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Yates Reaping Benefits Of Faith In Stallion Cajun Breeze

Michael Yates, a long-time Florida breeder, owner and trainer with a year-round presence at Gulfstream Park, is reaping the benefits of his unwavering faith in Cajun Breeze, a tough-as-nails competitor who became an instant success as a stallion in the Sunshine State.

Yates and Cajun Breeze will be represented in both the $250,000 Grade 3 Holy Bull and $100,000 G3 Swale on Saturday's Gulfstream program that will also feature the $100,000 G3 Forward Gal, $100,000 G3 Kitten's Joy and $100,000 Sweetest Chant.

Yates is scheduled to saddle Cajun's Magic for the Holy Bull, the first graded stakes on the Road to the G1 Florida Derby, and Dean Delivers for the Swale, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds.

Cajun Breeze, a stakes-placed son of Congrats who won four of 33 starts while primarily competing in allowance and stakes company for Yates, is the sire of both 3-year-olds, both of whom are owned by Stonehedge LLC. After being represented by a pair of stakes winners in his very limited first crop in 2018, Cajun Breeze was moved from Yates' Shadybrook Farm to stand at stud at Stonehedge Farm to advance his stallion career.

Cajun's Breeze's offspring have demonstrated versatility and toughness.

“They're just very solid horses that have really good minds,” Yates said. “A lot of them have a lot of raw talent. I feel like we haven't seen the best of them yet.”

Yates opted to run Cajun's Magic in the Holy Bull due to his experience around two turns. After winning the six-furlong Dr. Fager and finishing second in the seven-furlong Affirmed in the first two legs of the 2021 Florida Sire Stakes series, he finished a very game second behind favored Octane in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality final.

“We didn't want to run them in the same race, and Cajun's Magic already ran a mile and a sixteenth in the sire stakes and ran a good race,” Yates said. “I think he's better now than he was then. Even though he's coming off a layoff, he's been training really well.”

Cajun's Magic will take on eight rivals, including G2 Remsen winner Mo Donegal, Breeders' Cup Juvenile third-place finisher Giant Game and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf second-place finisher Tiz the Bomb.

Dean Delivers finished a dead-game second in his return off a five-month layoff after battling favored Dean's List through the stretch before coming up just a neck short of victory.

“I thought it was a huge effort, especially off the layoff. He didn't get away from the gate very well, but it may have been a blessing in disguise because there was a hot pace,” Yates said. “I thought he ran a great race.”

Dean Delivers graduated at first asking by 7 1/2 lengths before finishing a neck behind Cajun's Magic in the Dr. Fager.

“He's worked very well. His work between races was the deciding factor. I was anticipating running him in a Florida-bred allowance race,” Yates said. “Being that he ran such a big race off the layoff, you got to worry about the bounce factor a little bit, but he's gone so forward and is doing really well, we decided to take a shot and see what we have.”

Dean Delivers will face five opponents Brad Cox-trained In Dreams, a winner of his last two starts at Churchill Downs and Oaklawn; Todd Pletcher-trained My Prankster, a stakes-placed son of Into Mischief; and Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Of a Revolution, who finished a close second in the six-furlong Limehouse last time out.

Jesus Rios has the call on Cajun's Magic, while Miguel Vasquez has the mount aboard Dean Delivers.

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First Foal Is A Filly For Grade 1 Winner Seeking The Soul

Ocala Stud stallion Seeking the Soul, a Grade 1 winner who banked more than $3.4 million, sired his first reported foal on Jan. 29 when a bay filly out of the Gottcha Gold mare Making Havoc was born at Ocala Stud.

Bred in Florida by Ocala Stud, the filly is from the family of multiple stakes winner Royal Lad and multiple stakes winner and Graded stakes-placed Kings Command. Making Havoc, who is produced from the Montbrook mare Marion Theatre, was an eight-time winner during her racing career and banked $335,425.

Seeking the Soul, a Charles Fipke homebred, had an illustrious racing career. He won the 2017 Grade 1 Clark Handicap, the 2018 G3 Ack Ack Stakes, and the 2019 G2 Stephen Foster Stakes.

All told, he won or placed in eight graded stakes, including runner-up finishes in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and the $9 million G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes, while hitting the board in 20-of-32 career starts.

By Grade 1 winner and Canadian champion Perfect Soul (IRE), Seeking the Soul is out of the graded stakes-winning Seeking the Gold mare Seeking the Title, and hails from the famed Phipps family of undefeated champion Personal Ensign, champion Storm Flag Flying, and Grade 1 winners My Flag, Miner's Mark, and Traditionally.

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Get Smokin, Bleecker Street Top Entries For Tampa Bay Downs’ Turf Champions Day

A full field of 12 males, headed by defending winner Get Smokin, are expected to compete in Saturday's Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes, while 10 fillies and mares, including Grade 1 winner Lady Speightspeare, are entered in the Grade 3, $175,000 Endeavour. Both races will be contested at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf course.

The Endeavour is the sixth race on a 10-race card on Tampa Bay Downs's “Turf Champions Day.” The Tampa Bay Stakes is the eighth race. There are 13 horses entered in the Tampa Bay Stakes and only 12 are permitted to run, so the connections of Carpenters Call would need a late scratch to compete.

The 5-year-old gelding Get Smokin will be making his first start since June. Now trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse, Get Smokin, who will be ridden by Antonio Gallardo, won the G2 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont as a 3-year-old. Get Smokin will break from the No. 7 post.

South Florida-based trainer Chad Brown will be sending two horses for the Tampa Bay Stakes in 5-year-old gelding L'Imperator and 8-year-old gelding Devamani. Samy Camacho is named to ride L'Imperator, while Pablo Morales will be aboard Devamani.

Tampa Bay Downs trainer Arnaud Delacour also has two entrants: 6-year-old horse Eons, who was second to Get Smokin last year, and 6-year-old gelding Talk Or Listen, last year's fourth-place finisher.

Brown, who is bidding for his first Tampa Bay Stakes trophy, has two entrants in search of his fourth Endeavour victory. Both of his 4-year-old fillies, Bleecker Street and In Italian, are owned by Peter M. Brant, with Bleecker Street a perfect 3-for-3 and In Italian 2-for-3 with a second. Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr., rides Bleecker Street and Camacho is on In Italian.

They could have their hands full with 4-year-old Lady Speightspeare, who is 4-for-5 for trainer Roger Attfield, including the G1 Natalma at Woodbine as a 2-year-old. Her regular rider, Emma-Jayne Wilson, again has the assignment.

Trainer H. Graham Motion will bid for his third Endeavour victory with 4-year-old Oyster Box, who will be ridden by Gallardo. She was third in last year's Florida Oaks at the Oldsmar oval.

“Turf Champions Day” kicks off the track's seven-event graded-stakes schedule, which continues on Feb. 12 with the 42nd running of the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race for 3-year-old Triple Crown hopefuls.

The Sam F. Davis is the centerpiece of a four-stakes Festival Preview Day card that includes the mile-and-40-yard, $150,000 Suncoast Stakes, a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” points race for 3-year-old fillies; the 6-furlong, $100,000 Pelican Stakes for horses 4-years-old-and-upward; and the $50,000, 6-furlong Minaret Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward.

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Bloodlines Presented By Caracaro: Patience Paid Off For Liam’s Map, Colonel Liam

At the tail end of his stud career, Unbridled's Song (by Unbridled) sired two of his very best performers, both multiple Grade 1 winners: Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Liam's Map and champion Arrogate (Breeders' Cup Classic, Travers, Pegasus World Cup, and Dubai World Cup).

The challenge thrown down to both those exceptional performers when they went to stud was that, despite their sire's excellent record of 117 stakes winners and numerous top-class performers, none of his sons had become a top stallion.

Breeders hate to see that. It gives them the feeling that something is going wrong that they can't quite see.

Nor can breeders ignore horses of such unquenchable talent as Liam's Map and Arrogate.

A horse of such high speed that he was very reminiscent of his famous sire, Liam's Map got off to a fast start at stud. In 2019, the stallion's first-crop racers Basin won the Grade 1 Hopeful and Wicked Whisper won the G1 Frizette.

Neither was able to improve that form in subsequent starts, but they were clearly talented. So was their sire.

Liam's Map, however, was unraced at two, then was very lightly raced at three, winning three of his four starts, including the Harlan's Holiday Stakes. The following season, Liam's Map also won three of four, but his victories included the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and Woodward, both Grade 1s. In the G1 Whitney at Saratoga, Liam's Map ran a brilliant race, leading all the way through swift fractions (:22.79, :46, 1:09.72, 1:34.66, 1:47.82) and getting nailed in the last jump by the immensely talented Honor Code, the last top racer by A.P. Indy.

An $800,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by St. Elias Stables, Liam's Map had all the right parts in all the right places, but pushing on him did not seem unduly wise to the patient ownership. As a result, the son of Unbridled's Song was able to grow into his frame and harden his bone to cope with the exceptional speed he possessed.

When the grand-looking gray finished his racing career with six victories in eight starts and earnings of more than $1.3 million when he finished racing for Teresa Viola Racing Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds, Liam's Map was a serious stallion prospect and entered stud in 2016 at Lane's End Farm.

Patience paid off.

With the obvious benefits of a racing profile slanted toward maturity, one might have expected that owners would have followed suit with the stallion's offspring. That pattern is, however, contrary to general human nature and to the desire to strike a vein of gold when one sees it.

Because, do not doubt it, many of the offspring of Liam's Map have real talent. They are fast and athletic; frequently they will show these traits early.

The stats for the sire, however, indicate that pushing early is perhaps not the best path to follow. The stats indicate that there is a considerable rate of attrition for striking too early with these talented youngsters.

The gold star for patient handling among the Liam's Map stock goes to Colonel Liam, who won his third Grade 1 in the Pegasus Turf at Gulfstream on Jan. 29. Bred in Kentucky by Phillips Racing Partnership, Colonel Liam was unraced at two; then won three of five at three, including the Tropical Park Derby; won three of four last year at four, including the G1 Pegasus Turf at Gulfstream and the Turf Classic at Churchill. The horse's second Pegasus Turf was his 2022 debut.

From a tremendous and historic female family nurtured at Darby Dan Farm, where Colonel Liam was bred and raised, the gray horse is the first stakes winner out of the Bernardini mare Amazement, a daughter of two-time Grade 1 winner Wonder Again (Silver Hawk).

Wonder Again was one of two top-class performers out of the Danzig mare Ameriflora. The other was Wonder Again's full brother Grass Wonder, who won nine of 14 starts in Japan, where he was the champion 2-year-old colt and earned nearly $6 million.

Third dam Ameriflora was a full sister to Grade 1 winner Tribulation, and this is a family that goes even farther back in the history of Darby Dan.

Daniel Galbreath purchased the seventh dam, the fleet racemare Skylarking (Mirza), from the Aly Khan and imported her to Kentucky, where she has had a lasting effect on the breed.

Colonel Liam is the latest of these, and he started his public exposure quietly enough, selling for $50,000 to Waves Bloodstock at the 2018 Keeneland September sale. Brought to sale the following spring at the OBS April auction of juveniles in training, Colonel Liam worked a quarter-mile in :20 4/5, and Robert and Lawana Low paid $1.2 million to bring home the gray from the Wavertree consignment.

To date, Colonel Liam has earned $1.8 million and is shining a light on the benefits of patient handling for racing stock from this line.

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