secretariat: fifty years ago

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bold ruler, Kentucky Derby, secretariat

If you recall opening an issue of the weekly Thoroughbred Record dated March 24, 1973 and reading that 1972 champion Secretariat had made a successful debut to his 3-year-old season with a come-from-behind victory in the Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct, probably the only surprise in the recollection is that it was 50 years ago.

There are cliches that express the swiftness of time, the ease of its passing, and that sort of thing. They are dull expressions, however, and much less effective than the sharp wonder and kindling joy that the chestnut son of Bold Ruler produced in millions of people. That was half a century past, and yet time has done little to dull the enlivening sensation of that time, that colt, and the things we shared as he progressed toward the Triple Crown, then won it, and, amidst the adulation that followed, somehow found greater heights of accomplishment to test and attain.

This story, so fabled and fabulous, wasn’t supposed to be, actually. The tale of Secretariat’s accomplishment is too improbable. The best-looking colt, the death of the elderly breeder, the need for cash to settle estate taxes. The looming fears that something could go wrong and let everyone down, when that’s normally what happens, in racing and in life, amid the hopes that this time, the dream would come true. It’s a tale too far. Screenwriters and producers in Hollywood would never believe it.

Secretariat’s record-price syndication for $6,080,000 was an indication of the depth of the hopes surrounding this colt in spite of the fear of the unknown. In the racing program set out before him, Secretariat was physically challenging accepted reasoning, first that a son of Bold Ruler could win at 10 furlongs and second that any colt, no matter the sire, could win the Triple Crown again, after the most enthralling accomplishment of the turf had lain dormant for 25 years.

The worries about the colt’s pedigree were real and well-justified. Nearly all the Bold Rulers were milers; he himself had been an exceptional seven- to nine-furlong racer who handled 10 on sheer speed and class. Nearly all of Bold Ruler’s many gifted offspring wanted a mile, were taxed when raced much beyond that, and few had won important 10-furlong stakes.

Even champion Bold Lad (the best Bold Ruler prior to Secretariat and the one most like him in appearance and pedigree) had failed to handle 10 furlongs, or even nine furlongs, as Bold Lad had finished third in the 1965 Wood Memorial. In 1972, Secretariat had towered over his contemporaries for talent, and as a result of his dominance among juvenile colts, he was elected Horse of the Year, not an honor normally given to first-season racers. As a result of all the known information, Secretariat’s potential for winning the Derby was genuine, but the chance that it could fall flat was every bit as evident. That Seth Hancock could syndicate the colt in a day, before Secretariat had even started at 3, talking to professionals who knew the risks, is a testament to understanding the challenge and taking it because those involved believed.

They thought there was something special about this colt by Bold Ruler out of the grand producer Somethingroyal, and they were correct. The assumption of greatness, however, did not come to Secretariat and the people who believed in him through a series of empty blows.

There were challenges at every step of the quest that led from the colt’s seasonal debut in the seven-furlong Bay Shore to the graduation to a mile in the Gotham, the test of nine furlongs (longer than Secretariat had raced at 2), the immense uncertainty of the 10 furlongs on the First Saturday in May, the ability to step back a sixteenth for the Preakness in Baltimore, and then the highest hurdle of 12 furlongs in the Belmont Stakes that would be required to complete the Triple Crown.

The memories that come down like rain belie the distance in time of these events. Their clarity and the acuteness of the sensations they produced startles even me, because I, I remember.

(I would invite readers to post their own recollections, observations, photos, ideas, and suggestions because the memories of this horse and this time deserve our attention and careful reflection.)

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haskell exacta offers continuing insight on gun runner’s elevation to leading sire

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bold ruler, bull lea, gun runner, measures of sire greatness, mr prospector

With a one-two finish in the Grade 1 Haskell on July 23, Cyberknife defeating Tiaba by a head, leading sire Gun Runner (by Candy Ride) is wading into the subtle distinctions that separate truly important sires from the select few who transcend the breed and reshape the sport in their own images.

It is too early to say that, with only one crop at age three, but Gun Runner is stacking up accomplishments that bear scrutiny against the great sires of the past.

One of the most important of those accomplishments is getting multiple top-class performers. That’s what makes a sire great – highest-quality offspring – but it’s so rare and difficult to achieve.

Thirty-four years ago, Mr. Prospector (Raise a Native) had the one-two in the 1988 Haskell. In one of the great rivalries of the 1980s, Forty Niner, the previous year’s champion juvenile colt, and Seeking the Gold, a lightly raced and improving 3-year-old, showed the speed and determination that made Mr. Prospector one of the greatest sires in history.

The sons of Mr. Prospector – the chestnut and the bay – turned the 1988 Haskell into one of the best horse races in history. It was a truly thrilling event rarely matched in sport, and yet the same pair of colts came back three weeks later in the Travers at Saratoga and restaged their epic duel with the same result.

In both races, Forty Niner was the winner by a nose.

Twenty-two years earlier, Bold Ruler (Nasrullah) had the one-two finishers in the 1966 Garden State Stakes. Some bold planning in the early 1950s had allowed Garden State Park to boost the purse of their Garden State Stakes to be the richest racing event in the world for 2-year-olds. It drew big fields of the top talent to race over a mile and a sixteenth, and it stood for a generation as a championship deciding event, much in the fashion of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile today.

Coming into the 1966 Garden State, the leading colt was Successor, a full-brother to 1964 juvenile champion Bold Lad. Successor had defeated Dr. Fager (Rough’n Tumble) in the Champagne Stakes, then had a shocking reverse in the Pimlico Futurity when second by a neck to In Reality (Intentionally). Yet a success in the lucrative race in Jersey probably would clinch the divisional championship for the bay colt. (Dr. Fager did not race again in 1966 after the Champagne, which was his only loss at two.)

In the Garden State, Successor ran one of the very best races of his career and won by three lengths over the Bold Ruler son Bold Hour, who had six lengths on the colt in third. Earlier that year, Bold Hour had won the Hopeful and the Futurity; so his second in the Garden State was positively good form. As a 4-year-old, Bold Hour also won a race at Garden State Park called the Amory L. Haskell Handicap, well before that race swapped names with the Monmouth Invitational.

Successor profited from his extra racing at 2 to become the divisional champion of 1966, although he struggled thereafter. Dr. Fager, Damascus, In Reality, and Bold Hour made life tough for everyone else in the division too.

Of all the one-two finishes by great sires of the past, the greatest pairing in the greatest race came in 1948.

Juvenile champion Citation had not met the 3-year-old sensation Coaltown until the Kentucky Derby, when trainers Ben and Jimmy Jones sent both sons of Bull Lea (Bull Dog) out together on one of the worst tracks ever for the Kentucky classic. Churchill Downs that day was a muddy mess.

Coaltown possessed exceptional speed, which he had willingly displayed during his spring preps in Kentucky, and his front-running efforts at Keeneland had swayed local horsemen and observers to believe that not even Citation could cope with his kinsman’s ability to turn on the speed early and continue through to the finish.

Both owned by Calumet Farm, Coaltown and Citation ran coupled for betting and were odds-on in the field of six. The unbeaten Coaltown broke alertly and sped away to an open lead by the time he passed under the finish wire the first time. Coaltown continued to lead through quick fractions of :23 2/5 and :46 3/5, by which point Coaltown had whistled away to a six-length lead over the sloppy track.

Citation was racing in second under the capable hands of Eddie Arcaro, however, and the master jockey wasn’t going to be trapped into a speed duel with a stablemate. He understood pace far too well. Coaltown’s next two quarter-mile fractions of six furlongs in 1:11 2/5 and a mile in 1:38 brought him back to the field, and Arcaro had only to use a hand ride to catch Coaltown by the time he reached the stretch call.

Citation drew off to win “handily” by 3 ½ lengths in 2:05 2/5, and yet none of the other horses could close effectively over the tiring track. That left Bull Lea’s two great sons to take the first two positions in the Derby, and Citation went on to win the Triple Crown impressively. The next season, when Citation was on the sidelines regaining soundness, Coaltown took over as champion of the division and Horse of the Year in one of the year-end polls.

One of the barriers to clear comparisons between sires of the past and those of the present is that none of these older sires covered books nearly so large as those of the present. A book of 25 to 40 mares was considered adequate, even preferable, but stallions today are presented with a minimum of 125 mares annually, and some cover close to double that number.

Clearly, there could be some dilution of quality in the mates with such policies, as well as concentration of the top breeding stock in a smaller circle of bloodlines. But it does allow a stallion with the genetic and phenotypic excellence to be a super sire to get more top horses earlier than ever before.

Among contemporary sires, both Tapit (Pulpit) and Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) started off far from the perceived “best” stallion prospects of their crops and had some relatively small early crops from relatively moderate mares. Even Curlin (Smart Strike) had quite a bit of commercial pushback until his early crops began to display consistent classic potential.

Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) and Gun Runner have had the steadiest volume in their books of mares and the best results for quality among the stallions with very large books from the start of their breeding careers. Uncle Mo has proven himself both a commercial star and sire of champions, and there seems no reason to expect anything less from the chestnut newcomer to the ranks of leading sires.

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.

 

secretariat dreamin’

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anniversaries, belmont, bold ruler, champagne, dust commander, form on off tracks, general assembly, high echelon, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, secretariat, somethingroyal, spectacular bid, track surfaces, Triple Crown

The anniversary of the birth of the great chestnut son of Bold Ruler and Somethingroyal prompted some imagining, some wondering about what might have been.

If Secretariat’s high-class second-crop son General Assembly had caught muddy or sloppy tracks in the Triple Crown, he might have turned the tables on Spectacular Bid. Now don’t get me wrong, you ‘Bid” lovers! I’m not suggesting that General Assembly was a better horse day in or day out. But he had the peculiar misfortune never to catch Bid when General Assembly was super, or at least as super as he was in the Travers he won by 15 lengths.

That day, Bid would have been in real trouble. Off their best form in the Champagne at 2 and the Kentucky Derby at 3, Spectacular Bid had only 2 or 3 lengths on General Assembly when the latter was near the top of his game. With an actual advantage, say slop or Saratoga, how could bid have held the flying chestnut son of Secretariat?

Likewise, I pondered and discussed with a likewise facetious comrade, what might have happened if General Assembly had come across Triple Crown races similar to those of 1970, when Dust Commander splashed home in the Kentucky Derby and High Echelon won an even wetter Belmont that was slower than death.

At the very least, it would have pushed Spectacular Bid to reach down for ability and amaze us with even more speed.

was secretariat the most important sire of the last 40 years?

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20 top sires in the fourth generation, a.p. indy, bloodstock statistics, bold ruler, boojum's bonanza, gone west, influence of stallions, performance of stallions, secretariat, stallion statistics, statistics as a tool in evaluating stallions, storm cat, success and influence

By one way of looking at the impact of horses, particularly stallions, the answer is “yes.” The tremendous number-crunching machine over at “Boojum’s Bonanza” has evaluated the 20 most successful stallions in the fourth generation of pedigrees in terms of their sales value and racetrack success, and Secretariat (known more humbly as “His Chestnut Perfection”) was top of the tree. Read more here.

The Boojum wrote: “Secretariat had the highest prices of all 20 sires in the fourth generation, was expected to have the best results, and did have the best results overall. And his results (1.36) were even higher than his prices (1.21). His daughters were better than his sons (no surprise at all there), but his sons were not bad.”

Does that mean that Secretariat was actually as great a sire as he was a racehorse?

Well, purely in terms of his offspring’s results on the racetrack, the answer is “no.” But in terms of lasting success and continuing impact on the breed, the answer is much more in the positive category.

The difference between the great horse’s performance on the racetrack and his results as a sire of racehorses is a puzzle that has fascinated legions of Secretariat fans (and I am one of them and not the least of that number).

That Secretariat’s sons and his daughters both fared well in this study is very interesting. Most of us have become accustomed to thinking of the great chestnut son of Bold Ruler as a massively important broodmare sire, but his other avenues of influence should be considered as well.

And as the broodmare sire of Storm Cat, Gone West, and AP Indy, Secretariat’s contributions to the breed will linger yet a while.

ap indy center stage as sire of classic sires

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a.p. indy, allen paulson, bernardini, bold ruler, congrats, daring bidder, dialed in, dinard, diversity in breeding, eliza, gulfstream park, holy bull stakes, male lines in thoroughbred breeding, malibu moon, mineshaft, nasrullah, Pulpit, quality and stamina in racing, Seattle Slew, secretariat, storm cat, Tapit, weekend surprise

The following post was published earlier this week at Paulick Report.

Everywhere you look, it’s coming up Indys. And at Gulfstream Park on Sunday, the first two places in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes were filled by Dialed In (by Mineshaft) and Sweet Ducky (Pulpit). Both are grandsons of classic winner and champion A.P. Indy, the 22-year-old son of Seattle Slew and the Secretariat mare Weekend Surprise.

Nor are Dialed In and Sweet Ducky a rarity. Day after day and week after week, sons and grandsons of 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy are filling the winner’s circles of major races across the country.

And whether we think of this as the Nasrullah/Bold Ruler line or the Bold Reasoning/Seattle Slew line through A.P. Indy, the reestablishment of this male line as a major influence has been one of the important developments in breeding over the past decade and a half.

Part of this importance comes from the fact that about the time A.P. Indy became a fledgling sire of stallions, much comment was being made about how the lines of Raise a Native (especially through Mr. Prospector and Alydar) and Northern Dancer (especially through Storm Cat) were going to swamp all their competition and about how the breed would be poorer for the lack of diversity.

Then along came the tide of success that has propelled A.P. Indy to this pinnacle today.

Part of the manner of that continuing success has come from the outstanding match that A.P. Indy proved with Mr. Prospector, who is the broodmare sire of both Mineshaft and Pulpit.

And A.P. Indy (and his sons, in particular) have proven to be excellent crosses with other important lines. For instance, Dialed In is out of the mare Miss Doolittle, who is by none other than Storm Cat.

And whereas Storm Cat’s sons ruled the waves in volume over the past decade and a half, how many are still viable at the top level? Certainly Giant’s Causeway is the heir to his sire’s legacy on many fronts. And then … there is Tale of the Cat. And without being negative about it, the Storm Cat wave of influence has followed the pattern of all those that have come before it: strengthening, cresting, then flattening out.

That is the pattern already followed by the Bold Ruler branch of the Nasrullah line. First the sire, then the son seemed all powerful. And in the 1970s, the only male line that seemed to figure was Bold Ruler, except for that little matter of Raise a Native (Mr. Prospector, Alydar, Exclusive Native, Affirmed, and so forth) and then Northern Dancer (Nijinsky, Danzig, Nureyev, and, abroad, Sadler’s Wells).

The male-line influences come and go, mostly being integrated into the inner workings of pedigrees and being none the less important for that.

But the full force of A.P. Indy’s rise is expanding. First Pulpit, then Malibu Moon, and recently Pulpit’s son Tapit have put the A.P. Indy stock at the peak of success, and only last year the top freshman sire Congrats and the impressive new sire of classic prospects, Bernardini, are both sons of A.P. Indy.

Just as he did on the racecourse, A.P. Indy has answered every challenge with greater success.

His elegant and scopy son Mineshaft was much the same. Excelling in his Horse of the Year campaign at age 4, Mineshaft has sired racehorses with classic aptitude that come to hand in the spring of their 3-year-old season.

In Mineshaft’s first crop, he had Cool Coal Man, who won the Fountain of Youth, and in his third crop was Fly Down, who won the Peter Pan and ran second in the Belmont and Travers, then was third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. While most of Mineshaft’s stock shows its form at distances from eight to 12 furlongs, the stallion’s son Discreetly Mine won the King’s Bishop at Saratoga and has joined his sire at Lane’s End for the 2011 breeding season.

Dialed In won the Holy Bull at a mile, and the good-looking colt is out of the quick mare Miss Doolittle, a daughter of champion juvenile filly Eliza (by Mt. Livermore). Allen Paulson bred Eliza from the Bold Bidder mare Daring Bidder, who produced five other stakes horses. The mare’s other top-class performer was Santa Anita Derby winner Dinard (by Paulson’s Strawberry Road).

This family has tended toward speed, but when matched with the right balance of stamina, it can produce stock worthy to challenge for the classics.

 

secretariat the actor

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bold ruler, disney movie, history of breeding, history of sport, horse racing and film, secretariat

In the new movie Secretariat, the champion son of Bold Ruler and Somethingroyal is played in the film by five different critters.

Chief among these are Trolley’s Boy, the winner of the 2008 Secretariat Look-a-Like Contest at the Secretariat Festival, and Longshot Max, who came to this acting gig through the Secretariat.com casting call.

Trolley’s Boy is a 2004 model by the Gone West stallion Pembroke out of Paris Trolley, by Paristo. Trolley’s Boy was unraced but gets in some miles as the great champion on-screen.

Of some additional interest is the fact that Trolley’s Boy is a descendant of Secretariat. The movie horse’s grandsire, Gotham and Dwyer Stakes winner Gone West, is out of the Secretariat mare Secrettame. Winner of the Shirley Jones Handicap, Secrettame was a half-sister to major winners and sires Known Fact and Tentam.

Gone West was Secrettame’s first foal and her most important offspring, although the striking mare also produced stakes winners Lion Cavern and Lord Ultima. A leading stallion internationally and the sire of the important stallions Zafonic, Grand Slam, and Speightstown, Gone West came to the fore as a sire when maternal grandsons of Secretariat were taking the sire lists by storm. The other most prominent members of this club are Storm Cat and AP Indy.

Longshot Max, on the other hand, is not a direct descendant of Secretariat. But Longshot Max, an Oklahoma-bred 7-year-old by Regal Lancer out of Ima Lover, by Seattle Sun, does carry three lines of Bold Ruler and three lines of Princequillo in his pedigree.

Since His Chestnut Perfection was by Bold Ruler out of the Princequillo mare Somethingroyal, this pedigree repetition is, at least, amusing.Longshot Max also descends from Bold Ruler in the male line through Blade – Dee Lance – Regal Lancer.

On the racetrack, Longshot Max is as good as his name. From three starts, he has not placed, earning $220.

For more information about the making of Secretariat, visit this page at secretariat.com.

in the barn with eddie neloy

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adjudicating, bold lad, bold ruler, buckpasser, claiborne farm, dispute, eddie neloy, jim hilling, lovely morning, numbered account, phipps family stable, queen of the stage, resolver, reviewer, time for a change, training methods, vitriolic, wheatley stable

Trainer Jim Hilling from California lent me some fascinating insights into the training methods and successes of the great conditioner Eddie Neloy, who trained the Phipps family horses from the early 1960s until Neloy’s death nearly a decade later. For a portion of that time, Hilling was part of Neloy’s training team.

In that time, Neloy conditioned champions such as Buckpasser, Queen of the Stage, Vitriolic, Bold Lad (through part of his career), Numbered Account, and others.

One morning in May 1967, Neloy started a pair of 2-year-olds on their paths to becoming racehorses at the track. The two fillies were named Bravissimo (1965 Bold Ruler x Batter Up, by Tom Fool) and Lovely Morning (1965 Swaps xMisty Morn, by Princequillo).

A pair of outstanding young prospects, the two fillies teamed up to jog and gallop in company, later progressing to galloping alone. These were baby steps in the larger program to allow each young race prospect to show her talents. Neloy doubtless saw more than the bare record indicates because neither had much impact on the racing news during their time in training.

From three seasons of training, Bravissimo was a winner on the racetrack from nine starts, unlike her two full brothers Three Bagger and Bold Hitter. The latter was unraced but became a useful regional sire and sired a top-class juvenile colt in Dimaggio.

Sent on down the line to other breeding programs, Bravissimo did acceptably well. She produced stakes-placed Bravo Native (by Restless Native) and Late to Rise (by Executioner).

Lovely Morning, on the other hand, earned rather a different response. She never made a start, but surely Neloy had seen something in her early work because she retired to stud for Wheatley Stable at Claiborne Farm and went immediately to the top of the tree. Her first two foals were by Bold Ruler (sire of Lovely Morning’s half-brothers Bold Lad and Successor). These were also the last two crops by Bold Ruler.

Lovely Morning’s first foal was the colt First Dawn, a winner four times, with nine placings from 28 starts. Aside from soundness, there might well have something good there because the mare went to the Bold Ruler stallion Reviewer for her third live foal, which was named Resolver.

The bay filly was third in the G1 Matron and G2 Alcibiades as a juvenile and finally managed to squeak home first in a stakes as a 4-year-old.

As a producer, Resolver became a very important producer, with Flamingo Stakes winner Time for a Change (Damascus), Champagne winner Adjudicating (Danzig), and Kentucky Oaks winner Dispute (Danzig) the top items in an exceptional producing career.

kentucky derby pedigree: devil may care

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a.p. indy, aladancer, bold ruler, claiborne farm, devil may care, diamond a racing, international thoroughbred, Kentucky Derby, keswick stables, longchamp racecourse, malibu moon, nashua, nasrullah, nijinsky, northern dancer, Seattle Slew, trade in thoroughbreds

Originally published at www.paulickreport.com earlier this week.

Following the game decision to enter the high-class filly Devil May Care in the Kentucky Derby, she became the object of considerable media attention attention this week, as the bay attempts to become only the fourth filly to win the Run for the Roses. (She would also be the first bay. Both Regret and Genuine Risk were chestnuts; Winning Colors was a gray.)

Far more than her color, the filly’s pedigree deserves attention for its classic quality and international appeal.

Bred in Kentucky by Diamond A Racing, the powerful bay filly is by Malibu Moon out of Kelli’s Ransom, by Red Ransom, and the branches of her pedigree reach across oceans and national boundaries.

The diversity within Devil May Care’s pedigree is typical of what came to be called the “international Thoroughbred” during the 1980s. This was an important concept in discussing the pedigrees of racehorses as the bloodstock of many countries began to mix, especially on the racecourses of Europe.

In reality, of course, the trade in Thoroughbreds has always been international, but for generations, the traffic was almost exclusively one-way: from England to Europe, the Americas, and the Southern Hemisphere.

Following World War II, however, the quality of the bloodstock in the “destination” breeding centers reached such a quality that those countries’ homebred horses began to be exported and raced successfully back in England, as well as in the premium events in Europe.

One of the stallion importations that made American bloodlines the equal to or superior of those abroad was Nasrullah, who was imported in 1950 to stand at Claiborne Farm for the 1951 breeding season. The stallion sired Preakness and Belmont winner Nashua in his first American crop and Preakness winner Bold Ruler in his third.

Both Nashua and Bold Ruler are present in the pedigree of Devil May Care. Bold Ruler is especially prominent as the filly’s male-line ancestor through Boldnesian, Bold Reasoning, Seattle Slew, and A.P. Indy.

Malibu Moon, the sire of Devil May Care, is a son of America’s leading classic sire, A.P. Indy, out of French-raced Group 1 winner Macoumba, winner of the Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp racecourse near Paris. Macoumba is by the leading American sire Mr. Prospector (whose broodmare sire is Nashua) and is out of French-bred highweight Maximova.

A foal of 1980, Maximova is one of the international Thoroughbreds from that peak of bloodline mixing three decades ago. She won the Group 1 Prix de la Salamandre at 2, was second in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, third in the French counterpart.

Maximova was a top-class daughter of Green Dancer (winner of the French 2,000 Guineas and bred in Kentucky) out of Baracala, by Kentucky Derby winner Swaps (a son of the English-bred stallion Khaled).

If the gentle reader’s head is spinning a bit from all the countries and classics, here’s the gist. Thoroughbred pedigrees from the 1970s onward have become similar to an omelet: everything can be in there, and it might come from anywhere, but the more class a breeder can pack in, the better.

For instance, with regard to the pedigree of Maximova, her sire, classic winner Green Dancer, was from the first crop by the Canadian-bred Nijinsky, the only English Triple Crown winner in the last 75 years and the racehorse who made Northern Dancer (also Canadian-bred) the most sought-after stallion in the international market.

And Northern Dancer earned his ticket to stud by winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. So in the first three generations of Maximova’s pedigree are seven horses who won a classic race in the US, England, France, or Canada.

Northern Dancer’s trump in matings was that he brought both speed and stamina. Furthermore, his offspring were very well-suited to the training methods in Europe and their principal racing surface of turf.

Northern Dancer also managed to sire some good racehorses on dirt in the States, including Aladancer, the fourth dam of Devil May Care. Aladancer was bred in Virginia by Keswick Stables, won the California Oaks and Firenze Handicap, then produced two stakes winners, as well as Ballerina Princess (by Mr. Prospector), the third dam of Devil May Care.

Aladancer’s stakes winners were Viscosity (by English 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner Sir Ivor) and Vigliotto (by French-bred classic winner Blushing Groom). Maintaining the international theme, Vigliotto won a Group 1 in South Africa.

Musical Minister (by Deputy Minister) was the first foal of Ballerina Princess and has produced Minister Eric (winner of the San Fernando and second in the BC Juvenile), as well as Devil May Care’s dam, Kelli’s Ransom. Devil May Care is the mare’s fourth foal.

private terms was the derby favorite 22 years ago

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bernie sams, bold ruler, claiborne farm, icecapade, Kentucky Derby, laughter, locust hill farm, pensioned stallions, private account, private terms, racehorse sire, ruffian, shenanigans

Unbeaten favorites for anything are rare, and good horses who make it to the Kentucky Derby without defeat are certainly in that category.

Private Terms was the unbeaten favorite for the 1988 Kentucky Derby, “who had a fan club you wouldn’t believe,” according to Bernie Sams from Claiborne Farm. Private Terms, who sired 23 stakes winners, was put down at Claiborne due to the infirmities of old age earlier this year. The 25-year-old son of Private Account had been pensioned from breeding after the 2006 breeding season.

But Sams noted that “there are still people who call up wanting a season to the horse. There is a really loyal fan base for Private Terms as a stallion, all coming from the Midlantic region, and it was strictly people breeding to race” because the commercial market had long ago turned its back on the solid racehorse sire.

Private Terms had a solid pedigree too, as he was by a really good stallion in Private Account (the best son of Damascus at stud) and was out of the Bold Ruler mare Laughter, a daughter of the Native Dancer mare Shenanigans, also the dam of sires Icecapade and Buckfinder, as well as the great racehorse Ruffian.

Bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Janney Jr. and raced in the name of their Locust Hill Farm, Private Terms came to the Derby 22 years ago with a perfect record of seven victories, including his two most important classic preps: the Gotham Stakes and Wood Memorial.

It was probably a saltier than average version of the Churchill Downs classic, as Private Terms finished ninth in the Derby (as the very slight 7-2 favorite over the victorious Winning Colors, who narrowly held off Claiborne’s own Forty Niner, with fast-closing Risen Star in third). In the Preakness two weeks later, Private Terms finished fourth behind Risen Star, Brian’s Time, and Winning Colors. In all, Private Terms won 12 of 17 starts and earned $1.2 million.

Private Terms entered stud in 1990, and from 17 crops he sired 667 foals and the earners of more than $27 million. As a sire, he was responsible for major winners Soul of the Matter and Afternoon Deelites . Soul of the Matter won the 1994 Super Derby and earned more than $2.3 million. Afternoon Deelites won the 1994 Hollywood Futurity and 1995 Malibu Stakes, both G1, and earned more than $1 million.

Those were the stars of his sire career, but Private Terms got a lot of good, solid racers who inspired breeders to keep coming back. Sams said that the booking staff at Claiborne “always knew Private Terms was going to have a book of 34 to 40 mares because he had the most loyal followers you’d ever imagine.”

Not a bad tribute.