Hesitating for just a breath while breaking from post six, In Italian quickly got underway beneath Joel Rosario, hustling up to take control with the only two non-Brown runners Creative Flair (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Dalika (Ger) (Pastorius {Ger}) tracking her through a :22.45 opening quarter. Seeming well within herself as she set a :45.83 half-mile, the 'TDN Rising Star' clocked three-quarters in 1:09.50 as barnmate Technical Analysis revved up on her outside. The chestnut turned for home in front with Technical Analysis trying to make a race out of it from second, but that foe never posed a serious threat. In Italian kept on finding in the lane, crossing the line 1 1/2 lengths clear in a new course record time for nine furlongs of 1:45.06.

It was Brown's seventh Diana win overall and sixth in the last seven years. Two of those wins came with Brant's champion Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}).

“We had a plan,” Brown said. “She was training super in the morning. She's been the lead horse in the works with Regal Glory two or three weeks in a row at Belmont. I've been so impressed with her not letting Regal Glory by her, who I regard as the top mare in the division just slightly over Bleecker Street. I instructed Joel [Rosario] to just try to make the break. I told him to, 'Go and don't worry about it. If you give her a little breather down the backstretch, fine, but she's going to run the race of her life today,' and she sure did. We had a good feeling.”

He continued, “They separate each other when you run them together. My approach is, I would rather run them against each other and settle it on the track than start to cherry pick who's running and who's not and a bunch of “What Ifs” if I ran the one I didn't run. I felt good about Technical Analysis maybe getting a jump on Rougir and Bleecker Street, but sure enough In Italian found another gear, much like she has in the mornings recently.”

“I just think she's a terrific filly and she wouldn't be in here if we didn't think she had the ability to win,” Brant said. “The instructions to Joel [Rosario] were ride this race like you can win, not just for pace, and he did it.”

“It looked like she had the speed on paper,” Rosario said. “It looked like there were other horses with speed too on paper, but Chad told me to let her break and go on into the first turn and she put herself forwardly placed. She was nice and relaxed in front and ran a big race.”

A second-out graduate at Belmont in May 2021, In Italian resurfaced in January, wiring a Tampa allowance. She followed suit with a win in Gulfstream's Mar. 5 GIII Honey Fox S. and was second next out in the GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile S. May 7. The 475,000gns TATOCT buy entered this test off a third behind stablemate Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom) in Belmont's 10-panel GI New York S. June 10.

Pedigree Notes:

In Italian is the 51st Grade I/Group 1 winner for her legendary sire Dubawi. She is also one of 152 graded winners and 234 black-type scorers for that Darley stallion. The winner is a half-sister to GSP Villa Carlotta (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) and SP Fasano (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}). Her Group 3-winning dam Florentina (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus})–a half to Group 1 winner Gathering (Aus) (Tale of the Cat)–is also the dam of the 2-year-old colt Spanish Empire (GB) (Kingman {GB}), who summoned just shy of A$1.8 million from Tom Magnier at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. She was bred back to Kingman on Southern Hemisphere time and sent through the 2020 Inglis Chariman's Sale, bringing A$650,000. That breeding resulted in a still unnamed juvenile filly. Florentina visited Yes Yes Yes (Aus) Dec. 23.

Saturday, Saratoga
DIANA S.-GI, $500,000, Saratoga, 7-16, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8mT, 1:45.06 (NCR), fm.
1–IN ITALIAN (GB), 118, f, 4, by Dubawi (Ire)
               1st Dam: Florentina (Aus) (GSW-Aus, $250,958), by Redoute's Choice (Aus)
               2nd Dam: Celebria (Aus), by Peintre Celebre
               3rd Dam: Twyla (Aus), by Danehill
1ST GRADE I WIN. (475,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-Peter M.
Brant; B-Fairway Thoroughbreds (GB); T-Chad C. Brown;
J-Joel Rosario. $275,000. 'TDN Rising Star' Lifetime Record:
7-4-2-1, $591,220. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Technical Analysis (Ire), 120, f, 4, by Kingman (GB)
               1st Dam: Sealife (Ire), by Sea The Stars (Ire)
               2nd Dam: Bitooh (GB), by Diktat (GB)
               3rd Dam: Sitara (GB), by Salse
(200,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.;
B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited (IRE); T-Chad C. Brown.
$100,000.
3–Bleecker Street, 122, f, 4, by Quality Road
               1st Dam: Lemon Liqueur (SP), by Exchange Rate
               2nd Dam: Limoncella, by Lemon Drop Kid
               3rd Dam: Trip Around Heaven, by Halo
($400,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Branch
Equine, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $60,000.
Margins: 1HF, 1HF, NK. Odds: 8.30, 3.80, 0.80.
Also Ran: Rougir (Fr), Dalika (Ger), Creative Flair (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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McPeek's 10 millionaires to date have been sired by the likes of Cuvee, Louis Quatorze, Daredevil, Hit It a Bomb and Tejano–and he signed for most of them himself. As one who marches to his own drum, his style obviously wouldn't work for everyone. Think outside the box, and you'll have to manage without the many investors who feel nervous straying beyond the comforting confines of convention. They will seek sanctuary in the kind of strike rates available with trainers who start horses about as often as Halley does his Comet. Nonetheless, there are some pretty universal lessons to be drawn from the success of Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway) in the big race at Belmont last weekend, just two weeks after his barn debut.

Because if McPeek is too much of a one-off to be categorized simply as “old school”, there's no doubting the throwback element in Classic Causeway himself, famously one of just three foals from the final crop of the Iron Horse. And if McPeek is to some degree a victim of his own success, in that you tend not to be sent too many yards of silk if you can contrive such fine purses of a relative sow's ear, let's not forget that one of the world's most lavishly resourced stables is supervised by another who believes that Thoroughbreds actually thrive on competition.

Click the play button below to listen to this week's episode of This Side Up. 

Very few elite trainers in Europe, nevermind America, would have drawn out the reserves of Giant's Causeway as boldly as Aidan O'Brien. Already a Group 1 winner at two, Giant's Causeway started his sophomore campaign by fending off a battle-hardened, race-fit 6-year-old in April. Between May 6 and Sept. 23, he then finished first or second in eight Group 1 races, constantly switching distance. After that, as nobody will need reminding, he shipped to run the dirt monster Tiznow to a neck in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

The 'Iron Horse,' Giant's Causeway | Coolmore

We're talking about an exceptional specimen here, clearly, but O'Brien has always operated on the basis that his patrons at Coolmore require reliable exposure of genes they might wish to replicate. And like his mentor Jim Bolger, who last year ran 2,000 Guineas winner Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) in two other Classics over the next three weeks, he additionally believes that maturing horses flourish for racetrack experience. Peeping Fawn (Danehill) had an aristocratic pedigree, nothing to prove there, but O'Brien still worked her like a stevedore. She had already been beaten three times in April when breaking her maiden on May 16. Eleven days later she ran third in a Classic over a mile. FIVE days later she was beaten half a length in the G1 Oaks at Epsom, over a mile and a half. Did she recoil from this dazing sequence of examinations? She did not. Instead, going up and down in distance every time, she won four Group 1 prizes in 54 days.

As it happens, Peeping Fawn has proved a fairly disappointing producer, albeit unlucky that her best daughter derailed. Giant's Causeway, however, has emulated his sire Storm Cat as a hugely important crossover influence. That's unsurprising, after his own slick transfer to the American racing environment, and he stands as a withering rebuke to the prescriptive approach we see, both sides of the water, to racing surfaces. He came up with a worthy heir in Europe at the first attempt in Shamardal, whose maternal pedigree was shaded very green, but has book-ended his career with an outstanding young Kentucky sire in Not This Time, whose own family obviously contains no less resonant dirt names.

Interestingly, Classic Causeway is out of a mare by Thunder Gulch, whose breeder Peter Brant has always been so far-sighted in this regard. Thunder Gulch himself, of course, combined a sire who had won benchmark races for the recycling of dirt speed–the GI Hopeful S., the GI Met Mile H. twice, the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint–with a turf mare whose dam had finished second in the G1 Gold Cup at Ascot over two and a half miles.

Most horses are more versatile than we will ever know. We should always start with the animal in front of us, and how it all fits together, rather than meekly obey herd presumptions. Sure enough, having only recently taken Classic Causeway into his care (after Brian Lynch laid some excellent foundations), McPeek urged a switch to turf because “the horse has a foot like a pancake”.

But often it's simply a question of opportunity. It was only the search for outcross blood at Coolmore, for instance, that allowed War Front and Scat Daddy to penetrate European myopia as coveted “turf” influences. And while John Magnier and his partners seem to be doing pretty well without my advice, I will just dust off my plea that they might indulge European mare owners by allowing American Pharoah at least one spring in Co Tipperary. (Especially as I keep reading that the home farm may apparently be a little short of fresh blood just now.)

Bleecker Street | Sarah Andrew

After last week's glimpse of how a more wholesome future might look, we revert to business as usual in the first Grade I of the Saratoga meet, with Chad Brown having to generate his own competition on grass. In fact, just one other American trainer has mustered a runner in the Diana S. It's striking, however, that most exciting member of the field is also the only one bred in America.

Bleecker Street was hardly a blatant turf prospect the day Brant purchased her as a yearling, down the road at Fasig-Tipton, but her sire Quality Road has a very flexible genetic background. (Just his first two dams will tell you that, as daughters of Strawberry Road and Alydar–and there's plenty more when you get down in the wheat.) Even Chad Brown has been prepared to start Bleecker Street in four graded stakes already this year, so presumably McPeek or O'Brien would by this stage have sent her to the moon and back.

Just as surface aptitude tends to be self-fulfilling, so you have to wonder to what extent pessimism about the constitution of the modern racehorse would stand up to horsemen actually going out there and testing it properly. But if we won't train them like McPeek, then the least we can do is breed them like Classic Causeway. As it was, no farm in Europe or Kentucky offered Bolger enough for Poetic Flare. And that's why, when so much of our commercial glister washes out the moment a horse has to break sweat, it will be the Japanese who end up with the horses of iron.

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Brown earned the first Grade I victory of his career when Zagora (Fr) (Green Tune) prevailed in 2011. He has won the race five more times, all in a row, for a stakes record six. He has entered the race for 13 consecutive years and had at least one horse in the top three for 11 straight years, a streak that ended last year.

The depth and strength of the turf fillies in Brown's stable is no secret and was made clear again this summer when he was responsible for 10 of the 14 nominations for the race. He will saddle four of the six horses that were entered, three of them owned or co-owned by Peter Brant. Brown also had four starters in 2019 when his runners swept the top three spots.

Brown's lineup for the 1 1/8-mile race Saturday is led by Brant's unbeaten Bleecker Street (Quality Road). The seven-time winner earned her first Grade I in the New York S. June 10 at 1 1/4 miles. Bleecker Street will start from post three, just to the inside of Brant and Michael Tabor's Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}), who is making her third start in the U.S. Rougir was a Group 1 winner in France last year. Brant's speedy In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) drew the outside. She was most recently third to stablemate Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom) in the GI Just A Game S. On the rail is Klaravich Stable's Technical Analysis (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), winner of the GIII Lake George S. and GII Lake Placid S. at Saratoga last summer.

Brown said his crew of 4-year-old Diana runners have arrived at the race from a variety of directions.

“There are the horses that we develop from scratch, so to speak, like a Bleecker Street that we had as a baby,” Brown said. “We bought her across the street [at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga 2019 Yearling Sale for $400,000], Mr. Brant and I. She's an overachiever. When we bought her, we thought she was going to be a dirt horse. She didn't really train well on it. We started her off kind of at 'Triple A' down there between Monmouth and the Meadowlands and then she just got good. And we gave her a shot in the big leagues, and this horse is undefeated.

“Then we have some European horses to go along with her that are really good. You know, like Rougir and Technical Analysis and In Italian.”

Brown said that many of his turf stakes fillies arrive as young horses and grow in his program.

“You go through the list and they're all different types of horses,” he said. “Fluffy Socks is a homebred with a modest pedigree. She's by Slumber (GB). Bleecker Street is a horse we bought across the street. Yes, there's some European horses that we bought. Technical Analysis I bought as a yearling and broke her. In Italian was the same. Rougir was a horse Mr. Brant paid a lot of money for. It gets a little bit misconstrued in the press sometimes, like 'these guys get sent the best horses.' We develop them.”

Though he nominated Regal Glory for the Diana, Brown has a more ambitious plan for the multiple Grade I winner he has handled throughout her career. Brown trained her for her breeder, Paul Pompa, and recommended that Brant buy her at the dispersal following Pompa's death.

“Probably run against the boys in the GI Fourstardave. I have another horse for the race, Masen (GB) (Kingman {GB}). They're probably going to have to run against each other. I think at this point, Regal Glory, I think she's best at a mile, a mile and a sixteenth. I really do. My long-term target for her is the Breeders' Cup against the boys at a mile. So, I'm leaning that way, but not for certain.”

Saturday's Saratoga card also features a loaded renewal of the GIII Sanford S. for 2-year-olds. 'TDN Rising Stars' Forte (Violence) and Andiamo a Firenze (Speightstown) lead the way in the 12-horse field following sparkling debuts downstate.

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Stretching out to 10 furlongs for the first time off of consecutive nine-furlong scores in the GII Hillsborough S. at Tampa Mar. 12 and as part of a productive weekend for Brown and Brant at Churchill in the May 6 GIII Modesty S., Bleecker Street was content to trail early as Flighty Lady was hard ridden to the first turn, but then only posted somewhat un-rabbit-like fractions of :24.54, :50.76 and 1:16.48. Family Way tracked a couple lengths behind that one and further clear of the rest of the field. Family Way took over heading for home, and Irad Ortiz, Jr. had a fistful of horse on Bleecker Street as he guided his mount to the far outside for clear sailing. Family Way still looked like a winner to midstretch as nobody near her really kicked it in, but Bleecker Street–sporting a red cap to distinguish herself from her three stablemates–zoomed home to be up in time.

“Her closing kick, especially with those slow fractions, was nice,” said Ortiz, who had also piloted newly named 'TDN Rising Star' Artorius (Arrogate) as well as GII True North S. runner-up Sound Money (Flatter) for Brown on the card. “Not too many horses can go around a slow pace, slow fractions, like that. I made a wide move to go around and she still got there. She gave me a good kick. She's very nice. They were backing up into me a little bit and they were a little slow and then everybody was sprinting home, so it was hard to catch them. But she got the job done.”

This was Ortiz's first time riding the winner–Flavien Prat hopped off her for Rougir.

“I had never ridden her before so I talked to Flavien and he gave me some tips, like she's pretty easy to ride and she's not too fast out of the gate,” Ortiz said. “I tried to find out everything I can about her. She was undefeated and I wanted to keep going with her. Now she's 7-for-7 and everything worked out perfect. Thank God.”

Brown, whose three prior wins in this event also include a 2019 score for Brant, said of the winner, “What a remarkable horse. I wasn't sure about a mile and a quarter. She finished her races like she would get it, but as you know, handicapping doesn't always work out that way. Just because they're closing and you keep on stretching them out, sometimes it has to do with pace, when they make their move and how long their move is. This filly does everything we put at her. What a remarkable horse–where she started and where she came from. She's moving up in the ranks of one of the better ones I've had.”

Bleecker Street began her career as a member of Brown's perceived “B team,” winning first out at Monmouth and clearing her first-level allowance condition at The Meadowlands. She was entered and withdrawn from last year's Keeneland November sale.

As for Rougir, last year's G1 Prix de l'Opera winner and most recently an impressive victress of the G3 Beaugay S. going shorter here, Brown said, “She just didn't fire today. She was in a good spot, always ahead of Bleecker Street. We didn't have any excuse. We'll go back to the drawing board. Maybe the softer ground in her form suggested [she prefers softer turf], but she certainly trained really well at Belmont.”

Friday, Belmont Park
NEW YORK S.-GI, $735,000, Belmont, 6-10, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/4mT, 2:02.58, fm.
1–BLEECKER STREET, 122, f, 4, by Quality Road
                1st Dam: Lemon Liqueur (SP), by Exchange Rate
                2nd Dam: Limoncella, by Lemon Drop Kid
                3rd Dam: Trip Around Heaven, by Halo
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($400,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Branch Equine, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.. $400,000. Lifetime Record: 7-7-0-0, $834,700. Werk Nick Rating: C+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Family Way, 120, m, 5, by Uncle Mo
                1st Dam: Susie's Baby, by Giant's Causeway
                2nd Dam: Mekko Hokte, by Holy Bull
                3rd Dam: Aerosilver, by Relaunch
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($775,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; €150,000 3yo '20 ARQDEC). O-Fergus Galvin, Debra L. O'Connor, & Marc Detampel; B-Diamond Creek Farm (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh. $140,000.
3–Flighty Lady (Ire), 118, m, 5, by Sir Percy (GB)
                1st Dam: Airfield (GB), by Dansili (GB)
                2nd Dam: Emplane, by Irish River (Fr)
                3rd Dam: Peplum, by Nijinsky II
(21,000gns Ylg '18 TAOCT). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Tally Ho Stud (IRE); T-Chad C. Brown. $75,000.
Margins: HF, NK, NK. Odds: 2.85, 10.00, 51.25.
Also Ran: Virginia Joy (Ger), Rougir (Fr), Core Values, Lovely Lucky.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:
Bleecker Street becomes the 14th Grade I winner for Quality Road, and second for Brown and Brant, following in the hoofsteps of Dunbar Road. This is the first highest-level winner in North America out of a mare by Danzig's son Exchange Rate (he has three in South America).

Dam Lemon Liqueur (Exchange Rate) was a debut winner and stakes-placed juvenile for owner/breeder My Meadowview Farm and the late Rick Violette. She was acquired by Ben Berger's Branch Equine for $75,000 in foal to Honor Code at the 2016 Keeneland November sale and RNA'd at that auction two years later for just $19,000 after not being bred back following the foaling of Bleecker Street. Bleecker Street has a 2-year-old half-sister named Red Lemonade (Always Dreaming) who was bred by Delia Nash, a yearling filly by Flatter and an Apr. 6 foal colt by Not This Time.

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“With both my horses far back with that pace, I was quite worried,” said winning trainer Chad Brown. “Down the backside, actually, Irad [Ortiz on Fluffy Socks] was able to extract himself off the fence and move up a couple of spots. And I saw Flavien [Prat] kind of zero right in behind Irad. So I figured, OK, if the closers are going to come, Bleecker Street is going to come and Fluffy Socks will be following right behind her. Then it'll come down to a 1-2 race. Bleecker Street ran amazingly well, and you have to remember, Fluffy Socks is back after three weeks' rest from a wide trip at Keeneland. These horses are pretty close, Bleecker Street had more rest, but an undefeated horse, six-for-six, she's hard to fault. So trip dependent, pace dependent, course dependent. So she's a remarkable talent. Without a doubt, it was her best race yet.”

A debut winner at Monmouth in August, Bleecker Street captured an allowance next out at the Meadowlands in October. Kicking off 2022 with an optional claimer score at Tampa Jan. 8, she captured both the Feb. 5 GIII Endeavour S. and Mar. 12 GII Hillsborough S. at that venue.

Pedigree Notes:
The winner is out of SP Lemon Liqueur, who in turn is a daughter of MSP Limoncella (Lemon Drop Kid). Bleecker Street is her second foal and she has since produced a juvenile filly named Red Lemonade (Always Dreaming) and a yearling filly by Flatter. Lemon Liqueur was bred back to Not This Time. This is the family of GISW Gabriel Charles (Street Hero) and GSW Power Gal (Jpn) (Empire Maker).

MODESTY S. PRESENTED BY TWINSPIRES-GIII, $250,000, Churchill Downs, 5-6, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8mT, 1:50.10, fm.
1–BLEECKER STREET, 120, f, 4, by Quality Road
   1st Dam: Lemon Liqueur (SP), by Exchange Rate
   2nd Dam: Limoncella, by Lemon Drop Kid
   3rd Dam: Trip Around Heaven, by Halo
($400,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Peter Brant; B-Branch Equine, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $148,800. Lifetime Record: 6-6-0-0, $434,700. Werk Nick Rating: C. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Fluffy Socks, 120, f, 4, Slumber (GB)–Breakfast Time, by Kitten's Joy. O/B-Head Of Plains Partners (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $48,000.
3–Hendy Woods, 118, m, 5, Uncle Mo–Separate Forest, by Forestry. ($95,000 RNA Ylg '18 KEESEP). O/B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $24,000.
Margins: HF, HF, 1HF. Odds: 1.00, 2.50, 7.80.
Also Ran: Lake Lucerne, She Can't Sing, Pass the Plate, Curly Ruth, Stand Tall, Mona Stella. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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The track is one of the few successes in N. America that operates without the benefit of slots money, although a card room does contribute minimally. Purses, therefore, pale next to other tracks with casino affiliations, but Tampa Bay Downs is the model for sustainable racing without the slots subsidies and it continues to attract South Florida-based powerhouses like Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott, Mark Casse, Graham Motion, and Shug McGaughey, to name a few, for the quality of its racing on turf and dirt, despite its lower overall purse structure.

The big stables usually have the better stock, and this was evident in the black-type events Saturday. Heavy rain had pelted the track before noon, notably softening the turf course, but by race time for the first stakes race on the 12-race program, the Gll Hillsborough S. at 1 1/8 miles on turf for fillies and mares, carded as the seventh race, the weather was sunny and windy and both the main course and the turf were labelled as “good.”

Bleecker Street

Chad Brown had two in the $225,000 race for owner Peter Brant, Bleecker Street (Quality Road), the favorite; and imported Rocky Sky (Ire) (Rock of Gibralter {Ire}). They ran one-two, with Bleeker Street almost four lengths the better as the easiest kind of winner. Charles Fipke's Grade l winner Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), the second choice trained by Roger Attfield, had a dream trip prompting the pace but the give in the ground and her first attempt past a mile and a sixteenth took its toll. She finished fourth, almost a length behind Gladys (Medaglia d'Oro), Rachel Alexandra's full sister, in third.

Bleecker Street is a lightly raced 4-year-old filly and is a star in the making, and it's important to note that she's done most of her important work to date at Tampa. Undefeated now in five starts, Bleecker Street's Hillsborough was her third consecutive race at Tampa, following an earlier defeat of the aforementioned Lady Speightspeare in the Glll Endeavour over the same course at a mile and a sixteenth last month. She's now ready to take on Grade l competition, perhaps at Keeneland next, and will likely become a full-fledged star on the national stage as the year progresses. If she does, it's because Tampa Bay Downs afforded her the early opportunity for development.

Bleecker Street's sire Quality Road is one of the elite stallions in N. America and is adept at getting high-quality horses on dirt and turf; he stands for $150,000 at Lane's End. Bred in Kentucky by Branch Equine, Bleecker Street was purchased by Brant's White Birch Farm for $400,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select sale. From the restricted stakes-placed Exchange Rate mare Lemon Liqueur, she's her dam's first black-type winner. The next dam, the stakes-placed Lemon Drop Kid mare Limoncella, had only one stakes horse–Bleecker Street's dam. This isn't a particularly strong pedigree in terms of black-type production until the fourth dam, Key to Flight, by Key to the Kingdom. She's a half-sister to Group 1 winner and Irish champion 2-year-old filly Minstrella and Grade ll winner Misty Gallore–all of them produced by the influential Flight Dancer, Bleecker Street's fifth dam and Gun Runner's (Candy Ride) fourth dam.

Ned Evans owned Flight Dancer and bred Key to Flight as well as her Halo daughter Trip Around Heaven, Bleecker Street's third dam, and there's some symmetry to this mating as Evans also bred and raced Quality Road, giving Bleecker Street Evans's touch on top and bottom.

Bleecker Street is one of six black-type winners bred on the Quality Road/Danzig cross and others include Illuminant, a Grade l winner on the turf; and Captain Scotty, a Grade ll winner on dirt.

Tampa Bay Downs carded its five black-type races consecutively and the winners of those races are discussed in order below.

Scalding

Scalding (Nyquist), a 4-year-old colt trained by McGaughey for Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, and LNJ Foxwoods, won the $100,000 Glll Michelob Ultra Challenger S. by a neck on the main track at a mile and a sixteenth from the Mott-trained and Godolphin-owned Cody's Wish (Curlin). Dynamic One (Union Rags), trained by Pletcher and owned by Repole Stable, Phipps Stable, and St. Elias Stable, was third. McGaughey's highly regarded Greatest Honour (Tapit) finished sixth of seven. The colts in this race were an incredibly well-bred and well-connected group.

Scalding was bred by Godolphin and Cobalt Investments and was purchased by Solis/Litt at the same sale and for the same price as Bleecker Street. He's a first-crop son of Nyquist, who led the freshman sire list in 2020, and he's the second black-type winner and graded winner for his sire this year. The 3-year-old Nyquist filly Turnerloose won the Gll Rachel Alexandra S. at Fair Grounds last month.

Scalding's dam is the unraced Medaglia d'Oro mare Hot Water, who also is the dam of Grade lll-placed black-type winner Tracksmith (Street Sense) and black-type placed Tortuga (Bodemeister). The next dam is the Elusive Quality Grade lll-placed restricted black-type winner Elusive Heat, one of two black-type winners for her Grade l-winning champion dam Xtra Heat, a daughter of Dixieland Heat who won 26 races from 34 starts and earned $2.4 million.

Dolce Zel (Fr)

Chad Brown was back at it again on the turf in the $200,000 Glll Florida Oaks at a mile and sixteenth, running one-two again, this time with French import Dolce Zel (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}) getting the better of stablemate Spicer (Quality Road) by a head. The McGaughey-trained On Alert (Medaglia d'Oro) was third. The latter was a $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling while Spicer sold for $300,000 at Keeneland September.

Michael Dubb, Madaket, and Robert LaPenta purchased the pint-sized Dolce Zel privately. She is from the first crop of Zelzal, a Group 1 winner by Sea the Stars (Ire) who stands this year for 15,000 euros at Haras de Bouquetot and is represented by three black-type winners to date, including Ouraika (Fr), who also happens to be campaigned by Madaket and Michael Dubb. Ouraika won the Glll Sweet Life S. on the downhill turf at Santa Anita last month for Graham Motion, also by a head like Dolce Zel. Madaket and partners clearly know how to source lightly raced European runners off the beaten path for N. America and spread them out among top trainers here. And they're lucky in photo finishes, too.

Madaket is also involved with “The Avengers” group of SF Bloodstock and Starlight Racing that have campaigned so many notable 3-year-olds with Bob Baffert, including Gl Kentucky Derby winner Authentic, and, earlier, Triple Crown winner Justify.

Dolce Zel is a member of a strong and productive American family after the first dam, the Dr Fong mare Dolce Attesa (GB), who is also the dam of Group 2-placed black-type winner Pure Zen (Fr) (Zoffany {Ire}). Dolce Zel's second dam is the Saint Ballado black-type winner Lady Gin, and this is the immediate family of Grade l winners Musical Romance (Concorde's Tune), a champion sprinter; and the ill-fated Battle of Midway (Smart Strike).

Heaven Street

Trainer Christophe Clement got into the action in the next race, the Listed $75,000 Columbia S. at a mile on turf for 3-year-olds, winning with Heaven Street (Street Sense). Bred by Siena Farms, Heaven Street was a $275,000 RNA at Keeneland September. He's now campaigned by Siena and Asmussenequine.com and entered the Columbia a winner of two of six starts, both wins, however, on turf.

Heaven Street won the Columbia by a length, defeating horses trained by such as McGaughey, Rusty Arnold, Jonathan Thomas, Arnaud Delacour, and Brian Lynch, among others.

Street Sense stands for $75,000 at Darley and has been on a tear the last few years. His Azure Coast won the G3 UAE 2000 Guineas last month. One of Street Sense's best is Grade l winner Maxfield, who was produced from a Bernardini mare. Speaker's Corner, who won the Gll Gulfstream Park Mile S. the weekend before, is also from a Bernardini mare, and this larger cross of Street Sense/A.P. Indy is at work with Heaven Street, who is from a mare by Congrats, a son of A.P. Indy like Bernardini.

Heaven Street's dam Heavenly View is a half-sister to four black-type winners, including Mr Freeze (To Honor and Serve), a millionaire Grade ll winner who was also second in the Gl Pegasus World Cup, and she's also a half-sister to the Bernardini mare Zayanna–dam of Grade l winner Wicked Whisper (Liam's Map) and Grade ll winner and Grade l-placed Point of Honor (Curlin). This is a strong and productive black-type family and it's not surprising that Heaven Street was offered for sale on day one at Keeneland.

Classic Causeway

The Brian Lynch-trained Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway) won the $350,000 Gll Tampa Bay Derby at a mile and a sixteenth as the favorite, duplicating his effort from last month's Glll Sam F. Davis at the same distance at Tampa Bay. In both races, Classic Causeway, a homebred for Kentucky West Racing and Clarke Cooper, broke like a shot and won wire-to-wire, and he's done everything that's been asked of him but nevertheless gets the Rodney Dangerfield treatment. He now sports a record of three wins from five starts, but the 84 Beyer Speed Figure that he earned in the Tampa Bay Derby–he'd run an 88 in the Sam F. Davis–has led to speculation that he may not be good enough to win the Gl Kentucky Derby.

Part of this comes from the competition he's beaten. Classic Causeway defeated 38-1 shot Grantham (Declaration of War) by 2 1/2 lengths in the Tampa Bay Derby, but Grantham's previous high Beyer was a 71, though he'd finished fourth in the Glll Withers with a 68 Beyer. Shipsational (Midshipman), a New York-bred, was third in the race and had run an 83 in the Sam F. Davis when second to Classic Causeway.

Perhaps more telling was the performance of the Graham Motion-trained Belgrade (Hard Spun) in seventh, beaten about six-plus lengths by Classic Causeway. Belgrade had debuted in a six-furlong maiden special restricted to horses sold at auction for $45,000 or less at Fair Grounds in December and won by six lengths with a 79 Beyer, and off that race he'd been sold for an astonishing $700,000 at Keeneland January. The runner-up in that Fair Grounds race, Tee Burns (Klimt), finished eighth of nine in a $50,000 maiden claimer at Fair Grounds last month at 10-1.

Belgrade reappeared at Tampa last month for Motion to win a seven-furlong optional claimer by a head from a local horse with a 72 Beyer, and he probably ran an even better race in the Tampa Bay Derby, suggesting that Classic Causeway's figure is probably legitimate.

Speed figures aside, Classic Causeway is one of three winners from Giant's Causeway's last crop of three foals. One of the others is Giant Game, who was third in the Gl Breeders' Cup Juvenile but eighth in the Tampa Bay Derby, and the other is Monaadah, who won his debut at Meydan two weeks ago.

Giant's Causeway, who died in 2018, has sired 195 black-type winners, many of them from mares with some of the best pedigrees in the world. That's not the case with Classic Causeway, whose stakes-winning Thunder Gulch dam Private World was the only black-type winner under the first three dams of the pedigree until Classic Causeway arrived.

Private World won two stakes races at two, the Listed Anoakia S. at Oak Tree at six furlongs and the Moccasin S. at Hollywood Park at seven furlongs. She either led or prompted the pace in both races and her son obviously gets some of his speedy tendencies from her.

Giant's Causeway, however, can provide the stamina required for Classic Causeway to keep progressing up the distance ladder, and so far, all Classic Causeway does is win, which is hard not to like.

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

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While 'TDN Rising Star' Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown) held the early call as the Hillsborough field galloped past the stands for the first time, it was Gladys (Medaglia d'Oro), the own-sister to Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, who took up the running into the clubhouse turn, as Rocky Sky fell into the box seat. The weak-in-the-market Bleecker Street–who eased from 9-5 out to 12-5 at the off–was comfortable in seventh. Switched off beautifully through the middle stages beneath Hector Diaz, Jr. Bleecker Street raced in hand on the second turn and was angled out sharply at the quarter pole. Briefly following the move of Rocky Sky in upper stretch, Bleecker Street was switched off heels and into the clear and was off and gone despite racing on her incorrect lead through the final eighth of a mile. Rocky Sky was clearly second ahead of Gladys, who picked up some valuable graded black-type in third.

Given a comparatively soft introduction to the races last year, Bleecker Street won starts at Monmouth and the Meadowlands before resuming with a fast-finishing half-length allowance tally at this venue Jan. 8. An overlaid 7-1 when testing stakes waters for the first time in the GIII Endeavour S. Feb. 5, the $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad was the recipient of a similarly patient ride from Diaz, Jr. and whooshed home with what has become a devastating finish to best Lady Speighspeare by a firm 1 1/2 lengths.

Pedigree Notes:

One of 57 stakes winners and 31 graded winners for Lane's End's Quality Road, Bleecker Street is bred on the cross over Danzig-line mares responsible for Illuminant, winner on the grass of the GI Gamely S. Bleecker Street is the first foal for her stakes-placed dam, who was purchased by Branch Equine for $75,000 in foal to Honor Code at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale. The filly's dual stakes-placed second dam is a half-sister to Nan (High Yield), dam of GIII Selene S. winner Power Gal (Jpn) (Empire Maker). Lemon Liqueur, who was RNAd for $19,000 when offered not in foal at KEENOV in 2018, is the dam of a 2-year-old filly by Always Dreaming, a yearling filly by Flatter and is due to the in-demand Not This Time this season.

Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
HILLSBOROUGH S.-GII, $200,000, Tampa Bay Downs, 3-12, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8mT, 1:48.21, gd.
1–BLEECKER STREET, 118, f, 4, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Lemon Liqueur (SP), by Exchange Rate
2nd Dam: Limoncella, by Lemon Drop Kid
3rd Dam: Trip Around Heaven, by Halo
($400,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Peter M Brant; B-Branch Equine
LLC (KY); T-Chad C Brown; J-Hector Rafael Diaz Jr. $120,000.
Lifetime Record: 5-5-0-0, $285,900. Werk Nick Rating: C.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Rocky Sky (Ire), 118, f, 4, Rock of Gibraltar (Ire)–Road Tosky
(Ire), by Elusive City. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Peter M
Brant; B-Eadling Farm Ltd (IRE); T-Chad C Brown. $40,000.
3–Gladys, 118, f, 4, Medaglia d'Oro–Lotta Kim, by Roar.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Dede
McGehee; B-Heaven Trees Farm (KY); T-Kelsey Danner.
$20,000.
Margins: 3 3/4, 3/4, 3/4. Odds: 2.40, 4.70, 11.50.
Also Ran: Lady Speightspeare, Lovely Lucky, Runaway Rumour, Jezebel's Kitten, Take Charge Ro, Nantucket Red. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Bleecker ‘Streets’ Rivals in Hillsborough appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Two races later, in the Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes for males on the turf, Wilson set Lady Speightspeare's stablemate Shirl's Speight loose in the stretch, and the 5-year-old horse responded by running down the race's defending champion, pace-setter Get Smokin, by a length-and-a-half.

“That's horse racing, in a nutshell,” Wilson said after 9-1 shot Shirl's Speight's victory for breeder-owner Charles Fipke and trainer Roger Attfield in 1:41.20 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth. “There are many ups and downs, and you've just got to ride the wave.

“When good horses come around, they'll show their stuff when the time is right.”

The two stakes races were the centerpiece of a spellbinding “Turf Champions Day” card under overcast skies that resulted in long-shots aplenty visiting the winner's circle (including Bleecker Street and Shirl's Speight, although their payoffs were minuscule in comparison to several others).

In the 23rd running of the Endeavour, the sixth race on the card, Wilson was sitting pretty on the lead on Lady Speightspeare at the eighth pole when unbeaten 4-year-old filly Bleecker Street – whose previous victory here on Jan. 8 came in a conditional allowance/optional claiming event – showed her stuff and then some, accelerating from mid-pack under jockey Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr., for a convincing length-and-a-half triumph.

The victory was the first graded-stakes triumph for the 32-year-old Diaz, who might feel like he's uncovered the key to buried treasure after trainer Chad Brown stuck with him following his three previous victories aboard Bleecker Street.

“She never gave me that turn of foot before,” Diaz said of today's performance by the Peter M. Brant-owned filly, now 4-for-4. “Not like that. Today was her best race, by far. The effort she put in was great. I have to thank God and Chad and his entire crew for this opportunity. They've done an amazing job with this filly. I knew she had to prove herself today against these kind of horses, but I was confident she could do it.

“I saw that green light in the stretch and she just took off, and the rest is history.”

The victory was the fourth in the Endeavour's 23-year history for Brown, more than any other conditioner. Bleecker Street posted a time of 1:41.91 on the firm turf course.

“She has won all four times coming off the pace, and being able to work out a trip like that every time is very difficult to do,” Brown said via telephone. “He (Diaz) has ridden her all four times, and I'm very proud of him.

“She had a good post (No. 2), the trip worked out real well and she showed a super turn of foot through the stretch. This filly took time to come around, and my whole staff has done an unbelievable job with her. And Mr. Brant is so patient. We scratched In Italian from the race this morning because we thought bringing her back inside a month was a little soon for her, and we didn't want to run them against each other.

“She (Bleecker Street) stepped up and it turned out to be the right call,” added Brown, who later won the Grade III Withers for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct with Early Voting.

Wilson was disappointed to get beat, but offered no excuses. “Chad's horses have a tendency of doing that to you,” Wilson said. ”I wouldn't give (Lady Speightspeare) any excuses. She had everything go as well as it could. We had a good run at it – we were just second-best.”

Stunning Princess finished third and Jezebel's Kitten was fourth. Bleecker Street paid $16 to win.

The way Get Smokin was sailing along under jockey Antonio Gallardo in the Tampa Bay Stakes, it appeared everyone was running for second at the top of the lane. The 5-year-old gelding hadn't been asked much approaching the stretch in his first start since June 20, but Wilson sensed she was sitting on a powder keg.

“I was interested to see how the pace was going to set up,” Wilson said of Shirl's Speight's performance. “Last time (a Jan. 15 victory here under Gallardo in an allowance/optional claiming race), he was a little keen, but today he settled off the pace nice and the way they kind of ran away from him early, I just wanted to make sure he relaxed and got into position where he was comfortable.”

Reserved near mid-pack, Shirl's Speight was asked for his best when Wilson tipped him out wide and kept to his task to record his second lifetime Grade 3 victory. Floriform finished third and English Bee was fourth.

“I had to thread the needle a little down the lane, but good horses will overcome adversity and he shot through there like he was shot out of a cannon,” Wilson said. “Roger is a Hall of Famer, and he knows how to have them primed and ready.”

Attfield, in fact, is a member of both the U.S. and Canadian Horse Racing Halls of Fame, a status shared by Get Smokin's trainer, Mark Casse.

“We've lost a lot to Roger. He's a wonderful guy and a class act, and good for him,” Casse said.

Attfield had both of his horses ready for top efforts and was thrilled to come away with a victory and a second.

“It (the Tampa Bay Stakes) was a beautiful race, no question,” he said. “I liked the way he did it today – I don't really want him to be speed all the time, but he's got a lot of speed. (Wilson) rode him very well. I definitely thought (Get Smokin) was the horse to beat.

“And our filly (Lady Speightspeare) ran very well for everything she has been through, so it's been a good day.”

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Content to linger in the latter third of the field and riding the rail as the once-beaten Lady Speightspeare prompted longshot Katama Princess (Malibu Moon) through comfortable early fractions, the $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga acquisition continued to scrape paint down the backstretch while always within striking distance if good enough. Full of run and traveling beautifully in the slipstream of Stunning Princess (Cairo Prince) as they hit the top of the lane, Bleecker Street went for a run between rivals entering the final furlong, inhaled the chalk with about 50 yards to race and kicked clear impressively, despite failing to change her leads in the final stages.

“She had a good post, the trip worked out real good and she showed a super turn of foot,” said trainer Chad Brown, who elected to scratch 'TDN Rising Star' and recent Tampa allowance winner In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) earlier in the day. “This filly took time to come around, and my whole staff has done an unbelievable job with her. And Mr. Brant…is so patient. We scratched In Italian because we thought bringing her back inside a month was a little soon, and it worked out so well.”

The gray opened her account in her belated career debut at the Jersey Shore last August, graduating by a half-length and made the most of a soft introduction to allowance company with a 1 1/2-length success at the Meadowlands Oct. 23. Favored at 17-10 for her seasonal debut over course and distance Jan. 8, she was short of room as the real running was about to start, but turned in a flying finish similar to Saturday's to best Pythoness (Liam's Map) by a half-length.

Pedigree Notes:

Ostensibly named for an east-west thoroughfare in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, Bleecker Street is the 55th stakes winner and 30th at the graded level for Lane's End's Quality Road and is bred on the cross over Danzig-line mares responsible for Illuminant, winner on the grass of the GI Gamely S. Bleecker Street is the first foal for her stakes-placed dam, who was purchased by Branch Equine for $75,000 in foal to Honor Code at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale. The filly's dual stakes-placed second dam is a half-sister to Nan (High Yield), dam of GIII Selene S. winner Power Gal (Jpn) (Empire Maker). Lemon Liqueur, who was RNAd for $19,000 when offered not in foal at KEENOV in 2018, is the dam of a 2-year-old filly by Always Dreaming, a yearling filly by Flatter and is due to Not This Time this season.

Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
ENDEAVOUR S.-GIII, $150,000, Tampa Bay Downs, 2-5, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:41.91, fm.
1–BLEECKER STREET, 118, f, 4, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Lemon Liqueur (SP), by Exchange Rate
2nd Dam: Limoncella, by Lemon Drop Kid
3rd Dam: Trip Around Heaven, by Halo
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($400,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Peter M Brant; B-Branch Equine LLC (KY); T-Chad C Brown; J-Hector Rafael Diaz Jr. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 4-4-0-0, $165,900. Werk Nick Rating: C. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Lady Speightspeare, 118, f, 4, Speightstown–Lady Shakespeare, by Theatrical (Ire). 'TDN Rising Star' O/B-Charles E Fipke (KY); T-Roger L Attfield. $30,000.
3–Stunning Princess, 118, f, 4, Cairo Prince–Psychadelacized, by Distorted Humor. 1ST GRADED BLACK-TYPE. ($95,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-R A Hill Stable & Brereton C Jones; B-Brereton C Jones (KY); T-Danny Gargan. $15,000.
Margins: 1HF, 3/4, 3/4. Odds: 7.00, 0.90, 4.50.
Also Ran: Jezebel's Kitten, Oyster Box, Nantucket Red, Katama Moonlight, Pythoness, Morning Molly. Scratched: In Italian (GB). Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Bleecker Street Stays Unbeaten in Endeavour appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Endeavour is the sixth race on a 10-race card on Tampa Bay Downs's “Turf Champions Day.” The Tampa Bay Stakes is the eighth race. There are 13 horses entered in the Tampa Bay Stakes and only 12 are permitted to run, so the connections of Carpenters Call would need a late scratch to compete.

The 5-year-old gelding Get Smokin will be making his first start since June. Now trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse, Get Smokin, who will be ridden by Antonio Gallardo, won the G2 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont as a 3-year-old. Get Smokin will break from the No. 7 post.

South Florida-based trainer Chad Brown will be sending two horses for the Tampa Bay Stakes in 5-year-old gelding L'Imperator and 8-year-old gelding Devamani. Samy Camacho is named to ride L'Imperator, while Pablo Morales will be aboard Devamani.

Tampa Bay Downs trainer Arnaud Delacour also has two entrants: 6-year-old horse Eons, who was second to Get Smokin last year, and 6-year-old gelding Talk Or Listen, last year's fourth-place finisher.

Brown, who is bidding for his first Tampa Bay Stakes trophy, has two entrants in search of his fourth Endeavour victory. Both of his 4-year-old fillies, Bleecker Street and In Italian, are owned by Peter M. Brant, with Bleecker Street a perfect 3-for-3 and In Italian 2-for-3 with a second. Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr., rides Bleecker Street and Camacho is on In Italian.

They could have their hands full with 4-year-old Lady Speightspeare, who is 4-for-5 for trainer Roger Attfield, including the G1 Natalma at Woodbine as a 2-year-old. Her regular rider, Emma-Jayne Wilson, again has the assignment.

Trainer H. Graham Motion will bid for his third Endeavour victory with 4-year-old Oyster Box, who will be ridden by Gallardo. She was third in last year's Florida Oaks at the Oldsmar oval.

“Turf Champions Day” kicks off the track's seven-event graded-stakes schedule, which continues on Feb. 12 with the 42nd running of the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race for 3-year-old Triple Crown hopefuls.

The Sam F. Davis is the centerpiece of a four-stakes Festival Preview Day card that includes the mile-and-40-yard, $150,000 Suncoast Stakes, a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” points race for 3-year-old fillies; the 6-furlong, $100,000 Pelican Stakes for horses 4-years-old-and-upward; and the $50,000, 6-furlong Minaret Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward.

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