The other day I was at the races at Century Downs, watching the 2 and 3 year olds perform, and, in between races, watching the people on the tarmac. Both are interesting studies.
In the course of a stroll between races, I ran into Kathleen and Cliff Coonfer from Olds. They’ve been breeding horses for the past decade and were on hand to watch Make It Big in the ASHA colt 3 year old series and Mateo and Make Some Smiles in the 2 year old events. Make It Big is their own. The others went through the ASHA Sale. Mateo, which is owned in partnership by Christine Cutting and Jim Marino, won a division of the ASHA 2 year old colt series, bringing a smile to the faces of the Coonfers who will cash a bonus cheque as breeders of the animal.
“We’ve got four mares,” Kathleen told me. “We usually breed three of them each season. I’m the one who takes the lead in deciding which stallion to breed to which mare. I went to Charlottetown last year and took a course developed by Norman Hill. He’s built a program that helps bring together elements like size, speed, conformation, and family history to create a good cross between a stallion and a mare. I’ve found that to be really useful for us.”
The Coonfers have 3 yearlings in the September sale to be held at the Olds MegaDome on Sept. 11th. Hip numbers 21, 44 and 51 are being offered among the 71 youngsters listed in the catalogue. The Coonfers are among 15 consigners to this year’s sale.
A little further along the tarmac, I ran into Cochrane businessman, Don Richardson, who’s been a player on the Alberta harness racing scene for three decades. He was smiling broadly after his 2 year old filly, Wedding Dance, rolled to a win in the ASHA 2 year old filly stake, setting a new track record of 1:56 for 2 year old fillies in the process.
“She’s got some speed,” said the man who paid $6,500 for the filly at last year’s sale. It’s turned out OK to this point, with Wedding Dance pushing her bank account to about $22,000 so far. When asked if he’s looked at this year’s catalogue, Richardson just smiled and said “yes, I’ve had a quick look at it.”
Of course not all buys turn out as well as Wedding Dance. Richardson has had some good horses in his stable over the years including Bombarded back in the nineties. Bombarded was part of a good class that also included Just Doodlin, Wild Russian, Scampi High Ball and Forever Fiddle W. Twenty-one years after the fact, Bombarded still owns the track record for 2 year olds at Northlands Park: 1:54.3 with a :27.3 last quarter. Fred Gillis, who is now ASHA’s executive director, was at the controls that day. But for every one that makes a profit, there’s likely a couple that struggle. There are no guarantees in harness racing. Richardson, who formerly owned Stormy Creek Stud, has held in there through the ups and downs of Alberta harness racing over the years.
A little further along, I stopped to talk with Connie Kolthammer, who chairs the ASHA breeders committee and who runs Outlaw Stable at Falun, AB.
“Normally, we don’t put our yearlings through the sale,” she told me. “It’s a business decision. I’m fortunate to have the facilities to train and develop the babies so that they have more value to sell as 2 year olds. By that time, I’ll have several thousand dollars invested in each yearling, and I have to do whatever I can to recoup that investment. You look at Outlaw Imahotvixen, as an example. We sold that one to Joe Ratchford and she’s already picked up a runner-up share in the Alberta Starlet stake. So that’s what works best for us. Hopefully it works out for Joe and for others who have bought horses from me.”
Kolthammer has about 20 mares at her farm, including a few boarders like Movin Uptown, which is owned by Bill Zaretsky of Saskatoon, and which was herself a multiple stakes winner. Movin Uptown is one of 3 Zaretsky-owned mares which are represented in the sale this year, in this case, Hip #50.
Others, like Meadowlark Stables Carl Archibald, and long time owner and breeder, Kenneth Gunn, have one or two mares and keep the offspring to race. The bigger breeders in the province supply a lot of the yearlings to the sale. Meridian Farms is the largest consignor this year with 28 yearlings headed to the sale. Al Neurauter from High River has consigned 9 yearlings and Jim Rhodes of High River is sending 9 to the sale as well.
“The Sire Stake program is still a big draw for buyers,” says Kolthammer. “It’s a really important part of why the industry was able to negotiate a new deal with the government, in my opinion. We have to protect and grow that program as much as we can. And I think the same is true of the mares’ bonus program. We need to be able to reward those breeders who invest in good breeding stock to continue to grow the quality of Alberta racing.”
“We’ll pay out about $400,000 in mare bonuses to breeders this year,” Fred Gillis told me. “At one time, that program paid out as much as $800,000 a season. It’s also been as low as about $284,000. Starting next year, under terms of the agreement with the Province, the government will take a larger share of revenues from the slot machine program. So, to keep these bonus programs available and growing, we have to generate more revenue from the machines and from the pari-mutuel handle.”
Talk to owners of harness horses about what they buy and how they decide what to buy and you’ll get a broad diversity of views. Some trace breeding of both sides of a yearling’s family back several generations. Some, like Blair and Erna Corbeil, who buy horses at sales across North America, will look at hundreds of pedigrees as soon as they become available. Others take a follow-the-leader approach, looking for what the big owners do and trying to follow that path. Still others are guided by a budget. They’ll look for good bloodlines and buy what they can afford.
That reminds me that over and above the love of the sport, this is still a business. As with any investment, it’s important to get good advice on where and how you spend your money. People who are interested in an investment will find any number of good trainers with whom you can develop a relationship and prepare to become a part of the industry.
In a quick perusal of this year’s catalogue, I counted twelve mares, each of whom has 2 and 3 year olds in this year’s Alberta Sire Stakes program. Of those 12 mares, Make Some Noise (dam of Hip #44), Movin Uptown (Hip #50), and Willyourememberme (Hip #70) were the only ones I found which are represented in this year’s sale. There are also eleven mares which are represented in the sale for the first time.
Catalogues are available through the Alberta Standardbred office in Airdrie or at Century Downs. Pedigrees are available online as well. Have a great time shopping! Remember, the sale is Sunday, Sept. 11th at 3:30 PM at the Olds Regional Exhibition MegaDome. There’ll be no racing that day at Century Downs.
In the course of a stroll between races, I ran into Kathleen and Cliff Coonfer from Olds. They’ve been breeding horses for the past decade and were on hand to watch Make It Big in the ASHA colt 3 year old series and Mateo and Make Some Smiles in the 2 year old events. Make It Big is their own. The others went through the ASHA Sale. Mateo, which is owned in partnership by Christine Cutting and Jim Marino, won a division of the ASHA 2 year old colt series, bringing a smile to the faces of the Coonfers who will cash a bonus cheque as breeders of the animal.
“We’ve got four mares,” Kathleen told me. “We usually breed three of them each season. I’m the one who takes the lead in deciding which stallion to breed to which mare. I went to Charlottetown last year and took a course developed by Norman Hill. He’s built a program that helps bring together elements like size, speed, conformation, and family history to create a good cross between a stallion and a mare. I’ve found that to be really useful for us.”
The Coonfers have 3 yearlings in the September sale to be held at the Olds MegaDome on Sept. 11th. Hip numbers 21, 44 and 51 are being offered among the 71 youngsters listed in the catalogue. The Coonfers are among 15 consigners to this year’s sale.
A little further along the tarmac, I ran into Cochrane businessman, Don Richardson, who’s been a player on the Alberta harness racing scene for three decades. He was smiling broadly after his 2 year old filly, Wedding Dance, rolled to a win in the ASHA 2 year old filly stake, setting a new track record of 1:56 for 2 year old fillies in the process.
“She’s got some speed,” said the man who paid $6,500 for the filly at last year’s sale. It’s turned out OK to this point, with Wedding Dance pushing her bank account to about $22,000 so far. When asked if he’s looked at this year’s catalogue, Richardson just smiled and said “yes, I’ve had a quick look at it.”
Of course not all buys turn out as well as Wedding Dance. Richardson has had some good horses in his stable over the years including Bombarded back in the nineties. Bombarded was part of a good class that also included Just Doodlin, Wild Russian, Scampi High Ball and Forever Fiddle W. Twenty-one years after the fact, Bombarded still owns the track record for 2 year olds at Northlands Park: 1:54.3 with a :27.3 last quarter. Fred Gillis, who is now ASHA’s executive director, was at the controls that day. But for every one that makes a profit, there’s likely a couple that struggle. There are no guarantees in harness racing. Richardson, who formerly owned Stormy Creek Stud, has held in there through the ups and downs of Alberta harness racing over the years.
A little further along, I stopped to talk with Connie Kolthammer, who chairs the ASHA breeders committee and who runs Outlaw Stable at Falun, AB.
“Normally, we don’t put our yearlings through the sale,” she told me. “It’s a business decision. I’m fortunate to have the facilities to train and develop the babies so that they have more value to sell as 2 year olds. By that time, I’ll have several thousand dollars invested in each yearling, and I have to do whatever I can to recoup that investment. You look at Outlaw Imahotvixen, as an example. We sold that one to Joe Ratchford and she’s already picked up a runner-up share in the Alberta Starlet stake. So that’s what works best for us. Hopefully it works out for Joe and for others who have bought horses from me.”
Kolthammer has about 20 mares at her farm, including a few boarders like Movin Uptown, which is owned by Bill Zaretsky of Saskatoon, and which was herself a multiple stakes winner. Movin Uptown is one of 3 Zaretsky-owned mares which are represented in the sale this year, in this case, Hip #50.
Others, like Meadowlark Stables Carl Archibald, and long time owner and breeder, Kenneth Gunn, have one or two mares and keep the offspring to race. The bigger breeders in the province supply a lot of the yearlings to the sale. Meridian Farms is the largest consignor this year with 28 yearlings headed to the sale. Al Neurauter from High River has consigned 9 yearlings and Jim Rhodes of High River is sending 9 to the sale as well.
“The Sire Stake program is still a big draw for buyers,” says Kolthammer. “It’s a really important part of why the industry was able to negotiate a new deal with the government, in my opinion. We have to protect and grow that program as much as we can. And I think the same is true of the mares’ bonus program. We need to be able to reward those breeders who invest in good breeding stock to continue to grow the quality of Alberta racing.”
“We’ll pay out about $400,000 in mare bonuses to breeders this year,” Fred Gillis told me. “At one time, that program paid out as much as $800,000 a season. It’s also been as low as about $284,000. Starting next year, under terms of the agreement with the Province, the government will take a larger share of revenues from the slot machine program. So, to keep these bonus programs available and growing, we have to generate more revenue from the machines and from the pari-mutuel handle.”
Talk to owners of harness horses about what they buy and how they decide what to buy and you’ll get a broad diversity of views. Some trace breeding of both sides of a yearling’s family back several generations. Some, like Blair and Erna Corbeil, who buy horses at sales across North America, will look at hundreds of pedigrees as soon as they become available. Others take a follow-the-leader approach, looking for what the big owners do and trying to follow that path. Still others are guided by a budget. They’ll look for good bloodlines and buy what they can afford.
That reminds me that over and above the love of the sport, this is still a business. As with any investment, it’s important to get good advice on where and how you spend your money. People who are interested in an investment will find any number of good trainers with whom you can develop a relationship and prepare to become a part of the industry.
In a quick perusal of this year’s catalogue, I counted twelve mares, each of whom has 2 and 3 year olds in this year’s Alberta Sire Stakes program. Of those 12 mares, Make Some Noise (dam of Hip #44), Movin Uptown (Hip #50), and Willyourememberme (Hip #70) were the only ones I found which are represented in this year’s sale. There are also eleven mares which are represented in the sale for the first time.
Catalogues are available through the Alberta Standardbred office in Airdrie or at Century Downs. Pedigrees are available online as well. Have a great time shopping! Remember, the sale is Sunday, Sept. 11th at 3:30 PM at the Olds Regional Exhibition MegaDome. There’ll be no racing that day at Century Downs.
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