Equine Retirements, Long Term Injuries and Departures

Perpetual said:
Agree with Grassy and he’ll hopefully be retiring aged 11 after nine successful seasons

Mehmas owned by some of the richest people in the world is retiring aged 2 after one…

Any wonder so many of us prefer the winter game?
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I'm not defending the Mehmas decision at all but why seize on it as if it's somehow typical of Flat racing? It isn't. It's rare for a horse to be retired to stud after just one season. It certainly happened with Dark Angel. If I remember rightly, Holy Roman Emperor was retired suddenly to fill the gap caused by George Washington's fertility problem and Teofilo couldn't race as planned at three due to injury. But the Post regularly features a steady stream of Flat horses making their hundredth career appearance. The template for many jumpers, particularly the better ones, seems to be four or five runs a season or thereabouts. Don Poli and Djakadam, for example, have each had a total of nine runs in the last two seasons.

Cue Card would rightly be held up by most people as an example of a horse who epitomises everything that is good about NH racing: fearlessly campaigned in high class races, a byword for longevity. In just over six and a half years, he has run thirty one times. Sheikhzayedroad's Doncaster Cup win last week came in the thirty fifth run of his four and a half year career to date.


Custom Cut's second to Awtaad at Leopardstown last weekend was his fifty second race. He has run twenty eight times in thirty months since joining O'Meara.


When Found runs in the Arc next month it will be her nineteenth run in just over two years, seventeen of them in G1 company in four different countries.



These are just examples. I've no doubt plenty of jumpers can be found who've had long and very active careers but I'm not advocating one code over the the other.


The cliche remains: jumpers are "old friends" who we see season after season and grow to love whereas Flat horses are only around for two minutes. But that's the cliche. In reality, it's not as clear cut as that.


I don't agree with the Mehmas retirement but we've come a long way from the Sangster/MVOB days of the best Flat horses being routinely rushed off to stud too early and the days of top-class jumpers running many times per season and taking on all-comers are also long gone.
 
Good post Gus.
At a lesser level today in Listowel Bubbly Bellini had his 116th race, 17 wins and 27 other top 3 finishes.
Last year we had a flat horse who only missed two years at Listowel from 2003 to 2015 but ran there twice on two occasions to make up for those lapses.
 
I think it's difficult - they can be worth SO much money it's ridiculous, you can kind of see why people would retire them early - and also, if you've got a sprinter it can bang out two/three times a month easily, whereas a longer distance horse would need longer between races.

I just think it's a bit sad, you have a racehorse to go racing with, why wouldn't you want to see it doing what it was bred for and doing the job you bought it for! Guess that's the difference with a small owner to a big one though, it's business for them more than pleasure?


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gus said:
I'm not defending the Mehmas decision at all but why seize on it as if it's somehow typical of Flat racing? It isn't. It's rare for a horse to be retired to stud after just one season. It certainly happened with Dark Angel. If I remember rightly, Holy Roman Emperor was retired suddenly to fill the gap caused by George Washington's fertility problem and Teofilo couldn't race as planned at three due to injury. But the Post regularly features a steady stream of Flat horses making their hundredth career appearance. The template for many jumpers, particularly the better ones, seems to be four or five runs a season or thereabouts. Don Poli and Djakadam, for example, have each had a total of nine runs in the last two seasons.

Cue Card would rightly be held up by most people as an example of a horse who epitomises everything that is good about NH racing: fearlessly campaigned in high class races, a byword for longevity. In just over six and a half years, he has run thirty one times. Sheikhzayedroad's Doncaster Cup win last week came in the thirty fifth run of his four and a half year career to date.


Custom Cut's second to Awtaad at Leopardstown last weekend was his fifty second race. He has run twenty eight times in thirty months since joining O'Meara.

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Agree entirely. I have a sneaking suspicion that with the demise of Scat Daddy there's a good chance we'll hear something about Caravaggio soon. I hope not.
 
Eleanora Duse said:
Agree entirely. I have a sneaking suspicion that with the demise of Scat Daddy there's a good chance we'll hear something about Caravaggio soon. I hope not.
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I wasn't aware of the Scat Daddy situation but the news that Caravaggio is out for the rest of the season has me thinking along similar lines.
 
It might not be 'typical' of Flat racing but it's indicative of a growing trend...Dark Angel, HRE, Zebedee, Sir Prancealot, now Mehmas. All being retired as a commercial decision rather than because circumstances forcing their connections' hand - and I'm sorry, I don't see GW's fertility problems alone as justification for retiring HRE, given that Coolmore had Danehill Dancer, Rock of Gibraltar, Oratorio, Fastnet Rock available to shuttle had they wanted, Dylan Thomas who'd already at least proved himself at 3 at the time, and that's just the Danehills I can remember off the top of my head.
 
Kevin Blake ATR

Last week news emerged that Al Shaqab Racing had sold 50% of the high-class two-year-old MEHMAS to Tally-Ho Stud and he would be retired to stud after his next start in the Middle Park Stakes, forgoing a three-year-old campaign next season.
The news was greeted with anguish by many racing fans, as it grates on many that a high-class two-year-old would be retired despite being physically and mentally sound.
While it isn’t unusual for colts to be retired to stud without having raced as a three-year-old due to injury, making a decision to retire a sound three-year-old to stud based on commercial reasons is a largely modern phenomenon.
Holy Roman Emperor was perhaps the first in 2007, for all that it was George Washington’s infertility that was the big factor in the decision to retire him.
A year later, Dark Angel was retired at the conclusion of his juvenile campaign to stand at Morristown Latin Stud and since then, the O’Callaghan family has bought a string of similarly-profiled two-year-olds to begin their stallion careers as three-year-olds such as Zebedee (Tally-Ho Stud), Approve (Morristown Latin), Sir Prancealot (Tally-Ho Stud) and Gutaifan (Morristown Latin).
Rathbarry Stud also got in on the act by retiring Lilbourne Lad to stud after his two-year-old season.
The traditional argument to justify such decisions was that the programme book made it very tough for three-year-old sprinters, particularly in the first half of the season.
However, that has been addressed in recent years with the introduction of a series of three-year-old sprints on both sides of the Irish Sea culminating in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.
So, why is it still happening?
As is the case in so many situations in life, the answer comes down to money. The reality is that the commercial end of the bloodstock industry demands precocious speed and is willing to pay well for it.
While an outside observer wouldn’t have to be too pernickety to express concerns about sending a mare to a stallion that hasn’t proven themselves a three-year-old, the breeding industry has shown that having high-class two-year-old form is enough for most.
For example, in their first seasons alone, Dark Angel covered 120 mares at a fee of €10,000, Zebedee covered 154 at €5,000, Approve covered 118 at €5,000, Lilbourne Lad covered 123 at €7,500 and Sir Prancealot covered 139 at €6,000.
These are numbers that put them up amongst the best supported first-season sires of each of their years. It isn’t just the breeders that have shown an acceptance of horses with such profiles, as the progeny of all of those stallions were amongst the most in-demand of the first-season sires as both foals and yearlings.
The trend has continued and if anything grown this year, as despite being a far from high-profile two-year-old, Gutaifan was in incredibly high demand in his first season at Morristown Latin Stud, covering no less than 203 mares at a fee of €12,500.
At the end of the day, it comes down to risk and reward. If a stallion master feels that a two-year-old has done enough as a juvenile to attract the sort of business that the above sires did, retiring them after their two-year-old year can clearly seem more attractive than rolling the dice with them as a three-year-old, risking devaluing their value and reputation if they fail to add to their achievements.
Of course, for a high-class two-year-old to go on to win the Commonwealth Cup and compete against the top older sprinters as a three-year-old would lead to a significant increase in their value and reputation.
However, when one weighs up the two options in the cold light of day, it is no surprise that the likes of Mehmas are being retired as two-year-olds.
The remarkable success of Dark Angel has served to legitimise this practice and with Sir Prancealot making a strong start of his own with his first runners this season, it is unlikely to stop any time soon.
That said, while the commercial realities make it understandable, one does have to worry if such practice is in the best interests of the thoroughbred breed, particularly if it becomes even more common.
Ultimately, in a free market situation, the power is in the hands of the breeders. If they continue to be willing to embrace sires that haven’t raced beyond their juvenile campaign with such enthusiasm, the practice is likely to increase before it decreases.
 
In the modern era do you think it was the success of Danzig that has made breeders more ready to trust their mares to one-season raced sires?
 
The Tetrarch was famously retired to stud after one season of racing, through injury I know.
Danzig was retired through injury also was he not ?
Teofilo also only ran the one season through injury.

I would have thought the fertility of a three year old stallion would be more of an issue than it appears, especially with the large books of mares covered.
Was there not such a case in the last few years ?

Quick speed and a quick return on investment seems the order of the day now I fear.
 
The Minch still with us but a badly ruptured tendon. Sound like some time off games at best and retirement at worst.
 
Decent novice Jollyallan from a cpl of seasons ago retired

[FONT=&quot]One horse that will not be seen out on a racetrack again is three-times hurdle winner Jollyallan who has been retired after failing to recover from an injury sustained in the 2015 Supreme Novices' Hurdle.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Fry said: "Jollyallan has been retired through injury which is a shame. That's horses for you and we've just got to find another one now.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"He looked a very nice novice hurdler and it is a shame he didn't get the chance to go on for longer."[/FONT]
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Real shame that Al Ferof's not going to make his swansong at Huntingdon

Al Ferof has been retired...
Today was a sad day as the popular yard star Al Ferof has been retired. He unfortunately sustained a minor injury which given his age means he has run his last race. It was highly likely his run to defend the Peterborough Chase was to be his last but it was not to be. The injury is a small tear to his flexing tendon, otherwise known as a 'leg' but it's a very small tear and he's not in any pain or has been lame at all. He's headed home to Lisa Hales' to join Neptune Collonges and a decision will be made about the next chapter of his life in the spring after a nice long rest.
He's been a great horse for the Hales family over the years for Nicholls' Team Ditcheat and last year for us and he's certainly going to be missed. His career highlights were a Supreme Novices', a Henry VIII Chase, 2xAmlin Chase, a Paddy Power and last year's Peterborough. We consider ourselves lucky to have had such a horse and we all wish him well for the future, he's got plenty more fun days ahead of him.
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Al Ferof was the first Cheltenham Festival winner I witnessed on site; I remember being hoarse before the second race ended with no winner backed.
That he was competing against the best every year since says it all about him; one hell of a good horse.
Congrats to all concerned for keeping him so good for so long.
 
I've always loved Al Ferof, followed him since that day at Newbury when he narrowly escaped electrocution pre race. Hope he has a long and happy retirement.
 
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