Brightwork's victory in the Grade 3 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga made the daughter of Outwork (by Uncle Mo) a second graded stakes winner for her sire, who won the G1 Wood Memorial in a brief racing career, winning three of his five starts.
A fourth-crop sire in the same group as freshman leader Nyquist (Uncle Mo) and current group leader Not This Time (Giant's Causeway), Outwork went to stud at WinStar Farm in Kentucky, where he was supported with sizable books of mares with good credentials.
At the end of 2022, Not This Time (standing at Taylor Made) had turned the tables on Nyquist (Darley at Jonabell), ranking them first and second among this group of young stallions, and three other sons of Uncle Mo were in the top dozen: Laoban (deceased) in 8th, Outwork (WinStar) 9th, and Uncle Lino (Northview Stallion Station) in 11th.
These four were among the initial top sons of champion racer and leading freshman sire Uncle Mo to go to stud, and their performances have served notice to stallion managers to give due consideration to the sons of the big bay who stands at Ashford Stud.
All these sires have produced good juveniles, and Outwork's first graded winner came from his third crop last year in the premium event for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga: the G1 Spinaway Stakes. After Leave No Trace won the Spinaway, she was third in the G1 Frizette Stakes and second in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies to mark her spot as one of the best fillies in the crop.
At three this season, Leave No Trace has made a single start, unplaced in the G2 Davona Dale in March, and has not raced since. She has, however, had five works in the last five weeks, including a bullet half-mile at Saratoga on July 19, first of 43 at the distance.
Bred in Kentucky by Wynnstay Inc. and Allen Poindexter, Brightwork is out of the Malibu Moon mare Clarendon Fancy, who did not race. Brightwork's dam is one of four foals by Malibu Moon from the second dam, stakes winner Catch My Fancy (Yes It's True), including a full brother named Fancy Malibu who was sent to Russia and is the winner of eight races, including the Great Summer Prize at Rostov, the top prep for the Russian Derby (Russian racing information courtesy of Edward Blackwood). Another full sibling is a winner with earnings of $223,755, and the fourth is Catch the Moon, who is the dam of four graded stakes winners: Girvin (Tale of Ekati), winner of the G1 Haskell and a well-regarded young sire; Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), winner of the G3 Lecomte, as well as second in the G1 Preakness, Travers, and Pennsylvania Derby; Cocked and Loaded (Colonel John), G3 Iroquois Stakes; and Pirate's Punch (Shanghai Bobby), G3 Salvator Mile.
Catch My Fancy produced a pair of stakes winners herself, and nowadays the family is looking positively fancy, with Brightwork's dam having two black-type runners from three foals of racing age. The Adirondack winner is unbeaten in three starts to date, and her sibling Quiet Company (Temple City) has earned $196,835, has a third in the Jameela Stakes.
Overall, this family has shown a lot of ability at two, but frequently kept up the good work, and it traces back to the splendid Monique Rene (Prince of Ascot). The chestnut mare was a racing marvel, winning 29 races from 45 starts, multiple stakes, and becoming a noted producer and dam of producers.
This family traces back through a couple of good producers for Rex Ellsworth to the Whitney stud at the turn of the 20th century and thence to the great broodmare Ballet (Planet) and is the American family number 1, going back to the Janus mare of approximately 1760.
Bred in Kentucky by John M. Clay, Ballet was a younger half-sister to The Banshee (Lexington), who won the 1868 Travers Stakes at Saratoga. A foal of 1871, Ballet was a stakes performer, although not of the same stature as her older sibling. The chestnut mare produced 16 named foals, including the 1884 American Derby winner Modesty (War Dance) and multiple stakes winner Peg Woffington (Longfellow).
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.Owned as a broodmare by George H. Clay, Ballet became one of the best-known broodmares in the country with the successes of Modesty, who won 35 races, including the Kentucky Oaks and numerous other important events at the time, as well as the first running of the American Derby. Owned by Edward Corrigan, Modesty was ridden by Issac Murphy, who rode the winners in four of the first five American Derbys, and was trained by John Rogers. Both the rider and trainer are in the Hall of Fame.
Although Modesty is not in the Hall of Fame, she is the third dam of Regret (Broomstick), who won the 1915 Kentucky Derby and has been elected that honor.
Modesty's full sister, Blue Grass Belle (War Dance), is the conduit of the line that leads to Brightwork, as well as other important horses. Blue Grass Belle is the second dam of 1897 Travers Stakes winner Rensselaer (Hayden Edwards), later exported to Europe, where he won races in England and Germany; of Half Time (Hanover), who won the 1899 Preakness Stakes and finished second in the Belmont Stakes; and is the fourth dam of the great gelding Exterminator (McGee), who won the 1917 Kentucky Derby and 49 other races.
Brightwork provided an opportune update to Hip 19 at the opening session of Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga select sale of yearlings, and the bay filly by first-crop sire Volatile (Violence) brought $285,000 from Ocala Stud, agent.
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