Other Rolex Ex-Racers (AKA the Ultimate Nerd Post)

I thought it would be fun to look up all the TBs at Rolex to find their history – so for kicks and giggles, here’s the list:

Wonderful Will  Hooray! A TB who retains his JC name, making him super easy to look up.  This is a 1997 TB by Woodman out of Shir Dar (Lead on Time).  He raced 11 times and never even hit the board, earning a whopping $208 at the track.  He raced at Churchill Downs, Ellis Park, and Turfway during his brief stint at the races (10 of the 11 starts were as a three year old).  Interestingly enough, as a yearling he sold for a whopping $232,869.  Unfortunately at Rolex he was Eliminated on XC, but he’s a pretty cool horse, even if his old racing connections were very, very disappointed.

Wonderful Will in 2009

 Waterfront  I actually couldn’t find much about this horse.  He is listed as an English TB, but the only one I could find reference to with that name is an Irish bred with different sire and dam information than what is listed in the Rolex program.  😦  However he is listed as being by Kuwait Beach, who is a US Bred TB exported to England, and now part of Langaller Farm’s breeding program, so he’s probably a sport-bred type who wouldn’t show up in the racing databases. His dam is listed as Irish Whisper.  Waterfront was ridden by Phillip Dutton at Rolex and retired on XC after being held on course due to Ollie Townend’s fall.

Waterfront With Jan Byyny

Titanium – Yes, I am going in reverse alphabetical order. 🙂  This horse is listed as a 2001 model but no sire and dam information is in the Rolex program.  There is a 2001 Titanium, though, also grey, so I’m going to operate under the assumption (probably bad) that this is the correct information for this horse.  If so, he is by Shuailaan out of Lost Silver (Lost Code).  He ran 14 times and earned $11,673.  He finished up his racing career at the Lincoln Fair (eek!) in a $5000 claiming race where he finished second to last.  Titanium finished 16th this year.

 

 

 

 

Purty Boy

 The Good Witch I can’t help it. I love this mare.  She is stunning and perky and wonderful, and even if they got the big “E” on Cross Country she’s one of my favorites to watch.  I thought for sure this would be a tough one – she’s listed as Irish bred with no sire and dam info in the program.  But there is a 1996 “The Good Witch” on equineline, by The Wicked North out of Romanee (Tom Rolfe).  Of course, this one is listed as KY bred, not IRL.  So may be a different dark bay or brown mare. 😦   However, if it is the same horse, she had 6 starts and earned $471, coming in third one time. NOTE – according to usef.org this is an Irish Sport Horse with unknown parents.  Rolex program has her listed as a Thoroughbred.  Not sure what’s what!

 

Boink!

 The Foreman mmmm hubba hubba!  This big bay gelding is fairly easy to track down. Yay!  He was originally registered as “Four Across” by Across the Field out of Four Flora (Quadratic).  Interestingly, one of the really nice horses I posted a link to has Quadratic as well in that pedigree – so go back, look him up, and run to get him!  The Foreman raced 21 times, with one win and one second place finish.  He finished his career at Charles Town after racing at other area tracks (including Pimlico and Laurel).  Like Brandenburg’s Joshua, he finished his CT career in a $2500 claiming race – a level of racing that no longer even exists at Charles Town (the lowest level now is $4000).  They finished 6th at Rolex this year.

Those Charles Town rejects are horrible, aren't they?

Jos Aladar – an Argentinian TB.  But I couldn’t find much beyond that.  More time on the interwebs would probably lead me to it, but running out of time! They finished 33rd.

Jos Aladar at Rolex 2009

Hollywood – This horse finished 28th at Rolex this year.  His JC registered name is “Mighty Reckless,” by Mighty Adversary out of Reckless Knight (True Knight).  Another flop at the races, he raced 12 times and earned $626, almost, but not quite, earning back his yearling sale price of $750.  He finished his career at Beulah Park in Ohio, coming in third to last in a 4500-5000 claiming race. 

Hollywood Looking Perky on XC

High Society III – This horse’s registered name is “Glenfiddich” and he was bred in Australia (Vain Karoil – Test Bat (Double Century)).  He had seven starts and finished his racing career unplaced.  He finished 35th at Rolex.

Gin & Juice  LOVE this name for this lovely mare!  The Rolex program has her listed as being by Audio out of “Qrtpastree”  Um.  Not finding that one anywhere. I looked it up on USEF and did find that it is a typo – according to them it should be “Qtrapastree” – but still not finding that on equineline.  Thinking maybe this isn’t a race bred 🙂  Either way – pretty pretty girl, who finished 9th at Rolex:

Extravagance This is a 1996 Australian TB originally named “For the Record” (had to go to USEF to find the bloodlines on this guy – he is by Waajib out of Nargan (McGinty)).  Another stellar racer, he is listed as having three starts, and finishing his career unplaced.  This horse and rider retired on XC as they weren’t having a perfect day, but they have been doing quite well at this level and are an awesome team.

Click the Pic to see her website, including video clips from Rolex '10

El Primero is another TB actually using his JC registered name to compete under.  Yay!  He is a 1995 model by Dr. Dan Eyes out of Classic Allure (Majestic Man).  El Primero raced four times at Les Bois Park (Garden City, Idaho), and earned exactly Zero Dollars (according to Equibase – other sources have 6 starts, the additional two may have been at a fair or something).  El Primero and rider Sara Mittleider finished 18th at this year’s Rolex competition.  He is also listed as being 15.1 – so many people reject horses due to small size – but as El Primero shows, they are perfectly capable!  This horse doesn’t know he’s little, like most Thoroughbreds of his size.  Sara has loads of interesting information about him on her website, as well.  He has been with her throughout his entire eventing career, her family having purchased him directly off the racetrack. 

"Tony" and Sara

Draco was originally named “Aye Am Tuff” (OK, I can see why you’d want to change that one!) by Aye’s Turn out of Royal Swish (Bold Monarch).  He is a West Virginia bred (woot! WV representinnnn!!!!) He raced a whopping TWO times at Charles Town, finishing last and second to last.  He is another $0 winner.  Incidentally, he was also owned and trained by the same person that our recent addition “Lily” came from.  Sadly this pair retired on XC after riding into 24th place in dressage. 

Looking Lovely In Dressage

Courageous Comet I think has been talked about here before – he is a super duper crowd pleasing favorite, after all!  And Courageous Comet is his Jockey Club name, making him super easy to find information about.  Unlike most of our other Rolex ex-racers, Comet actually was a reasonably successful race horse.  He is by Comet Shine out of Rosenelli (Seat of Power) and has 36 starts on his record. He earned $71,780 at the races and spent most of his career racing in the Allowance ranks.  He finished his career at Finger Lakes with a win in a $4000 Claiming race.  Way to go out with a bang!  These days, if you’re looking for an eventing prospect at Finger Lakes, the place to go is FLTAP, which operates pretty much the same way we do, with both an adoption program and a track listing classified service (they are also the only such program in the country to operate their adoption program on the grounds of the actual race track, at the Purple Haze Center.  Definitely go check them out!)  Courageous Comet finished third this year, by the way.

The Super Fancy Comet, Looking Good in Blue!

Coal Creek is a tough one to crack.  USEF has his sire as “Devil on Ice” but no dam information.  If anybody knows more, feel free to pass it along.  There is quite a list of 2000 model Devil on Ice offspring, so that information isn’t helping much.  Coal Creek is ridden by Amy Tryon and they retired on Cross Country. 

Out of the Water at The Fork

Clifton Promise is a New Zealand Bred TB, and the program has him as a 1999 model.  Equineline disagrees, as the 1999 offspring of mare “Darn Style” was an unnamed filly by a different stallion.  So Clifton Promise appears to be a 1998 model, by stallion Engagement, by the name “Bachelor Boy.”  Of course now I’m having trouble with equineline, so I have no idea about his race record.  Insert Sad Blue Face Here.  Clifton Promise finished 27th at Rolex.

Buckingham Place is a 1995 gelding by Buckaroo out of Old Maid (Lyphard).  He also shows under his registered JC name.  He had a long racing career – 40 starts – and earned $23,298 on the track.  He finished his career at Penn National, coming in second to last in a $3500 claiming race.  In his career he won four races, came in second 3 times, and third four times.  Unfortunately he got the big E on Cross Country.  But he sure can jump:

That is a GIANT log.

Anthony Patch Yes, I know I talked about him yesterday.  But I did not include this crucial information.  🙂 His JC registered name was “Alex’s Castledream.”  Born in 1999, he is by Castle Guard out of Aimee Alexis (Right Mind).  He had ten starts, eight at Charles Town, and earned $815, while never placing. As far as I know his trainer is no longer at Charles Town, as I don’t recognize the name at all.  One of the very first CANTER trainer listings, back in the day 🙂  14th place at Rolex 2010.

Good Boie!!!!!

All’s Fair finished 22nd at Rolex this year.  He is by Krisinsky (an unraced stallion) out of Ragdale (Can’t find a pedigree for this horse, even on equineline)  All’s Fair is a 1992 model, making him one of the older horses competing at Rolex this year.  Unfortunately I can’t find any information other than that.  *pout*

Who Needs Wings?

Neville Bardos is an Australian TB who was purchased practically off the meat truck by Boyd Martin back in the day.  His official name is “Hurdle” and he is by Muhayaa out of Zambia (Zamizaan).  He is listed as having nine starts and did place.  Not sure where to look for more information, as I don’t know the Australian websites.  Boyd Martin purchased him for $850 from another trainer who had given up on him as a jumper, to spare him a trip to the glue factory.  Neville Bardos and Boyd finished 4th at Rolex.  Look at him now!  (note – some of the info on his webpage appears to be wrong – the dam information for one!) 

Springs For Feet

 

Woodburn is one of my favorite horses – he came in 2nd at Rolex and is a NZ bred Thoroughbred.  He was originally named “Dan’s Choice” and is by Hereward The Wake out of Princess Heights (Sir Tristram).  He had a whopping four starts.  I adore his HUGE galloping stride and way of going… seriously, if there were a perfect horse in the world I might say it’s this one! 

At the Jog

I’m getting all out of order here – I apologize. I missed a whole page of the program!

Last Monarch, finishing 17th at Rolex, retains his JC name.  He is by Benchmark (Alydar) out of Alpine Queen (Monarch).  He had 18 starts and finished second and third several times, with earnings of $5,049.  His last race was a $3200 Maiden Claiming race where he finished second to last.

Looking Lovely in Stadium

Leyland, one of Amy Tryon’s mounts, was withdrawn before XC at Rolex this year.  He was very unfortunately named “Lee Roy Boy” as a racehorse, and is by Roy (Fappiano) out of Dream Creek (The Minstrel).  He had eight starts, most of which were at Emerald Downs in Washington State, and earned $1,810 with one third place finish.  As a yearling, he was sold for $13,500.  So many of these guys never come close to earning back their initial sale price – it’s sort of mind boggling!

Madison Park was originally named “Magic Retribution” and is by Monaco Magic out of Mistress of Mine (Band Practice).  He has 11 starts and 1 win to his credit, earning $2744 at the races.  He raced mostly at Emerald Downs and Port Meadows, but finished his career in West Virginia at Mountaineer.  He finished second to last in that final race, a $4000 claimer.  Madison Park finished 13th at Rolex.

At Rolex 2008

Radio Flyer was eliminated on Cross Country – I felt bad as they had an icky go of it the year before as well.  His registered name was “Bounce the Budget” and he had eight starts with one third place finish for an amazing earnings total of $937.  His sire is Stick Together, and his dam is Gypsy Hoofer by Vatza.  If I’m reading my program right this is his third time going to Rolex, and he’s done well in several other events (3rd at Red Hills Advanced this year), so hopefully we get to see more of this guy.

Brave and Focused

Tasman Sea is a lovely New Zealand bred TB who finished 34th.   Unfortunately I can’t find any information on him.  Oh well.  Here’s another pretty TB pic!!!

Splaaash!

There you have it.  I may have even missed one!  Or two!  But my nerding has taught me a couple things – ex-racehorses can make it to the top, and there’s no real common factor.  Some raced a little and were bad at it, others raced a while and proved their toughness at the track.  Some were high priced sales babies, others were… well, they weren’t.  They come from fancy tracks and backwoods tracks, and still succeed at all levels.  I see many, many horses at our tracks that were just like these guys.  A lot of people don’t have the vision… maybe this kind of post will help?  Don’t discount a horse because it has too many starts, or too little, or is at a place like Mountaineer. 🙂