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‘Talent, Pedigree, And Sire Power’: Spendthrift Secures Breeding Rights To Rock Your World

Spendthrift Farm has secured the breeding rights to undefeated Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner and Kentucky Derby (G1) contender Rock Your World, it was announced Thursday.

Rock Your World – the second choice on the morning line for Saturday's coveted $3 million Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs – will stand stud at the historical Lexington-based farm upon his retirement from racing.

“We are really excited about Rock Your World and thankful to the Hronis family, Michael Talla, and John Sadler for allowing us to be a part of the horse's promising future,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift General Manager. “Rock Your World has a wonderful combination of sheer talent, pedigree and sire power, and he's an imposing physical specimen which you would expect from a $650,000 yearling. We were especially taken by the brilliance he displayed in the Santa Anita Derby in his first start on the dirt, and think he has a great shot to show that again in the Kentucky Derby and beyond.”

Trained by John Sadler, Rock Your World began his racing career on New Year's Day, winning on debut at six furlongs before stretching out around two turns to win the one-mile Pasadena S. in his second start – both coming over the Santa Anita turf course. Earlier this month, the son of Candy Ride (Arg) asserted himself as a serious contender for the Kentucky Derby with a powerhouse 4 ¼-length victory in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby in his first start on the dirt. He stopped the clock in 1:49.17 for 1 1/8 miles over a fast local main track, earning a 100 Beyer – the only triple-digit Beyer earned among this year's Kentucky Derby field.

Rock Your World enters the Derby 3-for-3 with earnings of $546,600 for owners Hronis Racing and Talla Racing, which acquired the bay colt as a yearling for $650,000 at the annual Keeneland September sale with bloodstock agent David Ingordo signing the ticket. Rock Your World is out of the multiple stakes-winning Empire Maker mare Charm the Maker. His first three dams are all multiple stakes winners or graded stakes winners.

“We are excited about of our relationship with Spendthrift Farm on such a special horse like Rock Your World,” said Kosta Hronis of Hronis Racing. “It is hard to argue with the success they've had when it comes to standing premier stallions, and we are hopeful we can accomplish a lot with this colt before we retire him to stud.”

“We are thrilled to have a horse like this,” added Michael Talla. “Hopefully, Rock Your World will be the son to carry on the Candy Ride sire line, and I can't think of a better place than Spendthrift for him to get the opportunity to do that.”

Rock Your World will break from post 15 and will be ridden by Joel Rosario in the Derby. Before traveling to Louisville last Sunday, he breezed five furlongs in 59.20 seconds on Apr. 24 at Santa Anita in his final serious work in preparation for Saturday.

The post ‘Talent, Pedigree, And Sire Power’: Spendthrift Secures Breeding Rights To Rock Your World appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Early Impressions: Kentucky Derby 147

LOUISVILLE, KY – With the first Saturday in May quickly approaching, TDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack caught up with the connections of leading GI Kentucky Derby contenders to get some of their 'Early Impressions.'

In this edition, we check in with: Godolphin USA President Jimmy Bell and Winter Quarter Farm Owner/General Manager Don Robinson.

Unbeaten 2-year-old champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit) heads to the Kentucky Derby as the one to beat. The Godolphin homebred's unblemished five-for-five record is highlighted by wins in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and GII Toyota Blue Grass S. Essential Quality's graded stakes-placed dam Delightful Quality (Elusive Quality) is a daughter of the unraced Contrive (Storm Cat). The latter produced champion and 2005 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Folklore (Tiznow). Contrive was purchased by Sheikh Mohammed's operation for $3 million in foal to Pleasantly Perfect at the 2005 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Essential Quality received his early education from Niall Brennan in Ocala, Florida, before heading to trainer Brad Cox.

Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) switched to dirt with aplomb, running his record to a perfect three-for-three for John Sadler with a dominating, front-running performance in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby. Bred in Kentucky by legendary trainer Ron McAnally and his wife Deborah, Rock Your World brought $650,000 from bloodstock agent David Ingordo on behalf of Hronis Racing and Talla Racing out of the Winter Quarter Farm consignment at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. McAnally trained the brilliant Candy Ride as well as owned/bred/trained Rock Your World's MSW & MGISP dam, Charm the Maker (Empire Maker).

ESSENTIAL QUALITY:

“From the time Essential Quality hit the ground as a foal, he's never had an awkward day or stage in his life. From every picture you look at of him–his foal, yearling and 2-year-old pictures, to right now–he's just always been a very balanced, athletic individual. And that's just rarely the case. Most of these horses go through phases and stages, and we say, 'Well, give 'em a little time. The front end will catch up with the hind end, or just wait until they fill out.'

Early on and throughout the whole [breaking-and-training] process, Niall [Brennan] said, 'He could do whatever you want him to do. Whatever you ask for, it's there.' After his first work, I remember walking back to the barn with Brad [Cox] at Keeneland and he just shook his head and said, 'This one is different than the rest of them.' He's never had that awkward stage and always had that athletic look. You know those are far and few between.

Vicky Van Camp in our office named him. Every employee on the entire farm is asked to and invited to submit names. It's kind of a neat thing. There's a lot of names that come in and she does a great job of handling all that as well. It's a good phrase–Essential Quality–and there's a pretty good tie-in to the dam's side, too. It's great that he has a nice name because it does play well.” –Jimmy Bell

ROCK YOUR WORLD:

“I had two really nice Candy Rides that sold together that day [during the fifth session at KEESEP]. One [the unraced Contango], brought a million dollars and topped the session and Rock Your World brought $650,000. It was a wild day.

Interestingly, Rock Your World, to me, really looked like the two-turn horse, without question. He wasn't going to be ready tomorrow for a 2-year-old sale, but he was really all there. Very elegant, Classic-looking horse. This whole family gets gorgeous, good-looking performing Candy Rides. Boy, Ron's family really seems to connect. And it's fascinating because Ron trained Candy Ride, so it's really cool. I've had four generations of this family for the McAnallys. That's just wildly rewarding if you're a breeder, there's nothing better. They're performers.

Rock Your World looked the part. His mother could really run, Charm the Maker. He was just a nice horse from the beginning. He was an extraordinary Candy Ride, and when the [sale] selectors came and looked at him, he was one that goes right to the top of the list. I like the sales to get going though, so I asked them to put him a little further back in the book. I thought he would be a knockout and it really worked.

Horses like that don't miss buyer's attention. They just don't. He really did well that day. David Ingordo is very shrewd and identified and wanted that horse. David was committed and ended up buying him. I've said the joke before–David found Zenyatta [$60,000 KEESEP yearling graduate from Winter Quarter Farm consignment in 2005]… this one cost him more [laughs].

I had heard about Rock Your World getting ready to run and you know there are a lot of talking horses. But I'd heard really good things about him and thought he'd run well. Ron's assistant Dan Landers was telling me, 'Boy, Sadler's horse can run.' It makes me pretty nervous that the fourth race of his life is going to be the Kentucky Derby. But it's very exciting.” –Don Robinson

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De Meric, Finley, Miles, Eisaman Join TDN Writers’ Room On Scene at OBS

OCALA, FL–There's been a palpable good feeling all week at OBS for the auction house's marquee Spring 2-Year-Old Sale, and you need look no further than the full parking lot to explain why. Business is booming, but perhaps equally responsible for the positive vibes is the easing of coronavirus restrictions as the country rapidly becomes vaccinated, which means old friends seeing and hugging each other for the first time in a long time. Wednesday morning, Joe Bianca and Jon Green talked about that and much more with four consignors and buyers in the first on-scene episode of TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland.

Joining the set, posted up at the tiki bar near the walking ring, were Green Group Guests of the Week Barry “Doc” Eisaman, Randy Miles, Nick de Meric and Terry Finley, all of whom exuded the optimism felt from economic and personal standpoints on the grounds compared to last year's delayed, angst-filled sale.

“The weight is just lifted off our back,” said Miles, whose six-horse consignment includes Hip 1099, an Into Mischief filly expected to bring a large return on the sale's final day after breezing a furlong in :9 4/5. “We had no idea what was going to happen last year. We were trying to sell horses privately because we didn't know what the market was going to be like. And a big part of this business is not about the money, it's about all of our friends. It's just so nice to be out here for this two-week period and all of our friends are here. It's like a big party. Everybody is in a great mood, and it's just refreshing. If we can get the racetracks back to this, it'll be so much fun. The financial stuff always takes care of itself. But the people are what makes it fun.”

Nick de Meric's de Meric Sales has come to OBS typically loaded with promising juveniles, which bore out later Wednesday in the ring when a Quality Road colt (hip 381, :10 flat breeze) from his shedrow hammered to Speedway Stable for a thus-far sale-topping $1.5 million.

“As we all know, if this business teaches you nothing else it teaches you to be humble, but we do have a couple of potential stars,” de Meric said. “We have a fabulous Quality Road, we have a couple of Into Mischiefs that we think an awful lot of. Curlin, Candy Ride, we've got some names represented in the consignment and the horses performed well and vetted well after their performance, and people seem to be lining up well in a few spots.”

de Meric also commented on the good feeling around the grounds, saying, “I think the atmosphere is diametrically opposed to last year. People have been on lockdown so long and had restricted travel so long, they're just ready to come out and play. And what better place to play than a 2-year-old sale? There is definitely a feeling of optimism in the air.”

The proximity to next Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby, also back on its normal calendar spot this year, also helped that optimism. West Point Thoroughbreds' CEO Finley bought a pair of babies Tuesday and spoke about the motivation of the impending Derby to find the next star.

“You look at the top 25 horses that are in contention for the Derby and they don't all come from day one in September, they don't all cost $600,000,” he said. “They come from all over the spectrum. So I think that's what keeps everybody [motivated]. The fact that you can come here and get a great athlete to take a shot with to try to get to the big races.”

Eisaman was this week's Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project Story of the Week after he and wife Shari's Eisaman Equine sold a homebred colt by Gun Runner (Hip 118, :10 flat breeze) for an easily session-topping $850,000 to Michael Lund Petersen in Tuesday's sale opener.

“My wife is the brains behind the management of our mares and it's extremely rewarding for her,” he said. “She picked Gun Runner, she helped select that mare, so to have one we raised from a little puppy to yesterday was very good. Every year when we leave the farm and go into the sale, there are young horses who are doing everything quite well and he was one of them. But you can never really predict at that point that he'd catch on with the right buyers and be that successful. After he got here, trained here, the breeze show happened and he galloped out so well, showed so much poise, you begin to evolve into understanding this, but our expectations were never in the range that he brought [Tuesday]. So it was a good day for us, our family, my wife and our broodmares.”

Elsewhere on the show, Bianca and Green reacted to the outstanding battle in the GI Apple Blossom H., talked about the reversal of disqualifications for Bob Baffert trainees Charlatan (Speightstown) and Gamine (Into Mischief) and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, broke down the implications of New Jersey's strict new whip rules. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Sadler Plans To Work Rock Your World Twice In California Before Shipping To Louisville

Trainer John Sadler plans to keep Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World in California for as long as possible before shipping East for the Kentucky Derby, he told the Thoroughbred Daily News this week. The 3-year-old son of Candy Ride will work this weekend and the next at Santa Anita, then fly to Louisville on the Sunday before the Kentucky Derby.

“I'm very strong about staying in California because we know one thing we have here that they don't have there: We're not going to get rain in April,” Sadler told the TDN. “But maybe the racing gods will knock me down for saying that.”

Bred in Kentucky by California-based trainer Ron McAnally and his wife, Deborah, Rock Your World had won twice on the dirt before trying the main track for the first time in the Santa Anita Derby.

“I also wanted to start on the grass because I thought it would be easier,” Sadler added. “He's a big horse-wanted to give him time to develop, grow up, mature into himself. He's done that.”

Rock Your World put in an impressive front-running performance to win the Derby prep going away, and McAnally bought Sadler a celebratory egg roll the next morning at Clocker's Corner at Santa Anita.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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