When trainer Richard Mandella sent three-time starter Geaux Rocket Ride (by Candy Ride) all the way across the country to Monmouth Park for the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes, perceptive handicappers and racing fans took note. However, with Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) and the unbeaten Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) headlining the race lineup, the wagering public made the once-beaten Geaux Rocket Ride only the sixth choice of eight.
So, he won by 1 3/4 lengths from Mage and paid $27.40, with favored Arabian Knight third, Extra Anejo (Into Mischief) fourth, and classic-placed Tapit Trice (Tapit) fifth.
Now a winner in three of his four starts, Geaux Rocket Ride was bred in Kentucky by Larry Best's OXO Equine LLC and is the second foal from his dam, Beyond Grace (Uncle Mo). The dam was bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, which sold the filly as a foal at the 2015 Keeneland November sale for $50,000 to Nitiosagan Farm.
The buyer resold Beyond Grace as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton July sale for $250,000 to Cary Frommer, and she brought the filly back to the market at the Fasig-Tipton March sale of 2-year-olds in training of 2017 and smacked the ball straight down the fairway for a hole-in-one. Beyond Grace sold to OXO Equine for $1.5 million.
At the races, Beyond Grace was unplaced in a pair of starts at two, then repeated that finish in her final start, a maiden special at Gulfstream in January of her 3-year-old season. The mare was subsequently sent to the farm and bred, then produced her first foal in 2019 and Geaux Rocket Ride in 2020. Beyond Grace is a full-sister to Mighty Mo, who ran second in the Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct and third in the Better Talk Now Stakes at Saratoga.
Now as the dam of Geaux Rocket Ride, Beyond Grace is looking more like sum she cost as a juvenile, and she also repaid some of that cost with the sale of Geaux Rocket Ride, who was a $350,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling two years ago, selling to James Bernhard.
That purchase was part of the Bernhards' initial involvement in the sport, and last fall, James and Dana Bernhard make considerably larger news with the purchase of Pin Oak Farm north of Versailles, Ky.
This historic nursery had been owned by Josephine Abercrombie, who had started breeding and racing in the early 1950s. Pin Oak is a distinguished property that incorporates breeding and training over nearly 900 acres.
Clifford Barry, Pin Oak's general manager for Ms. Abercrombie, remains an adviser to the Bernhards and said that “when the Bernhards looked over the farm last fall, one of the most important things to them was revitalizing Pin Oak for the future.”
Jeff Danford came in as farm manager for the new owners in January, and the program to elevate the farm to its historic best continues apace. Now the Pin Oak Stable has a star of Grade 1 magnitude who has the pedigree and conformation to make a stallion, and “standing stallions,” Barry recalled, “the right kind of stallions, was a key component of the Bernhards' plan to put fresh blood in the farm and energize it for the future.”
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.Geaux Rocket Ride seems tailor made for the job. The Haskell winner is by leading sire Candy Ride, who also is the sire of the wildly popular young stallion Gun Runner, a Horse of the Year and the leading sire of his generation with his first, second, and third season of racers.
The broodmare sire of Geaux Rocket Ride is champion Uncle Mo, who likewise was leading freshman sire and sire of champion and Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist from his first crop. Nyquist became the leading freshman sire of his group, and other young sons of Uncle Mo newly at stud include Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Golden Pal, Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal, and G1 winner Yaupon.
The combination of stallion power in Geaux Rocket Ride's pedigree makes him a very appealing prospect and virtually begs for mating to mares by Tapit and other branches of the Nasrullah – Bold Ruler – A.P. Indy clan of sires.
The colt has a race record that would be quite attractive to breeders today, and how he finishes out his racing career will determine the parameters of his stallion career such as stud fee and breadth of demand.
The post Bloodlines Presented By McKenna Thoroughbreds Broodmare Reduction: Geaux Rocket Ride Forges New Paths For Best, Bernhards appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
