Iron Curtain Rolls to Victory

In May of 2007, when Steve Klesaris told me, “Just get this horse.” I had a feeling Iron Curtain was going to be something special.  This is when Boundary was just another stallion and Big Brown was a 2-year-old still bouncing around on a farm somewhere. Coming out of the sale his consigner bet Doris Ann $100 that he’d break his maiden before any other 2-year-old in our barn.  Unfortunately for him Sextant beat Iron Curtain to it but Iron Curtain was the first member of Vintage 2007 to make it to the races.  He had 2 in-the-money finishes in 3 starts in 2007.

Iron Curtain thunders to an easy win under Javier Castellano

After finishing off the board in his debut he came back 2 ½ months later and was beaten by a monster.  Cannonball, who beat Iron Curtain by 4 ¼ lengths, ultimately went on to do some great things including finishing in the top three in a Breeders Cup race.  Next, in a race washed off the turf, Iron Curtain was beaten by a Linda Rice main-track-only entrant named Captain Backfire.  Prior to the race Linda told us that Captain Backfire was “training very well.”  I’ve known Linda long enough to know what that meant.  Her horse was cranked and ready to roll.  I wanted to go to the window and send it in on Captain Backfire but I didn’t have the heart to bet against Iron Curtain.  In each of those races Iron Curtain raced with the pace actually taking the lead before being run down by the winner and both times tiring and getting nipped for place money.  After his third race Steve had his knees x-rayed and we discovered that he had chips which I believe explained his tiring late in each race.  Since Javier Castellano had told us in no uncertain terms that Iron Curtain preferred the grass much more than the dirt we decided to have the surgery, put him on the shelf, and get him ready for spring/summer turf campaign in 2008.

He trained like a champ, looked like a statue, and ran true to our expectations on May 15th easily handling nine other rivals.  It’s not the easiest thing watching your horse sidelined for 7 months but in this case patience has paid off.  It’s easy to get frustrated but the thing that we sometimes lose sight of is that most horses don’t even run as 2-year-olds.  In Iron Curtain’s case we were actually fortunate that he was able to bank $10,000 in his two-year-old season before returning as a 3-year-old and picking up $27,600 in his return race. 

There is no shortage of turf races this summer and we’re fully expecting Iron Curtain to make his presence felt in New York.  The partners on this horse should be having a lot of fun with him in these next few months.

                                                                                   - Mike Oliveto, CEO Hibiscus Stables

Hibiscus Stables Vintage 2008 Profile - Yonaguska Colt

Yonaguska Colt  - Click for info

Late in 2007 the decision was made to expand the stable in 2008 in quality and not necessarily in quantity.  It was at that time that we decided to focus less on the OBS April sale and more on the Select sales in February and March.  After drawing a blank in the 2008 OBS February sale we attended the OBS March sale confident that we’d return with some solid prospects.  There were many more horses cataloged in the March sale and the competition was a bit softer as some of the heavy hitters filled out their buy lists at OBS February and Calder February.  We had Steve Klesaris and his team, Linda Rice, Ron Ellis and Diane Allen all on the ground with working hard for us.

By the time that we arrived in Florida Diane and Steve had seen just about every horse on the grounds.  Diane had systematically culled her list from a very long one to a very short one by eliminating horses in discriminating fashion based on breezes, physical evaluation, vet exams, etc.  After purchasing the Good and Tough colt in the sales ring I wanted to try to get one more New York-bred out of this sale.  Earlier, Ray Flynn, short-listing for Steve, had put me on a Yonaguska colt from Paul Sharp’s consignment.  I inspected the horse and watched the video a few zillion times and really liked the horse.  I contacted Al Schwab, who wasn’t with us, and had him look at the video and he too was markedly impressed by the work.  We all liked the horse a very great deal but after careful research we were fairly certain that the horse would bring much more than our budget would allow and we instead focused on other prospects.  I was amazed when Steve came to me and told me that Paul Sharp’s Yonaguska failed to meet its reserve and was still available after going through the ring.  I wasted little time getting to Barn 12, worked out a deal with Paul and bought the horse.  Naturally this horse would go to Steve for training.

This horse is one of the ones where all arrows pointed in the same direction.  The horse was on my list, was on Diane’s list, had impressed Al, was the single horse that Ray pointed me towards, and one that Steve specifically singled out for Hibiscus.  It reminded me of Salt Water Reign (earner of over $100k for Hibiscus) and Sextant (debut winner and $30k earner in two starts for Hibiscus) in that every indicator pointed to this horse and I had a very good feeling about him.

Exiting a March sale very few horses are ready to go directly to the racetrack and the Yonaguska was no exception.  He needed more seasoning before he’d be ready to ship to Fair Hill and begin his lessons with Steve.  Some operations like to send all of their 2-year-olds to a single farm and have them conditioned there.  Steve’s strategy is a bit different in that he has a tendency to sometimes send the horse back with the consigner, assuming he trusts the consigner.  In this case we sent the horse back to Paul’s Sharp’s farm and allowed Paul to resume training.  The theory being that Paul knows the horse better than anyone else along with Paul being a expert horseman.  It only made sense.

Paul has had the horse since the sale and he’s progressing each day.  I had the opportunity to chat with Paul recently and Paul told me, “He’s right on target. I’ve got him breezing 3/8s and I plan to work him a 2-minute half.  He’s very professional in the way that he goes about his business. He’s a real pleasure to have around. ”

Paul then added, “He’s a very talented horse…very talented. Considering that he’s a New York-bred then he’s extremely talented. Believe me; I’ve had a thousand of them come through here. He’s extremely talented for a New York-bred.“

Paul finished by saying, “It shouldn’t be long now. I’ll have him up to Steve fairly soon.”

I’m blown away by our Yonaguska’s pedigree.  He has the right to develop into any kind of horse and the fact that he’s a New York-bred just puts icing on the cake.  With a little luck Steve will have him ready by Saratoga and then, like every other summer, with the 2-year-olds coming to the track, the fun will really begin.

                                                                                     - Mike Oliveto, CEO Hibiscus Stables

NOTE:  Learn more about the Yanaguska Colt and the rest of the Vintage 2008 offerings including full pedigrees, workout videos and Fact Sheets. click here.
 

Hibiscus Stables Radio Interview

Hibiscus Stables was featured on Steve Byk's radio show on Thoroughbred Racing Radio Network this month.  The show was broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio and featured Mike Oliveto and Al Schwab.  Topics included the history of Hibiscus Stables and a discussion of recent races, Iron Curtain as well as new offerings.

To listen to the show click here.  The Hibiscus segment starts about halfway through the first hour.

D.A.'s Trivia Corner - The Big Three

This month's trivia mixes things up with odds and ends from the "Big Three" races and takes a special look at trainers and jockeys who have set themselves apart.  So as we all gear up for the third leg of a very exciting Triple Crown year, let's see how well we know the top performers from the top races.

See end of newsletter for answers.

                                                                                      - Doris Ann Hayes, Hibiscus Stables
 

Although he did not attend college, Kevin has been self-educated (he’s an avid reader) and since 1997 when he started a wireless company he’s progressed to owning several highly successful businesses. He founded xy7.com and is CEO of Rapid Response Marketing, an Internet marketing company, that creates ad campaigns and sells them on the web. They are also involved in several local charities. In fact, they collected over 500 toys this past holiday season for needy children and distributed them in concert with a local radio station. He also has a PR company called Notorious Endeavor working with celebrities.

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Answers to Trivia: 

1.  Answer. B. R.W. Walden won a record 7 times winning 5 in a row (1878-1882). D. Wayne Lucas won 5 times with Tabasco Cat, Timber Country, Codex, etc. Jimmy Jones won 5 times (He’s listed as co-trainer with his son, Ben, for Citation and Whirlaway). Although Sunny won 4 times, 2 went on to win the Triple Crown- Gallant Fox and his son, Omaha. He's also won with Nashua and Bold Ruler.

2.  Answer: D. Carl Nafzger called the race for Mrs. Francis Genter (she was 92 years old) when her horse, Unbridled, rode to victory in 1990. At 92, she was the oldest winning owner.

3.  Answer: B. Ben Jones trained Lawrin, Pensive, Whirlaway, Citation, Ponder, and Hill Gail. Whirlaway and Citation both won the Triple Crown.(Citation and Whirlaway were co-trained with his father, Jimmy).

4.  Answer: C. Charlie Whittingham was 76 when Sunday Silence wore the blanket of roses in 1989.

5.  Answer: A and B. Johnny Longden won with Count Fleet(1943) and Majestic Prince(1969). Billy Walker won with Baden-Baden(1877). He was the first black trainer/jockey duo.

6.  Answer: C. James Rowe. He was also the youngest trainer to win the Kentucky Derby at age 24.

 

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