“We couldn't be looking more forward to the 2024 season as we continue to build momentum in our stallion barn,” said Airdrie's Bret Jones. “We believe we have two very special stallions in Girvin and Upstart headlining our roster this year. Both have built their success from the ground up, and their ability to so dramatically improve their mares has earned the faith of the best breeders in the industry. They are both poised to continue to climb the ladder as leading young stallions.”

Girvin has been given a $5,000 bump for 2024, while Upstart's fee remains the same as his 2023 fee.

Cairo Prince will stand for $15,000, the same as his 2023 fee.

“Cairo Prince has once again been the leading sire of his stallion crop and a Top 25 General and Juvenile Sire throughout the year,” said Jones. “He has long cemented his position as a hugely popular value stallion for both the sales ring and the racetrack.”

Collected, who currently has two crops on the track, will remain at $10,000.

“With his first crop just three-year-olds, Collected has already sired three individual Grade II stakes winners and six stakes winners in all,” Jones continued. “That is an incredibly strong resume for a young stallion in his price range and we believe his arrow will continue to point up in the year ahead. And we also believe Complexity ($12,500) has every chance to be next season's leading freshman sire. He was an immensely talented runner and his first-crop yearlings generated the type of buzz at the sales that foreshadows major success on the racetrack.”

“When combined with our new introductions of the last two years in Beau Liam, Happy Saver and Highly Motivated and the future retirement of Kentucky Derby winner Mage at the end of his racing career, these are very exciting times for our Airdrie Stud team. As always, we will be supporting our stallions with the full force of our broodmare band and look forward to working with our incredibly loyal breeders to whom we owe our success.”

The complete roster, with fees, is:

Girvin – $30,000

Upstart – $30,000

Cairo Prince – $15,000

Complexity – $12,500

Collected – $10,000

Happy Saver – $10,000

Highly Motivated – $7,500

Beau Liam – $6,000

Divisidero – $5,000

Preservationist – $5,000

Summer Front – $5,000

The post Girvin and Upstart Lead the Way at Airdrie on 2024 Roster appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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We know that far too many foals are brought into the world to do no more than stand gleaming on a dais for two minutes. Farms have duly had to devise all manner of incentive schemes to keep their young guns in the game long enough to show what their maturing stock can actually do on a racetrack. Whether through loyalty incentives or the support of a home herd, then, the biggest debut books of 2022 will typically be followed by the biggest second books of 2023.

Independence Hall, Rock Your World, Charlatan and Yaupon respectively covered 202, 219, 222 and a staggering 242 mares this spring, Yaupon busier than any sire in the land bar Gun Runner himself. Everyone who used these stallions will understand that there will be no shortage of competition in the 2023 weanling and 2024 yearling catalogues. But they will be comforted that Mendelssohn and Justify, launched with 252 mares apiece in 2019, both obliged with the necessary commercial performance when their first yearlings reached the ring.

The fact is that ringside investors tend to do much as they are told, in the sense that yearling averages for new sires tend to mirror the sequence of their fees pretty slavishly. When you have such huge samples, admittedly, those averages will inevitably embrace a wide spectrum of triumph and disaster. But that's simply the nature of horse business. I reckon that if you're in for a cent, you might as well stay in for a dollar. If you bred to a new stallion last year because you actually believe in his inherent merit, and not just in the robotic reliability of new sires at the sales ring…  then stick with the program!

On which basis, there are limited grounds for altering the medals we awarded to freshmen last year. Certainly you know to back away with a polite smile if ever somebody starts bragging about covering sire averages, which are almost wholly incidental to the quality of those mares randomly offered for sale. Fees, too, almost invariably remain stable at this point. But there is one new factor in play, and that's the traction or otherwise implied by opening books. And that has caused some revision in our pecking order.

Bubbling Under

Honestly, the horse to stop, once those babies start sending purse money into the freshman's table, probably has to be CHARLATAN. A handsome and brilliant animal with a great shape to his pedigree, he will have matched all that quantity with plenty of quality in his first book–and that is just what you want to hear at $50,000. But we'll try to find him some competition at somewhat lesser cost.

While the size of Yaupon's first book will doubtless divide opinion, you have to respect what the sheer demand says about him, not least as a physical specimen. But if you have to settle for a cheaper son of Uncle Mo, how about one whose debut book of 142 also promises perfectly healthy racetrack opportunity? Because MODERNIST channels a lot of pedigree for $10,000 at Darby Dan. Anything out of a Bernardini mare gives you hope: a Bernardini half-sister to Breeders' Cup winners Sweet Catomine (Storm Cat) and Life Is Sweet (Strom Cat) might give you something nearer confidence. Modernist was obviously a tier below the best of his generation but showed enough to suggest these genes had due functionality, and he has a physique of real charisma.

At the same fee, KNOWN AGENDA was made pick of this intake last year and I do retain every faith in his eligibility. Hopefully others will do the same, because he does require a little imagination: he showed his true caliber only fairly briefly, when transformed by blinkers coming into the GI Florida Derby; and he also has an unfamiliar European family to contend with, though in its detail this should actually be viewed as a major asset by any who actually want to breed a runner.

Known Agenda did muster 166 mares at Spendthrift, albeit that is hardly exceptional at a farm with a portcullis that descends quite slowly! I remain confident that he will produce plenty of winners from what should, in a sane world, be considered lavish numbers. Pending the commercial cycles he must negotiate in the meantime, however, for now he narrowly yields his place on the podium after a couple of rivals, based at farms known for their relative restraint, rather surprisingly shadowed or even exceeded his opening book.

BRONZE:
BEAU LIAM (Liam's Map–Belle of Perintown by Dehere)
$6,000 Airdrie

By the standards of his farm, which prizes old-school virtues, this guy looked a candid commercial play: a bright but brief meteor across the speed-figures firmament. And, lo, they have been knocked over in the rush! So much so, that he was permitted as many as 162 mares, an extravagance that made him the busiest gentleman on their roster.

And, to be fair, at this kind of price he's a bet to virtually nothing for breeders who have seen Maclean's Music build so impressively on a foundation as narrow as a single, clock-melting start. Beau Liam, in comparison, was a grizzled veteran! He twice corroborated his blazing speed after becoming the fastest 6f maiden winner (by seven and a half lengths) recorded at no less a venue than Churchill Downs, by then posting Beyers of 106 and 107 in sprints at Saratoga.

He was then turned over at odds-on for his graded stakes debut and disappeared for good, but there's obviously going to be a sequel judged from the way breeders responded to the rest of the package–which is actually backed up by a highly plausible pedigree.

His dam is an eight-length GII Silverbulletday S. winner by Dehere, who has somewhat emulated his own sire's distaff influence (notably as damsire of City Of Light); and she has additionally produced three stakes and/or graded stakes performers and/or producers. And her own granddam was Grade I winner/Kentucky Oaks runner-up Jeanne Jones (Nijinsky), a half-sister to Avenue Of Flags (Seattle Slew).

With those genes and now those numbers behind him–not just the speed figures, but a book absolutely bursting at the seams–Beau Liam could well have an impact on the freshman table way above his opening fee. Those who get involved now, then, may very well find themselves ahead of the game.

SILVER:
TACITUS (Tapit–Close Hatches by First Defence)
$10,000 Taylor Made

Good things afoot at this farm, with Not This Time leading the way but a well-bred newcomer joining the roster in Idol plus two of the most promising of the previous intake in Knicks Go and Tacitus.

Knicks Go was obviously the more accomplished racehorse of that pair but while a very realistic fee made full allowance for his less glamorous pedigree, it was the royally-bred Tacitus who proved in greater demand when pitched at no less tempting a level. Tacitus covered no fewer than 188 mares, 37 more than Knicks Go, making it clear that breeders were willing to set aside the contrasting curves in their respective racetrack careers.

Tacitus actually won only one of his final dozen starts, when outclassing overmatched rivals in the GII Suburban S., but that did scant justice to the raw ability that had launched him into the GI Kentucky Derby via the GII Tampa Bay Derby (stakes record) and GII Wood Memorial. He had a wide trip in both Triple Crown starts, third (promoted) at Churchill and second at Belmont, but it's not as though he accumulated only excuses thereafter–as a final bank of nearly $3.8 million will attest.

But the key is that his palpable eligibility for the best company, regardless of occasional flaws in execution, was founded in one of the best pedigrees in the book. Curated through its last three generations by Juddmonte, who sent champion Close Hatches to Tapit for her first cover, it traces to the matriarch Best In Show (Traffic Judge) as fifth dam.

An adjacent branch has produced recent Irish Classic winner Siskin, who shares a sire with Close Hatches and is now at stud in Japan. That fortifies the depth we like to see in the third and fourth generations, here saturated with celebrated mares whose genetic potency is corroborated beyond this particular pedigree.

Breeders were invited to roll the dice at this fee and their response gives Tacitus every chance of demonstrating his competence as a conduit for these priceless genes. Grade I ability, Grade I pedigree, at barely a Grade III price.

GOLD:
SILVER STATE (Hard Spun–Supreme by Empire Maker)
$20,000 Claiborne

Woah, what's going on here? A rookie stallion entertaining 171 mares at Claiborne?

We trust that this startling number doesn't mean that the commercial tide is beginning to encroach even this farm, whose clients have long been blessed by that precarious blend: a fair opening fee, without swamping the marketplace. It's always good to have a spectrum of different models to help breeders make their decisions. At the same time, we all trade in a tough environment and everyone must be indulged a degree of pragmatism. After all, we have just elevated a similar outlier, Beau Liam, to this podium for another farm known for its restraint.

Regardless, the one thing we can safely take from this debut–by way of comparison, the previous year War Of Will had been as heavily subscribed as any Claiborne newcomer with a full book of 143–is that there must have been pretty ferocious demand for Silver State. Nor is his book just about quantity. Of 153 mares in foal, Claiborne report 24 to be stakes winners and 30 dams of stakes winners.

And it's not hard to see why this should be. Silver State matured into a very good racehorse, crowning a six-race streak with success in that luminous stallion signpost, the GI Met Mile, but is entitled to do better yet in his second career. That's because his pedigree combines Darby Dan royalty top and bottom, tied together by Roberto as sire of Hard Spun's third dam, a half-sister to Little Current; and also of Silver State's fourth dam, who was out of a half-sister to the dam of Dynaformer. Closer up, Silver State's graded stakes-placed dam is out of a sister to Monarchos.

So there's a ton of wholesome seeding behind this horse, quite apart from his outstanding appeal as a short cut to the attenuating influence of Danzig, who of course stood here himself. Hard Spun, a nugget of value in his own right, is the youngest custodian of his sire's legacy in North America, the line having meanwhile become a breed-changing power in Europe and indeed Australia.

All the Classic branding in Silver State's pedigree, moreover, boiled down into plenty of commercial speed–this is the author of five triple-digit Beyers, remember, who launched his big spree with a seven-length romp in a sprint–and he is a thing of beauty. As a $450,000 yearling, he was the fourth most expensive Hard Spun of his crop but has since matured into his big frame as a real prince. He's 16.3 but so buoyant and smooth that you would barely know it.

The silver medal was too obvious a magnet for a horse bearing this name last year, but in the circumstances it feels imperative to move him up a step. If his first book has a surprisingly modern size, the horse himself is a throwback–from his pedigree, to that invincible sequence wrought from resilience as well as class–and he feels a beautiful fit at his grandsire's home farm.

Here, in short, is a silver mine where breeders can strike gold.

The Value Podium: First Foals Due

Gold: SILVER STATE $20,000 Claiborne
Old-school merit has caused a stampede at his grandsire's farm

Silver: TACITUS $10,000 TaylorMade
Due reward after regal genes were offered at tempting fee

Bronze: BEAU LIAM $6,000 Airdrie
Speedball has been very quick to snowball

The post Value Sires For 2023 – Part II: First Foals Due appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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One of the fastest 3-year-olds of his generation, Beau Liam gained a strong national following this season while winning each of his first three races in impressive fashion for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Named a TDN Rising Star following his electrifying 7 1/2-length debut at Churchill Downs, Beau Liam's six-furlong time of 1:08 3/5 represented the fastest recorded clocking of any maiden at the distance in the history of the historic racetrack.  By comparison, his Ragozin Sheet number of 5 3/4 in the race was faster than the winning figure in this year's Kentucky Derby.

In his second start, Beau Liam earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure when taking a well-publicized seven-furlong allowance at Saratoga. His lofty Beyer trailed only multiple Grade 1 winner Jackie's Warrior's 107 and equaled the 106 figure earned by Grade 1 winner Life is Good amongst the fastest 3-year-olds of the year at seven furlongs.  In his third start, a dominant six-length victory at Saratoga, Beau Liam stopped the clock for 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15 flat, earning a career high 107 Beyer Speed Figure.

Bet down to 2-5 favoritism while taking on his elders in the Grade 3 Ack Ack Stakes at Churchill Downs, Beau Liam finished second by a length to the multiple graded stakes winner Plainsman. The final time for the mile fixture was 1:33 4/5. Beau Liam was being pointed to the G1 Cigar Mile at the time of a training injury that led to his retirement. He retires with three wins and a second from four lifetime starts and earnings of $229,000.

Bred in Kentucky by Barbara Banke's perennial leading nursery Stonestreet Farm, the son of Liam's Map was kept to race in the farm colors after not meeting his $385,000 reserve as a yearling at the Keeneland September Sale.  From the second crop of his popular young sire, the final hammer price was higher than the most expensive Liam's Map yearling of the 2019 sales season.

His dam, the Dehere mare Belle of Perintown, captured the G2 Silverbulletday Stakes as a 3-year-old after a juvenile stakes victory in the Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs. In addition to Beau Liam, she is the dam of no fewer than three other black-type performers including the graded-winning Strike it Rich and the graded stakes-producing Sumptuous. Belle of Perintown is a granddaughter and great granddaughter, respectively, of the talented race fillies Jeanne Jones and Beautiful Glass.

“Beau Liam is a brilliantly fast horse by one of the most exciting young stallions in the industry, “said Airdrie's Bret Jones. “He is gorgeous and from a top-class family. There is no shortage of important stallions with a similar race record to this horse and their unifying characteristic has almost always been brilliant ability. We believe running the fastest maiden sprint in Churchill Downs history on debut and then following with 106 and 107 Beyers absolutely merits that distinction. We have been given a tremendous opportunity by Barbara Banke and the great team at Spendthrift Farm to stand this horse and we will be supporting him heavily to ensure he has the opportunity we all believe he deserves.”

“This horse was an absolute freak,” said Stonestreet Farm bloodstock advisor John Moynihan. “Everyone saw what he did as a 3-year-old, but he showed us that talent at two as well. I would have the same belief in Beau Liam's stallion potential as when we retired Maclean's Music. He's that kind of special. He will get a great chance at Airdrie Stud.”

“He's just a freakishly fast horse,” said conditioner Steve Asmussen. “I wish we'd had the opportunity to get a Grade 1 next to his name, but anyone who saw him run knows he was of that talent level.”

Beau Liam will stand his first season for a fee of $6,000 stands and nurses.

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Named a TDN Rising Star following his 7 1/2-length debut at Churchill Downs, Beau Liam's six-furlong time of 1:08 3/5 represented the fastest recorded clocking of any maiden at the distance in the history of the racetrack, earning a Ragozin Sheet number of 5 3/4. In his second start, he earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure when taking a seven-furlong allowance at Saratoga. His Beyer trailed only multiple Grade I winner Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music)'s 107 and equaled the 106 figure earned by Grade I scorer Life is Good (Into Mischief), listed among the fastest 3-year-olds of the year at seven furlongs. In his third start, a dominant six-length victory at Saratoga, Beau Liam stopped the clock for 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15 flat, earning a career high 107 Beyer Speed Figure.

Bet down to 2-5 favoritism while taking on his elders in the GIII Ack Ack S. at Churchill Downs, Beau Liam finished second, beaten by a length to the multiple graded stakes winner Plainsman (Flatter). The final time for the mile fixture was 1:33 4/5. Beau Liam was being pointed to the GI Cigar Mile at the time of a training injury that led to his retirement. He retires with three wins and a second from four lifetime starts and earnings of $229,000.

Bred in Kentucky by Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Farm, the son of Liam's Map was retained to race in the farm colors after not meeting his $385,000 reserve as a yearling at the Keeneland September Sale. From the second crop of his sire, the final hammer price was higher than the most expensive Liam's Map yearling of the 2019 sales season. His dam, the Dehere mare Belle of Perintown, was the winner of the GII Silverbulletday S. as a 3-year-old after a juvenile stakes victory in the Pocahontas S. at Churchill. In addition to Beau Liam, she is the dam of no fewer than three other black-type performers, including the graded-winning Strike it Rich (Unbridled's Song) and graded stakes-producing Sumptuous (Hennessy). Belle of Perintown is a granddaughter and great granddaughter, respectively, of the talented race fillies Jeanne Jones (Nijinsky II) and Beautiful Glass (Pass the Glass).

“Beau Liam is a brilliantly fast horse by one of the most exciting young stallions in the industry,” said Airdrie's Bret Jones. “He is gorgeous, and from a top-class family. There is no shortage of important stallions with a similar race record to this horse and their unifying characteristic has almost always been brilliant ability. We believe running the fastest maiden sprint in Churchill Downs history on debut and then following with 106 and 107 Beyers absolutely merits that distinction. We have been given a tremendous opportunity by Barbara Banke and the great team at Spendthrift Farm to stand this horse and we will be supporting him heavily to ensure he has the opportunity we all believe he deserves.”

“This horse was an absolute freak,” said Stonestreet Farm bloodstock advisor John Moynihan. “Everyone saw what he did as a 3-year-old, but he showed us that talent at two as well. I would have the same belief in Beau Liam's stallion potential as when we retired Maclean's Music. He's that kind of special. He will get a great chance at Airdrie Stud.”

“He's just a freakishly fast horse,” added Asmussen. “I wish we'd had the opportunity to get a Grade I next to his name, but anyone who saw him run knows he was of that talent level.”

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The homebred turned in a freakish effort on debut, sitting off a quick pace, cruising past the front-runners under a hold and scampering home by 7 1/2 lengths en route to his 'Rising Star'. The bay was never given a breather in a loaded first-level Saratoga allowance July 17, but battled on bravely to best the talented Witsel (Nyquist) by a nose and backed that up with a six-length success in an Aug. 29 allowance at the Spa. He stretches out to Churchill's one-turn mile Saturday, the same course and distance over which his dam Belle of Perintown (Dehere) won the 2002 Pocahontas S.

Rushie ran with credit along the Triple Crown trail in 2020, finishing third in the GI Santa Anita Derby in early June and in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. the following month before striking from just off the pace in the GII Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard Sept. 5. Seventh to Knicks Go (Paynter) in the Dirt Mile, he has yet to get his picture taken in four tries this term, but has run well, including placings in the Apr. 10 Oaklawn Mile and in the GII Charles Town Classic Aug. 27 over a nine-furlong trip that is beyond his best.

South Bend (Algorithms) has taken just one of his last 16 starts, but he is unbeaten in two outings around one turn beneath the Twin Spires, having graduated at first asking over six furlongs before adding the Street Sense S. at the track and distance in 2019. He returns to the dirt off unplaced efforts on the turf at Saratoga in August and last month at Kentucky Downs.

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The one-mile Ack Ack, which serves as a prep for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Del Mar on Nov. 6, was carded as Race 10 with a post time of 5:26 p.m. First post is 12:45 p.m. The Ack Ack is part of a stakes doubleheader Saturday along with the $400,000 Lukas Classic (G3) headlined by the nation's top older horse Knicks Go.

Beau Liam began his career May 29 at Churchill Downs where he cruised to a maiden-breaking win by 7 ½ lengths in the six furlong dash. The son of Liam's Map shipped north to Saratoga where he narrowly defeated first-level allowance company by a scant nose in a swift seven furlongs on July 17. Most recently, the bay colt easily defeated second-level allowance foes by six lengths in a second-level allowance at Saratoga. Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Beau Liam will be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr. from post No. 10.

Among Beau Liam's competition that entered the Ack Ack are several well-traveled graded stakes winners including Guest Suite, Mo Mosa, Mr Dumas, Plainsman, and Rushie.

The Ack Ack field from the rail out (with jockey and trainer):

1. Exculpatory (Carol Cedeno, Mark Reid)
2. Mo Mosa (Jose Lezcano, Mike Maker)
3. Guest Suite (Emmanuel Esquivel, Cipriano Contreras)
4. Ebben (Francisco Arrieta, Steve Margolis)
5. Mr Dumas (Reylu Gutierrez, John Ortiz)
6. Aloha West (Corey Lanerie, Wayne Catalano)
7. Plainsman (Joel Rosario, Brad Cox)
8. Atoka (Rafael Bejarano, D. Wayne Lukas)
9. South Bend (James Graham, Bill Mott)
10. Beau Liam (Hernandez, Asmussen)
11. Rushie (Javier Castellano, Michael McCarthy)

The Ack Ack is named in honor of the 1971 Horse of the Year, Ack Ack. The multiple champion sprinter won the 1969 Derby Trial when he covered one-mile in 1:34.40, which broke the track record at that time.

The post Undefeated Beau Liam Steps Up In Ack Ack appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The $1 Pick 6 returned $538 to bettors who selected 5-of-6 winners correctly.

Sunday's sequence kicked off in Race 5 with Gerrymander [No. 3, $22.20] graduating at second asking in a six-furlong maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies. Jockey Joel Rosario engineered the winning trip for trainer Chad Brown.

Hail To [No. 8, $43.60], a full sister to multiple Grade 1-winner Sadler's Joy, lit up the tote board when breaking her maiden at second asking over the inner turf going 1 1/16 miles for trainer Tom Albertrani in Race 6. The 2-year-old daughter of Kitten's Joy was piloted by jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr.

Santana, Jr. struck gold yet again when piloting Montauk Daddy [No. 5, $7.30] to a second straight victory for trainer Rob Atras in a 5 ½-furlong starter allowance over the Mellon turf course in Race 7.

Beau Liam [No. 1, $2.80] gave Santana, Jr. the hat trick in Race 8 when the son of Liam's Map remained unbeaten in three starts, capturing a second level allowance tilt at 6 ½ furlongs over the main track. Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Beau Liam was the lone favorite to win in the sequence.

Peter Brant's Sifting Sands [No. 8, $18.80] notched a third career win for trainer Chad Brown, capturing the $120,000 Better Talk Now [Race 9] in the sequence's penultimate leg. The son of Dubawi was ridden by Manny Franco.

Rounding out the sequence in Race 10 was Newcal Stable's New York homebred Chulainn [No. 6, 22.60], who scored her second lifetime win, taking a 1 1/16-mile starter allowance over the Mellon turf course for trainer Graham Motion with Rosario aboard.

Wednesday's Pick 6 kicks off in Race 5 at 3:21 p.m. Eastern and includes the $150,000 Grade 3 With Anticipation in Race 9. First post on the 10-race card is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the 40-day summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at http://www.NYRABets.com.

The post Wednesday Pick 6 At Saratoga Bolstered By Sunday Carryover appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A 21-day quarantine for horses stabled in Barn 86, after one of Jorge Abreu's fillies tested positive to EHV-1, must have felt like Groundhog Day for Abreu and neighbor Kenny McPeek. Here they were, yet again, reprising the role of good citizens–dutifully withdrawn from society for the greater good.

But precisely because no man is an island, their sacrifice has consequences for the rest of us too. In the absence of McPeek's two intended starters, the field for the GI Coaching Club American Oaks has dwindled to four. As a result, for the second Saturday running a big race showcases one of the besetting challenges facing our community, if we are to achieve greater engagement and confidence among the wider public.

Last week, the unseating of Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) in the GI Haskell S. inevitably prompted furious polemics over the putative role in that incident of the riding crop's recent prohibition in New Jersey.

Now we find ourselves obliged to focus on the capacity of 21st Century Thoroughbreds and/or their trainers to sustain the elite race program. Obviously, there is a freak element in this instance, but that doesn't alter the fact that field depth is becoming a familiar problem. This very race, indeed, only mustered five runners last year.

Doubtless many different factors are involved: diminishing foal crops; “super trainers” keeping their horses apart; lucrative new races, many at a time when horses were formerly spelled and some requiring a punishing trip to the desert. And California, of course, has had its specific issues (though an exemplary reset now deserves due reward from investors).

But I suspect that much the biggest problem is either that the Thoroughbred today is not as resilient as it was, very likely because of reckless overbreeding to flimsy commercial stallions; or that trainers at least believe that to be the case. Either explanation is amply supported by contrasting the racing patterns of yesteryear and today.

Some people openly propose indulging these corrosive debilities by stretching out the Triple Crown calendar. Adopting the perspective of future generations, to whom we are answerable for our stewardship of the breed, I find that staggering. If we're going to hand over a Thoroughbred with a lesser constitution than the one we received, then we have to make that honestly apparent to those who will be left to repair the damage. It's the same logic that supports “clean” training: none of the genetic material masked, everything on open parade.

Sure, we must sometimes adapt to survive. That's exactly why they're trying these new whip rules in New Jersey. But as so often, in a society where opinion seems ever more polarized, what happened last Saturday–in a race that turned out to be rather more overcrowded than this one appears to be–has tended only to retrench established positions.

In a situation of white-knuckle, split-second judgements, nobody can sensibly pronounce that the whip could or could not have averted the collision between Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) and Midnight Bourbon. We've all seen races where riders have caused similar problems by negligent or intimidatory whip use, and I wouldn't presume to know how far either of those adjectives might apply to the tactics of Monsieur Prat.

Nonetheless, it presumably can't have been just malign destiny, or even coincidence, that this should have happened when it did–the one moment when most eyeballs, coast-to-coast–were on this bold experiment. There were a million bucks in play, and a bunch of out-of-town dogs suddenly expected to learn new tricks. For while the new rules would surely have permitted a shoulder tap to correct Hot Rod Charlie, these guys have decades of wiring to unpick.

Yet perhaps such an extreme and abrupt change only felt necessary because of perennial failure to address the issue more temperately. As ever, no doubt, that's partly because of fragmentary regulation. In Britain, in contrast, some painful learning experiences have eventually evolved and engrained a riding ethic that is far less offensive, aesthetically, while no less effective. (And that's on turf, obviously. Arguably the whip is a far less effective propellent on dirt anyway.)

True, there wouldn't be much point obsessing over the cosmetics of the whip if the alternative is a grotesque breakdown on national primetime. Regardless of the precise causality, then, let's hear it for the vaulting athleticism of Midnight Bourbon. No horse is an island, either, and his lightning dexterity (especially as such an imposing horse) in preserving both himself and a stricken rider potentially prevented much incidental harm to the sport as a whole.

Whatever else it may be lacking, this sophomore crop is full of character. And conceivably Midnight Bourbon did as much for his prospects as a stallion, in somehow springing back off the canvas, as he might in actually winning.

He will again be shouldering a community burden when he does go to stud: his sire's legacy is looking fairly precarious, and so too the male line not just of Man o' War, but even that of the Godolphin Arabian. But, he'll be an easy stallion to support, as such a physically striking son of the mare who gave Tale Of Ekati his only domestic Grade I success (Girvin, as it happens in the Haskell), and underpinning the amazing buoyancy he showed last week with precisely the kind of old-fashioned mettle we have just been lamenting in the wider breed. Sunday, in fact, is the anniversary of his debut: and in the past year he has shown up and run his race 10 times out of 10, including with that horrible trip into sixth in the Derby.

In time, Midnight Bourbon will no doubt be marketed as a Grade I-placed juvenile, though strictly beaten nearly 14 lengths when third in the Champagne S. Mind you, Following Sea (Runhappy) is now a Haskell runner-up having been beaten a city block after retreating into fourth. But I guess you catch whatever bouquets happen to be thrown your way.

And that's why we congratulate those fielding the only three fillies against Malathaat (Curlin) at Saratoga. At least two are guaranteed a Grade I podium. And Rockpaperscissors is already a precious broodmare prospect, by the venerable Distorted Humor out of the only daughter left by the dam of Funny Cide (himself, of course, by the same sire). Despite two Grade I-placed siblings, WinStar could not find a buyer for her as a yearling, retaining her at $125,000. Instead, she was drafted by WinStar Stablemates, which achieved that amazing exacta in a photo for this race last year between Paris Lights (Curlin) (also RNA as a yearling) and Crystal Ball (Malibu Moon).

Crystal Ball was then trained by Bob Baffert, but will be saddled by Rodolphe Brisset in the GIII Shuvee S. on Sunday–the same day that another Baffert migrant, the muted “talking horse” Bezos (Empire Maker), makes his barn debut at Ellis Park. It's an exciting week for Brisset, ending with a Travers rehearsal for Classic Empire's brother Harvard (Pioneerof The Nile). And while he is perfectly aware that his filly may prove to be paper against the Malathaat scissors, there's a difference between an unbeaten filly and an invincible one.

Certainly, the GI Kentucky Oaks winner is being more sparingly campaigned than Midnight Bourbon, but both are contributing to another stellar year for breeders Stonestreet. That firm is another to have been vindicated in retaining a yearling, Beau Liam (Liam's Map)–a $385,000 RNA at Keeneland–having blown the speedfigure doors off at Saratoga last weekend. But whatever else is achieved this year by graduates of their program, for now the toast (plenty of ice please) must be Midnight Bourbon.

With his build and commitment, he could well repay a third campaign after the manner of the same connections' Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}). For now, however, he has already done us all a favor. When he buckled, it felt like we were all on his back; and when he somehow retrieved his feet, we shared a gasp of relief. In so many respects, it can feel like our sport finds itself at 10 minutes to midnight. But if it's later than we'd like, horses like this one suggest that it's not yet too late.

The post This Side Up: Overcrowding One Weekend, Isolation The Next appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The post Beau Liam All Heart In Salty Saratoga Allowance appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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