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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classic stars of 1959 take a bow in 2023

Tags

Kentucky Derby, sword dancer

The Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 8 told us several things, most prominently that Bob Baffert’s talented cadre of classic prospects includes some of the most expensive purchases in the crop and that they are very well chosen and prepared.

Three of the Baffert brigade filled the first three places in the Sham and cost $775,000 (Reincarnate [Good Magic] at the Keeneland September yearling sale of 2021), $850,000 (Newgate [Into Mischief] at the same sale), and $500,000 (National Treasure [Quality Road] the 2021 Saratoga select yearling sale).

The results of the Sham are also one more brick in the road toward proving that the sires in the 2022 freshman crop are among the best in the breed.

Such an accomplishment is not only difficult to achieve, but it is challenging to quantify, as well.

By one measure, we are seeing the racers by these new sires, such as former juvenile champion Good Magic (Curlin), win important races against the stock by other top-end sires like multiple leading sire Into Mischief and sire of champions Quality Road.

By another measure, the number of stakes winners by more than one or two of these young stallions is mounting up. At this point, Good Magic has the lead by number of stakes winners (seven). Until the Sham, he had been in a three-way tie for first in that regard with the two other sires atop the freshman sires list: first-place Bolt d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) and third-place Justify (Scat Daddy) with six each.

Fourth-place Army Mule (Friesan Fire) and fifth-place Girvin (Tale of Ekati) have five stakes winners each. The top 10 is rounded out with Sharp Azteca (Freud), Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy), Oscar Performance (Kitten’s Joy), Mo Town (Uncle Mo), and City of Light (Quality Road). Each of those have two or three stakes winners, and the top 10 freshmen account for 41 stakes winners, so far.

All other freshmen sires account for 18 more stakes winners, but it is becoming clearer by the day that the top 10 this year is a pack of salty dogs.

Among the stakes winners by Good Magic, for instance, are four other graded stakes winners, including the colts Blazing Sevens (G1 Champagne Stakes), Dubyuhnell (G2 Remsen Stakes), and Curly Jack (G3 Iroquois Stakes). Reincarnate makes five graded stakes winners for Good Magic, and he will be standing for a 2023 fee of $50,000 live foal at Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa in Bourbon County, northeast of Lexington.

Bred in Kentucky by Woods Edge Farm LLC, Reincarnate is the fourth foal out of the Scat Daddy mare Allanah, who won the Cincinnati Trophy during her racing career. This is a family of good racers and producers and traces back to an interesting fourth dam, Corner Table. Although she was unplaced in six starts, the chestnut mare was remarkable for a couple of other reasons. A foal of 1969, she was one of the earlier horses bred by John Gaines, and she possessed one of the typical Gaines pedigrees. He loved a big, active pedigree that was highly commercial.

Corner Table was by 1959 Horse of the Year Sword Dancer (Sunglow), who had sired 1966 champion 3-year-old filly Lady Pitt in his second crop and 1967 champion 3-year-colt and Horse of the Year Damascus in his third.

A winner in 15 of his 39 starts for owner Brookmeade Stable, Sword Dancer peaked at three and ran a very good second in the Kentucky Derby to winner Tomy Lee (Tudor Minstrel) and was second in the 1959 Preakness to Royal Orbit (Royal Charger). Trainer Elliott Burch then sent the small chestnut to challenge his elders in the Metropolitan Handicap, and Sword Dancer won the race.

Burch wheeled his colt back in the Belmont, and Sword Dancer won the 12-furlong test of the champion, with Royal Orbit third, and continued his 3-year-old season with victories in the Travers, Woodward Stakes, and Jockey Club Gold Cup. High class and a hardy campaign earned Sword Dancer the 1959 Horse of the Year title. At four, Sword Dancer won the Suburban and a second Woodward, as well as the title as champion older horse, but 1960 was the first year of mighty Kelso’s reign as Horse of the Year.

Sent to stud in 1961, Sword Dancer stood at Darby Dan Farm and sired Lady Pitt in his second crop, foals of 1963. She and Damascus were leagues better than the 13 other stakes winners sired by Sword Dancer, but their fame and ability was such that Sword Dancer enjoyed a significant, if temporary, vogue in the mid- to late 1960s, and John Gaines sent the dam of 1959 Preakness Stakes winner Royal Orbit to his competitor, Sword Dancer, and the mare’s 1969 foal was Corner Table.

Nothing as good as either of those 1959 classic winners has come out of this branch of the family since, but Reincarnate is doing his part to correct that situation.

a kingdom for this horse: gun runner adds fifth g1 winner with preakness victor early voting

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christopher chenery, early voting, gun runner, hildene, Kentucky Derby

“Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of … Gun Runner”

— William Shakespeare, King Richard III

“Frank, are you misquoting Shakespeare again?”

“Well, sort of. I prefer to think of it as expanding the context of the immortal Bard, Ray.”

“I don’t believe the greatest writer in the language needs you to improve him. Consider your poetic license revoked.”

“Now don’t be hasty, Ray. I’m searching for an angle to write about the greatest young stallion in contemporary breeding … ahem, Gun Runner.”

“Oh, Secretariat! Not that again.”

But, yes, the chestnut shark from Three Chimneys has surfaced once again, this time carrying off a classic.

Gun Runner (by Candy Ride) picked up his first classic winner when Early Voting won the 2022 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21 by 1 ¼ lengths over Epicenter (Not This Time). Early Voting also became the fifth Grade 1 winner for his sire, following juvenile champion Echo Zulu, 2021 Hopeful Stakes winner Gunite, then a trio in the past two months: Taiba (Santa Anita Derby), Cyberknife (Arkansas Derby), and the Preakness winner.

Of course, Gun Runner isn’t doing all this by himself. He was bred to some very nice mares, such as the dam of Early Voting, the Tiznow mare Amour d’Ete. As a 2013 Keeneland yearling, Amour d’Ete sold for $1.75 million to Borges Torrealba Holdings. As sometimes happens, the well-regarded filly never raced and then was bought back at the 2016 Keeneland November sale for $725,000 when in foal to Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (Maria’s Mon).

One reason for the appeal of the mare as a yearling and broodmare is that she’s a full sister to Irap, winner of the G2 Blue Grass Stakes and G3 Ohio Derby and Indiana Derby, as well as being the second-place finisher in the G1 Pennsylvania Derby and Los Alamitos Futurity.

A further reason is that Irap and Amour d’Ete are half-siblings to champion sprinter Speightstown (Gone West), a leading national sire standing at WinStar Farm, as Tiznow had done. All three siblings are out of Silken Cat (Storm Cat), a winner in three of her four starts and champion 2-year-old filly in Canada. Silken Cat produced four daughters who have gone on to be broodmares, and Amour d’Ete is the third to produce a graded stakes winner.

The others are the unplaced (in two starts) Cableknit (Unbridled’s Song), the dam of Capezzano (Bernardini), winner of the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3; and the unraced Gone Purrfect (Gone West), who is the dam of Golden Hawk (Tapit), winner of the G3 Grey Stakes.

The dam of Silken Cat is the Chieftain stakes winner Silken Doll, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Turk Passer (Turkoman).

This family traces back through some distinguished racers and producers to a bay daughter of 1926 Kentucky Derby winner Bubbling Over (North Star III). Her name was Hildene.

Bred in 1938 by the Xalapa Farm of Edward F. Simms, Hildene sold as a yearling for $750 to engineer and entrepreneur Christopher Chenery, and she was once third from eight starts. At stud, however, she was something else.

Chenery sent his broodmare to a young sire standing in Virginia at Arthur B. Hancock’s neighboring Ellerslie Stud. The young stallion was named Princequillo, and the offspring from the mating of 1946 was a bay colt of 1947 that Chenery named Hill Prince.

Voted the top juvenile colt of 1949 in the Racing Form poll, Hill Prince was highly regarded for the 1950 classics and won the Wood Memorial on his way to the Kentucky Derby. Middleground (Bold Venture) won the Derby, with Hill Prince second. Then Hill Prince won the 1950 Preakness by five lengths from Middleground.

Racing through the rest of the year, Hill Prince won the American Derby and Jockey Club Gold Cup, among other good races, and was named champion of his division, as well as Horse of the Year.

Hildene went on to produce multiple other stakes winners, including champion juvenile First Landing (Turn-to). Among her foals that didn’t win stakes was the dam of champion filly Cicada, all bred by Chenery and racing in his Meadow Stable silks. Hill Prince was the Meadow Stable’s first national champion, and more than 20 years later, Secretariat was its last.

Seventy-two years later, the family has won another Preakness Stakes with another son of a young sire with his first crop of classic age.

where are the kentucky derby winners now (at stud)?

Tags

Kentucky Derby, stallion success

All the most recent winners of the Kentucky Derby who have retired – through 2020 winner Authentic (by Into Mischief) – are at stud in Kentucky. This includes 2018 winner Justify (Scat Daddy), who stands at Ashford Stud outside Versailles, Ky. Both Justify and 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) have their first juveniles this year because Always Dreaming raced on at four, then retired to WinStar Farm.

But what of the preceding winners of the Run for the Roses?

Among the Derby winners with racers, 2016 winner Nyquist (Uncle Mo) has 4-year-olds, and he has sired eight stakes winners and 18 stakes-placed racers. One of the members of his first crop was champion juvenile filly Vequist, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Nyquist was the leading freshman sire in 2020, and he stands for $55,000 live foal at Jonabell Farm as one of Darley‘s American stallions.

The 2015 Kentucky Derby winner was American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), also winner of the first Triple Crown in 37 years, as well as the Breeders’ Cup Classic of 2015, when he was named champion 3-year-old colt and Horse of the Year. Sent to stud at Ashford amid great acclaim, American Pharoah was the leading freshman sire in 2019 and stands for $80,000 live foal.

To date, American Pharoah has sired 24 stakes winners and 20 stakes-placed racers in the Northern Hemisphere; the horse also stands in the Southern Hemisphere at Coolmore’s satellite operation in Australia, where he has three stakes winners and two stakes-placed there from two crops of racing age. American Pharoah had several sons being trained for the classics in 2022, most notably Forbidden Kingdom, winner of the G2 San Vicente and San Felipe earlier this season before suffering an entrapped epiglottis in the G1 Santa Anita Derby.

The 2014 Kentucky Derby winner is even more widely traveled than American Pharoah. California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) ventured to the Middle East, where he won the Dubai World Cup.

Retired to stud in 2017 at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, the handsome chestnut was sold to stand at Arrow Stud in Japan in 2019, when his oldest foals were yearlings. The popular winner of the Derby and Preakness stands for a fee of approximately $35,000. California Chrome is the sire of three stakes winners and five stakes-placed and has been represented by such 2022 stakes winners as Cilla (Orleans Stakes) in Louisiana and Matwakel (JCSA Challenge) in Saudi Arabia.

The 2013 winner of the Derby was Orb (Malibu Moon), who was a handsome athlete, possessed a notable pedigree, and received significant opportunities on retirement to stud at Claiborne Farm.

In 2018, the stallion’s second-crop daughter Sippican Harbor won the G1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga to give a much-envied top-level success. Nevertheless, Orb’s results from his initial crops at the races did not meet the high standard of success required for a commercial stallion in Kentucky, and he was sold in 2021. The bay stallion now stands in Uruguay at Haras Cuatro Pietras.

I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley) won the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, then was sidelined and eventually retired. Not long thereafter, he was sold to a group of breeders from Japan and exported to enter stud there. In 2019, I’ll Have Another was sold to American interests and was returned to the States for the 2019 breeding season and stands at Ocean Breeze Ranch in California for $10,000 live foal.

The 2011 Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux), began his stallion career in Australia, although he found his greatest successes in America with the Derby and then the UAE at the Dubai World Cup. But the big chestnut with the slashing stride attracted the interest of Aussie breeders, who shared him with the Northern Hemisphere, where he stood at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington. In late 2019, Animal Kingdom was sold to the Japan Bloodstock Breeders Association and began breeding mares at their Shizunai Stallion Station in 2020.

Super Saver (Maria’s Mon) won the 2010 Kentucky Derby for owner-breeder WinStar Farm, and the bay entered stud there in 2011.

In all, Super Saver sired 28 stakes winners and 31 stakes-placed runners. His best offspring included champion Runhappy (Breeders’ Cup Sprint), Letruska (Apple Blossom Handicap twice), Embellish the Lace (Alabama Stakes), Happy Saver (Jockey Club Gold Cup), and Competitive Edge (Hopeful Stakes). The Jockey Club of Turkey purchased the horse in 2019 and stands him at their stud near Istanbul for a fee of approximately $13,000.

The winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby was a smallish bay gelding named Mine That Bird (Birdstone). Although he could not have a breeding career, Mine That Bird has had a varied and productive life. He has been the Derby winner in residence at the Kentucky Derby Museum and now is a pony horse guiding young racehorses around the track at HV Ranch in Texas.

Big Brown (Boundary) won the 2008 Kentucky Derby, as well as the Preakness, and off those victories, the colt was acquired for stud by Three Chimneys Farm in a very expensive stallion deal. Big Brown entered stud there in 2009 for $65,000 live foal and was moved to stand in New York in 2015, the same year that his best son, Dortmund, finished third in the Kentucky Derby behind American Pharoah. The sire of 28 stakes winners stands at Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions for $5,000 live foal.

Champion at two, when he also won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Street Sense (Street Cry) progressed to win the 2007 Kentucky Derby. Retired to Darley’s stallion operation at Jonabell in 2008, Street Sense has become one of the two most successful sires among living Kentucky Derby winners, along with American Pharoah.

To date, Street Sense has sired 74 stakes winners and 50 stakes-placed runners. Among his best are Maxfield (Breeders’ Futurity, Clark Handicap), McKinzie (Los Alamitos Futurity, Malibu, and Whitney), Sweet Reason (Acorn), Call Back (Las Virgenes), Street Fancy (Starlet), and Wedding Toast (Beldame). Last season, Street Sense had Concert Tour on the classic trail, and this season he has the top 4-year-old Speaker’s Corner, winner of the recent G1 Carter Handicap.

The 2006 Kentucky Derby winner: Barbaro (Dynaformer). Let us not forget what might have been.

In 2005, Giacomo (Holy Bull) managed to win the Kentucky Derby, with subsequent Preakness and Belmont winner and divisional champion Afleet Alex third. The gray entered stud at Adena Springs, but unfortunately, Giacomo did not match his famous sire’s accomplishments at stud. Today, Giacomo stands in Oregon at Oakhurst Thoroughbreds for a fee of $2,500.

The 2004 Kentucky Derby went to the unbeaten Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality), who next won the Preakness and was then upset in the Belmont Stakes by Birdstone (Grindstone), who sired two classic winners: Mine That Bird (Kentucky Derby) and Summer Bird (Belmont).

Smarty Jones was retired after his only loss and spent his first term at stud in Kentucky at Three Chimneys Farm. The medium-sized chestnut was moved to Pennsylvania, then returned to Kentucky to stand at Calumet Farm, while shuttling to Haras la Concordia in Uruguay, and he has most recently returned to Pennsylvania and stands at Equistar Training and Breeding for $3,500.

When Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) won the 2003 Kentucky Derby, he was the first gelding to do so since Clyde Van Dusen (Man o’ War) in 1929. He added a third Grade 1 to his record with the 2004 Jockey Club Gold Cup and retired at age seven with 11 victories and earnings of $3.5 million in 2007. He moved to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2008.

The two other surviving Kentucky Derby winners, Fusaichi Pegasus (Mr. Prospector; 2000 Kentucky Derby) and Silver Charm (Silver Buck; 1997 Kentucky Derby), are pensioned from breeding.

Fusaichi Pegasus had some noteworthy successes at stud, including Grade 1 winners Roman Ruler (Haskell) and Bandini (Blue Grass). He remains a pensioner at Ashford Stud, where he was retired.

Silver Charm sired Preachinatthebar, winner of the 2004 San Felipe, and Miss Isella, a three-time winner at the Grade 2 level. Silver Charm was purchased by the JBBA and stood in Japan for a decade before returning to Old Friends, where he is a fan favorite. With the deaths of Grindstone (1996 Kentucky Derby) and Go for Gin (1994 Kentucky Derby) in March 2022, Silver Charm is the oldest living winner of the race.

Kentucky Derby success is a major accomplishment in the life of a racehorse, but it does not guarantee subsequent greatness. With the intense competition for stallion success, only a minority of such talented athletes as these become stars in their second careers.

suddenbreakingnews supplies some insights into sexual development of colts and his future prospects

Tags

Belmont Stakes, Kentucky Derby, suddenbreakingnews

Some of the most surprising, and intriguing, news of the May 29 weekend came during the press conference at which trainer Donnie Von Hemel announced that Suddenbreakingnews, previously listed as a “gelding” in past performances, actually is not.

That was so surprising that I peeked out of the hedgerow bunker where I do most of my writing for a closer look.

One of the first things of note is that a racer with a live chance in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes around the massive mile and a half oval in New York has an important equipment change.

Then the questions started popping like flashbulbs. What happened and does it mean anything to the horse? What does this mean to the owner, Samuel Henderson, in terms of having a very good colt instead of a very good gelding, and is there a chance that Suddenbreakingnews could have a stud career?

What happened first is that Suddenbreakingnews was offered for sale at the 2014 Keeneland September sale as a colt. A May 2 foal, the good-looking prospect was sold for $72,000 to Henderson, who sent his new purchase to a farm for turnout and time to grow up some more before breaking and training, according to Von Hemel.

At some point, Henderson asked to have Suddenbreakingnews gelded, and at some point in the process of transforming the sales horse into a racehorse, someone checked, and it appeared that the young animal had been gelded.

This is truly understandable because there were no testicles evident.

But that didn’t mean they weren’t present. Somewhere.

As Von Hemel noted, ultrasound examinations discovered two small testicles in the abdominal cavity of Suddenbreakingnews.

Prior to this, the absence of visible, palpable testicles caused everyone associated with Suddenbreakingnews to assume that he had been gelded. It was an innocent assumption borne out by the physical evidence available for everyone to see.

If Suddenbreakingnews had turned out to be an average horse, nobody would likely have bothered to inquire. But he has turned out to be quite a good athlete, and if he won the right sort of races, he could find himself in demand as a stallion prospect.

Or maybe not.

According to experts in Thoroughbred reproduction, having testicles isn’t a guarantee of much, and having them in the wrong place is pretty nearly a guarantee of nothing.

Technically, Suddenbreakingnews is a bilateral cryptorchid, which means that both his testicles were retained, rather than dropping down into the scrotum. The norm is two fully descended testicles, and if even one descends, the colt (usually termed a ridgling) may have normal breeding function.

In cases when only a single testicle descends, the visible testicle may become larger than average and may produce a greater sperm volume. This may be the body’s way of compensating for the situation.

That is not how things are likely to work for a young animal with both testicles retained, however. For one thing, neither is outside the body, and that is key to sperm production because body heat (approximately 101 degrees for a horse) is too high. Furthermore, that neither has descended at this point, when Suddenbreakingnews is a 3-year-old, is not encouragement that the situation will change.

And if it did, all the veterinarians that I consulted believed that there was little chance of any horse possessing normal fertility.

As one vet said, “in 35 years of working with breeding stock, I’ve never seen it happen.” So we’re dealing with a situation that, while interesting to those of us who write about horses and breeding stock, is unlikely to have any effect on Suddenbreakingnews or his prospects.

That’s unfortunate because Suddenbreakingnews is a truly progressive and upwardly mobile young racer who may have many better days ahead.

A good-sized, rangy 3-year-old by Horse of the Year Mineshaft out of a mare by Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex, Suddenbreakingnews has shown himself to be a very good athlete through the winter and spring. And prior to the Kentucky Derby, the bay had been out of the first two places only once in seven starts, with victories in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes in February and the listed Clever Trevor Stakes last year.

In the Derby, Suddenbreakingnews had come flying through the stretch to be fifth behind Nyquist and Exaggerator, with Gun Runner third and Mohaymen fourth, a head and a nose ahead.

In the Derby, Suddenbreakingnews came within inches of making his mark with a placing in the grand classic at Churchill Downs, and it appears that we could say the same thing about his potential career at stud.

But given his prospects as an improving racehorse, the status of Suddenbreakingnews as breeding stock may be a stroke of luck for racing fans because they should get the opportunity to see Suddenbreakingnews race for years to come.

orb shines brightly on historic kentucky derby traditions

Tags

breeding classic winners, Kentucky Derby, lady liberty, malibu moon, ogden mills phipps, orb, shug mcgaughey, stuart janney iii, unbridled

The following post first appeared in Paulick Report last week.

On Kentucky Derby day, no sun shined brightly. Instead, it was a dark and rainy day, but there was an Orb who shined nonetheless. That was a dark bay colt gleaming with water and streaked with mud from the sloppy Churchill Downs surface.

The fire within that lit the Derby winner’s eyes, that powered the remarkable stroke of his stride, is part of a legacy from his famed forebears, which include classic winners A.P. Indy (Belmont Stakes) and Unbridled (Kentucky Derby).

The Derby winner’s pedigree is part of a long history of dedication to Thoroughbred breeding and racing that can be read in the Paulick Report’s owner-breeder story. It is part of the breeders’ continuing search to find the best bloodstock and breed the best racehorses.

Part of that tradition is Claiborne Farm, which has raised Thoroughbreds for the Phippses and Janneys for decades. Claiborne also stood Bold Reasoning, a grandson of the Phipps family’s great stallion Bold Ruler. In the first year of his brief career at stud, Bold Reasoning became the sire of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, the sire of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, who was bred by Will Farish in partnership and stood his entire stud career at Farish’s Lane’s End Farm, where the grand old stallion still resides.

Now pensioned, A.P. Indy has proven a landmark stallion, both because of his individual accomplishments as a sire and because he has been a major force in reviving Claiborne’s greatest male line of Nasrullah and Bold Ruler and putting it again on the pinnacle of American breeding.

With Princess of Sylmar winning the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and Orb succeeding in the Derby, the A.P. Indy male line won both classics. This is the glittering hallmark of quality that has made the A.P. Indy male line the preeminent source of classic ability in North America.

The sire of Princess of Sylmar is Coolmore’s Majestic Warrior, a son of A.P. Indy whose first foals are 3 and who stands at the operation’s Ashford Stud outside Versailles, Ky. The Kentucky Derby winner is by Malibu Moon, a thoroughly proven son of A.P. Indy who stands at Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm north of Lexington.

Bred and raced by Hughes, Malibu Moon showed exceptional speed and precocity, winning a 5-furlong maiden special before injury sent him into retirement. He had shown such speed that he found a spot at stud in Maryland at the Pons family’s Country Life Farm. After the success of his first two crops to race, including champion juvenile Declan’s Moon, Malibu Moon moved to Kentucky, and his star has risen year after year.

Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift, noted that the high class and natural ability of the stock by Malibu Moon have continued to elevate the stallion’s status, crop after crop, and the stallion’s stud fee has risen in similar fashion. From 11 crops of racing age, Malibu Moon has 67 stakes winners to date.

This season, Malibu Moon has a book of about 150 mares, and one of them is Lady Liberty, the dam of Orb, and a daughter of Unbridled.

Toffey said, “I like the mating that produced Orb because it incorporates some of the suggestions that I’ve made to breeders, that they look to add scope and try to lighten up the resulting foal. That’s what I see in Orb. He’s a good-sized, strong horse, but he’s not what I’d call heavy.”

In physical type, Orb clearly takes a good deal from his dam and her celebrated sire Unbridled, a truly big horse with tremendous scope and bone. He was a stakes winner at 2, then improved out of sight at 3 under the handling of trainer Carl Nafzger, winning the Kentucky Derby, finishing second to Summer Squall in the Preakness, and winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the fall.

As a stallion, Unbridled exceeded even what he proved on the racetrack.

At stud, Unbridled sired the winners of all three Triple Crown races: Grindstone (Kentucky Derby), Red Bullet (Preakness), and Empire Maker (Belmont Stakes). The stallion also sired winners of many other G1 races, including multiple Breeders’ Cup victors, and now, as the broodmare sire of Orb, Unbridled has added a second classic to add to Preakness victory by Shackleford (by Forestry out of the Unbridled mare Oatsee).

Unbridled, representing a strain of Mr. Prospector that is essentially classic, is out of a mare by the important French-bred stallion Le Fabuleux. After early success at stud in France, Le Fabuleux was imported to Kentucky to stand at Claiborne in the 1960s by A.B. “Bull” Hancock Jr., and one of the shareholders in that syndicate and consistent supporters of the stallion was Ogden Phipps, the father of Orb’s co-breeder and -owner, Dinny Phipps.

Among the most successful breeders to use Le Fabuleux was Tartan Farms, which bred Unbridled and sold him at the Tartan Farms dispersal to Frances Genter, who raced the colt, then retired him to stud at Gainesway Farm.

When Unbridled hit the brass ring with a first crop that included Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone and major winner and sire Unbridled’s Song, overseas interests came calling with the intent to purchase and potentially export Unbridled.

A group led by Rich Santulli thwarted that effort, buying a controlling interest in the horse and sending him to spend the rest of his career at Claiborne, where he sired Lady Liberty, the dam of Orb.

With his performance last Saturday, Orb glittered with a hard, gem-like flame that reflected the time, tradition, and generations of commitment that produced him.

verrazano looks ready for the classics after victory in the wood memorial

Tags

emory alexander hamilton, enchanted rock, helen alexander, Kentucky Derby, middlebrook farm, monade, more than ready, verrazano, wood memorial

The following post appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

Now unbeaten in four races, Verrazano made himself one of the chief favorites for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby with his victory in the Wood Memorial over the Tapit colt Normandy Invasion.

Those two, along with Florida Derby winner Orb, Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents, and a couple more who will be rising to the occasion in the next week or two, figure to make up the top half-dozen selections for the Run for the Roses on the first Saturday in May.

Verrazano was bred in Kentucky by Emory Alexander Hamilton and raised at Helen Alexander’s Middlebrook Farm on Old Frankfort Pike, where Hamilton keeps all her mares.

Middlebrook is home to most of the broodmares from this family, descending from the French highweight and classic winner Monade, whom Robert J. Kleberg Jr. purchased and imported in the early 1960s. (For more on the history of this importation, see the previous column here.)

Much of the success of this line, including champion Queena, G1 winners Too Chic and Brahms, and other high-quality performers, has come from grafting classic-quality speed horses onto this robustly classic line. Among the sires used successfully with the Monade family have been Horse of the Year Dr. Fager, French classic winner Blushing Groom, and the great sires Mr. Prospector and Danzig.

The dam of Verrazano, Enchanted Rock (by Giant’s Causeway), was one of the exceptions to racing success in the family. She was unplaced in her only start, but she has begun her career the right way.

Both of the mare’s first two foals of racing age are graded stakes winners: G2 winner El Padrino (Pulpit) and now Verrazano.

Enchanted Rock’s 2-year-old is a filly by leading sire Tapit, and the mare has a yearling filly by Pulpit who is a full sister to El Padrino. On April 3, Enchanted Rock produced a chestnut colt by Pulpit, and the mare is booked to return to More Than Ready, the sire of Verrazano.

A 16-year-old son of the supreme South American sire Southern Halo, More Than Ready was a high-class 2-year-old in 1999, when he won four stakes while showing more speed and precocity than stamina. The colt returned the following season to win at the G1 level with a success in the King’s Bishop at Saratoga and also placed second in the G1 Blue Grass and G1 Vosburgh.

More Than Ready had better precocity and a higher turn of speed than most of this male line coming from the Hail to Reason stallion Halo through Southern Halo. More Than Ready also offered an outcross, but the stallion had to earn his way into the good graces of many breeders, as this line was not and still is not overly strong in North America.

In South America, Southern Halo and his sons get champion juveniles and 10-furlong classic winners, along with much of everything between. And in Australia, where More Than Ready began shuttling several years ago, the stallion has earned an even higher ranking among breeders than he enjoys in the States.

As evidence of this, the stallion’s stud fee of $121,000 ($Aus, including tax) in Australia is quite a bit higher than his Kentucky fee of $60,000 live foal.

More Than Ready earned his success with consistency and quality, and he has managed to show consistency, even though he entered stud in the era of over-large books. From more than 2,000 foals worldwide, the stallion has 118 stakes winners at present.

Verrazano is the 13th G1 winner for his sire, and given mares with scope and strength and more stamina in the family, More Than Ready is showing the capacity to get high-class performers across a variety of distances and surfaces in North American, and as his successes build, so do the quality of his mates.

When Enchanted Rock first went to More Than Ready, she was an unproven mare with a good family and potential. Now, she will be one of the stars of the stallion’s 2013 book, and some canny observers of racing form believe that the mating will look even better after the first Saturday in May.

broodmare of the week: mining my own

Tags

breeding class, class in the dam, dullahan, joe estes, Kentucky Derby, mine that bird, mining my own, pacific classic

Decades ago, the great bloodstock researcher Joe Estes proved that racing class in the dam was the first and most obvious indicator that a mare could be a good producer. Then she actually had to do it.

As time, temperament, and vicissitudes of fortune have proven, even the best racemares don’t always prove notable successes at stud. And likewise, some mares who have no race records nonetheless possess the right stuff to produce the premium racers of the next generation.

That has proven the case with the now-illustrious Smart Strike mare Mining My Own, who was not raced but has produced not one but two G1 winners from her first three foals. Furthermore, the first was Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird (Birdstone), and the second is Dullahan (Even the Score), winner of the G1 Breeders’ Futurity, Blue Grass Stakes, and Pacific Classic.

Mining My Own has a useful but not illustrious female family, and it is likely that a significant element in her success as a producer lies with her sire, who has fashioned himself into one of the most important sons of his sire, Mr. Prospector. Smart Strike is, in addition to being a multiple leading sire and sire of Horse of the Year Curlin, a stallion who is likely to become an increasingly important broodmare sire as more of his better daughters get to stud and are given chances with better stallions.

One of the most salient qualities in the Smart Strike tribe is their durability and versatility, with some racing well beyond the norm and many having the ability to switch surface or to excel over different surfaces.

The offspring of Mining My Own are notable as strong finishers. Mine That Bird won his Derby due to his capacity to maintain a steady, even lethal, gallop over trying conditions, and Dullahan shows his best form when he can get a superior grip on the surface, which is one of the advantages of synthetic tracks, where all three of Dullahan’s G1 victories have come.

Mining My Own, now 11, has been bred to some of the most prominent stallions in the breed the past few years and will continue to have opportunities commensurate with her famous offspring.

The produce record is below:

1st Dam: Mining My Own, ch, 2001. Bred by Lamantia, Blackburn & Needham/Betz Thoroughbreds (KY). Unraced in NA, Eng and Fr.
	2006: MINE THAT BIRD, b g, by Birdstone. Raced 3 yrs in NA, 18 sts, 5 wins, $2,228,637. Won Kentucky Derby (G1), Grey Breeders’ Cup S. (G3), Swynford S., Silver Deputy S.; 2nd Preakness S. (G1), Borderland Derby; 3rd Belmont S. (G1), West Virginia Derby (G2). 2007: Brother Bird, dk b/ g, by Yonaguska. Raced 4 yrs in NA, 22 sts, 8 wins, $174,075. 2008: Barren. 2009: DULLAHAN. At 2: Won Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1); 3rd With Anticipation S. (G2). At 3: Won TVG Pacific Classic S. (G1), Toyota Blue Grass S. (G1); 2nd Palm Beach S. (G3); 3rd Kentucky Derby (G1). 2010: Mezah, ch f, by Tapit.  Unraced in NA, Eng and Fr. 2011: No record. 2012: Unnamed foal,  c, by Giant’s Causeway.  Unraced in NA, Eng and Fr.
	Broodmare sire: SMART STRIKE, b, 1992. Sire of 165 dams of 448 foals, 301 rnrs (67%), 215 wnrs (48%), 65 2yo wnrs (15%), 30 sw (7%).
	2nd Dam: Aspenelle, ch, 1990. Bred by Whitco Farm (ON). Raced 1 yr in NA, 4 sts, 2 wins, $68,425 (ssi = 13.25). 2nd Canadian Oaks (R). Dam of GOLDEN SUNRAY (f, Crafty Prospector, $87,720. Won Poinciana Breeders’ Cup Handicap.).

kentucky derby winner shows it’s ‘all in the family’

Tags

arch, arch's gal edith, claiborne farm, classic winner, distorted humor, economics of breeding, flower alley, harvey clarke, i'll have another, Kentucky Derby, Rob Whiteley, steve shahinian, three chimneys farm

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

Winning a classic puts the shine on any pedigree, but the luster from I’ll Have Another’s success in Saturday’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs could not have come at a more opportune time for the colt’s sire, the young stallion Flower Alley, whose second crop are now 3-year-olds.

From the third crop by leading sire Distorted Humor, Flower Alley followed his sire’s classic winner, champion Funny Cide, and second-crop star, multiple G1-winner Commentator, but was the first top-class son of Distorted Humor who was a colt and could go to stud. Now, Flower Alley is the first son of Distorted Humor to sire a classic winner.

The chestnut son of Distorted Humor hit his greatest stroke on the racetrack with victory in the G1 Travers Stakes, and on the basis of that and other good form, he went to stud at Three Chimneys Farm for an initial stud fee of $25,000 live foal.

I’ll Have Another was one of 73 live foals bred on that stud fee from covers of 2008 (in the midst of the world economic crash) that were born in 2009, and the economic nail through Flower Alley’s coffin came the following year at the 2010 yearling sales when 39 yearlings – more than half his second crop – sold for an average of $15,674 and a median price of $11,000.

In one of the ironies of sales statistics and racing lore, I’ll Have Another was the median Flower Alley yearling at the sales. On the track, he has proven something entirely different.

So, for many breeders and observers, it’s a puzzle why Flower Alley’s stock was not better received at the sales.

Rob Whiteley of Liberation Farm bred a number of mares to the stallion from the beginning of his stud career and confesses to being puzzled also. He said, “The sales market is a mysterious thing and is often disconnected from the racetrack and from racing performance. The sales market is driven by word of mouth and hearsay from opinion-makers who often have their own agendas, and rather than cherishing a commitment to facts, seem to look through lenses that do not reflect reality. The one fact about the market that I’ve observed over 40 years is that it’s usually wrong. And breeders and buyers that didn’t line up for Flower Alley sure missed the boat. He earned my full respect when he defeated Grade 1 racehorses like Bellamy Road and Roman Ruler in the Travers, then ran second to Saint Liam in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Now he looks ready to take off with G1 winner Lilacs and Lace in his first crop and with the Kentucky Derby winner in his second crop.”

In contrast to the later reception of his yearlings at auction, the tall and scopy stallion found interest from breeders in his initial books, and among the promising young mares attracted to Flower Alley’s second season at stud was the dam of I’ll Have Another, Arch’s Gal Edith, a reference to the wife of television character Archie Bunker.

Steve Shahinian, adviser to breeder Harvey Clarke, said that “Freddie Seitz from Brookdale Farm suggested the mating of Flower Alley for Arch’s Gal Edith that produced I’ll Have Another. If you couldn’t breed to Distorted Humor, you could breed to Flower Alley, and he’s a horse who could go a classic distance, which we wanted.”

The dam of I’ll Have Another was always a well-intended young prospect. By the good sire Arch, whose most famous offspring is champion Blame, Arch’s Gal Edith made only one start, winning a maiden special at Belmont by three-quarters of a length in 1:11.58 for six furlongs.

Said Shahinian: “We thought a lot of this filly. I believed she was stakes caliber, and she trained like it.”

She had been lightly raced by chance, but not precisely from unsoundness. The filly showed enough ability at the sales of 2-year-olds in training to sell for $80,000 but, once sent to the trainer, fractured a hock from kicking the wall of her stall. Then after winning her maiden, she developed a small chip in an ankle, and the surgery to clean it out did not resolve smoothly, necessitating retirement.

Although the oddities of chance intervened in what promised to be a good racing career, Arch’s Gal Edith has produced three good winners from her first three foals, and the Kentucky Derby winner is her first black-type horse.

Breeder Clarke still has the mare and has a 2-year-old Tapit filly out of the mare named Gloria S, a reference to the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker. Arch’s Gal Edith was given the following year off after foaling the Tapit, and earlier this year had a Midnight Lute foal that did not survive a difficult delivery. The mare was bred back to champion Gio Ponti about a week ago.

The sire of Arch’s Gal Edith is the Claiborne Farm stallion Arch, and stepping back a generation on the bottom and two generations on the top, this is a very Claiborne pedigree, as both champion juvenile Forty Niner (sire of Distorted Humor), second in the 1988 Kentucky Derby, and major winner Arch raced for the Hancock family’s Bourbon County operation.

Whereas Forty Niner was a homebred who became a champion and leading sire, Arch was purchased by Seth Hancock at the Keeneland July select yearling sale as a racing and stallion prospect who could offer some bloodlines and aptitude that would suit Claiborne well if the robust colt proved himself the real thing on the racetrack.

Arch was more than capable as a racer, winning the G1 Super Derby at 10 furlongs, and he has been increasingly successful as a sire. From the rather stout male line of Hail to Reason, English Derby winner Roberto, and his son leading sire Kris S., Arch tends to get stock that mature well and show their best form going a mile or more. In amongst ’em, however, Arch will get some speedier animals, such as the European G1 sprint winner Les Arcs, as well as the more typical Alabama winner Pine Island, Donn Handicap winner Hymn Book, Pan American winner Newsdad, and Arkansas Derby winner Archarcharch.

This mating, in general terms, is a matching of speed with stamina, sturdiness with brilliance, and natural athleticism with perseverance. As I’ll Have Another showed through the stretch of the Derby on Saturday, he came to play with the right stuff.

motor city becomes first stakes winner for kentucky derby winner street sense

Tags

bc juvenile, champion racehorses as sires, churchill downs, curlin, darley at jonabell, expectations of stallion prospects, freshmen sires, Kentucky Derby, lantern hill farm, miss netta, motor city, shawgatny, stallion success, star of gdansk, street cry, street sense, suzi shoemaker

The following post appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

When a classic winner who was a champion 2-year-old retires to stud, the expectations are naturally high because few horses excel at the highest levels at 2 and 3. But Street Sense was one of those horses.

Third in the G1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland before sailing up the rail to victory in the BC Juvenile at Churchill Downs, Street Sense echoed that form six months later with a narrow loss in the G1 Blue Grass at Keeneland, followed by a well-earned victory in the Kentucky Derby over the Danzig racer Hard Spun and eventual 3-year-old champion Curlin.

Striking early and winning at the top class were important considerations for Street Sense’s prospects as a stallion, and when he was purchased for stud by Darley, he became the well-regarded understudy for his now-famous sire.

The good-looking son of Street Cry was from his sire’s first crop, and Street Sense is one of the reasons that Street Cry is a major international sire. As a big, rangy horse, Street Cry was a staying juvenile who matured well to win the Dubai World Cup at 4, but something less than the world was expected of him.

However, when the stallion delivered a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and 2-year-old champion in Street Sense, Street Cry became a much different horse in the estimation of breeders. And when Zenyatta rose to the top of the class as a 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old, Street Cry became one of the most sought-after stallions in the world.

One of the peculiarities of breeding is that, even if a stallion does not have an unusual number of stakes winners, having really good stakes winners puts a shine on his reputation that little can dull. And that is the case with Street Cry.

The next challenge for the stallion’s escalating reputation is to get sons who sire good horses, and in Street Sense, Street Cry has a son who shares many of the sire’s best qualities and who appears to be passing them along.

In Street Sense, we have a high-class staying 2-year-old who is much like his sire in racing aptitude, although notably more refined and elegant in physique. The Street Sense stock showed surprising maturity and speed in the premium sales of 2-year-olds in training earlier this year, with a fair number of winners (8) to date.

So it is especially noteworthy that Street Sense had his first stakes winner, Motor City, on Sunday in the G3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs. The gelding was already graded stakes-placed after a third in the Arlington-Washington Futurity in September. In that race, Motor City finished a head in front of the Johannesburg colt No Spin, who also won a stakes over the weekend, and the form lines look reliable.

A Street Sense filly, Miss Netta, closed from last to finish third in the G1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 8, and she has been entered in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs.

Clearly, the Street Sense stock is improving with maturity and showing better form as the distances increase. Those are qualities that will serve the sire’s reputation and will encourage breeders to continue supporting him.

And that’s important because good stallions need good mares, which is half the story with Motor City.

Motor City was bred and is raced by Lantern Hill Farm, located outside Midway, Ky. Motor City is the 12th foal out of the Danzig Connection mare Shawgatny, who was bred by Lantern Hill, sold as a yearling at the Keeneland summer sale in 1991 for $320,000, then repurchased as a broodmare for $40,000 in the 2002 Keeneland November sale, carrying a filly by Gulch.

Shawgatny’s second foal for Lantern Hill was the stakes-winning filly Satulagi (by Officer), and all the mare’s subsequent foals from Lantern Hill have been winners.

The mare is a full sister to group stakes winner Star of Gdansk, who was also second in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and third in both the Irish Derby and English Derby.

Shawgatny is two years younger than her famous brother, and with his obvious class on the racecourse, she brought the highest price of 29 Danzig Connections sold at auction in 1991. On the racecourse, Shawgatny was in the frame six of her seven starts, with a victory, four seconds, and a third.