There’s no way he can’t, with that pedigree.
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Exactly 
I wish a few folks would get together, scoop him up, and make him available to mare owners on the East coast…. He’s so cool on paper. And that walk on the filly he sired…
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In my little fantasy world involving cool TB stallions Calumet recently owned, where we have unlimited funds and space and time and energy… we would find a few fillies sired by the late Musketier, and then we would cross Behesht on those particular fillies. Because that would be soooo cool in terms of producing a certain type of thoroughbred that was all about staying power and soundness.
Of course the horses in my little fantasy world would likely have no commercial value, and not be suited for American racing, etc etc etc. But for some reason, my imagination thinks this is a wonderful idea.
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You could market them as Sport Horses. 
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Exactly. They would all have really nice walks, and be able to gallop for miles and miles. And be very sound. Musketier was an iron horse, and Behesht raced for a long time (albeit, not very successfully after age 3 - oh well). 
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I have 2 Musketier fillies, so perhaps I should pick him up! But I have no idea how to manage a stallion. I have not heard anything about Musketier passing, only Grey Swallow, but no breedings this last year. One of my fillies has a 2 yr old half brother by Behesht, who has not yet raced.
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Oooh! What are your fillies like? What are your plans for them? Musketier was SUCH a neat stallion. I read that he had passed on these forums last year - maybe someone confused him and Grey Swallow?
Interesting that they used the same mare with both Musketier and Behesht.
One I bought cheap out of Keeneland as a yearling (I wish I could have picked up a lot more of those mares and yearlings that Calumet dumped…there were some amazing turf lines!) and the other I bought off the track after following her unsuccessful race career. Both are about 15.3+, grey, 4 rising 5 years old, very sweet and very athletic. Both are currently in foal, one to a Connemara and one to a Hanoverian. They will go into work next year after weaning. I contacted a race trainer about another Musketier filly. He sent back a photo of her jumping (looked great!), as another Sporthorse home had already snatched her up.
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Oh wow! They sound fantastic, and I love the ideas of these crosses.
I wondered what that business model was. They had to have been losing a lot of money with the prices they paid to purchase mares and raise babies, given what they then sold them for.
I’m excited to see what I get. I purchased the first filly after reading about Musketier on these forums, so I have COTHers to thank for pointing out the bloodlines! I also think Calumet was trying to pick some sound bloodlines to breed. Too bad they were not more successful business-wise.
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My guess is, it’s as you said - an attempt to bring outside blood to the US that is not normally available here. It might not be a venture they expect to make money off of – their profits from their other $$$$ stallions probably offset that loss. Calumet has done this a few times so I don’t find it too strange; it’s probably a long term thing, it’s going to be awfully hard to pick a stallion for your mare fifteen years down the line when every single one of them is Uncle Mo / Street Cry / Indian Charlie.
Northview Farm (Hoppertunity’s/Golden Lad/etc) is standing a stallion named Galawi, from a really nice female family, for a very modest sum ($2k IIRC). From a sport perspective, he is very interesting to me. His conformation for sport is ideal.
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They (Calumet) brought Americain over from Australia after that horse won the Melbourne Cup in 2010. A good horse and a great race, but absolutely the polar opposite of what US breeders are looking for. And Dynaformer, alas, does not appear to be the sire of sires to keep the Hail To Reason through Roberto sire line going. Americain stuck around for just a few seasons before going back to his original owners.
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Do you remember the Turf Bred sale a few years ago? I can’t remember whether it was F.T. or Keeneland, but they had a catalog of very well bred turf horses and it went over like a lead balloon. They haven’t had a sale of that kind since.
It’s too bad. I think it would be nice if the U.S. would take more interest in breeding and racing turf horses. Is it just the prize money that is a deterrent?
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It’s not a lack of interest in turf breeding/racing. It’s a lack of options for turf racing. That’s partly due to facilities and maintenance and partly due to American wagerers.
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When we first started breeding TBs, I was excited about racing on the turf. Unfortunately that excitement didn’t last long. In the U.S. there are maybe 5 turf races offered for every 100 races on the dirt. Because there are so few of them, turf races at the maiden and allowance level almost always overfill. At tracks like Keeneland and Saratoga, it’s not unusual to attempt to enter repeatedly throughout an entire meet and never get in.
There are very very few turf races offered at the claiming level. So if you have a turf horse, he’d better be a good one. Plus, because tracks have to protect their turf courses, a large percentage of turf races end up getting taken off the turf. We entered our 2yo filly in 3 turf races this fall–all three ended up running on the dirt.
The last consideration is that when you enter a horse on the dirt at a track, you know what to expect surface-wise. Grass tracks vary day to day depending on the weather. They can be anywhere from muddy to extra firm, neither of which is a particularly safe surface to run on.
There’s plenty of prize money in turf racing–as long as your horse is capable of running at the stakes and graded stakes level, Below that, turf racing can be a real crapshoot.
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Thank you Texarkana and LaurieB, for the explanation.
I can see how maintaining turf courses could be expensive.
Thanks for the educational post.
I can’t even imagine the management and expense involved in properly maintaining a turf course.
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Ha! We were posting the exact same thing at the same time
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It’s only expensive because we rely on the urban dirt oval model of racing, therefore relegating turf courses to these < 8F bull pens. Too many hooves over such a tight space tears it up, so they save it for the big races.
Almost no maintenance (comparatively) goes into somewhere like all turf Kentucky Downs. While they only have a handful of racing dates, they have been trying to get more for years. The bigger tracks just shut them out. They also have had to lure the wagerers in with low takeout and other incentives. But their European style course can handle the hoof traffic better.
Atlantic City’s all turf cards used to be incredibly popular with horsemen because they were almost all claiming races. It was a great chance to get some of these turf-bred NWx1 horses floundering on the dirt in the claiming ranks on to the grass where they could be successful.
More turf facilities could be built and all the horsemen would be thrilled. But wagerers don’t really want it, so how does it support itself? That’s the conundrum.
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