The Charitable Afleet Alex!

Here is the amazing fabulous Afleet Alex giving some love to his jockey, Jeremy Rose, and hoping for some treats in return. Afleet Alex was the Champion 3-year-old Horse of the Year in 2005 and won many important races, including the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Many thought he should have won the Kentucky Derby too, but two speedballs were entered, secretly hoping to be spoilers by setting a blistering pace.

Anyway, his Preakness Stakes is legendary. He was entering the backstretch when Scrappy T turned wide and clipped Alex hard, causing him to stumble, splay spreadeagled, almost drag his nose in the dirt, but still manage to pull himself up and save his jockey who was thrown over his neck and dash into the lead to win by several lengths. This was a supernatural, instinctive move that only a champion could do. It is part of history now. You can see that race at the Youtube link below.

Alex was found to have a hairline fracture in his left front pastern after the Belmont, after a rest, he came back and was putting in speedy workouts, but his trainer decided to retire him. He was later discovered to have some dying tissue in his bones probably as a result of the tremendous forces he exerted on his legs to save himself from a top speed spill in the Preakness.

He is a good boy. He contributes faithfully to a charity called Alex's Lemonade Stand, which was started by a young girl who lived from 1996-2004 and was raising money for juvenile cancer. Part of his race earnings went to that charity and after his Preakness win, his stable Cash is King, his trainer, his jockey, and Liz Scott, Alex's mom, were interviewed about the fabulous Alexes and to promote the charity. What a very good boy.

He is now retired in stud luxury at Gainesway Farm where he charges $40,000 for his dates. He is very fertile as evidenced by the fact that he successfully covered 97% of the mares who visited him for 2007! You go, boy!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=op78_8CYZ0Y
or
http://www.afleetalex.com/index.html
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afleet_Alex
or
http://www.gainesway.com/stallions/listOfStallions/afleetalex/default.asp

Breaking News! Jockey Club Releases 2006 Breeding Stats

On September 13, 2007, The Jockey Club released information about the 2006 breeding season. The Jockey Club was formed in 1894 to monitor the registry of thoroughbreds like Violet They report that about 90% of the foal report is complete and that over the next few weeks, the remaining foals will be listed within the year deadline of registry. 3,881 stallions covered 63,629 mares in North America, and 36,317 live foals were reported as of September 6th! Kentucky leads the list with 33.7% of mares bred in 2006 and 40.8% in 2007.

Of the 21,455 mares bred to 372 Kentucky stallions in 2006, 14,801 live foals were reported. The fourteen states and provinces which lead the list are
1) Kentucky
2) Florida
3) California
4) Louisiana +12.9%
5) New York
6) Texas
7) New Mexico +17.3%
8) Maryland
9) Ontario
10) Oklahoma
11) Pennsylvania
12) West Virginia
13) Washington
14) Illinois

Notice that Louisiana increased their reported foals by 12.9% over the past year which makes me very happy -- seems like some recovery after Katrina. And I am happy to see an increase in reported foals from New Mexico because that's where Violet's daddy was shipped in 2004 and I would like to believe that he is contributing to that increase!

Now the top stallions of 2007 by live foals are all in Kentucky and here they are:

1) Giant's Causeway, 168
2) Roman Ruler, 155
3) El Corredor, 153
4) Eurosilver, 147
5) Johannesburg, 144
6) Maria's Mon, 142
7) Stormy Atlantic, 141
8) Songandaprayer, 139
9) Afleet Alex, 138
10) Grand Reward, 135

Giant's Causeway is shown in this photo and he is standing at Ashford Stud!
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/stallion-directory/stallion.aspx?stallion_no=4297000
or
http://www.reines-de-course.com/giant's_causeway.htm

What do Teachers Really Make?

Here is a lovely Barbara Livingston photo of Afleet Alex and his teacher/trainer, Tim Ritchey. You can see the love they have for each other -- they are a real team.

I invite you to watch the Youtube video -- it's by teacher Taylor Mali and discusses what teachers make!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hw1MFobWD_o

Fabulous Saratoga Race Track

Saratoga Race Track was opened in Saratoga Springs, New York on August 3, 1863. It is the oldest sporting event in the United States. In fact, Saratoga holds the Travers Stakes, continuosly running since 1864, the oldest horse race in the U.S.! You will remember the Travers Stakes because that's the one where Violet's relative, Jaipur, beat Ridan in one of the Top 100 moments in racing history!! Saratoga has a 6 week meet and holds many races, some of the most important being the Woodward, Travers, and Whitney! Saratoga is nicknamed "The Spa" and "Graveyard of Favorites." It earned the latter nickname because some pretty famous horses lost there. Man o' War lost his only race against Upset, Secretariat lost his only race to Onion, and Gallant Fox lost his only race to Jim Dandy. Tough to be a favorite and a champion at Saratoga!!! Anyway, here's a photo of Saratoga, and then here's a 2005 photo of Angel Cordero, always a Saratoga favorite, riding Afleet Alex, Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner, at an end-of-career party for Alex. If you want to read more about this historically significant race track, check out the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saratoga_Race_Course

or

http://www.nyra.com/index_saratoga.html

or

http://www.nyfolklore.org/pubs/voic29-1-2/saratoga.html