Frank Mitchell | Horse Racing Free Tips

Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Charlatan And The Chestnut Tide

Chestnut coats are not the most common color in the Thoroughbred. Bay, and then dark bay or brown, far outnumber the red-headed wunderkind of the breed, and yet for some reason, there are a considerable number of very high-class racers who are chestnuts. Man o' War, as well as Triple Crown winners Sir Barton, Omaha, Whirlaway, Assault, Secretariat, and Justify, to name that few, stand out as superb racers with a chestnut coat.

Racing at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 was swept with a flood of three chestnuts getting their first Grade 1 victories. The most famous of these was Charlatan (by Speightstown), who won a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on May 2, only to have that prestigious prize removed from his record following the discovery of lidocaine in his system after a routine post-race test.

In the G1 Malibu, Charlatan was making his return to racing after nearly eight months away due to ankle soreness, then the recovery from that, and such was the quality of his competition that the flaming son of Speightstown was not the favorite. That honor went to another impressive son of Speightstown, Nashville, who last flashed his speed with victory in an undercard race at the 2020 Breeders' Cup.

Nashville broke first and led for a half-mile in the seven-furlong race, being credited with a quarter in :21.81 and a half in :43.95. The surface or those efforts proved tiring enough, however, for Nashville to retire rather quietly to fourth at the finish. Charlatan, a length off Nashville at each of those calls in second, inherited the lead, had four lengths on his competition at the stretch call, and won by 4 1/2 lengths in 1:21.50.

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC, Charlatan is the second foal and second stakes winner out of the high-class stakes winner Authenticity (Quiet American), who won the G2 La Troienne, as well as the G3 Shuvee at Saratoga, but perhaps more importantly, Authenticity was second in the G1 Personal Ensign, Ogden Phipps, and Zenyatta, then was third in the G1 Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Shortly after her finish in the Breeders' Cup for owner Padua Stables, Authenticity was sold at the Fasig-Tipton November sale to Stonestreet for $1.2 million. Her first foal for her new owner was stakes winner Hanalei Moon (Malibu Moon); Charlatan was born in 2017, after his dam had slipped her 2016 pregnancy, but the colt sold as a yearling for $700,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale to SF Bloodstock and Starlight West. Charlatan races for those entities, plus Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables.

This family traces back to generations of mares bred and raced by Bwamazon Farm, and the colt's ninth dam is multiple stakes winner Betty Derr (Sir Gallahad III), who was a yearling when her half-brother Clyde Van Dusen (Man o' War) won the 1929 Kentucky Derby. This is one of the oldest American-bred lines, going back more than 250 years to Selima, a daughter of the Godolphin Arabian.

The other two chestnuts to become Grade 1 winners in the last week of 2020 were fillies: Fair Maiden (Street Boss) and Duopoly (Animal Kingdom). Fair Maiden comes from an exalted female family, as her third dam is Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Status (A.P. Indy), but Secret Status has been deeply disappointing as a producer, with only five winners from 15 foals. Of those, only Dunkirk (Unbridled's Song) earned black type with seconds in the G1 Florida Derby and Belmont Stakes. She has only one known producing daughter, the Giant's Causeway mare Code Book, who has five winners from 10 foals, including a minor stakes-placed racer. The first foal of Secret Status, Code Book produced a first foal named Shieldmaiden (Smart Strike), and she is the dam of Fair Maiden.

Fair Maiden is the third foal and second winner for Shieldmaiden; Fair Maiden is the fifth Grade 1 winner for her sire Street Boss. One of two important sons of leading sire Street Cry standing for Darley at Jonabell Farm, Street Boss showed more speed in his racing career than Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, who has eight Grade 1 winners. Interestingly, Street Boss has sired Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia and Arkansas Derby winner Danza, who then finished third in the Kentucky Derby.

The second North American Grade 1 winner for her sire, Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, Duopoly is out of Grade 3 winner Justaroundmidnight, an Irish-bred daughter of the fast, classy sire Danehill Dancer. Both Danehill Dancer and top sire Machiavellian (Mr. Prospector), the sire of Duopoly's second dam, added quality speed to a line of mares successively sired by English Derby winner Shirley Heights (Mill Reef), English Derby winner Teenoso (Youth), and English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky (Northern Dancer). That's a very classic line of mares, and the addition of speed has certainly perked up its versatility.

Duopoly is the second Grade 1 winner of 2020 for Animal Kingdom, who is now at stud in Japan. Earlier this year, the 6-year-old Australian-bred Oleksandra won the G1 Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park. The sire's third G1 winner, Angel of Truth, won the Australian Derby in 2019.

Duopoly and other daughters of the chestnut classic winner may prove a lasting legacy in the States for the internationally pedigreed Animal Kingdom, who was the son of a Brazilian-bred sire out of a German-bred mare, and no doubt, his stamina and classic quality will be appreciated in Japan's racing program.

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Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Shuffled Juvenile Sale Calendar Doesn’t Change Success Of Grads

The sales of 2-year-olds in training could hardly have had a more robust promotion than the results of racing over the weekend. One sales horse from the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's postponed April sale that was conducted in June won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Starlet, while another sold at the auction won the G2 Remsen in New York. In addition, a filly from Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic sale at Timonium won the restricted Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes.

A poster pony for in-training sales success, Varda (by Distorted Humor) was a star at the OBS sale held in June (not the OBS June sale that was held in July this crazy year). The progressive filly was an excellent example of her sire's best sort of prospect, with the strength and speed of a serious athlete. Varda flamed a quarter-mile in :20 4/5 for her under-tack work, and she sold like the star she has become.

Part of the Niall Brennan sales consignment, Varda brought $700,000 from Donato Lanni, agent for Baoma Corp. The dark bay filly has now won two of her three starts, is a Grade 1 winner and Grade 2-placed, and has earnings of more than a quarter-million.

Bred in New York by Masters 2013 LLC and Distorted Humor Syndicate, Varda was a $100,000 yearling at the New York select sale at Saratoga. Then brought to the in-training sales, this filly looked so good and worked so impressively that she generated one of the greatest markups of the resale market in Ocala this year.

In marked contrast, the Remsen winner Brooklyn Strong (Wicked Strong) was a $30,000 weanling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall sale, then was a $42,000 RNA the following year at the same New York-bred select sale where Varda sold for six figures. Brought back to the sales ring two months later in Ocala for the OBS October yearling sale, Brooklyn Strong was an RNA for $6,000 this time. In his final brush with the sales, Brooklyn Strong sold for $5,000 at the OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training, held in June.

Coming out of the same massive sale, both Varda and Brooklyn Strong became graded stakes winners the same weekend on opposite coasts. The polar difference in their prices was significantly dependent on the appeal of their sires. Whereas Varda's sire Distorted Humor is the source of classic winners and champions, Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) bred 54 mares earlier this year, as his appeal to owners and buyers began to wane, and the horse was moved to Pin Oak Lane Farm in Pennsylvania in October for the 2021 season.

Brooklyn Strong is his sire's third stakes winner from two crops of racing age and the first graded stakes winner.

Despite the differences in price and sire power between the Starlet winner and the star of the Remsen, there are also some important similarities. Varda worked like a wonder, and Brooklyn Strong worked quite well, going a furlong in :10 2/5. In contrast to these quick workers, the winner of the Fifth Avenue, Laobanonaprayer, went relatively slow. That filly, by the sensational freshman sire Laoban (Uncle Mo), worked a quarter in :22 3/5, which is plenty quick for racing but not for a sales work. The sales price reflected that, and the big, scopy filly went through the ring for only $15,000 to owner-trainer Daniel Velazquez, who also trains Brooklyn Strong.

One of the reasons that I know so much about these sales horses is my work with DataTrack International, evaluating workouts, strides, efficiency, and athletic potential. One of the measures that DataTrack uses to evaluate horses is a proprietary item called BreezeFigs, which are essentially speed figures for workouts.

Using BreezeFigs, Varda scored a 70, Brooklyn Strong got a 68, and Laobanonaprayer had a 56. Several factors go into the computation of the BreezeFigs, aside from the raw time of the work. Rather than the high speed of the first two, Laobanonaprayer has the rather loping stride of a filly who should be even better going farther; that's how she won the Fifth Avenue, looping her rivals on the turn and loping past them, then keeping up those big, easy strides as she pulled away to win by eight lengths as the even-money favorite.

Another similarity of these quality racehorses is that each of them showed a stride length that was longer than 24 feet in their works. A really good racehorse has to cover the ground faster than its rivals. To do that, it either has to stride farther or to stride faster. The super-powered sprinters tend to throw in more strides, while the stayers tend to stretch out farther. The ones who can keep it up are the ones who end up in the winner's circle.

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Bloodlines: Slow-Developing Red Smith Winner North Dakota Another Success For Broodmare Starry Dreamer

For the beautifully pedigreed North Dakota (by Medaglia d'Oro), success in the Grade 3 Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 21 was like a spring thaw after a long, hard winter.

The 4-year-old colt won his first stakes in the Red Smith and capped a remarkable season in which the racer for the Joseph Allen Stables developed from a seemingly hapless maiden at the New Year tracks to graded stakes winner here in the penultimate month, with four victories from a half-dozen races.

In contrast, North Dakota had contrived to remain a maiden in a half-dozen previous races at 2 and 3 while being one of the most attractively bred horses in training and coming from the Hall of Fame barn of trainer C.R. “Shug” McGaughey.

Bred in Kentucky by Joseph Allen LLC, North Dakota is the 10^th and last foal out of Allen's star producer, the Rubiano mare Starry Dreamer. After the Red Smith, he is also the mare's fifth stakes winner.

Four of those won graded stakes, including leading sire War Front (Danzig), who stands at Claiborne Farm and is one of the most sought-after international stallions. Starry Dreamer's other stakes winners include G2 winner Teammate (A.P. Indy), who was also second or third in five G1 races; G3 stakes winner Ecclesiastic (Pulpit), who has been four times the leading sire in Uruguay; and Riviera Cocktail (Giant's Causeway), who was also twice placed in graded stakes. The mare also produced Jay Gatsby (also by Giant's Causeway), who was likewise twice placed in graded stakes but did not win one.

North Dakota seems to have progressed in strength and confidence from the first of the year, as well. Just viewing him on the screen, he appeared to have strengthened through the hindquarters and across the back, and there was no hesitation in the colt when jockey Jose Lezcano angled North Dakota out to challenge wide down the stretch.

The dark bay colt kept picking up horses and responded very willingly to the challenge of the towering Red Knight (Pure Prize) in the drive to the wire, and McGaughey noted after the race that “I wouldn't have thought he would be running in the Red Smith back when he broke his maiden at Tampa,” which came on on March 25. McGaughey added that North Dakota “had been training really well. I thought he had a big chance today. He's got the pedigree to do it and wants a distance of ground. Jose is a patient guy, and I said just take your time with him.”

Patience has paid off for all parties, and the colt is the greatest beneficiary. If there is further improvement in him, next season should offer some tempting options for a horse who wants to race 10 furlongs or longer on turf, and with his relations, someone will want to give him a chance at stud. If that happened, he would be the seventh son of Starry Dreamer to become a stallion.

A foal of 1994, Starry Dreamer was bred in Kentucky by Charles Nuckols & Sons from the first crop by champion sprinter Rubiano (Fappiano). Racing for Russell Reineman, she became the sire's first stakes winner with her victory in the 1996 Gold Digger Stakes at Hawthorne.

In April of 1997, Joe Allen acquired the filly privately, and she won the Palisades Stakes and Regret Stakes in her first two starts for him. In all, the gray won six of 31 starts, earning $564,789.

Retired to be a broodmare at Claiborne Farm, where Allen keeps his bloodstock, Starry Dreamer produced four stakes winners from her first four foals. Chronologically, they were Ecclesiastic, War Front, Teammate, and then Riviera Cocktail (who is a double post-barren, born after two barren years).

A couple of Storm Cat duds, one of whom was a $1 million RNA at the 2008 Keeneland September sale, were followed by an unraced Awesome Again filly named Gracie Square. The graded stakes-placed Jay Gatsby indicated that grand mare hadn't completely mislaid the plans for cooking a good one, and then North Dakota came along as the final foal after an unraced son of Smart Strike.

Both Jay Gatsby, who ran second in the G2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga and the G3 Knickerbocker at Belmont, and North Dakota are post-barren foals themselves. Research that I conducted several years ago into the foals of mares produced after a barren year showed that the percentage of stakes horses was surprisingly high.

The kink, of course, is that breeders don't plan barren years. It's counter-intuitive to try to miss a year with a mare, more especially a very good mare. The mares do that on their own; either their reproductive or immune and endocrine systems need the time off, and they get it.

It is interesting, however, that breeders may get an added benefit when their mare does go barren.

Frank Mitchell is author of Racehorse Breeding Theories, as well as the book Great Breeders and Their Methods: The Hancocks. In addition to writing the column “Sires and Dams” in Daily Racing Form for nearly 15 years, he has contributed articles to Thoroughbred Daily News, Thoroughbred Times, Thoroughbred Record, International Thoroughbred, and other major publications. In addition, Frank is chief of biomechanics for DataTrack International and is a hands-on caretaker of his own broodmares and foals in Central Kentucky. Check out Frank's lively Bloodstock in the Bluegrass blog.

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Bloodlines: Red Flag Flies The Banner For Sire Tamarkuz, La Troienne Family

Becoming the seventh freshman sire to get a graded stakes winner, Tamarkuz (by Speightstown) also chalked up his first stakes winner with the victory of Red Flag in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 15.

Red Flag rolled into contention at the half-mile marker after odds-on favorite Spielberg (Union Rags) and second-choice Weston (Hit It a Bomb) roasted each other with a quarter-mile in :22.73 and a half in :45.34. At the half-mile pole, Red Flag was already at Weston's throatlatch, and the red colt went on to win by 7 1/4 lengths in 1:23.56 for the seven furlongs.

This was the second victory from three starts by the progressive colt that trainer John Shirreffs described as “not a great work horse in the mornings.” That contributed to making Red Flag the second-longest price on the odds board, but such will not be the case in the future.

Nor was Red Flag the only longshot who succeeded on Sunday; the immediate success of his sire Tamarkuz was not a given. A handsome son of leading sire Speightstown, Tamarkuz proved his mettle on the racetrack, racing through his 6-year-old season and winning his best race at that age in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, when he had subsequent champions Gun Runner and Accelerate behind him.

With only 29 foals in his first crop, Tamarkuz was not warmly embraced by local breeders when the horse went to stud. Nonetheless, he is making believers.

For any young sire prospect to be commercially effective, he needs to attract 100 mares or more in his initial book. That general number is necessary for a new sire to have much chance of keeping up with the other top members of any entering stallion crop of the last quarter-century or so.

Yet Tamarkuz, from 29 foals, has 10 starters, five winners, a graded stakes winner, and he now sits in 23rd on the list of freshmen sires.

Bred in Kentucky by Elaine Macpherson, Red Flag is the second stakes winner out of Surrender (Stormy Atlantic), whom Macpherson purchased through agent Gayle Van Leer for $40,000 out of the 2014 Keeneland November sale. At the time of sale, Surrender was a 5-year-old and was carrying her second foal on a cover to the Tiznow stallion Morning Line. The foal she produced in 2015 was a filly later named Surrender Now, and two years later, Surrender Now won the 2017 Landaluce Stakes.

Red Flag is the mare's fourth foal and second stakes winner. Sent to the 2018 Keeneland November sale, Red Flag sold for $50,000 to Rosetown Bloodstock out of the Warrendale Sales consignment. Brought to the 2019 Keeneland September yearling sale, the colt resold out of the Eaton Sales consignment for $220,000 to Michael Dorsey and races for Tina and Jerome Moss.

All of Surrender's four foals of racing age are winners, and the mare has a yearling colt by Tiznow named Tiz Toujours, who was bought back for $23,000 at the 2020 October yearling sale at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky. The mare's weanling is a colt by first-crop sire Mendelssohn and already carries the name Calm Sea, and Surrender was covered by Catholic Boy in his first season at stud in 2020.

A non-winner from two starts on the racetrack, Surrender has a most distinguished family. By one of Storm Cat's most consistent sons in Stormy Atlantic, Surrender is out of the Mr. Prospector mare Beaucette, a stakes-placed daughter of the graded stakes winner Mackie (Summer Squall).

Mackie was one of seven stakes winners out of the great broodmare Glowing Tribute (Graustark). The others included Grade 1 winners Sea Hero (Polish Navy), winner of the Kentucky Derby and Travers, and Hero's Honor (Northern Dancer), winner of the G1 United Nations and Bowling Green, as well as the latter's full sister Wild Applause.

Wild Applause was the only one of Glowing Tribute's daughters to carry on in a fashion similar to her famous dam, producing four graded stakes winners: Yell (A.P. Indy), Roar (Forty Niner), Trumpets Blare (Fit to Fight), and Eastern Echo (Damascus).

Although not that successful, Mackie produced a pair of graded winners, the Grade 2 Arlington Classic winner Mr. Mellon (Red Ransom) and Grade 3 winner Seeking the Best (Seeking the Gold). This branch of the family went a bit quiet with Beaucette, but her daughter Surrender has put this branch of the great La Troienne family back in the spotlight again.

Sold out of Marcel Boussac's stud in France to E.R. Bradley nearly a century ago, La Troienne produced 14 named foals, first for Bradley and then for Greentree Stud after the dispersal of Bradley's bloodstock. Five of the great mare's foals won stakes and even more became important producers. From the champions and major performers that her family has produced decade after decade around the world, La Troienne is a touchstone of quality in international breeding.

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