bully for bourbon (county) as local stallion operations have impressive weekend successes

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blame, claiborne farm, curlin, hill 'n' dale, war front

Maybe it’s something in the water.

Whatever it is, the stallion operations in neighboring Bourbon County (northeast of Fayette County, which includes Lexington) have been ringing the bell repeatedly. Today, there are only two commercial stallion operations in Bourbon County: Claiborne Farm and Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa.

On Keeneland’s second day of racing this fall, in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, which is sponsored by Claiborne, the first two finishers were out of mares by 2010 champion older horse Blame (by Arch), who stands at Claiborne. Annapolis, winner of the Grade 1 Turf Mile at Keeneland, is by Claiborne stallion War Front (Danzig); Nagirroc (Lea) won the G3 Futurity Stakes in New York; and a few days earlier on the West Coast, Midnight Memories won the G2 Zenyatta Stakes to become the first graded winner for Claiborne stallion Mastery (Candy Ride).

In the Breeders’ Futurity, the winner was G1 Hopeful winner Forte (Violence) by a neck over Loggins (Ghostzapper). The sires of both stand at Bourbon County’s Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa, which also stands Curlin (Smart Strike), the sire of Saturday’s G2 Vosburgh Stakes winner Elite Power. On Sunday, Curlin’s daughters Nest and First to Act finished one-two in the G2 Beldame Stakes, and later that day, the stallion’s Malathaat won the G1 Spinster at Keeneland.

Malathaat was last year’s champion 3-year-old filly, and Nest is a virtual certainty to win the Eclipse Award for that division this year after impressive victories in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama, then a blowout victory in the Beldame against older fillies and mares.

Curlin stood the 2022 season at Hill ‘n’ Dale for $175,000 live foal, and with 89 stakes winners to date, including five G1 winners this year, Curlin is an eminently “proven” stallion. He, like Ghostzapper, won a Breeders’ Cup Classic and was named Horse of the Year, then followed up those racing performances by siring repeated successful performers at the top level of sport.

Violence, however, had a more limited racing career of four starts. The strikingly handsome dark brown won the first three of his races, then was second in the G2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream to subsequent Kentucky Derby winner Orb (Malibu Moon).

The handsome son of Medaglia d’Oro raced no more and was retired to stud at Hill ‘n’ Dale for the 2014 breeding season. He proved very popular with breeders, getting 119 and 116 named foals in his first two crops, which included G1 winner Volatile in the second crop. Overall, the stallion’s first two crops produced 84 percent starters to foals, compared to 61 percent for the breed overall; 71 percent winners (42 percent); and 7 percent stakes winners with 16, compared to 3 percent for the breed.

That counted as a positive start to a stallion career, and Violence is still standing in Kentucky to sizable books of good mares and stands for a fee of $25,000. The young Three Chimneys Farm stallion Volatile, along with third- and fourth-crop G1 winners No Parole (Woody Stephens) and Dr. Schivel (Del Mar Futurity; Bing Crosby Handicap), have been excellent indicators of what Violence is capable of siring, but the stallion needed a national champion, a home run colt, to break into the ranks of elite sires like Curlin, Tapit, or War Front.

Could Forte be that colt?

He is certainly talented, fast, and brave. When he ranged up outside of Loggins in the Breeders’ Futurity, it appeared the Violence colt would blow past his rival. Loggins had other ideas and never gave up, but at the wire, Forte was a neck in front of his rival and claimed the victory.

The third-place colt, Red Route One (Gun Runner), was seven lengths behind the winner.

The suggestion of the form is that both Forte and Loggins are quite good and that the future holds high promise for them both.

Bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm, Forte has now won three of his four starts and is one of two juvenile colts with a pair of G1 victories. The other is Cave Rock (Arrogate).

Forte is out of the Blame mare Queen Caroline, a four-time stakes winner, and the colt’s second dam, Queens Plaza (Forestry), won the Sorority Stakes at 2. The third dam, Kew Garden (Seattle Slew), was only a winner, but her dam was the multiple graded stakes winner Jeano (Fappiano). Another daughter of Jeano, Contrive, produced the champion 2-year-old filly Folklore (Tiznow).

South Gate sold Forte for $80,000 as a weanling at the 2020 Keeneland November sale, and the colt was pinhooked into the following year’s September sale, where he brought $110,000 from Repole Stable & St. Elias Stable, which entities own and race the colt.

Forte’s dam Queen Caroline was purchased by Amy Moore of South Gate Farm for $170,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September sale. Queen Caroline won four stakes and $401,608, placing in four other stakes. Forte is the mare’s first foal, and she has a yearling colt by Uncle Mo who sold to Mayberry Farm for $850,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September sale. Earlier this year, Queen Caroline was bred to Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway), the sire of Epicenter and other good racers.

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claiborne’s algorithms has winner of the pennsylvania derby bred by family operation

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claiborne farm, math wizard, pennsylvania derby

Maybe it’s something in the water at Claiborne. But over the weekend, freshman sire Lea (First Samurai) had his first stakes winner when Vast won the Hollywood Wildcat Stakes at Monmouth by two and three-quarter lengths, and Algorithms got his first Grade 1 winner when Math Wizard won the Pennsylvania Derby at 31-1.

In fact, Algorithms had an astonishing weekend. In addition to Math Wizard setting up a tremendous payout for bettors who liked his chances in the race, Algorithms had a second stakes winner on Saturday with Hypothesis in the Harry Mercer Memorial at Charles Town and a pair of stakes-placed horses: Taylor’s Spirit was third in the G3 Charles Town Oaks and He Hate Me was third in the G3 Frank De Francis Memorial Dash.

The handsome bay son of Bernardini (A.P. Indy) currently has eight stakes horses racing around the country and is sitting at 69 percent starters to foals and 48 percent winners to foals, both well above the breed averages. Algorithms, however, didn’t get these graded and black-type results immediately with his first crop, now 5, and this year, he covered a small book because mare owners weren’t seeing enough black-type horses. The current run of stakes action, along with Recruiting Ready, who won the G3 Gulfstream Park Sprint earlier this year, may have rectified that situation.

A foal of May 4, Math Wizard was bred in Kentucky by Lucky Seven Stable, and that operation put the colt in training, raced him, and then lost him on a $16,000 claim from trainer Antonio Sano when the colt finished third behind Maximum Security at Gulfstream on Dec. 20 last year. Sano ran Math Wizard back at the same level, and the colt won and was claimed; raced for $25,000 claiming, Math Wizard was claimed a third time in succession and exited that phase of his career.

The Pennsylvania Derby winner was raised at Upson Downs of Alex and Sarah Rankin near Louisville. Alex Rankin said, “Math Wizard was the last foal out of the mare. He was a tough little guy from the start. He wasn’t the biggest horse in the field, but he had plenty of competitive spirit.”

Lucky Seven Stable is the operation of the four Mackin brothers from Louisville. Rankin said, “They own Metal Sales, and I believe they still own Yellow Cab in Louisville. They have another company called Thoroughbred Plastics. There are four brothers who run these businesses together, and their father Leo Mackin was a CPA in Louisville and got them involved in business and the horses.

“They bought four or five yearlings this year and last, and they have two mares with me now, including Sister Blues (Pioneerof the Nile). She’s an interesting story because they sent her to us early in the year in 2017 with the intention of breeding her, then continuing to race her.

“She came in about mid-February, was bred on the 17^th day she was at the farm, got right in foal, then went back to racing, where she won three in a row,” including the 2017 Opelousas Stakes at Louisiana Down in August.”

In 2017, Math Wizard was a tough-minded yearling learning his early lessons toward becoming a racehorse, but his pedigree was already distinguished.

The family traces back through the mists of time to the imported mare Myrtle, by the English Derby winner Mameluke. Myrtle was imported to Tennessee in 1836, and this became famous as the family of the fine 19^th century racemare Maggie B B (Australian) and her granddaughter Sallie McClelland (Hindoo), winner of the 1890 Spinaway Stakes and 1891 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga.

By the time that the Royal Note mare Royal China came to the races 70 years later, some of the gloss had come off this branch of the family, and Royal China won only three of her 23 starts. The bay mare got the memo, however, and two of her three foals earned black type. These were Stephanos (Boldnesian), three times second in handicaps at 2 and 3, and Lachesis (Iron Ruler), who won the 1975 Interborough Handicap and was second in the 1976 Fall Highweight against colts.

Retired to stud, Lachesis got her best racer as her first foal, the Tentam horse Muskoka Wyck. A winner in 10 of 50 starts, Muskoka Wyck got a well-deserved reputation as an almost horse, running second in four stakes and third in two more, including the G2 Fall Highweight in 1984. Through much of his career, however, it appeared that Muskoka Wyck would be a placer but never a winner of a stakes. But in 1985 at 6, the bay won the Coaltown Stakes at Aqueduct.

As her third foal, Lachesis produced the Halo filly Halo My Baby, who brought $175,000 at the 1983 Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale, then resold the next spring as a 2-year-old in training for $450,000 out in California. As a yearling, she had ranked fourth-highest among all Halo yearlings sold and was the top lot among the sire’s juveniles.

And she never raced.

That, of course, did not stop her from becoming an important broodmare. She produced 14 foals, 13 racers, and 12 winners. Like her dam, Halo My Baby produced a stakes winner as her first foal. That was the Czaravich horse Art Work, who won the Bastille Day Handicap at Hollywood Park and placed third in the G3 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar and in the G3 Ascot Handicap at Bay Meadows.

Halo My Baby also produced the stakes-placed Green Baby (Green Dancer), Dontcallmemary (Imperial Falcon), and Red Wraith (Thirty Six Red). The mare’s best racehorse and most important for the subject of this story came as her tenth foal in 1998. By champion Deputy Minister, this foal was named Minister’s Baby and won a trio of stakes as a 4-year-old, including the G3 Gardenia Handicap in 1992.

Minister’s Baby foaled a pair of stakes winners. The first was Ginny’s Grey (Political Force), and Math Wizard was the mare’s last foaled, produced when she was 18.

As a May foal, Math Wizard would have been notably smaller and more immature than many of his early pasture mates, but the chestnut son of Algorithms looked plenty big through the stretch of the Pennsylvania Derby. He’s all grown up now.

leading sire war front set the pace in the sales lists at keeneland september in session one

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cathy sweezey, claiborne farm, mandy pope, war front, wayne sweezey, whisper hill farm

In a briskly successful first session of the Keeneland September yearling sale, the gross price rose 35 percent to $44.6 million, with an average price of $297,613. The top three prices at the opening session — $1 million and $1.45 million for two fillies and $900,000 for the top-priced colt — were paid for yearlings by Claiborne Farm stallion War Front (by Danzig).

The 12-year-old stallion, who looks so much like his sire that it’s a little spooky, enjoyed a fuller racing career than that great sire.

Whereas Danzig was unbeaten in three starts in fast time but no stakes, War Front raced three seasons and was first or second in nine of his 13 starts. The horse’s most important victory came in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes at Saratoga, with seconds in the Vosburgh, Forego, Tom Fool, Mr. Prospector, and Deputy Minister.

So War Front was a sprinter who didn’t win a Grade 1 stakes, the Vanderbilt was a G2 at the time he won it, and took a place at Claiborne because owner-breeder Joseph Allen and a group of syndicate members believed in the horse and supported him through his early seasons with useful mares.

As a result of that support and his own innate qualities, War Front has climbed the ladder of stallion success. From being an interesting stallion prospect, the brawny bay has become one of the most respected stallions in the world, and his offspring are highly sought at the sales.

Obviously.

The stallion’s early yearlings looked the part, and buyers began picking them up early for good prices, which allowed breeders to continue to support him through the hard times of the bloodstock depression. Then when War Front’s first crops included major winners like The Factor (Malibu), Data Link (G1), Declaration of War (Juddmonte International and Queen Anne Stakes), and Summer Soiree (Del Mar Oaks), the breeders with foals and yearlings on the ground made a lot of money in times when they needed it.

And major breeders began flocking to the horse.

With first foals of 2008, War Front has risen to an advertised stud fee of $150,000 live foal, if you can find one. Nominations to the horse are tightly held by a syndicate. The syndicate is comprised of breeders who use their seasons. Getting one is about as easy as sneaking a gold bar out of Fort Knox.

That is, however, the traditional nature of a syndicate. And one of the virtues and privileges of being a member has traditionally been access. Yes, the right to breed to one of the best and most successful stallions in the world.

The mega-books approach to stallion management has diluted the concept of syndication out of all recognition for those of us with memories that extend past the last generation. But Claiborne Farm does have a long memory, both among the individuals responsible for its success and as a corporate body that has been a leader in bloodstock breeding in Kentucky for more than a century.

Claiborne Farm has long been a stick in the mud when it comes to newfangled ideas. And proud to be.

So now they have yet another world-class stallion.

And the world comes beating a path to their door in search of seasons to War Front or yearlings by the horse. Claiborne, as consignor, sold the $900,000 colt (Hip 106) and a $525,000 colt (Hip 109); Lane’s End, as consignor, sold the $1 million filly (Hip 99) and a $600,000 colt (Hip 182).

But Timber Town (Wayne and Cathy Sweezey), selling for major buyer and now breeder Mandy Pope (Whisper Hill Farm), put the ball out of the park with the session-topping yearling at $1.45 million. The filly is the first foal of the group-placed Galileo mare Betterbetterbetter, an Irish-bred half-sister to classic winner Yesterday and G1 winner Quarter Moon, and Betterbetterbetter was sold for $5.2 million carrying this filly at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale in 2013.

Betterbetterbetter did her job and produced a good-sized and robust foal on Jan. 16 last year who grew into a very appealing yearling. The session-topper responded well to the sales prep and presentation at the September sale by Timber Town, and her hammer price indicates how inspectors found her at the barn.

As a sales yearling and racing prospect for buyer Shadwell Farm, the War Front filly is a credit to all who knew her and helped her along the way.

pulpit, seeking the gold, and war front tie together claiborne connections

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claiborne farm, danzig, mr. prospector, Pulpit, seeking the gold, war front

The stakes over the weekend produced winners who had repeated ties to Claiborne Farm, as the Grade 2 San Vicente winner was Lord Nelson, a chestnut son of farm sire Pulpit (by A.P. Indy) out of African Jade, a mare by leading sire and broodmare sire Seeking the Gold. Lord Nelson defeated last season’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red by a neck in 1:22.15 for the seven furlongs of the San Vicente.

In Kentucky, the winner of one of Turfway’s preliminary stakes preps for the Spiral was the War Front colt The Great War, last seen finishing a respectable fourth in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile behind Texas Red and Carpe Diem. Already the sire of 33 stakes winners and 8 G1 winners, War Front (Danzig) is currently the most popular stallion at Claiborne.

The Breeders’ Cup form is further evidence of the quality that The Great War possesses, and he blew away his opponents at Turfway with a 7 ¼-length victory, going 6 ½ furlongs in 1:18.69 on Polytrack.

Bred by Claiborne, The Great War races for international racing and breeding giant Coolmore, which purchased the colt for $1 million at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale. The bay son of War Front is out of Guide, a daughter of Pulpit. A full sister to stakes winner Laity, Guide won a maiden among her eight starts, and The Great War is her first stakes winner. Guide is out of stakes winner Tour, a daughter of Claiborne’s champion Forty Niner (Mr. Prospector), and two of her siblings produced the major winners Zensational (Unbridled’s Song) and Departing (War Front).

Also winner of the Blenheim Stakes in Ireland, The Great War has won four of his nine starts and is now trained by Wesley Ward after doing his earlier training and racing with Aiden O’Brien at Ballydoyle.

At the same 2013 Keeneland sale, Lord Nelson sold for $340,000 to John Fort and races for Peachtree Stable. The chestnut colt was an outstanding representative for Pulpit, an important stakes winner from the first crop of A.P. Indy who was one early indicator of that stallion’s importance as a sire of racehorses and breeding stock. Pulpit was a high-class racehorse with speed and versatility, and as a sire he had success from the start, with his most important son being the immensely popular Tapit, a fetching gray who stands at Gainesway.

As an individual, Pulpit was a tidy bay of medium size who won four of his six starts, including the G2 Fountain of Youth and the Blue Grass Stakes and was second in the Florida Derby. The Blue Grass was his prep for the 1997 Kentucky Derby, in which he finished fourth behind Silver Charm, Captain Bodgit, and Free House.

At stud, however, Pulpit put his contemporaries in the shade, siring 77 stakes winners so far, and that number will grow. Lord Nelson is from Pulpit’s next-to-last crop, and there are 26 more in the stallion’s last crop, now 2-year-olds.

When Pulpit entered stud in 1998, he took up residence in the famed stallion barn at Claiborne like the great Mr. Prospector (Raise a Native), his important son Seeking the Gold, and Danzig (Northern Dancer), whose influence around the world is even greater than Mr. Prospector’s.

Seeking the Gold was approximately midway in age between the old guard and Pulpit. A top-class racehorse, Seeking the Gold had finished second to Forty Niner in the Travers and to Alysheba in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. At stud, he proved himself an even better sire, getting champion fillies right away. That was just like Seeking the Gold’s broodmare sire Buckpasser, who also stood at Claiborne.

So Seeking the Gold was a hot young sire in 1998, and his international appeal accelerated rapidly over the next couple of years due to the exploits of his son Dubai Millennium. In 1999 and 2000, Dubai Millennium won nine of his 10 starts — including four G1s — and earned nearly $4.5 million.

Sire of 92 stakes winners (10 percent), Seeking the Gold’s fillies tended to fill up his stud record, but it also included top colts like Florida Derby winner Cape Town and Belmont Stakes winner Jazil, but none was better than Godolphin’s great performer Dubai Millennium. Of Seeking the Gold’s sons at stud, the most enduring has been Petionville, but the most influential once again was Dubai Millennium, who died after one season at stud. Dubai Millennium succeeded in getting a son, Dubawi, who has proven himself an outstanding sire in Europe.

Today, Seeking the Gold is still in his old stall in Claiborne’s stallion barn. Age 30, the bay has been pensioned from breeding for several years, but his legacy and influence on the breed live on.

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

upstart makes action speak loudest with his victory in gulfstream’s holy bull

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claiborne farm, flatter, joanne neilsen, john grau, sunnyfield farm, upstart

In his 3-year-old début, Upstart (by Flatter) confirmed hopes of continued progress by racing away with the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes by 5 ½ lengths at Gulfstream on Jan. 24. Some of the handicapping organizations put their stamp of approval on the performance by rating the race strongly on speed figures, and Upstart gave the impression that he has come on nicely from his form at 2.

And that form was good.

Winner of a maiden special at Saratoga in his début, Upstart won the Funny Cide Stakes in his second. The dark bay ridgling then challenged the best colts in the East and ran second to Daredevil in the G1 Champagne and more than 15 lengths ahead of fourth-place El Kabeir, who won the Jerome in New York earlier in January.

After that good performance in the Champagne, Upstart was sent to California for the Breeders’ Cup, and he finished third behind runaway winner Texas Red (Afleet Alex) and a nose behind Breeders’ Futurity winner Carpe Diem (Giant’s Causeway).

The Holy Bull was the fifth start and third victory for the New York-bred, who was bred by Joanne Nielsen at her Sunnyfield Farm near Bedford, N.Y. Contacted in Florida, Nielsen was buzzing with excitement over the success and promise of the colt she bred. She said, “Upstart has been such a sound and willing colt that we feel almost giddy with the prospects of what might come next for him.”

Indeed, Nielsen’s planning for this colt began in 2011, when she sent her mare Party Silks (Touch Gold) to Flatter because “the mare is not really big, certainly not 16 hands, and the A.P. Indy stallions tend to be 16.1, not over-big but adding some size to the mating.”

John Grau, Nielsen’s farm manager, said that Upstart was born a dark bay, “looked black, and was foaled on Friday the 13^th. So we called him ‘Lucky’ at the farm.”

Nielsen bred Party Silks from the stakes-placed Housebuster mare Intend to Win and retained Party Silks for her breeding program in New York, where she tries to keep eight producers. The breeder noted that Upstart possessed outstanding “muscularity, a good mind, and a confident sense of himself.”

The Holy Bull winner is among 34 stakes winners for the sire, whose progeny is led by G1 winner Flat Out, and is the fifth G2 winner for the good sire Flatter, a son of the grand old sire A.P. Indy out of the Mr. Prospector mare Praise. That makes him a full brother to G2 stakes winner Congrats, a leading freshman sire and a shuttle stallion to the Southern Hemisphere who stands at WinStar Farm in Kentucky, although an attack of colic threw a wrench into his 2015 season. Congrats is now scheduled to leave Australia on Jan. 31 and is expected to begin covering mares around the first week of March.

Retained to stand at Claiborne, Flatter began his stud career at $5,000 live foal, and his book of 95 mares for 2015 is full at $20,000 live foal.

Any horse beginning his tenure as a stallion at $5,000 has something to prove. In Flatter’s case, it wasn’t about pedigree, one of the grandest available, but about racing class and soundness. The massive son of A.P. Indy stands 16.2 and looks like he could pull a train down the tracks.

His size and mass probably played a role in limiting his racing career. Flatter didn’t debut until June 15 of his 3-year-old season, when he was fourth in a maiden special at Churchill Downs. The big bay won his next four races, at 3 and 4, then started in the only stakes of his career, the G2 Washington Park Handicap. Going 1 3/16 miles, Flatter was third to G1 winner Perfect Drift (Dynaformer) and Aeneas (Capote).

Flatter never ran again, but he had shown enough ability and enough class to convince Seth Hancock of Claiborne to bring the horse home and give him a chance at stud. The farm doesn’t often stand horses who aren’t stakes winners; so there was something serious about Flatter that didn’t make it into the record books.

The decision to keep the horse has paid off handsomely for Claiborne, both because the stallion has become one of the farm’s most reliable sources of racing quality and because Flatter has made money for breeders — lots of breeders — at a time when many stallions have been so overpriced that the majority of breeders wouldn’t even clear the stud fees on yearlings brought to market.

For the crop that included Upstart, Flatter stood for $7,500, and his 97 foals from that crop included 42 that sold at auction for an average price of $50,972 and a median of $37,500. Those are the kinds of numbers that once made horse breeding a business.

By any measure, Upstart was one of those yearlings who repaid his breeder for the time and care put into helping the colt fulfill his potential. At the 2013 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred sale of select yearlings at Saratoga, Upstart sold in the top 25 at the auction, bringing $130,000 from Ralph Evans.

Sunnyfield Farm’s John Grau said that “Upstart was a nice foal who progressed into a nice yearling, and while we were prepping the yearlings over our indoor ring, he just floated over the ground.”

The colt presented himself well and attracted a great deal of appreciation among buyers at the New York-bred sale. As a result, Upstart sold for the third-highest price for a yearling by Flatter in 2013.

In keeping with Nielsen’s preference of A.P. Indy sires for this mare, Party Silks has a 2014 filly by the stallion’s son Majestic Warrior and is in foal to Horse of the Year Mineshaft. Party Silks will return to Flatter this year, along with a daughter retained by Sunnyfield.

*The preceding post was first published last week at Paulick Report.

war front showing his speed in a climb to the top

Tags

claiborne farm, speed in the racehorse, war front

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

In the great test of the racetrack, one thing is certain. Speed kills the opposition, and a stallion or broodmare who consistently transmits speed, whether quality front-running speed or powerful finishing speed, has a license to become a major influence in the breed.

Over the past 30 years, one of the most consistent sources of first-rate speed for front-running or finishing has been the great Northern Dancer stallion Danzig. An unbeaten and relatively untried racer, Danzig secured a place at stud through the confidence of the great horseman Woody Stephens and the faith that Claiborne Farm’s Seth Hancock had in the wisdom of the trainer of classic winners and champions.

Stephens brought Hancock together with Danzig’s owner Henryk de Kwiatkowski for lunch at Belmont Park, where the principals wrote out the syndication agreement on a napkin, and the rest is history.

Based at Claiborne for his entire career, Danzig became a sensation from his first crop of juveniles to race, which included 2-year-old champion colt Chief’s Crown, as well as Grade 1 winner Stephan’s Odyssey.

The dark bay horse with the white blaze slanting down his face became a sire of international renown with classic winners and champions, and over the past 20 years, Danzig has been the leading sire of stallions all around the world.

Now Claiborne Farm is standing the last internationally important son of Danzig, as the young stallion War Front has gone from strength to strength with his racing stock and appears to have caught the attention of breeders everywhere in a fashion similar to his famous sire.

And the reason for War Front’s transcendence in the world of breeding is speed. From the stallion’s early crops have come major winners like The Factor, who possessed the kind of speed that nearly burnt up the racing surface, and Declaration of War, a G1 winner in England with a furious finishing run who managed a close third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.

An excellent example of the kind of speed that War Front can impart can be seen in the race his son Summer Front ran in the G2 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream Park. After a toddling first quarter-mile in :25.19 and a half in :49, the contenders began to speed up, and the final five-sixteenths went in :29.92 for a good mile and a sixteenth time of 1:42.24.

Normally, good horses can’t finish that strongly if they have raced fast fractions during the first half of the race, and the race profile of the Ft. Lauderdale on turf resembled most races on that surface: moderate early, quickening late.

That is directly opposite the way most dirt races are conducted, with horses going fast early, then the winner slowing down the least in the final stages.

Much of the difference in the way races generally work out on dirt and turf is in the nature of the surface. Dirt is a consistent, durable material that will allow continued racing for weeks on end, but it will break away from a horse with great power. We can see this most often at the start, when horses with great power can sometimes push so hard that they cause themselves to stumble as the ground breaks away from them.

So the ideal dirt horse has power, but not too much of it, and also has great stride extension and rhythm that allows him to bowl along at a sharp pace.

In contrast, turf holds when a horse pushes against it, and the more power a horse has, the more he can accelerate. This allows the great change of pace we see in turf racing that is not usually possible with dirt racing.

So which kind of speed does War Front impart?

Like his sire and grandsire Northern Dancer, War Front can get both types of speed. Some of his offspring are notable for their smooth, efficient action; others are even more gifted with power. A good racer by War Front typically has a strongly muscled hindquarter, along with the length of body and hefty body that allows him to stretch out and cover the ground.

Those assets, allied with soundness and a great attitude for racing, have made War Front the next important American stallion to reckon with at the highest level of racing.

As evidence of both the demand for seasons to War Front and their lack of availability from his syndicate, the price of a 2014 season to War Front is $150,000 live foal. A sire generating this kind of interest is also sending sons to stud, such as The Factor at Lane’s End in Kentucky and Soldat in Florida. Now, Data Link, a G1 winner of $831,335, will be standing his first season at Claiborne this year for $7,500.

saratoga sale was a timely reminder of pulpit’s importance

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claiborne farm, Pulpit, saratoga sale

The following note was published earlier this week on the day of Session 1 at the Saratoga select yearling auction.

The Saratoga sale of selected yearlings annually attracts some of the most beautiful and progressive young Thoroughbred prospects. And the sires fit the bill, just like their offspring. The leading sires are well represented, with Awesome Again, Bernardini, Dynaformer, Elusive Quality, Galileo, Giant’s Causeway, Malibu Moon, Smart Strike, Speightstown, Tapit, Tiznow, Unbridled’s Song, and War Front having élite yearlings available for buyers and their advisers to inspect. 

In addition to these fine sires in the catalog, there are offspring from a horse who will shortly be missed: the late Pulpit. The first son of A.P. Indy to strike with important winners at stud and the first son of A.P. Indy to get an important son to carry on the line (Tapit), Pulpit ranks highly among the better racehorses and sires of the last 20 years.

A handsome and powerful horse, Pulpit was quite like his broodmare sire, Mr. Prospector, as a racehorse. Both came to hand rapidly and with shows of high speed during the early months of their 3-year-old season. The admixture of A.P. Indy enabled Pulpit to win the Blue Grass Stakes as his prep for the Kentucky Derby, where the bay colt finished fourth in what proved to be his last race.

As a sire, Pulpit put a lot of speed, as well as quality, into his foals. In addition to leading sire Tapit, the best of these included the G1 winners Pyro (Forego; at stud in Japan), Sky Mesa (Hopeful), Corinthian (Met Mile), Ice Box (Florida Derby), and Stroll (Woodford Reserve Turf Classic), with all the latter sons at stud in Kentucky.

The stallion also sired his share of high-quality fillies, but it is inevitable that sons going to stud get more attention because of advertising and the representation of yearlings and runners before buyers and the sport’s public.

Of the stallion’s three yearlings in the Saratoga sale, Hips 52 and 119 are colts, and Hip 148 is a filly. Hip 52 is a May foal out of the Easy Goer mare Fun Crowd, and he is a half-brother to G1 winner Funny Moon, winner of the Coaching Club of America Oaks and a daughter of Malibu Moon, who is a son of A.P. Indy just like Pulpit. The other Pulpit colt, Hip 119, is the third foal out of stakes winner Silverinyourpocket, winner of the G3 La Troienne Stakes. The Pulpit filly, Hip 148, is also out of a stakes winner, Uninhibited Song (Unbridled’s Song), who is a half-sister to five stakes horses or stakes producers.

The Pulpit stock could have a lot of attitude, but when properly focused, they were fast and furious competitors on the racetrack. Pulpit will be missed, especially at Claiborne Farm, where he was bred and raised and spent his entire career at stud, but his sons and daughters will carry on the legacy for the next generation.

[Note: At the Saratoga sale on Monday and Tuesday, Hip 52 from the Sweezey and partners consignment sold for $375,000 to Classic Bloodstock, agent; Hip 119 from Paramount Sales, agent for the Randal Family Trust, was not sold at $195,000; and Hip 148 from the Select Sales consignment sold to Cheyenne Stables for $300,000.]

departing wins a derby, aims at preakness for claiborne and dilschneider

Tags

adele dilschneider, claiborne farm, departing, homebred racehorses, war front

The following post first appeared at Paulick Report last week.

With the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby less than two weeks away, the Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland and Illinois Derby at Hawthorne were essentially the final two preps for classic colts, especially since trainers apparently can no longer prepare a colt for the Derby on less than two weeks’ rest.

What would the great trainer Ben Jones think about this puzzle of highly trained and lightly raced colts?

All the thinkage may be moot, however, because neither winner of the weekend preps is likely to start in the classic at Churchill Downs.

The Lexington Stakes winner, Winning Cause (by Giant’s Causeway), is trained by Todd Pletcher, who already has five colts confirmed for the first classic (the highly rated and unbeaten Verrazano, as well as Revolutionary, Overanalyze, Palace Malice, and Charming Kitten). Pletcher noted after the race that Winning Cause had been entered for the Lexington because he had raced so well at Keeneland before, not because the connections were gunning for points to make the classic.

If the Giant’s Causeway colt, now a winner in three of his seven starts, challenges for a Triple Crown race, it is more likely to be the Preakness, two weeks after the Derby and four weeks from the Lexington.

That race is also a possible target for Illinois Derby winner Departing (War Front). Although a winner in four of his five starts, Departing doesn’t have sufficient points to be in the top 20 among prospective Kentucky Derby starters, even if his seasoning suggested that he would benefit from the experience.

So few colts actually come out of the Derby better than they went in that the horsemen overseeing Departing’s development are more likely to choose a conservative course that will offer the gelded bay son of War Front the time to develop and show his ability through the season.

Bred in Kentucky by co-owners Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm (Departing races in the Claiborne colors), the son of War Front is the third foal of the Pulpit mare Leave. Unplaced in her only start, Leave is a full sister to Laity, winner of the Cradle Stakes and the John Battaglia Memorial. The mare is also a half-sister to the highly accomplished stakes winner Trip (Lord at War), who won a trio of G3 stakes and $888,773, and to the speedy stakes winner Joke (Phone Trick), who is also the dam of freshman sire Zensational.

Leave and her siblings are out of the stakes-winning Forty Niner mare Tour, and she is one of three stakes winners out of the Full Pocket mare Fun Flight, a stakes winner herself. This is a family known for its speed and quality, and Departing represents another generation of its success at Claiborne.

The first two foals out of Leave are solid winners by Claiborne stallion Arch, but Departing is a major step up in class from his siblings. A winner of his début on Dec. 22, Departing bowled over his opponents for his next condition with victory in a Feb. 1 allowance, both races at Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orléans. Departing became a stakes winner in his third start, the Texas Heritage Stakes at Sam Houston over a mile on March 2.

The gelding’s only loss to date was a third in the Louisiana Derby, and after four victories in five races, Departing’s earnings now total $628,000.

The Illinois Derby winner is by the Claiborne stallion War Front, a son of the great sire Danzig. War Front had a good weekend, when Departing ran successfully in Illinois and the year-older Summer Front won the Miami Mile at Calder.

The 11-year-old stallion has 20 stakes winners to date. A winner of the Alfred Vanderbilt and second in the Vosburgh, Forego, and Tom Fool, War Front had impressive speed. That is the signal quality of his offspring, allied with an enthusiasm for racing and class.

Speed and class such as that seen in the stallion’s sons The Factor and Soldat, and now in Departing, have made War Front one of the most prominent young stallions, and his offspring are in high demand, just like seasons to the stallions, who now stands for $80,000 live foal and is receiving stronger books of mares each year.

congrats solidifies appeal as a leading young stallion

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claiborne farm, congrats, paul mellon bloodstock, sons of ap indy, stallion success

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

One of the best-looking stallions anywhere, Congrats (A.P. Indy) had proven himself a high-class racehorse for breeder Claiborne Farm before his sale to Cloverleaf Farms as a stallion prospect. Winner of the G2 San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita and an earner of $998,960, Congrats also descends from one of the grandest families in the stud book.

The stallion’s female line is a branch of La Troienne through Searching to Glowing Tribute, a stakes-winning daughter of Graustark whose seven stakes winners included Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero. Claiborne acquired Glowing Tribute’s stakes-winning daughter, Wild Applause, from the dispersal of Paul Mellon’s Thoroughbreds. Already the dam of G1 Futurity Stakes winner Eastern Echo (Damascus) at the time of the sale, Wild Applause has produced stakes winners Roar (G2 Jim Beam) and Yell (G2 Davona Dale) for Claiborne.

Not among the stakes winners but very near stakes class is Praise, who is “only” a winner but is a daughter of the great sire Mr. Prospector and has done good work for Claiborne. In addition to Congrats, the mare produced graded stakes-placed Flatter, a successful full brother to Congrats who stands at Claiborne and counts top older horse Flat Out among his premium offspring.

As nearly conformationally perfect as horses come, the 16.2 hand Congrats has been used by some breeders to try to improve less “perfect” broodmares. This has not always worked because heredity is not exactly a straightforward process, but to his credit, some of the stallion’s offspring who did not pass the test of theory proved themselves as racehorses.

Emma’s Encore, for one, was little respected at the sales, but given her chance at the racetrack, she proved her ability at the G1 level with victory in the Prioress Stakes.

One of the stallion’s strengths is the speed he normally imparts, and Congrats has seven 2-year-olds cataloged in the OBS March sale (Hips 3, 8, 14, 96, 237, 285, and 315). They will receive just consideration from buyers who’ve realized that the sire can get good racers from various lines and types. [At the sale, the results were: 3 out; 8 :10 4/5 work, late scratch; 14 :10 2/5, $175,000; 96 out; 237 :10 2/5, $50,000 RNA; 285 :10 1/5, $400,000; 315 :10 2/5, late scratch.]

From his first crop, Congrats sired G1 winners Turbulent Descent (Test, Hollywood Starlet, and Ballerina) and Wickedly Perfect (Alcibiades Stakes), and Emma’s Encore was in the second. The 13-year-old stallion moved to Kentucky for the 2011 season, and his first crop of Kentucky-sired foals are yearlings. He now stands at WinStar.

a sign of things to come

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adele dilschneider, churchill downs, claiborne farm, pocahontas stakes, Pulpit, sign

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

The races at Churchill Downs on Sunday for 2-year-olds not going to the Breeders’ Cup revealed some promising young athletes, including the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes winner Uncaptured (by Lion Heart), now the winner in five of six starts, and the unbeaten winner of the G2 Pocahontas Stakes, Sign.
 
The latter is a daughter of Pulpit owned and bred by Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm. Whereas Uncaptured was a multiple stakes winner coming into the Iroquois, Sign was only the winner of a maiden.

Her début, however, was not just any maiden special. Sign had a massively impressive success at Saratoga, sprinting to victory at six furlongs by 11 3/4 lengths on Aug. 26. The filly had not raced since, according to trainer Al Stall, because she was training at Keeneland before going to the Spa for her début, and “we thought she trained better on the dirt than on the polytrack.”
 
As a result, Sign did not race either at Turfway in September or at Keeneland in October. While awaiting the Pocahontas, Sign had a half-dozen official workouts at Churchill Downs. With her promise obvious from that impressive début and her readiness clearly in print from her work schedule, fans made Sign the 4-5 favorite for the Pocahontas, and the bay filly won by four lengths from the City Zip filly Gal About Town.
 
The unbeaten graded stakes winner is the second foal of her dam, the stakes winner Cross. The winner of three races from 14 starts, Cross was bred and raced by Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne, and the mare won the restricted Hidden Light Stakes and $126,207.

Descending from one of Claiborne’s bluest-blooded families, Cross is one of two stakes winners by her sire Mighty (Lord at War). A grand-looking yearling that Seth Hancock selected at the sales in 1998 with the goal of racing and standing as a stallion, Mighty came close to hitting the brass ring like Arch had done previously.
 
A winner of $705,432, Mighty won the G3 Iroquois Stakes at 2, then hinted at classic prospects with a victory in the G2 Louisiana Derby the following year. Those hopes did not bear fruit, but the son of Lord at War took a turn as a stallion, getting 63 foals and two stakes winners.
 
Cross is one of two stakes winners out of her dam, the Rahy mare Lateral. Bred to Arch, Lateral also has produced G2 American Derby winner Lattice.
 
Sign’s fourth dam is the major-league producer Alluvial, an unraced daughter of the great broodmare sire Buckpasser. A member of one of Claiborne’s best producing families, Alluvial became the dam of multiple champion Slew o’ Gold (Seattle Slew) and Belmont Stakes winner Coastal (Majestic Prince).
 
Alluvial is out of Claiborne’s champion 3-year-old filly Bayou (Hill Prince), and this family traces through Bourtai and Escutcheon to the imported mare Affection, who was bred in France.
 
Alluvial’s best produce was Slew o’ Gold, a son of Seattle Slew, and the mating that produced Sign brings Seattle Slew blood back to Alluvial’s family through the Triple Crown winner’s two strongest first- and second-generation descendants: his son A.P. Indy and grandson Pulpit.
 
While one would not want to make too much of this realignment of pedigree influences, with Seattle Slew in the third generation and Alluvial in the fourth, the female families of Pulpit and Cross have been part of the bedrock of Claiborne breeding for generations.
 
Pulpit’s dam Preach was a G1 winner at 2 and has produced 10 winners from the same number of starters, but Pulpit stands out as her best performer. Winner of the Blue Grass and fourth in the Kentucky Derby, Pulpit was from the first crop by A.P. Indy and marked his sire as a coming factor for classic quality.
 
Preach is a daughter of Mr. Prospector and G3 winner Narrate (Honest Pleasure), and her third dam is Monarchy (Princequillo), winner of the 1959 Arlington Lassie and a full sister to Horse of the Year Round Table.
 
Both Monarchy and Round Table were bred by Claiborne from Knight’s Daughter, an English-bred mare by Sir Cosmo that Bull Hancock imported in the 1950s to mate with Princequillo. Knight’s Daughter was named Broodmare of the Year in 1959.
 
These great families have the potential to produce stock with the ideal qualities of speed and staying power. In unifying these lines, both top and bottom, perhaps the winner of the Pocahontas is a sign of great things to come.