Bloodlines: Wave Theory And The Story Of Two Phil’s

After a brave and exciting effort to finish second in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, Two Phil's (by Hard Spun) made his first appearance since the classic in the G3 Ohio Derby on June 24. After the strong chestnut colt won the race by 5 3/4 lengths in 1:49.60 for the nine furlongs, great things were predicted for the rest of his season.

Unfortunately, the colt came out of the race with an ankle problem, and his season appears to be over, perhaps his racing career. With the prospect of retirement to stud, here's a peek under the hood at the colt's pedigree.

Bred in Kentucky by Phillip Sagan, Two Phil's is by the classic-placed Hard Spun, one of the best stallion sons of the great sire Danzig. Second in the 2007 Kentucky Derby to Street Sense, Hard Spun later won the G1 King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga and then finished second to Horse of the Year Curlin in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic.

Retired to stud at Darley's Jonabell Farm outside Lexington, Hard Spun has been a sire success from the start, and he has sired 77 Northern Hemisphere stakes winners from 13 NH crops of racing age (including 2-year-olds of 2023). The big bay has 15 G1 winners around the world; his best in America include champion Questing (Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama), Silver State (Metropolitan Handicap), Spun to Run (Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile), Wicked Strong (Wood Memorial), and Aloha West (Breeders' Cup Sprint). The latter four all were sent to stud in Kentucky at leading farms.

The first foals by Spun to Run (standing at Gainesway) are yearlings; the first crop by Silver State (Claiborne Farm) are foals of 2023; and Aloha West (Mill Ridge Farm) covered his first book this year.

Two Phil's is out of the multiple stakes winner Mia Torri, a daughter of the Sky Mesa stallion General Quarters. Mia Torri was in the money for nine of her 10 starts, winning the Sunshine Millions Distaff and Sugar Maple Stakes, as well as finishing second in the G3 Bed o' Roses and Charles Town Oaks.

The first foal of his dam, Two Phil's is a three-time winner at the G3 level and placed in G1, G2, and G3 stakes. This makes him the peak of racing quality in the immediate generations of this family, but that's not the whole story.

This is a family that has reached uncommon peaks of excellence in the past, and it is an interesting example of the “wave pattern” of breeding that Abram S. Hewitt wrote about in his columns and then in his book on the great breeders of the late 19th century and mid-20th century.

The great English brewer and breeder Hall Walker and the famed Italian horseman Federico Tesio both “believed in a wave theory of breeding,” Hewitt wrote, that showed both upward and downward momentum. Their policy was to find and breed to families “during the upward momentum phase.”

Both Two Phil's and Mia Torri are part of the upward momentum in this family, which includes the fact that the Ohio Derby winner's third dam is a restricted stakes winner. Earlier in the 20th century, this family had soared in prominence before sinking to disregard.

At the 1925 Saratoga select yearling sale, owner-breeder-trainer-adviser Howard Oots bought a Man o' War filly for James Cox Brady Sr. for $50,500, a record price for a yearling in America at the time. Tracing in the female line to Ornament, a full sister to the unbeaten English Triple Crown winner Ormonde, the daughter of Man o' War came to the sale when the superb racehorse was being recognized as a sire sensation. His first crop, 3-year-olds of 1925, included Belmont Stakes winner American Flag and others. Named War Feathers, the beautiful chestnut filly proved talented in her morning work but nearly useless in the afternoon.

Seemingly overwhelmed by the noise and crowds of the afternoon, the filly had not managed to win a race at 2 or 3 in 1927, when the elder Brady died of pneumonia and his stock was dispersed. Oots bought War Feathers for $20,000 and raced her at four, winning a minor race at Latonia.

Oots retired the lovely young mare and bred a pair of winners from her, then a trio of stakes winners. Man o' War mares were just about the best producers of the era, and War Feathers was one of the very best among them. Her fifth foal was a handsome brown daughter of Man o' War's contemporary On Watch (Colin), and Oots sold her privately to James Cox Brady the younger. He named his filly War Plumage.

At two, War Plumage imitated her dam by failing to win, but she didn't lack ability. She was second and third in stakes from four starts. The striking dark filly with three white socks debuted at three in the Coaching Club American Oaks. She was the fifth choice in a field of nine and won by a length against a strong field. War Plumage then was second in the Delaware Oaks and bounced back to win the Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. With successes in the two best staying events for fillies, War Plumage was named the co-champion 3-year-old filly of 1939 with Unerring.

The following season, War Plumage won only once, defeating colts in the Washington Park Handicap. This was also one of the richer and most competitive events of the season with a purse of $25,000, and she was named champion of her division again.

This family had peaked in late 19th century and early 20th with Ormonde and with his sister Ornament's best racer, multiple classic winner Sceptre, peaked again with War Feathers and her immediate descendants, and has another classic performer of 2023 with Two Phil's.

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