RED MAGIC...Taken 2 months ago, before going into training.
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1...Below is a photo of RED MAGIC when we first went to
check him out as a 13 month old colt in Jan 2007. He was one
of a dozen N.H.T yearlings that were being prepared for export
to England. A French buyer selected him as the best conformed
and best type in the paddock and wanted to buy him, but our 2
daughters were very keen to race him, as planned.
2....The first photo was taken of our colt RED MAGIC about
two months ago by part owner Barbara and being held by her
husband Carl McComb. It was taken about 14 months after the
second photo.
3...He was foaled here in New Zealand to Northern Hemisphere
time...(20th Jan, 2007)...so the 1st photo shows him at 2years
and 5 months of age. I had been trying very hard to overcome
his late start in life plus the further handicap where his dam
would have had less grass and made less milk for him being
foaled in the in the middle of summer.
4...He was small and very light when we saw him, then suffered
further set backs when he went through a 7 week drought with
no hay available, then had persistant rain when he was broken in.
I gave him plenty of feed during the last year, but had to be very
careful with grain, because as he grew he developed a tendency
to chase about 6 or 7 lots of people out of his paddock, which
was disconcerting because he never ever took a backward step.
5...I have previously helped serve mares with 5 different stallions
and trained a 3yo and a 4yo colt side by side to win races so
had no real problems with handling him, but he always took
advantage of anyone else who was unaware of his wayward
tendencies. He tended to bite and run over them, and although
I was always on guard, he also got me three times when I was
momentarily distracted.
6...The picture above was taken a couple of weeks before we
loaded him onto the float to go to pre-training in Matamata on
Monday 29th June, 2009.
7...We had plans to race him as a colt and if he displayed the
ability we hoped he would have, then we were going to stand
him at stud in Australia where there are hundreds of mares with
bloodlines to match his duplicated lines of Secretariat, (16wins,
$1,316,808 and Nashua,-(22wins-$1,288,568) plus close up
lines of outstanding sires DANZIG-(200 SW), ROBERTO-
( 86 SW), STORM CAT, ( 163 SW), MR PROSPECTOR,
( 175 SW), and NORTHERN DANCER-(147 SW),
8..These are among the most outstanding sires of Stakes
Winners in the world and there are only a handful of other
sires that are better or equal.
9...All these plans went for nought because when the colt
arrived at the pre-training facility belonging to Phil Stevens
in Matamata, he charged the staff, propped and lashed out
with both hind legs at another staff member.
10..The phone call that immediately came said geld
him, shoot him or take him away immediately. We were very
concerned because it had cost $1,500 to get him fully boken in
the previous March and April and we had done a lot of
handling, lungeing, saddle work, ramp-loading, feet-trimming
work etc to ensure he would have a good transition into the
pre-training phase of his education leading to full training
and racing.
11..However, I had good talks with Phil Stevens, plus our
ownership group, and the outcome seemed to be that his
lack of size, finely made build, general perception regarding
his sire Istidaad made him less of a stallion prospect than the
other 4 or 5 million dollar colts already being pre-trained in
the stable.
12..As well, Phil Stevens doubted he could be pre-trained
with the temperament and fight he displayed. Phil wouldn't take
him unless gelded, and he also doubted that the colt would be
able to concentrate on racing with his attitude and he said Mark
Walker wouldn't take him if he was a big problem.
13...In the end, our hand was forced, and the girls agreed
that it was better to have a tractable horse that would at least
have a chance of racing well, as against an unruly or savage
horse that no-one could handle, and that would have no stud
value if he could not be trained successfully.
14..For all newcomers into the breeding or racing game or
business, the situation or problem of gelding will arrise and
you will need to be prepared and ready to make decisions
according to your plan or situation.
15..Statistics are available in NZ showing foals by sires that
served 10 or more Stud book mares. Over the last 6 years
annual foal crops are shown as, 4,513 - 4,496 - 4,110 -
4,061 - 3,965 - 3,778 foals. The slide shows the influence
of a declining economy, but as approximately half of these
foals will be colts, decisions over gelding will reach about
a couple of thousand each year. This operation has only a
small risk for a few dozen younsters, and is usually routine.
One stud has done them for $200, but there is quite a big
propfit margin for vets that usually operate in the $350
to $400 range.
15...There are lots of good books and Vets available to give
you good information on the best time to geld to allow for the
best development of your horse, and to explain all the
advantages for general handling, for training and for
concentrating more successfully on a racing career.
16...For 20 years I have been compiling all the pedigrees of
every sire that has stood in New Zealand. At the moment I
have 276 NZ sires and can match every mare out to 15
generations and rank all the matings on dozens of breeding
principles. More than three quarters of NZ bred sires
and also imported ones just do not have the right bloodlines,
ancestry, race performance, pre-potency, location, opportunity
or breeding principles to succeed. This is the newcomers
biggest area of concern and you need to spend considerable
time and effort making sure you get the right sire.
17...However, over the last 40 years or so out of 100 to
200 New Zealand bred colts given opportunities at stud,
only a handful like Defaulter, Sobig, Vice Regal, Syntax,
Kingdom Bay, and O'Reilly have become resoundingly
successful and therefore very successful commercial sires.
18...This is a telling statistic to ensure a high rate of colts
are castrated for the many benefits that this operation offers.
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