Mazel Trick to British Columbia

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suzyd
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Mazel Trick to British Columbia

Postby suzyd » Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:37 pm

MGSW Mazel Trick (Phone Trick), sire of five SW's to date, three in 2006, will stand the 2007 season at Canmor Farms in Aldergrove. Imported from France as a three-year-old, the grandson of Clever Trick accounted for the Gr. III Lazaro Barrera Stakes, Gr. II Triple Bend Handicap and Grade III San Diego Handicap. The eleven-year-old stallion is a half-brother to GSW Wild Escape, winner of the Gr. I Hopeful Stakes. Mazella, a daughter of Mazel Trick recently placed in the Bangles and Beads 'Cap at Fairplex.

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Postby ak1 » Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:56 pm

How long has he been in PA? One year or two? Doesn't seem like he's been there long and I did think he'd be a good fit in the market...

suzyd
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Postby suzyd » Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:14 pm

The BC market just "tanked". The yearling and mixed sale was a disaster.
128 yearlings sold. at least 82 RNA's and no sales. They never even had the GUTS to publish the median on the sale. (and I asked !) No buyers, no interest. What could any farm be thinking to bring in a new stallion at a time like that? Especially an already not so hot one.

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Postby yukidragon » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:08 am

I have a weanling colt by his half brother Primordial who has 97 starts verses 10 by Mazel Trick.
Im impressed by the speed he has showed so far at a young age.
I have to say he's the fastest foal i've every seen.
If he can reserve some for when he gets older he'll be in good shape.

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Postby Ryeno » Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:40 am

suzyd wrote:The BC market just "tanked". The yearling and mixed sale was a disaster.
128 yearlings sold. at least 82 RNA's and no sales. They never even had the GUTS to publish the median on the sale. (and I asked !) No buyers, no interest. What could any farm be thinking to bring in a new stallion at a time like that? Especially an already not so hot one.


Hi Suzy,

I dont think the sale was as bad as your saying.I was there and the reason so many of the horses did not sell is that some people brought absolute junk to the sale.Pages where the first 4 dams fit on half a page and yearlings that looked like weanlings. Horses with decent pedigree and good looks sold well and the others didnt or recieved no bids........a few fell through the cracks but that happens at every sale.As far as bringing Mazel Trick to BC i guess its a two pronged response I have for that. He is a speed sire which will get him some marks here in Vancouver to run on a bullring.Im not sure what his fee is going to be but Canmor has some of there own mares to support him and they probably aquired him before the news the slots are on hold AGAIN came out. I dont think it will hurt having him in BC because the majority of the new stallions in BC are marathon turf horses??????Not sure why people bring stallions like that here where we run on a 5/8's mile dirt track and most of the mares are speedily bred but to each there own.On the down side with Mazel Trick he is another new sire (whom i havent seen and know little about) that has a pretty light race record.

Hastings and BC are in for some rough roads in the next few years........it was just announced there is going to be a 20% purse cut after this weekend for the remainder of the meet.It also appears the "owners" of the race track Great Canadian Casino's is wanting to either drastically reduce the dates or purses for next year.Either way things are not looking rosie here.

Ryeno
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Postby Cree » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:00 pm

Mazel Trick has thrown some nice horses though, not great but fast. I have been following his talented son, Major Success, since he was 2. Nice horse, maybe a little unsound.
I would think he fits in Vancouver more so than some of the long-winded turfers, like Ryeno said.

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Postby suzyd » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:33 pm

Excuse me? Ryeno?
Did you not look at the final figures?
And there was NOT just junk there. There were for the most part
better entries than the year before. I sat through the entire yearling parade and there was not that much that was inferior.
Did you really take a good look? there may have been some shallow pages, but the horses themselves were well prepped, many very well conformed and many looked to have become decent race horses.
***There was not ONE consigner, or breeder that did not suffer a significant loss.*****
A few fell through the cracks? what is 75% or more RNA?
There were just no buyers..same with WTBA, Same with Oregon.
at hip 100, everyone was either stinkin drunk in the beer garden, or had gone home. IF the couple of ego bidders had not bought the 4 big horses, the average would have been in the area of 2k.
Yes, BC is is in real trouble, and that is rumored to be one of the reasons that the sale was so bad. The horseman need to fight , but from what I have heard, the old timers don't care.
I have asked the sales office for final figures, apparently the bookeeper quit or got fired, and they can't seem to provide me with the results more than the lie that they posted on the web site.

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Postby StealingKat » Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:17 pm

As one of the BC owners of a marathon turf horse, I can honestly say that Turf horses are being brought in to support the new Alberta and California tracks. Our province desperately needed outcrosses. Our farm breeding program is geared toward distance. If you are breeding to sell at Keenland they need to be milers. We just happened to luck out in that our particular turf horse was bred to mostly middle distance mares and his kids are doing very well at short distances. On paper he should be siring distance but the kids are doing very well in 5-6 furlong races which should be perfect for Hastings.

But as a BC breeder I am watching breeders bailing left right and center. The old timers are shipping more and more horses to Barretts and Keenland. The sale was very, very bad indeed! I was very disappointed that the Fisher Ponds were pulled as I wanted to see them go through :(

Canmor will support Mazel Trick with their own mares and when people see runners they will breed to him. It's the way it seems to work here in BC. Most people stick to the ole standbys anyhow. But as a stallion he should do just fine here. I know that Washington and Oregon got hit just as hard, California did a bit better. Next season should be interesting....
Always bet on the grey!!

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Postby Ryeno » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:07 pm

Suzy,

I did look.Horse that were by mediocre sires out of mediocre mares went for poor prices.Individuality only takes you so far.For example take a look at Olson Hill's consignment.....they had a bunch of young girls runnning around showing horses by the stellar thoroughbred producer Aidrie Apache (Has he sired anything other than colored thoroughbreds?)and most of their horses were by Oregon sires which isnt going to stir any interest here.Some of their horses looked OK but OK here just doesnt really cut it when the earning of the first three dams production doesnt add up to 100k,one mare had 6 foals to race 1 winner.
Other consignments horses that didnt sell had the same problem.......unproven sires out of unraced/unplaced/non producing mares.How much are they really worth in your opinion?5K-10k?Nope not when you see Awesome Again's selling at Keenland for the same (or less).I also realize the costs involved in breeding horses and how disapointing it would be to invest 10k + and to not even recieve a bid on them but maybe thats what some of these breeders that are breeding these types of horses need as a wake up call to stop breeding mares that couldnt run.

I also seen horses that did not meet their reserves that had decent money bid on them but the owners decided it wasnt enough for their own reasons,,,,,,too each their own and they may decide to race them on their own or try their luck at another sale.

Now about all this talk about the "Oldtimers dont care" about the demise of BC racing is flat out wrong, I am their everyday .....their is an over 3 million dollar deficiet in the purse pool......the owners fronted money to the purses with intentions of slot machines being in by the end of the year.

SK,

Huh?New track in Alberta?I just spoke to a breeder and trainer from Alberta last night and he said they havent even broke ground yet other than starting to build a mall.....loooks like Dixon is going through the same thing.....so far its all a nice thought.

Ryeno
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Postby StealingKat » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:37 pm

I'll double check but I am pretty positive that the Lethbridge track is sheduled to start in Jan/07 with the idea of starting the trotters in the Fall. Northlands has dumped about 30 mil. into getting their track/stands etc in better shape and the purses have really gone up. I'll check though so I don't put both feet into my mouth :) I think Alberta is a bit healthier than us as far as purses etc. Their sale wasnt any better though.
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Postby Shannon » Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:06 pm

Hey Ryan
Have to agree to a point. I was disappointed in a lot of the farms effort at turnout/prep. A persons first impression of a horse can be the do or die if you don't have a great pedigree, or even if you do I guess. I also agree that there was a lot of low end horses consigned with unreal expectations in mind, namely reserves. No one wnats to see their horses go for nothing, but I think many forget to think of the prospect of what comes after if they don't sell. It was an unfortunate sale in a lot of respects, but like you said, there was a fair bit of refuse on display as well. I was personally surprised that the Bright Valours didn't sell better. Personally, I really like the stallion, and the couple of yearlings I saw were very nice.

However, I think a lot of people there to buy were more cautious than previous years for many reasons. The biggest one I think is the upheaval at Hastings. God only knows where it will be at this time next year. A lot of trainers/owners have suffered this year at the hands of poor management, and poor racing. I think they are realizing it costs the same to support a cheap horse as it does a high end one, and with purses getting cut, you have little chance of getting your money back. Lots of people are worried that racing will eventually be phased out of Hastings all-together, and then what?
As for Olsen Hill, I feel bad for them. Too much too fast I think, and it should have been quality over quantity. They are going to have to work extremely hard to generate any buyer interest in the years to come, which is unfortunate. I think they have some good stallions, and will likely have some decent runners. The first impression when you entered their barn was great, they did a beautiful job of presenting the farm. However, there was little to back it up once you got there. The horses were nice, but turnout could have improved a heap. Selling weanlings at this sale, IMO, is a big no no. I can't find any results so far that has pointed to success as a weanling sell. Less than stellar pedigrees on most of their horses, and as you said a lot of Oregon sires which hold little interest in a market such as ours, didn't help them out. I hope they hold on and keep going. As I said, I think a lot of potential there, but quality over quantity at this point is paramount. A huge disappointment for sure. JMO. This area is hard for new breeders to get into, and you'd better be able to produce the goods to for any return at our sales. Its a tough crowd out there.
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Postby suzyd » Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:49 pm

Why is selling a weanling a No No ?
It was a mixed sale was it not?
One of those weanlings was out of a Full Sister to Multiple Hastings Stakes Winner La Belle Fleur and half sis to SUVA, sales stakes winner
and 2 second places in 2yr old stakes. Pretty nice offering sired by Fisher Pond the only Stakes Winning Son of A P Indy on the West coast.

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Postby madelyn » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:10 am

I know actually nothing about that particular sale nor its consignors. But I have gone to some smaller regional HOA sales and my experience tells me that selling a weanling at any of the ones I have been to is usually a disaster. If a buyer can pick up a good yearling or 2 year old for less than the cost of raising it, they are not going to pay a healthy price for a weanling.
So Run for the Roses, as fast as you can.....

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now what?

Postby strideaway » Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:12 am

I was one of the sellers that brought my horse home, he was turned out nice and didn't have a bad page ( hip #81) so now what?I'm new at this and I'm seriously thinking of not breeding thoroughbred next year really whats the point.I'm very disappointed all that hard work and no sale my reserve was not high,all I can say is now what. I think it didn't help to be beside Orange Blossom as the people coming to see their horses were not interested in mine.We have 3 weanlings and 2 on the way, but really not sure about this breeding thing in B.C. could go on some really nice trips! Thanks for the ear, sorry about the whining, C.

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Postby Dave C » Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:59 am

From the east slopes what is happening in BC is interesting to watch. It was very similar in Alberta 5 to 10 years back, and is just starting to improve now, although there is still a good deal of uncertainty about whether or not things will continue to get better.

This years AB summer yearling sale was very odd. If you got the first bid, you had a decent chance of getting 10k, especially if the sire doesn't stand if AB. Even cheap Ky pinhooks with horrid conformation sold well if they were prepped. AB breds on the other hand needed a strong catalogue page to get a bid. Alot of trainers looked at the weaker pages and figured they wouldn't bid because the could buy the horse for cheaper than the upset price after the sale. A fair number of the horses with no bid found new homes after the sale, artificially raising the sales statistics. To me, reviewing the sales data, it looked like there was a small number of buyers for whom money was no object for the horse they wanted, but the smaller owners looking for bargain horses to play with kept their hands in their pockets. To me this is not a healthy long term situation, but thier is still a lot of uncertainty over the new Calgary track.

On the subject of the Calgary track, the people I know who live down the road from the site says work is proceeding. The people behind the project keep saying it is a go. There are some people however, who have had their hopes dashed so many times in the past, who still won't believe it is going to work even after the first race has been run. Personally, I've seen the backers spend enough of their own money on the project that they aren't going to walk away from it as long as their is a chance for it to work.

On the breeding side, something that I have noticed that last couple of years is that a number of the BC breeders are sending a small number of horses to the AB sale. I've also noticed this year that the Bennetts (Flying Horse Farms) are racing a fair number of fillies in AB. Whether this is a shift of focus for them or I just noticed it for the first time I don't know.