RIP General Meeting

[madelyn]

Euthanized yesterday (cancer).

[kezeli]

Is it strange to anyone else that best pal also died young?? A melanoma near his testicles seems odd to, exopsure to something?? I once knew a trainer that fogged his barns daily, alot of his horses ended up with various cancers.

[CA Michael]

I can think of no plausible reason to link Best Pal's death from a heart attack several years ago to General Meeting's passing from cancer. Certainly the Mabee family was hit hard by the loss of Best Pal, and it is a shame that in the last five years or so General Meeting has only been a shadow of what he was in the past.

It's common knowledge that GM's waning fertility long preceded his retirement from stud duty last year. Perhaps the cancer affected the blood flow through his reproductive organs. We will probably never know.

California needs more stallions like General Meeting. He produced sound horses who could run short and long, and generally improved with age. Unfortunately, like most of the world, our state places a premium on QH types masquerading as TB's. Is it any wonder that field sizes here are so small, and so relatively few Cal-breds can handle two turns?

[Sam]

California needs more stallions like General Meeting. He produced sound horses who could run short and long, and generally improved with age.

cough

Kissin Kris.. 2-turn dirt millionaire and CH. 3yo (Kiss A Native), graded performing turf mare (Cellars Shiraz), G2 winner 7 furlong dirt specialist (Hasty Kris). Can get a decent 2yo as well (Blissful Kiss, Another Kris) but most want time to grow up.

Oh come on, you know I had to do it.

The real question is .. will anyone bother to breed to him now that he's in CA? He should have gone back to FL.

I wonder if the propensity for CA breeders to want wannabe QHs is because there is a large QH breeding faction in the state as well... if you can't breed one, you can breed the other (look at the number of QHs Vessels is sending to their TB stallions -- Apollo is a better QH sire than he is TB and In Excess has managed to get state champions in both breeds). I imagine I'm going to find the same thing in TX and LA.

[CA Michael]

Many if not most breeders are market conscious. It appears that the dollars driving the market are chasing the early maturing types; that's why we see so many one dimensional stallions, in performance or pedigree, in highest demand by breeders. Home breeders are much more apt to breed for longevity and endurance, in my experience, although with the spiraling cost of training even these people are now probably pushing their young ones too early.

The Mabees produced so many General Meetings, *Habitony's, and *Golden Eagle II foals over the years, they could choose the most precocious among them for early training, and wait on the others. They had so many excellent racehorses in the 80's and 90's they could afford to do so. But since General Challenge left the scene, their successes have been far and few.

I wonder if Mrs. Mabee's purchase of Salt Lake signals a clear departure from the path her husband staked out for the farm.

I don't disagree with you, Sam, about Kissin Kris. They aren't flashy, but they are sound and improve with age (where the money is best). He's a good bet for the home breeders, but only if they have enough patience. Too many owners, trainers and pinhookers demand Swiss Yodeler type performances from Pleasant Colony type young horses.

[Bill from WA]

Hi

Beau Soleil, a stakes winning son of General Meeting will stand his first season at Meadowcreek Farm in 2007. He was bred in California by Charlotte Wrather, and his pedigree is worthy of a close look. Charlotte really did a super job of creating a very interesting family package with this guy. I understand he is gorgeous, and am told he has a great temperament. Fee for 2007, $2500.

Bill