I bought three mares out of that sale. It's a step forward for me–they were young mares and there is a chance to build a family.”

Nicolai is also working on building up his broodmare band from scratch.

“I went out and bought a bunch of fillies as yearlings,” he said. “I have half a dozen yearlings right now this year that I am breaking–all well-bred fillies.”

Heading Nicolai's racing stable at the moment is the 3-year-old filly Secret Money, who he co-owns with Robert Hahn and Matthew Hand. Trained by Brendan Walsh, the bay was third in the July 21 GIII Lake George S. at Saratoga before a one-length victory in the $1-million GIII Music City S. at Kentucky Downs last time out.

“She is doing really well,” Nicolai said of the filly. “She's training well and we are really looking forward to her.”

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The Jockey Club Releases 2022 Breeding Statistics; Gun Runner on Top

Twelve hundred forty eight stallions covered 28,548 mares in North America during 2022 with breedings resulting in 18,143 live foals for 2023, according to statistics compiled through Oct. 8 in the Jockey Club's Live Foal Report, the organization said in a release Wednesday morning.

In terms of individual stallions, Gun Runner, standing at Three Chimneys, was tops among all stallions when it came to mares bred. He was bred to 256 mares in 2022. He was followed by Yaupon (Spendthrift), 242; Mendelssohn (Coolmore), 232; Practical Joke (Coolmore), 230; and Not This Time (Taylor Made), 225. The top 56 stallions by mares covered were all in Kentucky. Five different farms had a stallion in the top 10, up from four in 2021.

Uncle Chuck topped the list of sires who do not stand in Kentucky. A Florida-based stallion, he was bred to 133 mares. The top five in this category was rounded out by Stay Thirsty (California-121); Honest Mischief (New York-119); Central Banker (New York-113); and Leinster (Florida-100).

The Jockey Club estimates that the number of live foals reported so far is 85-90 percent complete. The reporting of live foals of 2023 is down 2.5 percent from last year at this time when The Jockey Club had received reports for 18,609 live foals of 2022.

In addition to the 18,143 live foals of 2023 reported through October 8, The Jockey Club also received 2,018 No Foal Reports for the 2023 foaling season. Ultimately, the 2023 registered foal crop is projected to reach 18,500.

The number of stallions declined 4.2 percent from the 1,303 reported for 2021 at this time last year, while the number of mares bred declined 1.8 percent from the 29,065 reported for 2021.

Seventeen stallions bred 200 mares or more. Those stallions stood at six different farms: Three Chimneys, Spendthrift, Coolmore, Taylor Made, Hill 'n' Dale, and WinStar. There were 52 stallions who bred 140 or more mares. Gun Runner's 256 mares bred resulted in 192 live foal reports. The most expensive stallion in 2022, Into Mischief, covered 202 mares, resulting in 153 live foal reports.

TOP 10 STALLIONS BY MARES BRED IN 2022

Stallion	Mares Bred	Reports Received	Live foals	%LF	Farm
Gun Runner	256	220	192	75	Three Chimneys
Yaupon	242	201	176	73	Spendthrift
Mendelssohn	232	185	164	71	Coolmore
Practical Joke	230	184	160	70	Coolmore
Not This Time	225	203	185	82	Taylor Made
Charlatan	222	186	165	74	Hill 'n' Dale
Rock Your World	219	165	150	68	Spendthrift
Mo Town	218	148	133	61	Coolmore
Tiz the Law	218	168	150	69	Coolmore
Omaha Beach	205	175	154	75	Spendthrift

Kentucky annually leads all states and provinces in terms of Thoroughbred breeding activity. Kentucky-based stallions accounted for 58.9 percent of the mares reported bred in North America in 2022 and 63.7 percent of the live foals reported for 2023.

The 16,827 mares reported bred to 208 Kentucky stallions in 2022 have produced 11,564 live foals, a 0.9 percent increase on the 11,460 Kentucky-sired live foals of 2022 reported at this time last year. The number of mares reported bred to Kentucky stallions in 2022 increased 0.2 percent compared to the 16,796 reported for 2021 at this time last year.

Among the 10 states and provinces with the most mares covered in 2022, four produced more live foals in 2023 than in 2022 as reported at this time last year: Kentucky, New York, Maryland, and Indiana.

The following table shows those 10 states and provinces with the most mares covered in 2022 sorted by number of state/province-sired live foals of 2023 reported through October 8, 2023.

	2022 Mares Bred	2022 Live Foals	2023 Live Foals	% Change Live Foals
Kentucky	16,827	11,460	11,564	0.9%
California	1,867	1,303	1,138	-12.7%
Florida	1,529	927	829	-10.6%
New York	987	576	590	2.4%
Louisiana	924	570	564	-1.1%
Maryland	744	481	498	3.5%
Ontario	587	402	301	-25.1%
Pennsylvania	448	340	250	-26.5%
Indiana	558	231	243	5.2%
Oklahoma	481	293	220	-24.9%

The statistics include 227 progeny, 46 more than in 2022, of stallions standing in North America but foaled abroad, as reported by foreign stud book authorities at the time of publication.

Country	Live Foals	Country	Live Foals
Australia	2	Rep. Korea	49
Dominican Republic	2	Kingdom of Saudi Arabia	71
France	3	Mexico	7
Great Britain	8	Panama	14
Ireland	26	Philippines	12
Japan	32	Sweden	1

The report also includes 67 mares bred to 23 stallions in North America on Southern Hemisphere time; the majority of these mares have not foaled. In 2021, there were 50 mares bred to 19 stallions in North America on Southern Hemisphere time.

As customary, a report listing the number of mares bred in 2023 will be released later this month.

The 2023 breeding statistics are available alphabetically by stallion name through the Resources – Fact Book. Click here for the link.

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