Tapit, the near-white son of Pulpit (by A.P. Indy), reaffirmed his position as one of the most significant sires and pervasively important grandsires in contemporary breeding with the results of racing for 2-year-olds over the weekend. The three-time leading national sire figured closely in the pedigrees of juvenile graded stakes winners V V's Dream at Churchill Downs and Carson's Run at Woodbine.
In the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 16, the gray filly V V's Dream became the first stakes winner for her freshman sire Mitole (Eskendereya), who has a dozen winners to date from a first crop of 159 registered foals. Forty-eight of those have started, and their earnings of $979,847 place him second on the current list of leading freshmen sires.
Like Mitole, four of the five leaders stand at Spendthrift Farm: the list leader Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief; 19 winners), Mitole, Omaha Beach (War Front; 11 winners), and Vino Rosso (Curlin; 10 winners). Only third-place Flameaway (Scat Daddy; 12 winners) stands elsewhere; he is located at historic Darby Dan Farm.
Each of the top five has one stakes winner; these are early days among the freshmen sires, but the pecking order for speed is beginning to take shape.
As a factor for speed, Mitole is no surprise. The Eclipse Award winner as champion sprinter of 2019, Mitole won the G1 Metropolitan Handicap, Breeders' Cup Sprint, Forego Handicap, and two other sprint stakes during his championship season.
Yet for all his speed, Mitole raced only once at two and was third. So, it required some faith in the horse to expect his offspring would be at their best so early. The appearance of V V's Dream is a revelation of ability. The filly slipped into another gear to take the lead in the Pocahontas, then was hand ridden through the stretch to win by 8 ¾ lengths, getting the mile in 1:36.45.
Bred in Kentucky by Mark Stansell, V V's Dream is out the Tapit mare Quay, a three-time winner at three and four who earned $213,526. With earnings at that level, it's surprising the mare didn't get black type herself, and she was fourth in Smart and Fancy Stakes at Saratoga and fifth in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint. From three foals to race, all are winners.
V V's Dream is the mare's first stakes winner, and Quay's dam, the Tale of the Cat mare Skipper Tale, produced four winners, including stakes-placed Quaver (Blame), who is the dam of Kathleen O. (Upstart), the winner of the G2 Davona Dale and Gulfstream Park Oaks last season.
Skipper Tale is a full sister to G3 Railbird Stakes winner Ashley's Kitty, and they have three other stakes winning siblings: Heart Ashley (Lion Heart), winner of the G3 Cicada and Miss Preakness; Indianapolis (Medaglia d'Oro), winner of the San Pedro Stakes at Santa Anita; and Cupid (Tapit), winner of the G1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita, as well as the G2 Rebel Stakes, West Virginia Derby, and Indiana Derby, earning more than $1.7 million.
The handsome gray Cupid is the point of intersection between the two graded stakes winners. The son of Tapit is the sire of Carson's Run, who came with a bold move, “ten wide into the stretch,” according to the chart, to defeat his opposition in the G1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine.
The chestnut is the first runner and stakes winner for his dam, the Henny Hughes mare Hot N Hectic, who was a winner at four. The second dam, Wicked Wish (Gold Case), is a half-sister to a pair of hickory racehorses: Wishful Tomcat (Tactical Cat), winner of the G3 Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct and $716,843, and Uncle T Seven (Freud), who earned more than a half-million.
A winner of two races and $81,410, Wicked Wish produced the even more formidably tough Rated R Superstar (Kodiak Kowboy), who has won 13 races, retired earlier this year at age 10, and has earned more than $1.8 million, with a trio of G3 stakes victories.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.If Carson's Run can combine the longevity of his close relatives with his own obvious talent, he should be a colt who can provide sport of a high order.
Bred in Kentucky by Frankfort Park Farm, Carson's Run was sold by the breeders for $35,000 at the 2022 Keeneland January sale as a short yearling, then resold at the Fasig-Tipton July auction of select yearlings for $67,000, and finally at this year's OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training, went through the sales ring for the third time. Earning a BreezeFig of 69 while working with a stride length of more than 25 feet, Carson's Run attracted the attention of serious buyers.
Consigned by Randy Miles, Carson's Run brought $170,000 from West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey. The consignor said that Bouchey “buys a horse from me every year, and when the West Point guys were showing so much interest in this colt, I told them they ought to get together and buy this colt.
“I didn't know I was selling them a G1 winner,” Miles smiled and shrugged.
Indeed, the good ones can come from anywhere.
The post Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: All Lines Lead To Tapit Among Weekend’s Juvenile Graded Winners appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
