Calumet Sets Lexitonian’s Fee at $7,500

Grade I winner Lexitonian (Spightstown) will stand the 2024 breeding season at Calumet Farm for a fee of $7,500, live foal, after spending his first two years at stud at Lane's End, the farm announced on Tuesday. The 7-year-old stallion, who won the 2021 GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. and finished second in the GI Bing Crosby S., was bred and campaigned by Calumet Farm.

Lexitonian joins Keen Ice (Curlin), Oxbow (Awesome Again), Hightail (Mineshaft) and Channel Cat (English Channel) at $7,500. Bal A Bali (Brz) (Put It Back), Bravazo (Awesome Again), Ransom the Moon (Malibu Moon), Real Solution (Kitten's Joy) and True Timber (Mineshaft) will all stand for a fee of $5,000, live foal. Big Blue Kitten (Kitten's Joy), Hence (Street Boss), Mr. Z (Malibu Moon) and Producer (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) are all listed as private for 2024.

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Saturday Insights: Tacitus’s Full-Sister Steps Out At Keeneland

6th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 3:40 p.m.

The latest daughter out of champion older mare and MGISW Close Hatches (First Defense), SCYLLA (Tapit) debuts in the silks of Juddmonte Farm for trainer Bill Mott. Already responsible for Scylla's full-brother in MGSW & MGISP Tacitus, Close Hatches is herself a full-sister to MGISP Lockdown, the dam of Latonia S. winner Idiomatic (Curlin). This is also the female line of G1 Tattersalls Irish Two Thousand Guineas hero Siskin (First Defence).

Breaking just to Scylla's outside is Brenda (Curlin)–the half-sister to GSW & MGISP Thank You Marylou (Birdstone)–who debuts Saturday for John Ennis and owner Mathiesen Racing LLC. TJCIS PPS

1st-KEE, $100K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:00 p.m.

Another homebred makes his delayed career bow Saturday in Kentucky as Braggadocious (Gun Runner), the half-brother to GSW & MGISP Bravazo (Awesome Again), gets the start for owner/breeder Calumet Farm.

Just to his outside is Magical Power (Good Magic), a $460,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select yearling purchase making his second start since debuting second as the beaten favorite at Gulfstream Mar. 18. TJCIS PPS

7th-AQU, $70K, Msw, 3yo/up, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:34 p.m.

In action taking place outside of Kentucky, Inflationary Trend (Mendelssohn) is the latest filly to take to the turf for the powerhouse connections of Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown. The filly's second dam is MGISW Missy's Mirage (Stop the Music), herself a half-sister to GISW Classy Mirage (Storm Bird), producer of GI Three Chimneys Hopeful S. victor Dublin (Afleet Alex). TJCIS PPS

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The Week In Review: A Wayne Lukas Renaissance

As Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas entered his mid-eighties, his longevity and his persistence became one of racing's best feel-good stories. A trainer who belongs in the conversation as one of the best of all time, he was still out there every day, physically active, mentally sharp. There didn't seem to be anything stopping him.

But there was a missing ingredient. Lukas, now 87, simply wasn't winning many races, especially important ones. Lukas won the 2018 GII Risen Star S. with Bravazo (Awesome Again) on Feb. 17, 2018. He didn't win another graded stakes until Secret Oath (Arrogate) won the GIII Honeybee S. on Feb. 16, 2022, nearly four years after Bravazo's win. From 2018 through 2021, he won just 69 races and his winning percentage was just 10.8%. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on. There just weren't many owners willing to trust their horses to a trainer in his mid-eighties. The days of having Eugene Klein, William T. Young. Bob and Beverly Lewis and so many other top owners were long gone.

At his age, Lukas appeared destined to spend the rest of his days with a relatively small stable with the kind of horses that might give him an allowance win here or there. Counting him out seemed like a safe bet. Only it wasn't.

When Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) won Saturday's GIII Essex H. at Oaklawn Lukas picked up his third graded stakes win on the year. He also won the GIII Razorback H. with Last Samurai and the GII Azeri S. with Secret Oath. It's early but both look like Eclipse Award candidates. He has not had an Eclipse Award winner since Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway) was named champion 2-year-old filly in 2014.

He may not be the Wayne Lukas of the mid-eighties when he dominated the sport. What he is is relevant again.

A lot of this has to do with Secret Oath, who put Lukas back in the spotlight last year and proved that he could still get the job done at the highest level. Her win in the GI Kentucky Oaks was arguably Lukas' biggest win since Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song) won the GI Travers S. in 2013. It's not that Lukas remembered how to train. It was that someone-the filly's owners and breeders, Rob and Stacy Mitchell–were willing to give Lukas a chance with a talented horse.

“We've been with him, gosh, 15 or 17 years,” Stacy Mitchell told the TDN's Chris McGrath last year. “He's fair, he's honest, a true gentleman, someone everyone should have the opportunity to sit down and have a coffee with. As he has said, times have changed. Some of his big clients got out of the business, some passed on. Again, he said it himself, people used to love the old guys, now they love the new guys. But a lot of those are people he trained himself. You don't forget how to ride a bicycle, and I don't think you forget how to train a horse. People can say Wayne is back, but in my mind, I don't think he ever went away.”

In mid-summer last year, Willis Horton, who had had several top horses with Lukas over the years, also showed some faith in the Hall of Famer. He made a switch, sending the then 4-year-old Last Samurai from Dallas Stewart to Lukas. (Horton has since passed away and Last Samurai now races for his family). Initially, it looked like Lukas wasn't going to get much out of the horse who lost seven straight after the change in trainers. But Lukas figured something out and Last Samurai is now one of the hottest horses in the sport.

Ask Lukas and he will tell you he's lost nothing off of his fastball.

“Our game is an experience based game,” he said. “There are no how-to books. If you've been at it as long as I have been it becomes a little bit easier. You see things that you can correct. l see things I can do with a horse now that I wouldn't have been aware of when I was in my forties or fifties. The game gets a little easier. Believe it or not, I think it's easier for me now to develop a nice horse than when I was 50 and I had some nice years in that era.”

After all these years, is he still learning?

“If you're in the horse business you are always learning,” Lukas said. “The whole secret to this game is to read the horse. You need to read the horse and figure out what its capabilities are without over doing it. That's where you get in trouble. You think you can develop a horse to a certain level in a certain time frame and when you fail at it you're not going to get the maximum out of the horse. If you can read them and know when to push them and when not to the game can be pretty good.”

Secret Oath is heading to the GI Apple Blossom H., where she'll likely be the favorite. Up next for Last Samurai will likely be the GII Oaklawn H., a race he won last year for Stewart. They're both $1 million races. Lukas also has Caddo River (Hard Spun), who was second in the 2021 GI Arkansas Derby and won a Feb. 25 allowance at Oaklawn, and Major Blue (Flatter), a recent maiden winner at Oaklawn. He's on track to have his best year since 2013.

He'll turn 88 in September. Yes, he's a survivor but this year he's showing that he's something a lot more than just that.

Secretariat | Coglianese

Fifty Years Ago, Secretariat Won His 3-Year-Old Debut

On March 17, 1973, Secretariat made his 3-year-old debut in the GIII Bay Shore S. at Aqueduct. Click here for the replay of the race.

How things have changed. The purse was just $27,750 and the attendance was 32,906. It was the first of his three preps for the GI Kentucky Derby and they would come within a span five weeks, culminating in his defeat in the GI Wood Memorial.

The Bay Shore was not without a dose of controversy. Riding Impecunious, jockey James Moseley claimed foul against Secretariat and rider Ron Turcotte. Secretariat was blocked for much of the race and Turcotte did have to bull his way through horses in the stretch. Trainer Lucien Laurin was not pleased.

“That Moseley,” he said. “He claimed against me in the Garden State, but it turned out that his horse was at fault in that race.”

According to the report in the New York Times, some fans booed when the stewards declared there would be no change in the order of the finish.

“Let them boo,” Penny Tweedy said. “We've won the race.”

But Laurin was pleased with the end result.

“He was wonderful,” he said. “He did everything I expected him to.”

Fifty years after what was the most memorable season in the history of horse racing, it would have been a perfect time for NYRA to announce it had named a stakes races in honor of Big Red. The GI Hopeful S., a race Secretariat won, would have been a perfect candidate. But it was not to be.

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Risen Star Upsetter Continuing Sire-Making Tradition

This Saturday, Calumet Farm looks to pull off a bit of an upset in the GII Risen Star with their homebred Santa Cruiser (Dialed In), who broke his maiden last November and ran fourth in his most recent start in the GIII Lecomte S.

   Santa Cruiser may go off as one of the longer shots on the board, but if he were to win, it wouldn't be the farm's first upset in the same race.

Three years ago, Calumet's homebred Bravazo (Awesome Again-Tiz O'Gold, by Cee's Tizzy) won the GII Risen Star S. at odds of 21-1 and went on to earn over $2 million.

This year, he retires to stud at his birthplace, having danced nearly every dance over his four-year career while running in the money in six of some of the top Grade I races of his division.

Bravazo will stand for a fee of $6,000 in his first year at stud, beginning his career as the first homebred to take up stud duty at Calumet since the farm was placed under new ownership in 2012.

“He would be the first stallion to have been born and raised and then go off to the track for Calumet and return as a stallion,” said Calumet stallion manager Darrell Hayes. “So he's pretty much a new chapter for Calumet under its new owner.”

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas, the dark bay broke his maiden at second asking as a juvenile before placing second in the GI Breeders' Futurity. He stamped his ticket to the Kentucky Derby with his victory in the GII Risen Star S., taking the three path around the far turn and battling to get the nose over stakes winner Snapper Sinclair (City Zip).

“Bravazo was such a hard-knocking horse,” Hayes said. “He started his 3-year-old campaign in the Risen Star winning just as he does best, coming down the stretch and leaving everything on the track. Guts out, heart out, determined to get ahead and leaving everything on the track. That to me showed a lot of guts, a lot of will.”

Bravazo got up for sixth in the 2018 GI Kentucky Derby and nearly caught Justify in the GI Preakness S., finishing a close second.

Later in his sophomore season, the colt ran second behind champion Good Magic (Curlin) in the GI Haskell Invitational S., third in the GI Runhappy Travers S., third in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and second behind Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Clark H.

“Bravazo's 3-year-old campaign had 11 starts, eight of which were Grade I and five of which he placed and showed in,” Hayes said. “To me, it was one of the strongest 3-year-old crops, including a Triple Crown winner who Bravazo almost caught at the wire. Bravazo was one of those horses that showed up every day and played his heart out. Whether he won or not, he left everything on the track that he could give.”

“It showed in all those Grade I races that he ran in,” he continued. “They were filled with champion horses. He wasn't scared to run against the tough competition. Bravazo had such a tough campaign as a 3-year-old and had almost double the amount of starts as any other top competitor that he had that year.”

In recent years, the rather obscure cross of Awesome Again with Cee's Tizzy in Bravazo's pedigree has developed into a tried-and-true sire-producing match up.

It started with Ghostazpper. The first and most famous son of Awesome Again to be named a champion, his stakes-winning dam was a daughter of Relaunch – the sire of Cee's Tizzy. Ghostzapper is now on track to surpass his late sire with 12 Grade I winners.

Then came another son of Awesome Again named Paynter. This one was out of Tizso (Cee's Tizzy), a full-sister to Tiznow but also a granddaughter of Relaunch. Paynter would, of course, go on to stand at WinStar Farm as a Grade I-winning millionaire now making headlines as the sire of red hot champion Knicks Go.

Calumet stallion Oxbow (Awesome Again) was bred by Colts Neck Stables and is out of Tizamazing, a full-sister to the dam of Paynter. Their dam, Cee's Song, was bred to Cee's Tizzy eight times, six of those resulting in stakes winners or the producers of stakes winners.

Oxbow was purchased by Brad Kelley's Bluegrass Hall as a yearling for $250,000 in 2011. A year later, the Calumet Investment Group purchased Calumet Farm and leased it to Kelley. Oxbow's win in the 2013 GI Preakness S. marked the first Triple Crown race win for the farm in 45 years.  He now stands at Calumet as a five-time stakes producer and his 3-year-old Hot Rod Charlie ran second in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Oxbow's full brother and now sire Awesome Patriot won the 2011 Alydar S.

A year after Oxbow's Preakness win, Calumet found a similar mating up for grabs at the Keeneland November Sale. Tiz o'Gold was in foal to Awesome Again and, just as the dams of Oxbow and Paynter, was by Cee's Tizzy. Additionally, all three broodmares were out of mares with Seattle Slew as their grandsire.

Calumet Farm brought Tiz O'Gold home for $35,000 and soon after, she foaled Bravazo.

Hayes said that this son of Awesome Again offers unique qualities from those of the aforementioned studs.

“Bravazo has a very attractive, maybe thinner top than a lot of the Awesome Agains,” he said. “He's a good-looking horse with a fantastic head. He brings a little bit more late speed that I think will help him down the road.”

Bravazo now has the entire Calumet team anticipating this new season in the homebred's career.

“We've had some other horses come in that we've acquired during this racing careers, but for him to be an actual bred-and-raised racehorse, foaled on the farm, is unexplainable,” Hayes said. “We're so excited; we're looking forward to getting him in the breeding shed and having his foals come next season.”

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