Tag: Bloodlines

There were a trio of classics over the past weekend: at Epsom, the Oaks on June 3 and the Derby on June 4, then the next day at Chantilly, the Prix du Jockey Club. Those might as well have been held as benefits for the great stallion Galileo (by Sadler's Wells).

Vadeni (by the Galileo classic winner Churchill) won the latter, and Desert Crown (by the Galileo G1 winner Nathaniel) won the Derby. The Oaks went to Tuesday, a daughter of Galileo himself.

A son and daughter of Galileo's greatest racing son, Frankel, were third in the Derby (Westover) and the Oaks (Nashwa), and Frankel is the sire of this year's Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Homeless Songs.

So the train of Galileo's successes continue to increase for his own record of performance, as well as amplify his influence on the breed today and into the future.

At this point, Galileo is the sire of 3,140 foals, 2,371 starters, 1,608 winners, 354 stakes winners, 238 group stakes winners, and 94 G1 winners.

Galileo died almost a year ago on July 10 at his home at Coolmore Stud in Ireland, but his influence continues. The great sire's number of G1 winners is poised to punch through 100 in the coming months. That will surely happen; it's only a matter of time and which horse is the memorable 100th.

Tuesday was the 94th G1 winner for her sire, and she is the third G1 winner from the Danehill Dancer mare Lilly Langtry, a winner of the G1 Matron Stakes and Coronation Stakes. The other G1 winners for the mare are last season's Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Empress Josephine, as well as 2016 1,000 Guineas and Oaks winner Minding. All three are by Galileo.

Minding had an exceptional career, winning nine of 13 starts, among them seven G1 races, including the pair of classics mentioned above and the Moyglare Stud Stakes, Fillies Mile, Pretty Polly, Nassau, and Queen Elizabeth II.

A hearty campaigner, Minding had quite a lot of speed and precocity for a Galileo, seemed to prefer eight to 10 furlongs, and both the rider Ryan Moore and trainer Aidan O'Brien noted that Tuesday appears to hold considerable promise for staying farther than her sisters or high-class dam did.

In winning the Oaks, Tuesday became the most recent classic winner for Galileo, and he has sired a winner of a universally recognized classic in every crop, except that of 2006. That is a phenomenal perspective on the great sire's record at stud, but in more respects than that, Galileo has exceeded expectations.

His sire, Sadler's Wells, was a classic winner and major son of the great sire Northern Dancer. Yet at stud, Sadler's Wells exceeded all reasonable expectations to become the leading sire in Europe for more than a decade. Yet for all his immense success, Sadler's Wells had never sired a winner of the Derby at Epsom after many years at stud, until Galileo in 2001, and Sadler's Wells had written breeding history with the exploits of his offspring. He was the most important European-based sire from Nearco to Galileo.

Then Galileo won the Derby. High Chaparral followed the next year with a second Derby for Sadler's Wells.

At stud, the sons of Sadler's Wells had been generally disappointing until Galileo and the two years older Montjeu began to get major results. Montjeu (Sadler's Wells) – who had won the 1999 Prix du Jockey Club, Irish Derby, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and the 2000 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes – sired a pair of Derby winners in Motivator (2005) and Authorized (2007); Galileo followed with his first Derby winner in 2008 (New Approach), and the Sadler's Wells male line took its place at the top rank of breeding in Europe.

Although none of the other sons were as good this pair, El Prado became a leading sire in North America and continues to influence racing here with his sons Medaglia d'Oro and Kitten's Joy.

Montjeu sired four winners of the Derby before dying at 16 in 2012, and Galileo has sired a record five winners of the classic at Epsom: New Approach (2008), Ruler of the World (2013), Australia (2014), Anthony Van Dyck (2019), and Serpentine (2020).

Galileo has three further crops of foals that may include more classic winners, perhaps even more winners at Epsom.

Whether that proves to be the case or not, the brave bay's place in the history of the breed is secure.

The post Bloodlines: European Classics Continue Paying Tribute To Galileo And His Sire Line appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

The legendary jockey Lester Piggott, who died in Switzerland on May 29, exerted an unexpected influence on breeding due to his mastery of the craft of race riding, and its components of pace, balance, and timing.

The Long Fellow's mindfulness in the saddle allowed him to maintain his composure under pressure, and those qualities were of special value in the most prestigious races, such as the Derby Stakes, and the Derby's importance to the Thoroughbred is paramount. The great breeder and trainer Federico Tesio famously remarked that the winning post of the Derby had exerted greater influence on the breed than any other single factor.

Piggott rode nine winners of the Epsom classic, beginning in 1954 as an 18-year-old with Never Say Die (by Nasrullah), and that fact alone is an indicator of the importance of this rider to the development of modern breeding.

The Maestro's subsequent winners of the Derby were Crepello (Donatello) 1957 (in which year he also won the Oaks with the Queen's Carrozza), St Paddy (Aureole) 1960, Sir Ivor (Sir Gaylord) 1968, Nijinsky (Northern Dancer) 1970, Roberto (Hail to Reason) 1972, Empery (Vaguely Noble) 1976, The Minstrel (Northern Dancer) 1977, and Teenoso (Youth) 1983. Piggott retired for the first time in 1985, and yet his influence on the breed has lived on through the accomplishments of many of those classic winners at stud.

In particular, Piggott was effective at evaluating a horse's turn of foot and knowing when to ask for it to get the most effect in a race. This is especially important at Epsom, with its gradients and turns, and the rising ground to the finish has found the bottom of more than one doubtful stayer. So a rider who understands the course and who understands the horse he is riding is a serious asset in the quest for classics. This made Piggott the most sought-after jockey in racing.

Once the young riding star had proven his talents in the classics of the 1950s, Piggott was able to pick and choose from the prospects for the race, and he was known to accept rides on horses from differing stables and then to ride them in the classic preps with as much interest in evaluating their capacity to cope with Epsom as with winning the race at hand. This practice was not always popular with owners, trainers, or punters.

As a regular rider for the stable of the great trainer Vincent O'Brien, Piggott rode the first two Derby winners by the 1964 Kentucky Derby winner Northern Dancer (Nijinsky and The Minstrel), and it is famously reported that, after Piggott's split with that elite outfit, their hot favorite El Gran Senor (Northern Dancer) had just finished a close second to Secreto (Northern Dancer) in the 1984 Derby, and Piggott walked through the unsaddling area on his way to the jockey's room and remarked archly, “Missing me yet?”

In addition to helping showcase the importance of Northern Dancer and his adaptability to the European racing environment, Piggott was a great evaluator of a horse's ability. He said of the only English Triple Crown winner from 1935 to the present that “Nijinsky was one of those horses you could win on really easily yet – and this is hard to understand – he never felt as good to ride as he actually was.”

Sent to stud at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, Nijinsky became the first great stallion son of his famous sire and an immense influence on the classics, both in Europe and the States. Nijinsky sired three winners of the Derby (Golden Fleece 1982, Shahrastani 1986, and Lammtarra 1995); and two grandsons of Nijinsky – Kahyasi (Ile de Bourbon) 1988 and Generous (Caerleon) 1991 – won the Epsom classic during this period.

Although many of the sons and daughters of Nijinsky were sent to race in Europe, the stallion's foals were just as effective in the U.S., and Ferdinand won the 1986 Kentucky Derby, as well as the 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic, and was named Horse of the Year that season, as well.

Prior to the 1970 Derby, there had been no shortage of speculation that the 12 furlongs would find out the stamina of Nijinsky. He was, after all, by that small American stallion who hadn't stayed the distance in the 1964 Belmont Stakes. As the classic and subsequent racing proven beyond question, Nijinsky himself was eminently suited to the full classic distance.

In that race, Piggott rode the bay son of Northern Dancer and Flaming Page for speed, which he showed with a flair up the rising ground to the winning post at Epsom, then again in subsequent starts at the Curragh and Ascot. Piggott rode Northern Dancer's second Derby winner, The Minstrel in 1977, who needed a strong rider to get the most out of him over the full classic distance, but that is what his jockey supplied.

In Piggott's Derby victories immediately prior to the one with The Minstrel and the rider's final success in 1983, both Empery and Teenoso were colts who needed to make the classic as strong a test of stamina as possible because they possessed strength and stamina far in excess of acceleration. Realizing their needs, Piggott controlled the pace and the race, bringing them home victorious. Piggott could not make either of them a good sire – they were both lamentable – but his tactical understanding and ability to adapt to what the horse required gave them as much opportunity as they could hope for.

Adaptability and presence of mind made Piggott a masterful competitor for the classics, and he won more of them than any rider in history, even though “it's easier to lose a race than to win 'em, y'know.”

The post Bloodlines: Lester Piggott’s Influence In The Bloodstock Sphere appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

“Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of … Gun Runner”

“Frank, are you misquoting Shakespeare again?”

“Well, sort of. I prefer to think of it as expanding the context of the immortal Bard, Ray.”

“I don't believe the greatest writer in the language needs you to improve him. Consider your poetic license revoked.”

“Now don't be hasty, Ray. I'm searching for an angle to write about the greatest young stallion in contemporary breeding … ahem, Gun Runner.”

“Oh, Secretariat! Not that again.”

But, yes, the chestnut shark from Three Chimneys has surfaced once again, this time carrying off a classic.

Gun Runner (by Candy Ride) picked up his first classic winner when Early Voting won the 2022 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21 by 1 ¼ lengths over Epicenter (Not This Time). Early Voting also became the fifth Grade 1 winner for his sire, following juvenile champion Echo Zulu, 2021 Hopeful Stakes winner Gunite, then a trio in the past two months: Taiba (Santa Anita Derby), Cyberknife (Arkansas Derby), and the Preakness winner.

Of course, Gun Runner isn't doing all this by himself. He was bred to some very nice mares, such as the dam of Early Voting, the Tiznow mare Amour d'Ete. As a 2013 Keeneland yearling, Amour d'Ete sold for $1.75 million to Borges Torrealba Holdings. As sometimes happens, the well-regarded filly never raced and then was bought back at the 2016 Keeneland November sale for $725,000 when in foal to Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (Maria's Mon).

One reason for the appeal of the mare as a yearling and broodmare is that she's a full sister to Irap, winner of the G2 Blue Grass Stakes and G3 Ohio Derby and Indiana Derby, as well as being the second-place finisher in the G1 Pennsylvania Derby and Los Alamitos Futurity.

A further reason is that Irap and Amour d'Ete are half-siblings to champion sprinter Speightstown (Gone West), a leading national sire standing at WinStar Farm, as Tiznow had done. All three siblings are out of Silken Cat (Storm Cat), a winner in three of her four starts and champion 2-year-old filly in Canada. Silken Cat produced four daughters who have gone on to be broodmares, and Amour d'Ete is the third to produce a graded stakes winner.

The others are the unplaced (in two starts) Cableknit (Unbridled's Song), the dam of Capezzano (Bernardini), winner of the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3; and the unraced Gone Purrfect (Gone West), who is the dam of Golden Hawk (Tapit), winner of the G3 Grey Stakes.

The dam of Silken Cat is the Chieftain stakes winner Silken Doll, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Turk Passer (Turkoman).

This family traces back through some distinguished racers and producers to a bay daughter of 1926 Kentucky Derby winner Bubbling Over (North Star III). Her name was Hildene.

Bred in 1938 by the Xalapa Farm of Edward F. Simms, Hildene sold as a yearling for $750 to engineer and entrepreneur Christopher Chenery, and she was once third from eight starts. At stud, however, she was something else.

Chenery sent his broodmare to a young sire standing in Virginia at Arthur B. Hancock's neighboring Ellerslie Stud. The young stallion was named Princequillo, and the offspring from the mating of 1946 was a bay colt of 1947 that Chenery named Hill Prince.

Voted the top juvenile colt of 1949 in the Racing Form poll, Hill Prince was highly regarded for the 1950 classics and won the Wood Memorial on his way to the Kentucky Derby. Middleground (Bold Venture) won the Derby, with Hill Prince second. Then Hill Prince won the 1950 Preakness by five lengths from Middleground.

Racing through the rest of the year, Hill Prince won the American Derby and Jockey Club Gold Cup, among other good races, and was named champion of his division, as well as Horse of the Year.

Hildene went on to produce multiple other stakes winners, including champion juvenile First Landing (Turn-to). Among her foals that didn't win stakes was the dam of champion filly Cicada, all bred by Chenery and racing in his Meadow Stable silks. Hill Prince was the Meadow Stable's first national champion, and more than 20 years later, Secretariat was its last.

Seventy-two years later, the family has won another Preakness Stakes with another son of a young sire with his first crop of classic age.

The post Bloodlines: Preakness Winner Early Voting Bridges The Gap Between Gun Runner And Meadow Stable appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

With the entry of Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath in the 2022 Preakness, the daughter of the late champion Arrogate (by Unbridled's Song) bids to become the seventh filly to win the classic.

Most recently, Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) in 2009 and Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in 2020 defeated colts to claim the classic at Pimlico racecourse, but four earlier fillies had also won the race: Flocarline (St. Florian) had been the first filly to win a Preakness in 1903, then Whimsical (Orlando) won the race in 1906, Rhine Maiden (Watercress) won in 1915 (the same year that Regret won the Kentucky Derby), and Nellie Morse (Luke McLuke) won in 1924.

In 1924, the order of the races was different, and Nellie Morse first won the Pimlico Oaks, then four days later the Preakness itself on May 12. In the classic at Pimlico, Nellie Morse took the lead from the start, repelled challenges from subsequent Travers winner Sun Flag (Sun Briar) and Belmont Stakes winner Mad Play (Fair Play), and finished first by 1 ½ lengths over Harry Payne Whitney's Transmute (Broomstick).

Owned by the famed cartoonist H.C. “Bud” Fisher, Nellie Morse then ventured from Maryland to Kentucky for the Oaks. In the race at Churchill Downs, the filly ran well but was interfered with by first-place finisher Glide (Manager Waite), who was disqualified and placed third behind Nellie Morse, but that left Hall of Fame racer Princess Doreen (Spanish Prince) to scoop the prize after finishing second without interference.

Nellie Morse was generally ranked alongside Princess Doreen as the best three-year-old fillies of 1924, and Fisher sold Nellie Morse, who became an important producer for Calumet Farm after retirement, with Count Morse (Reigh Count), winner of the Clark Handicap, and the top filly Nellie Flag (American Flag) as her most successful offspring.

Bred and raced by Calumet Farm, Nellie Flag was ranked as the best juvenile filly of 1934 and started favorite for the 1935 Kentucky Derby but finished fourth in that race and seventh in the Preakness.

In producing a filly of championship caliber, Nellie Morse succeeded in “reproducing herself,” getting a racer of equal or nearly equal consequence. This is not as easy as it may sound, even for a top performer.

In a filly like Secret Oath, Arrogate sired a racer capable of something he had not done in his storied career on the racetrack: becoming a top-class performer in the first half of the season. A good-sized, though not enormous, son of the very large stallion Unbridled's Song (Unbridled), Arrogate had still taken considerable time to come to full strength and fill out his frame for trainer Bob Baffert and owner Juddmonte Stables.

The gray did not start at two, then dawdled through the spring of second season of potential racing. When he came to race, however, Arrogate put the dawdling aside and impressed from the start. His second and third starts brought victories in a maiden and allowance in June, and then the gray colt went to Saratoga, testing Grade 1 competition in the historic Travers Stakes.

Taking command of the race early, Arrogate led at every call, extended his lead through fractions in :23.23, :46.84, 1:10.85, 1:35.52, and won by 13 ½ lengths in record time of 1:59.36.

From that point until after the 2017 Dubai World Cup, Arrogate was the best horse in training in North America. Maybe anywhere. With large gaps between starts, the galloping gray won the Breeders' Cup Classic in late 2016 and inaugural Pegasus in early 2017 over California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), who was nonetheless named Horse of the Year, then ventured for Dubai for his final breathtaking victory in the World Cup over Gun Runner (Candy Ride).

For whatever reason, Arrogate trained off his championship form after the trip to Dubai and was many lengths and several seconds behind his best thereafter.

Retired to stud at Juddmonte Farms in Kentucky, Arrogate had winners from his initial crop of racing age in 2021, but like their sire, they were quite slow to come to hand, and he did not have his first stakes winner until New Year's Day of 2022. Since then, the picture has become clearer with regard to the quality of the stallion's offspring. Some have already proven they are quite good, with Secret Oath having risen to the top of the crop at this point.

A victory against colts in the Preakness would give her an immense boost in prestige and make her the odds-on choice to take the Eclipse Award as the best 3-year-old filly of the year. A loss would count little, if any, against her.

To the bold goes the glory.

The post Bloodlines: Secret Oath Aims To Join Century-Old Sorority Of Preakness-Winning Fillies appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post