BloodHorse news editor Byron King presents his latest Derby Dozen Presented by Spendthrift, with a look at his leading contenders for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve on May 6.
Month: February 2023
Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Raises Over $56,000 Via Off To The Races, Lexitonian Season Auctions
The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance closed its second annual Off to the Races online auction Friday, Feb. 3rd and the Lexitonian Stallion Season online auction on Feb. 6. Due to the generosity of their donors, the TAA raised over $56,000 from the 17 offered VIP experience packages and No-Guarantee Season to Lexitonian.
From Jan. 26 to Feb. 3, the public had the opportunity to bid on VIP experience packages on 17 major race days in 2023 and 2024. Each VIP experience package offered a unique itinerary of horse racing-related bucket list activities and tickets to the specified race day(s).
On Feb. 6 from 6pm – 9pm EST, breeders were welcomed to bid on a 2023 No Guarantee season with breed back to Lexitonian donated by trainer Jack Sisterson and his dedicated team at JWS Racing. Bred and campaigned by Calumet Farm, Lexitonian stands at Lane's End for a 2023 fee of $7,500.
“We love this horse, he was impressive as a race horse and he is a physically stunning animal,” said Celia Bennings of Morning Line Equestrian and winner of the 2023 season. “Lexitonian compliments our mare well and we are excited to see that he is a freshman sire by Speightstown. It will be exciting to see what his offspring does on the racetrack.”
In total, 26 sponsors contributed to the 17 VIP experiences packages offered in the TAA Off to the Races auction and Lexitonian Stallion Season auction: 1/ST, America's Best Racing, Anne's Washington Inn, Arkansas Thoroughbred Retirement and Rehabilitation Foundation, Breeders' Cup Ltd., Tom Cannell, Canterbury Park, Christine A. Moore Millinery, Christine Lee's Restaurant, Churchill Downs Inc., David Dunkley Fine Millinery, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Fran Taylor and Tom Cheek, Frank & Dino's Restaurant, Hotel at Arundel Preserve, Keeneland Association, LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society, Monmouth Park, Mt. Washington Tavern, National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, New York Racing Association, Old Friends, Jack Sisterson, Second Stride, Tampa Bay Downs, Win Place Home, Woodbine Entertainment.
“Thank you to everyone who participated in our Off to the Races and Lexitonian Stallion Season auctions,” said TAA president Jeffrey Bloom. “We are thrilled with the outcome of these events, and so proud of all the partnerships we have formed along the way with the racetracks, sponsors, and individuals who make all of this possible. We are all here for the horses and so excited by the impact these fundraisers will make on accredited aftercare.”
Businesses or individuals wishing to become involved or sponsor items for TAA auctions and events can contact TAA Funding and Events Manager Emily Dresen at Edresen@thoroughbredaftercare.
About the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance
Based in Lexington, KY, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that accredits, inspects, and awards grants to approved aftercare organizations to retrain, retire, and rehome Thoroughbreds using industry-wide funding. Along with continued funding from its original partners Breeders' Cup, The Jockey Club, and Keeneland Association, the TAA is supported by owners, trainers, breeders, racetracks, aftercare professionals, and other industry members. Since inception in 2012, the TAA has granted more than $28.1 million to accredited aftercare organizations. Currently 81 aftercare organizations comprised of approximately 180 facilities across North America have been granted accreditation. To learn more about the TAA, visit ThoroughbredAftercare.org.
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Seven-Win Day Leads To Jockey Of The Week Title For Irad Ortiz, Jr.
Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. has added another record to his already impressive list of riding accomplishments. At Gulfstream Park on Friday, Ortiz, Jr. won seven races on the day's nine-race card. While he is the sixth jockey to ride seven winners at Gulfstream Park, he is the first to do so in consecutive races. Friday's accomplishment was just part of Ortiz, Jr.'s weekend as he also won two graded races.
The panel of racing experts voted Ortiz, Jr. Jockey of the Week for Jan. 30 through Feb. 5. The award honors jockeys for riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.
On Friday, Ortiz, Jr. had a mount in each of the day's nine races. After finishing fifth in the first race on the favorite, his win streak began with Dignified in Race 2 for trainer Jose Garoffalo, Little Jewel in Race 3 for Carlo Vaccarezza, Lakota Territory in Race 4 for Todd Pletcher, Riveting Spirit in Race 5 for Saffie Joseph, Tape to Tape in Race 6 for Larry Rivelli, Rhymes Like Dimes in Race 7 for Saffie Joseph and Six Minus in Race 8 for Todd Pletcher. He finished seventh in the day's final race.
“Everything worked out so well today, and I'm thankful,” said Ortiz, Jr. “Everything came out perfect out there. It was one of those days where everything goes your way, so you enjoy it.”
On Saturday, the red-hot Ortiz, Jr. was aboard Major Dude for trainer Todd Pletcher in the Grade 3 Kitten's Joy. Breaking from post position four, Major Dude settled in fifth before moving outside at the top of the stretch, getting up inside the eighth pole to win by 1 1/2 lengths. Major Dude's final time for the 1 1/16-mile turf test was 1:39.85.
Riding again for Todd Pletcher in the G3 Sweetest Chant, Ortiz, Jr. was aboard the favorite, Cairo Consort. After a disastrous start, Cairo Consort spotted the field several lengths settling in ninth but with a patient ride, came rolling down the center of the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length. Her final time for the 1 1/16-mile turf test was 1:40.95.
“When she missed the break, I just let her relax,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “She was happy back there, relaxing. By the turn she wanted to go. I didn't want to go too wide, so we cut the corner. She was there and gave me a good turn of foot.”
Ortiz, Jr., a 30-year-old native of Puerto Rico, was recently awarded his fourth Eclipse Award as Outstanding Jockey. His mount earnings of more than $37 million last year and 80 stakes victories set all-time records. He currently leads the standings at the Championship meet with 49 winners, eight more than defending champ, Luis Saez.
Other contenders for Jockey of the Week included Reylu Gutierrez who won three stakes races at Delta Downs, Harry Hernandez who led all riders in wins for the week with 12, Flavien Prat with two graded stakes wins at Santa Anita, and Luis Saez who won two graded stakes at Gulfstream Park.
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Bloodlines: Red Carpet Ready’s Star Turn For Sire Oscar Performance
“We might never have known how good this filly was on dirt,” Price Bell pondered at Fasig-Tipton on Monday, where I quizzed him about the latest graded stakes winner for Mill Ridge Farm's young sire Oscar Performance, “if only Churchill Downs had had a turf race for her.”
Sometimes you're lucky; sometimes you're good. The filly in question, Red Carpet Ready, is both.
Already the winner of the 2022 Fern Creek Stakes at Churchill on Nov. 26, Red Carpet Ready was making her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Forward Gal at Gulfstream and is now unbeaten in three starts. The good-looking dark bay had won her first start by 10 last year, racing six furlongs on dirt at Churchill, then had come back in the 6 ½-furlong Fern Creek, and the seven furlongs of the Forward Gal posed no problem. After attending the pace to the half-mile, Red Carpet Ready punched away to a 2 ½-length lead and maintained her dominance while ridden out through the finish.
Lucky as Red Carpet Ready is, her owners – Glenn Bromagen and Patrick Lewis – may be even luckier. Bromagen had gone to the Saratoga select sale in 2021 with a plan: “I had identified the horses I wanted at Saratoga, and Oscar Performance was the level of sire power that I thought I could buy there. I thought $200,000 was enough to buy probably the best Oscar Performance, as opposed to being what you'd pay for a bottom-level yearling by a more established sire.”
Red Carpet Ready certainly qualified as a top yearling for her sire. Beautifully balanced and proportioned, she had a very good shoulder and hindquarters, as well as a lovely, athletic walk. Yet, “when she was in the ring,” Bromagen recalled, “from the pacing I felt I was bidding against the reserve. Then when I pulled up at $170,000, I thought she went RNA and was heading out to Mill Ridge to ask about buying her. And as I was going out, I saw Deuce Greathouse signing the ticket.
“That was a sinking feeling, but I went up to Deuce and asked who he was going to send her to. He said he wasn't sure because he'd bought her on 'spec,' and I said I really liked her.
“He said, 'Well, you can buy her from me.' I asked how much he wanted: $190,000. You know, I was prepared to go to $200,000 for her; so I bought her, and she's been a wonderful filly at every step of the way.”
The buyer noted that Greathouse went back and bought the full sister in last year's Saratoga sale for $65,000. “He may be the smartest of us all,” Bromagen said. “My partner Patrick Lewis had been talking about getting into the game, called me up after I'd bought this filly, and this is his first flat-racing Thoroughbred. I've ruined him because now he thinks the game is easy” with an unbeaten filly who's just won a graded stakes.
Bred in Kentucky by Lynn Schiff, Red Carpet Ready is the second winner from three foals to race out of Wild Silk, an unraced daughter of champion 2-year-old colt and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense (by Street Cry) and the stakes-winning A.P. Indy mare Spun Silk.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.Although no granddaughter of Arlington Million winner Kitten's Joy (El Prado) and Street Sense would qualify as “sprint bred,” there is certainly plenty of speed in this filly's heritage. The speed begins with her sire, who must have given his jockey a whiplash when racing a mile in record time of 1:31.23 to win the G3 Poker Stakes at Belmont.
The filly's third dam is stakes winner Spunoutacontrol (Wild Again), a half-sister to leading sire Tale of the Cat (Storm Cat) and European highweight Minardi (Boundary), as well as to the dam of champion Johannesburg (Hennessy). The fourth dam of Red Carpet Ready is a full sister to G1 winner Preach (Mr. Prospector), the dam of leading sire Pulpit (A.P. Indy).
A G1 winner four times, Oscar Performance won three of his four starts at two, including the G3 Pilgrim and the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. He followed up with Grade 1 victories in the Belmont Derby, Secretariat, and Woodbine Mile, among other graded successes. The handsome bay out of the Theatrical mare Devine Actress earned $2.3 million for Amerman Racing LLC and retired to stud at Mill Ridge Farm, where he was syndicated into 40 shares and entered stud at a fee of $20,000 live foal.
With five graded stakes performers from his first crop so far, Oscar Performance is booked full with a limit of 140 mares for 2023 and stands for the same fee ($17,500 to those who have previously bred to the horse).
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