How soon they forget!
Had this year's leading juveniles been switched with last year's, what headlines would the papers be carrying? Over the weekend, a pair of juveniles by champion Arrogate (by Unbridled's Song) won the Grade 1 features at Del Mar. A colt and a filly by the same sire taking Grade 1 honors? Has that happened before?
A year ago, minus a week or so, Gun Runner had Echo Zulu winning the Grade 1 Spinaway and Gunite winning the G1 Hopeful. The world stood agog, and Gun Runner began his ascent into the pantheon of stellar stallions.
Mavens of the horse world, however, are not as fickle as yesterday's headlines. Not quite, anyway.
Gun Runner had first run with top juveniles, followed up with some excellent performers at three, and he is the toast of the Thoroughbred breeding and selling world. Poor Arrogate is gone, but at least he is not quite forgotten.
The winner of the Del Mar Futurity was Cave Rock, a dark brown, nearly black son of Arrogate bred in Kentucky by Anne and Ronnie Sheffer Racing LLC. The colt is out of G3 Schuylerville Stakes winner Georgie's Angel, by Wood Memorial winner Bellamy Road, who also was a dark brown, nearly black racer of immense talent.
And there is no doubt about the talent in Cave Rock. The good-looking colt sold for $550,000 a year ago at the Keeneland September sale, purchased by Three Amigos Racing Stable, and Cave Rock races for Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. The colt is trained by some neophyte named Baffert.
The latter name is important in the saga of Cave Rock's sire Arrogate. After Juddmonte Farms had purchased Arrogate and sent him to Baffert, the colt was showing hints of the talent typical of an Unbridled's Song, but the trainer sent the colt back to the farm.
“He had some baby things going on and needed to finish growing up and fill out,” Juddmonte's farm manager Garrett O'Rourke recalled, “and after some time playing and galloping on the farm, we sent him back to Bob. A few months later, Arrogate had his first start” in a maiden special at Santa Anita on April 17 of his 3-year-old season.
The rest is history.
In the Del Mar Futurity, Cave Rock indicated the level of form that Arrogate might have been able to show if his growth pattern had been a little different. The juvenile colt was away a step slow, then got into gear, and by the time the field had gone a quarter-mile, Cave Rock was slightly in front of his quick stablemate Havnameltdown (Uncaptured), who is owned by the same trio as the winner.
The pair staged something of an exhibition of speed with a quarter in :21.56, a half in :43.65, three-quarters in 1:08.55, and seven furlongs in 1:20.99. By the finish, Cave Rock had pulled away to win by 5 ¼ lengths, but it was impressive for both colts.
The previous day's Del Mar Debutante was run in opposite fashion. The Arrogate filly And Tell Me Nolies was bumped at the start, was fifth of seven at the half, came wide on the outside at the turn, moved up to second by the stretch call, and won the race at the wire by a head. The winner's time was 1:23.29.
Bred in Kentucky by Lara Run LLC, And Tell Me Nolies is out of the Exchange Rate mare Be Fair. The bay filly was sold for the first time at the 2021 Keeneland January sale for $70,000 to D.J. Stable, then resold at the 2022 OBS April sale for $230,000 to Bryan Anderson, agent. The filly races for Peter Redekop B.C. Ltd. and is trained by Peter Miller.
The dam of And Tell Me Nolies won the G3 Lake George Stakes at Saratoga, was third in the G1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn, and showed improved form at three and four. Be Fair, in fact, was highly tried against the best fillies of her crop, finishing fourth or fifth in G1s such as the Ashland Stakes, Kentucky Oaks, Acorn, and Ruffian.
She clearly had some talent, and on retirement and carrying a first cover to leading sire Indian Charlie, she was sold at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall sale for $300,000 to Dell Ridge. The mare sold at Keeneland November in 2018, carrying a foal by Practical Joke, for $50,000 to Lara Run.
Most recently, the then-15-year-old mare sold at the 2021 OBS winter sale, cataloged in foal to Gun Runner, for $35,000 to Jim Ballinger. The resulting foal was a colt who sold as a weanling at Keeneland November last year to McMahon & Hill Bloodstock for $150,000. Be Fair was bred to Mo Town in 2022.
In similar fashion to Be Fair, Georgie's Angel, the dam of Cave Rock, sold before her G1 performer was known. The mare produced Cave Rock on March 12 and sold later that year at the 2020 Keeneland November mixed sale for $75,000 in foal to Arrogate. Georgie's Angel produced a filly by Improbable this year, and she was bred back to Connect. The mare's yearling, a full brother to Cave Rock, brought the top price at the Fasig-Tipton sale of select New York-breds, selling for $700,000 to Tom McCrocklin, agent for Champion Equine.
The post Bloodlines Presented By No-No Cribbing Collar: Dearly Departed Arrogate Keeps His Name In The Papers With Grade 1 Weekend appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
