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Grade 1 Winners Sadler’s Joy, Aquaphobia Square Off In Saturday’s Red Smith Handicap

Woodslane Farm's Sadler's Joy will face fellow 7-year-old Grade 1-winner Aquaphobia in pursuit of a second straight triumph in Saturday's 60th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Red Smith Handicap going 1 3/8 miles over the inner turf at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Known as the Edgemere Handicap until 1981, the Red Smith pays tribute to the late Pulitzer Prize winning author and sportswriter Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith, whose 55-year career in journalism covered a wide array of sports, including horseracing, for the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Times.

Trained by Tom Albertrani, Sadler's Joy has amassed the highest lifetime earnings in the field with $2,648,160 through a record of 33-7-4-11 consisting of four graded stakes triumphs.

The veteran son of Kitten's Joy notched graded wins during his 4, 5 and 6-year-old campaigns. In addition to last year's Red Smith, Sadler's Joy boasts triumphs in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational in August 2017 at Saratoga and Gulfstream Park's Grade 2 Pan American in April 2017 and the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida in March 2018.

Sadler's Joy arrives off a stellar performance with a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park, marking the third straight year he rounded out the trifecta in the 1 ½-mile event. Last out, Sadler's Joy took back along the hedge from his inside post, was tipped to the outside approaching the far turn, was in winning position at the top of the stretch, but was unable to catch pacesetter Channel Maker, finishing 2 ¾ lengths behind the subsequent third-place finisher of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf.

Albertrani, who sent Sadler's Joy out for his career debut in May 2016, said not much has changed with the hard-knocking old war horse other than his physical demeanor.

“He's gotten bigger and stronger since three,” said Albertrani, who also sends out German-bred Tintoretto [post 6, Junior Alvarado]. “There's been no real change in the way he behaves around the barn though. You wouldn't even know his age.”

In addition to four graded stakes victories, Sadler's Joy has finished in the money against Grade 1 company ten times, including a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf in 2018, where he finished 9 ¾ lengths behind international superstars Enable and Magical. Seeking his first triumph of his 7-year-old campaign, Sadler's Joy crossed the wire first in the Grade 2 Bowling Green on August 1 at Saratoga, but was disqualified to fourth.

“He's run some big races and was so close in some of the bigger races,” Albertrani said. “I think one of the biggest disappointments was at Saratoga when he was disqualified. He's just always consistently always been right there. The horse just always shows up.”

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano will attempt his third straight win in the Red Smith as he pilots Sadler's Joy for the ninth straight time from post 4.

Paradise Farm Corporation and David Staudacher, Hooties Racing and Skychai Racing's Aquaphobia seeks his first victory since achieving Grade 1-winning status in the United Nations on July 18 at Monmouth Park.

Trained by Mike Maker, the son of the late multiple champion producing stallion Giant's Causeway will attempt to make amends after a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Grade 3 Sycamore at Keeneland on October 15, where he secured a stalking position early on and lost ground in the stretch after being pinched in between horses around the eighth-pole.

“I felt he was a bit closer to the pace than he likes to be, so we crossed through that race,” Maker said.

Maker claimed Aquaphobia for $62,500 from a fourth-place finish in an optional claiming tilt on January 26 over the Gulfstream Park turf to graded stakes winners Hay Dakota and Sombeyay. Prior to joining Maker's barn, Aquaphobia was a seven-time winner including two stakes victories in the Stanton in June 2016 at Delaware Park and the Super Bowl on February 2018 at Santa Anita.

“He's just an old class horse that we had our eye on for some time,” said Maker, who also claimed 2016 Red Smith winner Bigger Picture for $32,000.

Maker stretched Aquaphobia out to 1 3/8 miles in the United Nations after coming up 1 ½ lengths shy of victory when fourth in the Grade 2 Wise Dan on June 20 at Churchill Downs.

“We had been keeping some stiff company going shorter and when we stretched him out, he got the job done,” Maker said.

Bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. M. Roy Jackson, Aquaphobia is out of the multiple Grade 1-winner Pussycat Doll, who is a half-sister to Grade 1-winner and multiple graded stakes-winning producing sire Jimmy Creed.

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who piloted 2015 Red Smith winner Mr. Maybe, will ride Aquaphobia from post 9.

Trainer Graham Motion sends out Wertheimer and Frere homebred Ziyad after a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Sycamore.

The 5-year-old dark bay or brown son of 2002 World Horse of the Year Rock of Gibraltar was a neck shy of a Group 1 victory when trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias in France, when third to Way to Paris in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on June 28. He was second to Coronet by the same margin in last year's edition of the 1 ½-mile event at Saint Cloud.

In his first start for the Motion barn last out, Ziyad was placed in mid pack early on and lost a bit of ground around the far turn while under coaxing from jockey Manny Franco but displayed an authoritative re rally to capture third.

“He just came up to us that week from quarantine and I hadn't had him for very long at all,” Motion said. “He seems to be uncomplicated. From the morning works, he seems a little one paced.”

Ziyad made his North American debut when finishing third as the favorite in last year's Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine.

“He has the class there,” Motion said. “It's the end of the year which is a little bit of a worry. There are certainly concerns, but he's done well, and this race has been in the back of our mind. He'll get a rest after this; I won't take him to Florida. We'll point him for the spring.”

Ziyad is out of the stakes-winning Sillery mare Arme Ancienne, who is a half-sister to Grade/Group 1 winners Artiste Royal and Aquarelliste.

Jockey Manny Franco will guide Ziyad once more, breaking from post 8.

“Manny knows him, and I think it's good that he's ridden him once before and gotten to know him,” Motion said.

Grade 3 Sycamore winner Red Knight will vie for his second straight triumph at graded stakes caliber for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

A New York homebred owned by Tom Egan's Trinity Farm, the 6-year-old Pure Prize gelding received a well-executed ride by jockey James Graham in the Sycamore, where he split horses turning for home, was tipped out three-wide and secured the advantage in mid-stretch to notch a two-length victory.

Lightly raced this season, Red Knight received an eight-month layoff after finishing fourth in the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight on January 25 at Gulfstream Park, but came back with a strong runner-up effort to Arklow in the Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup on September 12 at Kentucky Downs.

Breaking from post 10, Red Knight will be ridden by Jose Ortiz.

Rounding out the field are Real Factor [post 1, Jorge Vargas, Jr.], Changi [post 2, Ferrin Peterson], Postulation [post 3, John Velazquez], North Dakota [post 5, Jose Lezcano], Fame to Famous [post 7, Sebastian Saez], and Doctor Mounty [post 11, Dylan Davis].

The Red Smith is slated as Race 9 on Aqueduct's 10-race program, which offers a first post of 11:50 a.m. Eastern. America's Day at the Races will present daily television coverage of the Aqueduct fall meet with coverage to air on FOX Sports and MSG Networks.

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Taking Stock: Fifth-Year Stallions and Brody’s Cause

Much has been made lately in Kentucky on farms reducing stud fees in response to the blighted economy, but there’s a group of stallions whose fees would have mostly dropped as a matter of course even in booming times. These are second- through fifth-year stallions; frequently, fees for horses entering their fifth season at stud as their first-crop runners turn three show particularly pronounced drops from their initial fees.

A small commercial breeder contacted me the other day to discuss the reduced 2021 stud fee for a stallion whose first crop is racing at two now. She noted how well the stallion matches her mare on pedigree and physique and the 50% reduction in fee from his first year at stud but worried that “his first 2-year-olds are not yet lighting the racetrack on fire, and his sales figures plummeted this year.”

This is a common dilemma for breeders and stud farms alike. Farms need to price fifth-year horses caught in this tricky bubble attractively enough to attract breeders in order to keep both groups in the game on stallions whose long-term viability in Kentucky will be determined in the next year or two. One false move in pricing could spell commercial disaster for one, the other, or both.

And it’s not just pricing, either, as I told this breeder. “You’d be breeding in his fifth year at stud. You’ll have 5-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and 2-year-olds [racing] when you sell [your yearling], so you’d have to really like him, because if they are not successful, it will be tough. And even if they are successful, there’s a ceiling [on price] unless he turns into Curlin.”

Curlin, who’d entered stud at Lane’s End in 2009 for a $75,000 fee, got his first winner in the most dreaded of places–the Central Moscow Hippodrome in Russia, on June 17, 2012. He finished the year ninth on the freshman sire list with no 2-year-old stakes winners to his credit and stood for $25,000 in 2013–his fifth year at stud. The stallion’s yearling average in 2012 was $70,000 versus $137,000 in 2011 for his first-crop yearlings. However, the Horse of the Year eventually turned things around, and by 2015, when his first crop was five, his yearlings averaged $211,000. Curlin will stand for $175,000 in 2021, the same as this year. His 2020 yearlings to date have averaged $342,000.

Stallions with first-crop 3-year-olds next year can change perceptions quickly with a few early-season stakes winners, particularly if they’re on the Classic trail, guaranteeing patronage for another year or two by finishing out the season strong with two crops–3-year-old and 2-year-olds–at the races.

Daredevil did some of this in 2020 with Gl Preakness S. and GI Alabama S. winner Swiss Skydiver and Gl Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil after a poor run with his first 2-year-olds, but by then he’d already been jettisoned from Kentucky after only four seasons at stud.

However, it’s the rare stallion that can carry that momentum forward, because he’ll need to do it with mares of decreasing quality in years two, three, and four. Most stallions tend to have their highest output of stakes winners from their first crop, when they get their best mares, and numbers tend to decrease commensurately with a decrease in mare quality.

I noted in this space Feb. 27 (Third- And Fourth-Year Sire Issues) that of the top 10 freshman sires of 2017, five had left Kentucky by 2020–when their first foals were five–including the leader, Overanalyze, along with Shanghai Bobby (#3), Animal Kingdom (#4), Flat Out (#7), and Justin Phillip (#10).

Brody’s Cause

A strong opinion on a horse, formed by an analysis of facts and an evaluation of price versus the competition, is the best way to approach a fifth-year stallion.

For example, Spendthrift’s multiple Grade l winner Brody’s Cause (Giant’s Causeway), a $350,000 yearling purchase for Albaugh Family Stables trained by Dale Romans, will stand in 2021, his fifth year, for $5,000, down from the $12,500 he started out at in 2017 and the $7,500 he was listed at this year. He is ninth on the freshman sire list through today behind leader Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway), another Albaugh horse whose fee has jumped to $40,000 in 2021 from an initial $15,000 in 2017 and the $12,500 in 2020.

However, Brody’s Cause has eye-opening stats versus the competition and at the price.

Both Not This Time and Brody’s Cause are each represented by two black-type winners so far–the most among freshman sires, along with Nyquist (Uncle Mo), whose 2021 fee is $75,000; and Outwork (Uncle Mo), who stands next year for $15,000.

Brody’s Cause is also tied with Not This Time and Nyquist in the top 10 by number of black-type runners with four apiece, but he’s done this from 55 foals to 95 for Not This Time and 80 for Nyquist.

As for the quality of his runners, five of his six winners have won maiden special weights while another, the Bob Baffert-trained filly Kalypso, won for the first time in the Listed Anoakia S. Oct. 18 at Santa Anita after placing in two Del Mar maiden special weights. Kalypso, by the way, was a $240,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling.

On the same day of Kalypso’s win, the gelding Gospel Way ran second in the Listed Display S. at Woodbine–his second stakes placing after a third in the Victoria S. at the same track.

Earlier this month, Brody’s Cause showcased another talented maiden winner. A $185,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling for Albaugh and Romans, Smiley Sobotka graduated at Keeneland in his second start in the style of a horse who looks to have a bigger future next year at three. The colt had dead-heated for second in his debut at Ellis over 6 1/2 furlongs but found the mile and a sixteenth at Keeneland much more to his liking.

This brings me to Sittin On Go, Brody’s Cause’s most accomplished runner to date. A $65,000 Keeneland November weanling and $62,000 Keeneland September RNA, he also races for Albaugh and is trained by Romans. Sittin On Go won his debut at Ellis in a five-furlong dirt sprint by four-plus lengths in mid-August and returned last month in the one-mile Glll Iroquois S. at Churchill to win impressively by 2 1/2 lengths. The runner up, Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), ran third in his next start in the GI Champagne S. at Belmont, though he was beaten by more than 14 lengths by the leader of the division, Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music). However, the third-place finisher in the Iroquois, Super Stock (Dialed In), also came back to place third to Essential Quality (Tapit) in the Gl Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, less than five lengths behind the winner.

Sittin On Go has solid Grade l formlines, and he will test Jackie’s Warrior in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile next.

Brody’s Cause has one other stakes horse, Girther. A $2,500 Keeneland November weanling, $4,000 Keeneland September yearling, and $20,000 OBS March 2-year-old, Girther won a Del Mar maiden special weight in July in his second start and came back a month later at the same venue to run a neck second to Weston (Hit It a Bomb, also at Spendthrift) in the Gll Best Pal S.

Brody’s Cause won three of eight starts, including the Breeders’ Futurity at two and the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at three, both at Keeneland, and earned $1,168,138. His sire Giant’s Causeway doesn’t yet have an elite son in North America, but he did in Europe with Shamardal, who died earlier this year. Here, he has the good First Samurai at Claiborne plus several others trying to rise to that level, but in Not This Time and Brody’s Cause he’s still got his name in the hat with two promising young guns, and who knows?

Spendthrift’s flagship horse Into Mischief also started off for $12,500, dropped to $7,500, and is now booked full at $225,000. And the farm’s elder statesman, Malibu Moon, began his career at Country Life in Maryland for $3,000 and went on to sire a GI Kentucky Derby winner among many others of note.

My advice to the small breeder looking for value at $15,000 and down? For the price, Brody’s Cause is worth the gamble.

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

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Creative Cause, Not This Time See Most Dramatic Jumps In Average At Keeneland September Sale

The commercial market's respect for the late leading sire Giant's Causeway was apparent at this year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where two of his sons filled out the exacta for the biggest year-to-year jumps in average sale price (10 or more sold each year).

Leading the charge was Airdrie Stud's Creative Cause, whose average jumped 71.94 percent during this year's Keeneland September sale to $20,420 from 35 horses sold. As the broadest yearling auction in North America, both by duration and the scope of offerings, a big swing in performance at the Keeneland September sale can be a strong indicator of public favor toward a particular stallion.

Creative Cause nearly doubled his average sale price with his sixth crop, but he more than doubled the number of horses sold from year to year, with the previous crop featuring 17 yearlings selling at the Keeneland sale for an average of $11,876.

The yearlings of 2020 were conceived in 2018, when Creative Cause's oldest runners were 4-year-olds. At that point, he already had first-crop runner Pavel blazing the trail with a win in the Grade 3 Smarty Jones Stakes and a third against older foes in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes. By the end of the 2018 breeding season, he'd also run fourth in the G1 Dubai World Cup.

Creative Cause's second crop was also doing work to build their sire's fledgling on-track reputation in the eyes of potential breeders, led by My Boy Jack. A stakes winner at two, the colt became a factor on the Kentucky Derby trail after victories in the G3 Sham Stakes and Lexington Stakes. My Boy Jack then became a wiseguy pick for the 2018 Kentucky Derby, where he finished fifth as the betting public's third choice.

Also from her sire's second crop, Significant Form, was a Grade 3 winner as a 2-year-old in 2017, and she ran fourth in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filles turf.

“This year's crop of yearlings came from a strong, deep group of mares,” said Cormac Breathnach of Airdrie Stud. “He got about 145 mares that year on the back of horses like Pavel and Significant Form, all the headline horses he was represented by. He got the biggest, and probably best, book of mares he's bred. Between his yearlings and the foals of this year, he's got some really outstanding physicals.”

The slate of offerings by Creative Cause at this year's Keeneland September sale was led by Hip 1998, a colt out of the winning Tapit mare Tamboz who sold to Kenny McPeek, agent, for $180,000. Consigned by St George Sales, agent, the colt is a half-brother to Grade 2-placed Battalion Runner, Grade 3-placed Oceanwave, and stakes-placed runners Tiznoble and Late Nite Mischief.

Airdrie Stud also got into the high-priced Creative Cause game, consigning Hip 1707, a filly out of the winning Teofilo mare Catsbury who sold to Deuce Greathouse, agent, for $95,000.

“It's nice to see him get respect, because he's doing very well on the track in terms of getting winners every weekend, and getting some stakes horses, and staying high on the lists with his contemporaries,” Breathnach said. “He's got a lot in the pipeline to sort of have a resurgence.”

Creative Cause was joined at the top of the list by fellow Giant's Causeway heir Not This Time, whose stock has been skyrocketing with the success of his first juveniles in 2020.

The 6-year-old resident of Taylor Made Stallions saw his average sale price at the Keeneland September sale jump 46.41 percent this year to $116,500 from 26 yearlings, hailing from his second crop. His debut crop saw 39 members change hands at last year's Keeneland sale for an average of $79,569.

Not This Time's first crop of runners has been led in practically every sense of the word by Princess Noor, who sold for $1.35 million at this year's Ocala Breeders' Sales Co., Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, and has gone undefeated in three high-profile starts. After breaking her maiden by a front-running 2 1/2 lengths, Princess Noor won the G1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes by 6 1/2 lengths, and she most recently took the G2 Chandelier Stakes by 8 1/4 lengths, making her status as the favorite for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies all but certain.

Princess Noor's exploits have played a big part in putting Not This Time at the top of the freshman sire list by progeny earnings, but below the surface, the stallion is represented by stakes winner Dirty Dangle and Grade 3-placed Hopeful Princess.

Taylor Made's Duncan Taylor said the early commercial acceptance of Not This Time, paired with the high-level performance of his first runners, has set the stallion up well for long-term success.

“They got such an awesome reception at the 2-year-old sales, even before he started getting winners,” Taylor said. “Then, Princess Noor brought $1.3 million, and I think when a horse shows that people think enough of their offspring that someone would go beyond a million dollars…When you're trying to market a stallion, it's so hard to break through the clutter. You can run ads, but when you say something brings a million, that starts getting people's attention, and then they really start looking at who he is and what he is, and you get people diving in. When you dive in on this horse, you keep finding better stuff.”

The top seller for Not This Time at this year's Keeneland September sale was Hip 66, a colt out of the unraced Ghostzapper mare Belle's Finale who sold to Repole Stables and St. Elias Stable for $450,000. Taylor Made Sales Agency consigned the colt, as agent.

The mantle is still wide open for a formal North American successor to the Giant's Causeway sire line, and both Creative Cause and Not This Time will be in the hunt for that title as more of their runners hit the racetrack and mature into breeding careers. The race became more urgent after Giant's Causeway died in 2018, and it's easy to argue that these two sires have gotten hot at the right time.

“I always thought Giant's Causeway was a little different [son of] Storm Cat,” Taylor said. “He's not quite as compact and one-dimensional-looking. The typical Storm Cat, to me, though he did get further distances, looked more like sprinters. Giant's Causeway was a little leaner of a horse, and Not This Time's the same way. Who knows how far they're going to go – Princess Noor just won at 1 1/16 miles, but they look like two-turn horses. They don't look like just sprinters, and I think that's another reason why people are excited about the sire.”

Another stallion with a big first crop who made a commercial leap during this year's sale was WinStar Farm's Constitution, who has seen his flag planted in the winner's circles of the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes thanks to Tiz the Law.

Constitution's Keeneland September average for his third crop rose 44.13 percent to $159,619 from 21 sold this year. His second crop brought an average of $110,743 from 35 sold.

Leading the way for Constitution was Hip 904, a filly out of the unraced Candy Ride mare Candy Fortune who sold to Solis/Litt for $725,000. The filly is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Hog Creek Hustle and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Majestic Dunhill.

The biggest year-to-year jump in average in terms of dollars was Into Mischief, who firmly established himself as a top-tier commercial sire, with 57 yearlings sold for an average of $445,632 – the second-highest average of the sale behind Medaglia d'Oro at $599,722. The resident of Spendthrift Farm achieved a 30.72 percent increase from last year, when he had 70 yearlings average $340,900.

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Mr. Big News Breezes for Preakness

GI Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Mr. Big News (Giant’s Causeway) put in his final work for next weekend’s GI Preakness S. Saturday with a half-mile move in :50.40 (59/68) at Churchill Downs.

With regular exercise rider Tony Camacho in the saddle, the bay went in splits of :13.20 and :25.40 with a five-furlong gallop out of 1:03.20, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols.

“He left the pole really strong, which is how he was working before the Derby,” trainer Bret Calhoun said. “We only wanted an easy work and I told Tony to go in :49 or :50 and gallop out well. He’s been fit after just running in the Derby and it’s been very promising how strong he’s acting in his works after the race.”

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