Final Row (GB)

[zipperfoot]

Final Row (GB) by Indian Ridge is for sale in Texas: http://www.equinenow.com/horse-ad-519330

One of the last stallions by Indian Ridge in North America.

Not looking for a stallion, but does anyone know anything about him?

Thanks in advance.

[zipperfoot]

Anyone??? No help at all???

Oh well...

[ct2346]

Pretty interesting. One of the posters here owns another Indian Ridge if I remember correctly.

I wonder if its true that this guy only stands 15.0 as stated in the ad...

[jellac]

Final Row is - at this time - the only stallion/descendant of Indian Ridge standing 'commercially' in US. HOWEVER, he is not the only stallion/descendant of Indian Ridge at stud in US (there is another stallion of this same sireline standing privately in Texas who has sired offspring that have raced/won at Texas tracks for his owner/breeder/trainer).

There is also the proven GSP Legal Jousting standing publicly in Ontario - which is not a great jump for breeders in the Midwest/NE to tackle and with fairly regular equine transportation between this area of Canada and KY during breeding season not out of reach of US' biggest TB breeding center.

FINAL ROW's 'stakes' win was of a race that would be considered a minor stakes win. Notwithstanding that fact, FINAL ROW was a genuine enough race horse that his trainer, Dallas Keen, who trains/races on the W. Coast, Texas and at Fairgrounds and has trained many a well regarded horse thought he deserved a chance at stud. The fact that as a racehorse he was a 'genuine sort' is a positive (make note of his size - I'm always intrigued when a horse smaller in stature will stand up to stiff competition against larger competitors and not wilt in the stretch). His trainer liked what he saw enough to support him with breedings to some of his own very genuine race mares. HMmmm.....

He stands in Texas where the Thoroughbred breeding/market for Texas-bred TB foals has been decimated by the shift of purse monies (due to injections from slots income and Breeders' Incentives) to surrounding states' racing venues and farms. Add to this the past summer's super-critical drought and the difficulty in locating, let alone affording, horse quality hay...with predictions for more of the same this spring/summer. ALL these factors + the overall economic turndown have not helped FINAL ROW or any Texans' Breeding Operations to find a modicum of success.

He stands 15.0 HH. Despite the success of equally *(or perhaps even more?) diminuative stallion NORTHERN DANCER, there is a huge prejudice amongst breeders towards the 'small' TB stallion for race breeding. These widely held negatives range from not necessarily true beliefs such as: 'a smaller, shorter horse necessarily having a shorter stride and therefore being disadvantaged from the starting gate against his taller/lengthier rivals' to the concern that: a 'smaller stallion' may produce pony sized offspring with no market potential in the racing world, even when bred to fairly taller mares - which is a 'risk' one can avoid by choosing 'taller' stallions, and a general overall prejudice in our world against anything 'small' by comparison. (HAP is TB stallion that faces these same prejudices/concerns/aspects of prospective mare owners' thinking although he was a genuine racheorse of very solid accomplishment on the track.) Per the add FINAL ROW's offspring are available for inspection so you can 'see several examples of what you can expect to get' before buying/breeding to him.

His connections statement that he might be useful as a good polo stallion may well prove to be FINAL ROW's ultimate calling. I understand that he has a nice personality and when breeding for polo his TB speed/heart and endurance along with his compact size would be a real positive.

His pedigree - by being 'unusual' in that his sireline is rare to non-existant in US bred TBs' pedigrees (little opportunity for inbreeding schemes there) and he posesses no "Native Dancer/RAN/Mr. P" and no "Northern Dancer" strains might make him an 'outcross' but the real question would be: Is he a 'good' outcross? I'm fairly certain it's hard to come up with comparable 'nicks' that support that possibility in the breeders' mind.

[erins isle]

Even though I am a convinced fan of this line (Ahonoora, Indian Ridge) Ihave my doubts about the damside. If I have to believe PQ info, she only bred two winners. We had a (mad) filly ourselves by Colemore Row in the 1990 years, I am afraid this won't help either.
He is rather small isn't he?

[zipperfoot]

Thanks for the comments, especially Jellac's helpful evaluation. I'm not that concerned about size, as I believe that good horses come in all sizes, but I understand the prejudice some breeders have against shorter individuals. I am concerned about preserving the Byerley Turk bloodlines though.

French Seventyfive was only about 15-15.1 hands and our filly by him is maybe 14 hands at not quite 2 (late May foal). Her dam is about 16 hands so she may surprise us yet. We haven't pushed her at all.

Unfortunately both of our mares who were confirmed in foal to F75 came up empty on a later check so I'm looking for suitable stallions for this spring, hence the interest in Final Row. Legal Jousting in Ontario is too far away from us at this time (darn!).

[Jorge]

FINAL ROW (Bay H 1997) http://www.pedigreequery.com/final+row

I also read about this relatively young sire but his progeny is scarce.
TAHREEN (Bay H 2001) http://www.pedigreequery.com/tahreeb

[Slew83]

Anyone know his race record?

[zipperfoot]

29-6-9-4, stakes-placed 4 times, $220,456

[xfactor fan]

Re Final Row being free of Northern Dancer, isn't his dam sire by Northern Dancer, or is the pedigree in the data base wrong?

[Bast]

Re Final Row being free of Northern Dancer, isn't his dam sire by Northern Dancer, or is the pedigree in the data base wrong?

Final Row's dam, The Jotter, is a daughter of Night Shift, a Northern Dancer son.

& : 2.8 % Phalaris
5.1 % St Simon

[kimberley mine]

His connections statement that he might be useful as a good polo stallion may well prove to be FINAL ROW's ultimate calling. I understand that he has a nice personality and when breeding for polo his TB speed/heart and endurance along with his compact size would be a real positive.

If that's the case, he's better off being sold to Chile or Argentina, where there are people who actively breed for polo, instead of for the track. In the US, most horses are either gotten off the track for WAY less than it costs to produce them, or imported as finished horses from Argentina or New Zealand. (Oh, to have a NZ-bred polo mare.) Only a very few of the high-goal patrons (the Crowders come to mind) have their own breeding programs and what they produce is mostly for their own personal strings...4-5 horses per year, tops, usually by ET out of their best, fastest, and strongest playing mares.

Because of this, you don't often hear polo people looking into the deep pedigrees of their stock, unless you are playing at international level. If you need somebody to tell you why you should buy a Peanut or a Flecha foal, you're not the target market for that foal.

[jellac]

zipperfoot -

Here's a link to the pedigree of the Indian Ridge stallion standing privately here in Texas - from very few offspring he's produced a SP winner. His owner was the breeder/owner/trainer of that horse and he just might be willing to do a little 'limited O/S breedings' to someone like yourself who is committed to continuing the sireline. I have a contact number for Ron Kotara somewhere and will PM you with it when I locate it. Since height isn't a barrier for you give Dallas & Donna Keen a call (you can find contact information by Google'ing their name) - they might be willing to do the same or lease him to you for a breeding season? I believe Dallas is currently running/training some horses out of both Santa Anita and Fairgrounds so you can always try leaving a message at the Stable Gate for those tracks to get in touch with his operation?

http://www.pedigreequery.com/bens+ridge

[zipperfoot]

Thanks for your help, Jellac!

I knew about Ben's Ridge, but don't have Kotara's contact information. I plan to contact Keens and see what they say about breeding to FR, if they haven't already sold him. If they have, maybe he's gone to someone closer to me. Buying/leasing him isn't a possibility for us, since we're not set up for a stallion.

If I can't breed the girls to a BT sireline stallion, I'll probably go with one that just has multiple BT lines otherwise.

[K~2]

Thanks for mentioning Legal Jousting jellac.

Just finished a bit of a refresh of my webpage http://www.kingsgatestud.com