It isn’t extraordinary that Bob Baffert took both of the Grade One events for two-year-olds at Los Alamitos on November 8, nor is it extraordinary that his charges finished one/two in the Los Alamitos Futurity and one/three in the Starlet S. , with Drayden Van Dyke up on both winners. What is extraordinary is that Improbable, the thrilling, over five lengths, runaway winner of the Los Alamitos Futurity and Chasing Yesterday, whose gutsy, wide trip all the way around two turns demonstrated her exciting talent, share such similar genetic material as to be weird twins of sorts. Just juggle the DNA a bit, and their similarities are, certainly no pun intended, more than improbable. Here are the basics: Improbable is by City Zip, out of the A.P. Indy mare Rare Event, while Chasing Yesterday is by Tapit, out of American Pharoah’s dam, Littleprincessemma, by Yankee Gentleman.
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Stud Notes: Mendelssohn Retires
Anyone who witnessed Mendelssohn winning the UAE Derby-G2 at Meydan can only regard his retirement with both regret and excitement. Certainly, he beat little in that field, but winning any derby by 18 ½ lengths indicates a special kind of talent. And this was after he took the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf-G1 the previous year. Word was that the Coolmore gang was desperate to get him a Grade One win on dirt in this country, to improve his popularity and fee at stud, but he disappointed last month in the Cigar Mile-G1, and could only hit the board in the Dwyer S.-G2, the Travers S.-G1 and the Jockey Club Gold Cup-G1, though he was usually favored to win. The extremely handsome colt brought three million dollars as a Keeneland September yearling in 2016.
Stud Notes: The Blame Game Continues
The international news and the national news continue to be the blame game: who did what, when, and to whom, and who’s lying (everybody) to whom (also everybody). But in thoroughbred racing, the blame game is something entirely different. Claiborne Farm’s young stallion, Blame, currently at number 18 on the leading sires list with only four racing crops, has offspring that continue to excel, and this weekend’s racing was no exception. It’s worth noting that, in the top twenty leading stallions, Blame, as a foal of 2006, is joined by only Uncle Mo, Lookin’ at Lucky and Quality Road, all stars in their own right, among much older sires, usually from the foal crop of 2000 or before.
Captain Lars – 30 Runs, 11 Wins in 2018 – And All Without Lasix.
At Lingfield Park in Southern England on Saturday, the nine year old gelding Captain Lars won his 11th race of 2018. He won the 5 furlong sprint on the synthetic track in 57.72 seconds, and is rated the equivalent of an American older male $10,000 – $12,500 claimer. The Captain’s prolific race record this year is remarkable by US standards, but not unusual in the UK and Ireland. He clearly thrives on racing, and like all horses that run in the UK and Ireland, he does not run on Lasix.
Caller Michael Wrona’s Release A Strange Move By Santa Anita
The news Saturday that Michael Wrona had been suddenly and unceremoniously released by Santa Anita as their Track Announcer was a shock move by track management and a highly puzzling one. With his succinct and accurate race calls, Michael had greatly impressed many and won over most initial doubters in the two years since he had won the job in a highly competitive auditioning playoff with other top announcers. Trevor Denman was always going to be a tough act to follow, but Michael was welcomed and considered to be the new long term voice of Santa Anita by California racing fans.
Stud Notes: Blue Hens Forever
Friday, November 23, 2018, proved once again that certain female families maintain their powerful DNA over generations, no matter what. The Grade One Comely S. was won by a daughter of Blame, who stands at Claiborne and has been coming on strong this year. Her name is Blamed, and she led gate to wire, as the favorite. Blame has a pedigree loaded with great dams, including Courtly Dee (by Never Bend), Con Game (by Buckpasser) and Special (by Forli), but as if that wasn’t enough, her dams’ side brings more female strength to the equation that created Blamed.
Pedigree Review: Mucho Gusto
Mucho Gusto, the winner of the Bob Hope S.-G3 at Del Mar on Saturday, November 17, contributed his sire’s first graded stakes win. Mucho Macho Man currently ranks at number nine on the first crop sires list, with $499,811 in earnings. With only 70 named two-year-olds in his first crop, and 31 runners, Mucho Macho Man, who stands at Adena Springs in Kentucky, alongside his sire Macho Uno, has seven winners, and two repeat winners. His number of winners is at a respectable near 10% compared to his crop numbers, and Mucho Gusto is his second stakes winner, along with Mucho Unusual.
Thoroughbred People’s Equine Legends Series: Kentucky
His biography for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame calls him the horse that “time forgot”, as Kentucky was not inducted into this beloved shrine until 1983. It also claims he is “arguably the greatest son of Lexington ever inducted into the Hall.” Though that is certainly a matter up for debate, especially with Lexington’s prowess in the breeding shed, it cannot be denied Kentucky is a well-deserving member of this select circle of Thoroughbred icons.
The Four Million Dollar Question
Say you had squirreled away four and a half million dollars somehow, and decided to buy the best mare your money could get you. The 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale and day one of Keeneland’s November Sale offered opportunity galore, in the glorious presences of Stopchargingmaria, Lady Eli, and My Miss Sophia.
The Race for Leading Freshman Sire, or Back to the Future
Once the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile races have been run, an assessment of the leading freshman sires can finally be made, and this year, as usual, those results have skewed the leading freshman sires ranks, as Cross Traffic, with his filly Jaywalk (who also won the Frizette S.-G1) winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies-G1, making her a millionaire in the process, and bringing his first crop earnings to $1,942,157.