orb shines brightly on historic kentucky derby traditions

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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.

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

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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.

classic contender from family of ruffian wins the fountain of youth

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a.p. indy, classic contenders, fountain of youth, malibu moon, orb, ruffian, shenanigans, sire success, violence (horse)

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

The result of Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream confirmed two colts of classic caliber, although second-place finisher Violence (by Medaglia d’Oro) will not be continuing the trek toward Louisville and the Kentucky Derby due to a fracture to the medial sesamoid of his right foreleg.

The winner, Orb, placed himself among the leaders of the classic prospects with a determined late rally that prevailed by a half-length after a mile and a sixteenth in 1:42.24, and the top pair were 6 3/4 lengths ahead of third-place Speak Logistics (High Cotton).

Bred in Kentucky by Stuart Janney III and the Phipps Stable, Orb is a bay colt by the important A.P. Indy stallion Malibu Moon out of the Unbridled mare Lady Liberty.

Every season, Malibu Moon has a colt or two who flirts with the classics, and that is to be expected from a representative of the most classic male line in American breeding, descending from Nasrullah and Bold Ruler to Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew and his leading son A.P. Indy.

With speed, strength, and quality, the 16-year-old Malibu Moon sires stock that are popular at the sales, and they are popular with breeders who race their own with a goal of winning the premium races. The 16-year-old stallion currently has such prominent offspring as Kauai Katie (G2 Forward Gal), More Chocolate (G2 La Canada), Eden’s Moon (G1 Las Virgenes in 2012), and Prospective (G2 Tampa Bay Derby and G3 Ohio Derby in 2012).

The ability of his offspring has made Malibu Moon the current 2013 leader among all sires in North America, and after seasons of similar success, mares of proven excellence regularly fill his book for a fee that is $70,000 in 2013.

Four years ago, when Orb was conceived, Malibu Moon’s profile was nearly as high, and the Fountain of Youth winner’s dam was sent to him in the elusive quest for classic speed.

Orb’s dam, Lady Liberty, did not win black type on the racetrack, but there can be few mares who showed more ability without gaining some level of stakes success. From 23 starts, Lady Liberty won four times, was second four times, and third in four for earnings of $202,045. In stakes competition, she was twice fourth and twice fifth, including a fifth in the G1 Ogden Phipps Handicap of 2003 behind Sightseek.

Orb is the fourth foal of his dam, whose first foal is the Alphabet Soup gelding Cause of Freedom, who has won $105,834. The mare’s second foal is a nonwinner, the third is unraced, and Orb is a major step in the right direction.

Lady Liberty slipped in 2011 and 2012 but has already produced a half-brother to the Fountain of Youth winner by Claiborne stallion Flatter (A.P. Indy).

The family of Orb has a lengthy history at Claiborne Farm, just like the Janneys and Phippses. Orb and his dam Lady Liberty come from the famous family of champion Ruffian (Reviewer), whose dam Shenanigans (Native Dancer) is the fourth dam of Lady Liberty. Shenanigans also produced the important sire Icecapade (Nearctic) and the useful sire Buckfinder (Buckpasser), as well as the winner Laughter (Bold Ruler).

The latter is the third dam of Lady Liberty and was a cracking producer in her own right. The dam of five stakes winners, Laughter ranks as one of the best producing daughters of her great sire Bold Ruler. The best of her foals was Wood Memorial winner Private Terms, a good horse who started at the same odds for the Kentucky Derby as the victorious Winning Colors but finished ninth behind a field that included champion juvenile Forty Niner (second), 3-year-old champion colt Risen Star (third), and the major G1 winners Proper Reality (fourth), Brian’s Time (sixth), and Seeking the Gold (seventh). By the end of his career, Private Terms had won a dozen races and earned more than $1.2 million, then went on to become a good stallion.

Of Laughter’s five stakes winners, only one was a filly, and that was Steel Maiden (Damascus), who is the second dam of Lady Liberty. The family goes a little cold at this point, as Steel Maiden produced only one stakes winner, G2 winner Mesabi Maiden (Cox’s Ridge), the dam of Lady Liberty, and Mesabi Maiden has not produced any stakes horses.

One of the eccentricities of Thoroughbred families, however, is that they tend to get cold for a time, but if persevered with and bred to quality, they can come back. With a stretch finish that keeps on coming, Orb is the kind of colt who could light up a grand old family.