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Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: Quality Runs Deep In Family Of BC Juvenile Winner Fierceness

If Curlin were to get any hotter, I suppose the imposing chestnut son of leading sire Smart Strike (by Mr. Prospector) would have to be trotting through the Sahara Desert.

Not only did the Big C have three winners at the highest level in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup races on Saturday – Cody's Wish in the BC Dirt Mile, Idiomatic in the BC Distaff, and Elite Power in the BC Sprint – but Curlin's sons Keen Ice and Good Magic have sired the last two winners of the G1 Kentucky Derby. Although the 2023 Derby winner Mage did not go in the BC Classic, Good Magic's top juvenile son Muth was second in the BC Juvenile and had previously won the G1 American Pharoah.

In contrast to all the immediate success and raging popularity of Clan Curlin, consider the fortunes of the sire of the colt who defeated Muth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Fierceness. The Juvenile winner is from the second crop to race by Pegasus Invitational winner City of Light (Quality Road). A winner in six of his 11 starts, including the G1 Malibu at 3, the BC Dirt Mile, G1 Triple Bend, and G2 Oaklawn Handicap at 4, and the G1 Pegasus at 5, City of Light showed very high ability, and when he was retired to stud at Lane's End Farm for the 2019 season, he proved one of the most popular young sires.

He deserved to be and not only on the score of his best racing performances. The striking bay impressed more than one knowledgeable judge as the best physical in a good-looking group of new sire prospects that year, which included champions Justify (Scat Daddy), Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky), and Good Magic.

The horse continued to impress with his early yearlings and 2-year-olds in training, as they averaged three and four times his entering stud fee of $60,000 for a live foal.

Yet, a year ago with the first racers by City of Light at the races, things were not going the way one would have hoped for this bright prospect of the stallion firmament. At the end of the season, he ranked only 10^th among freshmen sires, behind crop leader Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), Good Magic, and Justify. And there wasn't a runner among the whole crop from City of Light who could have warmed up Fierceness.

Such a difference a year makes.

Because Fierceness, oh Fierceness, was not just an average winner of a Breeders' Cup race. He did not win by a modest margin in a “brave display” or hold off a charging foe in an “exercise in gameness.” Fierceness won the Juvenile by one of the longer margins in the history of the 40 years of the Breeders' Cup: 6 ¼ lengths. Champion and subsequent Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense won by the greatest margin: 10 lengths. Likewise, divisional champion and Horse of the Year Favorite Trick (Phone Trick) had won his Juvenile by 5 ½ lengths, even more than the amazing Arazi (Blushing Groom), who had been five lengths ahead of Bertrando.

And just in case some are inclined to whisper, “who'd he beat,” each of the next four finishers – Muth (American Pharoah), Locked (Breeders' Futurity), Timberlake (Champagne), and Prince of Monaco (Del Mar Futurity) – are already winners at the G1 level. Those results suggest that this is a pretty good Juvenile and that Fierceness might be a better than good winner of the race.

Bred in Kentucky by Repole Stable Inc., Fierceness is the first runner and winner out of the winning Nonna Bella (Stay Thirsty). In addition to racing the colt and his dam, Repole Stable also bred both, and Nonna Bella is a half-sister to G1 Wood Memorial winner Outwork (Uncle Mo), and the dam of Outwork and Nonna Bella is the Empire Maker mare Nonna Mia. She is a half-sister to Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile), a winner in three of his five starts, including the G2 Holy Bull and G2 Nashua Stakes.

Far more than that bare record, however, Cairo Prince was “one of the ones.” He was so impressive in his late juvenile and early 3-year-old form that he drew multi-million dollar offers from around the world. All that promise on the track was cut short by ill fate, but this is a pedigree that long has flirted with athleticism of a very high order, and Fierceness may be the one who fulfills the promises of the past.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: Quality Runs Deep In Family Of BC Juvenile Winner Fierceness appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘He Has Pride of Place Here’: All Hail Teofilo, the Cups King

Seventeen years have passed since Teofilo (Ire), a member of the second crop of Galileo (Ire), blazed a trail through his unbeaten juvenile season, ending the year as champion two-year-old after beating Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) in the G1 National and G1 Dewhurst S.

Jim Bolger's homebred raced solely at seven furlongs that year, and his subsequent injury in the spring of 2007 meant that we could only guess at what he might have achieved at three and beyond. By that August he had been retired without ever returning to the track. His racing career may have been cut short, but his stud career has dropped plenty of hints as to what his profile may have been had he raced on.

Teofilo has been far from a one-dimensional stallion in his 16 years spent continuously at Kidangan Stud. This week, he has been back in the news courtesy of his third Melbourne Cup winner in the last six years, Without A Fight (Ire) having followed Cross Counter (Ire) and Twilight Payment (Ire) onto that particular roll of honour. While there are a good number of stayers among Teofilo's top runners – the Gold Cup winner Subjectivist (GB) and Prix du Cadran winner Quest For More (Ire) included – this is by no means his hallmark. If anything is, it's his versatility.

In his first crop Teofilo sired the Dewhurst winner Parish Hall (Ire), and if he looked like the second coming it was perhaps no surprise, as the colt, inbred 3×3 to Sadler's Wells, raced in the same familiar colours of Jackie Bolger, having been bred by her husband Jim, the man born on Christmas Day who masterminded Teofilo's own racing career and has bred a number of his best offspring.

The Irish St Leger winner Voleuse De Coeurs (Ire) was another member of that first crop, and since then Teofilo has been represented by a Group 1 winner from every year of production through to his current crop of four-year-olds, including Irish Derby winner Trading Leather (Ire), Irish 1,000 Guineas and Yorkshire Oaks winner Pleascach (Ire) and the Prix Jean Prat winner Havana Gold (Ire). The latter is of course the sire of the G1 Flying Five winner and rising young sire Havana Grey (GB), giving the line an extra speedy dimension. Among this season's three-year-olds has been the GII Sands Point S. winner Eternal Point (Ire), who has won two graded stakes races this autumn.

About to turn 20, Teofilo is at that stage where, if his influence is strong enough, he should be appearing as the broodmare sire of top winners, and this he has started to do with regularity. Last season's 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas winner Cachet (Ire) and Coroebus (Ire) were both out of Teofilo mares, giving him a notable Classic double. A son of Dubawi (Ire), the ill-fated Coroebus was bred on the reserve cross to that which produced Without A Fight.

Teofilo's run in this sphere is extended by last season's G1 Preis der Diana winner Toskana Belle (Fr) (Shamalgan {Fr}) and by the previous year's Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), while the dual Group 1 winner Dreamloper (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) is also out of one of his daughters.

Given his location, it is no surprise that Teofilo has ended up covering a number of Dubawi mares, and there are now seven stakes winners bred on this cross from 49 named foals. His 24th Group 1 winner, Without A Fight, who started his career with Simon and Ed Crisford before staying permanently in Australia with Anthony and Sam Freedman, was bred by Dubawi's owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum. His dam Khor Sheed was bought for the sheikh as a yearling for 42,000gns by Luca Cumani. The half-sister to the Group 1 winner Prince Kirk (Fr) (Selkirk) had already passed through the Tattersalls sale ring as a foal, where she was signed for by Joe Foley at 22,000gns.

Khor Sheed, later trained by Cumani, won the Listed Empress S. at Newmarket on only her second start at two, and the following year claimed another Listed win as well as the G3 Premio Sergio Cumani, named in honour of the trainer's father. She has produced four winners to date, Without A Fight being way out in front on the list with an impressive 11 wins from his 23 starts. He became only the twelfth horse to win both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, and he has won a further two group races in Australia this year, as well as the G3 John Smith's Silver Cup and two Listed contests in England.

The December before Without A Fight made his debut, Khor Sheed returned to Tattersalls and was bought from Godolphin by Harry Dutfield for 26,000gns. The Havana Gold foal she was carrying was born dead and she produced two subsequent fillies for Dutfield before being returned barren to the Tattersalls February Sale this year. By this stage, Without A Fight was a Group 3 winner and the mare's first foal, the unraced Sharja Spirit (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), had produced the Grade II winner Avenue De France (GB) (Cityscape {GB}).

Mick Donohoe signed for Khor Sheed on her fourth visit to the sale ring, buying the 15-year-old on behalf of Yulong for 28,000gns.

“She is in foal to Lucky Vega so that was a nice little update,” Donohoe confirmed. “She's a stakes-winning Dubawi mare and she had bred a stakes winner, and one of her daughters had bred a stakes winner, too.”

He added, “Harry Dutfield was very forthcoming with a genuine reason why she was barren, so she just made sense, and obviously the Teofilo horse was a good horse anyway, so it all worked out.”

On Wednesday, it was announced that Subjectivist, the aforementioned Royal Ascot winner, who also won the G1 Prix Royal Oak and G2 Dubai Gold Cup along with the most coveted staying prize of them all, would be standing at Alne Park Stud next year. Havana Gold sadly died earlier this year, leaving only Massaat (Ire) and Parish Hall (Ire) of Teofilo's sons at stud, through it is easy to imagine the line continuing, at least in the immediate future, through his grandson Havana Grey.

As for Teofilo himself, he is reported to be in rude health ahead of his 17th covering season at Darley's Kildangan Stud, where his fee remains at €30,000. Unlike some, it hasn't fluctuated that much over the years. He started out at €40,000 and dipped to €15,000 in 'that difficult fourth season' that so frustrates stallion owners, and reached a high point of €50,000 in 2014.

Understandably, Kildangan's nominations manager Eamon Moloney is a big fan of Teofilo, having worked with him for years. He told TDN, “He's the most extraordinary horse and I just wish he got the credit he deserves.

“We make no secret of the fact that his fertility has slipped slightly through the years as he's got older, so he's been covering 80 mares per year and at that we can keep his fertility to a very high level.

“He's a very important member of Kildangan. Once Teo has started then the lads can start up the rest of the day. He's a big, substantial horse and he charges out to his paddock. He's a tough sort of a horse, but there's a gentle giant behind it.”

Moloney added, “He's in great health at 19, rising 20, and he very much has pride of place here.”

The post ‘He Has Pride of Place Here’: All Hail Teofilo, the Cups King appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Half-Share In Wooded Among Arqana November Online Wildcards

A half-share in Group 1-winning sprinter Wooded (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) (lot 11) is among the three wildcard lots added to the Arqana November Online Sale on Tuesday, Nov. 28 from 4-6 p.m.

The other two wildcards are both breeding rights, one in Grade 1-winning jumper Goliath Du Berlais (Fr) (Saint Des Saints {Fr}) (lot 10) and one in G1 Irish Derby hero Latrobe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) (lot 12). The former has first 3-year-olds in 2024, while the latter has his first juveniles next term.

For the full catalogue, please visit the Arqana website.

The post Half-Share In Wooded Among Arqana November Online Wildcards appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Ask The Expert: Do You Blanket Horses Who Won’t Use Their Run-In Shed?

Question

The weather patterns the past few years have me second guessing my blanketing strategy. Normally, my horses go unblanketed for the entire year. They have access to a shelter and plenty of hay. Colder temperatures in the fall and rain have me concerned because my horses refuse to use their shelter. Should I throw a sheet on them? Will their coat stop growing if I do that? I do not want to blanket them all winter, I just want to get them through the colder fall rainy days.

Response

When it comes to blanketing practices there is not a “one size fits all” approach. Ultimately, the decision to blanket will depend on the individual horse and your management style. With that in mind, there are some key things to consider in your situation.

A horse's winter hair coat continues to grow as the number of daylight hours declines. The hair coat naturally insulates the horse by trapping and warming air around the horse. When the hair coat is flattened, wet, or muddy it loses its insulating value. Therefore, a blanket is warranted if your horses are standing in the rain during cold weather and do not have access to shelter. In your situation, shelter access is provided even if the horses choose not to use it. Thus, a blanket or sheet is not necessary but can be used if you prefer. While a sheet can keep the rain off your horse, remember that a sheet has little to no insulating value. For reference, horses with a summer hair coat can maintain their body temperature until air temperatures fall below 41°F. Thus, a lightweight, turnout blanket may be a better option for shedding the rain while warming your horse during fall weather.

Using a sheet or lightweight blanket on rainy fall days will likely not affect your horse's hair coat going into winter. A recent study demonstrated that blanketed and nonblanketed horses had similar hair growth patterns over winter (October to March). Hair length and diameter on the hindquarters were comparable between blanketed and nonblanketed horses. However, hair length on the neck (not covered by the blanket) was shorter for blanketed horses than nonblanketed horses in January and February. Further research is needed to explore the effects of short-term or intermittent blanket use during fall or winter months.

The post Ask The Expert: Do You Blanket Horses Who Won’t Use Their Run-In Shed? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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