Owned in partnership by Woodford Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Chris Larsen, SEDONA (Curlin) debuts Sunday at Gulfstream Park for trainer Shug McGaughey. The full-sister to MGSW/GISP and $1.5m FTSAUG yearling First Captain nearly topped 2022's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale when selling for $2,000,000. Dam America, herself a graded stakes winner and dual Grade-I placed, last went through the auction ring late last year at FTKNOV but failed to meet her reserve at $1,200,000. She also RNA'd for $3.1m at FTKNOV back in 2019. The family has produced plenty of pricey horses including America's half-sister Paris Bikini (Bernardini) who brought $1.95m at FTKNOV in 2020 and that mare's daughter, GISW Paris Lights (Curlin), who went to Spendthrift Farm on a final bid of $3.1m at KEENOV in 2021. TJCIS PPS

5th-FG, $57K, MSW, 3yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 3:45 p.m.

Spendthrift homebred Wine and Waves (Vino Rosso), running for Albert Stall, Jr., debuts on the grass Sunday in New Orleans. A daughter of MGSW/GISP Malibu Pier, she is a half to SW and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner up Coasted (Tizway) who went the way of Katsumi Yoshida for $1.3m at FTKNOV in 2017 and produced Japanese GSW Danon Beluga (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}, runner up in last year's G1 DP World Dubai Turf. Malibu Pier is additionally responsible for MGSP Malibu Stacy (Tizway). Wine and Waves drilled four furlongs in a near-bullet :47 4/5 (2/54) Feb. 22 in preparation for her debut. TJCIS PPS

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Bred by Bobby Flay, who also campaigned GSW America, the colt brought $1.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale in 2019. Flay retained a piece of the colt, who was ultimately raced by a partnership including West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm and Woodford Racing. Trained by Shug McGaughey, the chestnut won his first three career starts, including the GIII Dwyer S. and subsequently added an allowance win at Gulfstream and the GIII Pimlico Special S. later in the 2022 season. He also finished second in the GII Suburban S. and third in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. He retired with five wins from 11 career starts and earnings of $662,100.

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AMERICA (m, 12, A. P. Indy–Lacadena, by Fasliyev), booked to Gun Runner

As she continues to produce quality foals, including MGSW First Captain (Curlin), the co-sales topper at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale for $1.5 million, and his full-sister, who sold for $2 million at Saratoga last August, I'm excited to see what the hottest new sire can provide for this mare.

DAME DOROTHY (m, 12, Bernardini–Vole Vole Monamour, by Woodman), booked to Gun Runner

This mare's natural speed should fit well with this sire's staying quality. Although this stud fee is not inexpensive, Dame Dorothy deserves the caviar of the crop. Her first foal, Spice is Nice, brought $1.05 million as a yearling and is a Graded stakes winner. In 2021, her yearling Uncle Mo colt brought the most ever paid for that sire's yearlings at $1.6 million. Now named Sgt. Pepper, he is all-out training with Todd Pletcher and is one to keep an eye out for on the track.

AMERICAN CAVIAR (f, 4, Curlin–America, by A. P. Indy), booked to Justify

She is the full-sister to First Captain. I'm excited to see Justify making some noise in important two-year-old races in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. There's a good chance he'll be an important force as a young stallion. The Scat Daddy influence gives me confidence that Justify will continue to produce not just winners, but winners with quality.

AMAGANSETT (m, 6, Tapit–Twirl {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}), booked to Not This Time

I bought Amagansett as a yearling because I liked her sire and she comes from the illustrious Coolmore family headed by Misty for Me. Not This Time is one of the most exciting stallions in the market. He had tons of speed and his progeny are winning at classic distances on both surfaces. My kind of stallion.

LIFE WELL LIVED (m, 16, Tiznow–Well Dressed, by Notebook), booked to Constitution

Already the Grade I producer of American Patriot (War Front), she will go back to Constitution, as he is showing he can be a top player in the game. He's now being booked to some of the top pedigrees in the book, which he truly deserves. Last season's yearling colt brought over $400,000.

RUBY LIPS (m, 13, Hard Spun–It's a Ruby, by Rubiano), booked to Constitution

The dam of MGSW Lone Rock and GII winner Gerrymander throws good foal after good foal. I acquired her in foal to Constitution and I liked what I saw. It made this year's decision easy: back to the well!

STREET STRUT (m, 10, Street Cry {Ire}–Lacadena, by Fasliyev), booked to Not This Time

Not This Time should fit the pedigree well to this half-sister to America, from the family of Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister) and Rags to Riches (A. P. Indy). It's a cross that can produce anything.

TIZAHIT (m, 16, Tiznow–Never a No Hitter, by Kris S.), booked to Constitution

The producer of GI winner Come Dancing, she's ready to produce another. Last season's Constitution out of this mare sold for over $400,000 and could be a serious horse. These Constitutions are showing themselves well on the racetrack and at the sales. Why make it a tough decision??

VERONIQUE (m, 12, Mizzen Mast–Styler, by Holy Bull), booked to Curlin

As the dam of the super-fast Nashville (Speightstown), she deserves a turn to the big dog. Curlin is the epitome of a proven sire. Year after year, he plays an important role in the country's most important races. Curlin has been very good to my program and I'm excited to see what he produces with this proven mare.

SUPER ESPRESSO (m, 16, Medaglia d'Oro–Amizette, by Forty Niner), booked to Nashville

I almost never employ unproven stallions. In this case, I'm making a calculated guess that Nashville's unreal, natural speed is just what this mare needs. She has the stamina up and down her Helen Alexander pedigree. Since I have the dam (Veronique), I'm taking a shot with her best runner.

WHITE HOT (IRE) (m, 10, Galileo {Ire}–Gwynn {Ire}, by Darshaan {GB}), booked to Into Mischief

The dam of Pizza Bianca is going back to this top sire. Although this is a very fancy Coolmore family by Galileo, I believe this mare has the possibility of turning her purple bloodlines to dirt greatness and Into Mischief is the man for the job! If I'm wrong and grass is this mare's preferred surface, then this sire can do that too. Basically, the risk here is low. Serious sire power.

SINGING SWEETLY (IRE) (m, 6. Galileo {Ire}–Sing Softly, by Hennessy), booked to American Pharoah

This Galileo mare from a good American family may be the best value buy I've made in a long time. Her first foal by Study of Man brought enough at the Keeneland yearling sale last year to pay for her own price tag. Speaking of value, this sire at $60,000 may be the bargain of the decade. Somehow the market has turned its attention to other young studs, but I'm thrilled to book this young mare to this Triple Crown winner.

COVER SONG (m, 10, Fastnet Rock {Aus}–Misty for Me {Ire}), by Galileo {Ire}), booked to Into Mischief

She may be the best family I currently have with the possibility of it getting better. Her first two foals, Contemporary Art (Dubawi) and Sbagliato (Quality Road) are gearing up to have black-type seasons. This mare, a half-sister to U.S. Navy Flag (War Front) and Roly Poly (War Front) only deserves the best. Back to Into Mischief it is!

POTION (m, 5, Ghostzapper–And Why Not, by Street Cry {Ire}), booked to Justify

I bought this mare out of Helen Groves's dispersal in November. She certainly was not on discount, but getting into a family by one of the world's greatest breeders in the history of the sport will always have value. Justify gets the nod for this young Ghostzapper mare. Can be dirt, can be grass. Either is fine with me.

AULD ALLIANCE (IRE) (m, 12, Montjeu {Ire}–Highland Gift {Ire}, by Generous {Ire}), booked to Sea the Stars (Ire)

After employing the great Frankel four seasons in a row, I thought I'd give him a break this year. He's thrown beautiful foal after beautiful foal. After getting a private audience with Baaeed in Mr. Haggas's yard, something told me that Sea the Stars was the key to this mare's entry to a European Classic. Check back in four years…I have a feeling!

OLD SCHOOL (GB) (f, 4, Frankel {GB}–Auld Alliance, by Montjeu {Ire}), booked to Uncle Mo

A Frankel daughter of Auld Alliance will remain in America and be bred to a sire that can produce champion dirt horses. I'm convinced that making this happen is slightly more possible than most people think. My philosophy is that good blood is good blood. It always shows up. The surface is just a speed bump.

GLINTING (IRE), (Galileo {Ire}–One Moment in Time {Ire}), by Danehill), booked to Wootton Bassett (GB)

I was thrilled to secure this Galileo mare from this Coolmore family at Arqana in December. She was offered in foal to Wootton Bassett, which is a valuable coupon that came with the mare. The Coolmore team has made a big bet on this cross and I have no problem following their lead.

Interested in sharing your own mating plans? Email garyking@thetdn.com. 

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The 8-5 favorite jumped well from his inside draw and sat a perfect, stalking trip in second behind longshot pacesetter Tax (Arch) through fractions of :24.54 and :49.70. Racing in between rivals as last year's GI Cigar Mile H. winner Americanrevolution (Constitution), one of four entered for Todd Pletcher, continued to draw closer heading into the far turn, Olympiad struck the front as Tax was the first to blink approaching the quarter pole.

Olympiad turned for home as the clear cut one to beat, was still going strong three-sixteenths from home while Americanrevolution remained one paced in an all-out second and sailed home two lengths clear over that rival in his first career attempt at the Classic distance. First Captain (Curlin) was up for third.

Olympiad, a $700,000 Keeneland September Yearling graduate, opened 2022 with five straight wins, including the GII New Orleans Classic Mar. 26, GII Alysheba S. May 6 and GII Stephen Foster S. July 2. He finished 9 1/4 lengths behind the ultra-talented Life Is Good (Into Mischief) on a very hot and humid day in upstate New York last time Aug. 6.

“It's gratifying to see him come back,” said winning Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who captured previous runnings of the Jockey Club Gold Cup with Hall of Famer Cigar (1995), Flat Out (2012), and Ron the Greek (2013). “The [performance] the other day [in the Whitney] was almost too bad to be true considering the form he had been in the previous five races. It was just good to see him bounce back. He's a Grade I winner, he's won six out of seven races this year and he's got a pretty good record for himself.

Mott continued, “I liked the way he looked [in the paddock]. After we put the saddle on him, he was walking around on his toes. He was a little quiet the other day when it was so hot–he kind of had his head down a little bit and looked a little too quiet. I think everyone was moving a little slow. But today, he looked like he had a little extra energy and like he had a little extra bounce in his step just before we put the jocks on. He looked good.”

Pedigree Notes:

Olympiad's win was another Grade I breeding for the coffers of Emory Hamilton and the legacy enjoyed by her family's King Ranch. For more on both Hamilton's family and their connection with Olympiad's family, as well as what was behind his mating, click for a recent story that appeared in TDN.

Olympiad represents six generations of King Ranch/Emory Hamilton breeding. His dam, who is a half to the dam of 2019 GI Woodward S. winner Preservationist (Arch), has a 2-year-old filly by War Front (who sold for $450,000 at Keeneland September to Larkin Armstrong), a yearling colt by American Pharoah, and is reported to be carrying a full-sister to Olympiad for 2023.

WinStar stallion Speightstown has 129 black-type winners from his 15 Northern Hemisphere crops of racing age, which also include 62 graded winners. Remarkably, seven of those stakes winners are out of Medaglia d'Oro mares. Other than Olympiad, the others include MGISW Rock Fall, GISW Competitionofideas, SW & MGISP Dawn the Destroyer, GSW & GISP Souper Stonehenge, and GSW Strike Power. He is now the sire of 25 Grade I winners.

Saturday, Saratoga Racecourse
JOCKEY CLUB GOLD CUP S.-GI, $1,000,000, Saratoga, 9-3, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:02.11, ft.
1–OLYMPIAD, 126, c, 4, by Speightstown
                1st Dam: Tokyo Time (GSP, $249,177),
                                by Medaglia d'Oro
                2nd Dam: Flying Passage, by A.P. Indy
                3rd Dam: Chic Shirine, by Mr. Prospector
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($700,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Grandview
Equine, Cheyenne Stable, LLC and LNJ Foxwoods; B-Emory A.
Hamilton (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado. $535,000.
Lifetime Record: 12-8-1-1, $2,007,560.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Americanrevolution, 126, c, 4, Constitution–Polly Freeze, by
Super Saver. ($275,000 Ylg '19 SARAUG). O-CHC Inc. and
WinStar Farm LLC; B-Fred W. Hertrich III & John D. Fielding
(NY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $185,000.
3–First Captain, 126, c, 4, Curlin–America, by A.P. Indy.
'TDN Rising Star' 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($1,500,000 Ylg '19
FTSAUG). O-West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm LLC, Bobby
Flay & Woodford Racing, LLC; B-B. Flay Thoroughbreds (KY);
T-Claude R. McGaughey III. $100,000.
Margins: 2, 1 3/4, 3/4. Odds: 1.70, 2.35, 5.20.
Also Ran: Untreated, Keepmeinmind, Dynamic One, Chess Chief, Tax. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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It's an instructive remark. For one thing, it indicates the humor and modesty that redeem the restauranteur and television chef from the kind of airs that might burden others, accustomed to turning heads in Main Street, on entering this arcane hinterland of ours. Flay so reliably checks the fame and glamor at the barn door, indeed, that you suspect he actually relishes the way Thoroughbreds operate as such undiscriminating vehicles of humility.

But the most important thing about this wry observation is that it's perfectly true. And what has truly assimilated Flay, in the esteem of lifelong horsemen, is a program that brilliantly reconciles its boutique scale with competition at a level where others, as he vividly implies, are wholly immune to the bottom line.

That has required Flay to discover strengths very different from those that made his name. But that process has also allowed horsemen to embrace him, not as some interloper from a mystifying, glitzy world, but as one of their own.

“The difference for me, in the horse business, is that in the rest of my life I'm impulsive, don't like waiting around very long,” he concedes. “But somehow the horses have taught me patience.”

Sure, there are aspects of his professional career that dovetail with the things that draw us all to the racetrack, to horses, jockeys and trainers: the competitive flair that turns rehearsal into performance, routine into theater. By instead concentrating his investment in breeding, however, Flay has deliberately opted for the long game.

While his program never comprises more than a dozen mares, each a highwire dash ahead of sheikhs and plutocrats, time and again he has been able to keep things sustainable at the yearling sales. Only last month, indeed, a $2-million daughter of Curlin sold as the top filly at Saratoga; and five others of his current crop have made Book I of the imminent September Sale.

So while the adrenaline will doubtless flow at Keeneland, overall his horses offer a completely different satisfaction. It's like the slow, low oven that achieves tenderness and succulence, as opposed to the instant flash-and-sizzle sought by those hunting a Kentucky Derby colt.

“Those guys are playing the lottery,” he says. “I'm trying to keep my intrinsic value from day one. Now, I do know that if I pay $1 million for a well-pedigreed filly, and she doesn't run, her value–depending on her pedigree and physique–might be somewhere between a third to a half. But it's not zero, which you'd get with a colt with the exact same pedigree if he can't run.”

Having embarked on a road tapering to a far horizon, Flay has learned to moderate his stride. “Because in the horse business you have no choice,” he says. “This has been a 15-year plan. I bought my first good piece of bloodstock in 2007: a stakes-placed 2-year-old, hailing from the Best in Show line. She RNA'd for $1.4 million, and I ended up buying her for $1.2 million–easily the most money I'd ever spent, on anything. And I remember the consignor saying, 'Just think of this like you're buying a building.' And he was right. It's a long process. But what I always say is that good blood is going to show up. You don't know exactly when. But if you're patient, at some point it's going to show.”

Sure enough, this first big investment produced a filly named America from the final crop of A.P. Indy. Herself a graded stakes winner (and twice Grade I-placed), America in turn produced a first foal by Curlin that made $1.5 million as a yearling. And his endeavors, as First Captain, contributed to the even bigger sum banked by his younger sister at Saratoga the other day.

It was a similar, slow-burn story with a Galileo (Ire) filly acquired for 1,250,000gns at Tattersalls in 2014. Her dam had already produced Derby winner Pour Moi (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), and Flay named her White Hot (Ire).

“I don't know what it would be on today's exchange rate, but at the time she cost the equivalent of $2.1 million,” Flay recalls. “She was the most expensive yearling filly of the hemisphere [from that crop]. But she didn't have the heart to run. I remember John Gosden calling and saying, 'Look, I can run this filly, but I just want you to understand that she's never going to show on the racetrack what's on her page. If she were mine, I would just move on and think about breeding her.' So I did.”

He sent White Hot to Fastnet Rock (Aus) and retained the resulting filly, Pizza Bianca, to win the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last year.

Flay homebred Pizza Bianca won the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf | Breeders' Cup/Eclipse Sportswire

“That's a story where people could say, 'You got lucky,'” Flay says. “And yes, absolutely, I guess there was some luck involved. But at the same time, it was a plan. There were a lot of lean years, holding onto this very expensive piece of bloodstock. But she's beautiful, she's by Galileo, she has that incredible female family. And I just relied on that belief, that at some point the blood's going to come through.”

White Hot's colt by Uncle Mo goes under the hammer at Keeneland as Hip 115. That's a mating characteristic of this program, and too few others. Flay has done his homework and knows how priceless to the breed, historically, has been cross-pollination between the European and American gene pools. After years of short-sighted retrenchment, on both sides of the water, it's heartening to find such a smart investor mingling lines that most commercial breeders would keep dogmatically apart, as exclusively dirt or turf.

Two of his Book I fillies, for instance, share Butterfly Cove (Storm Cat) as third dam. She was not only a half-sister to Aidan O'Brien's champion juvenile Fasliyev (Nureyev), but also delivered a Coolmore linchpin in Grade I winner and producer Misty For Me (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Flay bought Misty For Me's daughter Cover Song (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) for $1.6 million as an auction wild card after she had won the GIII Autumn Miss S. for Spendthrift. He remembers seeing B. Wayne Hughes on his way out of the pavilion and asking: “Why did you sell this filly?” Hughes gave a long pause, looked at Flay and shrugged, saying: “I have no idea.” Now Cover Song's third foal, by Quality Road, heads to Keeneland (Hip 191) with her first, Contemporary Art (Dubawi {Ire}), meanwhile targeting the same Santa Anita graded stakes once won by their dam.

Another long play has been Amagansett, an $875,000 yearling by Tapit out of Misty For Me's stakes-winning sister Twirl (Ire). She never made the track, but again Flay is banking on residual value telling in her first foal, a filly by Uncle Mo (Hip 131).

“This mare was another example of what I was talking about,” Flay remarks. “I paid a lot of money for her as a yearling, but she had an ankle problem and obviously as things stand she's an expensive project. But she's got a lot of quality and class, and we'll see what happens: this is her first foal to the ring and she's very, very nice.”

So while the other Book I pair are both bred on the same commercially live cross as Tiz the Law, as respectively a colt (Hip 320) and filly (Hip 88) by Constitution out of a Tiznow mare, the fact is that Flay is presenting three beautiful yearlings in the sale's premier book on a bolder formula: each by an elite Kentucky stallion, out of a mare from an aristocratic European family.

“I'm not going to say I'm the only one doing it, because I'm definitely not,” Flay says. “But it does seem to be rare to bring over European blood and tie it to American sires, or vice versa. Yet this kind of thing was done for decades by some of the world's best breeders, people like Coolmore and Juddmonte, or Bull Hancock before them. We get so conditioned to say that this horse, with this pedigree, will only run on grass; and that horse, only on dirt. Yet we've been proved wrong so often, I just want to keep an open mind.

“I do wonder how people feel, when they see pedigrees like these. Are they turned off? Are they excited? Probably it'll be a bit of both. But the bottom line is that I know that it works.”

Flay acknowledges the argument that equivalent regeneration is no less urgent in Europe. When Australian friends congratulated him on an inspired mating between White Hot and Fastnet Rock, he demurred: Europe's top stallions were so genetically clustered, in the same neighborhood as the mare, he had felt as though he hadn't a great deal of choice. But he's palpably animated by the idea of reviving the speed-carrying impact of Northern Dancer and his sons on European turf. Someone, I suggest, needs to try once again to win an Epsom Classic with a horse by a perceived dirt stallion. “I'd like to be that person!” he exclaims.

Flay's long-term strategy is seeing dividends | Breeders' Cup/Eclipse Sportswire

That's an ambition a world apart from the New York kid who cut high school to bet at the track, or indeed the guy who made his first piecemeal investments in horseflesh like “throwing darts at a board”. And Flay gives huge credit, for that transformation, to the seasoned counsellors who have helped him navigate his Turf adventure.

The first to illuminate the mysteries of pedigree was his old friend Barry Weisbord, founder of TDN, who channelled Flay's raw enthusiasm into a proper strategy. Then there was James Delahooke, proven as one of the great judges after helping to assemble Juddmonte's foundation mares. It had been too long since the English agent had been deployed by someone equipped to make the most of his exceptional eye, and Flay's subsequent record only confirms what others had meanwhile been missing.

“I've loved working with James for the last 15 years,” Flay says. “You know, he's 'out of the movie' as The Bloodstock Agent because he looks the part, he sounds the part, and he knows the part. I've learned so much just talking to him, every single sale we go to, every dinner that we have together. And James has a very simple project, which is: 'Find me the best-looking physicals among all the fillies in the sale. Don't worry about the pedigrees, we can put those together later. Find me a beautiful horse that's going to make a broodmare one day.'”

But there has also been a third vital dimension: entrusting the care of his mares and foals to a horseman of genius in Arthur Hancock.

“One of the best things I have ever done is employ Stone Farm,” Flay says. “They're a lovely family, first and foremost, and it has been such a pleasure getting to know them. But I remember when James told me to go take a look at their land. That's not something you hear a lot of people say in the commercial horse world, but he believes in a correlation between success and the amount of land each horse is given. So I took a drive out to Paris, Ky., got to the top of this hill and saw their property. And I was like, 'I'm home. This is where I want my horses to live.' So that's the whole formula, right there. It's not overcomplicated. One person that takes care of the physicals, another that takes care of the pedigrees. And of course they live in Shangri-La.”

But Flay does all the matings himself, seeking the same kind of elusive balance as any other breeder–and inviting, in the process, an obvious analogy: don't throw too much chili into the pan, but don't let things get too bland, either. In keeping with his far-sighted dissent on surfaces, he also resists the standard commercial refuge in unproven sires. Apart from anything else, of course, matings have to be commensurate with the value of the mare, which in this program tends to be high.

“I've seen plenty of mares with world-class pedigrees get ruined by sire decisions that are just guesses,” Flay observes. “So I don't use unproven sires. I would rather pay more for the sire later.”

As we've already seen, he's confident that Constitution has made the grade, and expects better again as his upgraded books kick in. (One of his Constitution yearlings in this sale is out of a mare purchased, uncharacteristically, at 13 and already responsible for Grade I winner Come Dancing {Malibu Moon}–and that was precisely because she was carrying this foal by the breakout WinStar sire.) And Flay also loves the injection of speed that qualifies Not This Time to fill an impending void, with Classic sires like Curlin, Tapit and Medaglia d'Oro entering the evening of their careers. (Sure enough, White Hot has a weanling colt by Not This Time.)

All the while, however, his aspirations must be tempered by the reality with which we started: that some of these other guys have reserves as deep as their oil wells.

“Their ammunition and mine is very different,” Flay reflects. “I have to save my powder. I have to be very strategic. There are many sales, including premium sales, where I can't identify a single thing I want to buy–because the pedigree just isn't good enough. That doesn't mean a filly won't come out of that sale and win the Kentucky Oaks. But if a horse can't run, gets hurt, whatever, I need something to lean on.”

By the same token, he would rather double down on a pedigree than undersell.

“That's maybe my more impulsive side,” he says. “But like last year, literally a week before the Keeneland sale, Cover Song's Quality Road colt got an abscess in his foot. I said, 'Okay, we'll race him.' If I have seven foals this year, I know there's a good chance seven aren't going to make the auction ring. That's okay with me. And if nobody wants to pay me what I think a horse is worth, I'm okay taking it back home. Because not only do I know the horse is going to be taken care of, which is incredibly important to me, but it will also be given every opportunity to succeed. So we're all working toward bettering these pages, and strengthening my roster.”

Flay greets Pizza Bianca and rider Jose Ortiz on the way back to the winner's circle | Horsephotos

Having built something so impressive through the first 15 years, Flay can now start to consolidate for the next 15. Among his small band of mares, he has “pillars” that look eligible to start a dynasty: the likes of America, Cover Song, White Hot and Dame Dorothy (Bernardini), a $390,000 yearling who won a Grade I and whose first foal by Curlin, Spice Is Nice, brought seven figures when taking her own turn at the September Sale, before becoming a graded stakes winner last year.

“I mean, these are mares that are already producing beautiful progeny,” Flay reasons. “They're selling at the sales, they're running on the racetrack. So I would love just to continue growing these families. My daughter is 26, she's interested, and I say to her: 'I don't want you to make this your life, but I do need you to keep up with what's going on–because at some point you're going to have to know what to do with a lot of valuable bloodstock.' I want to grow my horses' family trees so that my own family tree can enjoy it, too, decades later.”

Rather closer to hand, meanwhile, is a momentous staging post in the annual cycle.

“We wouldn't have put any of these in Book I unless we thought them really 'primo',” Flay emphasizes. “We feel like we've had some really good luck, from a physical standpoint. I love Saratoga so we took America's filly up there and she was an absolute queen. But just from an international standpoint, we like going to Keeneland with pedigrees like these.”

And he could offer no higher praise than this: if he didn't own the fillies already, they would be the ones he'd be looking at. When Delahooke gives him a shortlist, he always asks: “Is there anything better than what I have in the sale?” Because if the answer is no, it can be hard to let them go.

“But that's the whole thing,” Flay reasons. “I've been able to put together this very small, boutique broodmare band, and it's all very good stuff, the top of the pedigree chain. And when I put something in the ring, there are people out there with the same feeling that I have. People that when they turn the page and see these pedigrees, and then see what these horses look like, will raise their hand with fervor. Because they know how hard it is, to get into these families, and here they have an opportunity to get it ready-made.”

It's a long time now since Flay was fired up with a new passion, watching old races and poring over pedigrees deep into the night.

“And I still have a lot to learn,” he stresses. “It's like the wine business: you can know a lot but you can never know it all. I know it's not a perfect science. Sometimes these families get hot, sometimes they lose a little steam. But that's what's so wonderful, everything continues to evolve. If you want to play at the highest level, you really have to pay close attention. But I absolutely love it. It's become a very important part of my life, and I love it dearly.”

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But two-time Horse of the Year and Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa stallion Curlin was just getting started, as the next hip through the ring, a colt out of GISW Angela Renee (Bernardini) bred on a potent cross, garnered a winning bid of $1.75 million from agent Mike Ryan. Hip 127, whose dam was acquired for a sale-topping $3 million by Don Alberto Corp. at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton November sale, was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, Agent LXXXVII.

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The rail-drawn Untreated (Nyquist) hit the ground running and enjoyed an easy time of things up front, as defending champion Max Player (Honor Code) applied only token pressure. First Captain punched the breeze out wide, while Dynamic One was guided down to the inside by Irad Ortiz, Jr. for the long run down the backstretch.

Untreated still had things very much his own way racing into the final half-mile, but First Captain was given his cue about three furlongs from home, with Dynamic One following that move and poised to strike. The favorite was steered out deepest into the lane and appeared to be ready to blow the race apart in upper stretch, but First Captain refused to lie down while racing tightly between rivals and the duo raced in near lockstep through the final stages, with Dynamic One prevailing by a short head. Untreated boxed on gamely for third to complete a 1-3 for the stable.

“He's getting better. His mind is much better,” the winning jockey commented. “He's starting to figure out the game and he's changed a lot. He…switched up [leads] when I wanted to and he let me do my thing. Then he turned it on when I wanted to.”

Pletcher indicated that Dynamic One would make his next start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup–a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic–on closing weekend at Saratoga Sept. 3.

Outnodded for the victory in last year's GII Wood Memorial by barnmate Bourbonic (Bernardini), Dynamic One was well-beaten in the GI Kentucky Derby, but atoned with a defeat of Miles D (Curlin) and First Captain in the July 30 restricted Curlin S. at Saratoga. Rested off a seventh in the GI Runhappy Travers S. the next month, the $725,000 Keeneland September graduate was third to the in-form Scalding (Nyquist) in Tampa's GIII Challenger S. Mar. 12 and runner-up to the same foe in the GII Ben Ali S. at Keeneland Apr. 23 and was exiting a smart success in the June 4 Blame S. at Churchill.

Pedigree Notes:

Dynamic One is the 15th graded winner for his Lane's End-based stallion, whose finest hour as a racehorse came in the 2012 GI Belmont S. And he becomes yet another 2022 graded-stakes winner descending from a Phipps female family, as laid out by Sid Fernando in his July 6 Taking Stock column.

Dynamic One is the final Phipps-bred from his unplaced dam, a daughter of the Phippses 2002 champion 2-year-old filly Storm Flag Flying, who was also responsible for MGSP turfer Revved Up (Candy Ride {Arg}) and the dam of the Grade III-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Jouster (Noble Mission {GB}), who added to her resume with a victory for Pletcher in the July 3 Perfect Sting S. over the local grass course.

Third dam My Flag was unlucky not to win an Eclipse statuette of her own, given her thrilling victory in the 1995 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Big Sandy, Grade I tallies at three in the GI Ashland S., GI CCA Oaks and GI Gazelle H. and a third-place effort in that year's GI Belmont S. My Flag, a daughter of undefeated legend Personal Ensign (Private Account), was a half-sister to JCGC winner Miner's Mark and fellow GISW Traditionally and her daughter Sound the Trumpets (Bernardini) produced the aforementioned Miles D.

Beat the Drums was purchased by Riverbend Farm for $400,000 in foal to Honor Code at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale and produced the colt Videri, a $260,000 KEESEP purchase who remains unraced for Centennial Farms. She is also the dam of a yearling Ghostzapper colt and a filly foal by Street Sense.

Saturday, Belmont Park
SUBURBAN S.-GII, $388,000, Belmont, 7-9, 4yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:01.26, ft.
1–DYNAMIC ONE, 118, c, 4, by Union Rags
                1st Dam: Beat the Drums, by Smart Strike
                2nd Dam: Storm Flag Flying, by Storm Cat
                3rd Dam: My Flag, by Easy Goer
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($725,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP).
O-Repole Stable, Phipps Stable & St Elias Stable; B-Phipps
Stable (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz Jr. $220,000.
Lifetime Record: 12-4-3-1, $699,950. Werk Nick Rating: A+++
*Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–First Captain, 120, c, 4, Curlin–America, by A.P. Indy.
($1,500,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-West Point
Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm LLC, Bobby Flay & Woodford
Racing LLC; B-B Flay Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Claude R
McGaughey III. $80,000.
3–Untreated, 118, c, 4, Nyquist–Fully Living, by Unbridled's
Song. ($550,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $300,000 3yo '21 KEEJAN).
O-Team Valor International LLC; B-Ashview Farm & Old Oak
Farm (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher. $48,000.
Margins: NO, 3/4, 7 3/4. Odds: 0.90, 1.90, 5.60.
Also Ran: Max Player, Forewarned.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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With the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the rear-view mirror, the summer turf season kicks into high gear starting with a pair of Grade I's at Belmont Park Saturday. The home team takes on a new wave of European challengers in the 1 1/4-mile GI Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational S., the first leg of the Caesars Turf Triple Series.

Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb), last seen finishing ninth behind longshot GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice), finally gets back to the surface that he's shown plenty of success on previously. Tiz the Bomb scored back-to-back victories on the grass in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile S. Sept. 6 and Keeneland's GII Castle & Key Bourbon S. Oct. 10. He ended his 2-year-old campaign with just a half-length defeat to Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar Nov. 5, his most recent try on grass.

After an unsuccessful 3-year-old debut in the GIII Holy Bull S., Tiz the Bomb returned to form with two wins on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park, taking both the John Battaglia Memorial S. Mar. 5 and GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S. Apr. 2. He defeated eventual Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) in the latter.

“We gave him a Kentucky Derby chance,” trainer Ken McPeek said. “He ran respectable, but he's certainly not as good on the dirt as he is on the grass.”

McPeek will also saddle Kentucky Derby 11th Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway), who will be making his first start on the turf. The GIII Sam F. Davis S. and the GII Tampa Bay Derby winner, previously trained by Brian Lynch, was third in Thistledown's GIII Ohio Derby June 25.

Topping the European contenders is Godolphin homebred Nations Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), who, barring his poor effort most recently in the G1 Cazoo Derby at Epsom June 4, previously won four straight, including a seven-length win in the Newmarket S. Apr. 29 over the same 1 1/4-mile distance he'll try Saturday.

Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), drawn wide in post 13, also exits a disappointing showing like his aforementioned rival in the Cazoo Derby. Prior to that, he showed good form in taking the G3 Derby Trial S. at Leopardstown May 8 and also when finishing second in the 2021 G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

Also on tap over Belmont's turf course Saturday is the 1 1/4- mile GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S., which features a similar combination of American and European-bred contenders. Chad Brown brings a trio of options starting with 'TDN Rising Star' Haughty (Empire Maker), who ended her juvenile season with only a three-quarter length defeat to Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Nov. 5 at Del Mar.

McKulick (GB) (Frankel {GB}) enters for Brown off a second- place finish in the 1 1/8-mile GIII Regret S. at Churchill Downs June 4. She was also second behind fellow Oaks rival New Year's Eve (Kitten's Joy) in the GII Edgewood S. May 6.

Rounding out Brown's entries is Consumer Spending (More Than Ready), who enters having won four of her last five starts. While no match for Pizza Bianca in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, she began her 3-year-old season with back-to-back wins. She turned the tables on Pizza Bianca in Aqueduct's Memories of Silver S. Apr. 24, then added the GII Wonder Again S. at Belmont June 9.

Hailing from the barn of Aidan O'Brien, Concert Hall (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is listed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite. The 2021 G3 Weld Park S. winner was stretched out in distance as a 3-year-old. Her form this season includes a third-place finish in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas May 22, a fourth-place finish in the G1 Cazoo Oaks June 3, and a fifth-place finish in the G1 Pretty Polly S. at Curragh June 26.

Five Line Up for Suburban

The Belmont dirt will showcase older horses going 1 1/4 miles in the GII Suburban S. Shug McGaughey brings in 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin), who enters off a career-best performance in the GIII Pimlico Special S. May 20. Dynamic One (Union Rags) is listed as the 7-5 morning-line favorite in the field of five. After getting seven months off following his seventh-place effort in the GI Travers S. Aug. 28, he returned as a 4-year-old with increasingly positive results. He checked in third off the layoff in the GIII Challenger S. at Tampa Mar. 12, was second in the GIII Ben Ali S. Apr. 23, and most recently won the Blame S. June 4 at Churchill. The field also includes defending Suburban champion Max Player (Honor Code).

The Belmont card also includes the GIII Victory Ride S. for 3-year-old fillies. Marylou Whitney Stables's Pretty Birdie (Bird Song) was second in her last two, completing the exacta behind Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile) in the GII Eight Belles S. May 6 and Wicked Halo (Gun Runner) in the Leslie's Lady Overnight S. June 12. The field also includes Happy Soul (Runhappy), second last time in Pimlico's GIII Miss Preakness S. May 20.

Smaller Circuit Graded Stakes Attract Big Names

Horseshoe Indianapolis–formerly Indiana Grand–may've changed its name, but the industry's heavy hitters came with their runners just the same for the GIII Indiana Derby and GIII Indiana Oaks, scheduled to go as the last two races on the card.

In the nightcap contest for the colts, 75-1 longshot GII Rebel S. conqueror Un Ojo (Laoban) returns off a three-month layoff in his first attempt for trainer Robertino Diodoro. Conditioner Kenny McPeek's GISW Rattle N Roll (Connect) is cross-entered here and in the Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows after ending his five-race losing streak last weekend in the July 2 American Derby at Churchill Downs. Texas Derby winner King Ottoman (Curlin), trained by Steve Asmussen, and the Brad Cox-trained Best Actor (Flatter)–a $330,000 KEESEP purchase for Gary and Mary West–round a talented, if lightly raced, field.

The Indiana Oaks is shaping up to be a battle of the trainers as McPeek and Cox send out a pair each. Juddmonte homebred Patna (Into Mischief) and GI Ashland S. third Interstatedaydream (Classic Empire) will fly the flag of the latter. Nine-length maiden winner Silverleaf (Speightster) and the rapidly improving Runaway Wife (Gun Runner) will look to cap a potentially big day for McPeek.

Shifting to Prairie Meadows for the evening, the GIII Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H. attracted the evergreen gelding Rated R Superstar (Kodiak Kowboy), looking to rebound from a pair of disappointing efforts, including in Lone Star's May 30 GIII Steve Sexton Mile S. That race was won by the horse to his inside, the re-opposing Silver Prospector (Declaration of War). Warrant (Constitution), second last out in the GII Brooklyn H. June 11 and second Mar. 5 in the GI Santa Anita H., aims to secure his first win of the season.

A field of eight fillies will do battle for the GIII Iowa Oaks crown, led by the Todd Pletcher-trained Falconet (Uncle Mo) and local Panther S. victress Butterbean (Klimt). Candy Raid (Candy Ride {Arg}), a surprise winner of the Apr. 2 Bourbonette Oaks, is cross-entered in the Indiana Oaks.

Marathon Runners Chime In From Delaware

A big weekend of racing will also be rolling at Delaware Park as a field of 10 lines up to contest the grassy GIII Robert G. Dick Memorial S., featuring over half of the Keertana S. field, including first and second-place finishers Temple City Terror (Temple City) and Stand Tall (Uncle Mo).

The main track filly and mare marathoners will also have their day in the (most likely not present) Delaware sun in the GII Delaware Handicap, with the streaking Serena's Song S. and Obeah S. heroine Miss Leslie (Paynter) leading the charge.

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Adding blinkers for the first time off a disappointing seventh in the GI Carter H. Apr. 9, the $1.5-million joint-topper at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale was off alertly and settled in fifth position passing under the wire for the first time as recent Excelsior S. runner-up Untreated (Nyquist) led them along through a leisurely opening couple of furlongs in :24.99. Traveling comfortably enough down the backstretch, First Captain raced worse than midfield and was four off the inside and in the clear as the field entered the final half-mile, the pace still very much working against the back markers on a track that seemed to be carrying speed. The chestnut came under a Luis Saez ride with about three furlongs to run and looked to be one-paced at the top of the stretch, as Untreated was still enjoying a soft time of things up front. But, pulled out to the middle of the track, First Captain took aim on favored Vindictive (Uncle Mo)–who'd wrested command from his stablemate Untreated deep inside the final furlong–and fought on bravely to score by a short neck.

An impressive debut winner over seven furlongs last April, First Captain showed determination and poise well beyond his relative inexperience to add a first-level Belmont allowance en route to 'Rising Star' honors the following month. The chestnut made the GIII Dwyer S. his third win from as many appearances July 5, but he stubbed his toe when trying two turns for the first time in the restricted Curlin S. July 30 and was shelved. First Captain made a victorious comeback to the races in a seven-furlong test at Gulfstream Feb. 27, but was always outpaced in the Carter, finishing well down the field.

“I debated on the blinkers last year after the Curlin, but we didn't get that far,” said Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. “We trained him in them here [at Belmont Park] and we liked what we saw. I saw him gallop here the other morning before he shipped and my thought was, 'If he runs the way he gallops, he's going to be pretty tough.' Obviously, he did.

McGaughey continued, “He had trained well. The Carter was a puzzler. All his other races were good; he's won five out of seven now with a third in a listed stakes. We were anxious to get him around two turns.”

Pedigree Notes:

Bobby Flay, who was also represented Friday by Hilltop S. winner Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), gained access to First Captain's booming female family when acquiring second dam Lacadena privately after she was led out unsold on a bid of $1.4 million at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

The fact that Lacadena, stakes-placed at two for Jim and Alice Sapara, would prove to be so coveted, was no surprise, particularly in the aftermath of the 2007 racing season. The mare's dam, Butterfly Blue, was a half-sister to Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister), whose daughter Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy), defeated First Captain's sire in a stirring renewal of the GI Belmont S., giving an unusually demonstrative trainer Todd Pletcher a first Classic success.

For her second covering, and to no one's surprise, Flay sent Lacadena to A.P. Indy and the mare foaled a filly in March 2011. The celebrity chef elected to retain that produce when bidding stalled out on her at $725,000 at Keeneland September in 2012, and the decision proved shrewd, as America would go on to win five times from 22 starts, including the GIII Turnback the Alarm H., and was third in the GI Delaware H. before retiring to Flay's boutique broodmare band in 2016.

Flay elected to send America to Curlin for her first date in the breeding shed and he must have been pleased with the result, as she returned to the Hill 'n' Dale star for the 2018 breeding season. She foaled a filly in January 2019, eight months before First Captain took his spot in the Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, where he and a Curlin colt out of Wapi (Chi) (Scat Daddy) shared top honors when hammering for $1.5 million.

The family was given yet another advertisement in the summer of 2020, when Paris Lights (Curlin), a daughter of America's half-sister Paris Bikini (Bernardini), took out the GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Flay sold Lacadena to Heider Family Stables in foal to Bernardini for $1.3 million at Keeneland November in 2015, while Paris Bikini was hammered down to Katsumi Yoshida for $1.95 million in foal to Uncle Mo at Fasig-Tipton November in 2020.

America visited Uncle Mo in the winter of 2019 and was offered by Flay at that year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She was ultimately retained on a bid of $3.1 million. The resulting produce, a colt, was a $550,000 RNA at Keeneland September last fall, while America is responsible for a yearling full-sister to First Captain and a colt by Uncle Mo foaled Mar. 19. She was bred to Curlin again this season.

Friday, Pimlico
PIMLICO SPECIAL S.-GIII, $300,000, Pimlico, 5-20, 3yo/up, 1 3/16m, 1:56.24, ft.
1–FIRST CAPTAIN, 120, c, 4, by Curlin
1st Dam: America (GSW & MGISP, $580,532), by A.P. Indy
2nd Dam: Lacadena, by Fasliyev
3rd Dam: Butterfly Blue (Ire), by Sadler's Wells
'TDN Rising Star' ($1,500,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-West Point  Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm LLC, Bobby Flay & Woodford Racing LLC; B-B Flay Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Claude R McGaughey III; J-Luis Saez. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 7-5-0-1, $470,100. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*.
2–Vindictive, 120, c, 4, Uncle Mo–Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook.  1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($200,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP).  O-Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, LLC & LNJ Foxwoods;  B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Todd A  Pletcher. $60,000.
3–Untreated, 120, c, 4, Nyquist–Fully Living, by Unbridled's  Song. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($550,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP;  $300,000 3yo '21 KEEJAN). O-Team Valor International LLC;  B-Ashview Farm & Old Oak Farm (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher.  $30,000.
Margins: HD, 1 1/4, 7 1/4. Odds: 5.00, 1.00, 4.00.
Also Ran: Workin On a Dream, Mohaafeth, Treasure Trove, Mischief Afoot, Excellorator, Capocostello, Forewarned. Scratched: Shooger Ray Too.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Always held in high regard by his connections, the Godolphin homebred has found his calling around one turn this year after concluding his sophomore season with a drifting second in the 1 1/8-mile Discovery S. here Nov. 27. Drawn widest of all in post eight, the 8-5 Carter morning-line favorite is conditioned by Hall of Famer Bill Mott.

“He showed plenty last year. We tried stretching him out, but it wasn't really what he wanted to do,” said Godolphin bloodstock director Michael Banahan. “We got him back out to one-turn miles and he was impressive in both of those. That's [one-turn contests] what it looks like he wants to do.”

Green Light Go (Hard Spun) is just a head short of a three-race winning streak since re-joining the Jimmy Jerkens barn. The narrow 2021 GIII Fall Highweight H. runner-up delivered a front-running tally in the local Stymie S. last time Feb. 26.

The MGISW 6-year-old Mind Control (Stay Thirsty), second in this race last year, posted head victories in the GII John A. Nerud S. July 4 and Parx Dirt Mile S. last out Sept. 25. He was forced to sit out the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile after spiking a fever.

Rail-drawn 'TDN Rising Star' Reinvestment Risk (Upstart), runner-up in both the GI Runhappy Hopeful S. and GI Champagne S. at two, finished third in his lone start at three. He returned off a subsequent seven-month layoff with a sharp win with a career-best 103 Beyer in an optional claimer at Gulfstream Feb. 26.

Fellow 'Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin), winner of last summer's GIII Dwyer S. and third-place finisher in the Curlin S., also returned from the bench with a well-timed optional claiming victory in Hallandale Feb. 27.

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