| Welcome to the
March edition of the Hibiscus Stables Newsletter!
This issue includes stable updates, trivia and news. Please forward this
to friends and family members that may be interested.
2009 Two-Year-Old Sales in Full Swing
At OBS we landed on a striking El Prado colt out of a graded stakes winning Dynaformer mare. Ironically he too went on to be the sale topper going through the ring for $450,000. Clearly we’re looking at the right horses but we’ll have to have a conversation with Ron to scale back his expectations just a bit! What I witnessed at OBS was that, although the average prices were off 33%, there is still strength at the high end of the market. The sale was very hit-and-miss with the nice looking horses bringing good prices and the lower end taking it more on the chin. Steve Klesaris advised that we not get too caught up in the March sales and to instead move on to OBS April and Fasig-Tipton May for our New York-bred purchases where he thinks we’ll see better value and more bang for the buck. One positive note is that the colt that we bred, the Milwaukee Brew colt out of our mare Dream Affair, went through the ring at OBS and fetched an impressive $115,000. We’re very proud of that accomplishment and we look forward to seeing how his little sister, a Freud filly, does in the August yearling sales later in the year. We intend to be active in the upcoming sales looking for a horse with Ron and with Steve. We hope to have the first members of Vintage 2009 in the barn in the upcoming weeks. Keep a look out for new offerings as we’re sure they’re going to be exciting. - Mike Oliveto, CEO Hibiscus Stables
Traveling In Style with The Coopers
Keith Cooper (he’s the guy at the very left in Salty Water Reign's latest win photo), has been driving and working with horses for over 30 years. Initially, he worked for many smaller farms but in 1996 he set out on his own and started Cooper Horse Transportation. He and Joy share the driving chores and it’s been especially nice for us to have them root for our horses. Here’s a typical day:
This is not an easy not an easy life, Keith feels like he’s “always working”. But he does enjoy working for Steve as he has “a lot of winning horses”. He and Joy are involved with the Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue and the new Philly Park program. Since June that program has saved over 100 horses. It’s reassuring to know how much Keith and Joy really care for all their “delicate cargo” and we’re happy to have with us in the winner’s circle and part of the Hibiscus Stables family!
- Doris Ann Hayes, Hibiscus Stables
Lord
Greystoke Entered for Saturday at Aqueduct
D.A.'s Trivia Corner - Derby Preps
Test your knowledge of these earlier preps as we count down to the first Saturday in May and the first leg of the 2009 Triple Crown.
See
below for answers. Answers to
Trivia: 2. Answer: A. Bob Holthus has had 5 winners in The Rebel since 1972 with Our Trade Winds. His most famous winner: Smarty Jones. 3. Answer: D. Pat Day has won the Lane's End 5 times. He went on to win the Kentucky Derby with Lil E. Tee in 1992. Summer Squall (1990) won the Preakness. 4. Answer: C. William E. Adams won the Lane's End from 1977 through 1980. There were 2 divisions in 1977, 1978 and 1980. 5. Answer: A. Calumet’s most famous runners included: General Duke, Tim Tam, Forward Pass, and Alydar. Lael Stable won in 2006 with Barbaro. 6. Answer: C. Woody Stephens/Laffit Pincay, Jr. were Swale's connections. They won both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes in 1984. Sadly, Swale died just 8 days after his Belmont win and is buried at Claiborne.
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Missed an issue of the Hibiscus Stables Newsletter? No problem.....just click below for previous months. April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 Sept 2007 Oct 2007 Nov 2007 Dec 2007 Jan 2008 Feb 2008 Mar 2008 Apr 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 Aug 2008 |
Two-year-old
sale season is underway and, as expected, average prices are
down about 33% from 2008. This is great news for buyers and
no so great news for sellers. We were active in both the
Barrett’s sale in California and the OBS March sale in
Florida. In both sales we were trying to acquire a horse
for our California program with Ron Ellis. At Barretts we
zeroed in on an impressive Tizznow colt out of a Storm Cat
mare. Unfortunately that horse sold for $650,000 which was
well over our budget and went on to be the sale topper.
There
are so many unseen faces in the background that serve a
vital function in the smooth running of Hibiscus
Stables. For example, did you ever wonder how the horses
get from Steve’s place in Maryland or Delaware Park up
to New York to race? No, we don’t get them Amtrak
tickets. They are transported in state of the art vans
by husband and wife team Keith and Joy Cooper. (Steve’s
brother, Jim Klesaris has done the honors for us also).
Keith met Joy in 1993 when she became one of his housemates. They’ve been married since 1997. Aside from their shared love of horses they travel. Last year they went around the world in seven weeks (27 flights!). They went to South Africa, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Dubai where they stayed at the Al Burj (the world’s only 7 star hotel). This year, it was China for eleven days. Joy told us that the flight from JFK to Seoul was 14 hours with another 3 hours to Beijing. But it was well worth it as The Great Wall was “awesome!”. Other amazing sites were Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City (beautiful architecture interestingly, there are no square buildings) and the old palace. The food was “different” (starfish and scorpions on sticks) but Western fare was available back at the hotel. They have photos posted at: 
The
Good and Tough colt, Lord Greystoke, is
entered to run in Saturday's 5th race at
Aqueduct, which is a Maiden Special Weight
for New York state-breds 3-years-old and up
going 6 furlongs. He drew post position 7
and jockey Rosie Napravnik is again named to
ride. Napravnik won at a 20% rate in 2008
and is currently ranked 5th in the Aqueduct
jockey standings with 37 wins. It was
Napravnik who rode Lord Greystoke in his
last race which was a near miss gate to wire
attempt for the diploma. 
The
Kentucky Derby is May 2nd this year. Until then,
we are closely watching the results of the March
and April Derby preps. The March prep races
include: The Gotham Stakes, The Louisiana
Derby, The Rebel Stakes, The Land’s End, The
Florida Derby and The Swale Stakes. 
Hibiscus Stables | Somers, NY 10589 | 1-877-WIRE-2-WIRE
Email:
info@hibiscusstables.com | Website:
www.hibiscusstables.com |
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