love’s abounding for cupid and super sire tapit

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cupid, gladiateur, Oaklawn Park, rebel stakes, swynford, Tapit

Love’s abounding for Cupid (by Tapit) after his sharp-looking victory in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 19. The good-looking gray won his second race and first stakes from four starts and now has earned $587,500.

This effort will be enough to propel Cupid into the talk about the Kentucky Derby, but even coming out of the Bob Baffert training barn, Cupid is clearly less experienced and less tested than many of his competitors, including class leaders Nyquist (Uncle Mo) and Mohaymen (also by Tapit).

In addition, Cupid is yet another May foal in the leading tier of this crop, along with Mohaymen, who was foaled May 2. Cupid was born on May 19 and was bred in Kentucky by JKG Thoroughbreds LLC. Consigned to the Keeneland September sale in 2014 through Van Meter Sales, agent, the colt sold for $900,000 to M.V. Magnier and races for Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith.

In addition to the colt’s good looks and marquee sire, he was a legitimate candidate to return a major sale because he is a half-brother to three other stakes winners: G3 stakes winners Ashley’s Kitty and Heart Ashley (by Tale of the Cat and his son Lion Heart), plus stakes winner Indianapolis (Medaglia d’Oro).

Their dam is the Beau Genius mare Pretty ‘n Smart, who ran third in the G2 Railbird Stakes in 2001. As a racer, Pretty ‘n Smart was considerably better than an empty stall, but as a broodmare, she has been much more. From eight foals to race, all are winners, and half are stakes winners, three at graded level.

That’s what breeders hope for when they bring home a new mare.

Pretty ‘n Smart is a half-sister to multiple G3 winner Hostess (Chester House), whose most impressive race was probably the G3 Glens Falls Handicap, in which she set a new course record for 11 furlongs at Saratoga. Till Pretty ‘n Smart and Hostess showed up, this family had gone quiet for a generation when the third dam, the Secretariat mare Office Affair, had not produced a black-type horse among her seven winners in two hemispheres.

Office Affair’s dam, however, was a much different proposition. She is Mlle. Liebe, a daughter of Buckpasser’s half-brother Bupers (Double Jay), who produced two stakes winners and two daughters who produced stakes winners.

Gladiateur, winner of the English Triple Crown, is one of numerous classic winners in the extended pedigree of 2016 Rebel Stakes winner Cupid.

 

So, Cupid has an interesting family with some good relations. Looking at the big picture of his ancestors, Cupid counts 10 winners of the English Triple Crown in his pedigree and six winners of the American. The English Triple Crown winners in Cupid’s pedigree are West Australian (won in 1853), Gladiateur (1865), Lord Lyon (1866), Ormonde (1886), Isinglass (1893), Flying Fox (1899), Rock Sand (1903), Gay Crusader (1917), Gainsborough (1918), and Nijinsky (1970). The American Triple Crown winners in Cupid’s ancestry are Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Count Fleet (1943), Secretariat (1973), and Seattle Slew (1977).

In working up these snippets of information, I also discovered that there have been at least 18 previous Cupids, and almost certainly others that I didn’t find.

The earliest recorded Cupid was one by the Darley Arabian back in the early 18^th century when the breeders of Thoroughbreds were largely gentlemen looking for sport, and the breed was not a canonized emblem of pedigree and certified lineage.

The Rebel Stakes winner is the youngest Cupid, although there was another one (bay filly by Fastnet Rock) foaled in 2012 in Australia.

Swynford, a superior racehorse in England and a world-class sire for Lord Derby, is the male-line ancestor of Cupid (1961), who was a very good handicapper from 6 to 10 furlongs in the early 1960s.

 

Prior to the current Cupid, one of the most accomplished was a colt by Generous out of the Foolish Pleasure mare Idyllic who won the Ballysax Stakes in 1999 as a 3-year-old and had been third in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud the previous year. In addition to France and Ireland, Cupid (1996) also raced in Australia and Hong Kong and made 98 starts.

The other highly accomplished Cupid was a Vertex gelding out of Nymph (Sun Again), who was foaled in 1961. A chestnut gelding, Cupid (1961) improved greatly with age and won the Paumonok Handicap at 4, then the San Carlos Handicap at 5, when he also finished second in the Santa Anita Handicap.

As these and other Cupids will teach us, amid the slings and arrows of outrageous racing fortune, love of the horse is the one glorious certainty.

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archarcharch evidence of vinery’s new growth

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arch, archarcharch, arkansas derby, broodmare sires, congrats, frances relihan, grapestock, kodiak kowboy, more than ready, Oaklawn Park, racehorse breeding, tom ludt, tom simon, vinery, woodman, woodman's dancer

The post below was published earlier this week at PaulickReport.

Although best-known as a stallion station standing such sires as international star More Than Ready, 2010 leading freshman sire Congrats, and champion sprinter Kodiak Kowboy, Vinery also breeds horses, and Archarcharch became the farm’s most important winner with his victory on Saturday in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

Farm president Tom Ludt said “a Grade 1 win for a million-dollar purse would be the fanciest win for our breeding program, although we did sell the dam.”

The progressive colt was bred by Grapestock, which Ludt said is the “name of the entity that holds all of [Vinery owner] Tom Simon’s equine assets. It functions as a client of Vinery, like any other on the farm.”

Grapestock and Vinery work to strike a balance between the businesses of breeding and racing for Simon, who races a stable under the Vinery name and breeds yearlings for the commercial market. “We have bred most of our mares commercially for years,” Ludt said, “and although we race a stable, we mostly buy those at sales as yearlings by our own stallions.”

With those considerations as a stallion farm and racing stable, it is a bit surprising that Archarcharch is not by a farm stallion.

Instead, the colt is by Claiborne stallion Arch, also the sire of 2010 champion older horse Blame, and on the surface, the mating would not appear an obvious choice for a mare from Vinery. But Vinery’s assistant general manager Frances Relihan said the mating was a very good physical match.

Woodman’s Dancer, the dam of Archarcharch, Relihan said, “is a typical Woodman: very strong body, stands about 15.3 hands, and correct. We felt she needed more leg and substance; so we sent her to Arch, were pleased with the result, and bred her back to him the next year.”

In fact, the folks at Vinery were so pleased with Archarcharch as a young horse that they brought back his dam from the 2008 Keeneland November sale to get the second foal by Arch, then sold the mare in foal to farm stallion Silver Train at the 2009 November sale.

When Archarcharch arrived, Relihan noted that he was a “pretty good-sized foal whose only problem was a contracted left hind leg. But the veterinarians at Rood & Riddle put a splint on it, and he progressed nicely. He had good balance and a good hip and body type.”

In sum, Archarcharch was a well-proportioned and athletic young horse who looked the part he has come to play. The mating with Arch gave the colt greater leg length and resulting scope, and Archarcharch has shown increasing ability as he matures and races over longer distances.

A dark horse in color, as well as in general prospects for the classics, Archarcharch held on to win his most important race to date by a neck over the Mineshaft colt Nehro at Oaklawn. One of 28 stakes winners by his sire Arch, Archarcharch is the second stakes winner from Woodman’s Dancer.

The dark bay daughter of Woodman also produced Run Sully Run (by Cherokee Run) from her first five foals to race. A much better-than-average stakes-placed runner, Woodman’s Dancer earned $298,486 and placed in five stakes, including the G2 A Gleam Handicap and G3 Las Flores.

Woodman’s Dancer sold for $35,000 at the 2009 Keeneland November breeding stock sale in foal to Silver Train. The buyer was the Stallion Company, and the mare produced a chestnut colt in 2010. The mare was resold privately to a partnership, and she was bred back to US Ranger (by Danzig) in May last year.

The mare’s dam is the G1 winner Pattern Step (by Nureyev), one of the last G1 winners bred by Nelson Bunker Hunt before his bloodstock empire was dispersed.

valerio found a gem in the factor

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barretts may sale, barry eisaman, bob baffert, claiborne farm, classic candidates, danzig, developing 3yos, early training of thoroughbreds, fasig-tipton sales, fog city stable, fountain of youth stakes, george bolton, h & w thoroughbreds, keeneland sales, kim valerio, michael shustek, Oaklawn Park, physique as a guide to selection of racing prospects, psychology and sales, rebel stakes, sales of 2yos in training, selecting horses at auction, soldat, stockplace, the factor, tom van meter, war front

The following post appeared earlier this week at Paulick Report.

With his powerful victory in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, The Factor put the spotlight on himself in the run-up to the Kentucky Derby. The colt’s success is further gratification for trainer Bob Baffert and owners George Bolton and Fog City Stable.

The good-looking gray is also the second son of the Claiborne Farm stallion War Front who has won a major Kentucky Derby prep and is highly ranked by most Derby handicappers. (The other is G2 Fountain of Youth winner Soldat.)

And all the people who have had a share in the breeding and development of The Factor also are basking in the reflected glory of the colt’s achievements.

The Factor was bred in Kentucky by H & W Thoroughbreds. Their sale of first the colt at the 2008 Keeneland November sale for $50,000 and then the dam in a private transaction was chronicled in an earlier column.

Between the November sale and the following year’s July sale of selected yearlings at Fasig-Tipton, the sales market slumped even further, and The Factor resold as a yearling for only $40,000 in 2009.

The buyer was show horse veteran Kim Valerio, acting for Mike Shustek. Valerio said, “Until last year, I bought only two to four yearlings a year. In 2009, I bought three, including The Factor.”

Part of the reason she was drawn to the colt by the good but not famous Danzig stallion War Front was physique. Valerio said, “I come from a horse show background, where a lot of the best horses have Northern Dancer in them, and I love the Danzig line and the long, curvy look those horses get from Northern Dancer. At the time of the sale, his neck was longer in proportion to his body, but as he’s matured, his shoulder has filled in more.”

Another of the trio of yearlings that Valerio bought in 2009 is a Dynaformer colt named Wegner, who won a good maiden at Santa Anita earlier this year, then was unplaced to Anthony’s Cross and Tapizar in the G2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes in February.

Valerio said, “Both colts were purchased for a gentleman (Shustek) who puts up the money and then decides what to do with the horses. Typically, they are bought to race.”

But in this case, Shustek chose to retain Wegner and sell The Factor. The gray went through the ring at the 2010 Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training and brought $250,000.

The process from yearling sale to in-training auction was not a hurried one for The Factor, however. Valerio said, “After the July sale, he was turned out at Tom Van Meter’s farm outside Lexington in a field with a group of yearlings. They didn’t go to Florida till January, and Barry Eisaman broke both of them and put them into early training.”

Both the Dynaformer colt and his War Front companion progressed so well that “they never missed a beat, and we didn’t even breeze them until March. That’s what decided us on sending The Factor to the (May) Barretts sale.”

“I loved that colt,” Valerio admitted. “He was the only colt I bid on at the July sale, and I wanted him to go into the right hands. So I kind of nagged Bob Baffert about buying him. We went to breakfast and he was asking, ‘Who is War Front?’ That guy is such a bluffer. Not two seconds after the hammer falls at the sale, he calls me and says, ‘I bought your horse! I bought your horse!’

“And I told him ‘You’re such a bluffer. If I’d known you were on him, I’d have set the reserve higher,’” Valerio concluded.

Valerio has never regretted the sale because Baffert has gotten so much out of the colt. Now the winner of three consecutive races in fast time, The Factor would become the fourth Kentucky Derby horse that Valerio has been connected with in the last eight years.

She selected Magna Graduate, who was eligible on earnings for the Churchill Downs classic, but the colt’s connections opted not to rush their horse into the Derby. Valerio “selected Scat Daddy and privately bought Joininthedance,” who led the 2009 Kentucky Derby won by Mine That Bird.

If The Factor goes in the Derby, he is almost certain to lead part of the race. The exciting question is, “Which part?”

breeders of derby favorite enjoy the ride

Tags

classics, Collect Call, Kentucky Derby, Lorraine Rodriguez, Oaklawn Park, Old Fashioned, Remsen, Rod Rodriguez, Southwest Stakes, Thoroughbred racing, Unbridled's Song

The shortest-priced individual selection for the Kentucky Derby is the Unbridled’s Song colt Old Fashioned, winner of the Remsen late last year and of the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn in his 3-year-old debut.

The gray colt was bred in Kentucky by Lorraine and Rod Rodriguez, who have had some uncommon good luck from a relatively short time in the Thoroughbred game.

On Friday, they spoke about their introduction to the sport and the pleasure they have received from their involvement with it in the following interview.

Lorraine Rodriguez

How did you acquire Collect Call?

She was at the Marshall Naify dispersal in Washington state. We wanted to get into racehorses, had been in the horse business, and she was our first purchase.

They had a video of her breaking her maiden, and she was a horse that stood out. The good ones always do.

 What is Collect Call like as an individual?

Collect Call is a good-sized mare, although she is not big, not stocky-built like some Meadowlakes are. She has quite a presence to her and is quite a princess. She is not one who likes you to love all over her. She was very successful on the racetrack, and when the time came to breed her, Fusaichi Pegasus was our choice for her.

Roman Ruler won the Haskell, I think, just before we sold her yearling filly, and the yearling was just beautiful. All her foals are very good-looking. They all have a lot of body and a lot of eye appeal.

We had never sold a horse at sale until her yearling filly, and then we put Old Fashioned in the sale and he brought a very handsome price.

We breed and buy to race. But sometimes you have to do other things with them.

Rod Rodriguez (In Las Vegas at a handicapping tournament)

Do you board Collect Call in Kentucky?

We keep her at Taylor Made Farm. She has been there since we brought her to Kentucky and has stayed there.

How do you make the matings for Collect Call?

Taylor Made has made some general observations and suggestions. We always consider proven stallions and also the choice of new stars. That was the case with Fusiachi Pegasus, who was a new and successful young stallion.

We chose Empire Maker because he was a top performer, a young stallion, and it’s a tough choice with all the nice stallions out there.

We are going to use Curlin this year with Collect Call. She was supposed to be bred on Feb. 16 for the first time, and everything went well.

We would never hesitate breeding back to Unbridled’s Song. We have a lot of options.

Do you have any plans for the Ghostzapper or the new foal?

We are going to race the Ghostzapper and will ship him to our trainer Chris Paasch and will begin racing in Southern California.

We had him in the [Keeneland September] sale but we didn’t receive the bid we wanted [RNA at $635,000]. That is how we look at every one of them. If they bring an acceptable price, we sell, and if not, we are happy to race them.

Unlike a lot of breeders, who don’t plan to race, we have the option.

How many horses do you have in training?

We have about 15 in training in Southern and Northern California and about 15 more in stages of training.

How did you get into Thoroughbreds?

We were into Quarter Horses and cutting horses at our local ranch, and our vet suggested we might like going into Thoroughbreds. We had a percentage in one racehorse and then went to the Naify dispersal sales, where we bought five horses. Collect Call was the most successful, and we were very fortunate.

Do you breed many horses in Kentucky?

We have only a couple in Kentucky and the rest are in California at our farm, Cottonwood Creek Ranch. A couple of stallions at our farm raced for us, and we brought them back to our California farm and stand them there. The two stallions are Popular [by Saint Ballado] and Roman Dancer [by Polish Numbers]. Both were stakes winners and very nice horses. They have now produced some offspring and have had winners.

How many horses do you have in California?

We have probably another 40 to 50 horses there: weanlings, broodmares, yearlings. We have cattle on the ranch, and we are primarily interested in racing the horses.

What was your business prior to Thoroughbreds?

I was an automobile dealer, had several dealerships, and after I sold those out, went into real estate, and I am a commercial real estate developer.

My business path has been one of taking chances, and so far we’ve been very fortunate.

Do you have plans for further involvement or expansion with horse racing?

I am certainly happy with our involvement in it. As far as expanding, that is down the road. We will see how the home crops develop.