Hibiscus Stables Picnic Recap

Hibiscus Stables Fall Kickoff picnic took place on Saturday, September 29, 2007 at historic Belmont Park.  The weather was great as members of the Hibiscus Stables family shared good food and drink and spent a relaxing afternoon trading stories.  It was a great opportunity to meet each others' family members and we thank all who could attend for joining us.  Below are some photos of the picnic and the visit to the barn.

Hibiscus partners break between races.	She's "got horse"...actually she has a few!
Sextant found a new friend!	We later learned that the secret was pancake syrup in his hair!
Sextant loves attention, but she'd rather have syrup!	The Hibiscus football team was fierce and defeated all challengers that day.
Hibiscus partners relax in the shade.	The day winds down at beautiful Belmont Park.

As the afternoon wound down, some of the picnic goers made the trip and followed Sextant to The Meadowlands to see her race that night.  A true marathon racing day for die-hards and the rest of the Hibiscus family who were there in spirit!

Horse Racing Q & A with Mike Oliveto, CEO

What are your thoughts about the implementation of synthetic surfaces
at tracks throughout the country?

The in-vogue answer would be to say that it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Unfortunately I can’t give that answer with any kind of honesty.  I’ll start out by saying that I believe that the safety of the horse and the jockey are of paramount importance.  But to swap out an entire racing surface is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  By completely eliminating the dirt and replacing it with any new surface takes the horsemen and the horse players and throws them under the bus, in my opinion.  The gambler, without whom we’d have no industry, is completely without a clue as to the handicapping and playing of races run over the synthetic surfaces.  The fact that there are $100,000-plus pick-6 carryovers every other week in California is proof of that.  For the horse industry it’s, in my opinion, far worse. 

To unilaterally do away with and replace something as fundamental as the surface over which our horses run just seems incredibly irresponsible.  The running of such prestigious races as the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar were reduced to laughing stocks earlier this year.  Additionally, the long-term health effects of exposure to the synthetic material for both horse and man have yet to be determined.  Again, the whole undertaking seems very irresponsible.  I think, assuming that there is any validity to the suggestion that the synthetic surfaces are safer than traditional dirt, the obvious solution is to install these surfaces on the training tracks while leaving the racing surfaces intact.  This would allow the horses to train 29 out of 30 days on the synthetic surface while maintaining the integrity of racing on the surface over which our industry has been built.  We could then divert the millions of dollars that were spent on replacing the dirt with the synthetic into research and development on making traditional dirt surfaces as safe as possible.  That approach seems to be the least disruptive and make the most common sense.
 

How has having two different trainers as part of the Hibiscus team worked out?

It’s worked out very well.  Having both Steve and Linda as part of our team is somewhat like beginning the assembly of a dream team.  Both trainers are quite excellent at what they do.  Steve is a 30% winning trainer year in and year out.  He has a good eye for horses and he’s an absolute master at placing horses into races where they can compete.  Steve doesn’t have any other clients that focus on New York-breds so there’s no contention at the sales.  He’s an advocate of our program and he and I think very much alike.  Linda is, in my opinion, the best New York based trainer with a presence in the New York-bred program.  There are other trainers who run New York-breds who have more wins or who may be higher-profile but they generally have lower winning percentages and get what they get by throwing horses into races en masse.  I’ve worked with Linda for over a year now and I can see that she has a great eye for talent and also is a master at her craft.  While it’s true that we don’t have Pletcher or Mott or Baffert working for us I believe we have the absolute best trainers for our program which, right now, emphasizes the extremely lucrative state-bred program.  We’re seriously considering branching into Southern California racing in 2008.  If we do we’ll look to trainers such as Ron Ellis and/or Greg Gilchrest who have both had great success in that part of the country.  If that happens we’ll then have 3 or 4 trainers.  We want to be the best and to do that you need to partner with the best and that’s a core philosophy for Hibiscus Stables. 
 

 What’s your current assessment of Vintage 2007?

Overall I’m very pleased with our Vintage 2007 offerings.  We’ve got 4 very nice racing prospects.  We've certainly had our share of being sidelined this year which can be difficult given human nature and the desire for instant gratification.  But we need to look at everything in perspective.  Our 4 Vintage 2007 horses are all 2-year-olds.  We’ve had 2 make it to the races and 1 was a debut winner.  A 3^rd, Portuguesemano’war is only a few breezes away from making his debut.  That will mean that 3 of the 4 prospects made it to the races as 2-year-olds.  A good number of Thoroughbreds don’t even make their debut until they’re 3 years old or even older.  Our 2 that have already started have both shown talent to suggest that they’re going to be runners. 

Thoroughbreds are very fragile creatures and injuries are an unfortunate reality of our game.  The likelihood of having 4 precocious 2-year-olds and having none with an injury is very low.  Having 3 of the 4 get hurt is also very unlikely but the planets just seem to have lined up against us this fall.  That all said, I don’t think it’s fair to focus on the here and now and not take a step back and look at the larger and long-term picture.  We’ve got 4 horses, 2 of which have every right to show talent, and the other 2 who have actually shown us talent.  Sextant should be returning to training any day now and she has the potential, with her breeding and ability, to be any kind of horse.  Iron Curtain has raced 3 times, twice taking third place, all the while racing with a chip in his knee.  When he returns as an older, stronger, bigger, pain-free horse there’s no telling how good he might be. 

Portuguesemano’war should be racing soon and Mr. Blue Grey will have to wait until 2008 to make his debut.  Overall, in the grand scheme of things, 3 out of 4 two-year-olds to race with 2 if not all 3 being legitimate runners is, quite frankly, a very positive outcome.  We’ll get past this stretch of bad luck and I’m optimistic that, down the road when we close the book on Vintage 2007, we’ll call it a success.  And, although she’s a member of the previous year’s vintage, let’s not forget Salt Water Reign who, despite some injuries, has also shown herself to be a runner.  When she returns later this fall we expect her to be competitive with her class as well.

In 2007, Hibiscus Stables has won 30% of the time and achieved a 60% in-the-money-rate.  So while Vintage 2007's youth may have resulted in fewer starts for the Stable, the quality of the performances have been statistically impressive.  We are excited as we look towards the coming months and the prospects that lie ahead.
                                                                                 
                                                                                    - Mike Oliveto, CEO Hibiscus Stables

Trivia - Breeder's Cup

The Breeder’s Cup races were first run in 1984. Consisting of several Grade I races, they are contested at different tracks and are considered to be the Super Bowl of Thoroughbred racing. These season ending championships often decide the Eclipse award winners. This year, for the first time, they will be run over 2 days at Monmouth Park with purses totaling over $23 million.

See end of newsletter for answers.

Client Spotlight - Dave Yazzetti

Answers to Trivia: 

1.  Answer:  C. Arcangues paid $269.20 to win in 1993. (Lowest payout was $2.40 for Meadow Star in 1990). 

2.  Answer: A. Willie Shoemaker was 56 when he won in 1987 on Ferdinand.

3.  Answer: B. Pat Day has won over $23 million with 12 winners. Jerry Bailey has the most wins with 15. 

4.  Answer: C. Allen Paulson with $7.5 million. Out of 32 runners they’ve had 6 to win, 2 to place and 7 to show. 

5.  Answer: D. Bronze. They are an authentic reproduction of a bronze Torrie horse, originally sculpted in 16^th century Florence, which now resides at the University of Edinburgh. A large cast of the original (weighing in at 1,850 lbs ) travels each year to the host track. For every winning horse 4 trophies are awarded-one to the owner, jockey, trainer and breeder.

6.  Answer: B. 21 winners have broken from the 2^nd post. 20 from the first and 18 from the fifth. 13^th is really unlucky as only 2 horses have crossed the finish line first from there.

 

April 2007          May 2007          June 2007          July 2007      Sept 2007