Bloodlines Presented By ThoroughbredAuctions.Com: Jackie’s Warrior Keeps The Rhythm Going For Sire Maclean’s Music

Stallions are supposed to prove themselves through a fairly lengthy and somewhat rigorous campaign of racing through at least a couple of seasons, scoring victories at the highest level of competition in such a manner as to distinguish themselves as potential titans of breeding and to indicate the qualities that are the most important in their own makeup.

But to every rule, there must be exceptions.

Witness Danzig. Unbeaten in three starts, none in a stakes, and yet arguably the most successful and influential son of the great Northern Dancer.

And it surely appears that breeding has another exception to the rule in the once-raced and emphatically unbeaten Maclean's Music (by Distorted Humor). The powerful bay made one start.

Maclean's Music won that single start by 7 1/4 lengths in 1:07.44 for six furlongs at Santa Anita on Mar. 19, 2011. For that debut, Maclean's Music earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 114, a figure much higher than most other horses ever run at any time in their racing careers.

And the fact of the colt's speed, a dizzy expression of athletic ability seen and not forgotten, was his ticket to a chance at stud. Because the good-looking young horse was perhaps too fast for his own good and never raced again.

Maclean's Music, however, did show the speed he possessed, and that fact brought him great notice. He was also fortunate enough to be bred and raced by Stonestreet, which saw to it that the colt went to stud at the sire-making emporium of John G. Sikura at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in 2013 after the colt hadn't been able to come back to the races as a 4-year-old.

At Hill 'n' Dale, Maclean's Music received good-sized books of good mares due to the renown of his single race and to the racy look of his own physique. Those who believed in the colt were correct, and Maclean's Music sired 2017 Preakness Stakes winner Cloud Computing in his first crop.

With that Grade 1 winner, Maclean's Music proved that he could sire racehorses who would go farther than sprint distances, and with his two subsequent Grade 1 winners, Complexity and Jackie's Warrior, the stallion has improved the perception among buyers and breeders that he possesses qualities of excellence.

In the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 10, Jackie's Warrior stretched his unbeaten run to four races with a victory by 5 1/2 lengths in 1:35.42. Bred in Kentucky by J & J Stables, Jackie's Warrior took his second Grade 1 in the Champagne; he'd previously won the G1 Hopeful at Saratoga, as well as the G2 Saratoga Special.

Out of the A P Five Hundred mare Unicorn Girl, Jackie's Warrior is the mare's first stakes winner. Unicorn Girl herself is inbred 3×3 to Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew through his sons A.P. Indy and Doneraile Court.

Of more immediate import, however, is the fact that Unicorn Girl won 19 races from 54 starts and nearly a half-million dollars without earning any black type. Most of her victories came in claiming races, and the mare raced through age eight, when she was picked out of a $16,000 claiming race by J & J Stable.

She is a type of hickory racehorse who seems less common in racing today, but Unicorn Girl began her life in the usual way, selling for $45,000 at the OBS April sale in 2007 and making her debut at Saratoga in August of that year.

The now 15-year-old Unicorn Girl is out of stakes winner Horah for Bailey (Doneraile Court), and that mare won the Catcharisingstar Stakes at Calder, then produced a pair of stakes-placed horses, as well as Bernie the Maestro (Bernstein), who won 18 races, including a trio of stakes, and earned $694,317.

Unicorn Girl and Horah for Bailey trace back through the unraced Rahy mare Horah for the Lady to the latter's dam, Istria. An English-bred, Istria was by the Champion Stakes winner Silly Season (Tom Fool) and was ranked as the champion 2-year-old filly in Germany.

Although this family has had plenty of racers and winners since Istria, Bernie the Maestro was a potent reminder that the family has quality as well as quantity on its side, and perhaps that prominent south Florida campaigner played a role in sending his half-sister to the wunderkind who needed, most prominently, toughness in his mates.

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‘It Wasn’t Like Anything I’d Seen Before’: Sikura, Hill ‘N’ Dale Go ‘All-In’ On Xalapa Farm

John G. Sikura has owned Xalapa Farm in Paris, Ky., for over a year, but he still talks about the property with the kind of enthusiasm often reserved for a kid at Christmas with a new bicycle.

However, Sikura's commitment to his new farm exceeds anything on two wheels. On Wednesday, the entire Hill 'n' Dale Farms stallion roster was vanned 33 miles east from their former Lexington, Ky. base to Xalapa Farm to take up residence for the 2021 breeding season and beyond.

Putting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of horseflesh on vans – including top sires Curlin and Kitten's Joy – might seem like a harrowing task, but Sikura said the expensive cargo handled the process in stride.

“It was a very swift transition,” Sikura said. “All credit to our staff. Our farm manager, stallion manager, resident veterinarian – everybody was there. The horses were full of class. They didn't even nicker. Curlin just put his head down and started eating hay. I think that's a testament to the natural beauty of the place. There's no noise. It's so quiet.”

The history in Xalapa Farm is apparent in its notable past residents. Broodmare of the Year Hildene once called Xalapa home, along with Negofol, who sired winners of the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. That was appealing to Sikura, but the history of the farm's architecture – that natural beauty – was what truly excited the horseman.

Sikura had been invited out repeatedly by an acquaintance tied to the farm to see it for himself, but a packed schedule kept him from venturing out to the property. Besides, he'd seen plenty of top-class farms around the world, and he was skeptical what this one, less than an hour away, could offer that would wow him. The fact that he immediately had to eat his words is part of the reason why he remains so excited about Xalapa to this day.

“One day, I told them I'd like to come see it,” he said. “They showed me around, and when I got in the gate, I went, 'Oh my God.' It wasn't like anything I'd seen before, even though a lot of it was overgrown or in disrepair. All the architectural elements were just incredible.”

The land needed a lot of work. Hundreds of acres on the 1,100-acre farm needed to be fenced in, and infrastructure to get from place to place on the property was scant at best beyond the main buildings. Still, Sikura couldn't shake the place. He went back to visit Xalapa a few more times, and he eventually made an offer.

At the time, his plan was to use Xalapa as a base for Hill 'n' Dale's yearling operation, while the stallions would remain in Yarnalton Pike, between Lexington and Midway. Sikura had too many reasons to stay close to town, so keeping the home base close by made sense. Those circumstances changed last year, though, and so did the plans for the property.

“All my kids are now away at school,” he said. “My youngest just accepted to go to a hockey academy in Rhode Island. I could have never moved out here with my kids in school, because they were in the Spanish immersion program in downtown Lexington, and it's too far to drive back and forth two or three times a day.”

Now with a little more flexibility, Sikura fully committed to the Xalapa property, electing to move the stallions, the staff, and his own personal residence to Paris. He sold the Hill 'n' Dale property in Lexington to Don Alberto Corp., which not only married Sikura's operation to its new location, but also gave it a “save the date.”

“I had 14 months to be off the farm, and I didn't have a breeding shed, I didn't have barns, I didn't have houses for my employees, I didn't have fencing for over 500 acres, roads, electric, water, anything,” Sikura said. “For seven days a week, we've had 100 people out here constantly – Guys building stone walls, the breeding shed, doing electric, the water lines, internet. I knew there was a lot to do, but I didn't realize what a challenge it would be. It was not only an enormous expense, but the time, the mental energy.”

The bones of Xalapa trace back to its founding in 1827. Bringing it up to shape to house one of the country's top Thoroughbred operations required a top-down makeover.

Existing structures were renovated to fit modern needs using the same materials, in order to preserve their historical integrity, down to the hand-crafted hinges on the doors. If a new barn needed to be built, it was built. If a road needed to be made – be it asphalt for vehicles or rubber bricks for the stallions – it was made.

The breeding shed was created by John Howard of Lexington-based Four-H Construction Management, who was the project manager at Keeneland for nearly three decades. Howard's crew built the semi-circle saddling structure in the Keeneland paddock, which Sikura said had an ambience he wanted to recreate on his own property.

When Sikura committed to making Xalapa Hill 'n' Dale's full-time base, he also purchased the adjacent property, Stoner Mill Farm, adding another 300 acres to the project. Stoner Mill presented its own unique challenges, including the removal of 500 dead ash trees.

If the property was being built just to suit the horses' comfort, that would be one thing, but the Xalapa project also involved building or renovating 14 houses for Sikura and the farm's staff. Even the smaller details on such a large property can feel “big picture” when it comes to where one's going to spend their days and nights.

“You drift between excitement and being proud of getting it done, and then being overwhelmed,” Sikura said. “Those emotions will sometimes hit you in the same day. Now that you've got to do the stallion paddocks. How do you take a blank field and fit in 12 paddocks without them being too small, and having enough space between them? Then you've got to figure out water lines and how the roads are going to go. Then, it finally comes together.”

With the stallions settled in, Sikura said there was probably another month's worth of work to do on the property until he considered it officially completed. In the meantime, the November sales are approaching, and breeders will be crisscrossing central Kentucky to inspect stallions for potential 2021 bookings.

Xalapa Farm is far-flung compared to most of its major contemporaries in Kentucky's stallion market. It's about a 45-minute drive from Keeneland. Sikura preached perspective when it came to the farm's location, both in terms of its comparable distance to other Paris farms, and having the kind of product that's worth the trip.

“I think the most important thing you can do to get people to come out to your farm, or to get people to come up to your yearling consignment on the hill at Keeneland, is to have the best horses,” he said, referencing the sale barns furthest from Keeneland's pavilion. “A good horse can change your life, and horses are long-term, multi-million dollar commitments. If you go to Claiborne to see stallions, and a nine-minute drive to Hill 'n' Dale is too far, then you probably should do something else and not be in the horse business. You'll miss some of the quick visits, but I think today, with video walks, stallion registries, and all the professionals who go from farm to farm, all the information you need is out there.

“The difference between 20 minutes and 50 minutes…You have 11 months of gestation,” Sikura continued. “A 30-minute longer drive to get your mare in foal is really a non-factor.”

Sikura doesn't have sights on leaving Xalapa anytime soon, but he was aware of the value he's put into the land after all that work. Beyond all of the breeding and boarding facilities, there's a one-mile training track that also got a shining-up during the renovations, even if there aren't any immediate plans to use it. A stone bridge on the property was used during the filming of the 2003 “Seabiscuit” movie, which is an evergreen selling point, as well.

“I didn't buy it as an asset, but I think it's the most unique, historically significant horse farm; at least that I've been on,” he said. “I hope one or more of my sons have interest in the horse business and want to move it forward. If they do not, then somebody will then buy a one-of-a-kind, pristinely restored, massive, unique farm.”

Until that day comes, though, Sikura said the goal is to make Hill 'n' Dale's new home as welcoming as possible.

Many months and many dollars later, and after the efforts of an army of people, Sikura is still thrilled with his purchase. One of the most fun parts about being excited about something is being able to share that feeling with others, and Sikura said that will be the goal with Xalapa Farm.

“I'm trying to make the farm open and inviting, and the more people see it, the more I think they're going to embrace it – sort of the way the community embraces Keeneland,” he said. “It's private to a degree, but the gates are open and we want to show you how unique the place is.”

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Beholder’s Yearling Filly Gets A Name: Karin With An I

The second foal out of four-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder, a filly by Curlin, has been given the name Karin With An I, owner Spendthrift Farm announced on Monday.

The name was chosen in honor of the later mother of Spendthrift president Eric Gustavson.

”My mom died the same year the filly was born,” Gustavson said. “Wayne (Hughes) so graciously suggested we name the filly after my mom. I tried her name, which is Karin, with the Jockey Club. There was already a Caren (Canada's 2016 Horse of the Year), so they rejected it. That's how I chose 'Karin With An I.”'

The name follows in the footsteps of Beholder's first foal, an Uncle Mo colt named Q B One who is training toward his debut start in Southern California. Beholder delivered her third foal, a War Front filly, on Jan. 12 at Spendthrift Farm, where the 10-year-old Henny Hughes mare resides, and she visited fellow Spendthrift resident Bolt d'Oro during the 2020 breeding season.

Curlin, a 16-year-old son of Smart Strike, stands at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Lexington, Ky., for an advertised fee of $175,000. The two-time Horse of the Year is the sire of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso, Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator, and Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice, among many others.

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Road To The Top For Kitten’s Joy Could Have Had Several Off-Ramps

Any stallion requires a series of fortunate – and downright lucky – bounces to become a major player, but the ones that led Kitten's Joy to the top of the North American sire list were the kind that could have derailed his entire stud career as we know it.

In a piece for Thoroughbred Owner Breeder, Nancy Sexton detailed some of those crucial decisions, some of which spanned back to before the stallion was born.

The first of those crossroads came during the racing career of his dam, Kitten's First, whom owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey purchased as a yearling. She raced just twice, having broken her hip in the Junior Champion Stakes at Monmouth Park as a 2-year-old. Ramsey told Sexton that the veterinarian wanted to euthanize the filly once she got back to the barn, but Tom Albertrani, then an assistant to Kitten's First's trainer Bill Mott, was able to get her to stand, and she cooperated with recovery efforts from there, eventually joining Ramsey's broodmare band.

The next turning point came prior to Kitten's Joy's retirement, when the Ramseys were being heavily courted by Japanese buyers to sell turf champion Kitten's Joy and Dubai World Cup winner Roses in May. Ken Ramsey wanted to sell just one of the two, ultimately deciding on Roses in May and altering the North American stud book for decades to come.

One more potential off-ramp came recently when Ken Ramsey became dissatisfied with the stallion's commercial reception by North American buyers and shopped him out to stand at European farms. Ramsey said a deal was made to send Kitten's Joy to stand in England, but a last-minute intervention from his family led him to keep the stallion stateside.

Kitten's Joy moved from Ramsey Farm to Hill 'n' Dale Farms in 2018, and he stood the most recent breeding season for $75,000.

Read more at Thoroughbred Owner Breeder.

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