ghostzapper | Horse Racing Free Tips

Artorius Has Arrogate-Sized Shadow to Outrun in Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY–During a pre-season interview in early July, trainer Chad Brown offered another colt–at that point, with a low profile–to a discussion of his deep bench of GI Travers prospects: Zandon (Upstart), Early Voting (Gun Runner) and Jack Christopher (Munnings).

“I have a late -bloomer, a horse named Artorius (Arrogate), that I really like,” Brown said. “He's going to run in the Curlin Stakes. Much like the dad, he's late bloomer. I'm not saying he's a threat to win the Travers, but I'm going to tell you: he's lightly raced and he's very good. And his mother was very good, Paulassilverlining (Ghostzapper), who won two Grade Is for us. Obviously, Arrogate was a great race horse, that I didn't train. He's very well bred. He's a horse we've always liked all winter. He just got started a little late.”

Seven weeks to the day later, Artorius, will be entered Tuesday with Zandon and Early Voting in the Travers, which will be run for the 153rd time on Saturday. Following a third as the favorite in the GI Haskell S. July 23, Jack Christopher returns to sprint distances in the seven-furlong GI H. Allen Jerkens on the Travers program.

Artorius thoroughly confirmed Brown's assessment that he was of Travers quality with a 4 3/4-lengths score in the 1 1/8 miles ungraded Curlin July 29. He has continued to train well, most recently a :47.00 half-mile on Saturday, and just like his famous father did in 2016, will make his graded stakes debut in the Travers.

In what was his fifth career start, Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) cruised into Saratoga history for trainer Bob Baffert in 2016 with a stakes and course record of 1:59.36 for the 1 1/4-miles Travers. He broke the record of 2:00 set in 1979 by General Assembly over a very wet track. The Travers was the launching pad for Arrogate, who died in 2020 during his third season at stud. He followed that 13 1/2-length Travers score with wins in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the GI Pegasus World Cup and the GI Dubai World Cup. The week of his victory in the Pegasus in an anticipated showdown with California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) that never materialized, he won the Eclipse Award as 3-year-old male champion.

Brown said that Artorius had typical 2-year-old shin issues in 2021 and had another problem that delayed his arrival to the races. He broke slowly in his first start on Apr. 16 in a six-furlong race at Keeneland and finished second. The maiden-breaker came at a mile at Belmont Park June 10 and he followed that up with what turned out to be an easy victory at nine furlongs in the Curlin.

“He's doing great,” Brown said. “His last race was terrific, first race around two turns. I was very pleased with it. ”

Brown acknowledged that it is a big ask to send Artorius into the Travers against an accomplished field whose headliner is GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike. His stablemates Early Voting, victor of the GI Preakness S., Zandon, third in the Derby after a win in the GI Blue Grass S. will be in the gate, along with Epicenter (Not This Time), second in the Derby and Preakness and the winner of the GII Jim Dandy, and GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell winner Cyberknife (Gun Runner).

“I'm having to step him up. He seems like he's willing to do it,” Brown said. “I don't feel like I'm doing anything to compromise his development by doing it. Yes, it's a really tough race, but he's got a nice race over this track, albeit against lesser horses than he's going to meet in the Travers. He did it the right way and came out of it the right way. The Travers is a once-in-a-lifetime for a horse to try. You only get one shot to run in it when you're three. So, if they're sound and doing well, and their numbers look like they're heading the right way, have a race over the track, which is in this particular case is possibly beneficial, and a leading jockey riding the horse, you've got to take a shot.”

Juddmonte purchased Paulassilverling from breeder-owner Vincent Scuderi prior to her 5-year-old season in 2017 and turned her over to Brown. She promptly won the GI Madison and the GI Humana Distaff. Artorius is her first foal.

“He's not real big now,” Brown said. “He'd be more of his mom's size than his father's size, but he's good combination between the two. He's got the stamina and the movement of his father, who moved like a cat. His mother was a smaller filly, not the best mover, but had a lot of heart. When you're breeding the best of the best, you hope for the best. This horse got a good blend of both, which is what you really hope for in a lot of cases when you breed Grade I horses to Grade I horses.”

An hour or so after Artorius worked alongside multiple GI winner Search Results (Flatter) Saturday, Brown said he was certain that the colt had the physical tools for the Travers and it just was a matter of timing whether he would make it to Saratoga's signature race.

“It's not a surprise at all. We always thought that he's talented enough,” Brown said. “I'd use the word “relieved” that he was able to do it. There was a small percentage chance that he'd be able to advance this quick. We knew he had the ability, but things happen. Horses have setbacks, right? Horses don't always run the way you think they're going to run. For him to actually hit all the marks and really get there, the only way was if everything sort of went right. Everything went right along the way with his works and spacing and weather, health of the horse. Everything has for this horse. I've been relieved. We gave it a shot to put him on a path to get here and he hit it.”

The post Artorius Has Arrogate-Sized Shadow to Outrun in Travers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Ghostzapper’s Moira Crushes Colts in Queen’s Plate

ETOBICOKE, ON–Heading into the 163rd Queen's Plate, most of the pre-race talk swirled around X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables and SF Racing's Moira (Ghostzapper), and her pre-Woodbine Oaks antics that led to her ultimately running, and romping, without hind shoes. Keeping her shoes–if not entirely her composure–firmly intact prior to Sunday's Classic fixture at Woodbine, the filly appeared to sprout wings in the stretch, cruising to an eye-catching seven-length victory over the Mark Casse-trained pair of Hall of Dreams (Lemon Drop Kid) and Sir For Sure (Sligo Bay {Ire}).

“There are a lot of emotions leading up to this race,” said winning trainer Kevin Attard, who was celebrating his first Queen's Plate. “It is something that I have cherished a long time while I was growing up. I decided I wanted to be the best and I think this puts me in a special group of trainers. It's a dream come true.”

With the weather in the Toronto area flitting between sparkling to threatening in equal measure in the 48 hours leading up to the Plate, the early part of the card was greeted with a mixture of sun and clouds, albeit ample humidity. However, in the moments leading up to the race, the weather turned decidedly more menacing as a wall of black clouds loomed in the distance.

After her Oaks debacle when the filly lost a shoe and bent the other one, prompting the last-minute decision to run minus hind shoes, Attard decided to switch up the game plan this time, keeping his stable star confined to Woodbine's indoor saddling enclosure while the other 10 sophomores assumed their customary spots in the outside paddock under the sweeping willows. Removed from much of the hoopla of a big race day, Moira still became slightly edgy while having a tongue tie fitted and bit later while stepping onto the track.

“She saddled really well. And I didn't want to put on the [tongue tie] at the barn because it's such a long post parade and it drags out and it was hot weather, so I decided to do it in the paddock,” Attard explained. “When I school her, she's been great. But today she was being a little bit difficult, the crowd got her a little wound up. We got that on her, and I could see when she was walking out to the track that she was getting a little bit edgy. She knew today was a different day. But the beauty of it is, considering all of her [antics], she still stays mentally focused and she knows that she still has a job to do. That's what defines her as a good horse.”

Breaking from post 8, Moira was quickly tucked in by Rafael Hernandez, who also had the option to ride narrowly favored GIII Marine S. winner Rondure (Oxbow), however, opted to stay with the 9-5 filly. She drafted inside horses near the back of the field, rating kindly as 14-1 chance The Minskter (English Channel) led the way over Ironstone (Mr Speaker) and Sir For Sure through a sensible :23.75 quarter. Still moving comfortably, about seven lengths behind the pace, through a half in :47.58, the $150,000 Keeneland September graduate started to pick up the tempo leaving the backstretch but appeared to hit another gear approaching the quarter pole. As Ironstone took a slight edge over The Minskter, Moira was gobbling up real estate on the outside, taking control straightening for home. From there, it was just a question of how far as the filly sprinted clear. While receiving several right-handed reminders from Hernandez in the stretch, she strolled home the easiest of winners, galloping out with as much zest and authority as she had in the body of the race.

“It's unbelievable,” said Hernandez, who teamed with fellow Adena Springs product Shaman Ghost (Ghostzapper) to win the 2015 Plate. “You know, with good horses, you can get out of trouble so quick and always get a second, or third gear like her. Sit off, save ground, and when you want to get out of the horses in front of you, you just move out, and she gave me everything. She gave me another gear, and when we turned for home, she was unbelievable. She's something else. She is so special.”

Hernandez, emotional after the win, gave tribute to his family, headed by his late grandmother.

“This win is for her,” he said. “My whole my family enjoyed the moment. It's unbelievable for me, because this is home. [Canada] is home now and to be the first one for Kevin, it makes it so special.”

After 10 previous tries, Attard, who finished third with H C Holiday in 2021, recorded his best finish previously with Alezzandro, runner-up in the 2007 renewal. Attard is the son of longtime Woodbine horseman Tino Attard, and the nephew of Sid Attard, who saddled Shamateur (Shaman Ghost) in this year's Plate.

“Being in this business, the amount of time I spend at the barn, my family sacrifices a lot.” Attard admitted. “For them to be there and to share in that moment, it means a lot.”

Simmering with the raw emotion of the moment, he added, “My dad put me in this position. He taught me everything I know. He sacrificed part of his career to put me in a position to succeed, he gave up part of his business and started taking a back seat to me, so I can't thank him enough. I love him so much. I wouldn't be here with him obviously.”

With the win, Moira became the eighth filly to notch the Oaks-Plate double, joining the likes of Dance Smartly, Flaming Page, Holy Helena, Inglorious and Lexie Lou.

Making of Moira

The Attard team showed their hand early when deciding to debut the filly in the 1 1/16-mile Princess Elizabeth S. at Woodbine last October, and she obliged with an emphatic 4 1/4-length score at 4-1. No secret the next time at even-money odds, Moira came up a half-length short to eventual Sovereign winner Mrs. Barbara (Bodemeister) over a rain-logged surface in the GIII Mazarine S., and concluded the season among nominees for a divisional championship. Dusted off for her 3-year-old season, she came from off the pace to annex the seven-furlong Fury S. June 11 before blowing the doors off in the July 24 Woodbine Oaks over nine panels.

“We were getting her ready in the spring, and we were having difficulty getting her ready for her first race at two turns, so we decided the Fury was going to be her first race back,” recalled Attard. “I talked to [co-owner] Donato [Lanni] and told him I'd like to run her in the Fury and sit on her until the Oaks. I would have her ready for the Oaks and that would give us four weeks until the Plate. It'll be the third race off the shelf and she will be a fresh horse.”

Now a winner of the first leg in Canada's Triple Crown, the second jewel–the Sept. 13 Prince of Wales S. at Fort Erie–beckons.

“I think she's an improving filly,” he said. “I don't think we've reached the bottom of her yet.”

“Honestly, we have not discussed past this race. We'll enjoy this money and we'll sit down and decide what's next.”

He continued, “As a local trainer, obviously I'd love to put my name down beside a Triple Crown horse if I could. But there are a lot of people involved, so we'll have to discuss it, but to have a Triple Crown horse would be special.”

'X' Marks the Spot

The ownership group behind the Queen's Plate winner, while diverse, holds as much Canadian flavor as Moira herself. Stewarding the partnership is Donato Lanni, very well known in racing circles south of the border. As one of the principal buyers behind the powerhouse arsenal that often find their way into Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's barn, Lanni, a Montreal native, came up with the idea to unite a group of Canadian-based friends and form X-Men Racing. Also brought into the fold were other household names in U.S. racing–Madaket Stables and SF Racing–who are part of the Classic colt-focused partnership Lanni buys for nicknamed The Avengers.

“We put a fund together and we bought a dozen horses and she was one of them,” explained Lanni, who fielded a congratulatory phone call from Baffert in the moments leading up to meeting the press. “They're all guys that are in the horse business, some of them in the Standardbred business. But what they all have in common, besides being friends with me, is that they're all lucky. They have won many of the biggest races in harness racing, every major Standardbred race. They've been very lucky guys. So, I decided to put together guys that I like, and they had to be lucky.

“She stayed at Margaux Farm, in Kentucky over the winter. We took our time, we didn't rush her, never thought we'd be here today. But when you buy them, that's what you dream about.

“She is an unassuming filly. You would never look at her and think she's a freak, but she's got gears. She just takes off.

“We bought her during a COVID year, so there was really nobody there to buy Canadian breds. I didn't see anybody else really buying those, except maybe Mark Casse who would buy them. So we really got lucky with the price.”

Pedigree Notes:

Moira, who is one of 203 black-type winners for Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, is named after Catherine O'Hara's quirky character on the hit show Schitt's Creek.

Lanni explained, “[My wife] likes the character on Schitt's Creek, Moira Rose, but we never thought after we named her that she was going to be a bitch. And she fits the character.”

The $150,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase is out of two-time Gulfstream Park stakes winner and GSP Devine Aida, who is also responsible for multiple stakes-winning Jungle Cry (Animal Kingdom). Devine Aida is also responsible for an unraced 2-year-old full-brother to Moira named Runaway Charlie and Sir Prancealot (Ire) colt foaled earlier this season. She was bred back to Constitution.

Sunday, Woodbine, Canada
QUEEN'S PLATE S., C$1,001,200, Woodbine, 8-21, (C), 3yo,
1 1/4m (AWT), 2:01.48 (NTR), ft.
1–MOIRA, 121, f, 3, by Ghostzapper
              1st Dam: Devine Aida (MSW & GSP, $273,215), by
                             Unbridled's Song
              2nd Dam: Passion, by Came Home
              3rd Dam: Rajmata, by Known Fact
($150,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables
LLC and SF Racing LLC; B-Adena Springs (ON); T-Kevin Attard;
J-Rafael Manuel Hernandez. C$600,000. Lifetime Record: GSP,
5-4-1-0, $902,128. *1/2 to Jungle Cry (Animal Kingdom), SW,
$114,340.
2–Hall of Dreams, 126, g, 3, Lemon Drop Kid–Hallnor, by Horse
Chestnut (Saf). ($27,000 RNA Ylg '20 FTKOCT). O-Gary Barber,
Wachtel Stable, Peter Deutsch and Leonard Schleifer; B-Joey
Gee Thoroughbreds (ON); T-Mark E. Casse. C$200,000.
3–Sir for Sure, 126, g, 3, Sligo Bay (Ire)–Serena's Rose, by My
Way Only. O-Heste Sport Inc.; B-Norse Ridge Farms (ON);
T-Mark E. Casse. C$100,000.
Margins: 7, 2, 1HF. Odds: 1.80, 16.65, 17.10.
Also Ran: Ironstone, Dancin in Da'nile, Rondure, Hunt Master, Duke of Love, The Minkster, Causin' Mayhem, Shamateur.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Ghostzapper’s Moira Crushes Colts in Queen’s Plate appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Ghostzapper Filly Gallops in Woodbine Oaks

Moira looped the field impressively en route to a dominant score in Sunday's Woodbine Oaks, providing trainer Kevin Attard with a second-straight win in this event and adding to a long list of accomplishments for her ownership group. And she did it all without her hind shoes, having acted up in the paddock and been unable to be adequately re-shod in time.

An impressive debut graduate from out of the clouds in the C$250,000 Princess Elizabeth S. here last October, the bay settled for second as the favorite in the GIII Mazarine S. Nov. 28. She resurfaced in the seven-panel Fury S. for Ontario-breds June 11, and got the job done narrowly over Pioneer's Edge (Pioneerof the Nile). Looming large here on the stretch back out to two turns and with $1.6-million New York-based, Chad Brown-trained maiden Sahlabiya seemingly the main danger, the dark bay was unhurried early while saving ground. She was guided off the fence a bit and ridden to keep pace down the backside. Rider Ramon Hernandez hit the gas early and split horses into the home turn, and Moira blew past Sahlabiya like she was standing school before running up the score in a time that was nearly a second faster than the boys went in the Plate Trial two races earlier.

“She was push button in the first turn,” said Hernandez. “We just sat there and saved as much ground as we could and made our move down the backside. I knew horses were going to be stopping in front of me, so I just tried to get her away from them. By the three-eighths, I was already where I wanted to be. Turning for home, I just talked to her and said, 'Come on Moira, it's all about you. Go get it.' And she just exploded. I have to give a lot of thanks to this excellent group, the owners, for giving me an opportunity to get back on this amazing filly. From the first day I got on in the morning I was impressed. Today, she showed up. She just played with the rest of the field.”

Of the pre-race incident, trainer Kevin Attard said, “It was crazy. You know, she's always been a little bit kind of antsy in the paddock. We school her a lot and she just kind of had a little episode and unfortunately stepped on her hind foot and kind of knocked off the one shoe and kind of bent the other shoe. The paddock blacksmith tried to adjust it and fix it. I appreciate his effort. So, we elected to run her without the hind shoes. I wasn't too concerned with it being a synthetic surface. But obviously you're not accustomed to doing it, so it's always a little bit in the back of your head anyways. She's a class horse and I've always thought highly of her, and she obviously ran to that today.”

Moira, named for the character Moira Rose from the Canadian sitcom Schitt's Creek, acted up once more for good measure as her picture was being taken in the winner's circle.

While fillies have a particularly stellar record in the first leg of Canada's Triple Crown, top bloodstock agent and Montreal native Donato Lanni–the organizer of X-Men Racing–would not yet commit to the Aug. 21 Queen's Plate.

“It's going be up to her and Kevin,” Lanni said. “It may be great to run in that race again. Fillies have won it before, but we're just so lucky to be here today. So, let's take one race at a time and thank you for Woodbine. You do a great job here and it's a great place to come.”

The winner has a 2-year-old full-brother named Runaway Charlie and her dam fetched $400,000 back in foal to Ghostzapper at the 2020 Keeneland November sale. Devine Aida–a stakes winner on both dirt and turf–lost that foal of 2021, but produced a Sir Prancealot (Ire) colt this term. She is a daughter of the speedy GSW Passion (Came Home).

WOODBINE OAKS PRESENTED BY BUDWEISER, C$500,800, Woodbine, 7-24, (C), 3yo, f, 1 1/8m (AWT), 1:49.78, ft.
1–MOIRA, 121, f, 3, by Ghostzapper
1st Dam: Devine Aida (MSW & GSP, $273,215), by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Passion, by Came Home
3rd Dam: Rajmata, by Known Fact
($150,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables
LLC & SF Racing LLC; B-Adena Springs (ON); T-Kevin Attard;
J-Rafael Manuel Hernandez. C$300,000. Lifetime Record:
4-3-1-0, $440,331. *1/2 to Jungle Cry (Animal Kingdom), SW,
$114,340.
2–Sister Seagull, 121, f, 3, Hard Spun–Sweet Kitten, by Kitten's
Joy. ($95,000 RNA Ylg '20 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE.
O-Sean & Dorothy Fitzhenry; B-Sean Fitzhenry (ON);
T-Catherine Day Phillips. C$100,000.
3–Sahlabiya, 121, f, 3, Medaglia d'Oro–Orchard Beach, by Tapit.
($1,600,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Shadwell
Stable; B-Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. (ON); T-Chad C. Brown.
C$50,000.
Margins: 10 3/4, 4 3/4, NO. Odds: 1.00, 9.80, 4.60.
Also Ran: Souper Flashy, Pioneer's Edge, Swoop to Finish, Maccool's Girl, Bizymaline, Curlin Candy, Loaded Vixen. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Ghostzapper Filly Gallops in Woodbine Oaks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Taking Stock: Justify Moving Early

Coolmore America's Triple Crown winner Justify, a son of Scat Daddy, never raced at two, and he famously became the first unraced 2-year-old since Apollo in 1882 to win the Gl Kentucky Derby.

Midway through July, however, Justify is already represented by a Group 2 winner in Europe and a Grade III winner in North America from his first crop of 2-year-olds, and through Monday he sat second by less than $30,000 on the first-crop sire list by progeny earnings behind Spendthrift's Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), a rival he defeated by three lengths in the Gl Santa Anita Derby. So far, he leads all freshman sires by black-type winners, black-type horses (three), and graded winners–a quick start at stud for a physically massive and late-starting horse who got 12 furlongs with ease in an undefeated, but compressed six-start career that lasted a brief four months, from February to June at age three.

Despite size, a late track debut and the ability to run as far as 3-year-olds are asked to go on dirt in North American Grade l races, Justify had exceptional balance and speed, his trainer Bob Baffert said by phone Monday morning between a training break. “He was a big, powerful horse–he looked like a giant Quarter Horse is what he looked like. A big, beautiful, massive, balanced horse. As big as he was, he was so light on his feet. He didn't hit the ground hard at all. He just floated over this track.”

Baffert said he didn't get Justify until after the Breeders' Cup, which is why the big chestnut didn't race at two. He'd been purchased for $500,000 at Keeneland September by WinStar, China Horse Club and SF Bloodstock. According to a report in New York Times, the colt had surgery on a stifle before he was sent to Baffert. “When I got him, he was a sound horse,” Baffert said. “My assistant Mike Marlow, who had him at Los Alamitos, kept telling me he had a really good one down there named Justify, by Scat Daddy.”

In comparing Justify to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and champion Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), three of his best, Baffert said: “Pharoah's mechanics were extraordinary, the way he would move and the way he would work. Let's say Pharoah maybe had more speed, you know, quicker, but the thing about Pharoah and Justify, on Breeders' Cup, they could have won the Sprint, the Mile and the Classic. That's how good they were. Arrogate, he could have won only the Breeders' Cup Classic. That's the kind of horses they were. And Arrogate going a mile and a quarter, he was a beast of a horse. But Pharoah and Justify, they did things effortlessly.”

Bred by John D. Gunther, Justify is out of Stage Magic, a daughter of champion Ghostzapper–another brilliantly fast racehorse who could have won the Gl BC Sprint and Gl BC Dirt Mile in addition to the Gl BC Classic that he did win, keeping to Baffert's analogy. As it was, Ghostzapper won the Gl Vosburgh at 6 1/2 furlongs and the Gl Metropolitan H at a mile.

Ghostzapper, however, wasn't precocious, making only two starts at two, in November and December at that. Neither was Stage Magic, who won her first race at three, in September.

In contrast, Justify's male line–the sequence Scat Daddy/Johannesburg/Hennessy/Storm Cat/Storm Bid–is noted for early maturity and speed, with each horse named a Grade l/Group 1 winner at two. Each horse in this line except for Storm Cat also stood at Ashford (Coolmore America), and Coolmore has collected some of Scat Daddy's best sons because of its belief in the sire line. In addition to Justify, Coolmore stands Mendelssohn, who recently had his first winners, and Caravaggio, whose oldest foals are three, at Ashford, and it has No Nay Never, who stood for €125,000 this spring, and Sioux Nation, with first-crop juveniles, in Ireland. All five were winners at the highest level. Additionally, Coolmore also stands Group l winner Ten Sovereigns (Ire) (No Nay Never) and Group 2 winner Arizona (Ire) (No Nay Never) in Ireland.

From this group, No Nay Never, a champion first-season sire like Scat Daddy, and Caravaggio, who had 26 winners from his first crop of juveniles last year, have already emerged as sires of early maturing speed horses, and just last week each was represented by a Group l winner: Alcohol Free (Ire), first in the Darley July Cup S., for the former; and Tenebrism, winner of the Prix Jean Prat, for the latter. Meanwhile, Sioux Nation has 17 first-crop 2-year-old winners so far. Throw Justify's two group/graded winners into the mix and this is quite a collective showing for Coolmore's young sons of Scat Daddy, who died prematurely at age 11 in 2015, but not before getting some talented sons who appear to have the ability to carry his name forward in tail-male.

Justify's Group/Graded Winners

Both Coolmore and Baffert have played a part in Justify's early success. The filly Statuette, who won the G2 Airlie Stud S. at the Curragh June 26, is a homebred for the Coolmore partners and Merriebelle Stable. Her dam, Immortal Verse (Ire), by Pivotal (GB), was a multiple Group 1-winning miler who once defeated Goldikova (Ire), and she made headlines when selling for the equivalent of $8 million at Tattersalls December in 2013. Before Statuette, she produced the previously mentioned Tenebrism, who's trained like Statuette by Aidan O'Brien for the same ownership and was also a Group 1 winner at two last year.

If not for a matter of a day, Baffert would be the breeder of Just Cindy, winner of the Glll Schuylerville at Saratoga last Thursday for owner/breeder Fred Mitchell's Clarkland Farm and trainer Eddie Kenneally.

Baffert purchased the filly's dam, Jenda's Agenda, a stakes winner of $173,475 by Proud Citizen, for $90,000 at Keeneland November in 2018 to use for one of his breeding rights.

“I'm always looking for mares to breed because I have those stallions,” Baffert said. “I had Donato [Lanni] look at her. He said she was on the small side, but she looks good. I saw a picture of her. She was a good race mare that was all speed going a mile, so I bought her.”

Baffert had her covered by Justify in early 2019 and shipped her to California, where he wanted to foal her in the state-bred program.

“Come December, I thought, 'You know what, what am I doing?' I put her in Keeneland January and sent her to Kentucky and figured she has to bring $300,000. She just didn't get any action,” Baffert said.

The mare was a $325,000 RNA for consignor John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale.

“Then, Boyd Browning of Fasig-Tipton says, 'I can sell that mare for you.'”

Baffert entered the mare in the Fasig-Tipton February sale Feb. 10-11 that year.

“Then, Johnny Sikura calls me up and says, 'Bob, I can't take the mare over there. She's all bagged up, waxed up and she's gonna drop. You don't want her to foal in the sale ring. You're gonna have to take her out [of the sale].' I said, 'Alright, I'll take her out.' Then, on the second day of the sale, I get a call from Fred Mitchell. He goes to John's barn and says, 'Where's that mare?' I told him I took her out of the sale because she's probably going to foal tomorrow. He asked me what I wanted for her, and I told him, and he said okay,” said Baffert. “I bought the mare sight unseen and Fred brought the mare sight unseen, and we did the deal on a handshake, very rare these days. Fred Mitchell knows good horses and he raises them right.”

The mare foaled Just Cindy Feb. 12, and she became her sire's first graded winner in North America and his first on dirt, with Mitchell's Clarkland the official breeder of record.

That's quite the story.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

The post Taking Stock: Justify Moving Early appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post