Taking Stock: Unified, Mohaymen, Gormley the Ones to Watch

I noted on Steve Byk's “At the Races” radio show last Wednesday that some stallions that enter stud for between $10,000 and $20,000 occasionally punch above their weight and find lasting success. The in-your-face examples of this are Into Mischief, Tapit, and War Front, three of the best and most expensive horses at stud, but others that have fit the profile through the years include Distorted Humor, Candy Ride (Arg), Elusive Quality, Munnings and Twirling Candy.

Twirling Candy, a son of Candy Ride, was recently profiled in this space along with other Kentucky-based sons of the Argentine import, including freshman sire Unified, who was represented by his first black-type winner on Saturday when Behave Virginia won the Listed Debutante S. at Churchill Downs.

A Grade ll winner at three and a Grade lll winner at four who was also Grade l-placed, Unified began his career for $10,000 like his sire and stands alongside him at Lane's End. So far, he's represented by only the one winner, but she's a good one and trainer Kenny McPeek, who has a way with fillies, has an eye on the Glll Pocahontas, the Gl Alcibiades, and the Gl Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Gormley, a Grade l winner at two and three, and Mohaymen, an undefeated multiple Grade ll winner at two and a multiple Grade ll winner at three who cost his connections $2.2 million as a yearling, are two others in the news that entered stud relatively inexpensively.

Standing at Shadwell, Mohaymen is a Tapit half-brother to Grade l winner New Year's Day, the sire of champion Maximum Security. He has five winners to date, including a maiden special winner at Laurel on Saturday. Mohaymen has stood for a $7,500 fee, and so far just the Scat Daddy horse Caravaggio, who began his career at Coolmore in Ireland for the equivalent of about $40,000 before moving this year to Coolmore America, has more winners, with eight. Three Chimneys-based Horse of the Year Gun Runner, another son of Candy Ride, also has five winners, but he covered mares in his first year for $70,000 and was the second-most expensive horse to enter stud in 2018, behind only the late Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) at $75,000.

Stallions like Mohaymen that begin for less than $10,000 tend to have a harder struggle to succeed than those between $10,000 and $20,000, but some active success stories to do so include Claiborne's Flatter, a son of A.P. Indy who started for $5,000; and Hill 'n' Dale's Maclean's Music, a son of Distorted Humor who began for $6,500.

Speaking of cheap fees, Spendthrift's Gormley is by the farm's recently deceased A.P. Indy horse Malibu Moon, who was a foundation stallion for B. Wayne Hughes and the sire of Gl Kentucky Derby winner Orb. Malibu Moon initially stood for $3,000 at Country Life in Maryland. Gormley started for $10,000, and, like Unified and Mohaymen, had a winner on Saturday, in a maiden special at Belmont. He has four winners to date.

Stud fee, of course, is a reflection of mare quality, and in broad terms a stallion's short- and long-term success is dependent on good books of mares that complement the horse by physique, race record, and pedigree. You never know until it happens which stallions have the ability to upgrade their mares, but one early sign is a relatively inexpensive horse hitting with quality maiden special and stakes winners, and this is notable because it happens infrequently. Sometimes, these types of horses will also telegraph a year or two earlier what's about to come with expensive yearlings or juveniles far above what's expected on stud fee.

Gormley, for instance, had juveniles sell this year for $550,000, $450,000, and $425,000. The highest priced of these is Headline Report, who won an April maiden special at Keeneland for owner Breeze Easy and trainer Wesley Ward and just registered a bullet five-furlong breeze at Keeneland on Monday. Ward must like Gormley, because he also owns and trains the 2-year-old filly Guajira, who won a $50,000 maiden claimer at Churchill in May. And Guajira, in contrast to Headline Report, was a $3,000 yearling, showing that Gormley can hit from both ends of the spectrum.

Unified had two juveniles bring $530,000 and $400,000, and last year had a yearling make $450,000, though that colt has since died. His stakes winner Behave Virginia was successfully pinhooked from a $30,000 weanling to a $115,000 yearling and is now the winner of both her starts.

Mohaymen didn't have the big-priced 2-year-olds, but he did have five that made six figures, and his 25 juveniles to sell averaged $70,600, which is certainly respectable for his stud fee.

Expensive horses get the best mares, and their success is almost always anticipated because of mare quality. Those that don't meet expectations with their first crops–and, let's face it, most don't–go down the drain fairly quickly, because their subsequent crops are almost always produced from lesser-quality mares. In other words, for most stallions it's easier to find success with the first of their first four crops, and first-crop success means that a stallion will be rewarded with better mares in his fifth crop as breeders patronize him after a successful first year of 2-year-olds, thereby giving him the ability to survive the vagaries of the commercial marketplace and extend his career. This is why stallion managers front load their first-season horses.

Obviously, it's way too early to tell if Unified, Gormley, and Mohaymen will be able to sustain the promise they are showing, but they'll be fun to watch as 2-year-old racing heats up in the second half of the season and the heavier hitters of the freshman class start to flex.

Khalid Mishref Alkahtani
Saudi Arabian Khalid Mishref Alkahtani is the breeder of Behave Virginia. He'd bought her dam, the Mineshaft mare She's Behaving, for $15,000 at Keeneland November 2018, while she was carrying the future black-type winner. She was one of 15 mares he purchased at the sale through agent Bruno DeBerdt, and another was the More Than Ready mare Quick Thinker for $45,000. That mare is the dam of the Gormley winner Think Blue, who he also bred. And Think Blue was an even cheaper yearling than Ward's Guajira, selling for $1,500. When the cheap horses win, the more expensive ones start to look better, don't they?

Khalid Mishref Alkahtani obviously likes young stallions in the $10,000 to $20,000 range, because he also bought the Paddy O'Prado mare My Miss Kallie for $37,000 carrying a foal from the second crop of Taylor Made's Not This Time (Giant's Causeway). That foal, now named Last Leaf, won a maiden special at Gulfstream a few weeks ago, and Not This Time now appears well on his way to a successful career after his first-crop 2-year-olds made the grade last season. In fact, his first-crop son Next, also trained by Ward, became a black-type winner for the first time on Saturday when taking the Listed War Chant S. at Churchill.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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Speedy Behave Virginia Gets Second Career Win In Debutante At Churchill Downs

Lucky Seven Stable's Behave Virginia ran down swift pacesetter Wicked Halo and out-kicked 7-5 favorite Ontheonesandtwos in deep stretch to win Saturday's 120th running of the $150,000 Debutante Stakes by one length at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr. and trained by Kenny McPeek, Behave Virginia ran the first sub-1:10 Debutante since Rated Fiesty's 2007 stakes record of 1:09.27.

The quick final time was the result of a record-setting pace and a fast track. Wicked Halo, who broke from the rail in the field of eight 2-year-old fillies, was rushed to the front with Tizplenty and Mollie Kate just off her hip. Down the backstretch after a first quarter mile in :21.11 and the half in :44.61, Behave Virginia was rated in fourth with Ontheonesandtwos on the outside in the clear. Wicked Halo put away the accompanying speed leaving the turn and was quickly met by the converging Behave Virginia and Ontheonesandtwos at the three-sixteenths pole. Behave Virginia edged clear with a sixteenth of a mile to run and Ontheonesandtwos slipped past an understandably tiring Wicked Halo by a half-length for the place.

“She's a really talented filly to be able to sit behind some pretty good horses like that and win the way she did,” Hernandez said. “When the spot opened up, she went through like an old professional would. It's a testament of how good she is. She answered a lot of questions today and we are very proud of her.”

The victory was worth $90,210 which increased the 2-year-old filly's earnings to $147,698 with a perfect record in two starts. Prior to her Debutante triumph, Behave Virginia broke her maiden at Churchill Downs on May 28 by 5 ¾ lengths at odds of 7-1.

“Typically we don't crank our horses to win first time out,” McPeek said. “Usually when they win first out, it's because they do it on their own talent. That's what she did. She reminds me of Take Charge Lady with her early ability on the racetrack. I think we may have seen a Breeders' Cup contender. I'll point her to the Alcibiades (in the Fall Meet at Keeneland) and go from there. I'll probably take her to Saratoga with me this summer just so I can keep an eye on her.”

Behave Virginia paid $10.20, $4.20, and $3.20 as the 4-1 third betting choice. Ontheonesandtwos, under Florent Geroux, returned $3.20 and $2.40. Wicked Halo, with Ricardo Santana Jr. up, paid $2.80.

Tizplenty, Classiness, Catchusifyoucan, Compressed Energy, and Mollie Kate completed the order of finish.

Behave Virginia is a 2-year-old daughter of Unified out of the Mineshaft mare She's Behaving. She was bred in Kentucky by Khalid Mishref Alkahtani and was purchased as a yearling at the 2020 Keeneland September Sale for Michael J. Mackin's Lucky Seven Stable for $115,000.

The Debutante, first staged in 1895 and one of Churchill Downs' most storied races, was one the second of three stakes races on Saturday's closing day card at Churchill Downs.

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Unified Filly All Business in Debutante

Behave Virginia (Unified), the first winner for Unified when dueling free and airing on debut beneath the Twin Spires May 28, became her freshman sire's first stakes winner in Saturday's $150,000 Debutante S. at Churchill Downs. The 4-1 chance bobbled slightly at the start and sat behind the leaders in an inside fourth. She split horses as they turned for home and ran to the money to stay perfect. The winner's dam, a $25,000 purchase by Arif Kurtel at the 2019 KEENOV Sale, had a colt by Tamarkuz in 2020.

DEBUTANTE S., $150,000, Churchill Downs, 6-26, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:09.83, ft.
1–BEHAVE VIRGINIA, 120, f, 2, by Unified
                1st Dam: She's Behaving, by Mineshaft
                2nd Dam: Behaving, by Rubiano
                3rd Dam: Haveaheavenlytime, by Halo
($30,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $115,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP).
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Lucky Seven Stable (Mackin); B-Khalid
Mishref Alkahtani (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek; J-Brian Joseph
Hernandez, Jr. $90,210. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $147,698.
*First stakes winner for freshman sire (by Candy Ride {Arg}).
2–Ontheonesandtwos, 120, f, 2, Jimmy Creed–Cue the Moon,
by Malibu Moon. ($37,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Deuce
Greathouse, Cindy M. Hutson & Madaket Stables LLC;
B-Spendthrift Farm LLC (KY); T-Norm W. Casse. $29,100.
3–Wicked Halo, 120, f, 2, Gun Runner–Just Wicked, by Tapit.
O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC LLC (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen. $14,550.
Margins: 1, HF, 12 1/4. Odds: 4.10, 1.40, 2.80.
Also Ran: Tizplenty, Classiness, Catchusifyoucan, Compressed Energy, Mollie Kate. Scratched: Cartel Queen, Mi Estrella. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Freshman Sire Unified Gets First Win at Churchill

Lucky Seven Stable's Behave Virginia (Unified) launched her career in style, rolling home an impressive 5 1/2-furlong winner at Churchill Downs Friday to become the first winner for freshman sire Unified (Candy Ride {Arg}). Narrowly in front into the far turn, she was briefly headed by 6-5 favorite Trade Secret (Goldencents), but wrested the lead back from that rival turning for home. In command from there, the 7-1 chance drew clear through the stretch, crossing the wire 5 1/2 lengths ahead of Trade Secret while under a hand ride.

Her 'TDN Rising Star' sire was winner of the 2016 GIII Bay Shore S. and GII Peter Pan S. and the following year's GIII Gulfstream Park Sprint S. before a narrow second in the GI Carter H. The Lane's End inmate's first juveniles have been well received this spring, with a pair of colts at OBS March selling for $530,000 and $400,000, respectively. Behave Virginia's dam, She's Behaving, produced a colt by Tamarkuz last season.

3rd-Churchill Downs, $98,116, Msw, 5-28, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:04.15, wf, 5 3/4 lengths.
BEHAVE VIRGINIA (f, 2, Unified–She's Behaving, by Mineshaft)
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $57,488. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Lucky Seven Stable (Mackin); B-Khalid Mishref Alkahtani (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. *$30,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $115,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP.

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