Breeding Digest: No Oscar Nominations for Typecasting

We all know how hard it is to stand a turf horse in Kentucky today. For the minority of breeders sufficiently enlightened to offer such sires some commercial viability, moreover, the reel snapped a couple of years ago with the loss of Kitten's Joy and English Channel within months of each other.

Happily, it has not taken long to cast a new leading man.

Oscar Performance has delivered his lines confidently from the first take. In fact, he has even improved on the script–his leading earner, to this point, being Red Carpet Ready, a triple graded stakes scorer on dirt. Another from his debut crop to have excelled on the main track is Tumbarumba, who recently

failed only by a nose to add a Grade II prize to the Grade III he won at Gulfstream in January.

It seems rather a pity, then, that Endlessly (Oscar Performance)–in the silks of his sire's owner-breeders–is declining the GI Kentucky Derby gate he secured with that dashing display in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks on Saturday. After all, this is the trial that produced the Derby winner and runner-up in the last two years, perhaps partly because the synthetic surface at Turfway is so much less demanding.

Obviously it has a comforting kinship with grass, perceived as the natural metier of Endlessly. But ours is an era that urgently needs to reconcile gene pools too long divided, not just by an ocean, but by a failure of imagination. It was the international exchange of bloodlines that invigorated the breed in the

last century–and it's primarily our own inflexibility that has stifled the versatility our predecessors discovered in Nasrullah, Northern Dancer and Sunday Silence. Perhaps the sensational impact of Justify in Europe can renew that kind of traffic. In the meantime, however, Oscar Performance is certainly well placed to profit from the expanding turf and synthetic programs in his own backyard. In fact, Endlessly was only one of three sophomore winners for the Mill Ridge sire on the Turfway card (the others included Rushaway S. winner Trikari) while another member of the same crop broke his maiden on grass at Santa Anita later that day.

One way or another, Oscar Performance must be counted a wholesome influence as a Grade I winner at two, three and four. He covered 160 mares last spring, much his biggest book after suffering the habitual slide to 63 in his fourth season, and his fee (nudged to $25,000 this year) will surely keep advancing with the traction he's achieving.

But we can safely leave such decisions to those standing him, not least a farm that had been out of the stallion game for a generation but is proving admirably alert to 21 st Century needs and opportunities. On the same basis, the remarkable program that produced him, and has now also come up with Endlessly, can plainly manage perfectly well without any impertinent musings about the kind of priceless marketing opportunity they're now passing up.

Endlessly's immediate family admittedly has chlorophyll flavors: second dam Society Dream (Fr) (Akarad {Fr}) was a stakes performer in Europe before being imported by the Amermans, who duly kept her on the “weeds” to get her graded stakes-placed. Three of her daughters have produced stakes winners on turf: one, by Royal Academy, notably came up with GI Just A Game S. winner Coffee Clique (Medaglia d'Oro); another, by Quality Road, gave Oscar Performance a first-crop headliner in Hawthorne Derby winner Act a Fool; and a third, an unraced daughter of Langfuhr, is responsible for Endlessly himself.

But remember that Langfuhr is by one of the great diversifiers in Danzig, and won iconic showcases of dirt speed like the Met Mile, Forego, Carter and Vosburgh. As sire of Lawyer Ron, and damsire of Proud Spell and Firenze Fire, Langfuhr is certainly every bit as eligible to help a daughter draw out any dirt aptitude in Oscar Performance as, say, Street Sense–himself, of course, by the turf-bred Street Cry (Ire)–who happens to be damsire of both Red Carpet Ready and Tumbarumba.

In fairness, the second dam of both those horses (who are bred with remarkable symmetry) is by A.P. Indy, while Red Carpet Ready actually traces to Yarn/Narrate. But Endlessly's own family, besides its single-generation detour to France, has similarly indigenous roots: ultimately, indeed, it is the dynasty of Bull Lea.

Not even I can pretend that Oscar Performance's own sire was a versatile influence, while his dam (synthetic stakes winner) was by Theatrical. But the seeding of all the next dams is straight down the middle of Main Street: Mr. Prospector, Slew o' Gold, Danzig (Langfuhr's sire again), Bold Reason, Buckpasser (this last mare, moreover, out of matriarch Lady Pitt).

Bottom line is that none of us ever knows exactly which strands of a pedigree will shape the flesh-and-blood animal in front of us. The people around Endlessly naturally have a more intimate grasp of his adaptability, but as a wider principle I think we all need to be less prescriptive and remember that no race is ever run on paper.

 

Another One That Got Away…

With 100 starting points evidently going down one black hole at Turfway, and so many others disappearing into a deeper one in California, there may be some credibility issues about a few that eventually find themselves with a Derby gate. Yet missing second by a head in the Jeff Ruby may yet prevent this messy situation containing seeds of its own redemption through a fairytale Derby bid for Seize The Grey (Arrogate).

Arrogate | Horsephotos

He's improving with experience, much as we might expect of a horse being brought along by the evergreen genius–and priceless advocate for our sport–who trains him. He also belongs to the final crop of Arrogate, who from tragically curtailed opportunity bequeathed Classic winners in each of the last two years: first Secret Oath, for D. Wayne Lukas himself, and then champion Arcangelo.

The latter's profile matched that of his sire, in that he developed too late to make the Derby, so Seize The Grey is ahead of the game. And likewise Liberal Arts, who can build on a really promising comeback when lining up for the GI Arkansas Derby this weekend. He will carry fervent support from the many friends made in the business by Evan Ferraro of Fasig-Tipton, who co-bred (and co-owns) this colt with his father Stephen.

Moreover Arrogate's final crop now has an additional Classic shot through Everland, who banked 50 GI Kentucky Oaks points with her own stakes success on the Turfway synthetic last Saturday. Her rise was chronicled in Monday's TDN by colleague T.D. Thornton, and there's no reason why she shouldn't prove equally effective on dirt.

She was certainly an alert claim, with her residual value seemingly guaranteed: she was bred by previous owner George Strawbridge Jr. from a daughter of Tapit and Rainbow View (Dynaformer), who won him Group 1 prizes at two and three when trained in Europe. It was only last week that we had occasion to celebrate this family, Rainbow View's Grade I- winning dam No Matter What (Nureyev) having been a half-sister to Vronsky (Danzig), sire of Californian sprint idol The Chosen Vron.

The dam of Vronsky and No Matter What additionally produced GI Travers runner-up E Dubai (Mr Prospector), while her full sister gave us Raven's Pass (Elusive Quality) to win the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in 2008–a race won four years later by E Dubai's standout son Fort Larned.

Quite a family, then, and the program that risked Everland in a claimer suffered another cruel twist at Turfway on Saturday, as a result of discarding another female at Fasig-Tipton's February Sale in 2021.

The fact that the 13-year-old Dynamic Holiday (Harlan's Holiday) made only $14,000, as a well-bred graded stakes winner in foal to Oscar Performance, tells you that it was a pretty logical cull. Despite some good covers, her breeding record had been abysmal. Yet the foal she was carrying has now turned out to be Turfway stakes winner Trikari. (As if the Amermans weren't adequately committed to Oscar performance, they actually bought this fellow as an OBS October yearling for $27,500.)

Still, the team that lost both Everland and the dam of Trikari might not be the only ones kicking themselves. The mare appears to have been moved on again since, in a Fasig digital sale in October, for $3,500.

Extending the GII Louisiana Derby since 2020 has worked out extremely well, the second such running having produced four of the first six past the post at Churchill, and then Epicenter the following year. Perhaps the reluctance of trainers today to give sophomores an old-fashioned grounding is favoring those that have redressed the resulting deficiency at least by running a distance of ground.

Catching a Rising Tide…

As such we need to respect the prospects of Catching Freedom (Constitution), who is palpably beginning to figure things out. He's by no means the finished article, but is certainly vindicating his selection by Albaugh Family Stables as a $575,000 Book I yearling at the Keeneland September Sale.

Constitution | Sarah Andrew

However he proceeds from here, there's certainly no anomaly about a Derby colt for Constitution, who's just entering the next big cycle of his career. With his current 4-year-olds conceived at just $15,000, Catching Freedom belongs to his first crop sired even at $40,000–and it's a very big one, too, the breeders of 187 live foals having responded to his freshman breakout in 2019 (runner-up to American Pharoah). But the upgrade really kicks in with his incoming juveniles, sired at $85,000 after first-crop star Tiz The Law had proved himself an elite 3-year-old.

Catching Freedom raised the curtain on what was always going to be a big year for his sire by winning the Smart Jones S. on its very first day, and his progress must be creating plenty of excitement at WinStar–not only as the farm that stands Constitution himself, but also as the breeders of this colt out of the Grade I-placed stakes winner Catch My Drift (Pioneerof The Nile).

Purchased at the end of her career for $400,000, at Fasig-Tipton in November 2015, she has since divided her favors between the home farm roster and assignations elsewhere. Uncle Mo, for instance, gave her Bishops Bay, who showed plenty of talent in a light sophomore campaign last year. Sold as a yearling for $450,000, he beat last weekend's GIII Essex H. scorer First Mission (Street Sense) on debut and also ran nascent champion Arcangelo to a head in the GIII Peter Pan. Catch My Drift also has a stakes-placed daughter by Into Mischief.

It must be acknowledged that her family offers finite explanation for the quality she has shown, first on the track and now as a producer. Nor would first four dams by Yonaguska, Tabasco Cat, Crafty Prospector and Baldski shout “a blanket of roses” for her son. On the other hand, he entwines sire-lines of 'unbridled' Classic branding: his damsire is by Unbridled's son Empire Maker; and his grandsire Tapit is out of an Unbridled mare. The length of his rehearsal certainly drew on that well, and will again leave the Louisiana Derby winner as one of the few copper-bottomed stayers on the first Saturday in May.

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Week In Review: Foster’s Work Ethic and Keen Eye for Bargains Propel Rise

Stop me if you've heard this one before: A horse gets claimed for a relatively cheap $30,000, later scores qualifying points at Turfway Park in March to get into one of the sport's most prestigious races at Churchill Downs, then ends up winning a career-defining Grade I stakes at improbable odds on the first weekend of May.

That storyline describes the long-shot career of Rich Strike, who upset the GI Kentucky Derby at 80-1 back in 2022.

But it also could be the 2024 script for newly crowned stakes victress Everland (Arrogate), who was haltered for $30,000 out of a trip-troubled win at Turfway three months ago, and on Mar. 23 captured the Bourbonette Oaks over the same Tapeta surface. The purse of that stakes was worth 10 times the gray filly's claiming price, and, just as importantly, the race awarded 50 qualifying points to get into the GI Kentucky Oaks.

Everland's trajectory is only part of the narrative. Her rise through the ranks is a testament to the upward arc of trainer and co-owner Eric Foster, 46, whose 15 wins are currently tops at the nearly concluded Turfway meet.

Foster's $828,364 in earnings for the season there are second behind only perennial powerhouse conditioner Brad Cox.

Foster Family Stables has been in business for a decade. Eric runs a 16-acre farm with a training track in rural Utica out in western Kentucky, about 45 minutes southeast of Ellis Park. Eric trains, exercises and transports the horses to the races while his wife, Brooklyn, manages the barn. The couple tag-teams, along with some help from their children and an on-track team of assistants, on everything else.

“Me and my wife, we work together. We talk together all the time about [the business],” Foster told Jennie Rees in a post-win video interview for the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protestive Association (KHBPA).

“It's just exciting to win. I tell everybody, we're still happy to win a $5,000 claimer. And to win these bigger races…” Foster's voice trails off in thought, and he has to take a moment to keep his emotions in check.

“I mean, we're leading this meet right now,” Foster said. “It wasn't  even something we had thought about going in [to the start of the season]. Of course, we would want to [be a top stable] if we could, [but] it seems that we've had a little bit better go here than we even expected.”

As a kid, Foster excelled in barrel racing. Then by 17 he was galloping and exercising Thoroughbreds. He initially took out his training license in 2000, but his first foray as a conditioner at smaller tracks like Fairmount, the Woodlands, Ellis, and River Downs lasted only a year, with a 6-for-59 record and a hard-won appreciation for just how difficult a vocation training racehorses could be.

Foster then worked construction jobs as a welder, taking on whatever work he could, which eventually allowed the couple to buy their house and farm on Highway 431 outside of Owensboro.

According to a 2022 profile in The Gleaner that was written by Rees, Foster initially raised cattle, built a barn, and bought a Thoroughbred baby with the intent of re-selling at a subsequent auction. After determining that it might end up being more cost-effective to race the horse themselves, Foster constructed the training track, taking on most of the job himself.

As his training business grew from 2014 onward, Foster got financial backing from a diverse number of clients, including those who would eventually partner with him to own Everland (Bill Wargel, Sidney Karmia's Maxis Stable, and R.K. Eckrich Racing).

Foster began honing a reputation as a trainer who could spot horses who could be acquired for comparatively short money via claims and at the sales, then get those Thoroughbreds to outrun their purchase prices.

Kitodan (Point of Entry) is a prime example. In a partnership with Douglas Miller, Foster Family Racing claimed that gelding for $80,000 in May of 2022, and the 5-year-old has responded with two grass stakes victories (one a Grade III), plus a handful of other stakes performances in which he was only beaten by a couple of lengths. Kitodan was named the KHBPA claimer of the year for 2022, his career earnings have since swelled to $835,237, and is he still competing in graded stakes (he finished eighth on Saturday in the GIII Kentucky Cup Classic).

“Now, we have all the supplies, all the tools,” Foster said. “We have the help now. We have the confidence. We have the [better] jockeys. You know, it's just a matter of everything coming together. We do the blankets and all the therapy that we can do on them to get the horses happy. But you've just got to have good horses, and I think we've just been blessed with some good horses lately.”

Everland is being pointed to her secured spot in the GI Kentucky Oaks on the first Friday in May | Coady

When Foster spotted Everland entered for a $30,000 tag on Dec. 30, 2023, he notified his partners to see who wanted in on what would eventually be a four-way deal. Bred by George Strawbridge Jr. and raced by Augustin Stable with trainer Jonathan Thomas, Everland to that point had been 0-for-3 in maiden special weight races at Kentucky Downs, Woodbine and Turfway. Her pedigree-by Arrogate out of a Tapit mare-stood out.

Off at odds of 6-5, Everland endured a horror trip to win, checking on the first turn of a mile race and then almost getting wiped off her feet in a far-turn scrum. After losing all momentum, she determinedly bulled her way between horses, then scooted up the rail to win by three-quarters of a length, with Turfway announcer Tony Calo exuding in his call about the filly's display of athleticism.

Everland next won a $50,000 starter-allowance for her new connections by 3 1/2lengths at 15-1 odds on Feb. 10. She was then fourth in the Mar. 1 $150,000 Cincinnati Trophy S., a race won by stablemate Maxisuperfly (Optimizer), who was bought by the Fosters for $18,000 as a Keeneland yearling.

In the Mar. 23 Bourbonette, Maxisuperfly set the pace while Everland got caught four wide around the clubhouse turn. Guided to the rail by Abel Cedillo, Everland threaded through on the inside. Turning for home, she briefly got caught on the heels of her tiring stablemate (who finished eighth), then freewheeled up the fence while fending off several fresh challengers, quickening nicely inside the final sixteenth to win by 1 1/4 lengths (82 Beyer Speed Figure).

Despite Everland's sky's-the-limit pedigree, Foster doesn't feel like he stole a hot prospect from the filly's former connections. In the winner's circle after the race, he expressed empathy for anyone faced with the difficult business decision of whether or not to drop a well-meant horse in class for a claiming tag.

“It's hard. You expect them to win, and when they don't you say, 'We've got to do something different,' and you give them three or four chances [before trying a spot that's] a little cheaper,” Foster said. “We do it too. And a lot of time, we're happy that we didn't lose [a claiming dropdown].

“I would have to think that they knew that they would probably lose her,” Foster continued. “A couple of my good horses are claims, and [the outfits I claim from] are good. I wouldn't ever tell anybody that I'm a better trainer. “[But I do] want to be that guy that has horses that run for a long time.

“It's usually the horse that does the running. I don't want to take a whole lot of credit,” Foster said. “We take care of them. We do the best we can. We vet them deep. We feed them good. We do everything to make the health of the horse better. And then it's up to the horse.”

Everland is now 3-0-1 with 237,093 in earnings from seven starts, and with 54 qualifying points, she ranks fourth on the Oaks leaderboard. She is safely in the race, and Foster indicated post-win that his connections intend to run in that Grade I spot–even though Everland has never raced on the dirt. In fact, Foster has never personally witnessed her step onto a non-Tapeta surface.

“Now I'm going to have the same question everybody else has,” Foster said. “If she can run on the dirt, they better look out. That's going to be the thing. We haven't trained her on the dirt. We've left her [at Turfway] since we claimed her. So we're going to move to Keeneland this week coming up and just see how everything goes, and get her on the dirt. And hopefully she loves it.”

Even though Foster is a meet-leading trainer and on the cusp of breaking through in one of the most prestigious races in Kentucky, he is still facing some smaller-outfit business issues, like stabling.

“You know, I don't want to call out anybody, but we don't get the stalls we put in for,” Foster said, alluding to the tight allotments at Churchill and Turfway. “We had the horses to put into them. I think we get taken advantage of a little bit for having our own farm and our own training center….

“We're going into the Oaks here. We wanted some stalls at Churchill coming into this spring, and I was just certain we would get stalls. But you know what? You never know…

Foster said he would have to “map out” a shipping or stabling strategy for Everland.

“I'm not going to take one horse up [to Churchill] and train up to the Oaks. It's going to be a bit of a challenge,” Foster said.

In case you haven't already figured it out, Foster doesn't shy from challenges.

“I make three, four trips a week sometime,” Foster said. “It's over a seven-hour round trip. A lot of those nights are back to back-to-back. I don't always get somebody to ride with me. I have friends that I get to talk to on the phone. Somebody said, 'Well, how do you not get tired?' And I said, 'You know, I just think about my horses.'

“I just go,” Foster added. “I don't start to complain.”

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Sunday Insights: Lake Superior Set For Del Mar Debut

5th-DMR, $82K, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, 6:37 p.m.

Campaigned by the same ownership group as 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown), $1.05-million Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase LAKE SUPERIOR (Quality Road) makes his first appearance on closing day at Del Mar for trainer Bob Baffert. Dam Celibataire (Broken Vow) also produced the dark bay colt's full-brother SW Stillwater Cove. Out of a female family which includes his dam's full-sister MGSW Interactif, Lake Superior will have the services of the meet's leading rider, Juan Hernandez. TJCIS PPS

2nd-MTH, $57K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:10 p.m.

Heading to the Jersey Shore, Monmouth cards a maiden race which includes firsters like $300,000 OBS March Sale buy Bolt of Aurum (Bolt d'Oro), whose dam Scenic Road (Quality Road) is a full-sister to GIII LeComte S. victor Guest Suite. Also drawn is $300,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale grad Dollar Liberty (Gun Runner) out of Debase the Dollar (Malibu Moon). That dam has produced seven foals with three winners out of four to race, and is a half-sister herself to GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. heroine La Coronel (Colonel John). Between this pair to the inside you'll find Tiz Marks Spirit (Mor Spirit), who counts GII Castle & Key Bourbon S. hero Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb) as a half-brother. TJCIS PPS

2nd-KD, $150K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1mT, 2:02 p.m.

Taking to the Kentucky Down grass course before that meet wraps is first-time starter Everland (Arrogate) for George Strawbridge. The homebred is the first of three foals for Ever Changing (Tapit). Her second dam Rainbow View (Dynaformer) was crowned European Champion 2-year-old filly in 2008 and her grand dam is a half-sister to both GI Arlington Million S. runner-up Just As Well (A.P. Indy) and GII Longines Dixie S. winner Utley (Smart Strike). TJCIS PPS

4th-DMR, $82K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 6:05 p.m.

Halone (Justify), a Baoma homebred, debuts for Bob Baffert. Out of Sea Gift (A.P. Indy), the chestnut filly is a half-sister to GIII Sunland Derby champ Chitu (Henny Hughes). Her dam is also responsible for GIII Santa Ysabel S. heroine Beautiful Gift (Medgalia d'Oro), who was purchased by Katusmi Yoshida at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale last year for $2 million and whose Feb. 22 foal by Into Mischief, her first, just went to the KY Company for ¥160 million at the JRA Yearling and Foal Sale. TJCIS PPS

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