flightline’s feline grace is attracting breeders and fans to his new home at lane’s end farm

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a.p. indy, flightline, lane's end farm

The catlike power and bounding glory of Flightline graced our racetracks for the last time on Nov. 5, and one of the marks of highest merit for the bay son of Tapit (by Pulpit) is that he translated the exceptional speed and overpowering dominance he had shown while racing in California to tracks in New York (for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap) and Kentucky (for his career finale in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic).

Now being carefully unwound from the bustle and daily routine of life on the racetrack, Flightline is being prepared step by step for his second career as a stallion at Lane’s End Farm outside Versailles, Ky. On the racetrack, a show of particular interest in fillies can earn a colt a sharp correction. This is so because a horse’s purpose on the racetrack is racing, and focus is important. Very important.

Back at the farm, it sometimes takes a moment for a smart colt to realize that a particular interest in fillies will no longer result in a correction. Instead, fillies are the focus of this new life that only a very few colts can attain.

Polymelus — shown in the racing colors of owner Solly Joel — is the male-line ancestor of each of the eight stallions in the fourth generation of Flightline’s pedigree. Joel bought the colt for 4,200 guineas and with him won the 1906 Cambridgeshire Handicap and reportedly about 100,000 pounds in wagers. Polymelus was five times the leading sire in England. His best racers included leading sire Phalaris; the Derby winners Pommern, Fifinella, and Humorist; and 1923 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Parth.

Flightline has made the initial steps of transition to the quiet life of a breeding farm under the guidance of the stallion staff at Lane’s End. Fresh from the accolades he earned after a rousing race in the Breeders’ Cup Classic against his divisional challenger, Life is Good (Into Mischief), Flightline would be one of the most popular horses in the country. Tens of thousands would like to see him; many fewer would like to acquire a season and breed a foal from his first crop. Okay, actually nearly everyone would like a season. The reality is that only a very few have the cash ($200,000 for a live foal) and a mare of the quality to possibly reach that pinnacle.

So, one of the highlights of the latter days of the Keeneland November sale was the opportunity to venture out to Lane’s End and see Flightline being shown to some of his fans and admirers on the grounds trod for decades by champion racehorse and sire A.P. Indy.

A thick-bodied son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew (Bold Reasoning) and the Secretariat mare Weekend Surprise, A.P. Indy was a leader in every segment of his life. A beautiful young horse, he was the top-selling lot at the 1990 Keeneland July sale of selected yearlings. On the racetrack under the patient training of Neil Drysdale, the colt became a Grade 1 winner at two, then progressed to win the Belmont Stakes at three, ended his racing career with victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and was named Horse of the Year in 1992.

Thirty years late, there is no question who will be Horse of the Year for 2022. That question was answered emphatically and properly (on the racetrack) when the two best horses in training – Life is Good and Flightline – squared off over the 10 furlongs of the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

On the afternoon of Nov. 14, watching Flightline walk the manicured pathways that A.P. Indy, Kingmambo, and others built, there was no doubt that, for racing ability and athletic prowess, here was a young horse who merited inclusion among these champions of sporting history.

Across the quad from the primary showing path where our new champion strode and stood and pricked his handsome ears, a statue of A.P. Indy on a pedestal surveys the domain the great horse ruled.

The son and grandson of Triple Crown winners became the most dominant influence on the American classics of the past 20 years, and Flightline is a son of A.P. Indy’s most famous and important grandson, Tapit.

Whereas A.P. Indy himself was a Goliath, thick-bodied and immensely powerful, Pulpit and his great son Tapit are just a step closer to the norm, nice-sized horses but not immense.

In contrast, Flightline is out of a stakes-winning daughter of the big, brawny, and powerful Indian Charlie (In Excess), and Flightline is cast in a distinctively different model to Indian Charlie and his best son, champion Uncle Mo.

Flightline himself is a lean and elegant racer of considerable individuality. In phenotype, Flightline is definitely more of a greyhound than a mastiff, and the influence of the great Mr. Prospector is evident in the elegant and efficient construction of the horse. Mr. Prospector was no carbon copy of his sire Raise a Native, either, but took a different type, and Flightline is inbred to Mr. P 4x5x5. That might be a point worth considering.

Judicious consideration is always a good ingredient in well-planned matings, but if the brilliant bay champion-to-be is able to pass on a reasonable portion of the qualities he showed on the racetrack, his future will be bright, and the sport will be all the richer.

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a.p. indy’s tapestry of stakes winners creates a lasting pattern

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a.p. indy, lane's end farm, Seattle Slew, stallion success

While doing some work in a stall at Lane’s End Farm, the new groom thought he heard a deep rumble coming from a nearby stall. After the third occurrence, he stuck his head out, looked up and down the broad aisle.

A fellow stallion groom was sweeping an errant piece of straw back into a stall, and the new guy asked, “Did you hear anything?”

“Like what?”

“Like that,” as another rumble came down their way.

“Oh, he’s just reading the race results from the weekend,” said the experienced groom.

“Who’s reading, and what’s so funny?”

“The big horse is having a good time with his reading material this morning…”

“What you mean reading. Horses don’t read.”

The experienced groom sighed, “That’s A.P. Indy down there, and if he takes a notion to fly, you better start wearing a muck bucket on your head.”

What’s more, A.P. Indy had plenty to chuckle about after this weekend’s racing.

On Nov. 28 at Aqueduct, A.P. Indy’s grandson Tapit solidified his lead as the top sire in the country with the victories of Tonalist (Belmont Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup) in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile and of the unbeaten Mohaymen (Nashua Stakes) in the G2 Remsen. Then in Florida, Tapit’s juvenile son Rafting won the Smooth Air Stakes at Gulfstream West (nee Calder).

A.P. Indy grandson Sky Mesa sired a first-time stakes winner, the 2-year-old Family Meeting, in the G3 Jimmy Durante Stakes at Del Mar.

Sons Malibu Moon, Bernardini, and Mineshaft also had graded stakes winners. At Churchill Downs on the 28^th, Malibu Moon’s daughter Carina Mia was a four and a quarter length winner of the G2 Golden Rod. The same afternoon at Aqueduct, Bernardini’s daughter Lewis Bay came home a winner in the G2 Demoiselle Stakes. Those victories were the initial stakes and graded stakes successes for those promising young athletes.

Not so with Mineshaft’s contribution to the roll of success for the A.P. Indy crowd. Established performer Effinex won the G1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and he defeated last year’s winner of the Clark, Hoppertunity, by three-quarters of a length.

And finally (small drum roll here, please), A.P. Indy himself sired the winner of the G2 Hawthorne Gold Cup on Nov. 28.

That 4-year-old colt is named Commissioner, and he is perhaps best remembered for a heroic front-running effort in the 2014 Belmont Stakes, going down in the shadow of the wire to Tonalist. A notably good prospect as he progressed toward the classics last season, Commissioner went out a good winner and will enter stud next season at WinStar Farm for $7,500 live foal.

Commissioner is one of two colts from A.P. Indy’s last crop who will enter stud in 2016. The more heralded of the pair is Honor Code, a striking near-black animal who won the Metropolitan Handicap and Whitney Stakes this season. A colt who has drawn plenty of attention since the start of his racing career, Honor Code will enter stud alongside his greatly honored and pensioned sire at Lane’s End. That farm also stands Horse of the Year Mineshaft.

Spendthrift has Malibu Moon; Darley has Bernardini; Three Chimneys has Sky Mesa; and Gainesway has Tapit. So these and other important sons and grandsons are well-dispersed among the leading stallion farms in the Bluegrass.

Commissioner makes three sons of A.P. Indy for WinStar, which also stands leading freshman sire Congrats and G1 Florida Derby winner Take Charge Indy. The latter will have his first yearlings in 2016 and has bred 296 mares in his first two seasons at stud.

The popularity of Congrats and Take Charge Indy with breeders should have a positive effect on Commissioner, who comes from a female family known for quickness and good looks.

The colt’s first three dams are all stakes winners, and Commissioner’s dam, the Touch Gold mare Flaming Heart, has produced two stakes winners. Commissioner earned nearly $1 million, and his stakes-winning half-brother Laugh Track (by Distorted Humor), earned $598,014 and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

This family contributes its share of quality and strong physical appeal, and Commissioner shows their influence, plus the trademark A.P. Indy look: great length of rein, deep shoulder, width and length through the body, plus a good hip. The A.P. Indys tend to look like classic horses, with plenty of leg, and the best of them have plenty of speed to go with their stamina.

A.P. Indy and his sire, Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, pulled the Bold Ruler – Nasrullah line back to the peak of importance as a source of classic prospects, and the classic influence of these horses is a tale with stories just waiting to unfold.

a.p. indy, hear him roar

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a.p. indy, lane's end farm, Seattle Slew, stallion success

The old lion in the bush gave another growl over the weekend. Champion racehorse and leading sire A.P. Indy had two graded stakes winners with Majestic River winning the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth and Antipathy winning the G3 Shuvee at Saratoga.

Few stallions get weekend doubles with graded winners. So it is a measure of the grand old stallion’s importance and success that he has had them regularly throughout his career. Now the sire of 156 stakes winners (13 percent from foals), A.P. Indy has sired a greater number of G1 winners than most stallions get as simple stakes winners.

And it’s no easy task for a stallion to sire stakes winners.

Stakes winners have to be the best on the day against a group of good horses; graded stakes winners have to be even better. That is so because if we take into consideration all the things that can go wrong in bringing a horse to its best, a sire’s crop has to be a deep well of talent to consistently produce stock that can perform in stakes competition.

With most sires, the variation in type and aptitude is too great to furnish the consistently superior horse. But like all really great sires, A.P. Indy has all the parts.

An exceptional yearling who sold for $2.9 million to lead the Keeneland July sale in 1990, A.P. Indy became a G1 winner as a 2-year-old, then expanded on that success. He matured well as a 3-year-old, when a minor foot issue prevented him from taking a chance in the Kentucky Derby. But the growthy bay came back five weeks later to win the Belmont Stakes and become a classic winner.

Closing his career with a sharp victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, A.P. Indy was elected champion of his division and Horse of the Year for 1992. With eight victories from 11 starts, A.P. Indy earned $2,979,815.

With his looks, race record, and pedigree (by Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew out of a stakes-winning mare by Triple Crown winner Secretariat), A.P. Indy got a major chance at stud, and he made every inning a winner.

The stallion’s graded winners last weekend are 4-year-old fillies from their sire’s next-to-last crop, and A.P. Indy’s last crop of racers is 3 and contains more promising athletes.

At the beginning of 2014, I thought the old lion had another big roar or two in him. Honor Code had won the G2 Remsen and run second in the G1 Champagne as a juvenile, and he appeared the perfect type of A.P. Indy who could come along and improve out of sight as the distances lengthened and his maturity came to the fore.

Unfortunately, that has not worked out yet for Honor Code. Instead, the dark bay colt was sidelined early in the year and missed the entire Triple Crown. Co-owned by Lane’s End Racing and Dell Ridge Farm, “Honor Code went back to Shug McGaughey two weeks ago” after recuperating at WinStar’s facility near Lexington, Will Farish said.

“The colt appears to be 100 percent,” Farish noted, “but we’re going to let him tell us when he’s ready. Honor Code gets fit quickly, but we’re in no hurry. We are looking forward to his 4-year-old season, which should be worth the wait, like with many good A.P. Indys.”

So, there is positive news about Honor Code, who has been the leader from his sire’s final crop, and then there is A.P. Indy’s later-maturing son Commissioner, who was clearly progressing early in the year. Then he ran a blinder in the Belmont Stakes, leading most of the way and being caught at the wire by Tonalist.

Both of these colts are important prospects, both for racing and for stud. In addition to A.P. Indy’s contributions to sport, he has also been a steady source of classic quality, plus speed, that the breed has needed.

The depth of A.P. Indy’s influence is seen in the high regard that is accorded his sons and daughters. Pulpit, from his sire’s first crop, was the first important stallion son of A.P. Indy, but others have followed, including leading sire Malibu Moon, Mineshaft, Bernardini, Congrats, and Flatter.

As might be expected from a list of sires like that, a good number of young sons of A.P. Indy are still coming along with high hopes to make the grade as stallions. Among these are Astrology (third in the Preakness, standing at Taylor Made), Eye of the Leopard (Queen’s Plate, Canadian champion; Calumet), Girolamo (Vosburgh; Darley), and Take Charge Indy (Florida Derby; WinStar).

In addition to these unproven horses, other farms like Lane’s End, Claiborne, Ashford, Spendthrift, and Gainesway all stand successful sons or grandsons of A.P. Indy. The leading sire in the country right now is A.P. Indy’s grandson Tapit, who has spent his entire career at Gainesway and who is having a memorable season with Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable, and numerous other major performers.

So the line goes on, and A.P. Indy watches. His eyes are filled with a luminescence that suggests wisdom and depth. He is the lion in winter.

The preceding post was first published earlier this week at Paulick Report.

malibu moon is one of the signs that bloodlines are a-changin’

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a.p. indy, lane's end, male line success, malibu moon, orb, sires of stallions

The following article was first published last week as part of the Paulick Report Special to the OBS March sale.

There is a pattern to the stallion spotlights for the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s March sale of selected 2-year-olds in training. Both are by the great sire A.P. Indy (1989 b. h. by Seattle Slew x Weekend Surprise, by Secretariat), and the pattern represents the fundamental shift in breeding toward the Bold Ruler – Nasrullah male line coming through Seattle Slew’s champion son A.P. Indy.

An outstanding racehorse who was named Horse of the Year in 1992, A.P. Indy became a landmark stallion, gifted for imparting classic quality, size, and stamina. And among several excellent contemporary sires, his greatest accomplishment has been the foundation of a group of high-class stallion sons, including the recently deceased Pulpit (and his best stallion son Tapit), Bernardini, Congrats and his full brother Flatter, Horse of the Year Mineshaft, and Malibu Moon.

Among these most successful members in the ranks of his best sons, there is one further common denominator. Except for Bernardini, each is out of a mare by Mr. Prospector (1970 b. h. by Raise a Native x Gold Digger, by Nashua).

If there was anything that A.P. Indy needed as a sire, it was a finer edge of speed burnished with a boot-leather toughness. The grand old son of Raise a Native seems to have supplied that time after time.

Malibu Moon inherited a full dose of speed and class from his famous forebears, and he hit the big time as a stallion with the unbeaten champion juvenile, Declan’s Moon, from his sire’s second crop. Declan’s Moon won the G1 Hollywood Futurity and the then-G2 Del Mar Futurity at 2, as well as the Santa Catalina early at 3.

The stallion’s other G1 winners include Ask the Moon (Personal Ensign), Devil May Care (Mother Goose, CCA Oaks), Eden’s Moon (Las Virgenes), Funny Moon (CCA Oaks), and Life at Ten (Beldame and Ogden Phipps).

As a tribute to the quality of speed and early maturity among many of Malibu Moon’s foals, he has more juveniles cataloged for the OBS March sale than any other sire. The 11 are Hips 15, 48, 55, 120, 137, 173, 177, 244, 317, 328, and 343. Earlier this month, a colt by Malibu Moon brought the highest price of $675,000 at the Barretts sale of 2-year-olds in training. [The sales results were: 15 :10 3/5, late scratch; 48 :10, $185,000; 55 out; 120 :10 2/5, $370,000; 137 :10 3/5, $145,000; 173 :10 3/5, $65,000 RNA; 177 :10 4/5, late scratch; 244 :21 1/5, $130,000; 317 :10 1/5, $130,000; 328 :10 2/5, $85,000 RNA; 343 :10 1/5, $485,000.]

As the prestige and success of Malibu Moon’s progeny has continued, he has earned an increasingly high stud fee, now at $75,000 live foal, and an increasing select book of mares. And this year, the stallion’s son Orb recently won the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes and is among the favored prospects for the Triple Crown.

classic contender from family of ruffian wins the fountain of youth

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a.p. indy, classic contenders, fountain of youth, malibu moon, orb, ruffian, shenanigans, sire success, violence (horse)

The following article first appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

The result of Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream confirmed two colts of classic caliber, although second-place finisher Violence (by Medaglia d’Oro) will not be continuing the trek toward Louisville and the Kentucky Derby due to a fracture to the medial sesamoid of his right foreleg.

The winner, Orb, placed himself among the leaders of the classic prospects with a determined late rally that prevailed by a half-length after a mile and a sixteenth in 1:42.24, and the top pair were 6 3/4 lengths ahead of third-place Speak Logistics (High Cotton).

Bred in Kentucky by Stuart Janney III and the Phipps Stable, Orb is a bay colt by the important A.P. Indy stallion Malibu Moon out of the Unbridled mare Lady Liberty.

Every season, Malibu Moon has a colt or two who flirts with the classics, and that is to be expected from a representative of the most classic male line in American breeding, descending from Nasrullah and Bold Ruler to Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew and his leading son A.P. Indy.

With speed, strength, and quality, the 16-year-old Malibu Moon sires stock that are popular at the sales, and they are popular with breeders who race their own with a goal of winning the premium races. The 16-year-old stallion currently has such prominent offspring as Kauai Katie (G2 Forward Gal), More Chocolate (G2 La Canada), Eden’s Moon (G1 Las Virgenes in 2012), and Prospective (G2 Tampa Bay Derby and G3 Ohio Derby in 2012).

The ability of his offspring has made Malibu Moon the current 2013 leader among all sires in North America, and after seasons of similar success, mares of proven excellence regularly fill his book for a fee that is $70,000 in 2013.

Four years ago, when Orb was conceived, Malibu Moon’s profile was nearly as high, and the Fountain of Youth winner’s dam was sent to him in the elusive quest for classic speed.

Orb’s dam, Lady Liberty, did not win black type on the racetrack, but there can be few mares who showed more ability without gaining some level of stakes success. From 23 starts, Lady Liberty won four times, was second four times, and third in four for earnings of $202,045. In stakes competition, she was twice fourth and twice fifth, including a fifth in the G1 Ogden Phipps Handicap of 2003 behind Sightseek.

Orb is the fourth foal of his dam, whose first foal is the Alphabet Soup gelding Cause of Freedom, who has won $105,834. The mare’s second foal is a nonwinner, the third is unraced, and Orb is a major step in the right direction.

Lady Liberty slipped in 2011 and 2012 but has already produced a half-brother to the Fountain of Youth winner by Claiborne stallion Flatter (A.P. Indy).

The family of Orb has a lengthy history at Claiborne Farm, just like the Janneys and Phippses. Orb and his dam Lady Liberty come from the famous family of champion Ruffian (Reviewer), whose dam Shenanigans (Native Dancer) is the fourth dam of Lady Liberty. Shenanigans also produced the important sire Icecapade (Nearctic) and the useful sire Buckfinder (Buckpasser), as well as the winner Laughter (Bold Ruler).

The latter is the third dam of Lady Liberty and was a cracking producer in her own right. The dam of five stakes winners, Laughter ranks as one of the best producing daughters of her great sire Bold Ruler. The best of her foals was Wood Memorial winner Private Terms, a good horse who started at the same odds for the Kentucky Derby as the victorious Winning Colors but finished ninth behind a field that included champion juvenile Forty Niner (second), 3-year-old champion colt Risen Star (third), and the major G1 winners Proper Reality (fourth), Brian’s Time (sixth), and Seeking the Gold (seventh). By the end of his career, Private Terms had won a dozen races and earned more than $1.2 million, then went on to become a good stallion.

Of Laughter’s five stakes winners, only one was a filly, and that was Steel Maiden (Damascus), who is the second dam of Lady Liberty. The family goes a little cold at this point, as Steel Maiden produced only one stakes winner, G2 winner Mesabi Maiden (Cox’s Ridge), the dam of Lady Liberty, and Mesabi Maiden has not produced any stakes horses.

One of the eccentricities of Thoroughbred families, however, is that they tend to get cold for a time, but if persevered with and bred to quality, they can come back. With a stretch finish that keeps on coming, Orb is the kind of colt who could light up a grand old family.

pulpit set the curve for the a.p. indy branch of bold ruler line

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a.p. indy, bold ruler male line, Pulpit

The following post first appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

The death of the important sire Pulpit on Dec. 6 was a major loss to breeders and racehorse owners. Both as a racehorse and sire, the bold bay had served as a marker of coming changes in the breed, and his influence will continue to be felt for years to come.
 
One of the stars from the first crop by 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, Pulpit was unraced at 2 but came on strong very early at 3, when he won the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream, then ran a close second in the Florida Derby to Captain Bodgit.

Racing next at Keeneland, Pulpit won the Blue Grass Stakes as his prep for the Kentucky Derby, and the powerful bay ran a game fourth behind winner Silver Charm, Captain Bodgit, and Free House. A knee injury, perhaps begun during the running of the Derby, forced Pulpit to the sidelines and eventually into retirement.
 
Sent to stud at Claiborne Farm, where he was bred and raised, Pulpit became the first star stallion by his sire, and as such, Pulpit pointed the way for a major new branch of the Nasrullah/Bold Ruler line through Seattle Slew and A.P. Indy.
 
This male line is as closely associated with Claiborne as any other because A.B. “Bull” Hancock imported Nasrullah to the States, and Bold Ruler was raised at Claiborne for the Wheatley Stable of Gladys Mills Phipps, then stood his entire stud career there.

That legacy of success sent several sons from the line to stud at Claiborne, most notably Bold Ruler’s greatest son Secretariat, the broodmare sire of A.P. Indy. Claiborne also stood the Bold Ruler grandson Bold Reasoning, the sire of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, and wanted to stand the near-black champion.
 
Perennial rival Spendthrift Farm managed to snare Seattle Slew, but Lane’s End Farm owner Will Farish co-bred Slew’s most important son in A.P. Indy, sold him at the Keeneland July sale for $2.9 million, then stood him at the relatively new stallion operation to begin two decades of success and a continuing legacy of breeding influence.
 
Trained by Neil Drysdale, A.P. Indy showed speed, stamina, courage, and versatility to win the Belmont Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic during his 3-year-old season, when he was named champion of his division and Horse of the Year.
 
As a classic winner with scope and classic quality, one of the first things that breeders chose to do in selecting mates for A.P. Indy was to send him quality mares with speed, and 20 years ago, that especially meant mares by Mr. Prospector.
 
Out of the Frizette Stakes winner Preach, Pulpit was among the first stakes winners bred on this successful cross, which also includes Horse of the Year Mineshaft, and year after year, from the Mr. Prospector line, as well as others across the spectrum of pedigrees, A.P. Indy got consistently top-class racehorses.
 
As A.P. Indy’s star rose ever higher, Pulpit began his stud career with a Grade 1 winner in his first crop, and the combination of pedigree, value, and high ability pushed Pulpit into the top ranks of American stallions too.
 
Looking back, it seems inevitable that Seattle Slew’s line through A.P. Indy would rise to preeminence in American racing, but at that time, there were many breeders and mavens of the pedigree world who said that the Bold Ruler line was old news.
 
The “old news” rewrote the headlines.
 
Especially as other sons of A.P. Indy began to succeed with top-class racers, the importance of A.P. Indy as a sire of stallions became obvious to all. Bernardini, Malibu Moon, Congrats, Mineshaft, and Flatter have all sired major performers at the highest level and rank as stallions of importance in Kentucky.
 
But just as Pulpit had been the trend setter as part of his sire’s first crop, then as a successful sire, Pulpit also became the first son of A.P. Indy with a world-class son at stud.
 
Out of the Unbridled mare Tap Your Heels, Tapit came from the third crop by Pulpit, and the gray was unbeaten at 2, then won the G1 Wood Memorial at 3. Tapit’s first crop of racers included champion filly Stardom Bound, and his son Hansen was champion 2-year-old colt of 2011 after a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Hansen will be at stud next season at Ashford, while Tapit’s son Tapizar will be at Gainesway and Trappe Shot at Claiborne (for his second season).
 
Pulpit’s other important sons at stud include Sky Mesa, Corinthian, Stroll, and Sightseeing, as well as the good young stallions Parading and Ice Box, who don’t yet have runners.
 
The continuing test of a stallion is getting premium racers, and Pulpit answered that question in spades, siring 11 G1 winners in the U.S., including the current 2-year-old G1 winner Power Broker and G2 winner Sign. They are among the stallion’s 10 graded winners in 2012.
 
From his mates of 2011, Pulpit has 57 foals of 2012, and he covered 59 mares this spring who will foal the sire’s last crop in 2013.

claiborne, ap indy dominate super saturday preps

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a.p. indy, claiborne farm, phipps stable, point of entry, Pulpit, seeking the gold

The following post first appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

It was a Claiborne kind of weekend in New York, where the Super Saturday racing at Belmont Park included a victory by Flat Out, a son of the Claiborne-bred, -raced, and -owned Flatter (by A.P. Indy) in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, and in California, where the Pulpit colt Power Broker won the G1 Frontrunner (formerly the Norfolk) and the First Samurai filly Executiveprivilege won the G1 Chandelier (formerly the Oak Leaf).

In addition to these three major winners sired by Claiborne Farm stallions on Saturday, the Phipps Stable’s Point of Entry (Dynaformer) polished his Eclipse Award prospects with a good and game victory (his fifth in a row) in the G1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Point of Entry was bred and raised at Claiborne for the Phippses.

No top-class racehorse in the States has a better female family than Point of Entry, who is out of Matlacha Pass, a daughter of the Phipps-bred Seeking the Gold, who stood at Claiborne. Matlacha Pass is a full sister to Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Pleasant Home and to multiple graded stakes winner Country Hideaway. Their dam is Our Country Place, a daughter of Alabama Stakes winner Maplejinsky (Nijinsky), who is a daughter of champion sprinter Gold Beauty (Mr. Prospector), also the dam of English highweight Dayjur (Danzig).

To paraphrase Lewis Carroll, Point of Entry’s pedigree “’tis brillig, and the Claiborne critters did gyre and gimble in the winner’s circle.”

In the male line of winning pedigrees from last Saturday, the story is the continuing success of A.P. Indy and his sons. Not only was the grand seigneur of Lane’s End represented by the Pulpit colt’s victory in California, but Malibu Moon scored a G1 success with his unbeaten daughter Kauai Katie in the Matron at Belmont, where Flatter’s Flat Out picked up another G1 win with his second victory in the Gold Cup at 10 furlongs, which he won by a head from Bernardini’s son Stay Thirsty.

All four of these stallions had relatively short spells on the racetrack, but they have made careers for themselves as significant sires with stock that is sound and talented. And in contrast to the immediate name recognition that Pulpit and Bernardini earned with their high-profile victories on the racetrack, both Malibu Moon and Flatter retired to stud as non-winners of a stakes race. They earned their stud success the old-fashioned way: with talented racers who kept on kicking.

Flat Out could hardly be a better example. The winner of $2 million has prospered with maturity and has won three stakes, plus finishing in the money in a half-dozen more, over the last two years. He acts sound and happy as any young horse on the racetrack and appears likely to take another season of racing.

The combination of speed with the ability to carry it at least nine furlongs has been the hallmark of the A.P. Indy tribe, and although the great stallion had his last crop of yearlings pass through the yearling sales this season, there are still stars to come from him, as the stallion’s stock matures well and his young horses should continue to develop competitively for at least another three years.

One of the most recent stars from A.P. Indy has been Love and Pride, who won the G1 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. The 4-year-old filly had won her first G1 in August when she defeated this weekend’s Beldame winner Royal Delta (Empire Maker out of an A.P. Indy mare) in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga.

A winner of a restricted stakes at 3, when she also ran third in the G1 Gazelle Stakes at Belmont, Love and Pride has been on a rising line of form as she has gained strength and maturity. The filly is out of the G1-placed Storm Cat mare Ile de France, whose dam is Cara Rafaela, also the dam of champion Bernardini. After that son of A.P. Indy showed such ability, it was natural to send his half-sister Ile de France to A.P. Indy, as well.

The match has paid off nicely with a multiple G1 winner who is now a pearl of great price. The mare has a 3-year-old full brother to Love and Pride named French Storm who is a non-winner in three starts, has no 2-year-old, but has a yearling filly by Street Cry.

broodmare of the week: ile de france

Tags

a.p. indy, love and pride, zenyatta

The winner of Saturday’s G1 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita resulted indirectly from a yearling selection a good many years ago by bloodstock buyer and adviser Renato Gameiro.

At the 1994 Keeneland September sale, Gameiro purchased a Quiet American filly on behalf of Stud TNT for $70,000. That was quite a solid price at the time, as the American bloodstock market was just getting itself out of the pit that the 1986-87 tax changes had dug and thrown the sport into.

The purchase proved a bargain for Stud TNT, as the filly was named Cara Rafaela and became a G1 winner and producer. As the dam of champion Bernardini, Cara Rafaela became a Broodmare of the Year, and the mare’s Storm Cat daughter Ile de France has produced a G1 winner in Zenyatta Stakes winner Love and Pride, who is by AP Indy like her near-kinsman Bernardini.

A few years after the purchase, Gameiro recounted some of the factors in selecting young horses as he saw them. He said, “First of all, I look to see what it is that grabs me about a horse. What is my immediate reaction? Then I watch the young horse walk, observe it in motion, get a feel for whether it is confident, is it happy.

“Horses that are happy, that are not intimidated, are easier to train. I look at the horse from the side. Does it have scope? How is it balanced? I like a horse that has a more European look to it, although that is not the most favored look at the sales these days. But Cara Rafaela was lovely. She had balance and poise and a beautiful head and top. She was very nice.”

One of the interesting things about Gameiro’s selection process is his search for positives. Most buyers have a list of prospects to look at and try to find ways to knock horses off to form a short list of horses to put through the vetting process.

That really isn’t the best way to find a good horse. As Gameiro and other good horsemen search for young athletes, they are looking for certain positive traits that they have seen in great and very good horses, and they keep looking till they find a reasonable number of animals who possess at least most of the best traits.

If it sounds easy, let me assure you that even the best selectors have a long wait between premium successes.

But from the evidence already before us and the good prospects coming along, the produce of Cara Rafaela and her daughters will continue to enliven the racetracks for years to come.

The produce record for Ile de France is below:

1st Dam: Ile de France, gr m, 1999. Bred by Stud TNT (KY). Raced 3 yrs in NA, 12 sts, 2 wins, $125,300 (ssi = 3.84). 3rd Santa Anita Oaks (gr. 1).

2004:		Our Rafaela, gr/ro f, by Dynaformer. Raced 1 yr in NA, 4 sts, 0 wins, $22,560.
2005:		Pretty Carina, dk b/ f, by Seeking the Gold. Raced 3 yrs in NA, 7 sts, 2 wins, $93,340.
2006:		Right One, dk b/ c, by Seeking the Gold. Raced 1 yr in NA, 2 sts, 0 wins, $800.
2007:		Galactic, gr/ro g, by Distorted Humor. Raced 3 yrs in NA, 8 sts, 3 wins, $51,965.
2008:		LOVE AND PRIDE. dk br f, by AP Indy. Raced 3 yrs in NA, 7 wins, $925,760.
		At 3: Won Proud Spell S. (R); 3rd Let Me Linger S., Real Prize S., Gazelle S. (G1).
		At 4: Won Affectionately S., Personal Ensign Invitational H. (G1), Zenyatta S. (G1), Obeah S. (G3); 2nd Top Flight H. (G2), Allaire DuPont Distaff S. (G3).
2009:		French Storm, b r, by A.P. Indy. Raced 1 yr in NA, 3 sts, 0 wins, $7,240.
2010:

2nd Dam: CARA RAFAELA, gr m, 1993. Bred by Mike G. Rutherford Sr. (KY). Broodmare of the Year. Raced 3 yrs in NA, 24 sts, 4 wins, $884,452 (ssi = 19.28). Won Hollywood Starlet S. (G1), Alcibiades S. (G2), Pio Pico S. (R); 2nd Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies S. (G1), Matron S. (G1), Ashland S. (G1), Santa Anita Oaks (G1), Las Virgenes S. (G1), Black-Eyed Susan S. (G2); 3rd Kentucky Oaks (G1), Mother Goose S. (G1). Dam of BERNARDINI (b h, A.P. Indy, $3,060,480. Champion 3yo Colt. Won Travers S. (G1), Preakness S. (G1), Jockey Club Gold Cup S. (G1), Jim Dandy S. (G2), Withers S. (G3); 2nd Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1)).

 

final crop of yearlings by a.p. indy selling this week

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a.p. indy, bold ruler, lane's end farm, Seattle Slew, stallion success

The piece, in somewhat different form, appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

Still alive and in good condition at Lane’s End Farm, A.P. Indy has more than earned a plush retirement. After winning the Belmont Stakes, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and becoming Horse of the Year, he has gone on to a distinguished stud career, has reenergized the Bold Ruler line at the top level of racing, and has confirmed the continuation of the line with significant stallion sons.

Although he covered mares in 2011, none got in foal, and the stallion’s last offspring were born in 2011.

With the last crop of yearlings by A.P. Indy being offered for sale in 2012, it’s not a case of “get ’em while they’re hot,” but instead, “get ’em while you can.” The nine yearlings in Monday night’s Book 1 at the Keeneland September yearling sale and the six more in the Tuesday through Thursday sessions of Book 2 are part of the last regular crop by the great stallion, and hereafter, buyers will not have the opportunity to pick through the offspring of the 1992 Horse of the Year to select those that meet their high criteria.

The supply has run out.

Of the 32 other stallions with yearlings in the first select session at Keeneland September, three (Bernardini, Malibu Moon, Pulpit) are sons and one (Tapit) is a grandson of A.P. Indy. No other active stallion has a comparable representation.

That is not unusual because the odds are strongly stacked against any stallion who achieves high success having even one son of equal merit. The stallion game is that competitive, and few stallions get the full measure of support and success required to “reproduce themselves” and become a genuine sire of sires at the highest level.

A.P. Indy, however, has done that by siring a constant stream of premium performers from his first season at stud, and that volume of quality is what’s required to become one of the best sires in history.

A.P. Indy, a classic winner and Horse of the Year and winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, reproduced those athletic qualities in his offspring, who tended to favor tests of merit at a mile or more, but who also possessed speed and versatility. As a direct result of reproducing those élite characteristics of the Thoroughbred in his offspring, A.P. Indy can also add to his list of accomplishments that he was one of the breed-shaping stallions of his era.

In addition to the four stallions listed above, another seven sons or grandsons of A.P. Indy have yearlings in the Book 2 portion of the first week of Keeneland’s premium yearling auction. The cumulative effect of A.P. Indy’s influence, through his own stock and that of his expanding male line, is the addition of speed to classic ability that has re-elevated the Seattle Slew branch of the Bold Ruler / Nasrullah male line to a preeminent position in world bloodlines.

 

emma’s encore proves to be another elite performer from the cheap bin

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a.p. indy, claiborne farm, congrats, emma's encore, equest thoroughbreds, la troienne family, prioress stakes, saratoga, stallion success, vinery

The following post first appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

Although the victory by Emma’s Encore in the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont on July 7 was considered a fluke in some quarters because heavy favorite Agave Kiss was burnt to a crisp in a fierce speed duel, Emma’s Encore came back on Saturday to stamp herself as the leading sprint filly of her age group with a narrow success in the G1 Prioress at Saratoga.

In the Prioress, Emma’s Encore won by a nose in the final yards of the race, as she ran widest of all to catch the Ghostzapper filly Judy the Beauty. The latter had gotten first run to pass front-running Agave Kiss and nearly held off the charge of Emma’s Encore.

That filly’s encore success in a graded stakes came without the pace pressure that had appeared to compromise Agave Kiss in the Victory Ride. As a result, this race, although resulting in a narrower margin of victory, was even more emphatically a measure of the quality that Emma’s Encore possesses.

The Florida-bred bay is from the second crop by the A.P. Indy stallion Congrats and is his third G1 winner, following Turbulent Descent (Santa Anita Oaks, Test, and Hollywood Starlet) and Wickedly Perfect (Alcibiades Stakes).

Bred by Claiborne Farm and raced by that historic farm through most of his time on the track, Congrats is out of the Mr. Prospector mare Praise and has one of the grandest female families in the stud book, tracing back through stakes winner Wild Applause (by Northern Dancer and dam of four stakes winners), stakes-winning third dam Glowing Tribute (Graustark, seven stakes winners, including Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero), stakes-winning fourth dam Admiring (Hail to Reason, one stakes winner), stakes-winning fifth dam Searching (War Admiral, three stakes winners, including champion Affectionately and Futurity winner Priceless Gem), stakes-winning sixth dam Big Hurry (Black Toney, five stakes winners), and seventh dam La Troienne (five stakes winners).

When Claiborne chose to stand the full brother Flatter and sell Congrats, it didn’t take Florida horseman Brent Fernung long to see that this horse would bring a deeper dimension of blood and potential to the Florida market. Fernung immediately encouraged Cloverleaf Farm owner John Sykes to buy the horse, and that decision has paid dividends ever since.

Although Sykes chose to close the Cloverleaf stallion operation and move Congrats to Vinery Florida, when the big bay son of A.P. Indy broke through with his first crop and became the leading freshman sire in the country for 2010, the 16.2-hand Congrats made the van ride back to the bluegrass for 2011, where he stands at Vinery and covered a full book for a $35,000 fee in 2012.

The stallion’s great looks and presence were the motivating factors for Equest Thoroughbreds to breed the Prioress winner. Greg and Beth Fowler breed under the name Equest. Greg is a veterinarian in the Ocala area, and Beth primarily pinhooks young horses from their 100-acre farm north of Ocala.

Beth saw Congrats at a stallion show and recalled him as “gorgeous and correct. I knew immediately that I wanted to breed to him.”

Then she sent the “only mare I purchased on purpose for breeding” to the stallion. Primarily a pinhooker, Fowler was at the 2000 Keeneland November sale looking at weanlings and followed a Rahy filly to the ring to see if she could buy her.

As part of her due diligence, Fowler looked at the filly’s dam, the Wild Again mare French Opera, who was selling as the preceding lot in the sale, and when Fowler returned to the back ring with a purchase slip, Beth’s husband thought she had purchased the weanling. She said, “He wasn’t too happy that I bought the mare instead.”

French Opera was a “very dark mare with a star,” much like her famous sire Wild Again, “and she was average height and very stocky.”

This medium-sized, powerfully built mare is apparently the right type for Congrats, who sired his two other G1 winners out of mares by Storm Cat stallions that tend to be powerful horses. And Emma’s Encore is the best racer out of her dam, who also produced stakes-placed Bertha Jo (Banker’s Gold).

All but one of the foals out of French Opera are winners, and the youngest is a 2-year-old filly by D’Wildcat who recently won her début at Calder. Named D Prairie Cat, this juvenile is the last foal out of French Opera, who “died last year due to colic,” Fowler reported.

The Fowlers sold Emma’s Encore as Hip 4203 at the 2010 Keeneland September sale, when Congrats was clearly going to be a better stallion than the average, for only $2,000. That was a major loss on all the expenses associated with raising and preparing a young athlete, but Fowler said, “the filly was very popular, and if she’d had clean x-rays she’d have sold very, very well, but most buyers just walked away” because the vet report wasn’t pristine.

After the long trip from Ocala to Lexington, “we decided to go home with an empty trailer,” Fowler said, and “I’m glad this has worked out well for the new owners.”

Emma’s Encore was purchased at Keeneland by Ulrich Racing and ran in the name of Brenda Mercer until Peter Berglar purchased a half-interest in the filly. Emma’s Encore now has won four of 10 starts and earned $342,958.

Her dam French Opera was unplaced in her only start but is a full sister to Brazilian group stakes winner Wild Emotions.

La Reine Rouge, the third dam of Emma’s Encore, produced stakes winners Green Alligator (Gate Dancer, G3 California Derby) and Lucky Lavender Gal (Carson City). The latter’s full sister is La Ville Rouge, who placed in four graded stakes, earned $262,594, and produced Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.