Sound, Hard Knockers

General on-topic discussion.

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Joltman
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Postby Joltman » Wed Jan 12, 2011 8:47 pm

21.4 to the quarter at CT - not shabby, especially for an older horse. The video on Hand Ride is pretty impressive. Cat page doesn't have a whole lot in first to generations, but a couple of young ones are coming up behind her who could help.

jm
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Joltman
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Re: this guy's amazing

Postby Joltman » Sun May 29, 2011 6:26 pm

Joltman wrote:Talk about hard knockers...

Catlaunch

http://www.pedigreequery.com/catlaunch

Raced 2- 9 (still racing). 80 starts, 33 wins including 17 stakes wins (!), lifetime $838k in earnings.

OK so its Ohio state bred stuff, but still. Here is soundness, quality, running classic distances.

His dam, Skilaunch, has four other foals, all winners, 3 others over $100k with the same kind of durability. FF was French several generations back.

IMHO these are the horses that should get some attention - and even a following. I think it would be great if he got a shot in the BC Marathon. He might just get a piece of it.


this guy is still at it at age 10! on May 7 he won an OH reg Handicap going 6f at Tdn in 1:09 and change. He has also won at 10f. With LT earnings over $900k I'll bet the other OH bred owners are just waiting for him to retire to give everybody else a chance.

Somebody needs to recognize this horse and when he retires, if ever, he ought to go to Old Friends.

jm
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Shammy Davis
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Postby Shammy Davis » Sun May 29, 2011 7:23 pm

How about Me Me Anna? She qualifies as hard knocker.

http://www.pedigreequery.com/me+me+anna

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Joltman
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Postby Joltman » Sun May 29, 2011 8:13 pm

here here.

One thing that Me Me Anna shows that's kind of typical of these hard knockers is that they are not fashionable pedigrees. I don't think Brown Arc and Talc were not headliners in the breeding business in their day. Yet deeper in the pedigree were some quality (yet sometimes less fashionable) names. Maybe the lower expectations gave the horse a chance to stay sound enough long enough to make a successful career, rather than try to push the envelope of that big investment with the resultant result - injury or worse.

Catlaunch's sire Noble Cat, while a son of Storm Cat, had low level expectations and opportunity. Something worked though.


jm
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wilf
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Postby wilf » Wed Jun 01, 2011 3:47 pm

I have a win photo from Sept 4th 1993 at Fort Erie when my guy Classic Jewel got up to beat Belle's Ruckus at the wire and history will show that those two won out 69 races between them,the former winning 33 from 171 starts and the latter 36 from 146. Both horses hit the board over 50% of the time. In that period of the early 90's I often saw horses with comparable stats,names like Win Man, The Hive Five and Sawmill Run all gave the bettors a run for their money. Nowadays I regret to say those kind are a distant memory although I must say that Catlaunch is a great story as he was bred by his current owners and won his maiden at 2. His durability is probably a combination of patience by his connections,Relaunch in his pedigree and training over the kind Thistledown surface.

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winds
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Postby winds » Wed Jun 01, 2011 5:54 pm

Mine is a horse named Majesty's World here's his record:


MAJESTY'S WORLD (USA) b. G, 1975 DP = 4-2-42-2-4 (54) DI = 1.00 CD = 0.00 - 85 Starts, 15 Wins, 14 Places, 8 Shows Career Earnings: $425,023

Owner: J. D. Marsh
Breeder: J. D. Marsh
State Bred: VA
Winnings: 85 Starts: 15 - 14 - 8, $425,023

1982 John B.Campbell H. - Gr.2 1979 Thomas A. Edison H. 1979 Newark S. (T) USA

1980 2nd John B. Campbell H. - Gr.2 1981 2nd Laurel Turf Cup H. (T) 1979 2nd Pilgrim H. 1980 2nd Germantown H. 1980 3rd Thomas A.Edison H. Miscellaneous Information 1982 Bowie Set New Track Record for 10 fur. in 2:03.40


ord:

Crystal
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Postby Crystal » Wed Jun 01, 2011 6:43 pm

I worked with 2 very sound hard knockers. I had the pleasure of retraining one and owning him as a champion show horse.. first show was 1 week off the track. -Champion (with me!)

Likeable Irish -1993 bay gelding by Irish River- I like That by Hold Your Peace. Bred by Frances Genters. Raced from 1997-2004 Totals 124 (23 -22 -20) $329,223 Won and was claimed in his last start. Bought back by his owner and sold to me. He was claimed 14 times during his race career.

Mr. Barrymore -1993 Ch gelding by Rare Performer - Disco Jan by Torsion. Raced from 1996-2002. Layed up 1x for chip surgery where 14 chips were taken out of 3 joints. A New record for the NH Clinic that did the surgery. Totals 91 (24-19-11) $196,474 One of North America's leading horses in 2001 by number of wins. As far as I know he was retired to either TRF or Blackburn in KY. He had one of the biggest, ugliest knees Ever.. He would be easy to spot.

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Postby casallc » Thu Jun 02, 2011 3:45 pm

My nomination would be Crying For More, 192 starts, 53 wins, 32 place, 29 show, $183,685. I knew they guys that owned/trained this horse (gamblers), they made far more money at the windows and off of bookies than the horse ran out. He could win when asked to. This horse ran 16 times at 13 years old with 5 times in the month of May alone. He had a lot more starts in match races in the bushes.

Bill from WA
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Postby Bill from WA » Thu Jun 02, 2011 5:09 pm

You never know where one of these hard knockers will come from. There was an Oregon bred gelding that raced in these parts back in the '60's and '70's (I saw him run many times). His dam was unplaced in her only lifetime start and was inbred to a stallion named Bludgeon, who had a career record of 7-1-0-0 with earnings of $700. His 2nd and 3rd dam's were unraced. His 4th dam had a record of 22-0-1-1 with earnings of $130. His 5th dam was unraced. This old guy was a legend in the Northwest (He even had a book written about him). His name was Maxwell G (by Author), and he had a record of 234-47-52-37 ($181,420). He raced until he was 16. He was something to behold.

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Joltman
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Postby Joltman » Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:03 am

great examples all.

Some common characteristics of these horses seem to be:

- Most were racing in the backwaters, which have the lower claiming prices/purses where competition is not as strong, that allows them to remain competitive. The Dr. Fagers are even more rare in that they race at the very top to the end.
- the possibility of a 'following' after racing so many times, building fan identification. Most horses that run 5 times, even brilliantly, then drop off the radar are not memorable. This is also true of winning streaks, in that while they are going, they garner interest.

If this is true, this may be part of the bigger problem in racing in that fans don't develop any connection to the actual horses or the sport itself.

jm
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Joltman
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Postby Joltman » Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:00 pm

Here's an interesting mare from the WWII years:

BLUE BAR2 H 1947 CARRIER PIGEON 196-29-24-24 $42,330
BROKEN BOW H 1949 UNBREAKABLE 66-14-11-10 $15,049
GRAY BROOK H 1946 STEEL HEELS 105-10-13-11 $17,586
MARIE J (USA) b M 1942 XALAPA CLOWN ?-?-?-?
MEL EPPLEY (USA) b H 1944 HAIRAN 23-6-6-3 $48,025
OLIVIA L (USA) b M 1941 EPITHET 126-24-15-18 $31,820
SCIPIO (USA) br H 1945 XALAPA CLOWN 181-19-18-29 $59,920
WEE WEE MARIE M 1943 HASH 89-6-6-9 $13,655

For 8 horses noted: almost 800 starts (!!) equals about 100 starts per horse, including Marie J with none listed and about 104 wins. Not bred to any of the major horses of the era. Mel Eppley was a Sw one of the better ones by his sire Hairan. Probably some interesting history during the war years. It would be interesting to see the AEI calculation on these as the $ numbers reflect the era.

Whoever had the mare kept breeding her -

jm
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Joltman
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Postby Joltman » Fri Jul 01, 2011 2:11 pm

from another thread

this guy is amazing

http://bloodstock.racingpost.com/news/b ... 78407/top/

The slacker came up short at age 13 but is back at it again. I'm starting to look at my 2 in the pasture hand have second thoughts....

jm
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Toccet02
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Postby Toccet02 » Fri Jul 01, 2011 2:34 pm

I just came across Unbridled Danger, at 91 starts. 8YO gelding.
Huh.
Never would have expected that from US, unless this gelding started late.
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griff
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Postby griff » Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:35 am

take a look at EQUAL TIME
120-29-25-19

won 21 races in two years but was disqualified in one

ran 29 races in 1976

won three races in one wek

very off set at the knee.

trained by Lucy Webb


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Shergar
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Postby Shergar » Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:18 pm

xx
Last edited by Shergar on Sat May 12, 2012 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.