NEWS
Freshman Sire Contest Blog: Let’s hear it for the … girl?
Posted: Monday, March 07, 2011 5:44 PM
RAGS TO RICHES
photos by Z/Thoroughbred Times
by John Egan
Last week I attended the first major two-year-old auction of the year at Palm Meadows Training Center for the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale of selected two-year-olds in training. Although a flying visit for the one-day sale, it presented a good opportunity to catch up with clients and friends.
I was also particularly keen to see how the two-year-olds by freshman sires would fair. Being a Fasig-Tipton sale, I was interested to see if there would be strong “home” support for the Darley stallions. I also thought that there might be some special attention to the top three-year-old colts of 2007—Street Sense, Hard Spun and Any Given Saturday—that were such high profile purchases to stand at stud for the 2008 season.
I remember the 2007 racing year well. I do not think that there is anybody involved in racing who did not say that they thought they had witnessed the best crop of three-year-olds for some time.
As that crop was so memorable on the track, I think it is great to take such a keen interest in them when they are at stud. This is the real reason why the freshman sire competition is so much fun. What it does is bring back memories of the horses that you saw race. When their first crop of two-year-olds make it to the track, you can get to see whether their progeny are capable of performing to the same, or higher, standards that their sires did.
Of all the races of 2007, however, the most memorable race, for me, came down to a battle between two horses that you will not find in the freshman sire competition of 2011. That race was the Belmont Stakes (G1).
Curlin was second in that race, but he would end 2007 as champion three-year-old male and Horse of the Year. You cannot select him in the freshman sire competition this year, because he remained in training through the age of four. You have to be patient and wait for 2012 for his first runners. You cannot select the horse that beat him either … he was beaten by a filly.
I love Rags to Riches, always did before the race, always have since. In the past couple of years, racing fans have taken Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta to their hearts and rightly so. Part of me wonders if there would ever have been the eagerness, especially with Rachel Alexandra, to take on the boys had it not been for the victory by the beautiful chestnut daughter of A.P. Indy on Belmont day. I like to think so.
For us Europeans, running against the boys is not as frowned upon as it is in U.S. racing. When I was a boy growing up and watching racing at home with my father, the first horse I have an actual memory of watching was a filly by the name of Oh So Sharp. The year was 1985.
There will be many of you reading this who will not know who this filly was or what she did, but she too won the last leg of the English Triple Crown by beating the three-year-old colts. She did this by winning the St. Leger (Eng-G1). If you think 1 1/2 miles is far, she won that race over 1 3/4 miles.
A little side note with this story—I grew up in London and I now live in Kentucky, so it is funny that back in 1985 it was a Kentucky native living in England who was my sporting hero. That was the jockey Steve Cauthen and it was he who was the regular pilot on board Oh So Sharp.
In no doubt, I am eagerly awaiting the first crop of those three-year-old colts of 2007, but in remembering those same horses, it brings back to me the memory of a brave and classy filly who won the Belmont.
About John Egan
A native Londoner, John Egan has been a racing enthusiast from a very young age and even owned interests in Thoroughbred racehorses with his parents. After graduating from University with a business degree in 1997, John spent three years working in the London insurance market before pursuing his desire to work in the racing industry. He began work as an assistant to a trainer and was predominately based at Wolverhampton racecourse in England. After a spell in training, John then went to work for Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber's farms of Watership Down in England and Ireland before relocating to Kentucky and Lane's End Farm in 2002. After two years at Lane's End, John decided to combine his experience in the horse and insurance industries and became an equine insurance agent, which he did for three years, before making the transition to underwriter for a large multi-national insurance company. In 2008, he became underwriting manager of the Lexington office of Markel Insurance Company, which was opened in October of that year with the primarily focus of writing Thoroughbred equine mortality insurance.'
With the launch of the Lexington office, John has become actively involved in Thoroughbred media to help promote Markel. He appeared on the Horse Racing Radio Network's Saturday morning show in 2009 and 2010 to discuss horses on the Kentucky Derby trail. In 2009, John also began a freshman sire competition and created a newsletter with that competition called The Freshman. That contest caught the eye of THOROUGHBRED TIMES and a partnership was formed to present the Freshman Sire Contest together in 2010. The partnership continues with the 2011 competition also being presented by Markel and THOROUGHBRED TIMES.
John lives in Lexington and is married to Melissa, who is a small animal veterinarian.
To read John's first blog, click here.
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Deborah , San Bruno, CA on April 16, 2011 at 02:34 AM
Dear John,
Any word on Rags to Riches 3rd foal?
last update was her in Ireland awaiting a birth in April? Is it a boy or a girl. I too watched this race and every race in 2007. I actually have a compiled photograph we 3 like to call "The best of 2007"
The photo is comprised of Street Sense, Hard Spun, Curlin and Rags to Riches. You must see it to believe the memories this will evoke. A friend of my were so moved by 2007 racing that she created this tribute of beauty and strength. These four racing giants, in 2007, are a great reminder to keep up with their progeny and progress. I'll show you mine if you tell my about Rags'
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Posted by: john, darlington, NB on March 27, 2011 at 12:49 PM
hi john the mention of oh so sharp takes me back to the rowley mile 1,000 gns day 1985 when i watched steve cauthen get oh so sharp up on the line to win in a 3 way photo,still one of the most exciting races iv'e seen
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Posted by: Michael, Akron, OH on March 14, 2011 at 02:42 PM
I agree with you 100% about Rags to Riches paving the way for Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. I still get chills when I watch that Belmont race. The courage and heart she showed was amazing. She was such a beautiful and talented filly. I also love her Las Virgenes Stakes race, to go out 5 wide on the turn to the stretch and make up the ground she did was as good or better than any Zenyatta race. I guess you can tell I'm a HUGE Rags fan and always will be.
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Posted by: John, Lexington, KY on March 08, 2011 at 07:35 PM
Hi Eric, thank you for your comment. She really was an amazing filly - remember she fell out of the gate that day too! I'm sorry you missed the Pick-4, there is always that annoying "I knew it" feeling when you just miss a big pay-off.
Who do like for freshman sire champion this year? I have a feeling that you may be selecting Curlin for 2012.
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Posted by: Eric, Eugene, OR on March 08, 2011 at 01:25 PM
yeah john, u just had to bring up such a bitter pill for me to re-live didnt you??? Your right about Rags to Riches. I thought that rilly was the greatest but than she had to run against my other favorite colt, Curlin. All week I kept telling all my chauk-worshipping buddies that, "yeah, Curlin is the one to beat, but did you see that filly Rags to Riches? She dont look like no filly!! Look at her barrel cheat and size and shape. She looks like a colt! You better not underestimate her in the Belmont." Belmont day finally arrives and I select a pk 4 ticket. I use several horses in a couple of legs and in one of those legs the huge favorite tanked. I had the longshot and was alive going into the final leg, the Belmont. The Pk 4 was paying 2500.00 to Curlin and 5000.00 to Rags to Riches. Only problem was I committed the very thing i warned my friends not to do, cause I singled Curlin! As you can see, I am still crying over that dumb mistake. Glad you brought up that group of horses for us to remember. Its so easy in this sport to just go on to the next year and the next year and we forget sometimes how talented a past group was. Glad to have folks like you in our industry.
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