Aspray (Quality Road) remained perfect after stepping up into stakes company for the first time as she collected the victory from off-the-pace in the Hilltop S. A debut maiden breaker in an off-the-turf affair by 2 1/2 lengths as the favorite at Tampa Bay Downs Jan. 14, she was able to try the grass there Mar. 22, serving as the chalk once again and defeating optional claimers by the same margin.
The bay filly, off at 4-1 here, was content to settle towards the rear of the field as 9-1 shot After Eight (Into Mischief) led the way. As the pace began to quicken around the far turn, the homebred went five wide into the lane, began to accelerate after a lead change past the eighth pole and got up in time over Breath Away (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}).
The winner is out of an Irish-bred who won four group races in her homeland and counts G1SW Dutch Art (GB) (Medicean {GB}) as a half-brother. She is also responsible for Monarch of Egypt (American Pharoah), who ran second in the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. at The Curragh and a yearling filly named Star of Bombay (Medaglia d'Oro).
HILLTOP S. PRESENTED BY AEROVANTI, $100,000, Pimlico,
5-19, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:34.10, fm.
1–ASPRAY, 118, f, 3, by Quality Road 1st Dam: Up (Ire) (MGSW-Ire, G1SP-Fr, $379,468), by Galileo (Ire) 2nd Dam: Halland Park Lass (Ire), by Spectrum (Ire) 3rd Dam: Palacegate Episode (Ire), by Drumalis (Ire) 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-Ran Jan Racing, Inc. (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $86,210. *1/2 to Monarch of Egypt (American Pharoah), G1SP-Ire, GSP-Eng, $213,941.
2–Breath Away (GB), 118, f, 3, Bated Breath (GB)–Darling Grace (GB), by Nayef. (92,000gns Wlg '20 TATFOA; 230,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco and Tango Uniform Racing LLC; B-Highgate Stud (GB); T-Christophe Clement. $20,000.
3–Hang the Moon, 118, f, 3, Uncle Mo–Moondance, by Malibu Moon. ($200,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-CJ Thoroughbreds; B-Repole Stable, Inc. (KY); T-Michael Stidham. $10,000.
Margins: HF, 2 1/4, 1HF. Odds: 4.30, 1.90, 20.40.
Also Ran: Up and Down, Thirty Thou Kelvin, Miss New York, After Eight, Well Into, Aunt Shirley, Ice Cube Baby, Lil Spinner.
Scratched: Majestic Creed. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Behind Enemy Lines (GB) (Sioux Nation) in the Cutler Bay S. at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.
Rockingham Ranch, Talla Racing, LLC and David Bernsen's Behind Enemy Lines (GB) (Sioux Nation) ran like a 1-9 favourite should to give his Coolmore sire his fifth stakes winner and first Stateside in the Cutler Bay S. at Gulfstream on Saturday (video).
Trained by Jack Sisterson, the son of the once-raced Autumn Snow (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was bred by The Brigadier Partnership. An 88,000gns weanling when picked up by Alex Elliott from Barton Stud at the Tattersalls November Foal Sale, the bay made 90,000gns from J B Bloodstock when re-offered by The Castlebridge Consignment as a Tattersalls October Book 2 yearling. Sent through the ring yet again, this time he did not meet his reserve as a €173,228 Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale buyback (breeze video). As noted by colleague Alan Carasso, Behind Enemy Lines is the second stakes winner to emerge from the inaugural Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale.
Unplaced for Justin Casse and Joseph O'Brien at the Curragh in August, he put it all together over the Dundalk synthetic to win by 4 3/4 lengths in January. Purchased privately by these connections, the Cutler Bay was his American bow.
The second foal, first runner and first winner out of his dam, Behind Enemy Lines is followed by the colt Looking Bere (Fr) (Le Brivido {Fr}), who is catalogued as lot 247 in the upcoming Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale by Dolmen Bloodstock, and a yearling half-brother by Whitecliffsofdover. Second dam Epic Similie (GB) (Lomitas {GB}) was placed in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, while her Manduro (Ger) half-brother Ultra (Ire) won that race in 2015 before standing under the Darley banner in France. Eclipse champion Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is also under the third dam.
Although his eldest foals are just 3-year-olds, Sioux Nation has sired 58 winners from 106 runners worldwide (55%). Stateside, he has three runners and Behind Enemy Lines is his first winner (33%) among that trio.
How Sweet The Sound
Amazing Grace (Ger) (Protectionist {Ger}) is no stranger to black-type victories, and, bearing the Moyglare Stud silks, secured a half-length victory in the GIII Orchid S. in Florida on Saturday (video) for trainer Christophe Clement.
Profiled in Emma Berry's Seven Days column earlier this week, the German-bred is starting to pay back her €850,000 Arqana December purchase price. Bred by Dr. Christoph Berglar, she won the G2 Diana Trial in 2021 and the G2 T. von Zastrow Stutenpreis last term. Also Group 1-placed in the G1 Preis von Europa, Amazing Grace is the second foal out of German stakes winner Amabelle (Ger) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). Her dam foaled her winning full-sister, Ad Astra (Ger), the year after producing the Orchid winner, while her 3-year-old full-brother, Astaire (Ire), has yet to race. Amabelle's juvenile has already been named Alvorada (Ger) (Gleneagles {Ire}), and she has a yearling filly by the 2014 G1 Melbourne Cup hero.
From limited crops, Protectionist has sired 33 winners from 64 runners worldwide (51%). His other stakes winner besides Amazing Grace is G3 Bavarian Classic hero Lambo (Ger). In America, he's been represented by two runners total, and Saturday's winner is his only scorer.
An Island Of Breathing Space
The third and final stakes-winning European to prevail at Gulfstream on Saturday was Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco, and Tango Uniform Racing's Breath Away (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who scooped the Sanibel Island S. by 2 1/2 lengths (video).
Part of the Highgate Stud breeding programme, she caught the eye of Canirola Bloodstock as a 92,000gns foal at Tattersalls November, and blossomed into a 230,000gns yearling at that venue's October Yearling Sale Book 1 when offered by Taroka Stud. Stephen Hillen was the buyer that day. A winner of her Gulfstream debut back in January, she missed by only a nose in an allowance optional claimer a month later for trainer Christophe Clement.
A full-sister to GIII Wilshire S. heroine Simply Breathless (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), Breath Away is a daughter of Darling Grace (GB) (Nayef), who scored her lone victory as a 3-year-old. Her latest foals are fillies by Advertise (GB) and Bated Breath, foaled in 2021 and 2022, respectively. G1 Falmouth S. heroine Giofra (GB) (Dansili {GB}) is under the third dam.
From just 29 runners in the U.S., Juddmonte's Bated Breath has 17 checks in the winners' column (58%). He's firing in stakes winners at a rate of 38% (11 from 29 runners), with his leading light the 2016 filly Viadera (GB), heroine of the GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar. She is supported by GII Edgewood S. heroine Gift List (GB), the aforementioned Grade III winner Simply Breathless, and Tezzaray (GB), successful in the GIII Jimmy Durante S. and fourth in the GI Del Mar Oaks.
Emperor Of The Mill
Team Valor International's Tuddenham Mill (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) eked out a head victory in a maiden special weight at Tampa Bay Downs on Sunday. Third in a pair of starts for Hankers and Maccas and trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy, Tuddenham Mill switched to the ownership of Team Valor for start three and was eventually transferred Stateside. The 3-year-old was bred by the Imperial Crown Syndicate.
A £29,000 Tattersalls Ireland September yearling, Tuddenham Mill was picked up by Troy Steve Bloodstock from The Castlebridge Consignment. His dam, who won as a juvenile and is a full-sister to GI Suburban H. hero and sire Frost Giant (Giant's Causeway), has a 2-year-old filly by Magna Grecia (Ire) still to come.
Coolmore Stud stallion Holy Roman Emperor sports 25 winners from 49 runners in America (51%). Besides his 11 stakes horses in that jurisdiction, six of his progeny have won stakes (12%), led by top-drawer winners Glorious Empire (Ire), Rockemperor (Ire), and Rich Tapestry (Ire).
