Doubling the DWC to 12 million, WOW!!!

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Jim, and Gioia too..

While I appreciate your zeal for the DWC and enjoyment of International racing, perpetuating the notion that Sh. Mo in particular is doing good things for racing is utterly ridiculous. He's single-handedly destroying the game by disturbing the sport's competitive balance and effectively trying to simply buy control of it. Invests in breeding? He's not investing, he's maniacally trying to buy ALL the breeding. And of course there will never be a decent 3yo that sees a handicap season as long as Darley continues in their current fashion.

He's also created the disgusting nouveau scenario of the instant purchase of any young horse, or even any decent looking older horse, which will completely ruin the game for fans. Thanks to Mo, you can look forward to a 'Rollerball' style corporate game shortly where Darley, Godolphin, IEAH and Team Valor basically have bought any decent horse. There will be a few holdouts that don't need the money, but most operations or owners will be compelled to sell.

There is in fact a rumor from credible sources that Darley approached IEAH/Pompa Friday night with a $30 million offer for Big Brown. IEAH has a huge war chest and would rather campaign forward at this point, but you can see what you're dealing with. And of course IEAH themselves threw $2MM at Pompa for 75% of Big Brown off the maiden win last summer...

It's not 'sporting', as Sh. Mo's shills love to claim, just as it wasn't sporting to retire Bernadini. And $12MM for a single race is of course just obscene and garish and typical of the way he operates believing that throwing money at everything assures some kind of 'class'. It's actually embarrassing. What pleasure he can take when whichever American-bred juvenile he bought smashes the career earnings record in his 7th career start with $11,000,000 accrued from the World Cup win on the heels of his wins in the previous year's UAE Derby and 3 stages of Mahktoum Challenges...

I respectfully disagree.

[brockguy]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Jim, and Gioia too..

While I appreciate your zeal for the DWC and enjoyment of International racing, perpetuating the notion that Sh. Mo in particular is doing good things for racing is utterly ridiculous. He's single-handedly destroying the game by disturbing the sport's competitive balance and effectively trying to simply buy control of it. Invests in breeding? He's not investing, he's maniacally trying to buy ALL the breeding. And of course there will never be a decent 3yo that sees a handicap season as long as Darley continues in their current fashion.

He's also created the disgusting nouveau scenario of the instant purchase of any young horse, or even any decent looking older horse, which will completely ruin the game for fans. Thanks to Mo, you can look forward to a 'Rollerball' style corporate game shortly where Darley, Godolphin, IEAH and Team Valor basically have bought any decent horse. There will be a few holdouts that don't need the money, but most operations or owners will be compelled to sell.

There is in fact a rumor from credible sources that Darley approached IEAH/Pompa Friday night with a $30 million offer for Big Brown. IEAH has a huge war chest and would rather campaign forward at this point, but you can see what you're dealing with. And of course IEAH themselves threw $2MM at Pompa for 75% of Big Brown off the maiden win last summer...

It's not 'sporting', as Sh. Mo's shills love to claim, just as it wasn't sporting to retire Bernadini. And $12MM for a single race is of course just obscene and garish and typical of the way he operates believing that throwing money at everything assures some kind of 'class'. It's actually embarrassing. What pleasure he can take when whichever American-bred juvenile he bought smashes the career earnings record in his 7th career start with $11,000,000 accrued from the World Cup win on the heels of his wins in the previous year's UAE Derby and 3 stages of Mahktoum Challenges...

Steve,

Id like to believe that last years insane spending by the Sheikh was an anomaly and that seeing his Darley stud so far behind main rivals Coolmore, wanted to rectify that and wanted to do it quickly, hence the purchases of Street Sense, Hard Spun, Authorised, Manduro, Admire Moon etc etc..

From the Guardian article below, he's spent roughly one billion pounds (>1Billion Dollars) on Bloodstock in the past year. I just cant for the life of me see that he can continue this aggressive tactic for more than another year.

Looking at it over here, The Sheikh basically owns the top 4 prospects for the 2000 Guineas - New Approach, Ravens Pass, Ibn Kaldoun and Faat Company. They are all splendid stallion prospects but all else things being equal, they are all successful, i cant see them all retiring to stud...

I was just looking back at a thread i started a while back on the top 10 Godolphin horses ever, it is interesting to note that by my estimate 8 of those wouldnt be there if they had retired at 3. In the late 90s early 00's they were great for racing their top older horses through into their 4th 5th a 6th years. But I suppose therein lies the problem. Very few breeders want slowly maturing types that only really became top class as a 4 or 5 year old.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/horserac...269381,00.html

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by brockguy

Id like to believe that last years insane spending by the Sheikh was an anomaly and that seeing his Darley stud so far behind main rivals Coolmore, wanted to rectify that and wanted to do it quickly, hence the purchases of Street Sense, Hard Spun, Authorised, Manduro, Admire Moon etc etc.

Don't know if you saw but they already scooped up the stud rights to Pyro which coupled with the attempt to get the stud rights to Big Brown doesn't exactly give the impression that last year was a one year anomaly.

[brockguy]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

Don't know if you saw but they already scooped up the stud rights to Pyro which coupled with the attempt to get the stud rights to Big Brown doesn't exactly give the impression that last year was a one year anomaly.

yeah i heard about the purchase of pyro and on this thread re: big brown.. I still think it will take some effort to match last years buying spree though..

Just thinking about this further. Darley really want to be where Coolmore have been over the past number of years.

For years Coolmore were constantly criticised for retiring their horses at the end of their 3 year old career. As Coolmore's quality of stallion increased, it reached a level where it was so good, that even with champions that they had, it was in their interest to race on with them. It has worked in their favour with Dylan Thomas and High Chapparal 2 in particular that benefited from. From a breeding perspective I believe that Darley are where Coolmore were at the end of the 90s, but it will have to get to a stage where it is in their interest to race their horses past 3. With the amount of money Darley have invested though, they could reach that stage sooner rather than later..

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Jim, and Gioia too..

While I appreciate your zeal for the DWC and enjoyment of International racing, perpetuating the notion that Sh. Mo in particular is doing good things for racing is utterly ridiculous. He's single-handedly destroying the game by disturbing the sport's competitive balance and effectively trying to simply buy control of it. ...

Kinda stifling in here on this subject, if you don’t toe the line and fall in with the crowd on this issue. You either must subscribe to the idea that Sheik Mo is single-handedly destroying the game, or you’re called out by the host as perpetuating “utterly ridiculous” ideas. Given the number of truly ridiculous ideas put forth on here that is truly an ignoble honor.

I not a shill and don’t agree with everything that is done by Sheik Mo and associates, but some of the arguments put forth against him seem like a stretch and somewhat hypocritical.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

If he brings Happy Boy to America I might go MMSC for a day or three and break out pom poms.

If he decides he wants to burry him in Europe on turf though .... that will be reason # 263,845 to hate them.

[brockguy]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

If he brings Happy Boy to America I might go MMSC for a day or three and break out pom poms.

If he decides he wants to burry him in Europe on turf though .... that will be reason # 263,845 to hate them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbYyBKzBTo0 to see Happy Boy (video quality not super) Surely they arent that stupid to go the Asiatic Boy route with this horse..

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

Kinda stifling in here on this subject, if you don’t toe the line and fall in with the crowd on this issue. You either must subscribe to the idea that Sheik Mo is single-handedly destroying the game, or you’re called out by the host as perpetuating “utterly ridiculous” ideas. Given the number of truly ridiculous ideas put forth on here that is truly an ignoble honor.

I not a shill and don’t agree with everything that is done by Sheik Mo and associates, but some of the arguments put forth against him seem like a stretch and somewhat hypocritical.

AJ

I apologize if I gave too critical and strongly-worded a reply, but I'll argue that it's not 'stifling in here' on this topic. We have a very real problem in North American racing thanks to Sheik Mo, and it very well may be impossible to stem the tide.

I'm curious what arguments put forth against Darley are a stretch or hypocritical? What I found difficult to justify is the notion that Mo deserves an ounce of thanks or iota of recognition for anything that constitutes noble conduct or fair play.

And it isn't that I have no appreciation for the Doobies.. Mo's own brother, (Sh. Hamdam/Shadwell), operates like a gentleman and sportsman with an eye on contributing to the game on a worldwide basis and can be applauded for the way he runs his operation. It's just that we're getting way too much Mo...

[Cannon Shell]

I dont understand why someone has to be labeled "good" or "bad " for the game. A lot of Sheik Mo's money filters back into the game when he buys super expensive horses. That is good. A lot of the horses he buys are retired at first chance or never reach their full potential. That is bad. I also never understand when people fawn over mega rich guys spending money (unless the fawner is getting it, that is totally understandable). He has tens of billions at his disposal and happens to spend hundreds of millions on this sport. He doesnt really run his organization as a business even though it is a huge entity. A business is something that is created to make money and I hardly think he makes a profit. What he wants is to be known as the best and spends to do it. He is not much different than George Stienbrenner in that respect. His breeding aspirations have caused some horses to be retired early but who really thinks that they wouldnt be retired if he had not bought them? He is spending more money than anyone which always makes a nice target but the World Cup and carnival can hardly be declared harmful to the sport overall especially including the international effect. Does it take some of our best horses away from traditional races like the Big Cap? Sure, but a $12 million dollar race may be the one thing that keeps many of the marginal stallion prospects in training for an extra season.

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by Kasept

AJ

I apologize if I gave too critical and strongly-worded a reply, but I'll argue that it's not 'stifling in here' on this topic. We have a very real problem in North American racing thanks to Sheik Mo, and it very well may be impossible to stem the tide.

I'm curious what arguments put forth against Darley are a stretch or hypocritical? What I found difficult to justify is the notion that Mo deserves an ounce of thanks or iota of recognition for anything that constitutes noble conduct or fair play.

And it isn't that I have no appreciation for the Doobies.. Mo's own brother, (Sh. Hamdam/Shadwell), operates like a gentleman and sportsman with an eye on contributing to the game on a worldwide basis and can be applauded for the way he runs his operation. It's just that we're getting way too much Mo...

I just felt that it’s a stretch to argue that Sheik Mo has destroyed the competitive balance of racing. How? By what measure? What circuit or races does he dominate? maybe i'm missing something here.

To me I think its a stretch to bash him for spending a lot of money on breeding stock. How does that ruin things for us? Why is it bad for us to have his millions flow through our hands? Does that not provide capital, jobs or opportunities for many? I’d like to know how reducing or eliminating his outlandish spending would be a positive for racing. as others have mentioned this spending goes in cycles, we may be in a peak period.

I am sympathetic on the early retirement issue. I believe that it would benefit all parties if he were to race at least some of his acquisitions for one or two years. But I do think it’s a stretch to argue that this practice alone is destroying racing. It has an effect on some races, yes. But lets face it, racing is not somehow markedly different or revived this year if Street Sense and Hard Spun were to each race five or six times. The problems with domestic racing are much bigger than merely the depth of the handicap division, and Sheik Mo is only part of that problem. There are other deep pocket players doing the same thing he does.

I just thought it was hypocritical to lay on his shoulders the blame for single-handedly decimating racing because of some three year old retirements while ignoring the financial benefit of his purchases or purses as they flow through our system, and ignoring our own domestic ruinous practices.

Why not give him an ounce of credit? Why isn’t the founding, funding, and promoting of the DWC, a sporting, or positive thing for racing? What other day comes close to that one in terms of pitting the worlds best against each other? It seems to be popular over here for fans, gamblers and horseman. I notice even on this board amongst those that think he’s abhorrent and ruining racing that there is an interest in the DWC. that’s what I thought was hypocritical.

[jcs11204]

amazing . it is 3 year olds and up, any chance a top class 3 yr old goes there for the money instead of the kentucky derby ?

[smuthg]

Originally Posted by Scav

http://www.drf.com/news/article/93341.html

That would be one sick as purse, just let me run third!!!!

I heard the interview with Sheikh Mohammed during the coverage on Saturday, and I took away from his comment that we were looking at potentially a $20 Mil dollar purse by the time the new track opens in 2010... I believe the question that was asked, was someithing along the lines of "Could we possibly see a purse in the range of $10 Mil for the DWC at the new track" and the way I understoods Sheikh Mohammed's response was that it could be at least "double"... I took that to mean $20 Mil, rather than double the current $6 Mil... I assure you I was sober at that time also...

[GBBob]

Originally Posted by smuthg

I heard the interview with Sheikh Mohammed during the coverage on Saturday, and I took away from his comment that we were looking at potentially a $20 Mil dollar purse by the time the new track opens in 2010... I believe the question that was asked, was someithing along the lines of "Could we possibly see a purse in the range of $10 Mil for the DWC at the new track" and the way I understoods Sheikh Mohammed's response was that it could be at least "double"... I took that to mean $20 Mil, rather than double the current $6 Mil... I assure you I was sober at that time also...

I heard that interview to, but the way the question was asked, thought he meant double the current, not double the $10 Million

But I could barely understand either of them, so who knows

[my miss storm cat]

I've read the amount being considered is $12.....

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news...d=MzExMDA4NzE0

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