Page 27 - August 2005 The Game

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, August 2005 27
Great Gladiator and One Way Love: Stallions At Different Stages of Their Careers
By Peter Gross
As a guy whose experience with racehorses has strictly to do with betting on them, I'm known, in industry terms, as an end user, a person who appreciates the product at the very end of the production line. At the very beginning of the thoroughbred process is the stallion.
There are five stallions at the TC Westmeath Stud Farm in Shelburne, just north of Orangeville. I tell the owner, 50 year-old John Carey that my interest in TC Westmeath has to do with Great Gladiator, a sire whose name I always look for when I'm handicapping.
Great Gladiator is now 28 years old and is recently retired from the mating shed. Carey has been involved with the hand- some grey horse for 26 years, first as a training manager for Gardiner Farms and since 1992 as the stallion's owner. Great Gladiator's output makes Carey proud.
"I think he was an awesome stallion. His son Great Defender stills holds the record for six furlongs at Woodbine (1:08)," says Carey.
"As a horse he has a great personality, very intelligent, he's all horse and very easy to handle."
Great Gladiator was an attractive horse to bring a mare to because of the fine record he put together as a racehorse. He won 15 of 33 starts and earned $207,739, back in the days when $200,000 would fill your tank more than a couple of times. Great Gladiator was a powerful sprinter, yet in 1980, set the record of 1:40 for a mile and 70 yards at Fort Erie. As a sire, he fathered 438 foals, who combined for 1130 wins and over $19,000,000 in purse winnings.
In some animal reproductive endeavours, it isn't absolutely necessary for the male animal to actually come in contact with the female of the species (did you know that Ontario, for example has a booming bull semen business and that when the valuable product is being reaped,
Photo Left:
Pensioned Stallion, Great Gladiator Photo Below:
Stallion One Way Love
has been happily servicing mares for three years and so far, gets nothing but A+ on his report card.
"He's off to a successful start," reports a happy Carey, "He's had two winners already out of five starters. One Way Love has had a full book every year - that's over 60 mares for each of the last three years."
And while Great Gladiator rendered a nice profit with nearly 80% of his dates dropping healthy babies, One Way Love is performing at the giddy rate of 96%. That has much to do with his potency, but also with the growing technology. These days when mares can't get pregnant, science can usually figure out why.
If One Way Love can only match Great Gladiator in the stamina department, TC Westmeath Stud can enjoy another 17 or 18 years of his potency. At $3500 a visit, One Way Love is not only perfectly named, but he's more than paying for his wild oats.
And John Carey is very excited about a development that will keep the Great Gladiator name alive for many more years.
"Great Gladiator has left a real good foundation. His daughters are very good broodmares," says Carey and you can almost hear the gears meshing in his brain, "These Great Gladiator mares are a real good cross for One Way Love. Gladiator is by Timeless Moment which is by Damascus. One Way Love by his bottom line is out of a Geiger Counter mare which is by Mr. Prospector. That's a real good cross, so this all fits in very good for me as well."
Carey's pleasure at this intertwining of equine family trees should last much longer than any of One Way Love's trysts because he owns four daughters of Great Gladiator - Great Lafter, Parisian Gladiator, Mara's Gladiator and Greyorgray.
Which explains the glints in the eyes of both John Carey and One Way Love.
no other four-legged bovines are involved?). For thoroughbred breeding however, it is strictly required that the stallion meets, greets and uh, treats the would-be mother of his next child and from my point of view (as a slightly immature male adult), Great Gladiator's career after racing sounds like a lot of fun.
"Great Gladiator really enjoyed his life as a stallion," tells Carey, "Think of it. He would have mated with more than 500 mares, all different ladies, all different colours."
And apparently Great Gladiator didn't need an instructional video.
"Oh he sure knew what to do. It took Great Gladiator approximately a minute and a half to get the job done - no fore- play," laughs Carey, sensing I'm a fan of juvenile humour.
More than 60% of Great Gladiator's off- spring were, like dad, easy to spot greys. None of Great Gladiator's offspring ever won the Queen's Plate; Grey Scellie (think Grace Kelly) was fourth to Regal Intention in 1988 and that's the closest any of his sons or daughters have been in the 10-furlong classic. But Great Gladiators dominate in speed and are always worth betting in one-turn events.
Carey thinks that Great Gladiator's final numbers as a sire should be higher than they are. For many years, indicates Carey, the stud fee was too high.
"He started off at $5000 and went to $7500 and that discouraged people. When I took over I lowered the fee to $3000."
A stud's fee, typically, is collected only upon a guaranteed life foal. At the peak of his production, Great Gladiator reached or exceeded the norm of close to 80% successful births. In the last year, as a simple and predictable function of his age, the Gladiator has become sterile. Otherwise he's doing well.
"He's in good physical shape consider- ing his age," says Carey, "He doesn't have a swayed back yet. Some of his side teeth fell out. He's on the light side but he still gallops around the paddock. He still plays when he's going out."
If Great Gladiator's assembly line is now closed, Carey is very enthusiastic about the potential of another Westmeath stallion, One Way Love who still has many years of reproduction ahead of him. One Way Love, now ten years old, won Sovereign Awards in 2000 as Canada's Champion Sprinter and Older Horse. He won 15 of his 41 races, good for $962,518,
TCWestmeath 2005Yearlings
Photo Left:
Hip No. 145, filly by One Way Love - Opinionated Lady, by Known Fact. She is a 1/2 sister to Stakes winner and multiple stakes placed, Awesome Action (2000 Awesome Again) who has earned close to $400,000.
Photo Right: Hip No. 21 - Heidi Ho Silver, filly by Silver Deputy - An Og’gotaway, by Ogygian. She is the 1/2 sister to 2004 yearling by Regal Classic who was purchased for $100,000 by D. Morgan Firestone in the CTHS Sale in Toronto.
Photo Left: Hip No. 217, filly by One Way Love - Trinnon, by Anshan (GB). She is a 1/2 sister to Great Auntee (2000 Great Gladiator) winner of $164,945.
Hip No. 155, filly by Formal Gold - Peekaboo Pass, by Private Terms.
Hip No. 110, colt by One Way Love - Keep the Queen, by Prospectors Gamble.
Photo Right: Hip No. 105 filly by Parisianprospecto r - Jadewood, by Jade Hunter. She is the 1/2 sister to multiple US Stakes winner Marwood (filly by Marlin) $354,355.