Showing posts with label Giacomo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giacomo. Show all posts

Monday, February 4, 2008

Violet and Giacomo -- New Year's Surprises!

Okay, so here's a funny story that could only happen to me. One of my "hobbies" is to visit the webpages of the illustrious horse farms in Kentucky and view their standing stallions. One of my favorite activities is to use their "hypomating" features and breed my beautiful Violet to important stallions across Kentucky, seeing what their special programs say the cross will produce genealogically and across their indices of speed, stamina, and "dosage."

No doubt, this activity keeps me fat and sassy while I sit quietly before bedtime in my pj's with a cup of tea and Jon Stewart.

Anyway, I was on the Adena Springs webpage because I had actually *been* to that farm when Barbie and Tom took me for a tour. It's astonishing -- everything is state of the art and absolutely pristine in its newness and fabulousness. And that's just the facility. You don't want to get me going about the horses! Adena Springs is so fabulous that they have a "cookie" on their webpage which pays attention to the mare owners who log on and hypomate their girls with their boys. I didn't know this about them, but it didn't surprise me to find that out!

What *did* surprise me is that on January 2nd of this year, David Williams, of Adena Stallions, sent me an email inviting me to a Stallion Open House to view their stallions, review my breeding needs, and meet their latest addition, Silent Name. Food and beverages would be served. The event was held for the weekend of January 5-6th. The email was very cool, including graphics of the Adena Springs logo and racing silks which are in black, red and gold and include a black A, slashed through with a red arrow to close the A, and in a circle of gold. For a moment, I thought someone was pulling my leg, but then on reflection, I realized why shouldn't I be invited to review my breeding needs. I am the owner of a beautiful Blushing Groom thoroughbred related to 7 Kentucky Derby winners, 2 Triple Crown winners, and 10 English Triple Crown winners.

Anyway, I wasn't feeling well (and didn't want to be tempted), so I didn't go. But on that same day, Mike Recio, a stallion manager, contacted me and asked whether he could call or send me information for Velvet Tenderness. So, of course, I emailed and asked whether Violet could get on Giacomo's breeding schedule for this year or next. And he promptly emailed back and said that she would be fine for him and that he'd be happy to send the contract immediately.

Can you believe that? I wish I were a richer girl. I would breed my beautiful Violet to the 2005 Kentucky Derby winner in a heartbeat!

I'm living a good life when Adena Springs contacts me and asks me whether I want to breed my beautiful thoroughbred to their world famous stallions! Namaste and many blessings and adventures to you! In this photo, you see Violet all scruffy and relaxed on a mid-January Saturday morning, hanging out with her mom and sister, Hailee, and entirely unaware that she could have had Giacomo as a boyfriend! As we say in New Orleans, "Ai-Yee!"

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Giacomo -- 2005 Kentucky Derby winner!

Giacomo won the 2005 Kentucky Derby as a 50-1 longshot, breaking from behind a wall of horses in the stretch to make a barnburning firelit 70-yard dash into history! His final record before he retired to Adena Springs Stud was 16: 3-2-5.

But his real longshot was surviving at all. He was born in 2002, a year when Kentucky suffered a huge epidemic of mare reproductive loss disorder. At his farm, 25% of the foals were aborted or were stillborn. All told, Kentucky lost 2,500 horse fetuses. But Alice Chandler, his mom, knew he was a tough guy!

Now, I got this from Two Minutes to Glory: The Official History of the Kentucky Derby. Donnie Snellings, the stallion and yearling manager at Giacomo's farm knew he was a tough one. He said, "He was a tiny little thing. But every time I tried to go get him, he'd take off all the way to the other fence. He was loose for three days. I saw a lot of the backside of Giacomo. I knew early he could run long."

His sire and dam are Holy Bull and Set Them Free. And he even has Ta Wee "Beautiful Girl" in his background. My girls are related to him through Better Self, Turn-To, Nasrullah, Questionnaire, Bull Dog, Pharos, Whisk Broom, Teddy, and Intentionally.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PDeItSF72Gs