GEORGE SMITH AND HIS WAY OF SEEING YEARLINGS

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1 LEOLA JACOBS IS A FREELANCE WRITER IN THE AREA OF EDUCATION AND EVALUATION. OVER THE LAST 18 MONTHS SHE'S BEEN TALKING TO GEORGE SMITH ABOUT THE THINGS HE CONSIDERS WHEN ASSESSING THE QUALITY AND SOUNDNESS OF FUTURE RACEHORSES. GEORGE SMITH AND HIS WAY OF SEEING YEARLINGS Story by Leola Jacobs

2 I like a nice even stretch from the tip of the buttock to the hock, which means the horse's hocks will be parallel to its knees. SPECIAL FEATURE MAGIC MILLIONS YEARLING SALE 2004 ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S You mention sickle hocks, is that a problem? strong bone, good girth, wide jowl, and most respected judges of temperament. For example, what is a loose thoroughbred horses, Definitely not, many good horses have walking horse and what does it tell you? George Smith, believes sickle hocks. Let's not forget Comic Court Does it suggest anything about its ability to that the first sight of a and Sir Tristram. perform on the racetrack? young racehorse is the best guide to grasping its quality. "First impressions are the best," Smith told me at the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale in February I'd gone there to ask him about the things he considers when assessing the potential of a young racehorse. We had a friend in common - Gerald Ryan - who had introduced us the previous year. My memory of him is very clear; he's smiling and standing with a friend on the grass close to Barn B as I approach. He has a remarkable energy that moves quickly to the point. He says he will point out the qualities he likes and doesn't when judging the likely soundness and ability of a horse by showing me a number of yearlings. He's already made his assessment of the young racehorses for sale. George describes the first yearling we look at as a big, strong, good moving Perugino filly that walks straight through. He goes on. I see as many faults walking What about knees? The concepts 'good knees', 'average knees', 'bad knees' frequently come up in your sale catalogue notes. What do those terms mean to you? Good knees are correct and flat and they have a centre line running through the canon, fetlock and hoof. Average knees are offset, apple knees. What's an apple knee? It's when the lower part of the knee is rounded or fleshy. You say some offset knees can be forgiven and some can't. What do you forgive and what don't you forgive with offset knees? I can forgive offset knees provided the tendon behind the knee is vertical to the fetlock joint at the rear. Bad knees are very open and have a weak structure. A loose walking horse has a relaxed gait and nice follow through. This tells me about the horse's temperament, and temperament is a tremendous asset. I love it. It makes the horse a pleasure to handle in every way and it must help with performance. I m sure trainers love horses with good temperaments. Bone is very important to me. It shows the animal's maturity and strength. A good deep girth gives heart room and lung capacity. How big I'd like to know. The bigger the jowl the better and a horse with a good head usually has a wide jowl. Hopefully this coincides with a deep girth giving a better air intake to the throat and lungs. What about colour and size? Size doesn't matter too much if the individual animal has what I'm looking for. Colours are great and they must be strong for both bays and chestnuts. I think good away as I do walking towards me. See how deep colours show quality and 'washy' or In what ways do you consider bad knees a the hind legs are tracking. She is well weak colours show the opposite. problem for racehorse performance? balanced because the shoulder, rein and hindquarters are in proportion and she has Explain the idea of a balanced horse? Back at the knees, a concave rather than been beautifully reared. She is nearly a convex structure, can be a problem perfect. I'd give her a score of between eight A balanced horse is a quality horse - it's because the strain on the tendons should be a nicely conformed magnificent type. The and eight and a half out of ten. vertical with the canon bone. animal will have deep girth, strong George told me he liked one particular hindquarter, good bone, perfect feet, an Keltrice filly because of her quality and You mention feet a lot, which suggests intelligent head and eye. temperament. they're very important to you. Can you This is a quality filly; she is strong, has a describe to me perfect feet? How do you recognise an intelligent head good girth and is balanced in the length and eye? from the wither to the hip and the hip to the Perfect feet are strong wide feet that have butt of the tail. This is backed up with a great shape, are not too flat and have a Alertness. strong hindquarters, good knees, perfect good toe. feet (not box feet) and good-sized nostrils for breathing. She has good temperament. What does a good toe look like? You can see that by the way she's resting her hind leg while being shown. I'd score her as It's nicely rounded at the base and the Do all these qualities give a horse presence? Basically, yes. an eight and a half out of ten. sole of the hoof has a good width. The term 'jointy' appears quite frequently in I remember one horse very clearly your sale notes. You say this is 'enlarged because the comment illuminated certain things about a horse's hocks, knees and feet that George took into account when assessing the animal's ability and soundness to perform on the racetrack. Your catalogue notes suggest you don't like box feet. Can you describe to me what they look like and why they can create problems for racehorse performance? Tunnel or box feet have a narrow slope, bone development that's not settled and could be the signs of sesamoiditis'. Where do you see the signs of sesamoiditis? Sesamoiditis occurs mainly at the rear of the front fetlock joints and is a result of Your comment on one horse was 'sickle hocks, its knees are offset and it has box feet'. Let's talk about hocks first. What are the qualities you like in hocks? no hoof development and have not matured in proportion to the animal's growth. Box feet (tunnel feet) are a problem because they create shoeing complications due to yearlings being upright in bone structure. You're more likely to detect it from angular observation. It's a condition I can forgive because there can be various reasons for not enough wall on the hoof. unusual development of the sesamoid bones, like rearing or immaturity. Basically what is needed is tender loving care and time. Let's talk about some of the qualities you like in a young horse, such as loose walker, DECEMBER

3 Explain splayed legs at the front and/or at the rear. Do you consider it a problem? Would you forgive this fault in a horse? Mainly so, because splayed legs don t stop the ability of the horse, providing it's not too prominent. Think of Showdown, he was splayed in front but was a good walker and runner and a great sire. You say 'I see as many faults walking away as I do walking towards me. See how the hind legs are tracking?' What does that tell you? It tells me there aren't many faults and the less faults the better. What else can you see when a horse is walking away from you? Weak hocks, cow-hocked, sickle hocks, splayed legs, back of knee, tendons as well as the general walking action, though back of the knee is more noticeable side on. What do you look for when a horse is walking towards you? I look to see if it walks close to the ground with a straight walking through action, whether it has a fluent and relaxed body and whether it doesn't hold its head too high. In other words I'm looking to see that it s walking true and correct. What are some faults you're willing to forgive? Offset knees and immaturity. Young horses generally grow into early faults with time. There are too many horses broken in with faults and not given time to mature and so breakdowns will happen. What are some faults you're not willing to forgive? Wide chest, small eye, back at knees, narrow feet and sloped pasterns. In your catalogue notes you've written that a horse has improved at the sale. In what ways does a horse improve? 'Improved' means that the horse has gotten better - it has had proper exercise and feeding for the yearling preparation - since I first inspected it. Horses will improve through sheer hard work and sensible management. What aspects of rearing are important to you when assessing the potential of a young racehorse? I think the general upbringing is of great importance in assessing the quality of yearlings. I consider where and how well they've been nurtured. What are the big things you consider when assessing yearlings? Balance (conformation, quality and presence), temperament and bone. You've used the terms 'good sort' and plain type' to describe your view of a horse. What does each term mean to you? A good sort has quality plus. It's hard to find fault. A plain type lacks quality and has no appeal. Would you buy a plain type? I would certainly buy a plain type providing its structure was sound and it fulfilled my requirements. There have been very good plain racehorses. I believed George's experiences in the industry were like a map that would help me find a way to his understanding of the whole horse, so I wanted to trace his working history. Through a number of written exchanges I learnt George began his career at Warlaby Stud in Victoria in 1947 owned by the late E.A. Underwood where for 10 years he prepared yearlings for sale and worked as a general stallion groom. Among the thoroughbreds handled were Comic Court, Dhoti (GB) and Helios (GB). Interestingly, these three horses figure in the pedigrees of a number of stallions standing at studs across Australia in 2003 and include successful sires Rancho Ruler, Bureaucracy, Made of Gold, Keltrice, Kenvain, Jetball and Marwina, as well as newcomers Shot of Thunder and Vitrinite (NZ). Taking up the position of general manager of Stockwell Stud, Victoria, in 1957 George guided the usual husbandry of the thoroughbred until retirement in The job involved managing stallions such as Showdown (GB), Empyrean (GB), Arctic Explorer (GB) and Landau (IRE) as well as educating stud hands from which George said he had derived a lot of pleasure. Showdown (GB), as mentioned above, was a notable sire and is represented in the pedigrees of successful Australian stallions Zeditave, Rancho Ruler and Strategic as well as two freshman sires Mr Innocent and Magic Albert. Landau (IRE) was bred and raced by the British Royal Family and was a very good racehorse in Europe. Today he's represented in the pedigrees of Australian stallions Rubiton, his son Adam, full brother Euclase and Imposing Bull. While Empyrean (GB), a smart 2-year old, is the third dam sire of young Queensland sire Sequalo. Arctic Explorer (GB), a good racehorse, and Landau (GB) are the first and second dam sires respectively of the successful broodmare sire Imposing (AUS). If anyone can judge the immediacy and completeness of a young racehorse it has to be George Smith. So I asked... What are your memories of some great racehorses you've assessed during your career? I give my top mark to Tontonan, who won a Golden Slipper for my late boss Mr Ken Cox (with whom I raced the horse in partnership), and Toy Show. Tontonan was a 40 DECEMBER 2003

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5 strong, powerful horse with good bone. He had a 'Rolls Royce' motor. Toy Show was a petite filly with a lovely head and eye. She was a professional racehorse. Both horses however were retained by their breeder so I didn't assess and mark them for a yearling sale. Some very good racehorses I've assessed that were bought at sale and to which I've given a mark of between 8 and 9 on a scale of 10 include Rubiton. I marked him a 9. He had nice scope, good knees, bone and temperament. Northwood Plume I scored 9 out of 10. She was a quality filly that was a fraction toed in and a good walker. Soho Square I gave a 9, he had a nice temperament and was a typical Northern Dancer type. What's a typical Northern Dancer type? A typical Northern Dancer type has quality, is not overly big and has a good eye, nice forearm and strong hindquarter, muscle and bone. Overall, it has an attractive appearance. Magic Flute I assessed as a 9; she was quality plus and I rated Lady Jakeo a 9. She nearly scored a 10, as she was a lovely athletic filly with a nice relaxed attitude. I gave Lochrae a 9. He had good conformation, good head and eye and was a loose relaxed walker. Snowland I scored at 9. He was a quality neat yearling who walked straight through. Overall, he was a very good-looking individual. Assertive Lad was a tall and rangy yearling with a relaxed walk. He was alert with a nice shoulder and I marked him at 8.5. I rated Brawny Spirit an 8 and would have rated him a 9 only for his small size. He had a lovely nature and was a quality type. Jolly Old Mac I marked at 8.5. He was a shade immature when I inspected him but had improved greatly by sale time. The illfated Our Cashel took the eye at once and I marked her a 9. She was an average size with a lovely temperament and good hindquarter, head and eye. What's the nature of your current work in the industry? From 1984 up until now I've undertaken yearling inspections for various clients. In 1984 I commenced yearling assessments for ABCOS (Australian Breeders Co-operative Society Ltd.) in South Australia, which is now Magic Millions Adelaide. In 1997 I started assessing yearling entries for the Magic Millions Gold Coast and the Australian Easter and Classic Yearling Sales in Sydney, plus New Zealand sales exclusively for Gai (Waterhouse). The job involves inspecting yearling entries for subsequent sales. My role is to assess only on type and brand number while the final selection is done by bloodstock agencies. I have no problem working for other companies and clients when Gai is not interested. Prior to undertaking yearling inspections for Gai my clients have included Barry Griffiths, for whom I recommended the purchase of Northwood Plume and Our Cashel among others, Ron Cook, whom I advised about Lady Jakeo and Jolly Old Mac, and Danny Toye with Brawny Spirit. What are the things you enjoy about assessing yearlings? I enjoy the horses' performances on the racetracks backing my early assessment for yearling sale inspections on brands alone without pedigrees. Thanks to George for his patience in drawing this story together and it was a privilege to listen and learn from his expertise. 42 DECEMBER 2003