Monthly Archives: September 2011
Ripping Swiss Ace colt
A year ago I was thinking about a mating for my mare Veil (8 wins, by Faltaat). She’s not big, around 15.2hh and her first foal was very small. So I needed some size and substance in the mating equation,
Numbers Man
Last week my visit around five of the key thoroughbred nurseries in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales took me to Darley’s Kelvinside property to see a selection of their wonderful stallion roster. I had been to this
“the next Zabeel”
When the team at Coolmore rolled out High Chaparral for me and a client last Wednesday, Colm Santry introduced him as “the next Zabeel”. That’s a huge call and Colm is the world’s greatest salesman, but I think he’s right.
Guineas wins on both sides of the Tasman feasible for Fastnet Rock
Last week a client and I spent the afternoon at Coolmore’s Australian headquarters in the Hunter Valley. Long-time employee Colm Santry was very generous with his time and showed us
Close up with Spring Champion Stakes hopeful
Last week during my visit to the Hunter Valley breeding region around Scone I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to inspect Paul Messara’s amazing training facility which adjoins his
Ace Hunter Valley walk out facility
This week I’ve had the privilege of being in the heart of Hunter Valley breeding industry country. I have six mares owned by a client being agisted and prepared for walk out matings at Mike Fleming’s Broadwater Farm and this
Mastercraftsman colt for Our Joan of Arc
The Group Three and Listed Race-winning mare Our Joan of Arc has produced her first foal, a colt by the Coolmore shuttler Mastercraftsman. Our Joan of Arc is owned by Nearco Stud and produced her colt at Gordon Cunningham’s Curraghmore
TV production to suit needs of breeding industry
Producing television can be done in a multitude of different ways and many of those ways don’t suit the thoroughbred breeding industry. I found out during my 15 years of presenting and producing The Ford Report for Trackside Television that
‘Project’ horse for John Bary
When I purchased the Group Three-winning race mare Beautiful Girl (Black Minnaloushe ex Piccadilly Lily, by Rubiton) earlier this year for a client there were a few options in front of us. She could have gone straight to stud; her
Mares under lights – fantastic results
I’m a huge fan of putting maiden and empty mares under lights leading up to and during the breeding season. In my experience it works fantastically-well in getting the mares covered nice and early in the season. If you’re a