Born for the Task: Five Pedigree Takeaways From Belmont Weekend

With a new cycle of yearling sales nearly upon us, nearly everyone will once again be deciding where they are most prepared to compromise. Would you prefer an athlete low on pedigree, or will you trust the genes to come through even if you're not wowed by the specimen in front of you?

Well, there's no mistaking which strategy is recommended by the story of the GI Belmont S. winner. Though from one of America's most aristocratic families, Arcangelo (Arrogate) lurked in the September Sale as Hip 1182 and was picked out of the Gainesway consignment by Jon Ebbert of Blue Rose Farm for just $35,000.

Apparently the colt had several of those familiar issues liable to keep a horse off shortlists. He was on the small side, immature. There was that ever-divisive quibble, a touch of sesamoiditis. He was a ridgling. And of course his sire had deceased, which the market tends to view as a discourtesy surpassed only by export to Turkey or Peru. Worse yet, Arrogate had only notched his first winner the week before the sale. The unraced dam, meanwhile, had made a poor start to her breeding career.

The pinhookers were out of the game, then, but Ebbert saw that a little patience might yet draw out genetic potential way in advance of the colt's cost. After all, Don Alberto Corporation had given as much as $2.85 million for his dam Modeling (Tapit), whose own racing career had been written off so early that her previous owners had her covered as a 2-year-old.

That's not to everyone's taste, it has to be said, and nor did the Distorted Humor colt she was carrying (result of that maiden cover) when acquired by Don Alberto at the 2014 Keeneland November Sale contribute a great deal as the only starter listed on her fifth foal's catalogue page. (He did win a maiden, but ended up beaten under a $12,500 tag at Belterra.)

But the rest of that page was simply spectacular. Modeling's dam was a Storm Cat half-sister to consecutive Belmont winners, Jazil (Seeking The Gold) and Rags To Riches (A.P. Indy), out of the broodmare legend Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister). And don't forget that the Japanese-trained Casino Drive (Mineshaft) might well have made it three in a row, judged on his impressive reconnaissance in the GII Peter Pan S., but for the injury that kept him out of “Big Brown's” Belmont.

Arcangelo, given due time by Ebbert and trainer Jena Antonucci, came to notice in that same race-and very aptly so. The Peter Pan, positioned between the first two legs of the Triple Crown as a latecomers' springboard to the third, is named for the champion sophomore of 1907. He missed the Derby and Preakness before winning the Belmont, and Arcangelo's revelatory performance last Saturday makes it quite feasible to aspire to the same laurels himself. His lamented sire, after all, was himself a late developer who picked up the pieces of the Triple Crown horses in the GI Travers S. Indeed, Arrogate only broke his maiden the week before the Belmont.

Those to have previously set up their Belmont wins in the Peter Pan include A.P. Indy, whose grandson Tapit this time enhanced his astonishing impact on the most grueling test of an American Thoroughbred in the guise of a broodmare sire. Besides the two starters sired by Tapit himself, Arcangelo was among four of the remaining seven to have been delivered by one of his daughters.
With Tapit as damsire and Better Than Honour as third dam, then, Arcangelo was born for the Belmont. And both sides of his pedigree virtually guarantee continued progress from here.

The dynasty spreading beneath Better Than Honour's granddam Best In Show (Traffic Judge) is too large and familiar to be condensed here, but it's worth reminding ourselves that it features a young stallion very closely related to Arcangelo's dam. By Tapit out of Modeling's half-sister by Street Cry, and far more talented than his final record suggests, Greatest Honour will surely have been in strong demand at just $7,500 during his debut season at Spendthrift.

Arrogate, meanwhile, is now launching his final juveniles. Having now produced Classic winners from both his first two crops, he has clearly demonstrated a genetic legacy worth preserving from his tragically confined opportunity. Cave Rock has disappeared from the radar for now but would have commercial mileage at stud, as a dual Grade I winner at two. But Arrogate's legacy might yet prove no less secure with a son who was not only among his cheapest yearlings, but among the very best-bred.

Curlin Cuts a Dash

Another daughter of Tapit to be celebrated in New York on Saturday was Dance Card, dam of the brilliant GI Met Mile winner Cody's Wish (Curlin). She was a pretty fast horse by the standards of a stallion who has so dominated the Belmont Stakes, having started out as a $750,000 2-year-old and finished with a length defeat in the GI Filly & Mare Sprint at the Breeders' Cup. Her own mother was by a Belmont winner, however, and on paper it might seem baffling that his seasoned connections should be so hesitant to stretch out a son of Curlin with first two dams by Tapit and Editor's Note. Apparently a ninth furlong in the GI Whitney will at least be discussed, but speed is plainly considered his forte-just as it is, still more obviously, in another son of Curlin resident in the same barn.

Elite Power, too, extended his winning streak in the GII True North S. on Saturday, replicating their double score at the Breeders' Cup last fall. On that occasion, the Curlin procession also featured Malathaat in the GI Distaff, and this time her role was filled by Clairiere in the GI Ogden Phipps S. Another famous day, then, for a stallion who reiterates the most wholesome of hallmarks in the robust consistency of Cody's Wish and Elite Power, now on a roll of six and seven wins respectively. But this pair, while typically thriving with maturity, can also make us stop and think afresh about the Hill 'n' Dale patriarch, even at 19.

Elite Power's dam Broadway's Alibi represents a different line of Seattle Slew from the one that gave us Dance Card, as she is by his son Vindication. Again, on paper, you might expect a son of Curlin out of GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up by Vindication (albeit Broadway's Alibi also won the GII Forward Gal over 7f) to relish a second turn-much as Exaggerator did, as a son of Curlin out of a stakes-placed sprinter by Vindication. Okay, so it's a sharp family in behind: the dam of Broadway's Alibi was an Astoria S.-winning half-sister by Seeking The Gold to Dialed In (Mineshaft), out of a daughter of juvenile champion filly Eliza (Mt. Livermore). Nonetheless it does feel striking that Bill Mott is talking about his two Curlin dashers respectively stepping up and down in trip to meet over seven furlongs in the GI Forego S.

It just goes to show how different strands of pedigree come through in different horses. If you identified Stallion X as having Mr. Prospector as a grandsire and Deputy Minister as damsire, you'd be perfectly comfortable with the idea that he could pass on a ton of speed. The intrusion of Smart Strike, whose diverse portfolio included several that matched Curlin in thriving round two turns with maturity, has set a tone for much of Curlin's best stock. But that won't stop other flavors filtering through.

And if you'll permit an Englishman the observation, it doesn't help us that so much American blood tends to have been tested over such a narrow span of distance. How many of the names in Curlin's third and fourth generations, all indigenous and largely operating in a standard window, might have been at the limit of their fuel? Is the forgotten sire of Curlin's third dam, Wise Exchange, smuggling through more speed or stamina?

In broader terms, Curlin's dashers remind us that horses are made of flesh and blood, not software data. That being so, we should surely breed for balance and depth of quality, rather than seek some alchemy between a couple of coarsely interpreted sire brands (Curlin x Tapit; Curlin x Vindication). That way, it won't really matter which genetic ingredients end up coming through-it'll all be good stuff.

Lion Runs Up the Ensign for Justify

It was his unusual precocity, by the standards of Curlin, that always set Good Magic apart. Happily, his stock is also emulating his own consolidation at three, and a Derby winner and a Preakness runner-up have helped him carry forward the fight after he narrowly lost out to Bolt d'Oro in that remarkable contest for the freshman title last year.

It's important for the other protagonists to hang in there, then, and Arabian Lion duly has the look of a very important horse for his sire.
Justify's breakout Grade I scorer in the Woody Stephens S. continues an exciting June for Arabian Lion's breeders at Bonne Chance Farm, who watched in amazement as another farm graduate, King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}), broke clear of the pack in the Epsom Derby on his first start in 224 days, only run down late by the winner.

Arabian Lion amply repaid Justify's opening $150,000 fee as a $600,000 OBS April purchase, by Zedan Racing from Hidden Brook. In turn, he brings a pedigree that would make that look a bargain, too, if he can keep progressing to a place at stud. His third dam is none other than Personal Ensign, who founded a dynasty commensurate with her elite racetrack status-starting with three Grade I winners among her own foals (plus a fourth beaten a nose in the Carter H.).

As it happens, Arabian Lion is out of a full-sister to the dam of Major Dude, whose recent GII Penn Mile success topped up his status as leading contributor to the coffers of Bolt d'Oro this term.

Bolt d'Oro has so far had four stakes winners this year (101 starters, earnings to date of $3.1 million), one more than Good Magic (who is certainly making his punches land where they count most, with 83 starters banking $4.8 million) and two more than Justify (85 starters, $2.1 million). As last year, however, we again need to congratulate Army Mule, who has also had four stakes winners and tipped $2 million from just 61 starters (just cents behind Mendelssohn, from as many as 110 starters).

Veterans Strike Gold

Some people were doubtless a little irritated by my choice of a 25-year-old stallion standing at $80,000 for gold on our “value podium” among proven sires last winter; and no doubt those supervising the evening of his career at WinStar will have managed his book with all due sensitivity to his age. But Speightstown appears to have produced yet another brilliant talent in Gold Sweep, nine-length winner of the Tremont S. at Belmont on Sunday.

Bred in Kentucky by Joe Anzalone, Gold Sweep will get some iron out of his dam, who's by Giant's Causeway out of Canadian champion Ginger Brew (Milwaukee Brew). That makes him inbred 3 x 3 to Storm Cat, who gave us Speightstown's dam Silken Doll as well as Giant's Causeway.

Having learned plenty when missing by a neck on debut at Churchill, Gold Sweep looked worth every cent of the $285,000 he cost Mike McCarty from Indian Creek at Saratoga last summer. He smashed the time for the equivalent filly stakes earlier on the card, by over three seconds, and duly wears a 90 Beyer on his chest going into his next battle.

The disappointment of the race was Vitement, who bombed out after his debut success had promised to reward his breeders for their perseverance in using Speightstown's admirable contemporary, Mizzen Mast. The Juddmonte stalwart was pensioned after producing a single live foal from a few covers in 2021, leaving Vitement as one of 11 current juveniles with the chance to draw out the priceless genes of a son of Cozzene out of a Graustark mare.

With that compression to past glories in mind-the sire of Mizzen Mast's fourth dam was born before the First World War!-you could argue that Caravel was well bought at $500,000 at Fasig-Tipton in November 2021, simply as a breeding prospect. She was already a graded stakes winner, back then, but now she has supplemented her Breeders' Cup success last autumn with the GI Jaipur S.
Mizzen Mast has duly reserved some of his very best material for late in the piece, and maybe Speightstown, having lately given us Charlatan and Olympiad, is going to keep doing the same with Gold Sweep.

Extra Interest for the Winchells

A good weekend for Tapit mares (and Godolphin homebreds) was kicked off by Pretty Mischievous, albeit only just, in the GI Acorn S. on Friday. That helped Into Mischief to a new landmark of $150 million in earnings, and also keeps him on track for another successful defense of his crown as champion stallion.

Away from Belmont, moreover, the Spendthrift phenomenon also showcased a rising force among the sophomores when Extra Anejo blew away his allowance rivals at Ellis Park on Saturday. This colt cost Winchell Thoroughbreds $1.35 million from Mt. Brilliant Farm (co-breeder with Orrin H. Ingram) at Keeneland in September 2021, and you could see why in his spectacular debut at the adjacent racetrack last fall. Unfortunately he was then sidelined by a minor injury, and while he did run at Churchill on the first Saturday in May, it was only in an optional allowance. He ran well there, just unable to reel in a sprinter, but this was something else again and he looks ready to make up for lost time.

Like Good Magic, Extra Anejo is out of a Hard Spun mare-and what an interesting mare she is. Superioritycomplex (Ire) brought 400,000gns from the ever astute Marette Farrell, on behalf of Mt. Brilliant, at the dispersal of the storied Ballymacoll Stud at Tattersalls in 2017. She had just finished a light career with a maiden win, but she was out of an unraced daughter of Galileo (Ire) and the Ballymacoll matriarch Hellenic (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}), dam of three Group 1 winners. So sending her to Into Mischief really was an attempt to combine the best of both worlds.

The second half of the campaign is looking pretty exciting for the Winchell family and their team, then, with their Derby fourth Disarm taking another step forward in a strong race for the GIII Matt Winn at Ellis Park on Sunday. Inevitably, given his breeders, that colt is by Gun Runner out of-you guessed it-a Tapit mare.

With nine graded stakes winners out of his daughters already this year, the Gainesway patriarch approaches serial new landmarks (he stands on 999 winners, 99 in graded stakes, for earnings of $198 million) from another fresh summit: the top of the broodmare sires' table.

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