I'll Have Another's pending retirement...?
 

Win or lose in the Belmont, is there any chance Reddam won't retire him shortly after the race?

Breeders Cup at Santa Anita would be hard to pass up right?

Especially since at this point in the year, the older horses look incredibly slow compared to the 3yo's...

Reddam is a gambler, he fires in. I would think he would continue to run his horse to the end of the season, running as a 4yo might even be too risky for him though.

I'm trying to think of a relatively easy race they could run IHA in in California in late summer/early fall to get ready for the BC Classic.

The Pacific Classic fits perfectly on the schedule but it could be a tough race and it is on poly.

Bodemeister will probably be retired before IHA is.

This is a unique situation. The horse has an owner who has the deep pockets from a business that is high risk without the thugs to break people's arms and legs.


He could cut his nuts off for all we know.

I think being by Flower Alley will help keep him in training.

If he was by Distorted Humor himself. He might have more interests from the stud farms.

I took a look at Flower Alley's Stallion Register page yesterday for kicks, and aside from I'll Have Another, it's really not much.

I think he finishes out his 3 year campaign. After that it's a crapshoot, but for some reason I feel like Reddam would bring him back as a 4 year old.

Yeah I doubt that the stud farms would be interested in a triple crown winner with a Distorted Humor-Kris S. cross. Maybe they should just geld him and use him as Lava Man's backup.

As for not being impressed with Flower Alley's sire page, well I'm pretty impressed to see a 3 time Grade I winner and potential triple crown winner in only his second crop of foals.

Wow aren't you confident. You should buy him since you've got it all figured out.

He might be a terrible sire. Might shoot blanks. Just because he can run a little under the care of a magician doesn't equal shed success.

Of course not but that won't affect his initial stud fees. Cigar was sterile but he was sold to stud for $25 million.

But to say that there would be less interest in him for studbecause Distorted Humor was his grandsire and not his sire is beyond ridiculous.

You're really on a roll for your first day.

Just ignore me then. Please.

So what you're saying is that the breeding world is psyched for I'll Have Another because his grandsire is Distorted Humor? Do you really believe that?

Does it really matter what his bloodlines are? If he wins the TC Reddam will get offered plenty of millions.

I want you guys to be right about continuing to run, but all it will take is some Smarty Jones "hoof bruising" as an excuse to retire him.

Short answer? Yes.

If he wins the TC he'll be the hottest sire on the market when he retires. What prospective buyer wouldn't want the sire of a horse they bought to be a Triple Crown winner?

I get that AP Indy, Distorted Humor, Giants Causeway have great results, but that won't matter if all of a sudden there's a triple crown sire.

Are you as equally impressed with the nothing else he's done?

Cmon man.

tough crowd...

I bet you could have stunned numerous people by telling them that I'll Have Another was not Flower Alley's first Grade I winner.

I'm sure Michael Tabor is spending many breathless minutes wondering about how Giant's Causeway will possibly succeed once I'll Have Another hits the breeding shed. Similarly, I'm sure the folks at Winstar are making emergency preparations with Distorted Humor (not to mention Tiznow, Speighstown, etc.) for the inevitability of I'll Have Another taking over the market. (Winstar is probably thinking about shipping Drosselmeyer to boost the Ohio-bred program, though that is probably independent of the whole I'll Have Another thing.)

AP Indy has been pensioned, so there's that.

Like Grade I winner Lilacs and Lace? For only two foal crops, yes very impressed.

Yes, since GI winners on synthetics are always proof of a sire's greatness.

I'm already reading the comparisons to Secretariat. Hope I can not poke my eyes out the next 3 weeks.

She won a bogus synthetic Grade 1. Surely you aren't hanging your hat on her brilliant race record.

At least they aren't comparing him to Zenyatta. Yet.

What am I hanging my hat on? I never said that Flower Alley was the next coming of Nasrullah. I responded to a ridiculous post which tried to say that being out of Flower Alley would keep a triple crown winner in training since there would be a lack of interest from the stud farms.

Whoa!! That was my boy Jimmy's first Grade 1 stakes winner....ouchy!

I realize you will probably be erasing this post soon too, but this is not what the other poster said.

Once again, your example of his great success at stud was a poor one.

Just trying to keep the discussion on target.

>>>>>>>Originally Posted by VOL JACK
I think being by Flower Alley will help keep him in training.
If he was by Distorted Humor himself. He might have more interests from the stud farms.<<<<<<<

Also where did I use the word great? I wrote that I was impressed with his two foal crops, one of which includes a potential triple crown winner.

Birdstone's second crop had the Derby and Belmont winners in it. Someone remind me what his stud fee is today?

Honestly, this Grey Lag fellow is using terms like "out of" Flower Alley, and purprtedly thinks there isn't a difference in the breeding world between a horse by Distorted Humor and a horse by a son of Distorted Humor. I think we are all being put over.

What was Elusive Quality's fee before the Smarty Jones TC run? How much did it go up after?

So most of you seriously think I'll Have Another will stay in training through the BC?

It's not like he's gotten the best book his first 2 or 3 years at stud. I'm skimming through the list of progeny and so far the most notable broodmare I've noticed is Regal Pennant, 2nd dam of Rockport Harbor and 1st dam of the much ballyhooed (on And They're Off) and little accomplished LeftyLenytheLegend, named after Lenny Shulman. Maybe I'm missing something but most of the rest of them don't ring a bell. "Leny" was the result of Regal Pennant's breeding with Flower Alley. I'm sure Leny's career was thwarted by the burden of his namesake.

Lilacs and Lace was sold to the Japanese right after the KY Oaks and bred to Henrythenavigator so her 3yo career basically came to a screeching halt. That needs to be taken into consideration when looking at her record. (Incidentally, the Japanese also bought Princess Olivia, dam of Flower Alley, and she produced a G2 SW in Japan who was inbred to Goofed like FA, although this time not through different progeny, just Lyphard.)

Hopefully he's seeing an improvement on the mares going to him even this year, but it'll be what, 2014 or 2015 before we see the impact of that. We haven't even gotten to see the results of what happened when Birdstone had that banner year in 2009. His first 2yos from the book he got in 2010 won't show up til next year. It takes time and while Flower Alley and Birdstone are hardly AP Indy and Storm Cat right now, or even Bernardini and Tapit, they've got promise based on what they achieved versus what they were maybe expected to achieve. Let's see what they do with better mares before we judge.

If one horse makes up for two horrible foal crops, then I guess you are right. :wf

I would venture to say that he was given plenty of good mares to breed to, being he was a Travers winning son of Distorted Humor.

Am I the only one who thinks I don't care what they do with him if he wins the Triple Crown?

Birdstone had a Derby winner, Preakness runner-up, Belmont winner, Haskell runner-up and, Travers winner in his first crop.

None of which has been accomplished by Bernardini, who is all the rage, while Birdstone has disappeared.

Not to mention his connections weren't exactly impoverished.

Based on the Stallion Register's numbers, Flower Alley has received better quality mares to date than his foals have produced.

WOW.. DT just keeps getting better and better!