One Cool Cat

[tetley]

Surprised no-one has mentioned his breaking down on the gallops today.

[Irish Stamp]

Read about thisalready, doesn't suprise me but IMO he didnt train on, lookout for precocious 2yos and you wont getmuch change out of 50k.

[the golden drifter]

Sad news

[Irish Stamp]

sorry, the bit that didn't suprise me was his retirement - nothim breaking down.

[Venusian]

I don't fancy his chances as a stallion much, Storm Cat hasn't exactly shone so far as a sire of sires, considering how many black type winners he's sired.

In any case, once we forget about the hype all we have is a precocious 2-y-o who hasn't trained on, is very light-boned, and has physical and temperament problems as well.

Irish Stamp - your 50k, whether it refers to his covering fee, or the prices likely to be fetched for his yearlings in three years time, seems well wide of the mark to me. He's just been too unsatisfactory in too many areas to be taken seriously as a stallion prospect, although I suppose he might get a few 2-y-o winners. If he was a real looker you might take a chance with him, but I just don't see it, however much Coolmore try to hype him.

[Irish Stamp]

Venusian - it was in reference to the stud fee, a friend of mine mentioned £100k which i also think is wide of the mark and given the lack of strength in depth of quality stallions and him being by Storm Cat (High Yield, Giant's Causeway have done ok so far) i think £30k will be about his mark.

Martin

[Venusian]

£30k?!

For an unsound Group 3 winning sprinter (in a mediocre year)?

Knock a nought off and you might be nearer the mark for a sensible fee.

As for Storm Cat being a sire of sires, I read recently that he has yet to have a stallion get into the U.S. top twenty.

Are breeders really that gullible, and do they really believe all the guff that Coolmore spouts every year?

Well, yes, I suppose they are, and they do!

[Irish Stamp]

:lol: - Smarty Jones - $100k? nuff said B)

[Songsheet]

Agree with Ven - he'll be shipped abroad probably and if he isn't, the deals Coolmore will have to enter into to get the horse supported will be interesting!

Wouldn't be on my list at any price.

[SteveM]

I've never really liked this horse and breaking down at home on the gallops (I thought he had finished for the season anyway) seems a convenient enough excuse to shuffle him off to stud.

In his defence they always said he looked a different horse in his homework. But then again since the yard and the breeding operation are so inextricably linked they are unlikely to have claimed anything else.

Like Julie and Ven say a Storm Cat that looks wrong in itself and shows no resolute qualities on the track must be low on most people's stallion agenda. Can't imagine Europeans will be queuing up to use him, so I suppose it will be off to the US and from there on some sort of shuttle roster to Australia and the outer limits.

[Irish Stamp]

Will he be doing a Van Nistelrooy?

[Irish Stamp]

On a very similar note another ex-O'Brien son of Storm Cat was retired to stand in California recently - Marino Marini.

[Galileo]

Wont be anywhere near 30k and also doesn't interest me as a stallion.....for those questioning his "break down" very little doubt it was genuine, horse was sent to Troytown in Kildare.

[Gareth Flynn]

In an industry geared so much towards precocity, Coolmore surely won't have much trouble marketing a dual Group 1 winner at 2.

[solerina]

Mainly I'm glad the horse will survive. I think they'll keep a decent stud value too in spite of the hype :D

[Venusian]

I see that...

...Multiple Group 1 winner One Cool Cat will enter stud in 2005 at Coolmore Stud in Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland.
A fee for the three-year-old son of Storm Cat out of Tacha, by Mr. Prospector, has not been announced.

"We're delighted that One Cool Cat will remain in Ireland as our American base was also very keen to have him," Coolmore's Christy Grassick said. "He'll be competitively priced and should prove very popular with breeders."

Any sane person would hesitate even if they were going to give free nominations to this horse. Coolmore seem to have identified Irish breeders as being marginally more gullible than American ones.

[Songsheet]

His fee has been set at €17,500 - far too much in my opinion!

Bargain has to be ALZAO, now only €7,000 - I know he's getting old now but he can still sire a good one !

Most of the rest of the Coolmore stallions fees have been reduced - in particular FASILYEV - Tony Morris' article yesterday was very good, I thought - he reckoned at least 1,400 broodmares need to come out of production.

Well, I've made a start - didn't cover one this year and she's now being reschooled as a riding horse and I've another that will be joining her next year!

So just 1398 to go, then!

[Galileo]

Cannot believe the price of One Cool Cat......

Incidentally as one crop finishes another begins....yearlings started to arrive at Ballydoyle a few weeks back. Apart from the obvious sales ones a half sister to Hawk Wing and full sister to High Chaparral are there too. The dreaming starts all over again......

[Venusian]

The fee for One Cool Cat is a joke. No doubt there will be plenty of mugs out there eager to patronise him at stud, and different ones to buy his yearlings in three years time. 7000 Euros would have been plenty high enough, and as Songsheet says, Alzao at the same fee is a far more attractive proposition.

Fasliyev has had a very disappointing year, in contrast to his first crop of 2-y-os last year. It's always hard to judge a horse on his first crop - very often good marketing and support from the stud where he's standing can make a so-so stallion seem like the second coming. I don't think you could say that Fasliyev is proving a bad sire, but he may have been overrated.

[Swirly Chaser]

I don't know anything about the breeding world, but I do have a few questions.

1) What are One Cool Cat's chances of producing talented offspring?

2) As there are not that many Group 1 winners sent to stud, in relation to how many horses take part in races of all types and class and then go to stud, how much would it matter that One Cool Cat (3rd in a 5 furlong Group 1 sprint at 3 and Group 1 winner at 2) didn't live up to "hype", when he begins his stallion career?

3) Are there attractive looking horses?

4) Is "One Cool Cat" a possible answer to question number 3?

5) Is the flat racing world (specifically the Group 1 winners) on the whole, the offspring of the very best racehorses now spending their time at stud?

[Galileo]

Price is much too high but there are other horses with just as bad credentials if not worse then OCC. Kheylef for instance is retiring this year based on his Jersey Stakes win, though he is priced accordingly.

OCC sucess or failure will be largely based on the the quality of mare Coolmore themselves send him in his first few years.

[Venusian]

I see Fasliyev's fee has been reduced by 2/3rds - from 75,000 to 25,000 Euros, a startling drop.

I can't recall an expensive stallion's fee being reduced by so much in one go.

[Galileo]

I think it shows 75,000 was simply just too expensive for what he has achieved.