When I mention Alfred the Great to most people, they think of the 9th century king of the Saxons who created the concept of a united kingdom that became England. But when I mentioned that to a friend from Midway, Ky., he said, “Aye, he lives down the pike a bit.”
This is Alfred Nuckols, whose Hurstland Farm is barely on the outskirts of Midway. A breeder of the old school, Nuckols has decades of experience with Thoroughbreds, and he breeds sound and athletic racehorses but infrequently sends out the top prices at the sales.
For instance, the winner of the Grade 2 Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs on Saturday was Get Smokin (by Get Stormy), and the winner was bred by Nuckols, who sold the charming chestnut at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale for $11,000 to Mary Sullivan, and the price was “either the top price or very nearly the top for a yearling by Get Stormy that year,” Nuckols recalled.
“Mary Sullivan just loved this horse,” Nuckols said. “Once he won a stakes race on her birthday, and that made her very happy.” Sullivan had bred and raced Get Stormy, then stood him at McLean family's Crestwood Farm outside Lexington.
Certainly, Hurstland's son of Get Stormy proved an admirable racer for Sullivan. Get Smokin won his maiden in his second start, going a mile on turf at Belmont Park against eight others in a maiden special and winning by a length in 1:34.48.
Advanced to stakes company, Get Smokin placed in four stakes, including seconds in the G2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga and the G3 Kitten's Joy Stakes at Gulfstream before winning the G2 G2 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont Park.
A winner of two more stakes, including the G3 Tampa Bay, before the midpoint of his 4-year-old season, Get Smokin was laid off for eight months, until early in his 4-year-old season, and in that interim, he was sold to the present ownership: Ironhorse Racing Stable LLC, BlackRidge Stables LLC, T-N-T Equine Holdings LLC, and Saratoga Seven Racing Partners LLC.
The tough chestnut was aimed at somewhat higher-profile targets, including a trio of G1 races, by current trainer Mark Casse. But although Get Smokin did place in four graded stakes, he had not won a stakes for his new owners last year at five or this year at six, until the Kentucky Turf Cup. Get Smokin led at every call on the undulating 12-furlong course and won by a length and three-quarters from the veteran Spooky Channel (English Channel), an 8-year-old gelding possessing immense character and similar constitution to his younger adversary.
Third in the race was the comparatively juvenile Santin (Distorted Humor), a 5-year-old who is a two-time Grade 1 winner (Hollywood Derby at three and Arlington Million at four) and twice second at that level. The top three have each won more than $1 million apiece and have gross earnings of slightly more than $5 million collectively.
Bred in Kentucky by Hurstland Farm Inc. and James Green Jr., Get Smokin is the second foal of Hookah Lady. And this is a family that goes back generations in the Nuckols family.
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“Dad and Charlie and I bought Sally Catbird (Alibhai) as a broodmare prospect,” Nuckols said. “We bred her daughter Clever Bird (Swoon's Son) and then sold a colt out of her to Joe Straus. That turned out to be Clev Er Tell, who won the Louisiana Derby and Arkansas Derby for Straus and Izzy Proler, and then was favorite for the Kentucky Derby till he got hurt.”
Each generation of the family produced a significant racer, with third dam Smart Queen (King Pellinore) getting G3 Saranac Stakes winner Phi Beta Doc (Doc's Leader), and a full sister to Phi Beta Doc produced champion Dayatthespa (City Zip).
Another full-sister produced multiple stakes winner Spanish Pipedream (Scat Daddy), as well as Hookah Lady (Smoke Glacken).
“Hookah Lady was a little headstrong,” Nuckols said. “She had a ton of speed, but you couldn't hold her. She would go as fast as she could for as far as she could.”
Get Stormin is the mare's second foal. A full sister to the Kentucky Turf Cup winner sold at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale for $102,000 to NBS Stable, and there won't be any more because Get Stormy died on Mar. 6 last year at age 16.
With multiple graded stakes winner Get Stormin blazing trails for the family, Nuckols said, “If you want to breed a sale horse, breed a racehorse.”
The post Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: ‘Alfred The Great’ Breeds Another Budget-Priced Score With Get Smokin appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
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