Bloodlines | Horse Racing Free Tips

Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Two Different Paths To The Same Destination For Sons Of Tapit

For his chronological 20th birthday, Tapit received the ultimate presents from his crop of 3-year-old colts: victories in a pair of trials that put Greatest Honour and Essential Quality at the top of nearly every Kentucky Derby list.

In the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream on Feb. 27, Greatest Honour powered to victory in a visually impressive effort against a field of speedy prospects; also on Saturday, last year's champion juvenile colt, Essential Quality, made his 3-year-old debut, and the G3 Southwest Stakes became his fourth victory without a loss. Both colts had to overcome the typical hurdles of classic racing: pace, traffic, and weather.

Now the three-time leading sire in North America has a pair of top-quality prospects for the Kentucky Derby, and it's all the sweeter because, despite having a trio of Belmont Stakes winners, Tapit has never gotten a winner of the Derby.

In part, that is the work of chance. The odds for any single horse to win the race are long, and even leading sires rarely get more than a single classic winner. Right now, for instance, Tapit is tied with Northern Dancer for Kentucky Derby winners with zero. (And yes, I realize many of the Northern Dancers went overseas.)

Bold Ruler and Mr. Prospector had only one Kentucky Derby winner each, although both of those sires regularly had top-tier sons who were contenders for the classics.

So, having two with the quality of Greatest Honour and Essential Quality in a single crop is special. It's like having two barrels full of gold.

In addition to sharing a great sire, these two colts both were bred by their owners and share some other qualities that assist the colt's chances in the coming classics. They have a sufficiently tractable nature that allows them to be placed somewhat in racing; they have finishing speed that makes them dangerous at any distance; and they have a dominant personality that makes them want to win.

They are not, however, identical by any means.

Greatest Honour is a bay, and Essential Quality is a gray. Those are superficial differences, but more importantly, each is his own type. Greatest Honour is a big, rangy colt who is clearly growing and strengthening; his best days are ahead of him, and both his trainer and jockey believe that distance is his friend.

In contrast to the colt who is only now coming to his proper form, Essential Quality is more typical of his famous sire in size and muscularity and is a much more finished racehorse. He won his first Grade 1 last fall in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, and he won the divisional championship with a smooth and professional victory over Jackie's Warrior and others in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the colt's second Grade 1.

The bay Greatest Honour looks more powerful in forecasting what he should be able to do, compared to what he can do now, and is the sort of colt who promises to become a genuine classic colt. The greatest barrier to that may be his paternal half-brother, Essential Quality, whose greatest asset is his speed and ability to quicken away from his competition.

Along with contrasting physiques, these two colts also have some differences in their families. Greatest Honour is out of a mare by Street Cry, whose son Street Sense won the Kentucky Derby, and that mare is a half-sister to a pair of Belmont Stakes winners: Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy) and Jazil (Seeking the Gold). This is about as stamina-rich a pedigree as we can find in America.

There can be no doubt that Essential Quality has more speed in his family. His broodmare sire is the remarkably fast Elusive Quality, and the second dam is by Storm Cat, the third dam by Fappiano. Those are high-quality speed influences, and yet each of those sires had a classic winner. Essential Quality's family breaks more toward the speed side of its heritage, however.

The dam of the champion juvenile colt is a stakes-placed half-sister to champion 2-year-old filly Folklore (Tiznow), and the third dam is a graded stakes winner whose speed and durability were her greatest assets. Yet even among the speed in this high-quality family of Essential Quality, there is evidence of stamina, including Japan's champion Contrail (Deep Impact), who is out of a half-sister to the dam of Essential Quality.

In summary, the athleticism and competitiveness of these two colts make them serious classic contenders. Will those qualities help them play Alydar and Affirmed, or Easy Goer and Sunday Silence, through the Triple Crown season? The possibility of that is enough to quicken the pulse of any racing fan.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Two Different Paths To The Same Destination For Sons Of Tapit appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Saudi Cup Winner Mishriff Extends Middle East’s Racing Legacy

The victory of last year's Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) winner Mishriff (by Make Believe) in the 2021 Saudi Cup on Feb. 20 was a fascinating piece of international sporting competition, and the result highlighted a couple of interesting points.

One is that international racing has resoundingly shifted the basis and emphasis of winter racing to the warmer climates, especially those of the Middle East. The second is that one of the architects of that shift in emphasis, Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum of the UAE, has almost single-handedly also managed the continuation of one of the handsomest and most talented branches of the Mr. Prospector line.

Although neither owned nor bred by one of the Maktoum entities, Mishriff is an extension of the line descending from Mr. Prospector's elegant and highly talented son Seeking the Gold, bred and owned by Ogden Phipps and a stallion at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky for his entire career. Sheikh Mohammed bred the best son of Seeking the Gold, the once-beaten Dubai Millennium, whose nine victories included four Group 1 races: Dubai World Cup, Prince of Wales's Stakes, Prix Jacques le Marois, and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

A remarkably handsome horse who stayed 10 furlongs well, Dubai Millennium went to stud with great expectations. This exceptional animal, however, fell victim to grass sickness and died part-way through his first season at stud in 2001. He left behind only 56 foals born the next year, and yet from that small group comes the continuation of this line of Mr. Prospector.

Although the sire of several good horses from his first crop, the star was Dubawi, a winner of three Group 1 races: National Stakes at two; the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Jacques le Marois at three. Second in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II and third in the G1 Derby Stakes at Epsom, Dubawi stayed quite well, although he was a touch off his amazing sire for absolute ability.

Sent to stud at four in 2006, Dubawi has been a revelation as a stallion, siring 52 G1 winners to date and standing now for 250,000 euros (US$303,638) for a live foal. Among the stallion's G1 winners are the highweighted Ghaiyyath (Coronation Cup and Eclipse Stakes) and Too Darn Hot (Dewhurst), as well as the classic winners Night of Thunder (2,000 Guineas), New Bay (Prix du Jockey Club), and Makfi (2,000 Guineas).

The latter was rated the top 3-year-old miler in Europe in 2010 and entered stud in 2011. From Makfi's first crop came Make Believe, a smooth bay colt who won a pair of G1 races: the 2015 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) and Prix de la Foret. Those efforts were enough to give Make Believe the top ranking among the French 3-year-old colts in 2015.

The next year, however, his sire Makfi was sold to Japan. In the fall of 2016, the Japanese Bloodstock Breeders' Association announced that they had purchased Makfi to stand in Japan at the JBBA Stallion Station.

Typically, the exit abroad of a stallion when his first crop are only four is a decidedly negative sign. Makfi's top son, Make Believe, however, went to stud in 2016 and has proceeded to go from strength to greater strength.

With his first crop now four, Make Believe has sired French classic winner Mishriff, and that colt is a key to the enduring fortunes of this line because Mishriff's owner-breeder, Prince A.A. Faisal, also owned and raced Make Believe.

As a weanling, Make Believe sold to Hugo Merry for 180,000 guineas at the 2012 Tattersalls mixed sale and went into training with Andre Fabre for Prince Faisal. After winning a pair of G1s at three, Make Believe went to stud in Ireland at Ballylinch Stud, where he stands today.

Mishriff is from his sire's first crop and is the third stakes horse from three racers out of the mare Contradict, a daughter of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Raven's Pass (Elusive Quality). The mare's earlier produce are the listed stakes winner Orbaan (Invincible Spirit) and multiple G3-placed Momkin (Bated Breath).

Prince Faisal's Nawara Stud bred the colt in Ireland, and he is the fourth generation of the family owned by Prince Faisal. Nawara Stud bred Mishriff's third dam Rafha (Kris) from the Artaius mare Eljaazi, and the elegant chestnut won the 1990 Prix de Diane at Chantilly.

Sent to stud, Rafha produced four stakes winners, three stakes-placed performers, and a pair of high-quality stallions. First among those was the mare's fifth foal, G1 winner Invincible Spirit (Green Desert), who included Haydock's Sprint Cup among his six victories and who has become an overachieving sire in Europe as an influence for speed and durability. The less-expected sire from Rafha is Kodiac (Danehill), whose best racecourse achievement was a second in a G3 stakes but who has been a marvel at producing speed and precocity. He is the leading sire of 2-year-old winners for a single season with 61.

Two years younger than Kodiac is the now 18-year-old Acts of Grace (Bahri), a G3 stakes-winning daughter of Rafha and the dam of Contradict.

Mishriff is the last reported foal of his dam, but Contradict is in foal to the great Frankel (Galileo) for 2021.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Saudi Cup Winner Mishriff Extends Middle East’s Racing Legacy appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Clairiere Displays The Winning Formula For Stonestreet

The prep races at the Fair Grounds brought out some of the bright prospects for the 2021 classics, and the winners of both the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and the G2 Risen Star Stakes are a filly and a colt marked for classic potential by their immediate antecedents.

Stonestreet Stable's Clairiere (by Curlin) won the Rachel Alexandra and is by a Preakness Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic winner out of a mare by a Preakness winner, Bernardini (A.P. Indy). Juddmonte's Mandaloun won the Risen Star and is by the sire of 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Authentic (Into Mischief) out of a mare by Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker (A.P. Indy).

The recipe is clear. Breed a top-class stallion to a daughter of a classic winner, especially if it's a classic son of Belmont Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic winner A.P. Indy.

In addition to Authentic, Into Mischief is also responsible for Kentucky Derby third Audible, who is a G1 winner and is a sire standing at WinStar Farm. This year, Into Mischief also has the highly regarded Life is Good (2021 Sham Stakes) and Mutasaabeq (2021 Mucho Macho Man Stakes) working their way along the classic trail.

In contrast, Curlin is light-handed for colts at the moment, but the glowing chestnut titan is flush with fillies. As of the weekend, chief of these is Clairiere, who picked up 50 points for the Kentucky Oaks and guaranteed herself a starting gate position if all goes well between now and the filly's classic.

And among Curlin's stakes horses of 2021, at least five by the two-time Horse of the Year are out of daughters of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy or one of his sons. Is this the greatest cross of the present day?

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Bloodstock LLC, Clairiere is the first foal of the Bernardini mare Cavorting, who won three Grade 1 races (Test, Personal Ensign, and Ogden Phipps). That race record shows that Cavorting had first-class speed, especially for a daughter of champion Bernardini, who sires a sprinter only by accident, but some of his best are so talented that they can race effectively at almost any distance.

Cavorting was one of the latter, as she proved with a Grade 2 victory in the Adirondack Stakes at two, then progressed at three and four to win Grade 1 races both years.

Bred by Swettenham Stud and purchased by Stonestreet as a weanling for $360,000 at the 2012 Keeneland November sale, Cavorting earned $2 million her new owners. John Moynahan picked out Cavorting for Stonestreet and recalled that she “was a beautiful foal. Total quality.

“Then as a yearling, she looked like she'd be a very precocious 2-year-old. She won her debut by 11 lengths, then won the Adirondack by a length and a quarter,” from Angela Renee, another Bernardini filly who won the G1 Chandelier Stakes later that year. Fifth in the Adirondack was Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway), who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and was named champion of her division for 2014.

Cavorting went to the G1 Frizette unbeaten in two starts but finished seventh and “had to be put on the shelf due to some minor bone bruising,” Moynahan recalled, “although she never had any real soundness issues.”

“When she got older,” Moynahan said, “[trainer] Kiaran [McLaughlin] came with the idea to try her going two turns,” and Cavorting won the last three starts of her career going a mile or more, including two of her three Grade 1s.

On retirement, great hopes were held for Cavorting because “she's kind of a throwback who can last on the New York circuit to win major races at two, three, and four. Real hickory,” Moynahan said.

Sure enough, the lovely bay mare has continued her winning ways at stud. Clairiere is the first foal of her dam and now is her first graded stakes winner. The Rachel Alexandra winner is the 74th stakes winner for Curlin. Since Clairiere, Cavorting has produced a 2-year-old filly by Medaglia d'Oro who is yet unnamed and has a yearling full brother to Clairiere. Bred to Quality Road last year, the mare was barren.

The mare is booked to Into Mischief.

Clairiere is the third generation of her female family to win a graded stakes, as the filly's second dam is the Carson City mare Promenade Girl, who won the G2 Molly Pitcher, four other stakes, and also was third in the G1 Spinster and Ogden Phipps.

“Cavorting's pedigree, physique, and attitude made us very hopeful for her prospects as a broodmare,” Moynahan said, “and now it looks like she could be a tremendous producer, the sort of mare who could get a world-class champion.”

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Clairiere Displays The Winning Formula For Stonestreet appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Road To The Gold Mine For Medaglia d’Oro Had Many Twists And Turns

With the graded stakes victories of Moonlight d'Oro and Risk Taking over the weekend, their sire Medaglia d'Oro now has 76 graded stakes winners worldwide, from 148 stakes winners bred in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Moonlight d'Oro won the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 8, and shortly thereafter on Saturday, Risk Taking won the G3 Withers at Aqueduct. It was the first stakes victory for each horse.

Their sire is most famous for the champions Rachel Alexandra (Kentucky Oaks, Preakness Stakes, Haskell) and Songbird (Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and eight other Grade 1 races), but there is no question that Medaglia d'Oro is a gold medal stallion.

But it was not always so. A three-time winner at the G1 level himself, Medaglia d'Oro was a leading racer by his sire El Prado, who in turn was the lone successful representative of the Sadler's Wells line in the States at the time. Scarcity, in this instance, would not be considered a virtue among breeders, who flock to the horses who succeed the most and equally shun those who do not.

So the relative lack of success from the Sadler's Wells branch of Northern Dancer was a serious impediment to Medaglia d'Oro, and being out of a mare by the Damascus stallion Bailjumper, the horse's pedigree wasn't the sort that brought stallion farms racing to stand the horse, no matter how strong his racing career had been.

In the imminently capable hands of trainer Bobby Frankel, Medaglia d'Oro had won $5.7 million with victories in the G1 Travers, Whitney, and Donn, along with prestigious seconds in the Dubai World Cup, Breeders' Cup Classic (twice), and the Belmont Stakes. The race in Dubai was the last one for Medaglia d'Oro, and he was sold to Richard Haisfield in May 2004.

As a 6-year-old, the horse entered stud in 2005 with John G. Sikura at Hill 'n' Dale Farms, then was transferred to Audrey Haisfield's Stonewall Farm in 2006. Now an independent bloodstock consultant, Clark Shepherd was then the seasons and matings manager for Stonewall.

Shepherd recalled that “since the Haisfields already owned the horse, when the stallion barn was finished at Stonewall, he yanked the horses – Medaglia d'Oro, Doneraile Court, and Marquetry, as I recall – and put them all at Stonewall.”

In addition to these, Stonewall also stood champion older horse Lawyer Ron (by Langfuhr) and champion turf horse Leroidesanimaux (Candy Stripes), plus several others.

These were bullish years in racing and breeding, and Shepherd recalled that he didn't have “a lot of trouble getting mares to the horses, especially Medaglia. In part, that was because the farm had started a deal of awarding complimentary matings to mares who were either graded stakes winners or graded stakes producers. That kept the mare volume at a level that second- and third-year stallions don't usually enjoy these days.”

Part of the rationale behind that aggressive approach to bringing mares into the stallions' books was to make the resulting foals as commercially appealing as possible, as well as to get many mares of racing quality into the stallions' books.

The first-crop yearlings by Medaglia d'Oro made him a successful commercial sire at the sales in 2007, and he was well-ranked in fourth among the 2008 freshmen sires, led by Tapit (Pulpit), when Rachel Alexandra was her sire's first-crop leader, and the filly backed up that early promise with classic greatness in the 2009 Kentucky Oaks and Preakness Stakes.

Entrepreneur and sportsman Richard Santulli, along with businessman Barry Weisbord, had purchased a minority interest in Medaglia d'Oro in August 2008, as first the national, then the world, economy tipped into deeper collapse.

As that economic demise precipitated through the end of 2008 and reached its lowest point in the first part of 2009, bloodstock and the commercial equine market felt the sting even worse than the general economy. Then, as the financial side of the Stonewall operation began to unwind, Godolphin came in and bought the rapidly appreciating Medaglia d'Oro for a reported $40 million total valuation in a deal that closed in early June 2009.

The stallion shipped across town to Darley's Jonabell stallion farm, and that has been his base ever since.

One of the more successful shuttle stallions, Medaglia d'Oro sired two of his better colts Down Under with champion Vancouver and Group 1 winner Astern. In the Northern Hemisphere, as well, success for the stallion's progeny has become more equally divided between the colts and fillies, with such as Talismanic (Breeders' Cup Turf), and his sons at stud continue to have a following among breeders. Chief among these stallion sons is Violence, who stands at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, and Medaglia d'Oro's younger sons without foals of racing age include G1 winners Bolt d'Oro (Spendthrift) and Higher Power (Darby Dan).

Currently standing for $150,000 live foal at Darley, Medaglia d'Oro is one of the most popular and influential sires of the day.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Road To The Gold Mine For Medaglia d’Oro Had Many Twists And Turns appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post