Keep Artsplace in your thoughts

[Mandy Saunders]

<a href='http://www.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/an ... =18113&z=1' target='_blank'>http://www.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/an ... 113&z=1</a>

Artsplace fights founder at New Bolton Center
Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - Dean A. Hoffman

According to a report on www.harnessracing.com, Artsplace is at New Bolton Center at the University of Pennsylvania fighting a serious case of laminitis. The son of Abercrombie, whose offspring have earned more than $114 million, stands at Southwind Farm in New Jersey. He bred 182 mares in 2006. His stud fee is $12,500.

The article quoted Brittany Farms' Art Zubrod, who has managed the stud career of Artsplace, as saying that the 18-year-old stallion has been battling a case of laminitis that has "progressively gotten worse."

~~~~~~~~~~

This is not good, guys.

[Alysse Peverell]

Oh bother, that's no good. I've had quite a few Artsplace babies at work. My little Neddy girl is an Artsplace. Three of our weaners are Artsplaces. Not to mention all the Artsplace sons that we use, too (Art Major, Real Artist, Artiscape). Not good.

[Mandy Saunders]

<a href='http://www.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/an ... =18471&z=1' target='_blank'>http://www.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/an ... 471&z=1</a>

Heart Defines Artsplace
Thursday, October 26, 2006 - by Jay Bergman for Breeders Crown

Heart.

It’s what separates horses on a racetrack.

Perhaps if Standardbred racing had its own dictionary and you looked up the definition of the word “heart” you would see a picture of Artsplace. The son of Abercrombie first cast his spell over this sport on a memorable night at Pompano Park in 1990. His electrifying record-setting performance of 1:51.1f in the freshman Breeders Crown pace is still regarded as one of the great performances of the last quarter century.

The horse was the two-year-old champion. At three, he shared the spotlight with Precious Bunny and Die Laughing. Behind the scenes the horse battled sickness that according to Brittany Farms manager Art Zubrod “was life threatening.”

Healthy and sound as a four-year-old, Artsplace won his second Breeders Crown, capping an undefeated Horse of the Year season.

“Artsplace never lost a race when he was leading at the half,” recalled Myron Bell, Brittany Farms racing stable manager.

Some 20 years ago when George Segal purchased the property of noted breeder Bill Shehan in Kentucky and renamed it Brittany Farms, his goal was simply to breed champions. Segal and his partner, the late Brian Monieson, bred and raced the champion Artsplace.

Over the last dozen years, Artsplace has gone on to forge new ground in the breeding business, siring a list of some of the sport’s biggest stars. In the process the colt has revitalized bloodlines that were dormant for some time.

“He brought back the Adios line,” claimed Bell. “Before Artsplace came along the sport was being dominated by the Meadow Skipper line through his sons Most Happy Fella and Albatross.” Artsplace’s paternal line traced backward from Abercrombie to Silent Majority to Henry T Adios back to Adios.

In a racing era so dominated by speed and fast miles, very little separates the Standardbred athletes in terms of a clock. Yet year-in-year-out when major purses are distributed and major races are decided, it is heart, courage and pure guts that determines the class of a horse.

“You know even today I’ll see his sons and daughters in overnight races and if they get the lead, they don’t want to be passed,” said Zubrod with pride of the Artsplace offspring.

In September Artsplace foundered and was taken to New Bolton Center. “They gave him a 10 percent chance of survival,” Zubrod said. The 18-year-old stallion had defied the odds for survival as a three-year-old and doesn’t seem ready to lose this critical battle some 15 years later. “Each week he’s showing signs of improving. I think he’ll be standing as a stallion in 2007,” Zubrod marveled.

Artsplace dealt with adversity on the racetrack and according to Zubrod his ability to deal or tolerate pain probably kept those watching him from detecting the debilitating status of his physical condition.

Segal and Monieson bred their Breeders Crown champion Delinquent Account to Artsplace and came up with Artiscape. That colt went on to capture two Breeders Crown titles, just like his dad. Off the racetrack Artiscape has shaken off the “poor man’s Artsplace” tag and defined himself on his own terms. The sire of Horse of the Year Rainbow Blue is in the midst of a banner campaign in 2006. His offspring include two Crown juvenile colt elimination winners. Olay Olay, the Wayne Webby-owned colt enters Saturday’s final with just one blemish (a neck loss in the Babic to stablemate Watta Hotshot) in nine trips to post this year. Artzina, bred and owned by Kal Liebowitz along with Marc Rubach, was strong in his Crown elimination victory as well. Much like Olay Olay, Artzina’s pedigree doesn’t jump off the page. It appears as if Artiscape has lifted “racehorse” broodmares to elite status.

The Brittany influence on the Breeders Crown has been major. From an ownership standpoint the farm has collected more trophies than any other. On the breeding side, it is right up there with the likes of Hanover Shoe Farms and Armstrong Bros., no small feat when you consider the sheer numbers of the other nurseries.

Ironically, it is on the trotting side that Brittany has the aces this Saturday night. The irony according to Zubrod is in the fact that when Segal purchased the farm he didn’t have much of an interest in the trotting side. That, however, changed radically when he was asked to get involved in the stallion career of Valley Victory. “The mares we inherited from Bill Shehan crossed well with Valley Victory,” said Zubrod.

Brittany has continued to evolve over the years, building a broodmare band that measures around 125. “We try to keep it at that level, buying fillies each year and selling the bottom 10 percent that we feel doesn’t belong here,” said Zubrod.

On Saturday, Glidemaster and Passionate Glide, two sophomore trotters bred to be champions by Brittany Farm, will seek to capture Breeders Crown titles. Both have already accomplished a great deal in 2006. Glidemaster won the Hambletonian and Kentucky Futurity (two thirds of the Triple Crown) while the once-beaten Passionate Glide has won all of the major three-year-old filly stakes, including the Hambletonian Oaks. Both are by Valley Victory’s most successful son Yankee Glide. While Passionate Glide’s pedigree would suggest greatness, few in Kentucky in the fall of 2004 saw Glidemaster as a future champion. “I was with Ron Gurfein at Harrisburg when we looked at Cressida Hanover (Glidemaster’s dam),” remembered Zubrod. “She had a good family, but not much of it was on the page. Ron bought her for $13,000. When George Segal asked Gurfein who he had purchased the filly for, Gurfein responded, `You.’”

Cressida Hanover, a daughter of Mr Lavec, didn’t make it on the racetrack but has certainly hit it big as a broodmare thus far.

Zubrod credits Hall of Fame conditioner Gene Riegle’s expertise as perhaps the biggest reason Brittany has achieved as much in the Standardbred sport. “There’s no one better at selecting horses with great conformation,” Art said.

While the Standardbred breeding business has had its shares of ups and downs over the last 20 years, George Segal’s Brittany Farms has never wavered as a source of championship bloodlines. While Segal continues to take more pleasure owning great racehorses, his breeding farm and stallion management influence continue to jump off the page, whether at horse sales or in past performance programs throughout North America.