Becoming the 70th stakes winner for sire Curlin (by Smart Strike), Souper Sensational won the Glorious Song Stakes at Woodbine on Oct. 17 by four lengths. Now unbeaten in two starts, Souper Sensational became the ninth winner of the race for trainer Mark Casse and the seventh winner of the race for jockey Patrick Husbands.
Bred in Kentucky by Newtown Anner Stud, Souper Sensational was sent through Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale at Saratoga in 2019, and for $725,000 the good-looking chestnut filly sold to Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation.
The filly is out of the unraced Indian Charlie mare Kateri, who was purchased by Sallusto and Albina, agent, on behalf of Newtown Anner Stud for $167,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton February mixed sale in Kentucky. The mare was in foal for the first time on a cover to Paynter, sold on Feb. 8, and foaled the next day. Consigned to the Fasig-Tipton November sale, the Paynter foal was an RNA at $155,000, then repeated that experience the next year at the Keeneland September yearling sale for an RNA price of $85,000. That youngster became the gelding Karamojo, who has not won in two starts but is still in training.
The mare's second foal, Hedonistic (Tiznow), experienced a similar situation at the sales, going through the ring at the 2018 Keeneland September and Fasig-Tipton October sales for $275,000 and $175,000, respectively, as an RNA. Then in 2019, Hedonistic sold at the OBS April sale for $420,000 to Red Oak Stable and Newtown Anner. In his only start, the colt ran fourth in a maiden special later that year.
Both in the sales ring and again on the racetrack, Souper Sensational experienced a much different result than her elder siblings. Now a stakes winner and unbeaten racer at two, she will be encouraging buyers and equine evaluators to look kindly upon her subsequent siblings.
In addition to the horses above, Kateri is the dam of a 2020 yearling colt by Maclean's Music and a weanling full sister to Souper Sensational. Most recently, the mare was bred to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
Kateri is out of Grade 3 stakes winner Sue's Good News (Woodman) and is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Tiz Miz Sue (Tiznow) and multiple stakes winner Bulletin (City Zip). They trace back to Souper Sensational's fourth dam Mochila (In Reality), a stakes winner who was second in the Grade 1 Ruffian and third in the G1 Beldame.
Mochila was a half-sister to champion Cozzene (Caro), and both were bred by the legendary trainer John Nerud. A winner of the Breeders' Cup Mile as a 5-year-old, Cozzene retired to stud in Kentucky at Gainesway Farm and became an important sire, getting 92 stakes winners.
In addition to Cozzene and Mochila, Nerud bred both Grade 2 winner Movin' Money (Dr. Fager) and her stakes-winning full sister Ivy Road from the Prince John mare Ride the Trails. Nerud acquired Ride the Trails from breeder Joseph Roebling, who bred her from the Sir Gaylord mare Wildwook.
The unraced Ride the Trails was Wildwook's second foal. Her third was Laramie Trail (Swaps), who won the 1975 Gotham and Bay Shore Stakes, then became a useful sire in South America. Wildwook's fifth foal was Western Wind (Gallant Man), who ran third in the 1976 Futurity and in the 1977 Blue Grass Stakes, both Grade 1 races.
When I spoke to John Nerud several years ago about his breeding experiences, he mentioned the acquisition of Ride the Trails.
“Training and racing in New York, you got to know Joe Roebling and his racehorses pretty well,” Nerud declared. “He was a man who was very much a tremendous individual and an unusually perceptive breeder.
“Roebling loved his racehorses, and none of his families was stronger than that one from Portage (War Admiral),” he continued. “She was a full-sister to Blue Peter, who was the top 2-year-old colt [in 1948], and she wasn't a top racehorse herself. But she was a producer.”
Indeed, Portage was the dam of four stakes winners: Rainy Lake (Royal Charger), Pack Trip (My Babu), Black Mountain (Tudor Minstrel), and Wyoming Wildcat (Gallant Man). The mare's daughters, however, have earned Portage even more lasting fame with successive generations of quality that include such as Broodmare of the Year Fall Aspen, Preakness winner Timber Country, Dixie Union, and Dubai Millennium.
“There was a lot of ability in this family,” Nerud continued, “and yet the greatest thing about them, from a trainer's point of view, was that you could train weight on them. Most horses, if you train them and really start getting into them, they lighten up. They lose weight, lose strength, and lose speed. But this group of horses love their training and racing. They get stronger with more racing, and they are tough and sound. I love them.”
If Souper Sensational continues this family history, she should have a fascinating career ahead, both on the track and, sometime in the future, at stud.
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