Vast, a daughter of Claiborne Farm’s first crop sire Lea, won the Hollywood Wildcat S. on September 22 at Monmouth by 2 ¾ lengths, to become the popular young stallion’s first stakes winner. Lea stands for $7500 at Claiborne, and his yearlings have been well-supported, with an average of over $75,000 at auction.

By the precocious son of Giant’s Causeway, First Samurai, also the sire of young stallion Justin Phillip, Lea boasts a pedigree rich in Northern Dancer, through Storm Bird, Dixieland Band, and Sadler’s Wells, and Vast’s dam, Enth, adds Nijinsky II to the mix, a powerful concoction of some of the strongest Northern Dancer influences. Vast’s pedigree also includes a cocktail of the combination of Nasrullah and Turn-to, closely related sires whose combination creates stakes winners. Through Rahy, Riverman, Nashua, Best Turn, and Nantallah, this combination is echoed top and bottom.

As well, the similarly bred Miswaki and Seeking the Gold appear top and bottom, offering inbreeding to La Troienne through Buckpasser, with the addition of a dose of Fappiano in the sire’s pedigree to complement all that Mr. Prospector.

It is, however, through remarkable inbreeding to Blue Hen mare Special, as well the third dam of phenomenal sire Blame (also standing at Claiborne), that this pedigree derives its true strength. Vast is inbred to the Forli mare Special 6 x 4, through sire and dam, via the half-sisters Fairy Bridge, by Bold Reason and the dam of Sadler’s Wells, and Bound, by Nijinsky II. Special’s dam was Thong, a daughter of one of the greatest Blue Hens of the twentieth century, Rough Shod II (also tail female of Nureyev). Bound was sold at Keeneland November in the late nineties for $2.2million by Claiborne to John Magnier of Coolmore, a transaction between giants that demonstrated, in a depressed market, the mare’s true worth.

Lea’s racing career was distinguished by a new track record setting win in the Donn H.-G1 over future Champion Will Take Charge, and he was second to another current first crop phenom, Liam’s Map, in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile S.-G1, earning him over $2million. Though so many elements of his pedigree suggest turf success, he was brilliant on both dirt and turf, and would seem to be a young stallion to watch, as his greatest successes came with maturity: he himself did not start at two, and he won the Donn at five. Vast would seem to have a long and stellar career in front of her.

-- Roberta Smoodin