Category Archives: Bloodstock

This past weekend’s jam-packed racing schedule, the last gasp of the win-and-you’re-in Breeders’ Cup stakes races, created many surprises, but at the top of that list may be the drama in the leading freshman sires list.

Who didn’t love Lady Eli? So many reasons to adore her: her ten wins and three seconds from 14 starts, her many Grade One wins, at least one for every year she raced, her devastating turn of foot down the stretch, her $2,959,800 in earnings.

On Saturday, September 28, Smart Strike sired the winner of the John Henry Turf Championship S.-G2 at Santa Anita. His spectacular son, Curlin, sired the winner, before disqualification, of the Jockey Club Gold Cup S.-G1 at Belmont, Vino Rosso. And his freshman sire grandson, Palace Malice, sired the winner of the Pilgrim S.-G3, at Belmont, Structor.

The big racing news of Saturday, September 21, occurred when both Grade One races at Parx, the Cotillion S. for three-year-old fillies and the Pennsylvania Derby for three-year-old colts were won by longshots, both by near-forgotten stallions.

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.

It doesn’t take Albert Einstein to realize some genetics are, simply, magical. Juddmonte Farms advertised Empire Maker, when he first went to stud, as a “genetic masterpiece,” and they were correct, but Empire Maker isn’t Juddmonte’s only genetic masterpiece. The full brothers Frankel and Noble Mission represent more great art.

The frenzy over discovery of the next big thing in the thoroughbred industry—note the competitive if not frenzied bidding at the Keeneland September Sale for the offspring of Runhappy, Nyquist and Frosted—frequently obscures the great older sires and their achievements. On Saturday, September 14, old school sires shone, with Tiznow’s son Dennis’ Moment taking the Iroquois S.-G3 at Churchill in dominant, if not downright easy, fashion.

At first, it seemed that Noble Mission’s sole claim to fame was being the great champion Frankel’s full brother. Having run only on grass in Europe, the Group One winning millionaire seemed an odd choice for Lane’s End in Versailles, Kentucky, to import to add to its stallion roster in 2015. However, it would seem that doubting the stallion acumen of the masters of Lane’s End, William Farish, the elder, and former Ambassador to England, and William Farish, the younger, who has run the farm for the past decade, is utter foolishness.

The Lake Placid S.-G3T at Saratoga (August 17) was a hard-fought thriller ending in a lengthy stewards’ consultation which eventually declared a dead heat between Varenka and Regal Glory. Neither mare deserved to lose. What was surprising was that the most superficial glance at the two mares’ pedigrees revealed stunning similarities, making them almost seem like sisters from another mother.

Saturday, August 17, in the space of little more than thirty minutes, a remarkable thing happened. Two Grade One races were run, the Del Mar Oaks, on turf, won by Cambier Parc with an explosive turn of foot, making her rivals look like nags down the stretch, and the Pacific Classic S., won easily by Higher Power. Why is this remarkable?