“She's been very popular today, let's put it that way,” Becky Thomas said of the filly from the first crop of Complexity (hip 276) after a long day of showing Sunday in Ocala.

Thomas's Sequel Thoroughbreds bred the daughter of Goods and Services (Paynter) and she is consigned under the Sequel Bloodstock banner.

The tote delay that caused the Tampa Bay Derby post time to be pushed back a half-hour did, at least, allow Thomas to get home in time to watch the race.

“I was afraid he was not going to be able to move around because he was in tight there at the end,” Thomas said. “Those kind of horses are so impressive because he obviously had so much horse left, he just needed to be able to go. So it was very, very cool.”

Even before Domestic Product's win at Tampa Bay, Thomas was impressed with his 2-year-old half-sister, who worked a furlong during the OBS under-tack show in :10 flat and had shown even more promise when training over the dirt.

“I really love her on dirt,” Thomas said. “She was a filly that I slated for Maryland May [Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale] and I moved her up here because she was training so good. She's got a really quiet demeanor, so I originally put her for May because she is a big, stretchy filly and I thought I would give her a little bit more time. They kind of tell you when you start breezing them who needs to move up and who might need to move down. But she's been really solid.”

The dark bay filly is one of 19 juveniles by Complexity to work last week ahead of the OBS March sale. The son of Hill 'n' Dale stallion Maclean's Music won the 2018 GI Champagne S. and 2020 GII Kelso S. He stands at Airdrie Stud for a fee of $12,500.

“I am a Maclean's Music fan,” Thomas explained. “I ended up buying a share in [his sons] Drain the Clock and I bred to Jackie's Warrior. I am a John Sikura disciple. When you have those horses who have shown such brilliance and have been a Grade I-siring stallion like him, I really like those kind of horses. And this filly is a big tall leggy, two-turn looking filly that's got a lot of parts. You can see why she can go so fast and you can also see why she should go two turns.”

The large number of juveniles by Complexity in the March catalogue came as no surprise to Thomas.

“We are a land of pinhookers and if we actually bought horses, it's because all of us like the shape of them,” she said. “The fact that there are that many in here and so many of them are pinhooks, they are the type the pinhookers like. They look quick.”

Thomas purchased Goods and Services with the Complexity filly in utero for $37,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November sale.

“I couldn't be at that sale, but [bloodstock agent] Andrew Cary and my assistant Carlos Manresa sent me the link to her,” Thomas said. “So we decided to try on her. But it was all because of Andrew and Carlos.”

The 2-year-old is the mare's last foal.

“Unfortunately, she has passed away,” Thomas said of the mare. “We bred her to Drain the Clock and she was in foal, but she was really very laminitic. Unfortunately, even through our podiatrist, we were not able to keep her comfortable. This is the only baby we got out of her.”

The three-day OBS March sale begins Tuesday at 11 a.m.

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LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale continued into its second half Wednesday in Lexington with a session which, while significantly smaller, produced results largely in line with its 2023 counterpart.

For the session, 196 horses sold for a gross of $4,352,900. The average of $22,209 was down 2.54% from last year's corresponding session, while the median of $10,000 was up 25%. From 316 catalogued horses, 242 horses were offered and 46 failed to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 19.01%.

During the third session of the 2023 auction, 246 horses sold for $5,605,700. The session average was $22,787 and the median was $8,000. The buy-back rate was 17.45%.

Marvelous Time (Distorted Humor), who sold just minutes into Wednesday's session, brought the day's top price when selling for $220,000 to Centofanti Thoroughbreds, as agent for Brittlyn Stables.

The session topper was one of 17 sold for $1,103,000 during what has become an annual offering of mares from Godolphin, making Sheikh Mohammed's operation the day's leading consignor.

A filly from the first crop of Yaupon brought the top price for a short yearling Wednesday when selling for $150,000 to Crestwood Farm.

Through three of four sessions, 626 horses have grossed $35,949,600 and the average of $57,427 is just 0.79% off the 2023 figure. The median of $22,000 is down 18.52%.

“I'm more than happy with the market,” said Hunter Valley's Adrian Regan. “I think there was a bit of doom and gloom from some people coming in that it was going to be tough going, but in fairness, it was pretty good. If you had the right foal and it vetted clean and everything, you got a lot of money for it. They sold very well. Overall, it was better than expected, I would say.”

A horse awaits a turn in the ring | Keeneland

Consignors agreed quality offerings continued to be in demand at Keeneland this week.

“Horses with quality are still fairly easy to sell,” said Brian Graves of Gainesway, which consigned the $1.6-million sale-topping Prank (Into Mischief) during Monday's first session of the auction. “And then anything that even hints at not being every bit of that is correcting. Anything that is not 100% quality or top shelf, it looks like it's correcting.”

Graves said he has also observed less activity than normal in the back ring.

“It seems like there is not a lot of back ring participants, so if you didn't have it done at the barn, you weren't going to get any help,” he said. “There weren't a ton of people standing around here just buying horses out of the back ring for anything significant.”

On the other side of the ledger, Graves has been active as a buyer in the pinhooking sphere where he admitted he was vying for that very quality, while also casting a wary eye on potential market conditions next fall.

“We focus on quality [when we buy],” Graves said. “That's what we focus on. It's a battle to get your hands on that and once you've gotten your hands on that, you have to worry a little bit wondering if these other signs that we are seeing are a hint of what is coming down the road.”

Meg Levy, whose Bluewater Sales sold the $650,000 Kaling (Practical Joke) Monday, said demand for quality lots significantly helped to drive up prices for those offerings.

“I feel like quality will out,” Levy said. “The buyers are willing to pay more for the perceived commercial quality, particularly in the yearlings, I have noticed. We had Kaling sell very well here, which we were pleased about. But it just seems like everybody is willing to pay up to a third more for what they perceive to be the right stuff. And the middle market is still suffering. It's very difficult.”

Levy speculated that some of the weakening in the foal market might be traced back to the vet reports.

“There is kind of a gap selling some of these yearlings where we are using the vet reports as a marketing tool to help the buyers,” she said. “But honestly, so many of them don't understand reports and they don't use a veterinarian, so that ends up hurting things.”

The Keeneland January sale concludes Thursday with a session beginning at 10 a.m.

Sikura, Dorman Team Up for Star Act

The Keeneland January sale got its third seven-figure horse when Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa's John Sikura and Determined Stud's Matt Dorman partnered up to purchase Star Act (Street Cry {Ire}) (hip 144) for $1.2 million. The 13-year-old mare, dam of GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Just F Y I (Justify), was originally led out unsold at $950,000 during the auction's first session Monday.

Star Act | Keeneland

“She is a class mare,” Dorman said Wednesday. “She's a Grade I producer. She has a phenomenal horse who is three-for-three and primed for next year. John Sikura has always been a great business partner. It just worked out as a good opportunity.”

Dorman said the mare, who is in foal to Life Is Good and was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale on behalf of George Krikorian, was on his radar Monday, but after Prank (Into Mischief) sold for $1.6 million earlier in the session, he assumed Star Act would be out of his price range.

“When I saw the horse go for $1.6 million, I thought she would be too much,” Dorman said. “I work with David Ingordo now. So Dave and I had a long conversation about the broodmare band and what we are doing. And after [Star Act] RNA'd, we decided that the horse made sense at this number. So we reached out to John and Donato [Lanni]. And we called back and forth and it evolved into John and I buying the horse. Donato and the owner have a long-standing relationship with John and respect John, so it worked out well.” @JessMartiniTDN

Marvelous Time Makes Trip Worthwhile for Centofanti

Bloodstock agent Raffaele Centofanti made the trip up from Ocala to find a specific mare for Evelyn Benoit's Brittlyn Stable and, mission accomplished, he was heading back south having purchased Marvelous Time (Distorted Humor) (hip 845) for $220,000 early in Wednesday's third session of the Keeneland January sale. Bred and consigned by Godolphin, the 4-year-old is a daughter of Grade I-placed Folk (Quiet American).

“We were looking for that Quiet American line,” Centofanti said of the mare's appeal. “They are hard to find. You can't find them usually that young–she's only four. It's such a great female line. To get her that young and with that broodmare sire, she checked all the boxes basically. She had everything physically, as well. She is 16.2, with a classy look and a great walk. She looks like a Distorted Humor, but she had the size. She had everything I liked physically.”

Marvelous Time | Keeneland

Marvelous Time made just one racetrack appearance, winning her debut at Presque Isle Downs in 2022 for trainer Mike Stidham. The bay mare is a half-sister to graded-placed Captivating Lass (A.P. Indy), who produced Grade I winner Atone (Into Mischief). She sold Wednesday in foal to Mystic Guide.

“I probably appraised her at a little less than that, but when I came and saw her, I thought we needed around $200,000 to buy her,” Centofanti said. “I think she was worth that.”

Marvelous Time will remain in Kentucky to foal and then will head south to Brittlyn Stable's Louisiana base to visit either Star Guitar or Clearly Now.

“We are debating where we will go with her,” Centofanti said. “We are trying to bring some quality back to Star and Clearly Now. We've been doing it the last two years and we've got some nice babies coming up.”

Centofanti said the plan has been to upgrade the Brittlyn broodmare band as mares get older and are rotated out. The results are showing up on the race track and in the sales ring.

“We've been selling the last three years,” he said. “We sold a couple of Star Guitars for six figures at Keeneland that went on to win big races–one won in Dubai a couple of weeks ago out of Charged Cotton (Dehere). And we have a Not This Time we will sell in September and she is beautiful.”

The Brittlyn-bred Manama Gold (Star Guitar), a Louisiana-bred out of Charged Cotton, sold for $100,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September sale and resold for $200,000 at the 2023 OBS April sale. The filly broke her maiden stylishly at Meydan Dec. 22 for Fawzi Abdulla Nass.

“We've been rotating between Kentucky and Louisiana sires,” Centofanti said. “[Benoit] loves racing and she loves Louisiana. And this way we can continue and we've had success doing that. Our horses are running and doing well.”

Marvelous Time was the only horse Centofanti bid on at Keeneland and he was ready to head back south.

“I have to go to Ocala,” he said. “I have a bunch of horses for her that we are breaking. So I've got to get back there.” @JessMartiniTDN

Yaupon Yearling to Crestwood Farm

Not long into the third session of the Keeneland January sale, Crestwood Farm and Robert Keck went to $150,000 for hip 926, a filly from the first crop of Yaupon.

“She had an amazing body, great bones and a standout pedigree for this session,” said Keck. “She'll be resold in September.”

Hip 926 | Keeneland

Spendthrift Farm's Yaupon has seen his yearlings sell well this week, all five sold going for over six figures, led by a $190,000 colt (hip 82) who sold Monday to Clarmont Bloodstock Club.

“Hopefully that sire is as hot as people are predicting,” Keck continued. “I knew that [Yaupons were selling well], but looked at her as an objective buyer. People don't pay enough attention sometimes to where a horse comes from and I liked that she was raised by Clarkland Farm, they raise a great horse.”

Bred and consigned by Clarkland Farm, the filly is a daughter of MSW Tiz Imaginary (Tizway), who was purchased by the farm for $180,000 out of the 2019 Keeneland November sale. This is the family of champion 2-year-old filly Flanders (Seeking the Gold) and her champion daughter Surfside (Seattle Slew). @SGrimmTDN

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Javier Castellano was aboard Ghostzapper for every one of those remarkable performances.

“He was one of the biggest horses and one of the best in my career,” said Castellano. “I say that because you don't see too many horses that do what he did. This horse was particularly diversified at distances. From sprint to long distances, he did everything. He won the sprint races, he won at 1 1/4 miles, he won at a mile, at all the distances. It's hard to stretch out a horse from six furlongs to long and back again, but he did it and he won. He did everything.

“He still has [the Breeders' Cup] record. We're talking about 19 years ago and nobody has broken that record. It was against all the best horses in the world at the time: Funny Cide, Azeri, Pleasantly Perfect.

“He's pretty amazing, such a special horse. He put me on another level in my career. People didn't know who Javier Castellano was at the time and for me to ride the best horse, he opened the door for myself and my family. He opened the door for my career. He's such a special horse. I love him.

“He's just amazing. I'm blessed, thankful, grateful to have ridden such a special horse. Mr. Frankel told me Ghostzapper was the best horse he'd trained in all his life. For him to say that, with all those good horses he had, was pretty amazing.”

Ghostzapper (2000 bay horse, Awesome Again–Baby Zip, by Relaunch)

Lifetime record: Horse of the Year, Ch. older male, MGISW, 11-9-0-1, $3,446,120

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Adena Springs (KY); O-Stronach Stables; T-Robert Frankel; J-Javier Castellano.

Current location: Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, Paris, Ky.

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Farm stalwart Curlin, who has defined himself as one of the most preeminent sires at stud today, had his fee raised from $225,000. The 19-year-old is the sire of five individual Grade I winners this year, including Idiomatic, Cody's Wish, Clairiere, Elite Power and Bright Future.

Curlin's champion son Good Magic will stand for a 2024 fee of $125,000 LFSN. The leading second crop sire this year, Good Magic is the sire of both Kentucky Derby champ Mage and recent GI American Pharoah S. winner Muth, who sold as a 2-year-old for $2 million to Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.

Army Mule enjoyed a banner year in the sales ring and on the track. In addition to siring One in Vermillion, his first-crop Grade I winner, his yearlings sold for up to $600,000. His fee is set at $25,000 LFSN.

New to the roster this year is Grade I performer Loggins by Ghostzapper who will stand his first season for $7,500 LFSN.

Here is a list of the complete roster with fees:

• Curlin — $250,000 LFSN
• Good Magic — $125,000 LFSN
• Ghostzapper — $75,000 LFSN
• Violence — $60,000 LFSN
• Charlatan — $50,000 LFSN
• Maclean's Music — $40,000 LFSN
• Army Mule — $25,000 LFSN
• Kantharos — $15,000 LFSN
• Midnight Lute — $10,000 LFSN
• Loggins — $7,500 LFSN
• Mucho Macho Man — $7,500 LFSN
• World of Trouble — $5,000 LFSN

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“The odds are rare to buy a horse and have it become an important stallion,” said Hill 'n' Dale's John Sikura of Good Magic. “Intuitively you like what you like and hope it works out. The progeny will do it or they won't. You can only drive as many good mares to him as you can to give him the opportunity. Obviously we have a vested interest so we believe he had a strong potential, but the multiplicity of stakes winners, colts and fillies, early and late, a Derby winner… He's been in demand every year, but this year he will breed the highest quality of mares. He'll have the best opportunities. We're hoping the success then will be multiplied.”

Good Magic (2015 chestnut horse, Curlin–Glinda the Good, by Hard Spun)

Lifetime record: Ch. 2yo colt, MGISW, 9-3-3-1, $2,945,000

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); O-e Five Racing Thoroughbreds & Stonestreet Stables LLC; T-Chad Brown; J-Jose Ortiz.

Current location: Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, Paris, Ky.

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There are great racehorses and there are great sires. One doesn't always equal the other. Sometimes, but not always, a horse is equally adept at both.

“It's rare for world-class racehorse to become a world-class sire. It's two different resumes, two different achievements,” said John Sikura, owner of Hill 'n' Dale.

Rarely, ever so rarely, a top racehorse becomes a sire so good and so prolific in generating top-class horses that his own championship race record becomes almost an afterthought. That happened with Northern Dancer. He was a sire in such uncommon air that his own Hall of Fame achievements and Classic wins have been virtually relegated to a footnote amongst the heights of his accomplishments.

Is the same thing happening to 2007 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner and Hall of Famer Curlin?

When a horse wins the Breeders' Cup, particularly the Classic, that is generally–and rightfully–considered the pinnacle of his or her career. Many are retired shortly afterward as there's a belief they've achieved all they can on the racetrack. A select few might add a second Breeders' Cup win or other Grade I races, but they are always referred to and remembered as a Breeders' Cup winner. Not so with Curlin. His Classic win was merely the launching pad of his impact on the World Championships.

“He's on the cusp of siring the most Breeders' Cup winners ever in different categories, sexes, distances,” said Sikura, who stands Curlin at Hill 'n' Dale. “The uniqueness of him producing world-class horses will be unparalleled in the breed.

“You'd be greedy if you thought the sire you were standing would accomplish this, but Curlin is a force and is unique.”

Curlin | Sarah Andrew

Indeed, of all the Breeders' Cup winners who have sired Breeders' Cup winners, Curlin ranks only one behind the late Unbridled's Song with five individual winners, making him the leader among living North American sires. A handful of other living sires have matched or exceeded that number–Dubawi (Ire), Into Mischief, and Tapit–but none of them won the Breeders' Cup themselves. Rare air, indeed.

“Any time you've sired more Breeders' Cup champions than any of those horses,” continued Sikura, “it's the highest distinction. What a testament among sires that have sired Breeders' Cup winners. Hopefully we can break the record this year or tie it. He had three winners last year which has never been achieved if you look at all the history of the Breeders' Cup.

“Curlin's accomplishments speak for him. If the ultimate goal with a sire is siring a Breeders' Cup winner and if you've done that more than any other sire, then it doesn't really need a graphic or more explanation. He's the best of the very best, that's what that achievement says.”

When Curlin retired as America's richest racehorse with earnings north of $10 million to stand his initial season in 2009, no one could have logically predicted the dual Horse of the Year's best and biggest contribution to the sport was still ahead.

But one person did. His majority owner, Jess Jackson, told the media in late 2008: “He is one of the best examples of the breed–fast, strong, and durable. I predict he will make a substantial contribution to our sport through his gene pool, and I am looking forward to seeing his foals compete and possibly exceed his unequaled race record.”

Jackson, the late founder with his wife, Barbara Banke, of the then-fledgling Stonestreet Farm, was never shy with bold, sometimes flamboyant statements, but perhaps even he would be floored at the stark truth in his prediction these 15 years later. Curlin, with that gleaming golden coat, has the Midas Touch as a sire. And unlike many stallions, who have their best horses early on with those initial good books of mares, Curlin seems to be getting better and better. In 2022 alone, he became the first sire in the history of the Breeders' Cup to have three winners in one day. More specifically, it was three winners in less than three hours: races 5, 7, and 9.

Curlin's Breeders' Cup Classic win | Sarah Andrew/Equi-Photo

Curlin's own Classic in 2007 was a powerhouse performance in a soggy rendition at Monmouth Park. He'd never faced a sloppy track before, but it proved no obstacle. In a foreshadowing of his future, he manhandled his opponents on the racetrack and drew away with authority, just as he would do so on many indicators of the sire charts.

Curlin was Jackson's first major racehorse; Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) would be his second. Incidentally, and perhaps relevant to today's ongoing debate over synthetic surfaces, Curlin's only career off-the-board finish was a fourth when attempting to defend his Breeders' Cup Classic title at Santa Anita in 2008 over the then-synthetic. Jackson publicly stated at the time his horses would never compete over a synthetic surface again. True to his word, the next year, he did not enter Rachel Alexandra in the Breeders' Cup when it returned to Santa Anita despite her undefeated sophomore season which included wins over the boys in the GI Preakness, GI Haskell, and GI Woodward, as well as a 10 1/4-length GI Kentucky Oaks romp.

Jackson passed away in 2011 when Curlin's first foals were still short yearlings. He had been an incredibly sporting owner in his short time at the top level of the sport, proven by his decision to campaign Curlin at age four. Many would have retired the chestnut after a 3-year-old season that included that included wins in the GI Preakness, GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Classic, plus a head second to Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy) in an unforgettable GI Belmont S. battle. Curlin rewarded Jackson with another three U.S. Grade I wins at four, as well as a trip around the world to bring back a G1 Dubai World Cup trophy.

“He was the best horse in the world [at that time],” said Sikura. “I think his body of work as a racehorse was special and unique. He's passing on that quality, that ability, that soundness, that tenaciousness. All those things that made him such a great horse he's passing on to his progeny.”

Curlin initially stood at Lane's End upon retirement, but a change in his ownership brought him to Hill 'n' Dale for the 2016 season, when his first crop had completed their 5-year-old campaigns. Stellar Wind would be named the 2015 champion 3-year-old filly, Keen Ice had won the GI Travers S., Palace Malice had captured the GI Belmont S. and the GI Met Mile, and Curalina had taken the GI Acorn S. and GI CCA Oaks–all career-making accomplishments for the majority of sires. But most sires are not Curlin. He was just getting warmed up.

“There was an opportunity we seized upon when a 20% interest arose,” said Sikura. “It was ahead of his ability, but when it arose we certainly did everything to secure him. Look at all the Breeders' Cup winners along the way [since then]. He's done great things and hopefully will consistently continue to do them.”

Cody's Wish, shown winning the 2023 Met Mile. After his Saturday score in the Vosburgh, Godolphin's Michael Banahan said, “The major goal was trying to win the Met Mile, which we achieved. Everything else was just bonus to top it off.” | Sarah Andrew

Among Curlin's 21 Grade I winners and/or seven champions are Breeders' Cup winners Vino Rosso (2019 Classic) and Good Magic (2017 Juvenile), as well as his trio in 2022: Malathaat (Distaff), Elite Power (Sprint), and Cody's Wish (Dirt Mile). Amazingly, his runners have had another nine placings in Breeders' Cup races.

“If they make the starting gate, they're dangerous,” said Sikura. “He is multidimensional at the highest level; that's what makes him so special.

“He has done everything but be leading sire by progeny earnings. He's been carefully managed with fewer starters and fewer earners, but more importantly, he's siring more Grade I horses than any other horse during the last few seasons. When he breaks the Breeders' Cup record he can singularly be the horse.”

Sikura is right; by Grade I winners, Curlin currently leads North America's 2023 leading sire list and did in 2021 and 2022 as well.

“He's a horse whose achievements will be seen throughout the history of racing,” continued Sikura. “He's a true classic sire. His accomplishments prove that he is that special and unique horse.”

Sikura believes in Curlin's abilities so much that he did a deal for the breeding rights of Good Magic during that colt's 3-year-old year and now stands him as well. Hill 'n' Dale had consigned Good Magic to the 2016 Keeneland September sale as a yearling for his breeder, Stonestreet. Good Magic brought $1 million and broke his maiden in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, then went on to have a stellar sophomore season, sandwiching wins in the GII Blue Grass S. and GI Haskell S. around a second in the GI Kentucky Derby.

Good Magic at Hill 'n' Dale | Sarah Andrew

“He's not quite as coarse as Curlin. He's medium-sized and he moves very well. If he's successful, he reminds you of Curlin. If not, he reminds you of the dam,” said Sikura with a laugh. “He's successful, so Curlin gets that attribution. He has a soundness quality and is probably a little earlier than Curlin was. I see, in the performance of his offspring, some similarities to Curlin, but he has his own ability to transmit those qualities.”

Good Magic leads the second-crop sire list by the standard measurement of earnings and got this year's Kentucky Derby winner, Mage, in his first crop. This marks the second consecutive year one of Curlin's sons has sired the Derby winner, as Keen Ice sired Rich Strike last year. Curlin has four sons to date who have sired Grade I winners.

“It's hard for a stallion to be trending any better than Good Magic. The secret is out,” said SF Bloodstock's Tom Ryan two weeks ago at the Keeneland September sale after purchasing a $700,000 session topper by the son of Curlin. “At this point, when you have a stallion producing horses at that elite level, the price bracket can get to an elite range as well. At the end of the day, you try to buy them as reasonably as possible, but it's our job to buy them.”

Curlin himself had two of the seven-figure yearlings at that sale and another two at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale, including the $4-million topper out of champion Beholder (Henny Hughes). Despite a few more yearling sales remaining on the 2023 calendar, that Curlin yearling is likely to be the highest-priced yearling of the year.

“Everyone has given their best to the horse and he has rewarded that faith and opportunity by giving his best,” said Sikura. “Quid pro quo: we give our best, he gives his best. That's rewarding.”

Sikura pointed to the support of Stonestreet as one of the keys to getting Curlin those opportunities.

“Stonestreet has been great supporters. They were active in supplying those great mares ahead of the marketplace. That's a reward in itself and now other people are emulating that. There's synergy between owner and horse. They have that belief in him.”

Curlin's 12th crop of 2-year-olds is at the races this year. No fewer than 16% of all his foals aged three and up are stakes performers. If one looks only at starters, the number jumps to a provocative 20%. Curlin has 97 black-type winners bred in this hemisphere; 55 of those are graded winners; 21 are Grade I winners; seven are champions. Heady numbers, indeed. And he's showing no sign of slowing down.

Another of Curlin's 2022 Breeders' Cup winners, Elite Power, has come back to be a repeat Grade I winner in 2023. Curlin has five Grade I winners this year, top in the nation. | Sarah Andrew

“He's doing fantastic,” said Sikura. “He's a 19-year-old horse and is very, very fertile. He continues to sire elite-level horses. When the market looks at stallions when they get middle-aged, it is receptive if they are still performing. He is current and popular at the racetrack with representation and performance at the highest levels every year.”

From Breeders' Cup winner to Breeders' Cup sire, Curlin can no longer be considered on the cusp of greatness. He hurdled that superlative long ago. Perhaps an avalanche is a better term to describe his momentum as he sweeps up and overwhelms everything in his path, but he leaves things improved, not bereft as an avalanche does. He may not be Northern Dancer yet, but don't count him out.

“He is a self-made man. He brought just $57,000 as a yearling, but he's overcome every prejudice and at every opportunity he continues to elevate. That proves how great he is. We can just nod our head to that greatness level,” said Sikura.

Northern Dancer himself was famously an unsold yearling before his Hall of Fame racing career and unprecedented success as a sire. Curlin may have sold as a yearling for what now looks to be the bargain of the century, but he, too, was inducted to the Hall of Fame and is certainly proving himself as a sire and a burgeoning sire of sires. It's early days yet for him as a broodmare sire, but there's already 15 black-type winners and seven graded winners out of his first daughters.

Curlin knows he's special.

“He's like a politician. When someone shows up, he has a big smile because he knows he's going to get his picture taken,” said Sikura. “He has that aura about him, that life force. He knows he's the dominant male. He's not a fractious horse, doesn't bounce around, just looks around like 'I own the place.' Well, I own the place, but he paid for it. He's my best banker.”

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And those are all assets that appear to be in short supply right now. For while our community's emotional response to the traumas at Saratoga this summer was one of shared horror and grief, the polarization of opinion since has been emotive.

Much as we have seen in the political sphere, since the advent of social media, the sport's recent experiences appear to have stimulated increasing resentment and intransigence. On the one hand, some propose radical but relatively simple solutions; others, however, believe our problems are too varied to be tackled other than by diligent increments.
Sikura pleads for less panic, fewer polemics, and more circumspection, above all more coherence.

“The difficulty in every emotional event–be it gun control, abortion, be you liberal, labor, conservative–is that emotion and rational thinking tend to be polar opposites,” he says. “When you see a shocking event, you react with emotion. But there's never a simplistic answer to a complex problem.”

Sikura places the challenge in unflinching perspective. “The unfortunate incidence of catastrophic death in racehorses has remained relatively consistent for more than 20 years,” he notes. “And over the last four or five, we've had a steady decline. Difficult as it is to say in a public forum, unfortunately a horse race is a concussive, high velocity event where everything can happen. A mis-step. A bump turning you sideways at the wrong time. Jumping on heels. The dangers of entering, exiting the gate.”

Little wonder, he suggests, if forensic studies after breakdown clusters have tended-as at Churchill earlier this year-to find no single cause. In fairness, moreover, two dirt breakdowns during the Saratoga meet scarcely qualified as a “cluster.” For both to involve horses in the process of winning a Grade I, in front of the grandstand, was a coincidence that horribly exposed the sport. But Sikura feels that its freakish nature needs to be recognized before any single, sweeping solution is proposed or embraced.

“Not to sound callous, but I believe that if the Saratoga casualties [six others on turf] were 50 percent higher but it was Belterra Park, it would not be front page of the TDN,” he reasons. “You're wracked with emotion because of the connections, Grade I races, Saratoga, everybody's there.

“Ultimately you can never control what day this event happens, what race, what place on the racetrack, who's watching. But from the perspective of an insurance company, they would say, 'We don't know where or when, but some years we must expect clusters of these events.' The reason they will insure barrenness in mares, mortality in horses, all the possible events, is that there's a baseline. Same with insuring properties, hurricane, fire, etc. We may [at a given time] have a higher number of casualties due to cardiac arrest. And then everything gets to a norm, until or unless you can find a drug or a scientific breakthrough that changes everything.”

Sikura recognizes that none of this should discourage us from striving relentlessly to make the sport as safe as possible. The aspiration, naturally, should be zero fatalities. But he reminds us that we can never hope actually to hit zero, because with animals constructed this way there will always be an attrition rate-even per number of foals playing in a paddock. In the meantime, nobody should suggest to Sikura that either the problem or the solution can be simple.

“There are lots of factors that we can look into. Certainly, a study on the ideal racetrack. The ideal amount of cushion. Possibly a new kind of surface that is part artificial, part dirt. It could be that we come up with something that hasn't even been tried before, that is profoundly safer. And the highest level of scrutiny. Pre-scanning. A traveling team could go racetrack to racetrack, make sure that we're doing everything we can to have the surface ideal. I think that definitely we can, should and must do better.”

But even then, he predicts, from time to time something will go wrong. And it won't necessarily be anybody's fault. We will want to point to this or that reason, but many events-most, even-Sikura feels to be random. And, granted that our sport will always contain an element of danger, he finds another oversimplification in the familiar argument that only the humans participate voluntarily.

“You can say jockeys can verbalize their will,” he allows. “But really racehorses do the same, because they're innately bred to have that trait. They want to run, they want to compete, they want to perform much like a hound will chase a fox. We have breeds specifically bred for defining qualities, and I think it's extremist to say that if something goes wrong, it's cruel.”

He offers an example. You buy a German Shepherd puppy. But you read the science, and discover the breed to be susceptible to hip dysplasia.

“So you have the joy of the animal, the love of the animal, they're a family member, they can be a protector, many things,” Sikura says. “But when they turn 12, and they have hip dysplasia and can't get up, and everybody's crying, and you're taking your dog to the vet, is the breeder somehow immoral or inhumane for breeding that dog?”

Sikura sees that inborn sense of vocation in all Thoroughbreds, from the moment they wobble onto their feet. But here, presumably, his professional peers would find easy consensus. The differences arise from how we best deploy these instincts. And here is where the sport's governance exasperates Sikura.

“Who's in charge, who's funding, and how do you put it together?” he asks. “Our 'organizations' all have the opinion that certain things are under their purview and they should be in charge. If you have a conundrum that seems to have no solution, it's folly to get the same group of people to study the issue. It takes an independence where, real or perceived, you can't have prejudice. Where they won't say, 'Well, this will cost too much,' or 'What about the shareholders?' Just unbiased, well-paid professionals.”

But even if such people produced recommendations, who would decide on their adoption?

“We're a Rubik's Cube with one square taken out,” Sikura says. “So it can't be solved under our fragmented, disorganized, parochial, backyard mentality. If an outsider came in and took over the business, many of these organizations would be eliminated as either inefficient or redundant. The others would be governed in such a way that each had a specific task: public relations, humane treatment of racehorses, media source, sponsorship.”

Sikura has two axioms on power. “One, nobody voluntarily gives it up,” he says. “Two, you're never doing a bad job when you're in charge.”

The outsider just mentioned would look at the metrics and conclude that the sport, under the current dispensation, is diminishing. But who, Sikura asks, will sacrifice the narrow interests of their own sector to create the kind of rising tide that might eventually float all boats? As things stand, he complains, people will confine themselves to asking, “Did I improve handle at my meet?” or “What is the yearling average of my stallion?”

“You can't have direction without directions,” Sikura says. “Say someone has a bold idea. Say I did a paper and spent six months on it, and I can't wait to talk about it, I'm so excited. The biggest challenge would be who do I bring this to, and can they do anything about it? The answer would be, 'I don't know' and, 'No, they can't.' It's eternally frustrating. So there's innovative guys, billionaires, some of the brightest entrepreneurs in America-and therefore the world-that have contributed no intellect, no ideas, no participation because they felt frustrated.”

Any major change has duly had to overcome fierce factional opposition: the Breeders' Cup, now HISA. Even the Breeders' Cup, perceived as a triumph, is not what Sikura feels it might be: its purses stagnant, international engagement extremely uneven. And then there's the showpiece itself, the Kentucky Derby.

“The single event that drives the commerce of the industry,” he declares. “The point of entry to virtually everybody that owns a horse: 'I want to win the Kentucky Derby.' If you're fortunate enough to do so, there should be a financial reward that recognizes that-not just pride in achievement.

“A purse of $3 million, with $1 million dollars in fees and nominations, is an embarrassment to the sport. A huge windfall is given to a corporate entity, which they're entitled to. Corporately, they've been brilliant stewards of their brand and stock value. But they have to recognize that they're in a sport that has many participants-and that those should be rewarded.

“In the NFL, players are paid to measure with their ability. There's revenue-sharing. Things are done recognizing that the league has to prosper and succeed. The best teams can have high ticket prices, etc., but everybody needs to be a part of it. Yet participants in our industry, the people that provide the product, put on the show, are effectively minimum wage workers. The money is here from the historical racing. Instantly, the Derby can be $5 million; the Oaks $2.5 million. Instantly. Should be $10 million and $5 million. And it doesn't even have to come out of their pocket. It's a redistribution of KTDF funds, the money's there.”

He invokes the example of Ron Winchell at Kentucky Downs.

“Look at what they give away!” he exclaims. “They give millions of dollars to other tracks. They can't count the money. People don't think that purses are a huge part of this, everyone talks about the pageantry and the mornings and how great it all is. I don't diminish any of that. But when nobody would race at Turfway Park or Ellis Park, and now you can't get in, is it a mystery why?”

Those tracks, of course, are under the same ownership as Churchill Downs.

“Again, I'm not critiquing the way they run their business as a 'business',” Sikura stresses. “But they've made a lot of money off the horseracing industry. Hollywood Park, shut down and sold. Arlington, shut down and sold. Calder. So I think they have a responsibility and their bottom line, it's nothing. Nothing. It's like leaving a nickel tip. Not even. A penny falls out of your pocket, you're in a hurry, you just leave it there.”

And if it's human nature never to surrender more than necessary, Sikura feels that the case for doing so will never even be made by so fractured a sport.

“I think an open-minded evaluation by the other side would have to agree with you,” he says. “But we have this perfect conundrum of no rules, no uniformity-the fragmentation that is always great for an opponent. In fact, the game never takes place, because one side is too disorganized even to schedule a date.”

Characteristically, Sikura's freethinking, freewheeling mind has taken us far from our opening challenge. But that's precisely because the moral interdependence of the sport's many dimensions is not matched in its structure.

“We only consider these things when there's a crisis,” he says. “But for me, the big crisis is a shrinking of the industry. And there are so many positives: healthy markets that now offer great purses, attendance, excitement. We have to find an equitable way to support places that aren't going as well. Like California. They're one racetrack closure away from being out of business. Socially, horseracing would either be neutrally or negatively interpreted by the majority of people there. You have Golden Gate being sold. You have small fields. You have land that's worth a tremendous amount of money. So what can we do, as an industry?”

The Kentucky scene is thriving, but that took work, campaigns, legislation. “It's a great example of how you can make things happen, with determination and especially unity,” Sikura adds. “But again, if all you're concerned about is what's happening to you, today, California doesn't even enter your mind. It should.”

As it is, California is in a vicious circle: fields drop, handle drops, purses drop, shippers drop, fields drop further. So Sikura asks whether we could we trim, say, $3 million from Kentucky purses-so that maidens were $105,000 rather than $120,000-and put that into Californian graded stakes? Would that prompt a Californian investor to buy a yearling? Who knows? But what we do know is that only he is asking.

In time, he predicts, all Grade I races will be slots-funded. But he feels that the sport would be drastically eroded without sturdy coast-to-coast bookends in New York and California. By now, admittedly, past mistakes in California can't be repaired. “I don't know where everybody was when these bills were being passed, but here we are,” Sikura says with a shrug. “Without some Indian participation, racing's going to have to survive being racing. And a lot of people would say, 'Well, that's the way it should be.'”

So could Horse Racing LLC, non-profit, buy Californian tracks?

“It's a free country,” Sikura replies. “Whether you could do that on terms at which you could operate racing and fund the debt, I wouldn't know. I think Golden Gate is a pretty strong message on the economics: that the return on investment needs to be better. Without saying it in words, that action tells me that Santa Anita is the next consideration. Somebody offers $1.2 billion? I believe that deal would get done. Is there a way to develop the property, keep racing? Smarter people than me would have to evaluate that. But you can't just have a patient on life support. You need a quality of life. So you need racing to thrive.”

And, by a bitter irony that brings things full circle, it is actually California that has shown the rest of the industry the way in terms of breakdowns. Not so long ago, those now announcing domesday were doing just the same at Santa Anita. But backstretch resistance to new protocols was overcome and Santa Anita and Del Mar, without waving some magic wand, have achieved exemplary outcomes at astonishing speed. Arguably the rest of the industry has not adequately acknowledged a debt of gratitude for this, and will only do so if more people start to think along the same lines as Sikura.

“We don't want our money transported,” he says. “But then if you thought about it long and hard, that money, was it really ours? No, it's people pulling a handle.

“Everybody is just here to reap as much as they can. If you operate a nursing home, you could make the sheets thinner: there's higher profit. But you look at the racetrack environment. You have animals, you have people living on the backside, you have van drivers, you have a lot of good people that are part of it. I think they all have to be recognized. It's not just about the head guy: how much he can eat, and what he has left over, he throws in the garbage. It might sound like I'm half-crazy. But I think that mentality flows down to everything, in every business.”

Well, if this is what it sounds like to be half-crazy, then that can't be because the rest of us are sane. If anything, in fact, “half-crazy” might well represent major progress on where we are right now.

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Robert Clay's Grandview Equine signed for a pair of seven-figure yearlings–colts by Into Mischief and Curlin–during the select Book 1 and 2 sessions early last week, and the operation remained focused on the task at hand all the way through Book 6, going to $120,000 for hip 3910. The Apr. 27 foal was consigned to the sale by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, which acquired the stakes-winning Vast (Lea) for $210,000 with this colt in utero at the 2021 Keeneland November Sale. A half-sister to MSW & GSP Sower (Flatter), the chestnut colt hails from the family of stakes winners Cease (War Chant), Total (Forest Wildcat) and Mucho (Blame).

Hal and Patti Earnhardt, whose recognizable 'NO BULL' silks were carried aboard two-time Eclipse Award and five-time Grade I winner 'TDN Rising Star' Indian Blessing (Indian Charlie), purchased the session's top filly, hip 3831, for $85,000. The Apr. 5 foal is out of the winning Roadbug (Quality Road), whose granddam Diplomat Lady (Forestry) won the 2005 GI Hollywood Starlet S. Hip 3831 was prepared for the sale by Eaton Sales.

The auction house reported sales on 187 yearlings Friday for gross receipts of $3,060,600, good for an average of $16,367 and median price of $11,000. Those numbers were down by 5.7% and 26.7%, respectively, from last year's figures. With Saturday's 12th and final session remaining, 2,579 yearlings have sold for $391,710,300, down 2.8% from 2022. The cumulative average of $151,885 was essentially static when compared to last year, while the median declined by 6.3% to $75,000.

For full results, visit www.keeneland.com.

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Over an extended mile of turf, a 5-year-old daughter of Big Brown overtook Queen Caroline (Blame) in the stretch before going clear by 1 3/4 lengths. On her 16th start, it was an overdue black-type success for Puca, who had in younger days started one of the favorites for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and also (after running second in the GII Gazelle S.) been deemed worth a crack at the GI Kentucky Oaks.

Having meanwhile added the fourth stakes prize of her own career, Queen Caroline followed Puca to a graded stakes at Belmont the following month. Against this stiffer competition, however, neither was able to land a blow. A few days later Puca was sold at Keeneland, to Thomas Clark for $275,000, and subsequently booked to the rookie Gun Runner; while Queen Caroline, a year her junior, persevered for one more campaign before being retired and sent to Violence.

Puca elevated her value pretty steeply when sold a second time, carrying her Gun Runner foal, to Grandview Equine for $475,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale of 2018. She was a beautiful, black-type mare and her page was decorated by half-brother Finnegans Wake (Powerscourt {GB}) as winner of the GI Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.

Once she had safely delivered a filly, Puca's new owners utilized a share in Good Magic for her next cover, which encounter produced a colt on 18 April 2020. That September, they offered her Gun Runner filly at Keeneland, but she failed to meet her reserve and was retained at $70,000. Sent into training with Kenny McPeek and named Gunning, she has won three of seven starts and earned a second black-type podium just a few days ago.

Queen Caroline's date with Violence had meanwhile resulted in a 3 February colt, sold to Silver Hill Farm at Keeneland that November for $80,000. He proved a pretty marginal pinhook, realizing $110,000 from Repole Stable & St. Elias, deep in the following September Sale.

Puca's Good Magic colt had made $235,000 earlier in the same auction, sold through Runnymede Farm–where he had been foaled and raised–to New Team. He, too, was just a solid pinhook through the next cycle, getting to $290,000 when sold through Sequel Bloodstock to Ogma Investments at Timonium.

As you will doubtless have recognized by now, if you didn't already know, the 1-2 in the Steve Pini Memorial have meanwhile become celebrated as the respective dams of Mage (by Good Magic out of Puca) and Forte (by Violence out of Queen Caroline). The two sons reversed their mothers' Suffolk Downs form in the GI Florida Derby, but a rather wild move on the much less experienced Mage had convinced many that he could progress past the champion juvenile in the GI Kentucky Derby.

That subplot, of course, has been deferred after the 11th hour withdrawal of Forte. But even the first Saturday in May is only one leg of an epic journey. Mike Repole can comfort himself that Uncle Mo, another champion juvenile in his silks scratched late from the Derby, has amply redressed that disappointment in his stud career. And doubtless those associated with Good Magic feel rather less aggrieved about bumping into a Triple Crown winner in his own Derby, now that he has retrieved the top of their class in the sires' table–whether by cumulative earnings, or in the second-crop championship.

Both Good Magic and Justify contested a gripping freshman title last year, every cent counting for much of the campaign, but in the end Bolt d'Oro made his numerical advantage tell, with $2,815,623 banked by 80 starters, over Good Magic ($2,533,414 from 65) and Justify ($2,478,038 from 71). (It is only fair, at this point, to stress again the excellent yield-per-starter achieved from smaller books and fees by the likes of Army Mule, Girvin and Oscar Performance.)

Of the trio, however, it was Good Magic who was first to the Grade I breakthrough with Blazing Sevens in the Champagne S.; and now he has added the Derby itself. In the process, he becomes a poster boy for the commercial inundation of new stallions–albeit their collective books are such that elite success, somewhere among each intake, should really be considered not just imperative, but inevitable. Those that don't take their big chance soon find themselves swirling round the plug-hole, and even coming up with Always Dreaming from his debut crop couldn't prevent the export of Bodemeister to Turkey. As things stand, however, Good Magic appears to be laying down some patently sustainable foundations.

Just getting into contention for the freshman title, after all, had suggested that he is replicating an unusual precocity by the standards of his sire Curlin. Having run second in a Saratoga maiden and again when fast-tracked to the Champagne, Good Magic claimed a unique distinction in breaking his maiden in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He duly consolidated at three, winning the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. and GI betfair.com Haskell S. besides seeing off all bar Justify at Churchill. Though he backpedalled off the stage in the GI Runhappy Travers S., he had banked just shy of $3 million across nine starts.

Coming under the inspired management of John Sikura and his team at Hill 'n' Dale, at an opening fee of $35,000, Good Magic faced the same challenge/opportunity as the likes of Vino Rosso, Connect, Global Campaign and Known Agenda: namely, to volunteer himself as the premier heir to their sire. Though Curlin has now had consecutive sons produce a Derby winner at the first attempt, that admirable creature Keen Ice has undeniably struggled for commercial recognition. So while Curlin remains lord of the manor at Hill 'n' Dale, he's approaching the evening of a great career at 19 and for now the succession appears wide open. The outlying speed of Cody's Wish will obviously make him an interesting pretender to the crown, as we saw again on the Derby undercard. But Good Magic is positioning himself pretty formidably, his fee having already turned round to $50,000 (from $30,000) after the endeavors of his debut crop.

Besides two elite scorers, that crop has included a second Derby runner in GIII Sham S. scorer Reincarnate; plus winners of the GII Sorrento S, GII Remsen S. and GIII Iroquois S. And while Bolt d'Oro was the only one of three freshman title protagonists actually to elevate the yearling average of his second crop, Good Magic again excelled relative to conception fee. The 94 processed from his first crop (110 offered) had averaged $151,708; while last year 74 yearlings sold (87 offered) at $130,250. If his third book suffered the customary slide, it remained more than respectable at 92 mares and he will now surely be back on the way up.

When retired to stud, Good Magic's racetrack credentials were backed up by a physique that had as a yearling secured a seven-figure Keeneland September docket from E5 Racing. His breeders at Stonestreet then struck a deal to stay aboard. His granddam, after all, had been one of the first building blocks in their program: Magical Flash, a daughter of distaff legend Miswaki purchased for $140,000 at the Keeneland November Sale of 2004. She was rising 15 at the time, but channelled speed, class and also precocity. Her half-sister Magical Maiden (Lord Avie) had won a Grade I at two, as did Magical Maiden's daughter Miss Houdini (Belong To Me). Since then, moreover, Miss Houdini had added fresh luster to the family by producing champion female sprinter Ce Ce (Elusive Quality).

Magical Flash (who ended up producing no fewer than 14 winners, including a graded stakes winner on turf by Chester House) similarly brought to the surface some of the genes that appear to have contributed to the sharpening of Good Magic. For instance, a daughter by Smarty Jones was group-placed in France over just five furlongs; while another, by the sturdy influence Prized, managed to produce an Exchange Rate colt fast enough at two to win the GIII Bashford Manor over six furlongs.

Magical Flash's daughter by Hard Spun, Glinda The Good, won two stakes and was also placed at two in the GIII Pocahontas S. And it was her mating with Stonestreet's dual Horse of the Year that produced Good Magic.

In fairness, Hard Spun has proved a vital late conduit (and remains an outstandingly well-priced one) to the breed-shaping Danzig. So who knows, maybe Good Magic's damsire–himself a Derby runner-up–contributed much to the thwarting of his own son, Two Phil's, last Saturday!

Danzig's presence behind Good Magic's damsire is one of the obvious pegs to the mating that produced Mage, in that he recurs on the bottom half of the pedigree through his grandson Big Brown, the sire of Puca. Danzig's replication in the fourth generation is matched by another ubiquitous modern influence, Mr. Prospector. His grandson Curlin sired Good Magic, while one of his rather less potent sons, Silver Ghost, is responsible for Puca's dam Boat's Ghost. (Mr. P. is further represented by his son Miswaki, don't forget, as sire of Magical Flash.)

The overall seeding of the maternal family is less familiar, admittedly, Big Brown and Silver Ghost being followed by Summer Squall and a forgotten son of Raise A Native, Native Royalty. It's an old American line that eventually takes in some Greentree royalty, notably a 10th dam who was half-sister to 1931 Derby and Belmont winner Twenty Grand.

By now all that stuff is obviously quite attenuated, and Puca's dam–stakes-placed in a light career and dam, as noted, of a Grade I winner on turf–was actually sold (in foal to Raging Bull {Fr}) at Keeneland only this January at the age of 19. I'm pleased, but unsurprised, to see that this indignity was relieved, at just $17,000, by that exemplary farm Nursery Place. If they can just get a filly out of the venerable lady, they'll have a half-sister to the dam of a Derby winner.

As for the people who have Puca herself, well, we visited Robert Clay to hear about Grandview Equine's program just before the Derby. The founder of Three Chimneys candidly acknowledges Mage as rather a windfall. Along with various partners, and with the counsel of Solis/Litt, he bought Puca to support a portfolio that included some Good Magic shares. The principal objective, however, had been to develop yearling colts with stallion potential. They achieved just that with Olympiad, but must now feel very relieved that Puca's date with that horse did not come off, meaning that she instead returned to Good Magic. Moreover the failure to meet her reserve of Mage's half-sister, Gunning, has now turned into another wonderful stroke of luck.

As and when Mage proceeds to stud, incidentally, I think he might repay European attention. We noted how Good Magic's granddam produced some pretty smart turf performers, while his grandsire Smart Strike and damsire Hard Spun have both proved flexible influences. More proximately, however, don't forget Puca's switch to become a stakes scorer on grass; nor that her sire Big Brown started his own career on that surface.

In the meantime, let's hope that Mage's delayed rematch with Forte will eventually put some sunshine back into the headlines. True, it's poignant that the “prequel” takes us to another depressing tale, in the closure of Suffolk Downs. But there are doubtless plenty who, in missing their sport in Massachusetts, in particular miss Stephen J. Pini after his premature loss in 2015. Pini, his father and grandfather had between them worked at Suffolk Downs every day since it opened in 1935. It's nice, then, that a race contested in his memory should now have been rendered so significant by the protagonists' sons.

But then this is a game full of concentric fortunes. Here was Rick Dutrow, for instance, saddling his first starter (and winner) in 10 years on the very day that his own Derby winner, Big Brown, became damsire of another one. (And if we think this was a tough Derby day, just scroll back to that one…)

Puca was co-bred by Paul Pompa, Jr. in support of Big Brown, the horse he had bought and then raced in partnership, as he tried to make his way at stud. Then she, in turn, was deployed by Clay and his partners on their stake in another young stallion. And now the daughter of a Derby winner who confounded nearly all precedent, having made just three starts beforehand, has produced another to do exactly the same.

There's no formula, no wand to be waved. But sometimes things just seem to work as if by “Magic.”

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WinStar Farm and Siena Farm's Federal Judge (c, 3, Army Mule–Congarette, by Congaree) announced his presence with authority on the undercard, kicking off his career for trainer Rodolphe Brisset with a razor sharp, front-running performance, good for a flashy 97 Beyer Speed Figure.

He broke sharply from post five beneath Ricardo Santana, Jr. and quickly cleared his six rivals, including a trio of older horses, at debut odds of 7-1. Taking some pressure from his outside through an opening quarter in :22.10, the bay was headed by a rival on the far turn. Federal Judge was still going strong, however, and blasted off once Santana got busy in the stretch to win going away by 4 1/2 promising lengths. The final time for six furlongs over the fast going was 1:09.87.

“Very excited with his performance and can't wait to see him run against winners and see where we go from there,” WinStar Farm President/CEO & Racing Manager Elliott Walden said.

“Rudy had told me that he worked very well with Royal Spa (Violence), who ran [ninth behind Wet Paint] in the [GIII] Fantasy, and he was encouraged by that. But I think Rudy's the kind of guy who doesn't overtrain them for their first start, so you kind of see where they really are. I was very pleased to see him run like he did because I think a lot of that's on natural ability.”

Hailing from the first crop of unbeaten GI Carter H. winner Army Mule, Federal Judge is the second foal and first to the races for two-time winner Congarette. From the same female family as GI Super Derby winner Home At Last (Quadratic) and graded winners Niner's Home (Forty Niner) and Indy Groove (A.P. Indy), Federal Judge, bred in Florida by Caperlane Farm, brought $40,000 as an OBSWIN yearling and $200,000 as a FTKJUL yearling. Army Mule, already responsible for seven black-type winners, commands a $12,500 stud fee at Hill 'n' Dale Farm.

“His dad was very talented,” Walden said. “[WinStar General Manager] David Hanley and I loved [Federal Judge] at the sale at Fasig-Tipton July. He was the one horse that we wanted to come away with. He had a setback at two and we had to take a little chip out of the top joint of his knee.”

Walden concluded, “He ran a big number–we're really excited about what lies ahead. We're moving him back to Kentucky to Rudy's stable this week, then we'll try to pick out something that makes sense either late at Keeneland or at Churchill or Belmont.”

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