July 1999
Multiple stakes winner Pacificbounty has been retired from racing and will stand his first season at stud in California next year.
The five-year-old black son of Pirate’s Bounty—Fast Katie, by Fast, hails from the same vintage California crop that yielded Free House and I’m a Jewel. Owned by Californians Ben (Ted) Bear and Dr. Tom Harris in partnership with Donald Grey of Norfolk, Va., won five of 17 career starts for earnings of $577,203. Victories in the Golden Gate and El Camino Real Derbies in the spring of 1997 stamped him as a Derby contender, but Pacificbounty came out of a third-place effort in that year’s Arkansas Derby with an injury that sidelined him through the remainder of his three-year-old season and forced him to miss the Triple Crown races.
Returned to racing last spring, Pacificbounty placed in the grade III Cornhusker Breeders’ Cup Handicap and $1 million Pacific Classic (to Free House) in consecutive starts over the summer and also finished fourth in the California Cup Classic. He registered the final victory of his career in the Forty Niner Handicap at Golden Gate Fields in late November. A stud farm has yet to be determined.
Synastry Back On Top
Hideaway Farms stallion Synastry rallied from near death earlier this year to return to the breeding shed, and now his two-year-olds are grabbing national attention on the racetrack. The 16-year-old son of Seattle Slew led the nation through May 19 with four juvenile winners from as many starters. These included Flippin Flapjacks, who finished third in the Great Arizona Futurity Shoot-Out Stakes at Turf Paradise. His other two-year-old winners are Local Syn, Ares and Synapse.
Synastry nearly missed the 1999 breeding season when he had to undergo major surgery to remove three stones from his kidneys and one from his urethra in January. Booked to nearly 70 mares before the season started, Synastry has recoverd well enough to return to breeding on April 26.Gary and Marlene Howard, who operate Hideaway Farms near San Jacinto, hope to breed him to 30 mares this year.
“It was a big loss when he was gone and we’re lucky to have him back,” said Gary Howard of Synastry. “He’s a real class stallion and, during his recovery time, he was real easy on himself. I don’t think he lost 75 pounds during the whole ordeal.”
A full brother to stakes winner Tax Dodge and a half-brother to Mr. Nickerson, Synastry has progeny earnings of $3,836,394 to date. He has seven crops of racing age, including 29 two-year-olds of 1999 and an additional 55 yearlings. His 17 added-money winners include Lethal Leta, Just Lookn, Synastry Express and Gratteau.
California
Champion Melair Dead
Champion Melair, who was undefeated in a brief five-race career that included a record-breaking victory over Snow Chief and other colts in the 1986 Silver Screen Handicap at Hollywood Park, was humanely destroyed at Here Tis Ranch near Hemet in late May after suffering complications from a bout with colic.
Bred and owned by Marianne Millard and Bea Rous, Melair was a 1983 filly by Debonair Roger out of the outstanding broodmare Melrose Nugget. Although her racing career spanned less than three months and came during a single meeting, she provided the sport with one of its most vivid highlights of 1986.
She led throughout the one-mile Silver Screen, winning by 6 1/2 lengths in a time of 1:32 4/5. Preakness winner Snow Chief finished third, 11 lengths further back. It was the fastest mile ever recorded by a member of her sex and was equaled only one other time by Eclipse and Breeders’ Cup champion Bayakoa (Arg) in the 1989 Hawthorne Handicap at the Inglewood track.
“I don’t like the word ‘freak,’ because it makes it sound inappropriate, but she was that kind of horse,” said trainer John Sadler in a Daily Racing Form interview. “She was the kind of horse destined not to run a long time. She was just beyond the normal range of horses. She could do everything so easily.”
Unfortunately, Melair’s victory in the Silent Screen turned out to be her last race. A bout with colic forced her to the sidelines when she was preparing for an appearance in the Test Stakes at Saratoga. Yet, her brief campaign created such a lasting impression that she was among the three finalists for the Eclipse Award for outstanding three-year-old filly of 1986, a title that went to another undefeated filly, Tiffany Lass, who counted the Kentucky Oaks and Fantasy Stakes among her six wins that year. Melair also captured the grade III Railbird and Princess Stakes for earnings of $336,500, and she was voted California’s champion three-year-old filly and outstanding sprinter.
Melair suffered a second and more serious colic attack in January of 1987. This time, veterinarians had to go in and remove part of her large intestine. She almost died as a result, and the condition affected her capacity to carry and bear foals. She produced two winning offspring—Mr. Melair, by Mr. Prospector, and Airlaunch, by Relaunch, who was stakes-placed at Turf Paradise. In her later years, Melair was bred only to stallions residing in California.
“We only bred her every other year,” Millard told Daily Racing Form. “We didn’t want to put too much pressure on her. We couldn’t send her any place to be bred. I’m not saying they’re not good ranches, but she had a special diet and needed special attention.”
Golden
Eagle Hires Van Der Lohe
Well-known West Coast farm manager Chris Van Der Lohe has been hired to replace Rick Taylor as manager of John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm near Ramona, Calif. Taylor had managed Golden Eagle Farm for three years but left in May to pursue other opportunities in the racing industry.
Van Der Lohe has been involved with the Thoroughbred industry since graduating from high school and he managed the Sahadi family’s renowned Cardiff Stud Farm since 1988. While at Cardiff, he oversaw an operation that bred as many as 500 mares a year. In his new position, he is expected to oversee all facets of Golden Eagle’s operation, from breeding and foaling to breaking and training. He will also be involved in the development of Golden Eagle West, a recently acquired 277-acre facility located about 15 miles from the main farm to meet the needs of Golden Eagle’s expanding breeding operation.
The American Equine Sales Company held its inaugural sale of two-year-olds in training at Bay Meadows racetrack on June 8. Twenty-two horses sold for total receipts of $265,700 and an average of $12,077. Fifteen of the 37 head that went through the sales ring were not sold, accounting for a buy-back ratio of 40.5 percent.
The sale topper was a Stage Colony colt who went to Russell J. Young for $45,000. Now named New Kingdom, the colt is out of the stakes-winning Screen King mare Silent Sword and a half-brother to stakes-placed Minnesota Sky, second in the 1991 Hopkins Stakes at Canterbury Park. The juvenile was consigned by Mary Knight, as agent for Carl and Olivia Cannata.
Knight was also the consignor of the top-priced filly in the sale. Mi Amiga de Oro, by California stallion Strike Gold, brought a final bid of $25,000 from Oak Tree Farm. She was produced from the stakes-winning Fast mare Andale, who captured the 1991 Lady Morvich Handicap at the Bay Meadows Fair and placed in two other added-money events.
Wired to Fly Sold to Kentucky Interests
Undefeated California-bred stakes winner Wired to Fly, who captured the Nursery Stakes at Hollywood Park on May 15, has been sold to Kentucky interests.
Marc Wampler, a bloodstock agent based in Lexington, Ky., said the Flying Victor filly will be trained by Niall O’Callaghan and owned by a group of O’Callaghan’s clients. She was purchased from Lon Klahr and trainer Jerry Dutton who bought her as a weanling for $5,500 out of the 1997 Barretts fall mixed sale at Fairplex Park. Produced from the Time Tested mare Electrofying, Wired to Fly is a half-sister to $130,500-earner Wired to Go and two stakes-placed runners. The actual sale price was not disclosed, but Wampler said that Dutton made a profit on the filly.
Wired to Fly has won both her starts over 4 1/2 furlongs quite impressively. She was entered for the June 13 Cinderella Stakes at Hollywood Park, but was withdrawn from the race when the deal neared completion. She has earnings of $91,290.
“Physically, we saw something in this filly that makes us think she’ll go on,” said Wampler in a Daily Racing Form interview.
CHRB
Postpones Decision to Name Testing Lab
The California Horse Racing Board has
postponed a decision to name its official drug testing lab for the 1999-2000 fiscal year
after it debated the findings of its bid evaluation team.
The evaluation found the laboratory at Iowa State
University scored higher than the existing contract holder, Truesdail Laboratories of
Tustin, Calif. Both labs are currently handling tests for the CHRB, but officials estimate
that Iowa State handles only 15 percent of the testing. In addition, Iowa State’s bid
was $949,800, $16,200 less than the bid from Truesdail Laboratories.
Despite the evaluation results, CHRB staff recommended
that the contract should remain with Truesdail, primarily because it had handled
California’s drug testing for the last eight years and is conveniently headquartered
in California. The racing board, however, was unable to award the contract to Truesdail
after Christopher Foley, the state deputy attorney general, pointed out that state horse
racing law prohibited such action. “The statute says it must go to the highest
scorer,” he told Daily Racing Form.
In addition, the Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory would be ready for testing in the year 2000, meaning that Iowa State, if awarded the contract, would have to increase staff only for the term of the contract. Chairman Ralph Scurfield said he expected a resolution by the July meeting.
Fairplex Park, Santa Anita Reach Simulcast Agreement
Santa Anita Park will be open this year to accept simulcasts of races at Fairplex Park in Pomona during the Los Angeles County Fair, Sept. 10-27. Last year, Santa Anita was closed during the Fairplex meet due to a $15-million renovation project.
A Santa Anita official said the signal from the Oak Tree meeting, which runs Sept. 30 through Nov. 9, will be sent to Fairplex, and final details are being ironed out for Santa Anita to send its signal to Fairplex for its winter-spring meeting that opens Dec. 26. Santa Anita elected not to send its signal to Fairplex in 1998, citing an effort to boost on-track attendance, and Fairplex remained closed during those four months.
McAnally Reaches Milestone
Ron McAnally became just the third trainer to win 600 races at Hollywood Park when Musgrave captured the seventh race at the Inglewood, Calif., oval on May 26. He joins Charlie Whittingham and Bobby Frankel as the only conditioners who have 600 or more victories there.
New Del Mar Training Track Turned Down
Hopes for a new training track at Del Mar was turned down. The proposed 1 3/8 mile training track on land east of the racetrack, is needed to alleviate crowded training conditions on the main track and current half-mile track during the summer meeting, but the plans were recently rejected by the California Coastal Commission which expressed concerns over the adjacent wetlands.
Track president Joe Harper said he will go back to the drawing board and resubmit the plan for the year 2000 racing season. This time, the plan will be to construct an infield track similar to the one under consideration at Santa Anita.
Following
a dull fourth-place finish in the June 12 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs,
owners Robert and Beverly Lewis and trainer Bob Baffert made the decision to retire Silver
Charm. The 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner would remain at Baffert’s
Churchill Downs barn to wind down. No immediate stud plans were announced for the
five-year-old son of Silver Buck.
Silver Charm won or placed in 21 of his 24 starts and earned $6,944,369 to place behind only Cigar and Skip Away on the all-time list. Every single one of his wins was hard-earned, and the wear and tear of racing finally caught up to him this year. His last win came in the San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita in January.
“It broke my heart to see him get beat like that,” said Baffert in a Blood-Horse interview. “He was training awesome, but he had bulked up this year and has been spotting his rivals 300 pounds in weight. When Victory Gallop came to him turning for home, he didn’t put up a fight. That was when we knew it was time to retire him.”
Silver Charm is the second Kentucky Derby winner Lewis has seen into retirement in a month. Eight days earlier, Charismatic suffered a career-ending injury in the Belmont Stakes while attempting to sweep the Triple Crown, a feat that also narrowly eluded Silver Charm two years earlier. Earlier this year, Lewis and Baffert retired Kentucky Derby winter-book favorite Exploit after he emerged from the San Felipe Stakes with a chipped knee.
“We’ve never stood a stallion before,” said Robert Lewis. “Now, it appears we’ll have three all at once.”
Though people talk about the 80,000-plus crowds at Belmont the past two years for Real Quiet and Charismatic’s Triple Crown attempts, it was actually Silver Charm who helped to break through the barrier of indifference that had plagued New York racing for two decades. In the four years prior to the gray colt’s Triple Crown try in 1997, average attendance for the Belmont Stakes stagnated at 41,425 and one had to go all the way back to Seattle Slew’s Triple Crown sweep 20 years earlier to find a crowd of 70,000 for the Belmont. Silver Charm drew 70,682 fans to Belmont Park and helped to revitalize racing, despite his narrow loss to Touch Gold.
In addition to his classic victories, Silver Charm also captured the $4 million Dubai World Cup, Strub Stakes, San Fernando Breeders’ Cup Stakes, Kentucky Cup Classic (in a dead heat with Wild Rush), Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap, Del Mar Futurity and San Vicente Stakes. He was voted North America’s outstanding three-year-old male in 1997.
Missionary Ridge (GB) Dead
Missionary Ridge (GB) was humanely destroyed after suffering a breeding shed accident at Payson Stud near Lexington, Ky., earlier this year. According to a spokesperson at the farm, the 12-year-old stallion lost his balance while dismounting a mare and fractured several vertebrae after landing on his back and neck.
On the racetrack, Missionary Ridge was one of Southern California’s top handicap performers earlier this decade. Owned by Peter Wall and trained by Bobby Frankel, the son of Caerleon won eight of 42 races and bankrolled $1,864,498 during his five-year career. A versatile runner, Missionary Ridge was as adept on dirt as he was on turf, winning the Pacific Classic at Del Mar and Santa Anita’s Carleton F. Burke Handicap during his 1992 campaign. He also captured back-to-back runnings of the San Jacinto Handicap at Santa Anita in 1991 and 1992.
Missionary Ridge is the sire of 21 winners from his first two crops to race, including stakes-placed runners Missionary Monk, Time Allowed and Buddy’s Mission. With 82 foals of racing age, his progeny have earned $939,389 to date. Missionary Ridge is also represented by 27 two-year-olds and 14 yearlings this year.
IN MEMORIAM
Scott Dorn
Scott Dorn, who was track superintendent at Golden Gate Fields for many years, died of complications from a stroke at Doctor’s Hospital in San Pablo, Calif. He was 53. Surviving family include his wife Karen, daughters Jennifer and Chandra, mother Charlotte, sisters Kimberly Krausch and Candace Mitchell, and two grandchildren.
Dorn began working at Golden Gate as a teenager. He helped build the track’s turf club and was facility director before assuming the position of track superintendent of the Albany, Calif., oval.