Oklahoma SQ 712 passes!
Moderators: Roguelet, hpkingjr, WaveMaster
jL, anything is possible with Magna in charge. I believe the management is inclined to move the Lone Star TB meet to the fall and have the Remington meet in the spring. I don't know about a fall meet here. We always have to battle head-to-head with the Oklahoma State Fair and OU and OSU football in the fall and that hurts us every year. We all used to love that spring meet. Currently Lone Star has to go against both Oaklawn in early spring and Louisiana Downs (with its casino) during the remainder of their spring/summer meet.
Rocking H
Suzyd..... There are ton's of horse farm's around Purcell, OK. That's about 45 min. south of OKC on interstate 35.
There is a 450 acres, quarterhorse breeding/training facility for sale. It goes under the name of "Paws Up Quarterhorses". (Used to be the Oklahoma Stud. Oklahoma Stud stood quarterhorse and thoroughbred's. Victory Stride stood there.) Has a 52 stall barn, stud barn, covered arena, walker's, three houses. The whole nine yard's. They were asking 3.9 million. I've been there, and it's a show place. It's been for sale about a year in the AQHA Journal. www.pawsupqh.com
Paws Up is owned by the same people that own Fredrick's of Hollywood.
It was orginally owned by a partnership, which included the Scharbauer's (Alysheba). Scharbauer's were the last owner's under the name of Ok. Stud.
There is a 450 acres, quarterhorse breeding/training facility for sale. It goes under the name of "Paws Up Quarterhorses". (Used to be the Oklahoma Stud. Oklahoma Stud stood quarterhorse and thoroughbred's. Victory Stride stood there.) Has a 52 stall barn, stud barn, covered arena, walker's, three houses. The whole nine yard's. They were asking 3.9 million. I've been there, and it's a show place. It's been for sale about a year in the AQHA Journal. www.pawsupqh.com
Paws Up is owned by the same people that own Fredrick's of Hollywood.
It was orginally owned by a partnership, which included the Scharbauer's (Alysheba). Scharbauer's were the last owner's under the name of Ok. Stud.
Laissez les bon temps rouller!
Suzyd, I guess it depends on your lifestyle choices. If you want to be near the city, there are lots of properties near OKC and Tulsa, but if you don't mind driving, I-35 north/south, I-40 east/west, and I-44 NE/SW all have good roads for horse transport. I would say the I-35 corridor is the most common area for horses from Guthrie to the Texas border. Includes Guthrie, Edmond, OKC, Norman, Purcell, Pauls Valley, Davis. And just about any kind of terrain you might want, from forests to lakes to plains. And the south/east/central part of the state is closest to Oaklawn, Remington, Lone Star, Louisiana Downs.
Rocking H
Suzyd:
The I35..corridor... from Ok city to dallas is one avenue... lots and lots of reiners/cutters... and and a number of stallion breeding farms.. Ada has an open training track with exercise riders should you need to do any hauling...
also take a look at hiwy 75/69 from the red river to I40.. it has more sandy land and lots of race training tracks.. these are working tracks and a lot of your trainers are holed up here between seasons or with overloads.. Colbert okla is the last okla town prior to hitting texas and the start of black gumbo ichy sticky dirt...
do some mapquest searches for the tracks of your choice..
The most irritating thing about traveling in Oklahoma is they do not believe in service roads .... so everything is piled up at exits and if you are trying to get to somewhere... even tho you can see it from the hiway.. you have to make a backwoods circle in order to get to it... or if you think you are on a service road.. it is not ... will track along the hiway and then turn away from it ... going God knows where..... laughing ... texas..
The I35..corridor... from Ok city to dallas is one avenue... lots and lots of reiners/cutters... and and a number of stallion breeding farms.. Ada has an open training track with exercise riders should you need to do any hauling...
also take a look at hiwy 75/69 from the red river to I40.. it has more sandy land and lots of race training tracks.. these are working tracks and a lot of your trainers are holed up here between seasons or with overloads.. Colbert okla is the last okla town prior to hitting texas and the start of black gumbo ichy sticky dirt...
do some mapquest searches for the tracks of your choice..
The most irritating thing about traveling in Oklahoma is they do not believe in service roads .... so everything is piled up at exits and if you are trying to get to somewhere... even tho you can see it from the hiway.. you have to make a backwoods circle in order to get to it... or if you think you are on a service road.. it is not ... will track along the hiway and then turn away from it ... going God knows where..... laughing ... texas..
I STARTED OUT WITH NOTHING...
AND STILL HAVE MOST OF IT...
AND STILL HAVE MOST OF IT...
Rick-
My philosophy in standing stallions is to find out what the market wants and to provide it. So before I could give you an answer I'll have to spend some research time figuring out the answer to this question, then finding the right horse. It may or may not be one that I already own. I've learned the hard way (is there any other?) that what may appeal to me may not turn on anyone else. In this business, miscalculations are too expensive.
For this reason alone, it's unlikely I'll stand a horse in OK in 2005. But if the scenario is still strong next year, I'll probably bring in a new horse for the 2006 breeding season.
As a breeder, what are your preferences in a stallion? Pedigree? Race record? Earnings? Speed vs stamina? Turf? Local form vs out of state? Established older stallion vs young, unproven horse? Size?
Thanks for your interest.
My philosophy in standing stallions is to find out what the market wants and to provide it. So before I could give you an answer I'll have to spend some research time figuring out the answer to this question, then finding the right horse. It may or may not be one that I already own. I've learned the hard way (is there any other?) that what may appeal to me may not turn on anyone else. In this business, miscalculations are too expensive.
For this reason alone, it's unlikely I'll stand a horse in OK in 2005. But if the scenario is still strong next year, I'll probably bring in a new horse for the 2006 breeding season.
As a breeder, what are your preferences in a stallion? Pedigree? Race record? Earnings? Speed vs stamina? Turf? Local form vs out of state? Established older stallion vs young, unproven horse? Size?
Thanks for your interest.
MICHAEL;
You are smart to not think Okla or Texas... the stud fees you guys quote all the time are for states with high purses covered by gambling casinos and proven sponsors.
Ok/tx is not there by any means... our idea of the perfect stallion and fee would be Secretariat or Storm Cat for $500 and free mare care/board...
this just about equals a stallions worth when everyday total race purse may not be over $2000.... tracks in Dallas and Houston will offer more solely based on more people betting on simulcast races (largest populated areas with tracks)... and the tracks enter a percentage of that on their race card...
I guess you could call 60% to the winner in most races.... day money... that is the reason TB/QH futurities usually have 80-150 trial entries... the chance to run in a >$50,000 race is not a regular feature at the tracks...
So, you have to have the mindset.. that 90% of the TB's run equally fast and are pretty much equally pedigree'd and your horse hopefully will be in a better mood and run the more perfect race to be the winner than the others in the race.
The other 10% are the ones you hope you will raise or own by the grace of God and trying to load pedigrees with ... in my simplified breeding mind... as many derby, preakness, belmont winners as you can ... rather than the local chickenhouse stallions, of course at walmart prices.
Our choices are limited and purses are small... so the walmart mentality has to apply on stud fees etc etc or some one else will be living in your house tomorrow... lol...
Louisiana two years ago was in the same low purse situation... now most races due to slots are above $8000 so are attracting a lot of Texas horses to those tracks.
When you see the lowest purse is $10k on any race card .... then it might be the time to come to Okla/Tex...
The Choctaw Indians.. just bought BLUE RIBBON DOWNS in Sallisaw a year ago... no slot money yet...(on I40 south of Tulsa)
The Cherokee Indians bought the failed track at CLAREMORE Okla... should be on race schedule for 2005... no official name as yet... (NE of Tulsa)
Remington Park... may turn into circus arena if rumors come true.... since the bill passed.... could include gambling hotels, entertainment, restaurants etc etc... time will tell... (ok city)
FairMeadows at Tulsa... is a fair meet during the summer... gained slots in the bill... (fairgrounds in Tulsa)
That is the racing ticket for Oklahoma...
Pardon the bloody picture... but again... where's the MONEY.. is what makes the world go round... laughing texas....
You are smart to not think Okla or Texas... the stud fees you guys quote all the time are for states with high purses covered by gambling casinos and proven sponsors.
Ok/tx is not there by any means... our idea of the perfect stallion and fee would be Secretariat or Storm Cat for $500 and free mare care/board...
this just about equals a stallions worth when everyday total race purse may not be over $2000.... tracks in Dallas and Houston will offer more solely based on more people betting on simulcast races (largest populated areas with tracks)... and the tracks enter a percentage of that on their race card...
I guess you could call 60% to the winner in most races.... day money... that is the reason TB/QH futurities usually have 80-150 trial entries... the chance to run in a >$50,000 race is not a regular feature at the tracks...
So, you have to have the mindset.. that 90% of the TB's run equally fast and are pretty much equally pedigree'd and your horse hopefully will be in a better mood and run the more perfect race to be the winner than the others in the race.
The other 10% are the ones you hope you will raise or own by the grace of God and trying to load pedigrees with ... in my simplified breeding mind... as many derby, preakness, belmont winners as you can ... rather than the local chickenhouse stallions, of course at walmart prices.
Our choices are limited and purses are small... so the walmart mentality has to apply on stud fees etc etc or some one else will be living in your house tomorrow... lol...
Louisiana two years ago was in the same low purse situation... now most races due to slots are above $8000 so are attracting a lot of Texas horses to those tracks.
When you see the lowest purse is $10k on any race card .... then it might be the time to come to Okla/Tex...
The Choctaw Indians.. just bought BLUE RIBBON DOWNS in Sallisaw a year ago... no slot money yet...(on I40 south of Tulsa)
The Cherokee Indians bought the failed track at CLAREMORE Okla... should be on race schedule for 2005... no official name as yet... (NE of Tulsa)
Remington Park... may turn into circus arena if rumors come true.... since the bill passed.... could include gambling hotels, entertainment, restaurants etc etc... time will tell... (ok city)
FairMeadows at Tulsa... is a fair meet during the summer... gained slots in the bill... (fairgrounds in Tulsa)
That is the racing ticket for Oklahoma...
Pardon the bloody picture... but again... where's the MONEY.. is what makes the world go round... laughing texas....
I STARTED OUT WITH NOTHING...
AND STILL HAVE MOST OF IT...
AND STILL HAVE MOST OF IT...
TEXAS,
You said it all when you opined that Remington Park will become a circus arena. That is precisely the 'vision' Frank Stronach has for all Magna tracks. For example, his planned Dixon Downs near Sacramento, CA, is designed to seat only 3-4,000 people. But it will also be part of a master planned entertainment complex, complete with its own mini-city. I shudder to think what the poor people of Dixon will think when Stronach fails to deliver on his promises to the city, like he has done on most of his other racetrack projects.
Nevertheless, I think that OK and TX will ultimately move into slots/VLT's and that the purse structure will improve in both places. The trick is to find the right stallions which will fit in these markets, command decent but fair stud fees, and produce the kind of horses that can compete in these racing environments. Thus positioned, when slots/VLTs arrive, the horses will have established production records.
I don't think anyone other than Will Farish and Ro Parra is planning on spending great sums on stallion acquisitions for OK/TX. But that doesn't mean that good horses that might stand for $2000-$5000 won't be pursued. A man would be foolish to bring in a 10 furlong turf specialist to stand in that area, even if he paid a ton of greenbacks for him. The smarter man will bring in a fast dirt horse, perhaps with a more fashionable sire line than Valid Appeal. But not without first doing his market research to learn what the paying public really wants.
You said it all when you opined that Remington Park will become a circus arena. That is precisely the 'vision' Frank Stronach has for all Magna tracks. For example, his planned Dixon Downs near Sacramento, CA, is designed to seat only 3-4,000 people. But it will also be part of a master planned entertainment complex, complete with its own mini-city. I shudder to think what the poor people of Dixon will think when Stronach fails to deliver on his promises to the city, like he has done on most of his other racetrack projects.
Nevertheless, I think that OK and TX will ultimately move into slots/VLT's and that the purse structure will improve in both places. The trick is to find the right stallions which will fit in these markets, command decent but fair stud fees, and produce the kind of horses that can compete in these racing environments. Thus positioned, when slots/VLTs arrive, the horses will have established production records.
I don't think anyone other than Will Farish and Ro Parra is planning on spending great sums on stallion acquisitions for OK/TX. But that doesn't mean that good horses that might stand for $2000-$5000 won't be pursued. A man would be foolish to bring in a 10 furlong turf specialist to stand in that area, even if he paid a ton of greenbacks for him. The smarter man will bring in a fast dirt horse, perhaps with a more fashionable sire line than Valid Appeal. But not without first doing his market research to learn what the paying public really wants.