Riven Gold (TS) retired

[Michael Looker]

Riven Gold has been retired to stud.

A late starter at two, he won a stakes race on debut before winning the Grade 1 Favorite Trick Stakes (the first leg of the 2yo Turf Triple) and splitting the top 2yos Dirk Provin and Feather’s Shadow – who between them had quinella’ed all three legs of Australia’s 2yo Triple Crown – in the SC Dash.

At three he won two stakes races to start the year before being beaten by a nose while running a 100sf by Dirk Provin in the Group 1 Guitar Stakes. Riven Gold reversed the margin at their next start, winning the Chimborazo.

Skipping the SC as a 3yo in favour of a 2-4-6 schedule at four, Riven Gold was runner-up in the Pegasus and Saudi Cup before winning the Desert Turf Sprint. He then won the Group 1 Instant Millions Cup – beating Feather’s Shadow for the third straight time after losing to him in the Pegasus to start the year – before the first unplaced run of his career at start number twelve in the Chimborazo. He bounced back from that failure to win the SC Turf Sprint to end the year.

Brought back at five for a final campaign, Riven Gold was runner-up in both the Saudi and Desert Turf Sprints (the latter by a nose after stumbling at the start). He won a pair of graded stakes in Asia before a disappointing unplaced run from an inside draw in the Chimborazo and a poor run to end his career in the SC Turf Sprint.

Overall he retires having run top two in sixteen of nineteen lifetime starts, with the exceptions being two Chimborazos and a Steward’s Cup.

So, onto his second career.

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I’m not typically a owner/breeder of turf sprinters, so Riven Gold is FAR out of the ordinary for me. But what I’ve lacked in quantity I’ve made up for with quality. I purchased Riven Gold’s dam Gold Guitar for a tick over $700,000 from a dispersal sale as an unraced almost-3yo and campaigned her to win two legs of the Barbados Fillies’ Turf Triple at three and a Grade 1 win at four.

Gold Guitar cost me so much on the basis of her elite sire Reach for the Moon, her two multiple stakes-winning older sisters who had each earned more than a quarter of a million dollars, and her six-time Graded stakes-winning dam.

Riven Gold’s first three dams have combined earnings of over $1.3m and progeny earnings – even ignoring Riven Gold himself – of over $3m. So while “awesome turf sprinter” is something unusual for me, it’s not for his damline.

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Now, because of my lack of turf sprinting mares, I’ve had a hard time lining Riven Gold up with the competition. I obviously can’t nick him with his dam and her daughters, which rules out a good portion of my mares. He does have an A- nick with a formidable See You Monday granddaughter of his dam.

I have a Star who nicks A- to everyone bar Lord Black, and she nicks A- to Riven Gold. My multiple Grade 1-winning TBS underbid mare nicks B+ to everyone bar See You Monday, Riven Gold included. I DID find a flat A nick between Riven Gold and the mare Little Mamba, who also nicks A to See You Monday. So it’s not impossible that Riven Gold is right up there with the elite stallions of the division.

However, because I lack the numbers to properly support him on my own, and because Riven Gold has no foals on the ground to give us a true idea of how good he is, I’ve priced him at $30,000. That’s less than a third of the price of See You Monday, and around half the price of the Lord Blacks/Dirk Provins/Strong and Frees of the world.

I’m going to be releasing bookings to him in blocks, just in case someone decides he’s the next big thing and wants to send him 100 mares or something. I want everyone to have a shot at him.

I also wouldn’t mind seeing some Composer mares in particular go to him; his sire Rift Storm is a half-brother to Composer. Mares carrying Mussorgsky (Composer’s sire) would be interesting too.

Gold Guitar produced a stakes galloper when crossed with The Black Glove and has a late-blooming, allowance-galloping yearling by See You Monday in the pipeline as her final foal. So there are two more angles to look at.

[Michael Looker]

Within two hours of retiring Riven Gold has covered 11 mares, including the great Cat Named Boots. So that filly foal has two parents who are in the top twenty for all-time turf sprint earnings.

If you nick some of your mares with Riven Gold, I'd love it if you could post the results in this thread so we can all have a better idea of how well he's nicking.

Lastly, I'm open to a lease swap involving Riven Gold's star half-sister The Gold Ring (A- nick See You Monday, no other nicks tried) and a mare of similar ability. Ideally I'd be after a mare who has thrown a stakes galloper or who is untried, but flick me a PM ingame if you're interested and maybe we can sort something out.

[Michael Looker]

Thanks to other people posting flat A nicks for their new stallions (Bob with his SC winner Free From Fear and Laura with Desert Turf Sprint winner Northern Avenger) I can confirm that Riven Gold has Flat A nicks with Domineer, Kilmainham Jail, Monday Is Coming, Seeyounexttuesday, and Yet Another Monday.

Laura has sent Kilmainham Jail herself to Riven Gold, which is awesome. Thanks Laura.

[Laura Smith]

I like him a bunch. One of the nicest new guys on the block!

[Jack Christensen]

this star mare(https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.ph ... ID=1162339) hypo'd B+ to him and produced this foal https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.ph ... ID=1311207.

[Art K Stables]

Ollie wolf certainly nicks A to him like many others but from what I’m getting on other star and blue hen is in this division SYM is number 1, lord black and strong and free are just a step below, then dirk, riven, can you feel it, 3rd tier but it’s a very nice tier , of course I have mares that nick a- with all of them, but I have certain mares that nick flat a with sym only, then I have mares that nick flat a with sym, Snf, and lord black but nothing else, occasionally I’ll have an sym/lb flat a with nobody else, and a sym/snf flat a set but after nicking a few hundred a pattern emerges , and that’s about all I can add if it helps

[Mr. Lord Rich]

hypos are surely strange at times =)

[Joseph Depaulo]

he made his sire very very proud hope hes a hell of a stallion !