Perth racing’s favourite son Damien Oliver was already thinking ahead to next year’s Railway Stakes as he came back to scale after guiding Sniper’s Bullet to an emphatic win in the Group 1 Kingston Town Classic (wfa, 1800m) on Saturday.

The Melbourne-based Oliver was at last the beneficiary of some good luck after his previously fruitless pilgrimages home to Perth for the Group 1 features. This time the luck came in a phone call from Sniper’s Bullet’s Tracey Bartley, who was suddenly left without a jockey.

Sydney jockey Nash Rawiller rode Sniper’s Bullet to win the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m, Ascot) two weeks earlier, but Rawiller was recalled to Sydney by trainer Gai Waterhouse to fulfil stable riding duties, due to the suspension of Waterhouse’s other stable rider Blake Shinn.

Oliver’s last feature race win during the Perth summer carnival was on Cats Fun in the 2008 Group 2 Perth Cup (3200m, Ascot).

However, all the past pain was forgotten as Oliver spoke with enthusiasm to Wes Cameron in a post-race interview, after adding his first Kingston Town Classic to his illustrious CV of 84 Group 1 wins.

“It’s wonderful, it’s nice to make amends after last time, when we couldn’t get quite near them in the Railway (riding Gold Salute), but it was great to pick-up ride for me, unfortunate for Nash, but all credit to Tracey Bartley who’s had him (Sniper’s Bullet) in great condition and he really came on nicely from his Railway win.

“There was nice pace and that opened the field up lovely for us to drop into a good position, Tracey gave me a lot of confidence going into the race; he said the horse had trained on beautifully and was thriving here and that does give you a lot of confidence.

“He felt great, I was a little concerned that I might have been left in front too soon but when he did take the front he kicked strongly for me.

“We’ll keep working on it (the Railway) mate but we’ve done all right … it’s great to be home.”

Saturday’s Kingston Town Classic day was also a banner day for up-and-coming trainer Mark Reed, when stable favourite Gondorff bounced back to top form with a strong win in the $100,000 Group 3 Queen’s Cup (2400m). Reed also saddled up the third placed Esroh in the event.

“I don’t often get emotional after a win, but I was in tears after he won on Saturday,” Reed said.

“To get him back after what happened in the Northam Cup (sixth behind Jinx King) when he copped more knocks than Don Bradman in the run and pulled up with a wrenched joint in his offside foreleg, it means a lot.

“I love this horse and I would never do anything to hurt him but I was in two minds as what to do with him as I was getting conflicting information from several vets who advised me to spell him otherwise I would break him down,” Reed said.

“Dave Murphy at Murdoch University assured me, however, that the injury was nowhere near as severe as first thought and told me that if I was careful with him, he would recover.

“I’ve been taking him to the beach and swimming and wading him and icing the leg and I had to be a bit easy on him going into his last run in the (Listed) Tatt’s Cup (in which Gondorff finished eighth behind Ma Chienne).

“It was also his first run for nearly a month and he was just a fraction too fresh going into the race and (jockey) Damien Oliver told me he just pulled himself into the ground in the run but since then I’ve been able to pour the work into him and Staecky (rider Daniel Staeck) rode a sensational race.

“Dan’s a terrific asset to have on side; he’s gives me great feedback on the horse in his work and has rarely put a foot wrong when riding him in his races and he has formed a great partnership with the horse.

“Joe McDermott, who is semi retired as a vet, has also been a great help with Gondorff and the other horses in my stable.”

Reed, aged 29, now intends to press ahead with plans to run Gondorff in the $400,000 Group 2 BMW Perth Cup (2400m) on January 1.

It was a big eight days for the outstanding young horseman, who despite being one of WA top harness drivers, elected recently to give up his licence to concentrate on training a small team of gallopers, a la Fred Kersley.

However, Reed was tempted into an albeit brief comeback to the sulky when offered the drive late on Friday afternoon on November 27, when Golden Nugget favourite Bonavista Bay was left without a driver after regular reinsman Chris Alford miss the race when his Melbourne to Perth flight was delayed by several hours.

Reed piloted the star 4YO pacer to a memorable all-the-way win in the $175,000 Group 1 Gold Nugget at Gloucester Park, and he made it a weekend to treasure when he saddled up stable-runner Esroh, the following day, to win a 0-80 event over 2200m at Ascot.

Finding a good horse is never easy – you can spend hours perusing catalogues and trudge kilometres around the yearling sales complexes in search of the next big thing … or you can pluck one through the classified ads in a newspaper!

When trainer Mick Price’s wife, Caroline, went on the search for a mare to breed to a warm blood stallion to produce an equestrian horse, she hunted to a suitable mare in the classified section of the national rural newspaper, The Weekly Times.

Caroline was surprised to find a Grosvenor mare in foal to former brilliant sprinter Lago Delight (pictured). The mare, Capriceuse, fitted the bill and the deal was done for $4000.

Earlier that year, the owner of Capriceuse had tried to sell the mare at the 2006 Inglis March Thoroughbred Sale at Oaklands Junction, but she failed to meet a reserve of $4000. The vendor had bought her two years earlier at the same complex for $4500, in foal to Jetball – a weanling filly by Jetball from Capriceuse was also dispersed at that sale for only $500.

Capriceuse produced the Prices a very nice colt foal by Lago Delight (b h 2000, Encosta De Lago–Sweet Delight, by Rancho Ruler), so much so that Price decided to give him a try.

In due course, Capriceuse did her ultimate job by producing Caroline a lovely warm blood filly, but the mare unfortunately died without providing another offspring.

But the amazing saga of this former New Zealand mare with the American dam line didn’t finish there. The Lago Delight youngster, now a gelding, is Price’s rising star sprinter Marconi, who has blitzed his rivals in two starts – winning in record time (58.76 secs) over 1000m at his debut at Stony Creek before free-wheeling around the Caulfield 1000m last Saturday in 56.79 secs.

Price revealed that Marconi was twice “sold” to Hong Kong on the strength of a couple of brilliant trials wins at Cranbourne in May and October, but each time failed the stringent veterinary examination. The price tag was reported to be in the vicinity of $250,000 – more than 60 what the Prices paid for the mare.

What is Hong Kong’s loss has become Price’s gain.  Marconi is now part-owned by Caroline and Mick is looking at some serious sprint races in 2010.

Marconi is beautifully named – after veteran Mornington trainer Jim Marconi, who trained Lago Delight and most of the stallion’s family including his dam Sweet Delight and her sire, the classy Rancho Ruler (by Rancher).

Marconi, the horse, gets his speed from Lago Delight, who ranks as probably the fastest son of Encosta De Lago we have seen. He won his first two starts, including the Listed Mitchell McKenzie (1000m) at Moonee Valley in the spring of 2003 before being beaten a lip by Scaredee Cat in the Group 2 Ascot Vale Stakes (1200m) at Flemington. In February, 2004, Lago Delight was sold for a seven figure sum to a syndicate headed by David Hayes and joined the stable of Lindsay Park’s trained Tony McEvoy.

The entire had only one run for the Hayes’ syndicate, finishing ninth in the 2004 Group 1 Australia Stakes (1200m, Moonee Valley) before injuries ended his career. Marconi bought the horse back off the syndicate and sent him to stand at Bombora Downs, on the Mornington Peninsula. He covered his first book of 89 mares in 2004, but in 2007 (EI year), he served 141 mares. His record stands at 27 winners from 80 starts, and Marconi is the headline horse that he needs to kick start his stud career.

Lago Delight, big and powerful, stands for a fee in 2009 of $4400 (inc. GST).

Capriceuse’s dam is the seven-times winning American import Jacindra (by Bold Ego), who was multiple Stakes placed. Her best offspring is the Hong Kong winner Jet Jackson (by Jetball). This family is very thin for recent black type winners, although the fourth dam of Capriceuse, the Beau Max mare Accroche Coeur, is the dam of Heart To Market, who is best known is Australia as the dam of the Golden Slipper winner and champion sire Marscay (by Biscay) and the granddam of the 1992 Melbourne Cup winner Subzero (by Kala Dancer).

The influence of the staying sire Grosvenor (by Sir Tristam (IRE)) is overshadowed by the combination of the speed of Lago Delight and the speed cross on the dam side of Bold Ruler (USA) over Star Kingdom (IRE), through his son Noholme. You can view this pedigree from a weanling by Indian Danehill from Jacindra, sold at Karaka in 2005 for $7000.

Price told the Herald Sun that he expected Marconi to continue to improve. “He has a lot to learn, he’s skinny and immature at the moment,” he said. The gelding’s next run will be in the Fiesta Handicap (1000m) at Flemington on December 19.

And would he have been happy to sell Marconi – “certainly, it’s a lot of money for a horse with his story line.”

I read with interest that former leading bookmaker and thoroughbred breeder Bruce McHugh is challenging in the courts the validity of the ban on the use of artificial insemination (AI) in Australian thoroughbred breeding – his argument is based on restraint of trade.

McHugh’s call for a change came only a few days after the death of one of the pioneers of the introduction of artificial insemination in standardbred (harness racing) in Australia, Bernie “B.J” Ahern.

Ahern, stood two of the great pacing stallions of the late 1970s and 1980s, Kentucky and Hilarious Way, at his B.J. Lodge at Goornong, near Bendigo, before becoming a leading administrator and overseeing a period of great change in Victoria. Incidentally, Ahern’s property, with its imposing mansion (purposely built by Ahern in the Kentucky style) recently was put on the market by its current owner, singer John Farnham, who used it as a base for his quarter horse breeding operation. But that’s another story.

As expected leading thoroughbred breeder John Messara, principal of Arrowfield Stud, was quick to respond to McHugh’s action, condemning the practice of AI in thoroughbreds, and outlining the ramifications to the industry if the AI was to be introduced in Australia. Thoroughbred Breeders’ Australia CEO Peter McGauran followed up with his support.

My experience of similar arguments in the courts is that McHugh has a strong case and Messara and McGauran have good reason to be concerned – the restraint of trade argument often holds up in this commercial world that we live in. The same happened in harness racing about 20 years ago when New Zealand studmasters bucked regulation and won.

If I remember, New Zealand’s harness racing studmasters, arguing restraint of trade, were successful in forcing the lifting the restrictions on 120 mares (plus returns) on standardbred stallions in New Zealand (first) and then Australia, a few years after the introduction of AI. The limits were imposed to stop the leading stallions covering massive books of mares to the perceived detriment of the breed.

After an initial flood of mares to some stallions – I remember Vance Hanover, in New Zealand, covering more than 400 mares one season – the issue eventually became a non-event. Why? Simple economics. When all those Vance Hanover foals had to compete at the yearling sales, there were so many of them that the prices were diluted. Studmasters and breeders soon realised that more is not better.

In North American in recent years, some of the leading standardbred stallions are back to covering small books of 120-150 mares to protect the value of the yearlings at sale time – this is countered by the fact that the stallions, because of the smaller numbers and greater commercial viability, can stand at a significantly higher fee.

In 2008, a study was done in the UK by pre-eminent equine fertility expert, Professor William “Twink” Allen on the differences in mare coverings between the thoroughbred industry and the standardbred industry, both in Australia and worldwide. His research shows that in the US that the mean coverings of the 10 busiest stallions in the United Stakes (AI standardbreds) has dropped from a peak of 250 in 2002 to 190 in 2008, compared to the top 10 covering stallions in the thoroughbred industry in Ireland and the UK in the same period – in 2002 the thoroughbred stallions were covering (mean figures) also of around 260, but since then has dropped very little below 250.

Profession Allen’s research found that in the same period, comparing the top 10 busiest stallions in Australia, that while there was a big gap between numbers a few years ago in the favour of the standardbred stallions, that now the gap had narrowed to both breeds covering the same numbers, around 250 mares, in the last two years.

Professor Allen’s research goes a long way to debunking the theory that AI use will result in stallions covering more mares than they would by natural means. The chart makes for interesting viewing CLICK HERE

I am not advocating for the introduction of AI in thoroughbred breeding because that’s for others to decide, but some of the arguments put forward by the anti-AI lobby require discussion in the context of what has happened in harness racing.

Let’s look at some of Messara’s arguments in his press release on November 18:

Rather than creating more competition it would concentrate stallion power in the hands of the few farms who control the proven stallions at the top of the list, Messara said.

My comment: Wait on, doesn’t that already exist in the world of thoroughbred breeding, where in the last 20 years, the leading studs with the top stallions have dominated the scene – and will continue to do so. With natural breeding, there are now fewer studs, fewer stallions and a serious polarisation at the top end.

JM: “To date, conception by natural means has placed a lid on the number of mares each stallion can serve but if that lid is lifted through AI the consequences could be dire for the industry.

“With breeders flocking to proven horses, huge numbers of mares would be inseminated by a small number of the most commercially desirable stallions and in this way there would be less competition rather than more competition amongst stallion owners.”

My comment: In the last 20 years, the mares covered by natural means by individual stallions have more than doubled, in some cases tripled to numbers well beyond 200, for example: Bel Esprit (2007, 266 mares); Fastnet Rock (2007, 257 mares; 2008, 251 mares); Encosta De Lago (2005, 245 mares; 2008, 227 mares); Redoute’s Choice (2006, 224 mares). These figures are on a par with the AI coverings of the most prolific harness racing stallions. And in some cases, thoroughbred shuttle stallions are covering between 350 and 400 mares worldwide in one year.

I would say the consequences of over-breeding stallions already is having an adverse effect on breeders at yearling sale time – try marketing a Bel Esprit yearling in 2010.

JM: “Then you have the impact on the gene pool. The few thousand mares that comprise the active band in Australia will be served by a handful of stallions; logic dictates that AI would be harmful to the diversity of the breed.”

My comment: This sounds right in theory, but not in practice. When AI was first introduced into harness breeding, there was one dominant sire line, that of Meadow Skipper, his sons and grandsons. It was prolific in both hemispheres and inbreeding to this stallion line was rife. He was the Northern Dancer of his time.

But the opposite exists today – and it has from the mid-1990s – with many more different sire lines at the top of standardbred breeding spectrum. The diversity of sire lines hasn’t been greater, and the harness breed has never been better for it.

This following link to harness.org.au will confirm this.

On the other hand with natural breeding worldwide, we have seen thoroughbred breeding dominated by only a couple of sire lines, but particularly Northern Dancer. In Australia, it is Northern Dancer’s grandson and close relation, Danehill, that dominates a very narrow gene pool. I would say that the thoroughbred gene pool in the world has not ever been narrower.

With AI comes semen transportation and with semen transportation comes diversity. Smaller breeders, who cannot afford to travel out of their own districts, can avail themselves on new and different sire lines other than those dominant on their doorstep. Tasmania is a typical example of a close gene pool that will benefit from access to the mainland stallions by semen transportation.

Breeders using AI and semen transportation would be able to select a stallion on genetic merit and not be restricted to what is available nearby because of the huge and increasing cost of sending the mare away from sometimes three or four months at a time.

On the other hand, legendary North American breeder John Gaines, of the famous Gainesway Stud in Kentucky, who has bred both standardbred and thoroughbreds, had the view that AI did make it harder for first-season and unproven young sires to compete against the established, proven stallions, but he didn’t regard it as necessarily a bad thing.

Of course, worldwide AI and semen transportation exists in the greyhound world to no detriment to the breed, and certainly there is no polarization of the gene pool

JM: “Of course, if AI were ever to be introduced into Thoroughbreds in Australia, horses produced by means of AI and their progeny would not be regarded as thoroughbreds in other parts of the world and would not be able to compete internationally and would therefore be useless for breeding purposes internationally as well.”

This is where John Messara and I are in total agreement. It must be one in, all in. Any move to AI must be done on an international basis, because if Australia goes it alone, then the Australian thoroughbred breeding industry will become an isolated island.

Messara agrees that there are benefits to AI but that the benefits don’t outweigh the disadvantages.

One of those benefits sidetracks the enormous insurance costs of travelling the best stallions, for example, Redoute’s Choice would be available to the world and our renewed interest in the stock of Montjeu (now a non-shuttler) could be satisfied.

The chief benefits are the protection of both mare and stallion; the reduction in injuries to travelling mares and foals; the saving of travel and agistment costs for broodmare owners, who are having to send mares long distances to stallions (there are additional veterinary cost to broodmare owners); and the saving of costs for stallion owners in a reduction in required land and staff.

Maybe the last word should go to legendary North American harness racing figure Stan Bergstein, a writer and administrator, who wrote in on this subject in 2002 in his column in the Daily Racing Form, in which he concludes: “The answer, it seems, is that logic does not spend much time in the breeding shed, while hidebound, stubborn tradition hangs out there round the clock.”

Read Bergsteins’ article in full. CLICK HERE.