9/16/02
TRIBUNAL arrives at El Dorado Farms

TRIBUNAL arrived at El Dorado Farms on Monday 9/16/02. He shipped from Hill n' Dale Farm in Kentucky where he had been boarded since retiring from racing in June. TRIBUNAL brings to Washington an impeccable pedigree, a high class race record, and outstanding conformation.

8/29/02
TRIBUNAL to Washington’s El Dorado Farms

TRIBUNAL, a half brother to champion Chief’s Crown who was third in the 2001 Santa Anita Handicap (G1), has been retired and will stand his first season at Nina Hagen’s El Dorado Farms near Enumclaw, Washington.

No stud fee has been announced for the five-year-old son of Deputy Minister out of the stakes-winning Secretariat mare Six Crowns. Mary Lou Griffin, who will serve as syndicate manager, said a stud fee would be set in September.

“The response we’ve had so far for him has been very positive,” Griffin said. “This is a big horse for us. He’s extremely well bred, and I think he’s if he’s not the best, he’s certainly one of the best young horses ever brought into the state.”

Purchased by Robert and Beverly Lewis for $1.8-million at the 1998 Keeneland July selected yearling sale, Tribunal won three of 18 career starts with three seconds and four thirds for $315,140 in earnings.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Tribunal won three of six starts as a three year-old with a pair of second-place finishes behind Fusaichi Pegasus and Aptitude, who finished first and second in that season’s Kentucky Derby (G1), in allowance events at Santa Anita Park.

Tribunal finished third, beaten 61⁄2 lengths by Wooden Phone, in the 2001 Santa Anita Handicap and third in the San Bernardino Handicap (G2) won by Futural at Santa Anita Park. — Tom Law, Thoroughbred Times Today, August 29, 2002

6/22/02
We weaned out first foal this morning. The foal must have been ready as it took until now, three hours later, for him to call to his mom and he only did that once. When we wean, we take one mare out of a field at a time and put her in the lane next to the pasture.  The baby stays with all it's friends so, except for mom leaving, the foal's world doesn't change.  The two of them can still touch, but the baby can't nurse.  This method has been very successful for us.  We feel that it causes the least stress for both the mare and the foal. Over the years, knock on wood, we have never had an injury related to weaning.  Of course, we check the mare's udder at least twice a day for the first week or so to make sure she is not developing mastitis.

Our other project this morning was to start work on registering our foals.  We took pictures, (one from each side, front, back and face), and wrote descriptions.  We thought we were being very clever to get started so early, but then we realized that we forgot to pull hair from their manes for the DNA sample.  Well, we'll save that for next week.  This was Victor's week off so our friend Suzi came to fill in.  She used her vacation days to work here……truly a sick person.  Just how much work actually got done is debatable, as we had to go to lunch at the Sweet Shop, our local café, every day.  We do have our priorities.  Besides, we have important business discussions there with all kinds of local horse folk.  I've even been known to get in trouble and buy a horse over lunch. And somehow I ended up paying for the lunch on top of it!   Now you know why I prefer the auction venue, as clearly I'm not good at private negotiations.

It seems that our attention span just isn't what it used to be.  I don't think a day has past this week that there hasn't been a water trough filled to way over flowing because we forgot to turn the water off.  And I'm sure that we put an extra hundred miles on the Gater this week because we forgot a shot or needed just one more thing at the other end of the farm.  Suzi says she is practicing her "bobble head" doll impression when I drive.  I insist that there is something wrong with the brakes and that is the cause for the not so smooth stops.  Anyway, maybe she'll forget about me almost running over her foot and taking off just as she was climbing on.  What a way to treat the help. We'll all be glad when Victor returns.

6/21/02
Well, we seem to have taken quite a long hiatus from our journal writing.  However, now that breeding season is over, we plan to do better.  

Our last foal was the Out Of Place x Cozzene's Angel colt born on 5/11/02.  He was worth waiting for.  He is nicely balanced, very muscular and quite assertive.  He will be one of those that gives us a bad time handling, but that's OK.  We rather like that in a racehorse.

We ended up the season foaling 18 mares.  We bred 35, and of those, 32 are in foal, one slipped, and two are not far enough along to check.  All in all a good year.  Our one big disappointment was having Best Judgement return barren from Kentucky.  She was bred to Salt Lake, pronounced in foal, but then was empty at 45 days.  The loss was most likely due to MRLS.  The other mares we sent back are still in foal though.  Deputy Belle is in foal to Gilded Time, and Outofthebluebell is in foal to Golden Missile.

So, after a few days of resting, it's now on to the next phase, which is weaning, sales prep for the yearlings and farm maintenance.

5/10/02

Tempered Dawn +  Slewdledo colt

Annie's Halo and Dance Brightly

Super Sis

Lucy

04/12/02

Late Nite Martini and her Devil His Due filly

03/22/02
Griffin Place is proud to announce that we are investors in Washington's newest stallion, LIBERTY GOLD.

Pedigree: By leading sire Crafty Prospector, sire of 80 stakes winners and $62 million in earnings in 14 crops. Out of the stakes winning Pleasant Colony mare, Restless Colony. Half-brother to 2001 stakes winner Latour, winner of the Davona Dale-G2

Class: G3 stakes winner, and multiple graded stakes placed, including the G1 Metropolitan. Won his only start at two, a maiden special weight at Aqueduct. Earned $598,963, running in NewYork, Kentucky, and Delaware.

Speed: Equalled a track record at Churchill Downs for 7.5 furlongs. Placed in the G3 Gravesend H. at 6 furlongs.

Versatility: Won from 6 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles.

Soundness: Retired sound in March 2002, 8 years old. Made 44 lifetime starts.

Race Record:

• 1st G3 Aqueduct Handicap 1 1/16 miles
• 2nd G2 Churchill Downs Handicap 7 furlongs
• G3 Ben Ali Stakes 1 1/8 miles
• G3 Gravesend Handicap 6 furlongs
• 3rd G1 Metropolitan Handicap 1 mile
• G2 Commonwealth Breeder's Cup Stakes 7 furlongs
• Brandywine Stakes 1 mile
• Equalled the track record at Churchill Downs for 7 1/2 furlongs in 1.28 4/5.
  

Arrived in Washington 3/16/02 to stand at El Dorado Farm. For further information, contact stallion manager, Debbie Pabst at 1-253-862-9076.

He's Tops x Julia Rose filly born March 5

3/14/02

Ali's Pearl and her Jazzing Around colt	Running Stag - Lady Beverly colt

3/09/02
Mastitis.
Normally you would look for mastitis in a mare that had just been weaned, but occasionally you see this at other times too.  I noticed a mare yesterday with a bigger than normal bag for a barren mare.  Sure enough, when I squeezed out some fluid, it was yellow.  The mare did not appreciate this procedure.  I put on a lip chain and stripped out what I could of the "gunk" (for lack of a better term), and then gave her 20cc of Penicillin.  I will repeat that morning and night for 4-5 days.  It should clear up.  I know some people pack the bag with a warm towel a couple of times a day.  Their mares appreciate the kindness I'm sure.  I admit to being a bit lazy here because I have always had very good results just doing the antibiotics.

When to halter foals?
Some visitors recently asked when we put halters on the foals. The answer is on day one.  The morning after foaling, we turn them out after the veterinarian examination.  At that time, we put on a halter and lead the foal using a "butt" rope.  The foals are a little unsure that first trip, but by the next day, they usually catch on.  We continue to lead them this way until the foal is weaned.  

3/2/02
We did vet work, bred four mares and had a foal at 4:30PM. Busy day. I especially appreciated the afternoon foaling. Very polite of her. This was a filly our of Ice Hill Madam by Mula Gula.

2/28/02
(Note from England) It is only a fortnight till the Cheltenham Festival, perhaps the greatest celebration of National Hunt Racing in the World ( that's racing over fences for the Americans!) It is an even bigger deal this as last year was lost to the foot and mouth. Cheltenham Racecourse

2/26/02
The dreaded colic.
I have very little experience with colic thank goodness.  In the spring, when the grass really starts coming on, we have an occasional gas colic, but it is mild.  Usually the horses respond to a little painkiller, but once in a while we have to have a horse "oiled".

Last night we had a terrible colic case.  A mare that was 340 days in foal, twisted her small intestine. Of course, it is only on autopsy that I know that.  

At the time, all I knew was that the mare was either foaling or colicing, but either way, things were not right.  I noticed on the camera that she was down and straining, so I went flying out to the barn.  She was sweating, but I couldn't see that she had "broken her water".  I put on an exam glove and examined her vaginally.  I have had  "red bag" deliveries present like this.  I was also trying to determine if the foal was starting up in the birth canal and if it was positioned correctly.  There was nothing.  I thought I felt the cervix and it felt closed.  I called the vet immediately.  He determined that it was colic, so we called the owner, put her in the trailer and headed for the clinic.

Sometimes we have to make hard decisions in this business, and this was one of those times.  After examining the mare, the surgeon explained that he could do the surgery, but it would be very high risk on a mare this late in her pregnancy.  It could also be very costly.  The owner made the decision to try to save her medically, but not to do surgery.  Unfortunately, she got worse and was humanely destroyed when it became apparent that she would not recover.  I support that decision. Sometimes we have to remember that our decisions have to make sense medically, humanely, and yes, financially.

Another important thing to remember is that it is a good idea to think about whether or not you would do surgery on any given horse ahead of time.  It is always more difficult to think these things through when you are in a crisis situation.  Remember too, that if the horse is insured for mortality, you will probably not have a choice.  Your insurance company will require you to do surgery.  So, if the surgery is going to cost $10,000-$15,000 which it could in a case like this, you will have to weigh that against the amount of coverage and the value of the horse.  It is therefore probably a good idea to carry a surgical rider on your policy if the horse is not valued at more than the cost of a surgery.

2/24/02
Well, what about gray?
Because several people have asked me after they read the entry on chestnut, I thought I better say something about gray too.  Gray works a little differently than bay and chestnut.  It programs the hair coat to become gradually whiter with age.  Foals are born either bay or chestnut, but if they are carrying the gray gene, their hair color will have more and more white hair in it each year until they eventually look nearly all white.  Think of Cozzene and his beautiful white color.  Some grays take longer to turn than others, but usually you can spot a few white hairs around the eyes and muzzle of even a newborn if they are going to be gray.

The Jockey Club used to make us differentiate between "gray" and "roan".  It would have made some sense if they had said that if the foal was born chestnut it would be called a roan, and if it was born bay, it would be called a "gray".   You could at least have kept track of the chestnut and bay genes.  However, at the time, the definition was a little fuzzy.  Or should I say the assessment of coat color by inspectors was a little fuzzy.  I know of several times when a gray that had been born bay was proclaimed "roan" because the inspector thought the coat had red hair in it.  True it did, but by my way of thinking, it still should have been called gray.   "Roan" is a different gene and coat color.  They are born roan and do not change with age.  I do not think roan is in our Thoroughbred gene pool.

A few years ago the Jockey Club combined the "gray" and "roan" category, so now you just register your foal as gray/roan.

Now then……. Gray is also a dominant gene. This means that gray horses always have at least one parent that is gray.   (You cannot get a gray simply because a grandparent is gray.  I will collect a dinner over this argument when my bay yearling filly out of Cozzene's Angel (bay), and by Aggressive Chief (bay) is inspected this summer.  Cozzene's Angel's sire Cozzene is gray, but this filly still can't be gray.)

Just a side note….. Before DNA testing and before blood-typing, I saw a horse go through a sale ring that was clearly a bay.  His sire and dam were both chestnuts.  I believe there was a bay teaser on the farm however.  Well, you can draw your own conclusion.

2/24/02
Silly Filly.
One of the reasons I learned about color and how it is inherited, is that Terry and I started out with Paint Horses.  We raised a few and showed a few, but the one that was the clear standout was a little mare named Silly Filly.  We purchased her from Dr. and Mrs. Lyle Wonderlich of Twin Falls, Idaho as a yearling.  I broke and trained her, and showed her in performance classes.  Terry showed her in halter.  Together we made her into Supreme Champion #20.  Good memories and great fun.  She was a wonderfully athletic horse.  I like to think I had something to do with her success, but she was so easy, I think anyone could have trained and ridden her.  I think the good horses, be they Paint or Thoroughbred, are often that way.  I just saw an article about the Wonderlichs in the Paint Horse Journal, December 2001 issue.  My hat's off to them both.  Wonderful, wonderful family.

02/21/02
Gestation
Most Thoroughbred mares foal at about 341 days.  When anxious clients ask when their mare will foal, I trot out the statistics and then tell them that they foal when they get ready to foal.  Dr. Hallowell would always say you could tell when your mare was going to foal when you saw feet sticking out.  I think he got tired of people asking, but he was right.  I know when she is ready, but I can't predict to the day, much less to the hour when she will actually foal.  It is often a lesson in patience.

Monday, we had a mare foal that had gone 371 days.  She began dripping milk on Saturday night and she paced for two days.  The owner was understandably anxious.  Worried. Frustrated.  He was also tired of watching her, as he came out and stayed up all night on Saturday so that he could watch the big event.  I told him that I was 99.9% certain that she would foal that night and to hurry up so he wouldn't miss it.  Shows you how much I know!

Her foaling was normal and she had a grand looking colt that was definitely worth the wait.  So, when will the next mare foal?  When she gets ready, that's when.

How can this be chestnut?
Lady Beverly foaled at 11:00 PM.  She is bay and the stallion she was bred to, Running Stag, is bay so how is it this is a chestnut?  Well, go back to high school biology and remember recessive genes.  Chestnut is recessive and so if both parents carry it, you will have a one in four chance of having a chestnut.  Where he got his white muzzle, and I mean the whole muzzle is white, I don't know.  It will make describing him for registration interesting.

If you want to be sure and have a chestnut foal, just bred two chestnuts together.  It works every time.  The bay gene is dominant so one of the parents has to be a bay in order for the foal to be bay.  The Blood Horse just ran an interesting article on a stallion in Oregon that is getting some foals that are almost pure white.  One of them is running at Emerald Downs this year.  I hope he wins but I'm glad I don't have to groom him!

02/21/02
American Chance - Lady Of The Mile colt owned by Elttaes Stable

Drou a Way and her Free At Last colt.  Chuck and Jayne Arnold

2/21/02
Romeo

2/14/02
Ali's Pearl and her Jazzing Around Colt

Holly Nurse Mare, gave us a Valentine present about 1:00 this afternoon.  The sun was shinning, a beautiful day.  The kind of day that we are extra vigilant as it tends to encourage these moms.  She had a chestnut colt, which is a grandson of our Tommy Teaser.  Since it is the day for romance and his job will be to romance the ladies; we named him Romeo - our future teaser.

2/12/02
This was a good news - bad news day.  Having to make phone calls to clients delivering bad news is never pleasant.Halo Dotty, a 22-year-old mare was due to foal.  While her age was of some concern, all felt with monitoring, we could deliver a healthy foal.  But, this was not to be.  Dotty did not survive the foaling and her foal was not saved.  Dotty's owners, though disappointed, were very understanding and made delivering the bad news slightly less painful.   

On to the good news.  Not one half hour later, (while the vet was still here!) Ali's Pearl foaled.  She had a nice strong healthy colt by Jazzzing Around.  Needless to say, that was one phone call we didn't mind making.  Oh, the other bit of good news - we were done by 8:30PM!

02/10/02
We attended the awards banquet last. What a difference a year makes. This business keeps you humble. We did win one award for the Highest Priced Yearling Filly (sold at a WTBA sale in 2001), the Tale Of The Cat-Crown Ice for $72,000. The program cover photo featured Rings a Chime winning the Ashland G1. That was nice to remember. Anyway, we had a good time and it was wonderful to be able to cheer for another Washington-bred G1 winner, Talli'sluckybusride. It was also a real treat to have owners, Ron and Susie Anson from California, attend to accept their Horse Of The Year Award

02/04/02
We had our second foal of the year. Slewdlemagic had a Free At Last filly Friday morning at 8:00. Very cute. She is good size for a first foal and very correct. Her owners, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Lewis and family came to visit Sunday morning and were predictably smitten. How could they not be? Still "Sleepless in Buckley" though!

02/3/02

Victor and Johnny

1/25/02
Well, the year has started. We had our first foal on 1/25/02 at 11:10PM. It was a Katowice colt out of Order Up Molly owned by Mr.and Mrs. Rick Lukenbill of Spokane, WA. He is very robust weighing in at 149 pounds and 42". Very nice looking and both mom and baby are doing well.

01/13/02
News from Keeneland: Rings a Chime sold (barren to St. Ballado) to Stonerside Stable for $800,000. Stonerside sold Fusaichi Pegasus as a yearling for $4Million. She will be bred to the best of the best I'm sure which is really neat. The $800,000 sets a new record for a Washington-bred.

We're starting to gear up for the breeding season. Mares are arriving to foal .

Updated: 8/16/2008