El Gato Malo

Here is the handsome boy, El Gato Malo, son of El Corredor and One Bad Cat by Mountain Cat. He is registered for the Kentucky Derby and has a race before that one! He has many famous relatives, including Secretariat, Reviewer, Mr. Prospector, and Nashua. He was born on February 6, 2005 and has a record of 4: 3-1-0. The "buzz" is that he'll have to "outrun his pedigree" if he wants to win the Derby because his super-fast, lightning hot sire won lots, but not at the Derby distance! But good luck you macho little gelding boy!

Derby and Oaks Preparations!

Yesterday was a really nifty day. I went to Ann Arbor for my yearly cardiac checkup, went home and voted in the Ohio primaries, slogged around in the icy snow, had dinner with a friend and watched the Academy Award winning film No Country for Old Men AND I received a slew of HorseWatch emails alerting me to activity by some of my favorite fillies and colts! They were all being registered as formal contenders for the $2 million Kentucky Derby and the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks -- their names were pouring in El Gato Malo, Pyro, War Pass, Cool Coal Man, Proud Spell, Indian Blessing, Golden Dawn, Country Star and others!

So, here is my first official Derby and Oaks 2008 postings for you! In this photo, you see one of the colts, El Gato Malo by El Corredor and One Bad Cat by Mountain Cat (out of Storm Cat). This photo was taken when he was a young boy by his syndication owners West Point Thoroughbreds. The other photo is of my sweet little unbeaten Eclipse two-year-old filly Indian Blessing by Indian Charlie and Shameful by Flying Chevron. The photo was taken by the talented Terence Dulay last year at the Breeders Cup, the site of IB's bigger wins!

This weekend is filled with important trial races, including the Louisiana Derby and Oaks. In the Lousiana Oaks, Proud Spell will try for the third time to beat Indian Blessing -- they have finished 1/2 their past two times together. It's going to be a big day of racing.

Anyway, if you want to start tracking your Derby and Oaks contenders and picking your favorites then please go to the official homepage links below:
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2008/
and
http://www.kentuckyoaks.com/2008/

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