 |
|
02-02-2014, 02:24 PM
|
#2
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 4,333
|
It certainly is interesting and something to look forward to .
Broodmare sire was a grass champion too so there is some
more sense to the decision . Hope it works out well for Verrazano
and connections!
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 02:58 PM
|
#3
|
|
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 9,893
|
I don't understand Pletcher's quote - did he really accomplish that much in the US? He won a couple of Grade I races.
|
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 03:16 PM
|
#4
|
|
self medicated
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: toga
Posts: 3,091
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Saratoga_Mike
I don't understand Pletcher's quote - did he really accomplish that much in the US? He won a couple of Grade I races.
|
I agree, he was a proverbial money burner in reality.....but 1 mile on the grass could be what's in order and maybe he belonged there all along. The horse is fast but was he racing where he belonged? "Reality" didn't set in until Breeders Cup time. After the Wood I never thought he was a classic distance horse.....that was just a slow race...and he won that but any further is a stretch. Plus, the article brings up the "record breaking 9 3/4 length" win in the Haskell. Yeah, the other good horse pulled up?
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 03:19 PM
|
#5
|
|
clean money
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Maryland
Posts: 23,559
|
I either overestimated his ability initially, or he failed to maintain his ability for whatever reasons.
That said, I wouldn't hesitate to breed to him.
__________________
Preparation. Discipline. Patience. Decisiveness.
|
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 04:00 PM
|
#6
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 7,656
|
Pletcher trains for Tabor, Magnier, Smith, dba, Coolmore-Ashford Stud, what else can he say?
At the beginning of November, Verrazano was to be retired after the BC Mile with plans announced then to stand in 2014. Must have changed their minds as he came back in the Cigar Mile the end of November. Were they in search of more black type?
Two months have passed. It doesn't take too many weeks on the farm to let down a colt following his racing career, and to determine his fertility.
They've changed their minds again. Trying grass, in search of more black type?
|
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 04:10 PM
|
#7
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Winnipeg
Posts: 1,501
|
He's a dual grade 1 winner that's for sure success.
Now he's going to go across the pond and try there.
I think this is super exciting, a top class American horse staying in training as a 4yo (something we all want to see more of).
He's going to try against top notch horses in the UK for O'Brien. He can try some of the top horses in England and who knows maybe in November he will be at Santa Anita for the Breeders Cup Mile.
He's got the turf breeding, he's a gorgeous physical specimen, he helps More than Ready as a shuttle stallion if he has success and if he wins a Group 1, who wouldn't want to breed to a grade/group 1 winner on dirt in NA and turf in Europe. There's only a few horses that can say that.
I think this is awesome and I'm going to make sure I tune in to watch him.
|
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 04:23 PM
|
#8
|
|
gelding
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,883
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Saratoga_Mike
I don't understand Pletcher's quote - did he really accomplish that much in the US? He won a couple of Grade I races.
|
He won two Grade 1s and a Grade 2 and 3 in 2013, banking over $1.5M.
That's an exceptional accomplishment.
|
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 04:29 PM
|
#9
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 1,911
|
Is the US breeding industry in that much trouble that Europe and Australia is more profitable for owners now?
|
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 05:35 PM
|
#10
|
|
Working on 'Plan B'
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Central Kentucky
Posts: 593
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Some_One
Is the US breeding industry in that much trouble that Europe and Australia is more profitable for owners now?
|
Hey Some_One, did you attend any sales in 2013? Did you buy anything? How much did you pay?
Did you RTFA?
.
__________________
'Keep yourself in the best of company and your horses in the worst.' H. Luro et al.
|
|
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 05:57 PM
|
#11
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Queens, NY
Posts: 20,625
|
First he was going to be retired. Then they gave him another shot because they thought SA was biased for the BC Mile and it compromised his chances. Then they retired him. And now his back for the turf. Hmmmn. I don't think it's a bad idea if they think they can increase his value significantly, but I think I might have wanted to try turf first. If he's not competitive over there he may lose value on top of the time at stud.
It feels like they were never quite satisfied he had achieved his potential.
I hope he does well though. I'd like to see any US based horses do well on turf overseas. I'm getting an inferiority complex.
__________________
"Unlearning is the highest form of learning"
|
|
|
|
|
02-03-2014, 08:08 AM
|
#12
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 10,174
|
Any chance he's infertile? Seems a plausible reason for the change of heart.
|
|
|
|
|
02-03-2014, 09:38 AM
|
#13
|
|
intus habes, quem poscis
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Brooklyn NY
Posts: 9,776
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by tucker6
Any chance he's infertile? Seems a plausible reason for the change of heart.
|
A more plausible explanation is that they will stand him in Australia...
|
|
|
|
|
02-03-2014, 09:43 AM
|
#14
|
|
Racing Form Detective
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Lincoln, Ne but my heart is at Santa Anita
Posts: 16,316
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by tucker6
Any chance he's infertile? Seems a plausible reason for the change of heart.
|
That was my first thought.
__________________
Some day in the not too distant future, horse players will betting on computer generated races over the net. Race tracks will become casinos and shopping centers. And some crooner will be belting out "there used to be a race track here".
|
|
|
|
|
02-03-2014, 10:41 AM
|
#15
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 7,656
|
Al, at what point has breeding in Australia become more profitable than breeding to our mares, here, or to those in Europe?
When the same owners, Ballydoyle/Coolmore/Ashford's champion turfer, George Washington was retired and found not be be fertile, he was brought back to racing to run in the BC Classic. On dirt, a second time, after having run poorly to finish 6th on it, a year prior. Sadly, George Washington went down, shattering his front cannon bone and his sesamoids while the world watched. An ugly day for racing, and even uglier one for his owners.
Verrazano's a beautiful colt, and one can wish nothing but the best for him.
If Plan A doesn't work, there's always Plan B.
Time will tell.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
