$625,000 Quality Road Colt Leads Monday Session At Keeneland

Press Release: Spirited bidding continued to yield positive results on Monday as Keeneland closed the seventh day of its September Yearling Sale. Leading the session was the sale of a colt by Quality Road for $625,000 to Team Casse.

Keeneland sold 268 yearlings today for $26,756,500, for an average of $99,838 and a median of $73,500. Through Day 7 of the 13-day auction, Keeneland has sold 1,309 yearlings for $314,829,500, for an average of $240,511 and a median of $170,000.

KatieRich Farms consigned the session-topper, a half-brother to Grade 3 winner Nootka Sound. Out of stakes winner Miss Red Delicious, by Empire Maker, the colt is from the family of multiple Grade 3 winner Lady Apple.

“(The colt) really presented himself well and looked the part,” buyer Justin Casse said. “He’s a Quality Road, and we’re in Book 3, so the pedigree is going to stick out. It’s a nice, active female family, and he’s by one of the best sires in the world. And he came from a good farm. I think he’ll be a beautiful horse once he gets into training.”

A Tiznow colt who is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Girvin and Grade 3 winner Cocked and Loaded sold for $525,000 to Winchell Thoroughbreds. Consigned by Warrendale Sales, agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised, he is out of the Malibu Moon mare Catch the Moon.

Ben Glass, agent, paid $500,000 for a son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah out of the winning A.P. Indy mare You Make Luvin Fun. He is from the family of Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Believe You Can.

The American Pharoah colt was consigned by Greg Goodman’s Mt. Brilliant Farm, which sold three of the day’s highest-priced horses. Mt. Brilliant also consigned a colt by Uncle Mo who sold for $380,000 to Red Oak Farm and Newtown Anner Stud and a Malibu Moon filly purchased by Mike Ryan, agent, for $320,000. Both yearlings are from the family of 2019 Alabama (G1) and Mother Goose (G2) winner Dunbar Road and Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Secret Status.

Mike Ryan, agent, was the session’s leading buyer, purchasing six yearlings for $1,070,000.

A filly from the first crop of champion and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist brought a final bid of $425,000 from J. C. M. The filly is out of the Yes It’s True mare Is It Safe, a half-sister to Grade 1 winners Justin Phillip and Greenpointcrusader, Grade 2 winner Keyed Entry and Grade 3 winners Successful Mission and Algorithms. She was consigned by Candy Meadows Sales, agent.

Speedway Stable paid $425,000 for a Bernardini colt who is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner La Coronel. Consigned by Nardelli Stales, agent, he is out of the Chester House mare Listen from the family of Grade 1 winner Listening and Grade 2 winners Listen Here, Beautiful Noise and Linda.

Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt went to $360,000 to purchase a colt from the first crop of champion Runhappy who is a half-brother to 2019 Amsterdam (G2) winner and H. Allen Jerkens (G1) third-place finisher Shancelot. James B. Keogh (Grovendale), agent, consigned the colt, who is out of stakes winner True Kiss, by Is It True.

Jay Em Ess paid $350,000 for a Twirling Candy colt consigned by Hinkle Farms. Out of the winning Hennessy mare Stockings, he is from the family of Grade 2 winner Jade Flush.

Taylor Made Sales Agency was the day’s leading consignor by gross, selling 37 yearlings for $2,471,000.

The September Sale continues through Sunday with all sessions beginning at 10 a.m. ET.

 

 

Michael Wrona To Call New Fall Meet At Grants Pass Downs

Grants Pass Downs has named Michael Wrona, one of the world’s preeminent race callers, as track announcer for its fall race meet. Wrona will call all 14 race days scheduled for Grants Pass Downs’ inaugural commercial race meet, scheduled Sept. 22 through Nov. 4.

Known throughout the industry for his signature “Racing!” call, Wrona began calling races in his native Australia at age 17 before coming to the U.S. in 1990 to take over as Hollywood Park’s track announcer. Wrona has since amassed an impressive resume calling races at tracks around the country, including Santa Anita, Bay Meadows, Golden Gate Fields and the Sonoma County Fair in California; Chicago’s Arlington Park; Retama Park and Lone Star Park in Texas; the Fair Grounds in New Orleans; Turf Paradise in Phoenix and Arizona Downs in Prescott; and the just completed 2019 meet at Kentucky Downs, which wrapped up on Sept. 12.

“I was invited to call a few races at Grants Pass Downs in July and was made to feel very welcome by all levels of this quality organization,” said Wrona. “I’m excited to help launch a new era in Oregon racing as Grants Pass Downs acquires the license previously held by Portland Meadows. The ownership and management have great passion and vision for the track, which is in a beautiful area that I’ll enjoy exploring.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome one of the best announcers in the sport to Grants Pass to help us kick off a new era of racing in Oregon,” said Travis Boersma, president of TMB Racing, Grants Pass Downs’ parent organization. “Michael is the perfect fit for this moment, and his unique calling style and raw enthusiasm for racing will only mirror the excitement we’re seeing from the Grants Pass community heading into the fall meet.”

Grants Pass Downs will kick off its first commercial race meet on Sunday, Sept. 22. Races will be held every Sunday and Monday through Nov. 4, with eight races scheduled per day and post times set for 1 p.m.

Stud Notes: Lane’s End is Red Hot

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, with Frankel on fire in Europe, and Noble Mission, who stands at Lane’s End in the Bluegrass for $15,000, now has a Grade One winner in Code of Honor, who won the Travers S. as well as the Grade Two Fountain of Youth S., and on September 7 his son, Spanish Mission, won the inaugural, million dollar Jockey Club Derby Invitational S. at Belmont, both from his first crop.

The two three-year-old colts share some pedigree similarities which begin to indicate a nick that works for Noble Mission. Code of Honor features inbreeding to Northern Dancer in the fourth position on his dams’ side, and a dose of Seattle Slew in the fifth position. Spanish Mission similarly has on his dams’ side Northern Dancer in the fifth position, and Seattle Slew in the fourth, with a dose of Halo added through his broodmare sire, Street Cry, contributing to the strength of the great mare Almahmoud through her two influential daughters. These two stakes winners put Noble Mission only $200,000 behind Goldencents, the leading freshman sire.

Liam’s Map’s winners are also demonstrating a serious pattern in terms of their pedigrees. Basin has Storm Cat in the fourth position on his dams’ side, as does Wicked Whisper and Song River, while Alpha Sixty Six has Storm Cat in the third position. They also all share inbreeding to Mr. Prospector on their dams’ side, complementing their sire’s 5 x 4 inbreeding to him. Basin and Alpha Sixty Six also both have Dixieland Band on their dams’ side, in the fourth position. Basin, the only Grade One winner of the group, has the unusual inbreeding, close up in the pedigree, to Damascus, 5 x 5 in sire and dams.

Now in seventh on the leading freshman sires’ list, Liam’s Map is flourishing, much as Noble Mission is on the sophomore sires’ list, at number two. Can Lane’s End get any hotter? Tonalist is a surprising number 17 on the freshman sires list, as one would have expected his first crop to come on as three-year-olds more, given his Belmont S.-G1 win. Honor Code can also be expected to show more when his first crop turns three, if not before. So the answer is yes—expect more great things from these young guns at Lane’s End.

— Roberta Smoodin

Stud Notes: Tiznow & The Old School Sires At Keeneland

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 (and winning a slot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile S.-G1) and Stormy Atlantic’s son, El Tormenta, winning the Woodbine Mile S.-G1 over favorite Got Stormy, herself a granddaughter of Stormy Atlantic.

It’s easy to forget what a wonderful race horse Tiznow, now 22 years old, was. He won the Breeders’ Cup Classic-G1 twice, defeating Giant’s Causeway both times, and was Horse of the Year, Champion Three-Year-Old Colt, and Champion Older Male, earning nearly $6.5 million. I went to see him at Winstar Farm shortly after his retirement, and he was such a big, handsome, well-made horse that I was convinced, after being a Giant’s Causeway fan throughout his career and resenting Tiznow’s superiority in the big race. After watching the races numerous times, it became clear to me that Tiznow would not be defeated—that he would do whatever he had to do to win.

Dennis’ Moment is out of an Elusive Quality mare, and a Deputy Minister second dam, and Tiznow has had great success with mares from the Mr. Prospector line, as well as with Deputy Minister mares. His millionaire son Tizway was out of a Dayjur mare. Another millionaire, Tiz Miz Sue, was out of a Woodman mare. Gemologist was out of a Mr. Prospector mare, with a Northern Dancer second dam, making this Grade One winner similarly bred to Dennis’ Moment. Strong Mandate, a promising young sire and Grade One winner, was out of a Deputy Minister mare. The list goes on and on.

As usual, though, if one looks a little deeper into Dennis’ Moment’s pedigree, one finds a wealth of older blood. Elusive Quality adds Secretariat’s dam, and Sir Ivor’s second dam, Somethingroyal in duplicate to the pedigree, and La Troienne is prominent through both the sire line and the dams’ side, through The Axe II, Seattle Slew, and Glowing Tribute, giving access to different strains of La Troienne’s strength, top and bottom. The other obvious strength is multiple doses of Mahmoud, four times through Northern Dancer’s dam, Natalma, and another time through his son, Oil Capitol, in Dennis’ Moment’s fourth dam, Perfect Pigeon (not the mention the huge dose through The Axe II, a son of Mahmoud, via Tiznow’s grandsire Relaunch). We see a wealth of Mahmoud, on the zigzag (through both sons and daughters), in this pedigree.

Stormy Atlantic, now 25 and standing for a bargain $15,000 at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms, was nowhere near the racehorse that Tiznow was, earning only $148,126 while winning only non-graded stakes races. However, his progeny have proved that his ton of pedigree, featuring two Triple Crown winners, Secretariat and Seattle Slew, and the Blue Hen mares Alluvial by Buckpasser and tail female Rough Shod II through her daughter Moccasin, not to mention being by Storm Cat, creates greatness in his offspring.

His son, El Tormenta, likewise has a ton of pedigree, tracing his dams’ side to the great Sam-Son foundation mare, No Class; he is Sam-Son bred and raced. Like Dennis’ Moment, he benefits from inbreeding to the great Somethingroyal, 4 x 6 x 5, through both her son Secretariat and her grandson, Sir Ivor. He is also inbred, top and bottom, to Seattle Slew, 3 x 4. But the real key may be his 4 x 4 inbreeding to Northern Dancer. Many of Stormy Atlantic’s best offspring utilize this paradigm, including Conquest Typhoon, Champion Two-Year-Old Colt in Canada, promising young sire and millionaire Get Stormy, Grade One winner Stormello, My Best Brother, Misty Ocean, and others. As noted above, the Woodbine Mile was a paean to Stormy Atlantic, as the very fast Got Stormy, by Get Stormy, is a granddaughter of the grand old man.

Both El Tormenta and Dennis’ Moment now have the golden ticket berths to their respective Breeders’ Cup races (as has Got Stormy from her previous stakes win at Saratoga, the Grade One FourstarDave S.), demonstrating how wrong it is to write off the older stallions in favor of the flavor of the moment young guns. There’s life left in the old horses yet. Though the fashionable dazzlement may have worn out a bit, the DNA hasn’t.

— Roberta Smoodin

Truth and Fiction in Book One of the Keeneland September Sale

Amidst fears that the relatively shaky state of our economy due to the possibility of recession and the trade war with China, and the Brexit-affair in the European Union, would affect the returns of the 2019 Keeneland September Sale, Dubai came to the rescue. The ruling Makhtoum family of Dubai, personified by Sheikh Mohammad and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan, with no cash flow issues, clearly saw opportunity, and spent big money on the top yearlings of Book One.

Sheikh Mohammad, under the name Godolphin, purchased ten head, for a gross of $16,000,000, while Sheikh Hamdan, using his farm name, Shadwell, purchased 18 head for a total of $11,070,000, creating a virtual monopoly for the top hips numbers over the first two days of the sale, though their impact was far less during Book One’s final, third session. Their presence and buying power altered the gross, average and median of Book One’s tally.

One other event, and one single lot, further altered the course of the sale. Hip number 498 stood out as the collector’s item of the entire sale, as the filly, by leading freshman sire American Pharoah, is a half-sister to leading sire Into Mischief, Champion Beholder, new sire and G1 winner Mendelssohn, all of whom are out of Broodmare of the Year, Leslie’s Lady. This first dam’s stellar offspring took up the entire catalogue page of the filly. Intense bidding transpired, with Mandy Pope of Whisper Hill Farm not to be denied, even though she battled Sheikh Mohammad and billionaire B. Wayne Hughes, master of Spendthrift Farm and owner of Beholder and Into Mischief. This led to a record filly price of $8,200,000, and, together with the Makhtoum expenditures, also led to a high gross for Book One of $160,463,000, an average of $471,950, and a median of $355,000,000. Keeneland, needless to say, was thrilled, though it’s difficult to compare these buoyant numbers to last year’s first book, as Keeneland tinkered with the arrangement of the top lots, shrinking last year’s four-day first book to three days, each of them featuring fewer hip numbers than last year’s Book One.

A look at the statistics, while eliminating these anomalies, becomes necessary. Keeneland’s statistics include 340 yearlings sold, with a gross of $160,463,000, an average of $471,950 and a median of $355,000, as noted above. The Makhtoums alone purchased 28 head, for a total of $27,070,000. Add to that the record-setting $8,200,000 filly, and we can subtract from that gross total $35,270,000, and 29 yearlings from the total sold, to get a clearer idea of how strong this sale was.

With these anomalies subtracted, the gross for the sale becomes $125,193,000, and the number sold becomes 311. The average is therefore lowered from Keeneland’s assessment to $402,550, but the median, a truer measure of the sale’s strength because it eliminates the highest and lowest lots, is a more robust $400,624, and if the strength of a sale is measured by a lack of discrepancy between the average and the median, this sale was, indeed, a home run. Eliminating the anomalies of the Makhtoum buying spree and Mandy Pope’s record setting filly indicates a strong foundation to this sale in Book One. Now, the test will be what happens in subsequent books. Normally, with the big buyers gone after Book One, the sale has lately indicated a weakened middle and lower market, and we have no indication that this will be altered.

On the leading sires front, Curlin was king. Twenty-seven Curlin yearlings sold, with an average price of $697,222, and a gross of $18,825,000. His top selling lots, in general, looked like two-year-olds ready for the race track: large, strong, muscular, big-boned individuals who filled the front sales ring with their presence. In order, the next leading sires were American Pharoah, Into Mischief, Uncle Mo, Tapit, and Pioneer of the Nile.

However, the anomalous single lot, the $8,200,000 filly, skews the results for American Pharoah and the other leading sires. Subtract that filly from American Pharoah’s results, and his average for his other 25 lots is lowered to $374,000, and his gross becomes $9,365,500, which would actually lower his standing among leading sires to sixth, behind his sire, Pioneer of the Nile. This also makes his 2019 average well below his average and status in the 2018 Keeneland September Sale, in which he was the leading sire, with 12 head sold for an average of $527,917, for a total gross of $6,335,000.

In general, it was clear that the initial luster was off the American Pharoah yearlings in this sale, whether the fault lay in the individuals chosen for this select portion of the sale, or buyers’ lack of interest. The latter is hard to believe, because American Pharoah is the leading freshman sire, though the fault might lie in the fact that, thus far, American Pharoah’s first crop to race seems to be excelling on grass rather than on dirt, perhaps making him less attractive to those wanting to race in North America, on dirt.

Tapit falling to the fifth position among leading sires in Book One was interesting, as he had long been the leading sire at the sale before 2018. His best individuals going through the ring were magnificent, while some were noticeably lesser. As a viewer without access to scopes and x-rays, though, this is difficult to assess. Like the yearlings by Curlin, the Into Mischief yearlings were a uniformly attractive bunch, but their value was boosted by Larry Best’s belief in their inherent “heart,” as well as by big purchases of his yearlings by the Makhtoums.

The other sire whose get stood out was Uncle Mo, who makes, like Curlin, a big, muscular, mature-looking yearling. Those who most resembled their sire, who is statuesque and handsome beyond belief, fetched the best prices. Honor Code’s offspring retained their appeal, though his first crop hasn’t yet excelled, and he is stamping them with his own good looks.

Among freshman sires, Darley’s youngsters Nyquist and Frosted stood out in terms of attractiveness to buyers, and both had some outstanding looking yearlings. But the leading freshman sire was Claiborne’s Runhappy, whose yearlings looked the part, and who no doubt has been bolstered by his owner, Jim McIngvale, whose relentless PR campaign for his prized new stallion, including race sponsorships, TVG endlessly featuring his name, and the $100,000 maiden special weight bonus for his two-year-olds next year at select tracks, has got to be a factor in Runhappy’s yearling success.

We will be better able to assess trends after Book Two for the top level offerings. However, this Book One presented some fascinating threads to follow in terms of stallions’ popularity and buyers’ beliefs. With the top buyers absent, the continuing sale has much to prove, in terms of whether or not it has legs. The top of the market is always the most fun to observe, because of the super wealthy and their desire to spend their money, but it is the rest of the sale that will truly establish the nature of the market for thoroughbred yearlings.

— Roberta Smoodin

Keeneland Returns Program To Educate Kids About Thoroughbred Industry

Keeneland will welcome approximately 2,900 fifth grade students from 33 area public and private schools each day this week for a two-hour interactive tour designed to expand their knowledge of Keeneland and the Thoroughbred industry in Central Kentucky. More than 23,000 fifth-grade students have participated in the program, now in its ninth year.

“These tours are fun experiences for students that help them understand the historical, economic and cultural significance of Keeneland and the Thoroughbred industry, which are so important to this area where they live,” Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason said. “Keeneland enjoys hosting these students, and we thank our participating partners for helping us provide students with an interactive overview of the horse industry.”

Each day’s tour begins at 10 a.m. in the Sales Pavilion with a welcome by a member of Keeneland’s executive team. Students then will watch a video about Keeneland and participate in a mock Thoroughbred auction. For the remainder of their visit, they will tour themed educational stations around the track to learn more about Keeneland and its history and various careers in the horse industry.

Among those equine partners represented by stations throughout the walking tour are Godolphin; Kentucky Derby Museum; Locust Trace AgriScience Center, part of Fayette County Public Schools; North American Racing Academy, affiliated with Bluegrass Community and Technical College; and Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital.

Students also will receive a special Thoroughbred Racing and Sales educational workbook designed to encourage further learning. The colorful pages contain information about Thoroughbred training and care, careers in the industry, jockey equipment, a glossary of equine terms and the industry’s economic impact in Kentucky.

‘It’s Been A Long Road’: Krigger Celebrates 1,000th Win At Emerald

Press Release: Jockey Kevin Krigger stole the show Saturday evening at Emerald Downs, riding four winners including career victory No. 1,000.

Krigger swept races 4, 5, 6 and 7, scoring win No. 1,000 aboard I Double Dare You ($5.20) in race five, and adding a feature race victory on Vicente’s Shadow ($9) in the $16,600 Muckleshoot Casino Purse for 3-year-olds and up.

Krigger also won the fourth on Honkytonkbar ($13.40) and the sixth on Bounty Hunter ($23.40), and has 19 wins in 70 mounts since returning here August 2.

Krigger’s milestone victory on I Double Dare You was in gate to wire fashion as the 5-year-old mare cruised by 3 ½ lengths for trainer Rigoberto Velasquez and owner John Sneesby.

“It’s been a long road to get to 1,000 wins, a lot of highlights and I’ve ridden at a lot of places,” Krigger said in the winner’s circle. “But it’s great to get my thousandth win at Emerald Downs, this place is like my second home.”

A 35-year-old native of the Virgin Islands, Krigger broke his maiden in 2001 at Thistledown and is best know for winning the 2013 Santa Anita Derby on Goldencents. Of his 1,002 career wins, 361 have come at Emerald Downs including the 2005 riding title with 126 wins.

In the featured seventh race, Krigger and Vicente’s Shadow held off Kevin Orozco and Bullet Drill in a driving finish for a head victory. Owned and trained by Satchell Stevens, Vicente’s Shadow ran 6 ½ furlongs in 1:17.77 while ending a nine-race losing streak that included three seconds, two thirds, and a nose defeat in the 2018 Auburn Stakes.

A 4-year-old Kentucky-bred by Liaison, Vicente’s Shadow is 2-3-2 in 11 starts overall with earnings of $41,645.

For Stevens, nephew of Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, it was his first victory at Emerald Downs.

 

Stud Notes: Noble Mission’s Travers Winner

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 Travers S.-G1, on dirt, the premier three-year-old event at Saratoga, proved the Farish’s commitment to Noble Mission, as his son, Code of Honor, bred and owned by the elder Mr. Farish, won the race with brilliance, beating tiring favorite Tacitus and becoming the first Grade One winner in his sire’s freshman crop. Noble Mission began his career at stud with a $25,000 stud fee, which was lowered this year to $15,000. I’m guessing it will once again rise.

Code of Honor, who now adds the Travers to his list of accomplishments which includes being promoted to second in the Kentucky Derby-G1, has now earned $1,885, 820 in his career of eight starts, four wins, two seconds, and a third. His dam is the graded stakes winning Dixie Union mare, Reunited, making Code of Honor triple-bred to Northern Dancer through Sadler’s Wells, Danzig and Dixieland Band. The most interesting aspect of his pedigree, however, is something noted in my last column: inbreeding to the great Blushing Groom. Noble Mission’s and Frankel’s dam is Kind, by Danehill, but out of a Rainbow Quest mare, the first appearance of Blushing Groom, on the stallion’s side. Reunited’s dam, Tivli, is by Mount Livermore, the second appearance of Blushing Groom, also through one of his daughters, on Code of Honor’s dams’ side. Code of Honor is therefore 5 x 4 Blushing Groom. This important grass influence in Code of Honor’s pedigree is balanced by American dirt influence, with his sire being double-bred Buckpasser, and Capote, a son of Seattle Slew, on the dams’ side.

The lesson here: never underestimate the Lane’s End brain trust, nor the continuing influence of Blushing Groom on 21st century American racing. Noble Mission now stands at number two on the second crop sires list, behind only golden boy Goldencents.

— Roberta Smoodin

Pedigree Column: Back to the Future with Blushing Groom

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. Both mares boast Blushing Groom on their sire’s side, both in the fourth position, Blushing Groom being Regal Glory’s great-great grandsire in her sire line, and in Varenka, through Awesome Again’s dam, Primal Force, a daughter of Blushing Groom. Varenka has yet another dose of Blushing Groom in her dams’ side through Rahy (making the inbreeding to Blushing Groom on the desired zigzag), and if you pursue her dams’ side far enough, you find that her fourth dam is a great-granddaughter of Red God, Blushing Groom’s sire. That Blushing Groom should impart turf ability to these mares is no surprise.

The similarities don’t end there. Both mares’ pedigrees also feature Halo, in the fourth position in Regal Glory’s dams’ side, and in the fifth position in Varenka’s. Both also feature Northern Dancer, through Northern Sea and Lyphard in Regal Glory, while Varenka’s pedigree includes Northern Dancer’s son Night Shift on the dams’ side. This close coupling of Northern Dancer and Halo is 5 x 5 in Varenka, and 4 x 5 x 6 in Regal Glory. This is significant because Northern Dancer and Halo share a grandmother: the great Almahmoud, through her daughters Natalma and Cosmah. This gives us the hint that, upon closer examination, becomes a trend: that both pedigrees are particularly rich in Mahmoud, the sire of Almahmoud. Varenka gets another big dose of Mahmoud through The Axe II via Ghostzapper’s dams’ side, while both mares get the big heart gene from a daughter of Mahmoud, Ghazni, via Drone. Regal Glory also provides another way back to The Tetrarch, prominent in Mahmoud’s dams’ side, through Acatenango, her sire Animal Kingdom’s broodmare sire.

Now for the Hail to Reason connection. Varenka has prominently placed in her pedigree another of the most fruitful sons of Hail to Reason, along with Halo, Roberto, whose son Dynaformer is her broodmare sire. Regal Glory gets that same dose of Hail to Reason on her sire’s side, in the seventh position, where Roberto appears. Inbreeding to Hail to Reason and his sire, Turn-to, has proven fruitful, but it would appear that Halo and Roberto in particular result in race horses.

Blushing Groom is from the Nasrullah sire line, which is very closely related to Turn-to, the sire of Hail to Reason, through Nearco, Blenheim and Mumtaz Mahal. Inbreeding to other close relations creates stakes winners, and both mares have these other close relations of both Nasrullah and Hail to Reason in their pedigrees: Varenka through Djebel, twice, and Regal Glory through Klarion, a grandson of Djebel. The great mare Lavendula is the key to all of these closely related sires whose combination works so well. My Babu, Ambiorix, Klarion, Turn-to, Nasrullah and Mahmoud all represent a tossed salad of similar forebears (Djebel and his father Tourbillon, Phalaris, Chaucer, Gay Crusader and Gainsborough, both sired by Bayardo, and Mumtaz Mahal, Mahmoud’s grandmother). These two pedigrees gain their success through knowledge of ancient history of the thoroughbred, which is so unusual these days of inbreeding to Mr. Prospector, Storm Cat, and Seattle Slew, as if thoroughbreds didn’t exist before the 1970s.

I could write a book about these two pedigrees. Suffice it to say, the riches don’t end there. Both mares pedigrees’ include Sir Gaylord, Tom Fool, a wealth of Man o’War, and multiple doses of the important Spearmint mare Plucky Liege through her wonderful sons Sir Gallahad, Admiral Drake and Bull Dog. Cameos by Somethingroyal, the dam of Sir Ivor (and of course Secretariat) and La Troienne, via The Axe in Varenka, and Buckpasser, tripled, in the dams’ side of Regal Glory, ensure that the great mares of the twentieth century are also represented. In pedigrees, learning the lessons of history isn’t a caveat; it is instead a delight. And it can create a thrilling race ending in a dead heat for these two, Varenka and Regal Glory, who are very nearly twins separated at birth.

— Roberta Smoodin

Stud Notes: Medaglia D’Oro Rules at Del Mar

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?

Because anyone who has ever doubted the greatness of Medaglia D’Oro needs to cease and desist. On turf and on dirt, fillies and colts, Medaglia D’Oro gets runners. This back-to-back demonstration of his magnificence only underscores what astute buyers with big checkbooks attending yearling and two-year-old sales already know. That’s why Medaglia D’Oro’s progeny sell for millions to big agents like David Ingordo (Higher Power) who paid $250,000 for the now Grade One winning colt, and big owners like Larry Best (Cambier Parc), who paid $1,250,000 for the yearling filly out of Canadian Horse of the Year Sealy Hill. Both investments look like gold today. As does a breeding for $150,000 to the twenty-year-old stallion himself, who stands at Darley in Lexington, Kentucky.

Stakes winners such as Mshawish and Passion for Gold have already underscored the cross of Medaglia D’Oro on Thunder Gulch mares, so Cambier Parc, out of a Point Given mare (himself a son of Thunder Gulch) is no surprise. As well, Medaglia D’Oro likes another dose of Northern Dancer for his Sadler’s Wells sireline to connect with, and Cambier Parc provides that via Storm Bird, just as Higher Power provides that via Nijinsky II. It must be noted what close genetic relatives Storm Bird and Nijinsky II are to understand how well they cross with Medaglia D’Oro’s own Northern Dancer line.

What’s looking like a new trend, however, is how much Medaglia D’Oro likes to see Seattle Slew in his mares. Higher Power is out of the Seattle Slew mare Alternate, herself the dam of young, successful sire and millionaire Alternation. Cambier Parc’s second dam is the Boston Harbor mare Boston Twist. Boston Harbor, a son of Capote, is therefore a grandson of Seattle Slew, and also provides another cross of Northern Dancer through Vice Regent. Not that this combination is unprecedented: one has only to look at the pedigree of multiple Grade One winner and millionaire Plum Pretty to see that she is out of an A.P. Indy mare, and graded stakes winner and millionaire Al Khali is out of a Capote mare. But given yesterday’s results, this cross seems to be on the rise.

— Roberta Smoodin