The career profile of Tom's d'Etat, winner of the Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 27, is so contrary to the norm for racehorses here in the States that it begs for comment. The most obvious exception to the norm in the horse's resume is that he is racing at a very high level while age seven, and he is not a gelding.
So, “Y'zat,” as one of my young friends would say.
The simplest answer is that the $330,000 Keeneland September yearling began bucking the trends of modern racing early on and didn't race at two but then won six of nine starts at three, four, and five. “Various minor ailments or injuries,” according to the connections, kept the good-looking son of Smart Strike from racing more often. More importantly, of course, the horse showed ability, winning his maiden at Saratoga at three, then adding allowance victories at Fair Grounds, Churchill Downs, and Saratoga at four.
Beginning in November 2018 as a 5-year-old, Tom's d'Etat has been in steady racing, for him, and has maintained a high level of performance. When he returned to racing at five, Tom's d'Etat added a pair of victories: one was a fifth allowance, this at Churchill in November, and the second was the Tenacious Stakes at the Fair Grounds in December 2018. The Tenacious was the horse's ninth start and first black-type race. He's raced in nothing else since.
The “sheets” offer a further measure of the horse's ability and his steady level of performance over the past 20-odd months. From late 2018 to the present, according to the Thoro-Graph performance figures, Tom's d'Etat has earned a number above a zero, which is a very sharp number for the sheets, only once, when unplaced in his first experience of Grade 1 company in the 2019 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes. All the rest are negative 1s and 2s, and the number of horses who run negative numbers on the sheets is a tiny percentage of performers across the country; to run them consistently for more than two years is extraordinary.
The consistency of this horse's performances is a credit to trainer Al Stall, who has presented this horse at the races ready to give his best, and Tom's d'Etat has stayed sound and happy while maintaining the consistency of high-class form that has brought him victory in the G1 Clark, as well as the G2 Fayette and now the Stephen Foster.
Bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock, Tom's d'Etat sold for $330,000 as a yearling, when he brought the seventh-highest price among 33 yearlings by the sire. Now the winner of more than $1.6 million, Tom's d'Etat looks like a pretty sound investment, and as a son of Smart Strike (Mr. Prospector), there could be more benefit to come.
The leading sire in the nation in 2007 and 2008, Smart Strike has proven a distinctive son of his great sire. The best of Smart Strike's stock have great speed and the ability to carry it, with both Curlin and Lookin at Lucky winning the Preakness Stakes and Curlin running a close second in the Belmont Stakes. Both were also champions at three, and in addition, Lookin at Lucky was the champion 2-year-old colt of his year.
Of equal importance, Smart Strike has been a very successful sire of stallions, with Horse of the Year and classic sire Curlin leading the list among the sons by Smart Strike. The stallion's additional champion sons English Channel and Lookin at Lucky have also struck gold on the sire lists, and they are significant sires of quality racers who have versatility with surface and distance.
Tom's d'Etat is out of the stakes-winning Julia Tuttle (Giant's Causeway), who is the best racer out of Candy Cane, an Argentine-bred full sister to leading sire Candy Ride (Ride the Rails). The dam of Candy Ride and Candy Cane is Candy Girl (Candy Stripes), a full sister to Argentine 2,000 Guineas winner City West. As a producer, Candy Girl is the dam of three major winners: the unbeaten Candy Ride, as well as the G3 stakes winners Candy Singer and Candy Apple.
This is a family that has shown the ability to race at the highest level at distances up to nine and 10 furlongs, on turf and dirt, in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. With Tom's d'Etat racing sound, there is apparently more to come.
The post Bloodlines: Versatile Tom’s D’Etat Defies Age, Convention With Continued Success appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
