Tags
count fleet stakes, filly sire, laus deo, medaglia d'oro, passion for gold, rachel alexandra, Triple Crown
One of the talking points of Medaglia d’Oro’s fantastic first crop to race was the overwhelming success of the stallion’s fillies, led by soon-to-be-official champion Rachel Alexandra.
The down side of that preoccupation with filly domination, however, is that colts generally sell for more, are preferred by many stables, and largely take the limelight in the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup. So breeders and consignors weren’t as wowed by the lopsided statistics from Medaglia d’Oro’s first crop as many fans were.
And before the ink was dry on pedigree pundits’ epistles, the stallion was gaining major ground with runners from his second crop, which features some impressive colts. The best of these may be the European G1 winner Passion for Gold, but Laus Deo sprang out of the gate yesterday in the Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct and was untouchable, leading throughout and winning by three-quarters of a length.
Not yet a proven top colt but one who is progressing the right way, Laus Deo is out of the Alysheba mare Shebane and was bred in Kentucky by J.S. McDonald. Laus Deo brought $140,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale in 2008 and races for Fox Hill Farms Inc.
bloodstock in the bluegrass 
Frank,
I’ve speculated on Medaglia d’Oro, the preponderance of filly stakes winners, and the fact that until the weekend, his three best colts were turf runners. See (http://pedigreeconsultants.com/2010/01/05/it%E2%80%99s-a-boy/).
My guess is that it has been a conformation issue based mostly on “legginess” and that breeders will eventually begin to breed a different type of mare (his first G1 colt is out of a mare by the short-legged Thunder Gulch).
What is the biomechanics take on this? I believe that the current commercial love affair with big mares has tilted the way a number of stallions performed, including some good ones that came from out of state.
Alan, fascinating take on the horse. In fact, such a good question, I’ve made a post in response. Cheers, F. Let me know what you think.
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