Idol (Curlin), winner of the GI Santa Anita H. and a full brother to MGISW Nest, has been retired and will stand the upcoming breeding season at Taylor Made Stallions. A $375,000 Keeneland September grad, he retires with a record of 8-3-2-1 and earnings of $426,964. A Repole Stable/Taylor Made Stallions Venture, Idol will stand the 2023 season for $10,000 S&N.
“Idol fits the profile of what we are looking for,” said Taylor Made's Ben Taylor. “He's by a world-class sire and out of a world-class producer. He's got the looks and he's a G1 talent. It's the same ingredients Not This Time possessed when he arrived at Taylor Made.”
Himself a Churchill Downs track-record setter, Idol's full sister Nest has banked more than $1.8 million thus far in her racing career while his 2-year-old half-brother, Lost Ark (Violence), won the Sapling S. at Monmouth Park in August by 7 ½ lengths.
For more information on Idol, or to set up an inspection, contact Travis White or Liam Benson at (859) 885-3345.
Wicked Whisper (Liam's Map – Zayanna, by Bernardini) made quite an impression in Saratoga during the summer of 2019 when she cruised to a 6 1/4-length juvenile maiden win and earned 'TDN Rising Star' status. That victory was just the beginning for the striking chestnut, who went on to become a Grade I winner at two and a graded winner at three. Now, she prepares to go through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale carrying her first foal by Curlin.
“Wicked Whisper has every ingredient to be a foundation mare for somebody,” said Conrad Bandoroff, whose Denali Stud will consign the 5-year-old. “There are no limits to what her offspring could achieve. She has so many traits that we feel not only American buyers, but also an international audience, will appreciate.”
A $500,000 yearling purchase for Alex and JoAnn Lieblong, Wicked Whisper was the priciest yearling to sell from the first crop of Liam's Map. Bandoroff said her physical is just as stunning today.
“Wicked Whisper is drop dead gorgeous,” he said. “She's big, she's pretty and she has an unbelievable shoulder and a great hind leg. Alex buys tremendous physicals and this has been a special filly for them.”
The Steve Asmussen trainee followed her Rising Star-worthy debut with a win in the GI Frizette S., where she established control early and made easy work of the one-mile contest to win by almost three lengths over future MGSW Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief).
“It was a commanding performance,” Bandoroff said. “I think that 2-year-old form and that level of precocity is rare and it's a great quality when you're looking at a broodmare prospect. So many good mares showed ability and precocity at two. She looked like a winner throughout that race and she carried that confidence into a lot of her races.”
Wicked Whisper continued to excel at three, taking the GIII Miss Preakness S. and running second in the GIII Charles Town Oaks.
Meanwhile her half-sister Point of Honor (Curlin) was building up her own resume, winning the 2019 GII Black-Eyed Susan S. at three and placing in a trio of Grade I starts in 2020.
Their dam Zayanna, a daughter of successful broodmare sire Bernardini, is a half-sister to three graded stakes winners. Zayanna has produced four stakes performers in total including Velvet Mood (Lonhro {Aus}), who was a stakes winner at two, sold for $1 million in 2020 and now has two foals on her own produce record.
Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning said he believes that Wicked Whisper's young family has all the potential to become even more active.
“The depth of her pedigree is sensational,” Browning said. “She has some high-quality sisters that are producing and will be producing for many, many years. So you have this pedigree that is really strong and really deep, but it has the opportunity to explode and expand exponentially over the next decade as well.”
Bandoroff explained that after Wicked Whisper retired from racing last year, the Denali team put their heads together with the Lieblongs to decide on her first mating. It was an easy consensuses when they landed on Curlin. The mating replicates the cross that produced Wicked Whisper's Curlin sister Point of Honor.
“We thought it was a perfect mating to get a Grade I-winning mare like Wicked Whisper started,” he said. “Curlin is having arguably his best year ever with the likes of Clairiere, Nest and Malathaat. The cross that we've replicated with Wicked Whisper and Curlin is a similar cross to GISW Clairiere (Curlin), who is out of the Bernardini mare Cavorting. Not only has this cross worked directly in the family with Point of Honor, but it's a cross that has proven to be gold time and time again.”
Wicked Whisper will sells as Hip 253 at the Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars Sale. Bandoroff said he expects the young mare to be popular as buyers are scouting out broodmare prospects.
“I think Wicked Whisper has a very wide and varying appeal,” he noted. “If you're shopping for top-quality, high-end mares, she has to be on your list.”
“To me it's the complete package,” added Browning. “She's a young, Grade I winner in foal to the leading sire of Grade I stakes winners this year in Curlin, plus she's a beautiful physical and has an unbelievable pedigree. I think she gives you the opportunity, based on her 2-year-old ability, to dream early. But also based on her pedigree and the way she is bred, she gives you the opportunity to dream big in terms of being able to compete successfully at Classic-type distances. She has all the attributes to be a game changer from a broodmare perspective.”
Juddmonte's Elite Power (Curlin) showed a new dimension and continued his ascension while punching his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GII Vosburgh S. at Belmont at the Big A.
Heavily favored at 1-2 to win his fourth straight over just four rivals in this belated stakes debut, Elite Power broke on top and conceded the early lead to longshot Jalen Journey (With Distinction). He took a narrow advantage near the three-eighths marker, began to sneak away under confident handling in the stretch and was hand-ridden to a facile victory. It was 5 3/4 lengths back to Eastern Bay (E Dubai) in second.
Off the board in a pair of attempts at three, the chestnut has been perfect since kicking off the 2022 season with a third-place finish at Churchill May 7. A nine-length maiden winner beneath the Twin Spires June 5, he added two more victories in come-from-behind fashion, capturing a first-level allowance going a mile in Louisville June 30 and an optional claimer going six furlongs at Saratoga last time Sept. 3. He earned a co-career high 97 Beyer in the latter.
“He broke and he was closer than normal and that didn't seem to bother him,” winning trainer Bill Mott said. “He was fine where he was at. They went the first half in [:47.68], but you go to a race like the Breeders' Cup and they'll go :44. He's a good closer. If he gets a good, fast pace in front of him, he can close going six or seven [furlongs].”
Mott continued, “It gives you a lot of options that he can go from six [furlongs] to a mile throughout the course of the year. All things being equal, he'll probably race next year and have another race this year. I'll see what [Juddmonte general manager] Garrett O'Rourke wants to do. I'm sure he has some thoughts and ideas. It is nice to win a 'Win And You're In” and all your fees are paid.”
Pedigree Notes:
Elite Power, a $900,000 KEESEP graduate, becomes the 91st stakes/49th graded winner for leading sire Curlin. He is bred on the same Curlin/Vindication cross as GI Preakness S. winner Exaggerator. Elite Power's dam Broadway's Alibi, a MGSW & GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and Robsham homebred, brought $2.15 million from Alpha Delta Stables while in foal to Smart Strike at the 2013 KEENOV sale. Elite Power's fourth dam is champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Eliza (Mt. Livermore). This is also the family of GISW and young sire Dialed In (Mineshaft).
Saturday, Belmont at The Big A VOSBURGH S.-GII, $242,500, Belmont The Big A, 10-8, 3yo/up, 7f, 1:23.98, ft.
1–ELITE POWER, 120, c, 4, by Curlin 1st Dam: Broadway's Alibi (MGSW & GISP, $521,500), by Vindication 2nd Dam: Broadway Gold, by Seeking the Gold 3rd Dam: Miss Doolittle, by Storm Cat 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($900,000
Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Juddmonte; B-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC (KY);
T-William I. Mott; J-Jose Lezcano. $137,500. Lifetime Record:
7-4-0-1, $365,711. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ * Triple Plus*. Click for eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Eastern Bay, 120, g, 8, E Dubai–Chrusciki, by Polish Numbers.
O-Norman Lynn & Lola Cash; B-Nancy Lee Farms (MD);
T-Norman L. Cash. $50,000.
3–Drafted, 122, g, 8, Field Commission–Keep the Profit, by Darn
That Alarm. ($19,000 RNA Ylg '15 OBSAUG; $35,000 2yo '16
OBSMAR; 40,000 3yo '17 DUBSEP). O-Dublin Fjord Stables LLC,
Racepoint Stables, Kevin Hilbert & Thomas O'Keefe; B-John
Foster, Barbara Hooker & Field Commission Partnership (FL);
T-David P. Duggan. $30,000.
Margins: 5 3/4, 5, HF. Odds: 0.50, 9.10, 5.60.
Also Ran: Southern District, Jalen Journey. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
2nd-KEE, $100k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:31p.m. ET
Conditioner Brendan Walsh sends out a blue-blooded filly here in HUMBLING (Quality Road), who lays claim to a stellar female family which includes 'TDN Rising Star', GISW (and eventual producer of 'Rising Stars') Hot Dixie Chick (Dixie Union) and GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister). The former has a pair of talented offspring to her credit when counting GISW Pauline's Pearl (Tapit) and GSP Union Jackson (Curlin). Humbling, a $1 million FTSAUG purchase by Jeff Drown and Michael Ryan in 2021, claims Positive Spirit (Pioneerof the Nile) as a half-relation, who changed hands to Spendthrift Farm in 2020 for $1.5 million at FTKNOV. The dam Above Perfection (In Excess {Ire}) herself earned GISP black-type with a runner-up effort in the Prioress. Humbling will break from the far outside in a full field of 12 and is coming in off a co-bullet gate work Sept. 29, covering four furlongs beneath the Twin Spires in :47.20 (1/48). TJCIS PPs
11th-KEE, $100k, Msw, 3yo/up, 7f, 6:18p.m. ET
Repole and St Elias Stable partner once again to send out OLD POINT (Curlin), half-brother to GISW & GI Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up Collected (City Zip). Purchased as a yearling in 2020 for $475,000 at KEESEP, the chestnut is half to stakes-producer Helena's Triomphe (Arch) and hails from the family of GSP Koala Princess (More Than Ready). Bred by Three Chimneys, Runnymede, and Peter Callahan, Old Point took some time to get to the races but has made religious appearances on the work tab leading up to this debut. Todd Pletcher will send him out with Irad Ortiz Jr. getting the call for the seven panel sprint. TJCIS PPs
1st-BAQ, $95k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6fT, 12:35p.m. ET
Shipping in from Europe after being purchased for 420,000gns at TATOCT, EIN GEDI (IRE) (Oasis Dream {GB}) will carry not just the popular flag of MyRacehorse but those of Siena Farm, Peter Deutsch, Michael Kisber, and The Elkstone Group. Out of the stakes-winning Splashdown (GB) (Falbrav {Ire}), the filly is a half to Spanish Champion 2-year-old filly Reina Madre (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) and is a full-sibling to 11-time winner, GSW Aktabantay (GB). This is the female family of Italian Champion 3-year-old filly and blue hen Proskona (Mr. Prospector), who counted nine black-type earners as the dam or granddam, and herself was half to German Highweight horse Keos. The Chad Brown barn will send Ein Gedi to post with Manny Franco in the irons. TJCIS PPs
4th-SA, $61k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 5:34p.m. ET RILEY G (Flatter) will carry not just the torch for Zedan Racing and Bob Baffert, but also another big tag after being secured for $625,000 at OBSOPN; zipping a furlong in :9 4/5 back in June. The grey is a half to three winners, but black-type makes an appearance underneath the second dam, who claims GI Darley Alcibiades victress Wickedly Perfect (Congrats). That mare later produced Japanese GSW Hartley (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in her adoptive country after selling for $800,000 KEEJAN to Katsumi Yoshida in 2011. Also in the pedigree is stakes-producer Wicked Mizz (Mizzen Mast) and GSP Ash Zee (Exchange Rate); the latter counts GSP The Reds (Tonalist) and Zee Drop (Lemon Drop Kid). Carrying the banner for Justify is $450,000 KEESEP stablemate California Rocket, a half-sister to MGSW Global View (Galileo {Ire}) and the dam of GSP Catch the Eye (Quality Road). TJCIS PPs
