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

Tags

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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union rags continues a family tradition with belmont success

Tags

Belmont Stakes, classic breeding, dixie union, lane's end, nijinsky, phyllis wyeth, Seattle Slew, secretariat, Triple Crown, union rags

The following post appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

The game victory by Union Rags in Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Stakes was also a triumph for the classic approach: to breeding, to pedigree, to training, and to character. In the end, Union Rags wanted the victory more, and he earned it.

And as some very knowledgeable breeders have told me, when looking down that long, long stretch at Belmont Park (or Churchill Downs, for that matter), it’s always a good thing for a racehorse to have some serious classic ancestors to help get him home.

Not surprisingly, then, the pedigree of Union Rags is littered with classic winners, including Northern Dancer, Native Dancer, Nashua, Bold Ruler, and Hyperion, as well as several Triple Crown winners. Two of the three last American Triple Crown winners, Secretariat and Seattle Slew, are in the colt’s fourth generation.

They descend through Secretariat’s stakes-winning daughter Secrettame, dam of Gone West, who is the broodmare sire of Union Rags, and through Seattle Slew’s champion son Capote, who is the broodmare sire of Dixie Union, the sire of the Belmont Stakes winner.

Now a G1 winner at 2 (Champagne) and a classic winner at 3, Union Rags is the most acclaimed son of Dixie Union, who spent nearly all of his stud career at Lane’s End Farm (he entered stud at the Diamond A Farm of his owner, Gerald Ford). The stallion’s classic success this year has a bittersweet quality because Dixie Union was euthanized on July 14, 2010, due to a “deteriorating neurologic problem.”

Winner of the G1 Haskell and Malibu at 3, Dixie Union was arguably the most talented son of his sire, the Northern Dancer horse Dixieland Band, who was central to the transformation of Lane’s End into a powerhouse operation for developing and standing stallions. Logically, then, the farm would have been highly motivated to stand a very good son of Dixieland Band, and Dixie Union had the further recommendations of being uncommonly good-looking, strong, correct, and fast.

Dixie Union had shown the level of his speed by maturing early enough at 2 to win the Hollywood Juvenile Championship and then carried his speed to win the Norfolk Stakes later that season.

The sire passed on his early maturity and high class to Union Rags, who won his début going five furlongs last July, then followed up with a victory in the Saratoga Special and the Champagne Stakes. Union Rags also resembles his sire in being very strong and very robustly made.

The physical stoutness derives from both sides of the Belmont winner’s pedigree. Although his broodmare sire Gone West was more medium-sized, he sometimes sired quite large foals, and the second dam of Union Rags is the rugged distance-racing mare Terpsichorist, who is a daughter of English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky.

The latter was a magnificently muscled beast who was able to defeat the fastest juveniles in sprints, then developed into a classic winner able to crush his competition from a mile to more than a mile and three-quarters.

That versatility seems part of the reason that Union Rags has found success in five of his eight races, along with his courage and athleticism.

A homebred for Phyllis Wyeth’s Chadds Ford Stable who was sold, then repurchased, Union Rags has proven a landmark in a family that has rewarded Wyeth’s family over the generations.

At the Hickory Tree Farm of Wyeth’s parents, James and Alice Mills, they raised some fine Thoroughbreds, including Terpsichorist and her highly regarded full brother, Gorytus. Both were out of the 1,000 Guineas winner Glad Rags, whom Mrs. Mills had purchased and then raced with great success.

In fact, Glad Rags became one of the foundation mares of the Hickory Tree program, and the stable also raced such outstanding horses as Gone West and champion juvenile Devil’s Bag.

Mrs. Mills bred both Terpsichorist and her daughter Tempo, who is the dam of Union Rags. As the last mare out of her mother’s grand chestnut daughter of Nijinsky, Tempo held a special significance for Wyeth, who had hoped that Union Rags would be a filly when he was foaled in Kentucky more than three years ago at the Royal Oak Farm of Braxton and Damian Lynch.

Although Union Rags was not the hoped-for filly, he has proven a splendid colt in physique and racing class.

In generosity of spirit and in his willingness to keep on trying, Union Rags has emulated the qualities of his owner-breeder. She pensioned the colt’s dam after his birth because the mare had had a difficult foaling in a previous year, and she did not wish to further risk the mare’s health and well-being.

Blessed by that concern for her animal’s welfare, Wyeth has been richly rewarded as her pride and joy rallied down the stretch at Belmont to add another classic to a rich family tradition.

discreetly mine: new ky stallions for 2011

Tags

big drama, discreetly mine, lane's end, majesticperfection, mineshaft, pedigree and performance, size in racehorses, sprint championship, sprinting capacity

Discreetly Mine (2007 b by Mineshaft x Pretty Discreet, by Private Account)

Lane’s End $15,000

One of the big three sprint championship contenders, along with Majesticperfection and Eclipse Award winner Big Drama, Discreetly Mine is not an obvious “sprinter.”

He is neither a huge horse nor a massively muscled animal. He’s big enough, standing right on 16 hands, and he’s strong enough to win the G1 King’s Bishop. In physique, however, he is the type of horse who should race a mile or somewhat farther with facility, and he showed good class early in his 3yo season when winning the Risen Star at the Fair Grounds.

When a classic campaign reaped no harvest, the handsome bay was retrained to sprinting for much greater successes. Discreetly Mine won the Jersey Shore, Amsterdam, and King’s Bishop to claim a central position among last year’s sprinters.

Yet both Discreetly Mine and Majesticperfection were on the sidelines when Big Drama scored in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and secured his championship, and the difference in their natural abilities was not very wide. All were very good and very fast. They left their competition in the dust.

Of the three, Discreetly Mine is the puzzler on pedigree. His sire is the AP Indy stallion Mineshaft, who showed his best for at 4 going nine and 10 furlongs at such a high level that he was named Horse of the Year. Also, Discreetly Mine is a half-brother to the young stallion Discreet Cat (Tale of the Cat), whose first foals race this year. Discreet Cat was a miler of exceptional class and will be watched with interest this year.

Those breeding to Discreetly Mine will do well to have their goals in mind when sending him a mare. Matched with quick and precocious broodmares, he is likely to get some early-maturing stock.

quality road: new ky stallions for 2011

Tags

breeding for type, elusive quality, lane's end, new ky stallions for 2011, quality road, smarty jones, speed figures, speed handicapping, strawberry road, top stallion prospects

Quality Road (2006 b by Elusive Quality x Kobla, by Strawberry Road)

Lane’s End $35,000

Physically, Quality Road is a big, masculine horse with great scope and presence. I caught him at 17 hands, with a girth of 77.5 inches. He has an impressively deep and well-angled shoulder, and his hindquarters have length and impressive proportions.

In all, he adds up to being the fastest horse among this group of entering stallions and was one of the fastest horses in the world up to a mile … period. As a result, he is one of the half-dozen horses in this group of entering stallions that one can evaluate with considerable expectation of success.

Another astute judge of stallion prospects without ties to Lane’s End described Quality Road as “the new sire we’ll be sending a couple of mares to because he had the most impressive turn of foot and won sire races.”

Among those impressive victories were the Metropolitan Mile and the Donn Handicap. The darling of the speed handicappers, Quality Road produced speed figures that put him in the rarefied company of some outstanding racers and sires, including his own, Elusive Quality.

The latter is a very big stallion, and heavier topped than his son, but Elusive Quality was a stallion prospect of great interest to some insightful breeders and owners, more because of the extraordinary speed he showed from time to time than from the consistency of his overall race record. But when he was good, Elusive Quality was exceptional.

And from his first crop to race, Elusive Quality has shown the ability to sire some outstanding racehorses. His Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones was most unlike his sire, tending more toward the size and shape of the In Reality line of his maternal grandsire Smile.

Quality Road appears to be much more his sire’s son, with some refinement and quality added by maternal grandsire Strawberry Road, a much underrated stallion who died far too young.

Considering that size and scope and extremely fine-tuned mechanics allowed Quality Road to excel, he may not prove the easiest stallion to match, but when all the factors are taken into account to produce a top individual, he is one to consider with high hopes.

good karma and good racers with smart strike

Tags

haskell, lane's end, leading sires, lookin at lucky, mark frostad, patrick lawley-wakelin, sam-son farm, smart strike

The following article appeared earlier this week on Paulick Report.

The Mr. Prospector stallion Smart Strike has good karma with Monmouth Park. Fourteen years ago, Smart Strike won the Philip H. Iselin Handicap at the New Jersey track. It was one of his six victories from eight starts, but the Iselin was the most important. The race gave Smart Strike the all-important Grade 1 success that guaranteed him a spot at stud in Kentucky at a major farm where he would have a serious chance to succeed as a sire.

In the Iselin, Smart Strike ran a Beyer Speed Figure of 115, which was impressive as it looked, with champion Serena’s Song among the beaten field. At that point, Smart Strike had won six races in a row, and with his pedigree, he was an instant stallion prospect of great significance.

The bay stallion has made the most of his opportunities: getting Horse of the Year Curlin, champion turf horse English Channel, perennial leading sprinter Fabulous Strike, and last year’s champion juvenile colt Lookin at Lucky.

There is a notable amount of versatility in that stud record. Much more so than we typically see among contemporary sires, most of whom tend toward specialties.

If Smart Strike has a specialty, it might be in siring winners of the Preakness Stakes, as both Curlin and Lookin at Lucky have won the Pimlico classic.

Unraced since his victory in the Preakness, Lookin at Lucky polished up the family karma at Monmouth with a facile victory on Sunday in the Haskell. That race was a G1, but that point made much less difference to the handsome bay, as he was already a multiple winner at the premier level.

The Haskell, however, established Lookin at Lucky as the leader of his age group because he defeated Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, as well nearly every other 3-year-old colt with pretensions to dominating the division.

All these things are good news for breeders coming to the yearling sales this year with stock by Smart Strike. As a leading sire and sire of champions, the fillies and colts by Smart Strike will get their fair share of lookers.

But, as with some other top stallions, it took the proof of racing performances before buyers would shell out major money to purchase Smart Strike yearlings, in particular. Many of them can appear somewhat immature at that stage, and the stallion tends not to sire the really big, thick yearlings with strongly defined muscles that the sales market rewards with premium prices.

Even without the unequivocal backing of the commercial market, Smart Strike has become a successful sire because he passes along enough of the proper athletic tools, which he possessed himself.

When I spoke last year with Smart Strike’s trainer, Mark Frostad, he said the horse was “cut out to be a top-class 3-year-old but didn’t win a stakes until he was 4 because he was injured at 3 – tore a tendon where it attaches to the foot, which required time to heal, and he was out for a year.”

The stallion’s breeder, Sam-Son Farm, raced the bay colt produced by their tremendous broodmare Classy ‘n Smart (by Smarten), and Sam-Son stayed involved with Smart Strike after they chose to syndicate him and send him to stud at Lane’s End for the 1997 breeding season.

Patrick Lawley-Wakelin, who is the bloodstock adviser to Sam-Son, said that “Mark Frostad said Smart Strike was going to be a good stallion. Sam-Son ended up keeping 10 shares in the horse, and that was an awful lot to keep because it was a big commitment on our part, and Mark was the architect of that.”

This family has also been a goldmine of top performers for the Sam-Son operation of the late Ernie Samuel, with such premium racers as Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Dance Smartly, an older half-sister to Smart Strike.

Lawley-Wakelin said, “Mark has done an extraordinary job with this family. We have worked on the matings and work to produce racehorses, which he trained, then kept the successful fillies, and put them into the broodmare band to produce more racehorses. It’s very rare these days for trainers to be involved in the bloodstock side of the business. For me, this has been the best job in the country because we not only planned the matings but raced the offspring for generations” of horses.

fly down makes his case for the classics

Tags

a.p. indy, Belmont Stakes, dwyer stakes, fly down, history of sport, lane's end, lexington, mineshaft, mr. prospector, nick zito, queen randi, ulrica

The following article was published earlier this week at PaulickReport.com.

With his first stakes victory in the G2 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park, the Mineshaft colt Fly Down set the stage for a challenge in the classic Belmont Stakes next month.

Although trainer Nick Zito is still evaluating the colts readiness, the classic-winning trainer did say that “if he rebounds from this, if he’s OK, we’ll look at the Belmont.”

And while fitness for 12 furlongs and maturity for competing with classic horses are things for the trainer to judge, the pedigree of this colt suggests that the Belmont Stakes or a race at a similar distance should be well within his range.

Horse of the Year Mineshaft had one of most consistent distance profiles of any son by Horse of the Year AP Indy. Mineshaft was notably immature when young, was given time and racing experience abroad, then really came into his best form at 4 with increasingly impressive performances after a return to the States and dirt racing.

Bred on the highly successful cross of AP Indy over mares by Mr. Prospector, Mineshaft combined speed and staying capacity that are essential to success at the highest level in races at a mile or more.

And his son Fly Down has further additions of speed and stamina. His dam, Queen Randi, is by champion juvenile Fly So Free and traces back umpteen generations to the the first American-bred mare in the family, Ulrica.

A foal of 1863, Ulrica was by nothing less than the greatest 19th century American sire, Lexington. And Ulrica was a pretty useful representative of the great stallion’s offspring. She won the Saratoga Stakes at 2 and, among her other stakes placings, ran second in the 1866 Travers Stakes to Merrill, a son of Lexington.

The offspring of Lexington were competing in the Midsummer Derby at the manly distance of a mile and three-quarters. Furthermore, Lexington sired the first three winners of the Travers, as well as a half-dozen more over the ensuing years.

All this goes to show is that the family of Fly Down has been both a highly accomplished and highly regarded family for a long time.

Yet just a few generations ago, things went sour. Although the sires of the fifth and fourth dams from the 1950s were the good horses Requested (Wood Memorial winner and Preakness second) and Agitator (Nearco horse who won the Sussex and was second in the July Cup), the black-type horses became scarce, and then (horrors!), Fly Down’s second dam was bred in Florida.

That was the point where the family made an abrupt turnaround.

The reason for the change of fortunes is simple. The sire of the second dam was Mr. Prospector, who sired Randi’s Queen in his second crop, and the young mare became one of her sire’s many winners. Randi’s Queen won four races in two seasons, and by the time her racing career was over, Mr. Prospector was on his way to becoming one of the great sires in the world and on the way to Kentucky to stand at Claiborne Farm for the rest of his stud career.

The colt who pushed Mr. Prospector over the commercial edge was Conquistador Cielo, also a Florida-bred out of the Bold Commander mare K D Princess. Winner of the Saratoga Special in 1981, when Randi’s Queen was completing her racing career, Conquistador Cielo set the seal on his own quality and ability with victories the next year in the Metropolitan Handicap, Dwyer, and Belmont Stakes.

That string of victories also convinced breeders that Mr. Prospector was more than just a sire of very talented sprinter-milers.

Classic quality tells, and when put to stud, Randi’s Queen produced three black-type runners, including stakes winner Prince Randi (by Caveat). One of her least successful offspring was Queen Randi, a nonwinner in three starts. But that daughter of Fly So Free has been a revelation as a producer.

The mare has produced three foals who have run very good speed figures, and two are now graded stakes winners. The first of these was the Chief Seattle mare Seafree, whom Eric Reed as agent picked out of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale for $7,500. Seafree won the La Canada, was second in the Santa Margarita, earned $280,566, and then sold at the Fasig-Tipton November breeding stock sale for $200,000 in 2007.

The following September, Fly Down was an $80,000 yearling for breeders Broadway Thoroughbreds and William S. Farish at the Keeneland yearling sale. Fly Down now has three wins in five starts and earnings of $182,070.

super saver success a tribute to phipps legacy

Tags

a.p. indy, bluegrass cat, churchill downs, claiborne farm, classic winner, josephine abercrombie, Kentucky Derby, lane's end, maria's mon, mr. prospector, numbered account, personal ensign, phipps family, pin oak stud, private account, rhythm, super saver, supercharger

The following story on the pedigree of Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver was published earlier this week at PaulickReport.com.

Saturday’s Kentucky Derby winner, Super Saver, is from the next-to-last crop of champion Maria’s Mon and was produced by a mare descending from the First Family of American Thoroughbred Breeding, the imported French-bred mare La Troienne.

Those are serious pedigree credentials, although nothing too unusual for the stock produced annually at WinStar Farm, which prides itself for being one of the premium producers of classic-quality stock in the country.

As such, Maria’s Mon would naturally be one of the stallions used by the farm because the gray son of Wavering Monarch had already sired the 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos. Also a winner of the Florida Derby, Monarchos possessed the same closing strength going a distance of ground that we saw bring Super Saver to victory in the mud and muck on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Few stallions sire even one classic winner, and the ones who sire two are rare, special animals, indeed. Although bred for the classics, Maria’s Mon did not start in them. He won the 2-year-old championship in 1995 following victories in the Champagne, Futurity, and Sanford. But the gray horse’s “3-year-old season never really got off the ground due to an injury,” said Clifford Barry, farm manager for Pin Oak Stud, which stood the horse his entire career.

“Regardless of getting two classic winners, he was a special horse to be around on a daily basis,” Barry continued. “He was smart and very personable, not a mean or rough bone in his body. We were fortunate to be around him for the time we had him.”

The gray son of Wavering Monarch went to stud in 1997 at a time when the stallion market was not thriving widely, and Pin Oak started Maria’s Mon for $7,500 because Pin Oak owner “Mrs. [Josephine] Abercrombie wanted to set the stud fee right and attract the kind of mares who help the horse, because that was the goal at the end of the day,” Barry concluded.

The approach worked, and by the time of his death at age 14 on Sept. 14, 2007, Maria’s Mon was attracting “incredible mares,” Barry said, “from the kind of breeders you hope will come to patronize your horse.”

One of those high-powered mares being mated with Maria’s Mon was Supercharger, the AP Indy mare who is the dam of Super Saver. 

And WinStar bought the mare out of the 2006 Keeneland November breeding stock sale carrying the future Kentucky Derby winner. Consigned by Lane’s End, agent, Supercharger sold to BTA Stable for $160,000, which looks like an awfully good price in hindsight.

Among WinStar’s large broodmare band is a full sister to Supercharger called She’s a Winner. Doug Cauthen, president of WinStar Farm, said that the farm purchased “She’s a Winner very early in her career, and she has repaid us in spades, fulfilling the legacy of that Phipps family.”

She’s a Winner had produced two graded stakes winners for WinStar that were racing in 2005, and the younger of those, the Storm Cat racer Bluegrass Cat, won the Haskell Invitational and ran second in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes in 2006.

Later that year, Cauthen noted, “when Supercharger was in the sale, we had a natural affinity to take a look at her, and we also liked AP Indy mares, which had produced Any Given Saturday, for Distorted Humor. We bought her with all that in mind, and Super Saver was icing on the cake.” 

The icing took the cake on Saturday, and Super Saver has made his dam an extremely valuable animal, as well as raising the prospects for his siblings. 

Since joining the WinStar broodmare band, Supercharger has produced the Kentucky Derby winner, a 2-year-old colt by Distorted Humor, a yearling filly by Awesome Again, and a colt of 2010 at side by Medaglia d’Oro. The mare is currently counting days on a cover to Tiznow.

Now 15, Supercharger is a year older than her sister She’s a Winner. Both are out of the Mr. Prospector mare Get Lucky, who has produced three graded stakes-winning full siblings to Supercharger and She’s a Winner: Daydreaming, Girolamo, and Accelerator. The mare’s fourth stakes winner, Harborage, is a son of Monarchos, the Kentucky Derby winner who put Maria’s Mon in the limelight as a sire. 

This is one of the premier Phipps families tracing back to La Troienne, which Ogden Phipps acquired back in the 1940s as his portion of the bloodstock from ER Bradley’s Idle Hour Farm that Greentree Farm, King Ranch, and Phipps purchased in its entirety. 

The best racer from the family for Phipps was Super Saver’s fourth dam, champion 2-year-old filly Numbered Account (by Buckpasser), who also became a very important producer for the Phipps stable. 

Numbered Account produced Private Account (by Damascus), the sire of unbeaten Personal Ensign, and the major stakes winner Dance Number (by Northern Dancer), who became the dam of champion juvenile Rhythm and his full sister, Get Lucky, the second dam of Super Saver.

spend a buck: equine celebrity and success

Tags

brazil, buckaroo, haras bage do sul, jay adcock, kentucky, lane's end, louisiana, mcdermott ranch, quarantine, red river farms, spend a buck, texas, weldon granger

Sid Fernando wrote an insightful post about some of the mating successes Spend a Buck found during his shuttle years to Brazil (1997 – 1998) and during his years there as full-time resident (2001 – 2002). (Read it here.) Sid also added illuminating information in a commentary on yesterday’s post about this horse.

Spend a Buck spent nine seasons covering seasons in Kentucky at Lane’s End, where he had a bit of success but not enough. The 1985 Horse of the Year was sent to stand in Texas from 1995 through 1998, with trips south to Brazil as a shuttle stallion in latter two years.

The Kentucky Derby and champion had been purchased by Weldon Granger, who stood him in Texas at McDermott Ranch, but for the 1999 season, Granger moved the horse to Louisiana to stand at Jay Adcock’s Red River Farm.

Adcock said, “Spend a Buck almost didn’t make it.”

After Spend a Buck had left the farm in Brazil and entered quarantine, “he got sick and nearly died,” Adcock said. “While in quarantine, actually the day he was supposed to ship, he ran a temp, and they couldn’t ship him. Things got worse from there on.”

Strange as it may sound, quarantine is a place for animals to be verified as healthy. It is not a place for them to get sick. By the time Spend a Buck had recovered from illness and shipped to Miami, he was seriously out of shape.

But Adcock got the horse to Louisiana and went to work getting him healthy and back in breeding condition. Given time (this was a 17-year-old horse), Spend a Buck came around and stood at Red River for three years.

Adcock said, “After the near-death experience, they didn’t shuttle him. Then the Brazilians came and made Mr. Granger an awful good offer.” It was too good to turn down, but due to the amazing success of Spend a Buck’s first two years in Brazil, Haras Bage do Sul made a very serious effort to get the son of Buckaroo back in the country for breeders, and they succeeded.

From 1999 through 2001, however, Spend a Buck was the celebrity stallion in Louisiana. Adcock said, “I had people come to the farm just to take a picture with Spend a Buck. He knew he was a celebrity, he was photogenic, and he had a world of class. He was a really grand horse to be around.

“He would go out in his paddock, which had access to a pond, and would go out into the pond and lay around. Nothing fazed him. He had mares not far away from him all the time, and it never bothered him. Spend a Buck was a class act.”

After the 2001 season in Louisiana, Spend a Buck went south to Brazil for the last time, covered a full season there in 2001, and then on 24 November 2002, part-way through the Southern Hemisphere breeding season, Spend a Buck died of anaphylactic shock from a penicillin injection.

new stallions for 2009 xxii

Tags

breeders' cup juvenile, cherokee run, Kentucky Derby, lane's end, millennium farms, mr. prospector, war pass, zanjero

This is the 22nd and last installment in a series of notes and impressions about the new stallions in Kentucky for 2009. The horses have been reviewed alphabetically.

War Pass (2005 dark brown by Cherokee Run out of Vue, by Mr. Prospector)

Stands at Lane’s End for $30,000.

It is a peculiar irony that two of the three sons of Cherokee Run entering stud this year come as the last two horses on the list, as they would not have been so on the racetrack.

Unbeaten in four starts as a juvenile, War Pass was a relatively late-maturing 2-year-old who appeared to improve markedly through the fall of his first season and finished 2007 with a smashing victory over the slop at Monmouth Park in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Off his form in that race, he should have been able to win the Kentucky Derby. Yet, through the mishaps of chance and equine development, War Pass did not show the same level of dominance in his three starts of 2008. He won once and was second in the Wood Memorial before an injury ended his career.

That was all too tame an end for such a talented horse, and his new career as a stallion at Lane’s End, stalled next door to Horse of the Year Curlin, offers War Pass an opportunity to add further chapters to his story.

Led from his stall, War Pass gives the initial impression of great mass and strength. Standing right at 16.2, War Pass is a bigger horse than he appeared on the racetrack.

He has outstanding length through the body, with impressive development through his hindquarters. He has a very well-constructed hind leg that gives him extra fluency at the walk or gallop, and his body has the strength required to perform at championship level.

War Pass is clearly the best representative of his sire at stud and likewise offers the best hope of reproducing Cherokee Run’s success.

Zanjero (2004 dark brown by Cherokee Run out of Checkered Flag, by A.P. Indy)

Stands at Millennium Farms for $10,000.

A good-class colt who ran second in the Remsen late in his juvenile season, Zanjero improved markedly at 3 to win a pair of Derbys (West Virginia and Indiana) and run third in two more (Louisiana and Pennsylvania). With form like that, he proved a money spinner, winning more than $1 million, and he combined speed with the stamina for nine furlongs or so.

That is a potent combination in American racing, which places most of its better purse money in races from eight to nine furlongs, and Zanjero had the talent to make the most of it.

Although not quite as tall or massive as War Pass, Zanjero has very good scope and balance. He is a typical son of his sire, the Runaway Groom horse Cherokee Run. The latter was a champion sprinter who also ran second in the Preakness Stakes. Cherokee Run passed on the best traits of a top-class miler: speed, versatility, and tractability. And he sired top-class racers from his first crop, which included champion Chilukki.

In addition to his general balance and quality, Zanjero was such a good-looking yearling that he brought $700,000, the highest price of 2005 for a yearling by Cherokee Run. What more can you ask?

new stallions for 2009 iv

Tags

breeders' cup classic, curlin, deputy minister, dubai world cup, horse of the year, lane's end, smart strike

This is the fourth in a series of notes and impressions about the new stallions in Kentucky for 2009. The horses will be reviewed alphabetically.

Curlin (2004 chestnut by Smart Strike out of Sherriff’s Deputy, by Deputy Minister)

Stands at Lane’s End for $75,000 live foal

The Horse of the Year in North America in both 2007 and 2008, Curlin is the star of the show among the sires entering stud in 2009. His race record is excellent, with victories in the Preakness, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup, Woodward, and two runnings of the Jockey Club Gold Cup among his grandest achievements.

Nor does he seem less of a champion in the flesh. Curlin is a big horse, standing 16.2, but his exceptional balance makes him seem smaller until you’re standing next to him. Then the sheer muscular mass of the horse, his deep shoulders and broad chest, and the great power of his hindquarters dominate the space around this chestnut son of Smart Strike.

Curlin has a big, clear eye that adds distinction to his handsome head. His neck has good length but is not coarse or cresty. The round muscularity of his forearms is impressive, and his gaskins are more than 20 inches around. He has great length through the body and stands over an impressive amount of ground.

He is a right looking stallion.

His fault, if such matters in a racehorse of this exalted stature, is in the alignment of his forelegs. They weren’t perfect when he was a yearling, hence his sales price of only $57,000 at the Keeneland September sale when Kenny McPeek had the insight to make the purchase, and they weren’t perfect when Curlin won seven Grade 1 stakes and more than $10 million.

In type, Curlin shows a great deal of his broodmare sire, champion Deputy Minister, who was a top-class stallion and broodmare sire and has been a powerful influence in pedigrees for more than two decades. Curlin possesses the length, mass, and fine head of the best Deputy Minister stock, and the Horse of the Year may well add further luster by proving a sire equal to his looks.