From Bloodhorse.com
Frank Stronach\'s Ghostzapper, the 2004 Horse of the Year and champion older male, has been retired after the detection of a small hairline fracture of the left front sesamoid. He will stand at Stronach\'s Adena Springs Farm near Versailles, Ky.
Ghostzapper, a 5-year-old homebred son of Awesome Again–-Baby Zip, by Relaunch, scored a brilliant 6 1/4-length victory in the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I) May 30, his first start since setting a track record for 1 1/4 miles in winning the Breeders\' Cup Classic – Powered by Dodge (gr. I) at Lone Star Park last October.
Following the Met Mile, it was revealed that an interest in Ghostzapper had been purchased by Jess Jackson, the California winemaker who has been extremely active in bloodstock transactions over the last year.
\"After the race, he had some filling in his ankle,\" trainer Bobby Frankel said. \"We X-rayed it and didn\'t find anything, but I wasn\'t comfortable with it and wanted to make sure everything was all right. I didn\'t want to take any chances, so I sent him to New Bolton (Medical Center) on Wednesday (June 8). They did a nuclear scan and found a hot spot. Then they took an X-ray of the spot and discovered a small crack. They said it was very difficult to find. He looks great and he\'s walking perfect. You couldn\'t tell anything was wrong with him.
\"I told Mr. Stronach, and he asked how much time he\'d need, and I told him he\'s through. It\'s disappointing, but it\'s almost a relief. At least he\'s going home in one piece. God forbid he would have broken his leg in a race and had to be put down. You just don\'t know the repercussions of something like that. The whole horse industry would have missed out on a tremendous stallion.
\"My main thing with these horses is find a home for them and make sure they go home in one piece. It was worth keeping him in training just for winning that one race. He impressed people in the Met more than he did in the Breeders\' Cup, and he ended his career in style.\"
\"I\'m sorry he couldn\'t race through the end of the year and show the racing fans how great he really was, but it would take too long to heal and he is already a 5-year-old,\" Stronach said June 13.
Frankel said Ghostzapper would ship to Kentucky June 16 with horses the trainer is sending to Churchill Downs.
\"It is bittersweet but I\'m glad Frank made the decision to keep him around another year,\" Adena Springs stallion sales and marketing director Jack Brothers said. \"He showed a lot of brilliance but the Met Mile in many ways will be his defining race. It drew a lot of comparisons to the great horses that raced at Belmont in the past. It elevated him to another tier.\"
Brothers said a stud fee will not be set until late fall.
\"Naturally with a Horse of the Year coming into the fold you can\'t help but get excited,\" Brothers said. \"His versatility speaks volumes; he won a grade I going 6 1/2 furlongs and won the (Breeders\' Cup) Classic
\"(His stud fee) will be Frank\'s decision. With Awesome Again having a pair of grade I winners this year already, his status is growing by leaps and bounds. Let\'s see how things develop the remainder of the year with Awesome Again (before thinking about a fee for Ghostzapper).\"
Ghostzapper won major sprints and one- and two-turn distance races, won on the lead and from dead last, and won on fast and sloppy tracks. And he did it with flair. His speed figures, according to the experts, were the fastest ever recorded.
\"He just ran too fast for his own good,\" Frankel said. \"He was a very special horse and he never let me down. He amazed me, and everyone, with the things he accomplished. He\'s a once-in-a-lifetime horse.\"
Ghostzapper retires with nine victories from 11 start and earnings of $3,446,120. He captured the 6 1/2-furlong Vosburgh Stakes (gr. I), seven-furlong Tom Fool Handicap (gr. II), one-mile Metropolitan, 1 1/8-mile Woodward (gr. I) and Philip H. Iselin Breeders\' Cup Handicap (gr. III), and Breeders\' Cup Classic.
Awesome Again, by Deputy Minister, has out two top 3-year-old fillies this year: Round Pond, who won the Acorn Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont June 4, and Spun Sugar, who took the Black-Eyed Susan (gr. II) at Pimlico May 20.
That\'s why this game stinks sometimes. I was planning my Saratoga vacation around the Whitney.
Sound like he may have been able to come back if he was a regular allowance horse. He\'s worth too much to take another chance on him.
Good Luck,
Joe B.
THis game is broken in so many ways, this is just another one of them.
If it isn\'t the drugs, or the high takeouts, it is the early retirement of the game\'s stars and attractions.
Frankel really said \"My main thing with these horses is to find a home for them, and make sure they go home in one piece\".
The guy has a sack, thats for sure. saying that with a straight face.
At least right after that he got the real important part of the statement. \"The whole industry would have missed out on a tremendous stallion\". cha-ching......
I\'m sick of Frankel at this point. I hope he never gets another talented horse. All he ever does is hype them, avoid serious competition, and retire them before there is any chance of them getting exposed. From a purely dollars and sense point of view it may make economic sense, but this is pure BS. THese guys are destroying the sport! The owners of AA aren\'t even super rich and they are planning to run at 4....and it won\'t be one race against Grade 2 sprinters so they can retire off the hype!
I don\'t think I\'ll ever understand the economics of horseracing even if you include the intangible entertainment value of horse ownership.
The vast majority of owners lose their shirt.
Yet despite the cumulative massive losses, the prices of yearlings remain preposterous enough to support preposterous prices for breeding stock. That in turn encourages the early retirement of the best horses. The early retirement of the best horses reduces the potential for promoting the sport and generating new fan interest. That in turn reduces the potential for a larger handle, higher purses, profitability for owners etc....
Not only that, but these early retirements at ridiculous prices often allow lucky lottery winner type owners to cash in on horses that haven\'t proven themselves to the extent that champions of the past did.
I won\'t even start on the drug problem in graded stakes these days and the impact that could be having the breed.
It\'s almost like the economics of the entire game are geared towards minimizing the quality of stock that goes to the breeding shed, minimizing the potential for purses to increase, minimizing the potential for more owners to become attracted to the game and generate a reasonable return on their investment, minimizing the ability of the long time core fan base form actually enjoying the sport etc....
The only industry dumber than the horseracing industry is the airline industry and that\'s only because a dumb ass horse owner can have a little fun while he\'s going broke.
Ghostzapper showed me plenty, especially at Belmont, and has done enough to deserve retirement as the fastest horse in the history of figures. I\'m sure Mr. Frankel will be given a season or two.
Bellamy Road, the fastest 3YO in the history of figures, IMO, will not race as a 4YO.
Afleet Alex, IMO, will, if sound, run in the BC Classic. Despite the statements of trainer Ritchey, the offers for AA as a stallion will be outrageous if AA wins the BC Classic.. It is my belief that we will not see AA as a 4YO...
Racing might be able to fight early retirement of racers by subsidizing (through purse money) older geldings.
I read in Blood Horse somewhere (I think it was one of the guest columns) about a suggestion that the major racing organizations... Magna, CD, Friends of New York Racing...pool some money together, buy some expensive quality colts, geld them immediately and then race them. I don\'t remember what amount the author of the column suggested spending. I guess these animals would be syndicated to prevent conflict of interest.
The three great geldings -- Kelso, Forego and John Henry--probably wouldn\'t pass the state vet inspections today.
Personally, all I think we need is for horse owners to stop collectively acting like they are totally brain dead by dramatically overpaying for yearlings and other horses. If the prices for horses came down to the point where the economics of racing came even close to the economics of breeding (or at least racing made some economic sense), many would choose racing. That it turn would set everything on a virtuous path and instead of its current vicious path. However, as long as owners as a group insist on being dumber than a rock by dramatically overpaying and losing massive sums of money, those that hit the lottery will cash their winning ticket ASAP. That\'s what the game has become. It\'s like the lottery.
Someone (outside of breeding certainly) should publish stats on just how badly most owners do and push it really hard. Maybe it would discourage the insanity. In the short term that person would probably be hated by a lot of people in the industry, but in the long term it might help shift the economics in a postive direction for the sport as a whole and for the owners themselves. It would be massively better for the fans.
I\'m going to stop ranting because obviously this subject needs a lot of thought. I\'m just tired of it.
With Ghostzapper being retired, I feel for the horse, a game Frank Stronach who tried to bring him back, and the fans who wanted to see Ghostzapper PROVE he was one of the best of all-time. I'm sure that once the last syndication was complete Ghostzappers racing fate was sealed.
He horse retires with more hype than greatest of all-time black type. Sort of a modern day SHEET version of Le Prince. Is A-Rod better than the Babe, Dwayne Wade better than MJ, not hardly only the test of time validates that kind of greatness.
To attempt to put Ghostzapper through some sort of masquerade campaign with phony made for TV events would have been a total disgrace to the REAL GREAT ONES who were truly eqine warriers. The ones who took on all challengers regardless of weights, conditions, or competition.
One good thing about racing every time a star fades away a new one is always ready to step in.
Afleet Alex has already proven if Ghostzapper did not step aside, he was going to push him aside if he needed. He already has proven he had the toughness to do it. Ghostzapper never did.
You can\'t look at this as a \"business.\" Most of the people who buy horses don\'t go into it to make money. They already HAVE money. People who need to MAKE money do NOT wake up and say, \"man, I want to buy some horses and make money.\" People get into buying horses because they love horses and/or they are LOADED. They know as a general rule it\'s a losing proposition...
I think Horse racing needs some kind of SERIES for older horses that parellels the Triple Crown, with some kind of bonus attached. Breeders Cup is only one day and the prominent stakes for older horses are also isolated events. The NTRA or somebody needs to come up with some way to perhaps LINK these stakes for older horses in a meaningful and come up with some program that will give owners a real incentive to race (at least) as 4yos.
Even this idea is a proverbial longshot, as the bonus would not exceed the $$ to be made breeding, but it\'s a start and it may generate some fan interest/pressure as well...
HP,
Didn\'t they already try that with the ACRS series in the early 90\'s?? Didn\'t trainers still try to pick their spots despite the bonus structure?? Maybe there\'s a way to try something again; however, I agree with ClassH. The big money to be earned through breeding gives an owner no incentive to continue racing. It just appears to be a cycle that I don\'t think will ever change. Not unless the yearling prices go down which doesn\'t seem likely.
Regarding Ghostzapper, I had to laugh over all of the gushing regarding his last race. You would think this year\'s version of the Met Mile was one of the best ever. Please. An off form Forest Danger and 4 overmatched also rans. He impressed more people in this race than in the BC Classic?? Frankel can make more money selling whatever it is he\'s smoking than through a couple shares of GZ. I am so tired of this guy.
I do understand that many owners don\'t view ownership as just an investment. However, the economics must be dramatically out of sync right now relative to the old days because in the past horses actually ran and earned their greatness. All these early retirements prove that economics plays a part.
I don\'t want to trash Ghostzapper because he was obviously very good. But let\'s face it, he beat Aggadan twice (a non-entity), Presidential Affiar (a minor stakes horse), and barely beat St Liam who to that point was only a Grade 2 Dutrow move up. The only race in which he really distinguished himself against a high quality and deep field was the BC Classic. Even there some would argue that he got away with a moderate pace on the lead. The Met looked great. Horses like Love of Money and Forest Danger are nice horses on the improve, but the former failed miserably against Grade 1 competition in the past and the latter had obvious questions marks at 8F. He quit when challenged by a Grade 2 horse like Medallist.
IMHO, in order to really prove greatness, it is not enough to run fast against weak and flawed opponents or with easy trips. You have to do it repeatedly against multiple Grade 1 horses. You have to overcome adversity, bad trips etc...
IMHO, at best, GZ showed that potential, but he proved very little and will undoubtedly be overrated because of a few fast figures against weak opposition.
Oh yes, like if AA gets a little hurt on him, they won\'t send him to the shed. Just like S.Jones, when they said there going to run him in his 4yr. I think Bobby wanted this horse to run, he wanted to show the world what he could do.
I\'m in accord with Dub\'s comments below. Ghostzapper was cleary shortening up late against Silver Wagon, who is a decent horse, but not on anyone\'s world class list and he didn\'t face Forest Danger in the Met when that one didn\'t show up. He wasn\'t gonna run in the Whitney at Saratoga anyway. It was gonna be all weight for age or a negotiated impost somewhere else. On his p.p.\'s he clearly had issues and you had to hope for a chance for them to manifest themselves in a race, but at least he won\'t die on the track (If the reports are legit, which is somewhat debatable.) My regret is not getting a crack at him on a fair track with well intended horses at 10 marks, but at least the charade is over.
P-Dub Wrote:
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> Regarding Ghostzapper, I had to laugh over all of
> the gushing regarding his last race. You would
> think this year\'s version of the Met Mile was one
> of the best ever. Please. An off form Forest
> Danger and 4 overmatched also rans. He impressed
> more people in this race than in the BC Classic??
> Frankel can make more money selling whatever it is
> he\'s smoking than through a couple shares of GZ. I
> am so tired of this guy.
This was from a column in the Lexington Herald Leader
>Racing could use a little excelling at this point. Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby winner, has been a flop as a handicap horse. Ghostzapper, reigning Horse of the Year, runs too infrequently to build much of a national following.
>Alex already has that, even without winning the Triple Crown
I have a feeling this was the opinion a lot of people had, not just myself and others on this Board.
Its too bad Ghostzapper never got a chance to show what he could do on a more frequent regimen. People have a hard time believing what they can\'t see.
Class, all you have to do is look at the top 3YO horses of the last 4 years to realize its foolhardy to pay big bucks for unproven horses: War Emblem, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones and Alfeet Alex. (I think War Emblem was a homebred til the private sale however) A good horse can come from anywhere if hes got some decent pedigree and those four all did. They paid 3.3 million for Chekov. Does anyone really think a Pulpit colt is gonna get that back? (Crosses fingers on Oratory, who may be a good one.)
classhandicapper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Personally, all I think we need is for horse
> owners to stop collectively acting like they are
> totally brain dead by dramatically overpaying for
> yearlings and other horses. If the prices for
> horses came down to the point where the economics
> of racing came even close to the economics of
> breeding (or at least racing made some economic
> sense), many would choose racing. That it turn
> would set everything on a virtuous path and
> instead of its current vicious path. However, as
> long as owners as a group insist on being dumber
> than a rock by dramatically overpaying and losing
> massive sums of money, those that hit the lottery
> will cash their winning ticket ASAP. That\'s what
> the game has become. It\'s like the lottery.
>
> Someone (outside of breeding certainly) should
> publish stats on just how badly most owners do and
> push it really hard. Maybe it would discourage the
> insanity. In the short term that person would
> probably be hated by a lot of people in the
> industry, but in the long term it might help shift
> the economics in a postive direction for the sport
> as a whole and for the owners themselves. It would
> be massively better for the fans.
>
> I\'m going to stop ranting because obviously this
> subject needs a lot of thought. I\'m just tired of
> it.