Vicar

Vicar, 1999 Florida Derby Winner & Sire of Korean Classic Winners, has Died

Vicar has died, aged 20, at the KRA Jeju Stud Farm. The cause of death, as per the Korean Studbook, has been recorded as a “throat obstruction”. He passed away on January 24th. 

Vicar

Vicar 1996-2016

Vicar [Wild Again – Escrow Agent (El Gran Senor)] was a solid racehorse in the United States. Handled by Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger, Vicar won 4 of 17 outings including victories in what was then the Grade I  Fountain of Youth Stakes and the Florida Derby, both at Gulfstream Park, in 1999.

He would go on to compete in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint later that year without success and wouldn’t actually win another race before retirement in mid-July of 2000 having won in excess of $800,000.

Vicar didn’t meet with a huge amount of success at Stud in the United States and was sold to the Korea Racing Authority in 2006. He would prove to be a good match for the Korean breeding program. Covering for the first time in 2007, his first foals hit the track in 2010 when he was 5th on the Leading Sire of Two-Year-Olds list. In each of the next four years, he would end up in 3rd place on the General Sire list.

In 2011, he got winners of two legs of the Triple Crown with Gwangyajeil winning the Korean Derby and Dongseo Jeongbeol the Minister’s Cup. Wonderful Namhae and the filly Joy Lucky would be his chief earners over the next two years before Gumpo Sky, 2nd in last year’s Grand Prix Stakes, took over in 2014 and 2015.

He would finish in 5th in terms of Leading Sire in 2015 and while it is very early days he already lies in 2nd place in the 2016 list after his Gumanseok returned to class 1 winning form in January.

Here is his appearance video, taken in Jeju Island shortly after his arrival in 2007:

 

2012 Breeding Round-Up: Menifee is Leading Sire in Korea

Menifee has been crowned Leading Sire in Korea for 2012. The 15-year old, who had three crops of foals running this year saw his progeny amass nearly $3Million more than closest rival and the stallion who beat him last year by a matter of just a few thousand dollars, Exploit.

Leading Sire in Korea: Menifee (KRA)

Leading Sire in Korea: Menifee (KRA)

Menifee, who underwent potentially life-saving surgery earlier this year, was also by far and away the Leading Sire of two-year olds and looks set to comfortably retain his general sire title next year.

For the second straight year, Vicar finished in third place while Forest Camp was a new entrant to the top ten in fourth. Volponi improved to fifth ahead of former Leading Sire Creek Cat.

Eight of the top ten sires are US bred with Japan’s Ingrandire, who was responsible for Korean Derby winner Jigeum I Sungan and Brazil’s Pico Central the only non-Americans scoring highly. The highest non-Korean based sire in the list was Werblin, whose filly Gamdonguibada won the Grand Prix Stakes, Korea’s most prestigious race in December. He was in 20th place, one ahead of Chapel Royal, who was himself imported to Korea a month ago.

Chapel Royal was one of a number of relatively well-known sires who made their way to Korea this year and will be expected to feature in this list in future. Among others were Sharp Humor and Rock Hard Ten. Already here and covering more mares than any other stallion in the past year is One Cool Cat while Officer, Whywhywhy and Aussie Delago Brom are not far behind. The Korean breeding industry is going from strength to strength.

Sadly we lost a number of stallions during 2012. Areumdaun Jilju was a top racehorse in Korea but sadly passed away before he had the opportunity to prove himself at Stud as did Gold Money. Creek Cat, who died in March, was leading sire in 2010 while Didyme, who took the crown three times consecutively from 2007 to 2009 succumbed to illness only last week (full obituary to follow). The wonderful world-travelling racehorse Running Stag was lost in June while Social Charter passed in September.

Leading General Sires in Korea 2012

1. Menifee (USA) [Harlan] – 6,927,782 (742/126 – 17%) – Gyeongbudaero
2. Exploit (USA) [Storm Cat] – 4,037,501 (942/67 – 7.1%) – Singgeureounachim
3. Vicar (USA) [Wild Again] – 3,792,051 (582/78 – 13.4%) – Wonderful Namhae
4. Forest Camp (USA) [Deputy Minister] – 3,570,626 (563/86 – 15.3%) – Cheoneun
5. Volponi (USA) [Cryptoclearance] – 3,054,200 (769/62 – 8.1%) – Royal Active
6. Creek Cat (USA) [Storm Cat] – 2,950,704 (550/57 – 10/4%) – Tongjesa
7. Ingrandire (JPN) [White Muzzle] – 2,750,101 (419/51 – 12.2%) – Jigeum I Sungan
8. Pico Central (BRZ) [Spend A Buck] – 2,502,101 (378/58 – 15.3%) – Alpha Myeongjang
9. Ft. Stockton (USA) [Cure The Blues] – 2,234,095 (543/42 – 7.7%) – Cheonun
10. Concept Win (USA) [Manila] – 2,217,618 (518/45 – 8.7%) – King Fighting

Exploit is Leading Sire in Korea 2011

It came down to the last day of the season but while Menifee’s colt Magnifique won Seoul’s big race to close the gap to just a few thousand dollars, Exploit is the Leading Sire in Korea 2011.

Exploit - Leading SIre 2011

It’s a first Leading Sire crown for the fifteen year old who came to Korea in 2005. He finished seventh on the earnings list last year but, with more runners on the track than any other sire in the country, this year he was always best placed to succeed Creek Cat as champion.

However, with Menifee and Vicar in second and third – despite them both only having two crops of foals of racing age – in what was the closest race in years, it is likely to be a short reign for Exploit.

While Menifee and Vicar held a near monopoly on the three-year old classics, a year behind them is Forest Camp. He was by far and away the leading first-crop sire and also walks of with the title of leading sire of two-year olds. Ecton Park and Peace Rules are both due on stream soon and will be followed by the likes of Officer. The future is looking bright for breeding here.

American bred stallions accounted for none of the top ten money-earners with the Japanese Biwa Shinseiki occupying the final spot, due mainly to the continuing exploits of Dangdae Bulpae.

Leading Sires In Korea 2011 (Name/Pedigree/Owner/Earnings in Korean Won/Chief Earner)

1. Exploit (USA) [Storm Cat – My Turbulent Miss (My Dad George)] – (KRA) – 3,339,327,000 – Champion Belt
2. Menifee (USA) [Harlan-Anne Campbell (Never Bend)] – KRA – 3,333,776,000 – Useung Touch
3. Vicar (USA) [Wild Again-Escrow Agent (El Gran Senor)] – KRA – 3,248,167,000 – Dongseo Jeongbeol
4. Creek Cat (USA) [Storm Cat – Vivano (Island Whirl)] – (Evergreen Farm) – 2,980,533,000 – Cheonnyeon Daero
5. Concept Win (USA) [Manila – Conveniently (In Reality)] – (Korea Mainland Horse Breeders’ Association) – 2,674,959,000 – Hongji
6. War Zone (USA) [Danzig – Proflare (Mr. Prospector) – (KRA) – 2,201,102,000 – Black Ruby
7. Volponi (USA) [Cryptoclearance – Prom Night (Sir Harry Lewis)] (Korean Mainland Horse Breeders’ Association) – 2,045,542,000 – Crown Flag
8. Ft. Stockton (USA) [Cure The Blues – Tai The Devil (Tai)] (KRA) – 1,918,536,000 – Cheonun
9. Didyme (USA) [Dixieland Band – Soundings (Mr. Prospector)] – (KRA) – 1,915,015,000 – Mupae Star
10. Biwa Shinseiki (JPN) [Forty Niner – Oceana (Northern Dancer)] – (Kim Chong Sik) – 1,710,714,000 – Dangdae Bulpae

* Five registered stallions passed away in Korea this year. They were Yankee Victor (USA), Ft. Stockton (USA), The Groom Is Red (USA), Tayasu Meadow (JPN) and Air Smap (IRE).

Ft. Stockton sired the 2007 Korean Triple Crown winner JS. Hold while the best horse by The Groom Is Red was the hugely popular Classic winner Baekgwang.