Frank Mitchell | Horse Racing Free Tips

Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Clairiere Displays The Winning Formula For Stonestreet

The prep races at the Fair Grounds brought out some of the bright prospects for the 2021 classics, and the winners of both the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and the G2 Risen Star Stakes are a filly and a colt marked for classic potential by their immediate antecedents.

Stonestreet Stable's Clairiere (by Curlin) won the Rachel Alexandra and is by a Preakness Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic winner out of a mare by a Preakness winner, Bernardini (A.P. Indy). Juddmonte's Mandaloun won the Risen Star and is by the sire of 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Authentic (Into Mischief) out of a mare by Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker (A.P. Indy).

The recipe is clear. Breed a top-class stallion to a daughter of a classic winner, especially if it's a classic son of Belmont Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic winner A.P. Indy.

In addition to Authentic, Into Mischief is also responsible for Kentucky Derby third Audible, who is a G1 winner and is a sire standing at WinStar Farm. This year, Into Mischief also has the highly regarded Life is Good (2021 Sham Stakes) and Mutasaabeq (2021 Mucho Macho Man Stakes) working their way along the classic trail.

In contrast, Curlin is light-handed for colts at the moment, but the glowing chestnut titan is flush with fillies. As of the weekend, chief of these is Clairiere, who picked up 50 points for the Kentucky Oaks and guaranteed herself a starting gate position if all goes well between now and the filly's classic.

And among Curlin's stakes horses of 2021, at least five by the two-time Horse of the Year are out of daughters of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy or one of his sons. Is this the greatest cross of the present day?

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Bloodstock LLC, Clairiere is the first foal of the Bernardini mare Cavorting, who won three Grade 1 races (Test, Personal Ensign, and Ogden Phipps). That race record shows that Cavorting had first-class speed, especially for a daughter of champion Bernardini, who sires a sprinter only by accident, but some of his best are so talented that they can race effectively at almost any distance.

Cavorting was one of the latter, as she proved with a Grade 2 victory in the Adirondack Stakes at two, then progressed at three and four to win Grade 1 races both years.

Bred by Swettenham Stud and purchased by Stonestreet as a weanling for $360,000 at the 2012 Keeneland November sale, Cavorting earned $2 million her new owners. John Moynahan picked out Cavorting for Stonestreet and recalled that she “was a beautiful foal. Total quality.

“Then as a yearling, she looked like she'd be a very precocious 2-year-old. She won her debut by 11 lengths, then won the Adirondack by a length and a quarter,” from Angela Renee, another Bernardini filly who won the G1 Chandelier Stakes later that year. Fifth in the Adirondack was Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway), who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and was named champion of her division for 2014.

Cavorting went to the G1 Frizette unbeaten in two starts but finished seventh and “had to be put on the shelf due to some minor bone bruising,” Moynahan recalled, “although she never had any real soundness issues.”

“When she got older,” Moynahan said, “[trainer] Kiaran [McLaughlin] came with the idea to try her going two turns,” and Cavorting won the last three starts of her career going a mile or more, including two of her three Grade 1s.

On retirement, great hopes were held for Cavorting because “she's kind of a throwback who can last on the New York circuit to win major races at two, three, and four. Real hickory,” Moynahan said.

Sure enough, the lovely bay mare has continued her winning ways at stud. Clairiere is the first foal of her dam and now is her first graded stakes winner. The Rachel Alexandra winner is the 74th stakes winner for Curlin. Since Clairiere, Cavorting has produced a 2-year-old filly by Medaglia d'Oro who is yet unnamed and has a yearling full brother to Clairiere. Bred to Quality Road last year, the mare was barren.

The mare is booked to Into Mischief.

Clairiere is the third generation of her female family to win a graded stakes, as the filly's second dam is the Carson City mare Promenade Girl, who won the G2 Molly Pitcher, four other stakes, and also was third in the G1 Spinster and Ogden Phipps.

“Cavorting's pedigree, physique, and attitude made us very hopeful for her prospects as a broodmare,” Moynahan said, “and now it looks like she could be a tremendous producer, the sort of mare who could get a world-class champion.”

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Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Knicks Go Serves As Rising Tide For His Connections

The Awesome Again stallion Paynter had an unusual result in the 2021 running of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 23. He had two sons starting in the race, and they finished as bookends to the field. Favored Knicks Go won the race by 2 3/4 lengths in 1:47.89, and graded stakes winner Harpers First Ride was essentially eased to finish last of the 12 racers.

The winner is one of four graded stakes winners among the 15 stakes winners to date sired by Paynter, winner of the Grade 1 Haskell in 2012. Also second in the Belmont Stakes to the highly regarded young stallion Union Rags (Dixie Union), Paynter has gotten horses of good speed among his better stock, including the unquestionably fast Knicks Go.

The latter has won his last four races, including the G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and he is among the best older horses in training. Following the gray horse's victory at Gulfstream, his sire Paynter catapulted to the top of the leading sires list for 2021 with nearly $2.1 million in earnings this year, with last year's leading sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday) lurking ominously in second. Third place on the leading sires list currently is Tapiture (Tapit), and it is not coincidental that Knicks Go and Tapiture's leading earner, Jesus' Team, were one-two in the Pegasus, just as they were in the Breeders' Cup.

In phenotype, Paynter is quite like his sire, the Deputy Minister stallion Awesome Again. Both are medium-sized horses with quality and refinement, and they clearly take after the physical type of Awesome Again's maternal grandsire, European champion Blushing Groom, more than Eclipse Award winner Deputy Minister, a towering figure of size and scope, allied with uncommon quality.

After surviving laminitis, Paynter came back to race at four but approached his previous form only with a second-place finish to subsequent Breeders' Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno) in the G1 Awesome Again Stakes named for Paynter's famous father.

The bay horse went to stud in Kentucky at WinStar for an initial fee of $25,000 live foal, and in Paynter's second book of mares, foals of 2016, was the mare who produced Knicks Go.

Bred in Maryland by Angie Moore, Knicks Go is out of the stakes-winning Outflanker mare Kosmo's Buddy, who won a pair of stakes, the 2008 Maryland Million Turf Sprint and the Crank It Up Stakes, and placed second or third in a dozen more, earning $298,095.

A winner of five races from 37 starts, Kosmo's Buddy was claimed by Moore's Green Mount Farm for $40,000 out of her next-to-last start, when the mare finished third. She came back to race once more, finishing fourth in the 2010 Maryland Million Turf Sprint.

Sabrina Moore was co-breeder of the horses with her mother, recalling that the mare was claimed in her mother's name because “this was all her dream.” As the breeding and racing operation developed, “I was so young that it was simpler for us to use my mom's ID and all for the business.

“And as I grew up and became more involved in working with the horses, we decided to make Green Mount Farm a more commercial business. I became a partner in the breeding, including becoming a partner with breeding Knicks Go,” Sabrina Moore said. The Moores bred the first half-dozen foals out of the mare.

Knicks Go is the mare's fourth foal. Kosmo's Buddy has a gray 3-year-old colt by the good sire Broken Vow (Unbridled) who is unraced, has no 2-year-old, has a gray yearling filly by champion Justify (Scat Daddy), and is in foal for 2021 to Horse of the Year Ghostzapper (Awesome Again). Moore noted that the “Broken Vow is really nice and in training at Pimlico. He has a lot of substance, standing about 16 hands.”

When carrying Knicks Go, Kosmo's Buddy was consigned to the 2015 Keeneland November sale but was bought back at $37,000. After Knicks Go won a maiden, Moore recalled that “agent Jun Park had called about buying her, and as a small breeder, you make money where you can.” So the Moores sold the hefty gray in a private transaction through the same agent who had helped pick out Knicks Go as a yearling for the KRA.

After the gray colt won his first Grade 1, the 2018 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, the new owner decided to send the mare to the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, where she was bought back for $195,000 when she was listed as “Not Bred” in the catalog.

After that sale, Hanzly Albina said: “Nick Sallusto and I had noticed that she had been bought back. We negotiated and got her for a very good price” on behalf of Newtown Anner Stud LLC, which is the breeder of the Justify filly mentioned above.

Albina continued: “When we bought this mare, we knew we were never going to sell her. So it didn't matter that she isn't the tallest or most attractive individual herself. She's a Grade 1 producer, and Newtown Anner is both a commercial and a racing operation; we try to offer all the yearlings at auction, but if we have one that doesn't bring a reasonable sum at a sale, we're happy to race on with it.”

In selecting a first mate for Newtown Anner's new mare, Albina said, “I had intended to send her to Ghostzapper, but with Justify retiring, you only get one chance at the first year to a Triple Crown winner. The result is that we have a nice filly. From what I've seen of the mare's foals, she translates the stallion through, and the Justify [yearling] has a lot of size, an extended hip, and is a very nice physical.”

In addition to sharing the gray color of her dam, the Justify filly has a gray half-brother who is one of the top horses in training in 2021.

When Knicks Go went through the ring for the first time at the 2016 Keeneland November sale as a weanling, he sold to Northface Bloodstock for $40,000 from the Bill Reightler consignment, as agent for Green Mount. The price for the colt was the seventh-highest for a weanling among the 24 sold by Paynter in 2016.

Ten months later, the gray colt went to the sales again with Woods Edge Sales and brought $87,000 (sixth among 67 yearlings sold by the sire) at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale, selling to the Korea Racing Authority. As I documented in an article about Knicks Go when he won the Breeders' Futurity, the KRA purchased Knicks Go and a handful of other prospects as an experiment in selecting good athletes that might be stallion prospects.

In Knicks Go, there's no question they have a winner.

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Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Midnight Bourbon Begins The Last Hurrahs At Stud For Tiznow

From one of the last crops by the now-pensioned Tiznow (by Cee's Tizzy), Midnight Bourbon became his sire's 81st stakes winner with a victory in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Jan. 16.

Last year, Midnight Bourbon had shown high-class form. The bay had finished second to Sittin On Go (Brody's Cause) in the G3 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5 and had been third to Jackie's Warrior and Reinvestment Risk in the G1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 10 in the last start at two for Midnight Bourbon.

The son of Tiznow made his 3-year-old debut in the Lecomte, rating kindly on the lead and holding the closers at bay to finish the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.41. The Lecomte will put Midnight Bourbon on some lists for the classics, and the handsome bay is expected to race next in the G2 Risen Star at the Fair Grounds on Feb. 13.

A classic victory would make Midnight Bourbon only the second son of Tiznow to win a classic; Da' Tara won the 2008 Belmont Stakes. The same year, Colonel John won the G1 Santa Anita Derby and Travers, then in between had finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby. That was Tiznow's best year with a classic crop of racers.

With the stallion now pensioned from breeding, there won't be too many opportunities for more classic performers. Midnight Bourbon comes from Tiznow's fourth-last crop, and the stallion has 106 2-year-olds, foals of 2019.

For the foals that are yearlings of 2021, the aged stallion bred 113 mares, with 85 reported in foal. Those pregnancies resulted in 63 live foals (56 percent live foals to mares bred). In his last breeding season, Tiznow covered 38 mares in 2020.

As a classic prospect, Midnight Bourbon is a very good-looking and well-proportioned colt with good muscle and speed for going a mile or more. Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet and consigned to the Keeneland September yearling sale by Warrendale, Midnight Bourbon sold to Winchell Thoroughbreds for $525,000, making the second-highest price for a Tiznow yearling in 2019.

Midnight Bourbon is the fourth named foal of his dam, the Malibu Moon mare Catch the Moon, and he is the mare's fourth graded stakes winner. Catch the Moon's first foal and stakes winner was Cocked and Loaded, one of the best racers by the Tiznow stallion Colonel John. At two, Cocked and Loaded won a pair of stakes, including the G3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill.

The mare's second foal was the best racer by Grade 1 winner Tale of Ekati, Girvin. A striking dark bay, Girvin won a pair of Grade 2 stakes, the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby in the first half of his 3-year-old season, then added the G1 Haskell during the summer of his 3-year-old season in 2017. After earning more than $1.6 million, Girvin stands at stud in Florida at Ocala Stud.

The third foal out of Catch the Moon was the gelding Pirate's Punch (Shanghai Bobby), who was one of the best racers by his sire. Pirate's Punch was three times placed at the Grade 3 level, then won the G3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park as a 4-year-old in 2020.

With high-class performers already on the page, Midnight Bourbon was a sales success, and he has added to the mare's succession of stakes performers. There must have been other mares who produced four stakes winners in succession, but the only other I've uncovered with about this level of quality is the great champion racemare Miesque (Nureyev), whose first four foals all won stakes. Her fourth, the Woodman mare Moon is Up, was only a listed winner, but Miesque's first and second foals – Kingmambo and East of the Moon – were both G1 winners.

Catch the Moon has a 2-year-old colt by Curlin who sold for $500,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale but is unnamed to date. The mare's yearling is yet another colt, this one by Quality Road.

Catch the Moon is the first foal out of stakes winner Catch My Fancy (Yes It's True), successful in the Barretts Debutante at Fairplex and the Fairfield Stakes at Solano. A $150,000 2-year-old in training, Catch My Fancy had plenty of speed, and she is the dam of stakes winners Dubini (Gio Ponti), winner of the 2019 Laurel Dash, and What a Catch (Justin Phillip), winner of the Rockville Centre Stakes.

There is plenty of speed in this family, and Catch the Moon is inbred 3×2 to Monique Rene (Prince of Ascot), a mare raced by John Franks. A winner of 29 races, including 15 stakes, Monique Rene was a legend in Louisiana racing. In addition to those mentioned above, the best racers to descend from her include Grade 1 winners Yes It's True (De Francis Memorial Dash) and Silver Max (Shadwell Turf Mile), as well as Kiss a Native, champion 3-year-old colt in Canada.

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Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Life Is Getting Interesting For Life Is Good

The name of the winner of the 2021 Sham Stakes might as well be the year's motto: Life is Good.

And getting better.

The dark bay son of Into Mischief (by Harlan's Holiday) had won a maiden on his debut that staggered the speed figure makers, as the colt coasted home by 9 1/2 lengths on Nov. 22 at Del Mar. The sheets and graphs and figs were all very strong on this powerful-looking bay, and Life is Good had been working well and looking good in the meantime.

In the meantime, both the second and fourth in the maiden won by Life is Good have returned and won their maiden specials. Second-place Wipe the Slate (Nyquist) came back on Dec. 26 to win and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 88. On Jan. 3, the fourth-placed Centurian (Empire Maker) made his second start and won by 3 3/4 lengths, going a mile and a sixteenth in 1:44.88. This looks like a key maiden, and more black type is likely to come to its participants.

For his stakes debut on Jan. 2, Life is Good was the 1-to-5 favorite and won the Grade 3 Sham by three-quarters of a length over Medina Spirit in 1:36.63. The second-place finisher had 13 lengths on third-place Parnelli (Quality Road), and Medina Spirit (Protonico) was the peanut butter in a price sandwich among the top three finishers.

Whereas the winner sold for $525,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale and Parnelli sold for $500,000 at the same auction, Medina Spirit brought $1,000 at the 2019 OBS winter mixed sale as a short yearling, then resold last year at the OBS June (in July) sale of 2-year-olds in training for $35,000.

As a great breeder once said, “Horses can't read their pedigrees or their press clippings, and it's a good thing.”

Although the “thousand-dollar wonder” made a race of it, Life is Good was strong to the end, and the son of leading sire Into Mischief became the 84th stakes winner for the top Spendthrift Farm stallion.

Life is Good was bred in Kentucky by Gary and Mary West, who also bred and raced Maximum Security (New Year's Day). The Wests' racing manager, Ben Glass, said: “Life is Good was a really nice colt. We liked him a lot, but the consensus at the time was that the Into Mischiefs wouldn't go a mile and a quarter. So Mr. West told me to go ahead and put him in a sale.

“We breed enough foals every year that we have to sell some, and we have to sell some of the nicest ones because people notice if the yearlings don't include some serious prospects. For the nicer horses, we put a proper reserve on them, and if they bring it, they sell. Mr. West told me to put a half-million reserve on the Into Mischief colt,” and he brought $525,000 from China Horse Club and WinStar Farm LLC.

Owned by two of the principals behind Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy), Life is Good went into training with the man who trained the last two Triple Crown winners, Bob Baffert. The bay colt is now unbeaten in two starts and is poised to race along the same path that 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Authentic (Into Mischief) trod a year ago.

Nor is Life is Good the only Into Mischief colt pointing toward the classics. On the same day and a continent's width away from Santa Anita, the bay Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief) won the Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream, covering the mile in 1:35.98. This was the progressive colt's third victory in five starts, and it was his first stakes victory on dirt.

After finishing third in the G1 Hopeful last summer, Mutasaabeq had tried turf and won the G2 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland, then finished unplaced in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf after an eventful trip.

Trained by Todd Pletcher for Shadwell Stable, Mutasaabeq was bred in Kentucky by Black Ridge Stables LLC. He is out of the Scat Daddy mare Downside Scenario, a half-sister to G3 stakes winner Cool Cowboy (Kodiak Kowboy). Winner of a maiden special, Downside Scenario sold to Black Ridge for $250,000 at the 2018 Keeneland January sale when she was carrying Mutasaabeq.

Expectations are that Mutasaabeq will try the classic trail, and he and Life is Good are two more examples of why Into Mischief is such a popular stallion: his racers are fast, enthusiastic competitors and everybody wants one.

Not surprisingly, the dam of Life is Good is already booked back to Into Mischief for a 2021 mating. Beach Walk is in foal to Candy Ride, carrying a colt, and due in the coming weeks. For breeders, it's simple. Glass said, “We love Into Mischief. We bred three mares to him in 2017, including Beach Walk, and bought a share in him. Then we sold the best one, and if we had to do it again, we'd probably do the same thing.”

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