Glen Hill Farm

No business can change what it does not measure. Racing's public measurement of support, via wagering, hides serious issues. Recent stories have continued to cite declines in total handle, wondering just what is at play. How that handle has been derived has changed dramatically, but that's not reflected in the overall numbers. Over the last century, U.S. racetracks have reported total handle on their races and, for most of that time, it was one metric that accurately depicted the health of the business. But in our modern era of simulcasting,...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, 2:14p.m. ET Manzanita Stables LLC went to $300,000 at KEESEP in 2021 to acquire LUCKY COMBINATION (Ghostzapper), a price tag likely aided by her dam being out of a half-sister to GISW & MGISP Girolamo (A.P. Indy) and his full-siblings MGISP & MGSW Daydreaming and GISP Accelerator. Dam Lucky Number herself claims GISW Got Lucky (A.P. Indy)--responsible for MGSP Overtook (Curlin)--as a half-relation and has produced two other winning fillies. This is the female family of GISW Chocolate Gelato...

Craig Bernick's twice-raced maiden Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify--Data Dependent, by More Than Ready) went postward as an unconsidered 66-1 outsider for Saturday's G3 Newtownanner Stud Irish EBF S. at the Curragh and pounced late in the one-mile former Flame Of Tara S. to secure a first win of any kind. The January-foaled bay debuted with a fifth over six furlongs at the Co. Kildare venue in May, but slipped to 12th when upped to seven at the same track in June last time. The eventual winner settled off the pace...

Now that Cheltenham's beloved festival has ended, the Flat picks up the thread seamlessly with an old favourite in the mold of some of the best-known jumps campaigners which have enriched this week's action in the Cotswolds. Step forward Skalleti (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}), Jean-Claude Seroul's veteran consumer of group contests who looks for back-to-back successes and an 11th Pattern race in Saturday's G3 Prix Exbury at Saint-Cloud. A repeat of his exploits when garnering ParisLongchamp's G1 Prix d'Ispahan and Munich's G1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis last term should be enough if he...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 7th-GP, $60K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 3:37 p.m. ET Glen Hill Farm's Customer Driven (Quality Road) is one of a number of well-related firsters signed on here. She is out of MGSW and GISP House Rules (Distorted Humor), who was second by a neck in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks here in 2014. House Rules was carrying Customer Driven when she brought $750,000 from WinStar Farm at the 2019 Keeneland January sale as part of the dispersal of JV Shields, Jr. Glen Hill subsequently picked...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton October Yearlings Sale, which had already surpassed its previous highest gross with a day to go, concluded Thursday with new high-water marks for average and median and its lowest buy-back rate since 2013. "Day four was another outstanding day for the October sale," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "It was a fitting conclusion to a great horse sale. It's been a great week. The numbers have been tremendous all four days across the board. There were dramatic increases in gross, dramatic increases in average and...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-SA, $61K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1m, post time: 6:50 p.m. ET Dixiana Farms-bred AMERICAN ADMIRAL (American Pharoah) was purchased by Hunter Valley Farm for $340,000 at Keeneland November in 2018 and fetched $1.3 million from Jamie McCalmont on behalf of M.V. Magnier and Sarah Kelly at KEESEP the following fall. That price was the richest of 70 of his sire's second-crop yearlings to sell in 2019, bar the sales-topping $8.2 million Mandy Pope paid for the half-sister to Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday)....

The first foal by group-placed Lost Treasure (Ire) (War Front) is a colt out of Little Miss S (Candy Ride {Arg}). The mare is a half-sister to Grade I winner Crisp (El Corredor). "How fitting that the first foal by this regally bred group-placed son of War Front from the immediate family of Galileo (Ire), would be out of a half-sister to Grade I winner Crisp," said John G. Sikura, President of Hill 'n' Dale Farms, which stands the 6-year-old stallion. "That's what happens when you have great partners like...

Warmed by the fireplace, or perhaps by sipping yet another glass of a Santa Ynez vineyard's rich and full-bodied red, I was contemplating the new year and how it needs to be better than the fiasco that was 2020. The wine, by the way, was issued by a label called Westerly and named Fletcher's Red, and it happens to be the namesake of a man who burned a short but bright trajectory through horseracing. He's also had a positive impact on young people's lives in ways in which he could...

On the back of the eagerly anticipated stallion fee announcements in Europe, we spoke with a number of leading industry figures about value. Today we hear from Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm. TDN: Who have you identified as a first-year stallion at an appealing opening fee? CB: Pinatubo (Ire) was a top-class 2-year-old and his introductory fee of £35,000 is probably very fair compared to where similar horses have started off over the years. Shamardal is the sire of Lope De Vega (Ire) and he comes from the female...

Kitten's Joy's reputation hardly needed any further enhancements after the weekend, but another came nonetheless at The Curragh on Friday as his son Crossfirehurricane extended his perfect run in the G3 Coolmore Ten Sovereigns Gallinule S. Held up with one behind early by a confident Shane Crosse, Scott Heider's Feb. 28 Listed Patton S. winner was gradually unwound to reel in the G2 Beresford S. third Gold Maze (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) with 200 yards remaining en route to a 1 1/4-length success at 7-1, with Sherpa (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire})...

by Craig Bernick The breeding business in America has grown increasingly commercial over the last two decades. I am in favor of the 140-mare cap and applaud the Jockey Club for instituting this change. The metrics of this issue are simple to understand, comparing American foal crops to the number of "140+ stallions": 1999: 33,844--3 2009: 29,612--26 2019: 19,225--45 While I understand that these are the dynamics that emerged in the market, and that market is just a reflection of consumer behavior, I have come to believe we have let...