by Julian Muscat
from PACEMAKER UPDATE INTERNATIONAL, June 1, 1989
Julian Muscat spoke to Three Chimneys Farm manager Dan Rosenberg about the stud's policies and its method of yearling preparation
Any European horseman who suggested that the major thoroughbred auctions are too much like beauty contests that preparing yearlings for those sales is actually doing the horse more harm than good, and that riding stallions is the best method of exercising them would probably find it tough going getting a job.
Not that Three Chimneys Farm manager Dan Rosenberg is trying to engineer a revolution in equine thinking. Rather the opposite: He has seen some of the best American horsemen at work, and has drawn his own conclusions after a lifelong love affair with the business.
For the last ten years Rosenberg has been putting his philosophy into practice at Three Chimneys, and the stud has flourished to the extent that it now has few peers in the microcosm that is Lexington. One of the larger consignors at Keeneland's July Select Sale, Three Chimneys also houses four stallions which, among them, won a total of 25 Group or Grade 1 races. They are Chief's Crown, Seattle Slew, Slew o'Gold, and Shahrastani; the latter responsible for only two Group 1 victories, but as Rosenberg points out, the one with the historical significance of an Epsom Derby triumph in his armoury.
There is room for two more stallion prospects in the stallion barn at Three Chimneys a barn as impressive as the horses it was built for. So much so that Sheikh Hamdan Al-Maktoum modelled his brand new stallion barn at Nunnery Stud in Thetford on the Three Chimneys blueprint.
The stud now covers 850 acres and is served by numerous barns to accommodate the 140 mares based there. It has grown significantly since Rosenberg took his first steps into stud management in 1978, when Robert Clay recruited him from Calumet Farm. Then Three Chimneys stood in 100 acres with two barns, but Clay always had bigger plans.
'I had only been established for a few years when my farm manager left to set up his own operation,' recalls Clay. 'I really needed a young man, as I wanted to establish some continuity. Dan was recommended by several people and when we met for an interview he stood head and shoulders above anyone else I discussed the job with.'
It was Rosenberg's formative years with the likes of Lars LaCour and Robin Scully at Clovelly Farm, and Melvin Cinnamon at Calumet that most influenced the aspiring young manager.
There is no doubt Rosenberg remembers his three years with Melvin Cinnamon at Calumet with more than a hint of nostalgia. Cinnamon is a man never short of a story, and in spite of suffering a stroke after leaving Calumet in 1982, he still has vivid memories of Rosenberg at Calumet. Rosenberg apparently learned about the workings of the world outside horses from his master.
When the young Rosenberg was having diffculty buying a piece of machinery, Cinnamon was swift to cajole him into thinking he was paying far too much. 'If my name was Rosenberg,' Cinnamon had said to the youth, 'I would have had absolutely no trouble getting that machine for half the price.'
Rosenberg was far from a novice when he went to Calumet, but Cinnamon can vividly remember the expression on his new assistant's face when he told him the working day at Calumet started at three in the morning. 'If nothing else, I taught him how to get out of bed and start his day on time,' related Cinnamon with some relish.
One thing that will always take place early in the day is the exercising of the four stallions at Three Chimneys. Seattle Slew was ridden before he moved there, and both Clay and Rosenberg agreed the practice should continue. Then Slew o'Gold retired sound after the 1984 Breeders' Cup Classic, so he was ridden too.
'You try walking a mile yourself, and then do it with an extra ten pounds on your back. You'll soon see the difference, and feel your heart working harder,' is now Rosenberg explains it. Generally the stallions are ridden for two or three miles each day round a quarter-mile track on the farm. It is up to each horse whether he walks, jogs, or canters. According to Rosenberg most of the stallions are most comfortable in a canter, and they are allowed to do as they please. The practise of riding stallions was commonplace before the last War. It fell away during the war because of the labour shortage, and never came back. However, if things have come full circle in that respect, the preparation of sales yearlings has not. Now a demanding and timeconsuming process, it remains crucial to the eventual price obtained in the auction ring.
'I think it's true that preparing horses for sale isn't natural, and it's not good for them,' argues Rosenberg. 'Here we try to find the middle ground. We try to keep the horses out of the barn as much as possible, around 12 hours through the night. I'd like to keep them out longer, but we are dealing with a marketable product, and the lumps and bumps they get can adversely affect the prices they make.'
The colts are allowed to run as a herd as much as possible, but this becomes tricky when spring dawns. 'The sun, the growth of grass, their rising testosterone levels - it all contributes to them getting more aggressive,' he explains. But rather than separating the colts altogether, Rosenberg's policy is to watch them at play and identify the ones that like to dominate.
The mischief makers are removed from the herd, and this allows for a period of a few weeks before another colt takes the lead role in paddock frolics. Then he is removed, and so on. 'Keeping them together means they are exercising and running rather than simply eating the grass,' says Rosenberg. 'Eventually they're all pretty much separated, but some still run in pairs right up to the sale.'
The preparation at Three Chimneys starts when each foal is born. The youngsters are toyed with from a very early age so that when the earnest conditioning starts some 60 days before sales day, the yearlings can be taken straight into their work.
The grooms at the farm will handwalk each yearling for 45 minutes each day, but the catch for both groom and horse is that they don't stroll along the outskirts of the stud at all. The exercise takes place in a deep wood-chip surface - extremely taxing, and the horses are walked as fast as they can without breaking into a trot. 'That way,' he says with a smile, 'both my horses and my grooms are fit for sales duty.'
Rosenberg spent many of his teenage years with hunters, both riding and showing them. After attending college, he returned to the field of hunters, but soon developed an allergy to horse shows. It was the aversion to shows that prompted him to try working on thoroughbred farms, but the pomp and ceremony with which some vendors approach the sales must remind Rosenberg of his former trade.
'The nature of this business is that one judge will think a yearling is a heap of rubbish while the next man to see it will fall in love with it,' he says. 'But it is unfortunate there is such a large discrepancy between what sells and what runs. The sales scene is becoming more and more of a beauty contest. The racetrack is not a beauty contest. The best horse there is the one that gets to the wire first, not the one with the best conformation.'
In the 16 years he has been attending the sales, Rosenberg has noticed the increased involvement of the bloodstock agent at the expense of the trainer. Agents, he feels, tend to look at what is wrong with a horse first; a negative approach, 'An agent isn't likely to buy a horse that toes out a bit, as his client will turn to him and ask him what the hell he was doing,' he reasons. 'A trainer could say to the owner, "Yes, I know it toes out, but I can train that horse." That's a more positive approach, and it's more realistic too.'
Rosenberg also says the difference between what looks like a turf horse or a dirt horse in the making is one that escapes him. 'I'm sure a trainer will be more elaborate and can speak from more experience than I've had, but it doesn't make much sense watching Vincent O'Brien bidding millions of dollars against D Wayne Lukas.' He suggests that temperament is more likely to make a difference but not strictly in the turf-against-dirt debate. It's really a question of whether a horse is more suited to the hustle and bustle of an American training centre as opposed to the relative tranquility in European racing stables.
Whatever the reasons, great care is taken when the Three Chimneys yearlings are entered for the sales. The stud has cultivated a fair proportion of European-orientated clients, and the policy is always to sell to the strengths of the yearling's pedigree. The advent of the Cartier Million and Tattersalls' bonus race scheme has not encouraged the stud's clients to sell more stock in Europe.
The strength of the yearling market is always eagerly anticipated, as it is the most accurate barometer to the state of the industry. Many breeders feel the market has just turned the corner after a few subdued years, but Rosenberg's crystal ball predicts it will be at least three years before there is any real growth. 'Even though there is a lot of property on the market at the moment, the fact that they're not selling suggests to me that owners are not desperate. That, to me, means things are not too bad right now,' he ventures.
The overproduction of young stock has been attracting a deal of attention lately, and Rosenberg is a subscriber to that belief 'We breed many more horses than we used to, and the demand for them is not as strong,' he argues. 'At the same time racetracks say they have never found it so difficult to fill a card, and I know that you can enter a maiden three times before a race will be framed for his type. That suggests there are not enough horses to race. There's little logic in the argument of overproduction when seen in that light, but I'm convinced we are all suffering as a result of it.'
Talk of the racetrack prompts Rosenberg into an evaluation of the Three Chimneys stallions' progeny. The stud is at a crucial stage in its stallion development. Yes Seattle Slew will never be short of quality mares, but the other three are young horses on the verge of being judged by their progeny.
Slew o'Gold, a horse with a finely balanced but large physique, has made a promising start, with the Grade 1 winners Awe Inspiring and Gorgeous - the former an excellent third in this year's Kentucky Derby. In France, Golden Opinion took third place in the French 1,000 Guineas on only her second racecourse visit. It will be interesting to see what reception buyers accord to his progeny in July.
Chief's Crown, a very neat powerful horse, has his first runners this year. He has a fair sprinkling of European-trained representatives, and the omens look favourable, with many bloodstock judges tipping him for first-season sire Champion status.
Shahrastani has, according to Rosenberg, been strongly supported by shareholders. 'They have been using their seasons instead of selling them,' he adds. 'He's been getting the sort of mares breeders are trying to get Classic horses out of, so there won't be too many for sale.' His first yearlings will be offered this year.
'Sure, maybe one of the stallions will disappoint us,' he says. 'We can't do too much about the laws of nature, but here at Three Chimneys we are trying to ensure that, whether it's a stallion or a yearling, we'll never be in a positiion where we absolutely need to get a particular horse.' Chances are there will always be studs which would love to have any one of the stallions at Three Chimneys.
