Black Condor Passes at Age 22

Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 11 years 1 week ago

Jockey Michael Moody met up with his colleague Carlos Gonzales at the pub where they ordered a couple rounds to say goodbye to a couple of old friends. It’d been the most brutal holiday season in horse racing in its recent history.

Amid the eating of baked ham and the pouring of eggnog and apple cider, news broke from Adolescent Acres in California to Youngster Park in Japan that two of the sport’s greatest icons had passed into the hereafter.

Black Condor passed first at the age of 22. He would be followed in death later in the morning by Tot Ziens. All the flags dropped to half mast and the celebrations stopped for a moment of silence that soon spread across the world.

Moody reminisced about how he had been a young chap, a bundle of raw talent and impetuous immaturity when he met up with the solid dark bay colt that stood in front of him, on a shank held by his owner Laura Ferguson.

Neither an ounce of flab marred his frame, or a splash of white anywhere, with every inch of him sheer perfection. Muscular in build, yet elegant with his strides, it was as if he had landed from the skies on a pair of wings, the way he flew down the racetrack on its grassy surface that he chose as his canvas of self expression.

The name, Black Condor suited him and who could pass up a chance to pick up a horse like him? As a colt, he had gotten onto his feet right off the bat, sidling over to his dam that stood about as tall as a Shetland pony. Orange Peel might not have been the most impressive of names but she was a darling daughter of Sunday Silence and Buffed Orange who never raced herself. She only lived to have babies most of which passed into obscurity.

But not Black Condor.

Her firstborn proved to be her best and that was the colt that stood so assured by her side after struggling to come into the world. Moody had been exercising horses in the morning hoping to become a truly great jockey but for that he needed a horse to catapult him to that level. He’d stop by and check on the youngster who soon spent mornings with his dam in the pastures where he’d taken off running with the other youngsters in his class.

It soon became clear that he stood apart from them all. His long legs ate up so much ground with each stride, he glided over the surface and soon enough, the fences would jump into his path and he’d simply change direction picking up speed as he raced. His heart and lungs developed as well, growing into the finely tuned machine that would gift him with tremendous stamina that he’d need when he hit the racetrack.

Black Condor didn’t like Moody on sight, in fact he bit him but soon enough the two of them, the horse and the rider became a perfect team. It turned out that Black Condor loved running around the finely manicured turf ovals even more than he did the rugged pastures. Sure it meant being under saddle, but the fiery colt made it clear who would always be in control of his destiny. As long as his jockey held that understanding, their moments together would prove golden.

His father had been a part of his life but for a matter of minutes and the son had no memory of him. Still he inherited his size and some of his temperament from the Kingmambo horse named El Condor Pasa. This dark bay horse is also known for siring the now pensioned Miles Apart and serving as the broodmare sire through his daughter Northern Scene of African and Asian Champion Northern Hero.

Black Condor had the tools that he needed to be a champion but would he use them? His feistiness led to him tossing Moody in training and in one case jumping over a rail to take off flying like his namesake. Even Asst. Trainer Mary Weather remembered shaking her head at the upstart wondering if he’d be able to channel his energy along with his talent into getting to the finish line of a race first. Yet she harbored fonder memories of Black Condor.

“I often said horses gallop as if they had wings,” she recollected, “but in the case of Black Condor he really had them tucked underneath his saddle ready to sprout and just take off.”

Soon the rest of the racing world would know but first he had to settle down into his new career, his livelihood and that of the man who’d ride him. It took him a couple of years to settle into being a racehorse but it turned out to be worth the wait.

When he lined up like a gentleman in the starting gate of his first race, Moody sat poised, holding onto just a bit of his mane and when the gates opened, Black Condor turned out to be the consummate professional quickly getting into the game.

He had the race won on the far turn and in the stretch prevailed to win by two lengths in the two mile Tenno Sho Spring Stakes in Japan. The crowds rallied around the winner as he stood poised like a statue for his coronation as the newest star in horseracing.

It’d take a long time before another racehorse would finish within that margin as he blew away the field in the Henry II Stakes by 13 lengths in what was called a “romp”. Moody realized soon enough that all the hard work and patience by Ferguson and him had begun to pay off. He won the Gold Cup Stakes at 2 ½ miles by an incredible 19 ½ lengths maintaining a canter the entire distance.
That proved to be the story of all his races, all victories in prestigious stakes events and all of them in grand fashion showing his dominance over the competition. He won in Asia, Europe and in the final year of his career, he ventured to Australia where he built his legend. There, he showed up and captured three stakes races, the Brisbane, Caulfield and Sydney Cups in relentless succession.

All that remained for him was the Melbourne Cup but in that race, he’d face off against Miles Apart who was a brassy younger version of him in looks but at three, had just started his own racing career. It’d been a month since Black Condor won the Sydney Cup by two lengths feeling fatigue at the end of the race but getting the job done. People wondered if he might be vulnerable against this upstart who had jetted in from London for the race.

As the gates opened, Black Condor and Miles Apart settled into their positions and as the race progressed, Black Condor began pressing the pace. Miles Apart who stumbled badly at the start soon came alongside him as the two hit the far turn and then the duel began.

They both kept pinned to each other’s sides, their sides brushing and bumping as they hammered down the stretch kicking up clods of turf beneath their hooves. Miles Apart seemed determined to pass the older runner but Black Condor dug down as deeply as a horse can get and managed to pull to a half length lead which he held to the wire. The crowds roared in celebration of such a great race and the grittiness of a horse that had spent the past two seasons showing them his blazing speed and his bottomless stamina.

It turned out to be Black Condor’s last race and for his great Australian performances, he won the titles of Australian champion older male as well as the Australian horse of the year. Moody celebrated with the horse that he’d ridden so successfully and realized his own talents had grown during that time as well.

His racing days over and as he and Moody parted ways, Black Condor went off to stud first at Sunshine International and then at Nursery Stud before winding up at Tokyo Racecourse. There, he transformed himself from one of the most successful turf runners of all time into a legend. His prowess in the shed still awes nearly everyone who knew him or even heard of him today.

Bloodlines Analyst Liza Doolittle who was but a youngster during his racing days counts as one of the biggest disappointments in her life missing the great racehorse while he stood stud. The fact that she’d been able to analyze so many of his daughters almost made up for that.

“Black Condor had it all in my opinion,” she said, “Most likely an A+ in all ways.”

At that point, she swooned and had to be revived but many people thought her assessment quite apt indeed.

By the numbers, Black Condor did like he did in racing, soared to the top of the competition where he could roost and look down on the mere mortals below him, everything looking so much smaller from his great height. The numbers alone speak for themselves as he shot off some amazing statistics.

He sired 410 foals of which 82.3% of them became winners and even more astonishing, nearly a third of them won in stakes races. His offspring earned an average of over $228,000 on the racetrack and many of them added to those earnings in the breeding shed. Some stallions quibble about which path to immortality they want to take, to be a “sire of sires” or a broodmare sire.

Black Condor felt no need to make that choice, excelling at both. Among his sons are two-time South Pacific Horse of the Year Atlantis, South Pacific Horse of the Year Midnight Flight, South Pacific Champion Older Male Dream In The Dark and stakes winners turned notable sires Shoes, Rodolphus and Never Back Down. From these sires came the likes of Deadly, Pride of Atlantis and Asian Champion Older Male Wind in the Sage. Not to mention more contemporary offspring like New Balance who’s by Shoes and Velvet Kiss, a bold daughter of Never Back Down who was voted North American champion three year old filly last year.

As a broodmare sire, Black Condor’s been sensational with roughly half of the offspring produced by his daughters so far going on to win their races and so far, four of these racers have become millionaires on the racetrack. Ink Black Sky an unraced mare produced the likes of last year’s sensational Arc de Triomphe winner and European Horse of the Year Elysian Park as well as Asian Champion Older Female Stealth in Black, African Champion Older Female Signed in Ink and Blood Red Sun. Born Wild who’s out of Hall of Famer Shentaan inherited the best of both of her parents. She was a multi-titled champion and produced Asian Champion Older Female Fiery Spirit, The Demon and more recently, Shetan who won two stakes recently in New Zealand.

Then there was Asian Champion Three Year Old Male Accomplishment, South American Champion Three Year Old Male Black Hawk, After I Sleep, Paradise and many others born of his daughters making them as good as gold.

As far as stallions went, Black Condor pretty much stood head and withers above the rest of them. This quality he put on display among his other talents led to him being appointed to the Hall of Fame before his death. Thousands attended the dedication of a monument in his likeness at Australia Race Course the scene of his memorable Melbourne Cup.

In between stud appointments, he spent his leisurely time in his favorite pasture watching the world of competition continue on without him in the thick of it at the nearby racetrack. If he missed that part of his life, he kept it to himself. He still raced himself on occasion on a more informal level around his pasture showing off his combination of gifts that had brought him such greatness on the racetrack. Even after being pensioned almost a decade ago, he still attracted a crowd of racing fans to his barn to take a look at one of the sport’s greatest champions, to admire the awards and trophies that adorned the shelves and walls.

Although his accomplishments on and off the racetrack immortalized Black Condor, in the end he proved to not be able to escape his own mortality. He passed peacefully while napping in his favorite sunny spot, leaving behind him one of the richest legacies in the sports and one that his offspring and their offspring will keep adding to in the generations to come.

For those left behind, there’s a time for mourning and for celebration too of a great life fully lived until it was time to go and to let go though that can be one of the most difficult of life’s experiences. As for Black Condor, it might be off to the next adventure that lies ahead.

Perhaps the great racehorse just looked up and saw Tot Ziens standing there waiting for him. Although that great horse mostly relished the dirt and Black Condor, the turf, they both knew that somehow some place there was a race to be run and to be won by the bravest of hearts and the swiftest of hooves.

Or in the case of Black Condor, wings.

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