Bloodlines | Horse Racing Free Tips

Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Patience Helped Largent Grow Into His Pedigree

In winning the Grade 2 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream Park, Largent became the second stakes winner for his dam and the 34th graded stakes winner by leading sire Into Mischief (by Harlan's Holiday). Largent had already won restricted stakes, and the Ft. Lauderdale was his step up into the major leagues.

The hefty bay gelding took the rise of competition in stride.

Winning for the sixth time in nine starts, Largent was second in the other three races and now has earnings of $314,470. He was a growthy colt who was unraced at two, then made a pair of starts at three, winning his debut, then finishing second. Off for eight months, Largent returned to win an allowance at Gulfstream and has continued to progress through 2020.

A significant part of the reason for his improvement is that during last year's layoff, Largent was also gelded. Co-owner Randy Gullatt of Twin Creeks Racing said that “Largent was a handful as an early 3-year-old. He's a strong horse who was a handful in the paddock, was a handful in the morning, and his behavior got to the point of making us ask what sort of racehorse we were hoping he could be. We decided the best thing was to allow him to be the best racehorse possible, and to do that, he needed to be a gelding. He's a completely different horse now, laid-back and quiet, a push-button performer.”

Bred in Virginia by Lazy Lane Farms, Largent is out of the Unbridled mare Life in Seattle, who won two of her four starts. After finishing fourth in her stakes debut, Life in Seattle retired to stud, presumably due to a physical issue.

As a broodmare, Life in Seattle produced the stakes winner Kona Blend (Dixieland Band) as her first foal, and the now-22-year-old mare's last reported foal is the 4-year-old Largent, who is her second stakes winner and first graded stakes winner.

Gullatt noted that “Largent is a really good doer who carries his weight well, and he has been very sound” in training with Todd Pletcher. The Ft. Lauderdale was the fifth victory in seven starts this year for Largent, and he has made significant strides this year toward becoming the quality racehorse that the owners, Twin Creeks Racing and Eclipse Thoroughbreds, envisioned when they purchased him.

Twin Creeks and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners paid $460,000 for Largent at the 2017 Keeneland September sale, the sixth-highest price of the year for a yearling by Into Mischief. He was consigned by Warrendale Sales, agent.

Gullatt recalled, “I thought he was the best two-turn Into Mischief at the sale that year;” most buyers think of speed when they approach a yearling by Into Mischief, but Gullatt was coming from another angle.

“I was thinking of the Unbridled side of his pedigree,” Gullatt said, “and looking at Largent as a classic prospect over dirt. He's trained well over dirt, but he's been pulling us toward the turf.” The results of the Ft. Lauderdale indicate there could be further improvement in that regard, as well.

Winner of the 1990 Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic, Unbridled (Fappiano) was out of a mare by the French-bred classic influence Le Fabuleux, and Unbridled bred both speed and classic quality. He sired the winners of all the Triple Crown races, as well as the Travers and other major races at 10 furlongs and up.

Furthermore, the second dam of Largent is Life at the Top, one of the very best daughters of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. Life at the Top twice won at the Grade 1 level (Mother Goose and Ladies Handicap), and she produced Grade 3 winner Elizabeth Bay (Mr. Prospector). The third dam is See You at the Top, by Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Riva Ridge (First Landing), and the fourth dam is Comely Nell (Commodore M.), who produced Kentucky Derby winner Bold Forbes (Irish Castle) and his winning full sister Priceless Fame, who became the dam the top English juvenile Dunbeath (Grey Dawn), the unbeaten Grade 1 winner Saratoga Six (Alydar), and his full sister Milliardaire, who became the dam of four-time Grade 1 winner Lakeway (Seattle Slew).

This is a high-class classic family, and “we've been patient with him because we're very confident in him and the ability that we saw at the sale,” Gullatt said. “At the time (of sale) Into Mischief was forcing us into buying one by him.”

Looks like they got a good one.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Patience Helped Largent Grow Into His Pedigree appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Shuffled Juvenile Sale Calendar Doesn’t Change Success Of Grads

The sales of 2-year-olds in training could hardly have had a more robust promotion than the results of racing over the weekend. One sales horse from the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's postponed April sale that was conducted in June won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Starlet, while another sold at the auction won the G2 Remsen in New York. In addition, a filly from Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic sale at Timonium won the restricted Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes.

A poster pony for in-training sales success, Varda (by Distorted Humor) was a star at the OBS sale held in June (not the OBS June sale that was held in July this crazy year). The progressive filly was an excellent example of her sire's best sort of prospect, with the strength and speed of a serious athlete. Varda flamed a quarter-mile in :20 4/5 for her under-tack work, and she sold like the star she has become.

Part of the Niall Brennan sales consignment, Varda brought $700,000 from Donato Lanni, agent for Baoma Corp. The dark bay filly has now won two of her three starts, is a Grade 1 winner and Grade 2-placed, and has earnings of more than a quarter-million.

Bred in New York by Masters 2013 LLC and Distorted Humor Syndicate, Varda was a $100,000 yearling at the New York select sale at Saratoga. Then brought to the in-training sales, this filly looked so good and worked so impressively that she generated one of the greatest markups of the resale market in Ocala this year.

In marked contrast, the Remsen winner Brooklyn Strong (Wicked Strong) was a $30,000 weanling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall sale, then was a $42,000 RNA the following year at the same New York-bred select sale where Varda sold for six figures. Brought back to the sales ring two months later in Ocala for the OBS October yearling sale, Brooklyn Strong was an RNA for $6,000 this time. In his final brush with the sales, Brooklyn Strong sold for $5,000 at the OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training, held in June.

Coming out of the same massive sale, both Varda and Brooklyn Strong became graded stakes winners the same weekend on opposite coasts. The polar difference in their prices was significantly dependent on the appeal of their sires. Whereas Varda's sire Distorted Humor is the source of classic winners and champions, Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) bred 54 mares earlier this year, as his appeal to owners and buyers began to wane, and the horse was moved to Pin Oak Lane Farm in Pennsylvania in October for the 2021 season.

Brooklyn Strong is his sire's third stakes winner from two crops of racing age and the first graded stakes winner.

Despite the differences in price and sire power between the Starlet winner and the star of the Remsen, there are also some important similarities. Varda worked like a wonder, and Brooklyn Strong worked quite well, going a furlong in :10 2/5. In contrast to these quick workers, the winner of the Fifth Avenue, Laobanonaprayer, went relatively slow. That filly, by the sensational freshman sire Laoban (Uncle Mo), worked a quarter in :22 3/5, which is plenty quick for racing but not for a sales work. The sales price reflected that, and the big, scopy filly went through the ring for only $15,000 to owner-trainer Daniel Velazquez, who also trains Brooklyn Strong.

One of the reasons that I know so much about these sales horses is my work with DataTrack International, evaluating workouts, strides, efficiency, and athletic potential. One of the measures that DataTrack uses to evaluate horses is a proprietary item called BreezeFigs, which are essentially speed figures for workouts.

Using BreezeFigs, Varda scored a 70, Brooklyn Strong got a 68, and Laobanonaprayer had a 56. Several factors go into the computation of the BreezeFigs, aside from the raw time of the work. Rather than the high speed of the first two, Laobanonaprayer has the rather loping stride of a filly who should be even better going farther; that's how she won the Fifth Avenue, looping her rivals on the turn and loping past them, then keeping up those big, easy strides as she pulled away to win by eight lengths as the even-money favorite.

Another similarity of these quality racehorses is that each of them showed a stride length that was longer than 24 feet in their works. A really good racehorse has to cover the ground faster than its rivals. To do that, it either has to stride farther or to stride faster. The super-powered sprinters tend to throw in more strides, while the stayers tend to stretch out farther. The ones who can keep it up are the ones who end up in the winner's circle.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Shuffled Juvenile Sale Calendar Doesn’t Change Success Of Grads appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: The Long, Strange Journey Of Bodexpress

The wayward colt who was once known as “America's favorite maiden” is now a Grade 1 winner after his victory in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27.

Bodexpress (by Bodemeister) had taken his first experience in a Grade 1, last year in the Florida Derby, so well that he finished second in the race behind eventual division leader Maximum Security, and great things were expected of the handsome bay who had leapt so quickly to national prominence. Breeders, fans, and the colt's connections shared that optimism.

As a result, Bodexpress trained up to the classics without a start and was still a maiden when he went to the Kentucky Derby. There, he was racing prominently about a quarter-mile from home when taken up sharply as part of the chain reaction from the Maximum Security incident, then was placed 13th in the initial 2019 classic. That placement in an exceptionally rough race did not deter the colt's connections from trying the Preakness, and Bodexpress heightened the drama by dropping his jock, John Velazquez, at the start, then racing prominently through the rest of the 9 1/2-furlong race.

Riderless but not reckless, Bodexpress did not cause any trouble in the Preakness, just disappointment among his supporters.

The magnificent maiden went to a maiden special for his return in October 2019 and won his first race, then returned to win an allowance and was third in the G3 Harlan's Holiday in December. Unplaced in the G1 Pegasus World Cup and the G2 Gulfstream Park Mile, Bodexpress then finished third in the G3 Hal's Hope Stakes at Gulfstream, the Alydar Stakes at Saratoga, and he was second in an allowance at Churchill before killing a field by 11 1/4 lengths at Gulfstream Park West prior to the Clark.

Bred in Kentucky by Martha Jane Mulholland, Bodexpress was sold at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale. Although the good-looking colt went through the ring and was bought back for $45,000, he sold privately shortly thereafter.

John Mulholland recalled that “Bode was a little small, and we had to do a stifle surgery four or five weeks before the September sale. It was bad timing but also drew a knock from vets; so we sold him privately for about the hammer price.”

The buyer was Global Thoroughbreds through J.R. Boyd of Brick City Thoroughbreds, “which took him to Florida for breaking and early training,” Mulholland recalled.

J.R. Boyd said, “I'd liked this colt when I'd seen him at the farm before, and we were a little hesitant to buy a Bodemeister, but we love to shop with the Mulhollands because Martha Jane and John Henry are always up front and candid about their horses, and they raise a really good horse.

“The first reason I wanted to see this colt was that we'd trained his half-brother by Stormy Atlantic,” Boyd said, “and he was a really nice horse. Then, Bodexpress was such a pretty individual who looked like he could become a really good athlete. When I showed Bodexpress to our client at the sale, the owner of Global made the decision to buy the colt. He was that nice.”

Once Boyd and his wife Katie put Bodexpress into training, the colt “was a phenomenal mover, just a really nice colt.” But once again, ill luck showed up.

Boyd said, “We wanted to showcase him, put him in the Fasig sale in Miami or OBS March, but he banged his knee, and when I called Global, they said to be patient, give Bodexpress all the time that the colt needed, and so, Maryland was the spot for him.

“Our clients at Global Thoroughbreds are very game; if there's a hiccup along the way, they don't mind racing one, but they do like to offer everything for sale. At the Timonium sale in Maryland, I tried to tell everyone at the sales how good this colt was, but it was almost like Bodemeister had a disease. Nobody wanted one. I told the gentlemen behind the colt that we weren't likely to get what the colt was worth.

“Their answer to me was: 'Put a $37,000 reserve, and if someone wants to take him at $40,000, he sells. We want people to know that Global Thoroughbreds is willing to put reasonable reserves and sell their horses.”

The bright bay didn't sell, shipped home, was given a month to relax from the sale, then shipped to trainer Gustavo Delgado, who's had the horse ever since.

The good-looking colt never seemed to take things the easy way. He initially missed winning a maiden, although his fourth outing in that condition brought a narrow loss to Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby), who is a Grade 2 winner and finished second in the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Bodexpress's fifth start was the G1 Florida Derby, which appeared to be a giant step up, and there, the luckless colt ran into the buzz saw named Maximum Security.

Mulholland Springs has not participated in the luck of Bodexpress, either. The farm had worked with a pair of yearlings from the mare that “I had liked but not loved,” Mulholland noted, and then the mare had gone barren in 2016 after foaling Bodexpress. So, at the Keeneland November sale of 2017, the farm sold the colt's dam, the City Zip mare Pied a Terre, for $17,000.

Mulholland said, “She was a nice-looking mare, or I wouldn't have bought her,” but the commercial market wasn't very responsive to her foals. So, in foal to the Tiznow stallion Gemologist, Mulholland Springs sold the mare, and the purchaser was the KOID, which exported her to Korea.

On March 28, 2018, Pied a Terre foaled a filly by Gemologist who's since been named Gangseo Princess, and in 2019, the mare foaled a colt by the Tapit stallion Concord Point and was barren for 2020 on a cover to Take Charge Indy.

Bodexpress is the second Grade 1 winner for his sire, Kentucky Derby runner-up Bodemeister (Empire Maker), after Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, who stood his first season at stud in Kentucky at WinStar Farm in 2019.

In the fall of 2019, WinStar announced the sale of Bodemeister to the Jockey Club of Turkey, and the horse stands at their stud farm outside Istanbul for a fee of 12,500 euros, approximately $15,000.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: The Long, Strange Journey Of Bodexpress appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bloodlines: Slow-Developing Red Smith Winner North Dakota Another Success For Broodmare Starry Dreamer

For the beautifully pedigreed North Dakota (by Medaglia d'Oro), success in the Grade 3 Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 21 was like a spring thaw after a long, hard winter.

The 4-year-old colt won his first stakes in the Red Smith and capped a remarkable season in which the racer for the Joseph Allen Stables developed from a seemingly hapless maiden at the New Year tracks to graded stakes winner here in the penultimate month, with four victories from a half-dozen races.

In contrast, North Dakota had contrived to remain a maiden in a half-dozen previous races at 2 and 3 while being one of the most attractively bred horses in training and coming from the Hall of Fame barn of trainer C.R. “Shug” McGaughey.

Bred in Kentucky by Joseph Allen LLC, North Dakota is the 10^th and last foal out of Allen's star producer, the Rubiano mare Starry Dreamer. After the Red Smith, he is also the mare's fifth stakes winner.

Four of those won graded stakes, including leading sire War Front (Danzig), who stands at Claiborne Farm and is one of the most sought-after international stallions. Starry Dreamer's other stakes winners include G2 winner Teammate (A.P. Indy), who was also second or third in five G1 races; G3 stakes winner Ecclesiastic (Pulpit), who has been four times the leading sire in Uruguay; and Riviera Cocktail (Giant's Causeway), who was also twice placed in graded stakes. The mare also produced Jay Gatsby (also by Giant's Causeway), who was likewise twice placed in graded stakes but did not win one.

North Dakota seems to have progressed in strength and confidence from the first of the year, as well. Just viewing him on the screen, he appeared to have strengthened through the hindquarters and across the back, and there was no hesitation in the colt when jockey Jose Lezcano angled North Dakota out to challenge wide down the stretch.

The dark bay colt kept picking up horses and responded very willingly to the challenge of the towering Red Knight (Pure Prize) in the drive to the wire, and McGaughey noted after the race that “I wouldn't have thought he would be running in the Red Smith back when he broke his maiden at Tampa,” which came on on March 25. McGaughey added that North Dakota “had been training really well. I thought he had a big chance today. He's got the pedigree to do it and wants a distance of ground. Jose is a patient guy, and I said just take your time with him.”

Patience has paid off for all parties, and the colt is the greatest beneficiary. If there is further improvement in him, next season should offer some tempting options for a horse who wants to race 10 furlongs or longer on turf, and with his relations, someone will want to give him a chance at stud. If that happened, he would be the seventh son of Starry Dreamer to become a stallion.

A foal of 1994, Starry Dreamer was bred in Kentucky by Charles Nuckols & Sons from the first crop by champion sprinter Rubiano (Fappiano). Racing for Russell Reineman, she became the sire's first stakes winner with her victory in the 1996 Gold Digger Stakes at Hawthorne.

In April of 1997, Joe Allen acquired the filly privately, and she won the Palisades Stakes and Regret Stakes in her first two starts for him. In all, the gray won six of 31 starts, earning $564,789.

Retired to be a broodmare at Claiborne Farm, where Allen keeps his bloodstock, Starry Dreamer produced four stakes winners from her first four foals. Chronologically, they were Ecclesiastic, War Front, Teammate, and then Riviera Cocktail (who is a double post-barren, born after two barren years).

A couple of Storm Cat duds, one of whom was a $1 million RNA at the 2008 Keeneland September sale, were followed by an unraced Awesome Again filly named Gracie Square. The graded stakes-placed Jay Gatsby indicated that grand mare hadn't completely mislaid the plans for cooking a good one, and then North Dakota came along as the final foal after an unraced son of Smart Strike.

Both Jay Gatsby, who ran second in the G2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga and the G3 Knickerbocker at Belmont, and North Dakota are post-barren foals themselves. Research that I conducted several years ago into the foals of mares produced after a barren year showed that the percentage of stakes horses was surprisingly high.

The kink, of course, is that breeders don't plan barren years. It's counter-intuitive to try to miss a year with a mare, more especially a very good mare. The mares do that on their own; either their reproductive or immune and endocrine systems need the time off, and they get it.

It is interesting, however, that breeders may get an added benefit when their mare does go barren.

Frank Mitchell is author of Racehorse Breeding Theories, as well as the book Great Breeders and Their Methods: The Hancocks. In addition to writing the column “Sires and Dams” in Daily Racing Form for nearly 15 years, he has contributed articles to Thoroughbred Daily News, Thoroughbred Times, Thoroughbred Record, International Thoroughbred, and other major publications. In addition, Frank is chief of biomechanics for DataTrack International and is a hands-on caretaker of his own broodmares and foals in Central Kentucky. Check out Frank's lively Bloodstock in the Bluegrass blog.

The post Bloodlines: Slow-Developing Red Smith Winner North Dakota Another Success For Broodmare Starry Dreamer appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post