Perry Martin: Observations of a Breeder Pt. 1

First and foremost I am a scientist specializing in failure analysis. Failure analysis uses many scientific tools, coupled with observation and deductive reasoning, to determine the root cause of product failures. The determination of what went wrong, along with the implementation of corrective actions, is the basis of product improvement. This works for all products; cars, airplanes, electronics and, yes, even Thoroughbreds.

 

The process of product improvement is never complete. The information passed along over multiple product generations and many incremental improvements moves the product ever closer to the unachievable—perfection. The process of product improvement is serious business and should never depend on luck. 

 

When my wife, Denise, and I decided to get into the horse racing business as owners, we used the same approach taken when entering a cold swimming pool. First, we stuck in a big toe. We purchased 5% of a horse named Searchforthetruth from Blinkers On Racing partnerships. Greg Gilchrist is the reason we picked Blinkers On—we wanted to learn the business, and the best way to do that was to watch a top trainer. 

 

Blinkers On was the complete owner experience. We got access to the backside and took advantage of it. We showed up for workouts, heard from Greg about what to look for, watched the care and feeding of the horses, and asked a lot of questions. Sometimes we made our presence known; sometimes we watched from afar. We also observed what other barns were doing differently. 

 

What we observed in other barns helped us to develop the three H's for selecting a good trainer: hygiene, housekeeping, and horsemanship. I've been told this should all be covered under one "H." Maybe—our observations, however, tell us different. Let's start with hygiene. Do you wash your bottom with a sponge before you wash your face? If you do, I know where you can get a job as a horse washer. I've watched horses come in from morning works, get cooled out, washed, and put away without anyone checking/cleaning their feet. If a trapped pebble eventually causes an abscess, is this bad luck or poor hygiene?

 

We also observed poor practices usually occurred when the boss was not around to watch or, even though the boss was considered a good horseman, when he had multiple stakes winners to attend to. Housekeeping is picking up that stray horseshoe nail so that it doesn't find its way into a horse's foot, removing or covering sharp edges in a stall and around the shed row. Horsemanship is observing and knowing each horse and its needs. 

 

I believe getting experience as an owner before becoming a breeder is very important. It seems to me that generation after generation of just being market breeders makes for great tradition but the valuable insight about why/how horses don't excel gets buried. As an example, let's go back to our first horse, Searchforthetruth. He was finally going to run in his first stakes race, at a Northern California fair. We were on the road and halfway to the racetrack on race day when I got the call. A dumpster was outside the back of Searchforthetruth's stall and the garbage truck slammed it into the stall wall. The horse spooked, jumping up on his hind legs, and hit his head on a low overhang. He had to be scratched. Dumpster positioning and low overhangs in stalls were housekeeping problems outside our control, at least for our one-day trip to the fair. If you don't start in a stakes you can't win a stakes.

 

I'm a fair handicapper, and I believe he had a good shot that day. Bad Luck? Concentrating only on racing wins as an indicator of breeding performance has its usefulness but it is certainly not absolute. There are many reasons horses do not win races. For another example, look at the run of California Chrome in the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I). According to Trakus, Chrome ran faster than any other horse in that race. Usually the fastest horse wins but not that race. Running 41 feet farther than the winner meant losing by a neck. Bad Luck? 

 

Rather than focusing on the three H's, maybe the focus should be on the big "A" for attention to detail. My definition of "luck" is "Paying no attention to detail and still obtaining the outcome you desired." This philosophy has its roots in an interview with Arnold Palmer I watched as a kid. After Palmer had won a big tournament, the interviewer stated: "Well, Arnie, I guess this win was made possible after that lucky shot on 17." Palmer seemed stunned, then his face softened and he smiled saying: "Well, Bob, I find that the more I practice, the luckier I get!"

 

Arnold Palmer was a great example in not only how to approach life but also how to deal with the press. I'm still working on that last part. I should not get angry when reporters ask ignorant questions or write ignorant statements about Chrome's breeding, such as his being "ill-bred." I should probably just go with it or better yet use it as a teaching moment. "Yes, it's all just luck. I admit it. We are very lucky that all the really well-bred horses are so much slower than Chrome." 

 

Breeders need to make a decision up front: whether to breed for the marketplace or breed to race. If DAP (Dumb Ass Partners) were breeding for the marketplace, then our purchase of Love the Chase was truly a dumb-ass move, as the lack of close-in, black type would have made for an anticipated low future sales price of our foals. However, since we are breeding to race, we could overlook the lack of black-type close in and focus on the pedigree potential of the mare. Veterinarian Dr. Tom Bowman and his wife, Chris, Bowman of Dance Forth Farm near Chestertown, Md., bred Love the Chase, a daughter of Not For Love. I believe the Bowmans also bred Love the Chase's dam, Chase It Down, a daughter of Polish Numbers out of the stakes-winning mare Chase the Dream, a daughter of Sir Ivor. 

 

During the Triple Crown run I received a lot of requests for my time and either had to say, "No," or put them off to a later date. One request I put off was with pedigree analyst Rommy Faversham, who wanted to discuss Chrome's breeding. A couple of weeks after the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), Denise and I were returning from one of our visits to Harris Farms. We stopped at a restaurant for a cup of coffee, and I decided this was a good time to keep my promise and call Faversham. We ended up having a two-hour conversation, and I would have been happy to make it four. Faversham was knowledgeable, delightful, and had shared many of the same horse owner experiences.

 

A few days after our conversation Faversham sent me a copy of his book Racehorse Breeding Theories. I immediately went to Chapter 12 on Female Family Inbreeding and read it in full. Wow, why couldn't I have come across this sooner? It would have saved me a lot of research! The one section I'll never forget was at the end where he asked, what female family inbreeding lines will determine the champions 10 years from now? At the top of the list was "Numbered Account." (Love the Chase is inbred 3x3 to Numbered Account) I quickly turned to the front of the book and looked at the copyright date—2004. Wow, 10 years exactly! 

 

John Avello (director of Race Sports Operations at Wynn Las Vegas), if you're reading this, how about a Kentucky Derby Futures line 10 years out based on breeding? I know someone you might want to ban from the Wynn racebook, because he's way too lucky!