Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: The Unlikely Path Of Charmaine’s Mia

Not many daughters of the little-recognized stallion Chati (by the Nearco stallion Amerigo) ever found themselves in the book of the great Irish-based stallion Sadler's Wells (by Northern Dancer), who was the leading sire in England and Ireland for more than a generation.

I suspect the only daughter of Chati bred to the keystone of Coolmore was Gossiping, a foal of 1981 who is the fourth dam of Charmaine's Mia, the winner of the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 9, when she ran the six furlongs in 1:07.81.

That swift time is listed as a new course record. While a sprint record might seem peculiar for a descendant of the great European classic sire, Gossiping was the third foal from the fine producer Minstinguette (Boldnesian) and was a year younger than her half-sister, European highweight sprinter Committed (Hagley).

A winner of 13 races from 22 starts, including a trio of Group 1 sprints in Europe, Committed was a racehorse of a very high order. Her half-sister was notably different, winning only a single race from 19 starts. Nonetheless, Gossiping was a half-sister to the great mare, and as Minstinguette produced two more stakes winners and a stakes-placed performer during her distinguished career as a broodmare, Gossiping was clearly a desirable broodmare.

She was, moreover, as big a success at stud as she had been disappointing on the racetrack. Gossiping's second foal was Idle Talk (Assert), who ran third in the Oaks Trial in England; her fourth foal was Musicale (The Minstrel), who won six of eight starts, including a quartet of G3 stakes at two and three; and the mare's sixth named foal was Grapevine (Sadler's Wells), who finished second in the Cheshire Oaks.

Grapevine's year-older full-sister was Wild Rumour, who was a winner from four starts. She produced Sadler's Trick, a stakes-placed racer by champion Favorite Trick among her seven winners, and the second dam of Charmaine's Mia was an unplaced daughter of Metropolitan Handicap winner Honour and Glory named Sadler's Charm. This mare produced two winners from 10 foals, but one of those winners was the Bernstein mare Charming Vixen, who was successful in the 2011 Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Charmaine's Mia is the first foal of Charming Vixen, and the 5-year-old has won five races from 26 starts, earning $232,976. Victory in the Las Cienegas made Charmaine's Mia the 30th stakes winner and ninth graded winner for her sire, the War Front stallion The Factor.

Josh Stevens signed for Charming Vixen as a broodmare prospect at the 2014 Keeneland January sale on behalf of Gunpowder Farm (Tom Keithley and Erica deVinney).

Stevens said, “Charming Vixen was a solid prospect, and we gave $80,000 for her. I was working for Margaux at the time and signed it that way, as agent. The mare was a pretty mare, and when we bought Charming Vixen, the owners were hoping to reinvigorate [the Round Table-line stallion] K One King and also breed something that was commercially viable.”

Bred in Kentucky by Gunpowder Farm, Charmaine's Mia had a rocky reception at sales. She was a $40,000 RNA as a weanling, then sold for $4,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale; that price placed the filly in the bottom decile among yearlings by her sire, whose 63 yearlings averaged $47,922 that year.

Clark Shepherd was a partner in the consigning agency, Allied Bloodstock, and he recalled the filly, saying, “When we presented her at the sales, she was kind of small, and The Factor wasn't strong in the marketplace at that time. That combination, with a physical that wasn't appealing to the market, put a formidable cap on the filly's commercial place in the sale.”

Fortunately, racehorses aren't the same as sales horses, and sometimes those who are not tall keep growing; some who are immature progress to strength; and some who are last at the sales are first at the finish. Stakes-placed in the Catch a Glimpse Stakes at two, Charmaine's Mia has clearly left her sales appraisal far behind.

After purchasing Charming Vixen, Stevens left Margaux to become the racing manager for Gunpowder Farm and now is an independent bloodstock agent. He said, “Gunpowder Farms had a couple of really good years at the racetrack with horses like Divisidero and others, and this is the kind of racehorse that Gunpowder was trying to breed.”

Charming Vixen's second foal is Boatloadofnerve (Magician), who is a winner from eight starts, and that now-4-year-old filly sold as a yearling for $1,100 at 2018 Keeneland September sale.

At the 2017 Keeneland November sale, Charming Vixen herself sold for $20,000 in foal to Hit it a Bomb. The buyer was KOID, and Charming Vixen produced a bay filly of 2018 in Korea that has since been named Charming Boom. The mare has been barren the last two years.

Charming Boom was unplaced in her first two starts, both late last year at two. Considering this family, however, progress at three would be a reasonable expectation.

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Charmaine’s Mia Takes Las Cienegas In Southern California Debut

Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, since mid-summer, Agave Racing Stable's Charmaine's Mia came to play on Saturday at Santa Anita, as she opened up around the far turn and was never challenged thereafter in registering an impressive 2 ½ length tally in the Grade 3, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes.  Ridden by Drayden Van Dyke and trained by Phil D'Amato, Charmaine's Mia got six furlongs in 1:07.81 on the Arcadia, Calif., track's turf course.

Breaking alertly from her number two post position out of Santa Anita's new turf chute, Charmaine's Mia was immediately head and head with Bohemian Bourbon to her inside, while Superstition tracked a close third while three-deep to the far turn.

From there, Charmaine's Mia put away Bohemian Bourbon and although even money favorite Jolie Olimpica kicked into gear from off the pace late, she never threatened the winner who won with her ears pinned.

“I've never been on her before, but Phil told me she was working lights-out,” said Van Dyke.  “She was sitting on a big race, that's all I knew about her.  He said 'Play the break wherever you are, and go from there.'  She was doing it so easy, she had her ears pricked up and she was enjoying herself, so I wasn't taking anything away from her.

“I knew she was going to show another gear at the top of the lane, if I had any competition behind me that was going to run me down, but I had too much horse for them to catch me.  She ran a hell of a race.”

Second in a six-turf furlong turf allowance at Woodbine on Oct. 24, Charmaine's Mia, who notched her first graded stakes win in her fourth try, was off at 16-1 in a field of six and paid $35.40, $9.80 and $6.00.

“I've learned with some of these horses coming in from Woodbine, that because they've got a deeper turf up there, this is their first chance to run over a firm turf and sometimes, they just float over it and she did just that,” said D'Amato, who's had good success with horses coming from Woodbine over the past several years.  “She had trained phenomenally well on the training track here.  I haven't had a horse get over this training track this well since (multiple Grade 1 winner) Obviously.”

A 5-year-old Kentucky-bred mare by The Factor, out of the Bernstein mare Charming Vixen, Charmaine's Mia posted her fifth win from 26 starts and with the winner's share of $60,000, increased her earnings to $232,976.

Brazilian-bred Jolie Olimpica, who won last year's Las Cienegas and had been idle since July 11, didn't show her customary zip but rallied from fifth to be second by a half length over Lighthouse.  Ridden by Mike Smith, Jolie Olimpica paid $2.80 and $2.40.

Although she finished third, Lighthouse, who was ridden by Umberto Rispoli, was disqualified  for interference shortly before the horses came out of the chute, causing Oleksandra to clip heels, unseating Joel Rosario.  (Oleksandra finished the race in good order while rider-less and although he was forced to miss the last race on the card, Rosario was on his feet immediately and checked out okay at the track's First Aid station).

As a result of the disqualification, Superstition, who was ridden by Flavien Prat, became the official third place finisher and paid $3.20 to show.

Fractions on the race were 21.58, 43.80 and 55.63.

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