Are Australasian stayers slipping away?

There was a sequence of events that occurred over the last few weeks that made me take a longer than usual look at the Australasian breeding scene.

Scattergun
On the 14th April 2007, Scattergun was defeated at a very short price of $1.14. Trainer Brian Smith made the excuse later in the week that he may have been rubbing or pinching his testicles together. This is not the 1st time I have heard this excuse being used and how genuine it is, I am not sure. What I would like to know, is how they know that there is a problem with the testicles. Before his next run on the 28th April 2007 the trainer mentioned that he would be rubbing Vaseline around his testicles to stop the friction. Again, I am not sure whether this is a common practice. Perhaps it is. As some of you will know he failed with the Vaseline as a $2.60 favourite. The truth regarding Scattergun is that he is simply not that good but that is another story.

Japan
On 29th April 2007 there was a Group 1 3200m race in Japan called the Tenno Sho. Many of you will know that the 3 Japanese horses to have raced with success in our big cups-Eye Popper, Delta Blues and Pop Rock are all stallions. Whilst doing the review of the Tenno Sho for the web site, what I found was that there were no mares in the race. Granted, that is not so strange. But the other thing that I noticed was that there were no Geldings! That is right there were 16 starters and they were all Stallions or Colts. Not only this, but their ages ranged from 4 to 8 with an average of 5.625.

Possibly Japanese trainers use a lot of Vaseline as most of their horses are stallions (other than the females, of course). Or is it simply, that the Japanese trainers are better than ours in dealing with colts and stallions. Is it also true that the Japanese breeding industry is more adept at finding the right bloodlines for stallions being able to stay.

This is ironic as I remember the story of how many years ago when the Japanese were serious about establishing a world class racehorse industry, they sent a contingent to New Zealand to study their racing and breeding industry. This was done in the 1970’s if my memory is correct (give or take a decade to be safe). Some of the contingent stayed with trainers and others with breeders.

Breeding Industry
If you have a look at the leading sires table in Japan, you will find that the majority are either bred in Japan or the USA. Some of these have had limited stud seasons in Australia including Sunday Silence, Fuji Kiseki and End Sweep with limited success yet they continue to be at or near the top of the sires list in Japan. Sunday Silence only served a handful of mares. My opinion on why the other two failed to set the Australian breeding industry alight is that we were sending the wrong mares to them.

Where have Australian and NZ breeders gone wrong? In NZ we have access to one of the best staying pedigrees in the world in Zabeel. We have shuttle stallions from all over the world trying to bring the ‘best’ bloodlines into the local scene.

Perhaps we should study the Japanese industry. In the early 1990’s Japan experienced a slight slump in sales figures due to the increased competition of bloodstock from all over the world. To counter this, they decided to increase the standard of broodmares and only serve the mares that would strengthen the resulting progeny. In other words they decided not to continue serving the inferior mares.

Perhaps we can partly blame Hong Kong for the decline in the strength of our racing stock. To breed successful horses at distances above 2000m a horse needs to have depth to its pedigree. In HK, from memory, there are only 2 races every season at a distance of 2400m. HK buyers are not looking for high class stayers. (Is it a surprise that the Zabeel sired Vengeance Of Rain has dominated races over 2000m in HK over the last few seasons). The majority of racing in HK is between 1200-1600m and coupled with the Australian obsession with races over these distances, the local Australasian industry has bred horses to service this market. In other words our industry has bred horses for a quick return. Either geld them and sell them to HK or keep them to make a quick return in 2 and 3yo races in Australia worth a lot of money. Or keep them as stallions, win a couple of early races and send them off to stud, perpetuating the weakness of our stock. But the blame should not be pointed at HK or our local obsession with sprinting, as Japan have horses that are competitive on the world stage at all distances (example Admire Moon who won the 1777m race at Dubai recently against the worlds best milers).

There is nothing wrong with making money, and a quick return is what appeals to most human beings. It is expensive to own and race a horse and you cannot begrudge a person trying to make a living by any means possible. However, there is a lot of competition for the sprinting dollar and it is harder for the owner of the average sprinter to make a profit. In the staying circles, there is not as much competition in Australia but there is still plenty of money to be made in targeting the major staying races at 2000m, and above, with the right bloodlines. You have to be more patient and pay training fees for longer, but the rewards can be excellent. Perhaps then we can get back to the days of Better Loosen Up and Horlicks winning the Japan Cup.

What steps should be taken to improve our breeding? I believe that we should take a leaf out of the Japanese strategy in trying to strengthen our broodmare population. That is, weeding out the mares that don’t have any substance to their pedigree. Secondly, like the Japanese we should look towards the Americas for shuttle stallions where they race on speed and stamina rather than the European bloodlines where the horses are more dour. Another contentious point is the gelding of horses. Gelding a horse has long being thought of as been beneficial in Australia to get away from the effects of testosterone. The success of the Japanese in racing stallions should force us to have another look at this process. If we are to race more stallions then we should send a contingent over to Japan and see what techniques they use in training stallions and being able to get them to race so tractably whereas in Australia, our inclination is to geld them in order to get them to race better.

My aim in going into a racing/breeding partnership is to focus on strong bloodlines to give the horse every chance to succeed and also to try and get at least 1 top line stayer based on the breeding principles I have mentioned above.

Melbourne Cup.
It is too early to tip for this years Melbourne Cup but just a few observations since I have bought up stayers. It is hard to determine which horses the Japanese will target for the Melbourne Cup this year. Delta Blues put in an average effort in the above mentioned recent 3200m race in Japan when finishing 12th after being ridden up on the pace. Eye Popper came home well after being ridden at the rear, when finishing a close 4th. The other horse we know-Pop Rock, didn’t race but has been in good enough form this season to suggest he can be competitive again. I was impressed with the efforts of the 1st 3 horses-Meisho Samson, Erimo Expire and Tokai Trick (who were amongst my 5 chances in the preview and the trifecta paid over $4000). All are well bred with staying bloodlines. The 1st two are only 4yo’s and the 3rd horse a 5yo which would indicate that there is still room for improvement. If you see any of these at big odds in early markets, they may be worth a small bet. The other Japanese horse of substance in form and breeding is Dream Passport.

Of the local horses the ones I’d be looking at are Efficient and Fiumicino. Both have good form and are well bred. Both being by Zabeel and from well bred mares. Santagostino from NZ who won last Saturday at the Gold Coast and looked quite impressive, is also well bred from a staying perspective (from a sire that raced in UK, but bred in USA). Perhaps we can see a resurgence of the locals if these 3yo’s develop as they turn 4. Of our older horses Pompeii Ruler looks the best chance to train on if they decide to tackle the Melbourne Cup.

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