To many long-term racing fans the biggest appeal the sport holds is that it can be broken down into several components that individually all have a considerable and fascinating depth. It would not be wrong to say that if the sport came to a halt and was disbanded, there would still be enough material to disect, reassess and reflect over for many lifetimes.
As time races away, people we are acquainted with in our own age groups become ill more frequently and die more frequently. In racing, developments take longer to unfold than in most other sports and you tend to feel it will be somewhat futile to take an interest in areas of the sport in which you may not live to see the end result.
National Hunt breeding, in particular, is one such area. Sometimes, stallion masters or individual breeders who on looks appear to be nearer the mark of ninety-five years of age than past the point of sixty-five years of age will express the hopes they have for their new stallion becoming a success in the National Hunt arena.
To appreciate the length of time span involved, if you made an upbeat announcement now about your new dual-purpose stallion that would start covering next season, it would be 2028 when the first crop reached eight years of age, a point at which you could reasonably start to give a fair progress report in the sense that the chasing types would be in their second or third year over the larger obstacles.
Why do so many who look so ancient be so enthusiastic over a development they realistically may not live to see ? Even those a couple of decades younger would also consider that there is some doubt that they too could look so far ahead?
In this sense, it makes you respect the environmentalist freaks who selflessly strive to improve the health of the environment but accept that if their efforts are successful they will not be here to enjoy the results.
What is absurd about breeding for the National Hunt game is that the merit of many stallions is not realised until it is too late. In contrast to the Flat where the turnaround process is quicker and stallions whose progeny have not sold well and have been sent packing to some lower tier racing nation can still have their careers reversed when their offspring defy expectations and perform well on the track, time will often have ran out in the winter game.
For every one of the Coolmore National Hunt stallions who are afforded slick marketing resulting in massive initial books and more than a fair crack of the whip, there are those covering small books at the smaller studs and who are not presented with the opportunities their credentials deserve.
Look at Tamure. He was the colt who looked to have the 1995 Epsom Derby in the bag until Lammtara came out of the clouds to steal the glory from him. Ironically enough, another Gosden colt, Presenting, who would be destined to make waves in the National Hunt breeding arena filled the next place behind him.
Tamure performed credibly in his three remaining races that season, which included beating Spectrum in a Group 3 in France but after the season finished was not seen again until running down the field in Helissio's 1996 Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe.
After five mixed performances in 1997 he was put in the Horses In Training Sales and purchased by the prominent Italian owners Scuderia Rencati for incredulously no more than it would cost for an average household to install a new bathroom and kitchen along with windows and modernised central heating.
Having acquired their Derby runner-up with a stallion's pedigree, they transferred their purchase to Luca Cumani for the 1998 season where two disappointing runs came on either side of winning a Listed race at Haydock Park.
Although Tamure had now blotted his profile since the end of his three-year-old year, he looked an interesting proposition as a National Hunt stallion. He should have also been marketable.
As things turned out he stood for several seasons at the Beech Tree Stud in Somerset, at a fee of £2,000 from 1999 to 2004, reduced to £1,500 thereafter which he continued to be advertised at to his final season of 2014.
There was little demand for his services. Nineteen individual runners on the flat, and eighty-seven over jumps - a small amount when broken down into the sixteen years that his stud career lasted. His winning runners to progeny representing him ratio in both spheres was over 40% which is acceptable if not outstanding, but too small sample a sample to draw conclusions. Irrespective, there are still reasons for believing that he may have been one they let get away.
The small number to represent him include last season's Rowland Meyrick winner Get On the Yager, prolific point to point winner Ask The Weatherman, Grade 1 novice hurdle winner Bitpofapuzzle, and Greatwood Gold Cup winner Thomas Crapper.
We can never know what would have happened if he'd been marketed like, for example, Phardante, a horse that had over seven hundred representatives on the course but with Trucker's Tavern the nearest thing to a star to boast of. And his winners to runners rate was relatively moderate even allowing for the large number of representatives he had.
It's a very peculiar area of the sport. For some, like Gunner B, errors of judgement have been picked up on early and resultant decisions reversed. In his case, he was packed off to Germany when unable to attract a supportable number of mares only to be brought back and stood at the Shade Oak Stud after his progeny began to sparkle.
As it turned out, he was undoubtedly one of the best National Hunt sires of his generation. Despite not having the numerical representation of many of his contemporaries he sired amongst others Iris's Gift, Red Marauder, Bobby Grant, Swingit Gunner. and not least the Champion Hurdle and Ascot Gold Cup winner Royal Gait, the animal chiefly responsible for his return to this country.
He was a horse I had a soft spot for having seen him winning the Cecil Frail Handicap at Haydock Park in 1976 by a wide margin. He had on his previous run been placed in the Mecca Dante. Now figure that path out, it's not a race to race 'progression' you'd see now.
He was then under the care of Beverley handler Geoff Toft. The next time I saw him he was with Henry Cecil two years later, coming off second best to Hawaiin Sound in the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup, this after winning the Eclipse. He must have been some cert at Haydock that day !
So at a time when we are switching to jumps mode, building our mental lists of horses, yards and stallions to keep on the right side of, I think I'll pay attention to Schiaparelli (pictured).
In 2007 I saw him in his pre-Godolphin days winning both the Deutschlandpreis at Dusseldorf and the Preis Von Europa at Cologne, both Group 1 events. Even an untrained eye could appreciate that he had size and depth. Moreover, he is by Monsun whose sons are building a highly successful profile in jump racing.
Just like you could have forsaken the bathroom, kitchen and new central heating to buy Tamure, the fee for a visit to Schiaparelli is presently two grand, the cost of a long travel holiday. Of course, you'll need a mare and though he's standing at the Overbury Stud, his books are not large enough yet for them to be picky.
There is insufficient evidence to assess Schiaparelli in his new career, that will take a few years yet. However, he already has a few promising types in training and plenty more to come and with it the size of his books should increase.
Mind you, by the time you've moved from house to flat to give a little kitty and reduce living costs, then secured regular overtime in the day job, then gone about being able to secure a mare on the cheap with reasonable boarding costs, found a couple of partners if you plan to put the animal into training, you then have to look at that time span from booking the stallion to when the progeny reach their estimated peak, assuming the animal in question is lucky enough to be born free of disability, to stay sound, and run at least fast enough to keep itself warm
You then wonder whether you'll still be alive and if so whether you'll be healthy enough to understand and care. Faith and dedication will guarantee nothing.
image - prior to the 2007 running of the Deutschlandpreis - taken by author
No comments:
Post a Comment