{"id":12060,"date":"2019-01-20T18:47:01","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T00:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/?p=12060"},"modified":"2019-01-20T18:47:01","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T00:47:01","slug":"bafferts-big-colt-dessman-parks-first-start-santa-anita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/bafferts-big-colt-dessman-parks-first-start-santa-anita\/","title":{"rendered":"Baffert’s Big Colt Dessman Parks In His First Start at Santa Anita"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"No surprise that a Baffert maiden, Dessman, won the seventh at Santa Anita on January 19, 2019, by eight lengths. The gorgeous hunk of horseflesh towered over the field, both in racing terms and in looks, weighing 250 pounds more than any other horse in the field (Santa Anita posts weights of all horses), and looking like the proverbial man among boys. Owned by Sheikh Maktoum, Dessman represents the ruler of Dubai\u2019s fondest wish: to win the Kentucky Derby-G1, perhaps the Triple Crown, and to stop being beaten in these most prestigious of races by Baffert trainees. Hence, the fact that he purchased some fabulous horses last year, and gave them to Baffert to train for him. Dessman was a $750,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Florida\u2019s February sale of two-year-olds in training.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not the whole story, however. Dessman is a son of Union Rags, who stands for $60,000 at Lane\u2019s End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, and his story is itself unique. Just this past week, his breeder, Phyllis Wyeth, died, representing the end of a saga that epitomizes love of the horse. Ms. Wyeth sold the beautiful colt for $145,000 at Fasig\u2019s Saratoga yearling sale, and was instantly struck by a rare illness, seller\u2019s remorse. She loved the colt, and thought him the handsomest colt she\u2019d ever bred.<\/p>\n

When Union Rags was pinhooked into a two-year-old in training sale, the same Fasig-Tipton February sale (2011) that Dessman was plucked from in 2018, Ms. Wyeth bought the bay colt for $390,000, fighting off other bidders because she had to have him back. Put into the care of ex-Olympic equestrian and hero of a plane crash, Michael Matz, the colt went on to win the Champagne S.-G1 at two and the Belmont S.-G1 at three, among other races, earning over $1.7 million. Ms. Wyeth\u2019s love of her big boy paid dividends and more, and she retired him to Lane\u2019s End when his career was over in 2013. The rest is history, as he has gone on to become a leading freshman sire, leading sophomore sire, and continues to produce top flight runners.<\/p>\n

Now, Dessman has made his mark as a Kentucky Derby probable starter if all goes well. In the very week of Ms. Wyeth\u2019s sad demise, her beautiful colt that she couldn\u2019t bear to part with, Union Rags, has had a stand-out prospect debut with brilliance. It\u2019s a story right out of the movies and Hollywood, with a fairy tale ending that has yet to be written.<\/p>\n

— Roberta Smoodin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"No surprise that a Baffert maiden, Dessman, won the seventh at Santa Anita on January 19, 2019, by eight lengths. The gorgeous hunk of horseflesh towered over the field, both in racing terms and in looks, weighing 250 pounds more than any other horse in the field (Santa Anita posts weights of all horses), and looking like the proverbial man among boys. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whats-happening","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}