Sioux Nation Colt Makes The Cut At Gulfstream

Rockingham Ranch, Talla Racing, LLC and David Bernsen's Behind Enemy Lines (GB) (Sioux Nation) ran like a 1-9 favourite should to give his Coolmore sire his fifth stakes winner and first Stateside in the Cutler Bay S. at Gulfstream on Saturday (video).

Trained by Jack Sisterson, the son of the once-raced Autumn Snow (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was bred by The Brigadier Partnership. An 88,000gns weanling when picked up by Alex Elliott from Barton Stud at the Tattersalls November Foal Sale, the bay made 90,000gns from J B Bloodstock when re-offered by The Castlebridge Consignment as a Tattersalls October Book 2 yearling. Sent through the ring yet again, this time he did not meet his reserve as a €173,228 Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale buyback (breeze video). As noted by colleague Alan Carasso, Behind Enemy Lines is the second stakes winner to emerge from the inaugural Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale.

Unplaced for Justin Casse and Joseph O'Brien at the Curragh in August, he put it all together over the Dundalk synthetic to win by 4 3/4 lengths in January. Purchased privately by these connections, the Cutler Bay was his American bow.

The second foal, first runner and first winner out of his dam, Behind Enemy Lines is followed by the colt Looking Bere (Fr) (Le Brivido {Fr}), who is catalogued as lot 247 in the upcoming Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale by Dolmen Bloodstock, and a yearling half-brother by Whitecliffsofdover. Second dam Epic Similie (GB) (Lomitas {GB}) was placed in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, while her Manduro (Ger) half-brother Ultra (Ire) won that race in 2015 before standing under the Darley banner in France. Eclipse champion Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is also under the third dam.

Although his eldest foals are just 3-year-olds, Sioux Nation has sired 58 winners from 106 runners worldwide (55%). Stateside, he has three runners and Behind Enemy Lines is his first winner (33%) among that trio.

How Sweet The Sound

Amazing Grace (Ger) (Protectionist {Ger}) is no stranger to black-type victories, and, bearing the Moyglare Stud silks, secured a half-length victory in the GIII Orchid S. in Florida on Saturday (video) for trainer Christophe Clement.

Profiled in Emma Berry's Seven Days column earlier this week, the German-bred is starting to pay back her €850,000 Arqana December purchase price. Bred by Dr. Christoph Berglar, she won the G2 Diana Trial in 2021 and the G2 T. von Zastrow Stutenpreis last term. Also Group 1-placed in the G1 Preis von Europa, Amazing Grace is the second foal out of German stakes winner Amabelle (Ger) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). Her dam foaled her winning full-sister, Ad Astra (Ger), the year after producing the Orchid winner, while her 3-year-old full-brother, Astaire (Ire), has yet to race. Amabelle's juvenile has already been named Alvorada (Ger) (Gleneagles {Ire}), and she has a yearling filly by the 2014 G1 Melbourne Cup hero.

From limited crops, Protectionist has sired 33 winners from 64 runners worldwide (51%). His other stakes winner besides Amazing Grace is G3 Bavarian Classic hero Lambo (Ger). In America, he's been represented by two runners total, and Saturday's winner is his only scorer.

An Island Of Breathing Space

The third and final stakes-winning European to prevail at Gulfstream on Saturday was Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco, and Tango Uniform Racing's Breath Away (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who scooped the Sanibel Island S. by 2 1/2 lengths (video).

Part of the Highgate Stud breeding programme, she caught the eye of Canirola Bloodstock as a 92,000gns foal at Tattersalls November, and blossomed into a 230,000gns yearling at that venue's October Yearling Sale Book 1 when offered by Taroka Stud. Stephen Hillen was the buyer that day. A winner of her Gulfstream debut back in January, she missed by only a nose in an allowance optional claimer a month later for trainer Christophe Clement.

A full-sister to GIII Wilshire S. heroine Simply Breathless (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), Breath Away is a daughter of Darling Grace (GB) (Nayef), who scored her lone victory as a 3-year-old. Her latest foals are fillies by Advertise (GB) and Bated Breath, foaled in 2021 and 2022, respectively. G1 Falmouth S. heroine Giofra (GB) (Dansili {GB}) is under the third dam.

From just 29 runners in the U.S., Juddmonte's Bated Breath has 17 checks in the winners' column (58%). He's firing in stakes winners at a rate of 38% (11 from 29 runners), with his leading light the 2016 filly Viadera (GB), heroine of the GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar. She is supported by GII Edgewood S. heroine Gift List (GB), the aforementioned Grade III winner Simply Breathless, and Tezzaray (GB), successful in the GIII Jimmy Durante S. and fourth in the GI Del Mar Oaks.

Emperor Of The Mill

Team Valor International's Tuddenham Mill (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) eked out a head victory in a maiden special weight at Tampa Bay Downs on Sunday. Third in a pair of starts for Hankers and Maccas and trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy, Tuddenham Mill switched to the ownership of Team Valor for start three and was eventually transferred Stateside. The 3-year-old was bred by the Imperial Crown Syndicate.

A £29,000 Tattersalls Ireland September yearling, Tuddenham Mill was picked up by Troy Steve Bloodstock from The Castlebridge Consignment. His dam, who won as a juvenile and is a full-sister to GI Suburban H. hero and sire Frost Giant (Giant's Causeway), has a 2-year-old filly by Magna Grecia (Ire) still to come.

Coolmore Stud stallion Holy Roman Emperor sports 25 winners from 49 runners in America (51%). Besides his 11 stakes horses in that jurisdiction, six of his progeny have won stakes (12%), led by top-drawer winners Glorious Empire (Ire), Rockemperor (Ire), and Rich Tapestry (Ire).

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The auction featured experience packages on 17 major race days in 2023 and 2024, each offering a unique itinerary of horse racing-related bucket list activities and tickets to the specified race day(s). Additionally, a no guarantee season with a breed back to 2021 G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt S. winner Lexitonian was offered online to breeders on Feb. 6. Lexitonian stands at Lane's End Farm for a 2023 fee of $7,500.

In total, 26 sponsors contributed to the 17 VIP experiences packages offered in the TAA Off to the Races auction and Lexitonian Stallion Season auction.

“Thank you to everyone who participated in our Off to the Races and Lexitonian Stallion Season auctions,” TAA president Jeffrey Bloom said. “We are thrilled with the outcome of these events, and so proud of all the partnerships we have formed along the way with the racetracks, sponsors, and individuals who make all of this possible. We are all here for the horses and so excited by the impact these fundraisers will make on accredited aftercare.”

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Standing at Lane's End for $7,500 LFSN, the Grade I winner's first foals will arrive this year.

“He's a horse who fights,” said trainer Jack Sisterson. “He has the talent, the will, and the heart. He's a class act winning and placing second in multiple Grade I races…Lexitonian brought a lot of great opportunities to our barn which we are forever grateful for–if it were not for the horses, we wouldn't be here. I'm happy for this opportunity to give back to these wonderful horses.”

To register and bid in the one-day only auction, visit: https://stallionseason.cbo.io.

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Sisterson said he is making the move in the hopes that expanding and taking on other owners will lead to more opportunities.

“This is something we have been discussing for a few months,” he said. “I give all the credit to Calumet. If it weren't for them I wouldn't be where I am today. We started discussing things a while ago and it looked like the only way that I could grow in this business was to reach out, branch out and always try to do better. Talking to the people at Calumet, they said at one point that it would be selfish to hold on to me as a private trainer. They also said that if I ever decided to go out on my own they'd still like to have a working relationship with me.”

Sisterson, a native of Durham, England, was a long-time assistant to Doug O'Neill before going to work for Calumet. Calumet uses a number of different trainers, but Sisterson was the only one among them who trained exclusively for the operation. He won his first stakes for Calumet with Oxy Lady (Oxbow) in the 2018 GIII Tempted S. In 2019, his first full year with Calumet, Sisterson won 20 races, including three graded stakes. The team reached new heights in 2020 when Sisterson won his first two Grade I races, taking the GI Personal Ensign S. with Vexatious (Giant's Causeway) and the GI Cigar Mile H. with True Timber (Mineshaft). There were two more Grade I wins in 2021, the GI Man o'War S. won by Channel Cat (English Channel) and the GI Alfred Vanderbilt H. won by Lexitonian (Speightstown).

“For four years, we have had a lot of success and a lot of fun times,” Sisterson said. “We've had a few Grade I winners together What I'd like to do now is to continue to win Grade I's for Calumet and for other organizations, as well. The long-term goal is to win a Kentucky Derby, to win Breeders' Cup races.”

Sisterson said that the continuing support from Calumet will make the transition to being a public trainer easier to accomplish.

“I'm excited,” he said. “I would have been nervous if I weren't getting the support of Calumet. They are 100 percent behind this. It's a dream come true. They have allowed me to train privately for them for four years. Now they're going to help me out and give me a number of their best horses. Their support has been unbelievable. I'll forever be in their debt for the support they have given me.”

Sisterson plans on unveiling his new stable at the Del Mar meet.

“I worked for Doug for so long in California and had a very good experience there,” Sisterson said. “I'd like to go to Del Mar for the summer and take advantage of the ship and win program. I know California well. California has been good to me and I'd like to get back there. I think California racing is very much still alive and I'm excited to think I will be a part of it. The short-term goal is to get the public stable set up at Del Mar and to have winners at the meet and to be able to continue to grow after this summer.”

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The 2019 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner was timed in 1:02.30 for his fifth workout at Gulfstream Park's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County since concluding his resurgent 2021 campaign at Woodbine.

“He's been training well. His breeze this morning was very good,” said trainer Mark Casse, who reported that he has yet to decide who will ride the 6-year-old son of Awesome Again in the Pegasus World Cup, which will be featured on a blockbuster program that will also include the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) and the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G3).

Sir Winston returned from a layoff of nearly a year to enjoy a solid four-race 2021 campaign, starting with an impressive Aug. 19 allowance win at Woodbine, where the Kentucky homebred finished a close second in both the Durham Cup (G3) and Autumn (G2) before winning the 1 ½-mile Valedictory (G3).

Calumet Farm's Channel Cat, the durable Grade 1-winning millionaire homebred, continues to train forwardly as he prepares for his next and possibly final start in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park.

Channel Cat, by late 2007 turf champion English Channel, has been working steadily since mid-December for trainer Jack Sisterson at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. The 7-year-old went an easy half-mile in 53 seconds Friday morning.

“You might think, 'What's going on here?' but this [was] the plan because he went a quick half last week,” trainer Jack Sisterson said. “We're just going to step back this week and then he'll have probably a half in company next week and be ready to go.”

In his previous three works, the Channel Cat went four furlongs in 47.05 seconds Jan. 9, the fastest of 37 horses; 48.95 Jan. 2; and 48.90 Dec. 24, ranking first of 46 horses.

“His [Jan. 9] work was his first one in company. I was debating whether to keep him at a half or go five-eighths. He's been doing enough at a half-mile; he's only going to do too much going five-eighths,” Sisterson said. “The work was not as planned.

“We worked another horse, [Grade 2-placed] In Effect, and he sort of got a little bit keen outside of [Channel Cat]. It was beautiful to see Channel Cat relax inside. He was always traveling well and had a ton of horse left. We don't want to run his race in the morning. He's had a lot of air left in the tank in his works.”

Channel Cat has run in the Pegasus Turf before, never getting in contention after being bumped at the start in 2019 and finishing 10th for his previous trainer, Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. Last winter, Channel Cat ran on the Pegasus undercard in the 1 ½-mile W.L. McKnight (G3), finishing fifth.

Since joining Sisterson in mid-2020, Channel Cat has run eight times with one win, the Man o'War (G1) at Belmont Park last May. Most recently he was second by a neck in the 1 3/8-mile Red Smith (G2) Nov. 20 at Aqueduct.

Overall, Channel Cat owns six wins, four seconds and five thirds with $1,456,022 in purse earnings from 30 lifetime starts. He is 2-1-2 in 10 career tries over the Gulfstream turf, running second in his July 1, 2017 debut. His other graded win came in the 2019 Bowling Green (G2) at Saratoga.

Channel Cat is listed on Calumet Farm's website as one of its 15 stallions for 2022, with an advertised fee of $7,500.

“He's a cool horse. He came in great shape off Todd, and I just didn't want to ruin what Todd had done with him, so I just didn't get in his way,” Sisterson said. “He's an older horse, he knows his job, and he loves to get out there and train. If he's not out there by 5:30, he shouts the barn down. If he's not the first walk in the afternoon, again he shouts. We just try to keep him happy and not get in his way.”

Pletcher sent out two of his Pegasus Day probables out for half-mile works Friday on the dirt at Palm Beach Downs. Repole Stable's multiple graded-stakes placed Never Surprised, last out winner of the Dec. 26 Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream, went in 51.40 seconds while Robert and Lawana Low's Sweet Melania covered the distance in 50.43.

Sweet Melania, who earned her third career graded-stakes triumph in the Dec. 18 Suwannee River (G3) at Gulfstream, is being pointed to the inaugural $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf. Never Surprised could join his stablemate and defending champion Colonel Liam in the Pegasus Turf.

Title Ready needs defections from original list of 19 invitees to get into the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) field, but trainer Dallas Stewart said the 7-year-old will run if granted the opportunity.

Title Ready most recently finished sixth in Oaklawn Park's $200,000 Tinsel Dec. 18, but Stewart says to throw that performance out because of the sloppy track.

“He's doing well, he just didn't have a good race in the mud,” Stewart said. “We'll see how it plays out.”

Since winning the Louisiana (G3) last January, Title Ready has raced only two other times, finishing off the board in the Dubai World Cup (G1) and then a close third in a tough Churchill Downs allowance off a 7 1/2-month layoff.

Title Ready's second dam is Hall of Famer Personal Ensign, an extraordinarily rare unbeaten champion whose produce record lived up to her racing career. Personal Ensign's unraced daughter Title Seeker was sold to Charles Fipke, owner-breeder of Title Ready, for $1.7 million in 2006 and has been a very good broodmare.

Title Seeker's daughter, Seeking the Title, won the Iowa Oaks (G3) and was Grade 1-placed. Then Seeking the Title subsequently produced $3.78 million-earner Seeking the Soul, second in the 2019 Pegasus World Cup and 2018 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and winner of the Clark Handicap (G1) and Stephen Foster (G2).

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Channel Cat, a 6-year-old son of late turf champion English Channel, seeks his first triumph since capturing the Grade 1 Man o' War in May at Belmont Park for trainer Jack Sisterson.

The chestnut fended off a confrontation from dual Grade 1-winner Gufo in late stretch to win the 11-furlong Man o' War by a nose in his third start of this season. He arrives off a distant sixth in the Grade 2 Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 11 at Kentucky Downs, where he was forwardly-placed but finished 9 ¾ lengths back of the winner Imperador.

As the lone millionaire in the Red Smith, Channel Cat boasts earnings in excess of $1.4 million through a ledger of 29-6-3-5. He captured the Grade 2 Bowling Green in July 2019 in wire-to-wire fashion while racing for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

Channel Cat will see an equipment change for Saturday's engagement and will sport blinkers for the first time since May 2019 when finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy at Belmont.

“He lacked that little bit of spark in his past couple of starts and the addition of blinkers will help him do that,” Sisterson said. “In the race at Kentucky Downs, he didn't make the lead and didn't really finish up. I felt that there was something missing the last two races and I think blinkers will help.”

Hall of Famer John Velazquez will seek his fourth Red Smith triumph when piloting Channel Cat, who will carry 126 pounds from post 7.

Trainer Chad Brown will saddle a pair of contenders in Serve the King [post 4, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 124] and Value Engineering [post 2, Dylan Davis, 122].

Owned by Peter Brant, who captured the 1979 Red Smith with Waya, Serve the King enters off a sharp runner-up effort when completing a Brown-trained exacta in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational on October 9 at Belmont. The 5-year-old Kingman bay garnered a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, where he saved ground in fourth and made a move in between horses in mid-stretch to finish two lengths to stablemate Rockemperor.

Serve the King sports a consistent leger of 10-4-2-1 which includes a victory in the restricted John's Call on August 25 at Saratoga and a troubled fourth in the Grade 1 United Nations on July 17 at Monmouth Park.

“The horse is training really well. It looks like a really solid race,” Brown said. “He's coming off his best performance. He's one that keeps developing and one that we thought a lot of. He's well bred, very consistent and he's in good form right now.”

Also representing the Brown stable is Value Engineering, a consistent 5-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid who makes his stakes debut for Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stable.

The three-time winner has never finished off the board in 11 career starts and arrives off a rallying victory going nine furlongs four weeks ago over the Belmont inner turf. His other two victories include a third-out maiden triumph in August 2019 covering 1 3/16 miles at Saratoga and a 10-furlong score against winners off a nine-month layoff in June 2020 at Belmont.

“It's a big step but we always thought he was a stakes horse all along,” Brown said. “He lost his way a little bit and needed to breakthrough. I thought his last race was a breakout performance. He's got to step up but there aren't too many options for a horse like him this time of year, so we're giving it a shot.”

Pletcher will seek his third Red Smith coup when saddling Donegal Racing's Shamrocket, who added a stakes win to his resume last out in the Point of Entry on October 24 at Belmont going 12 furlongs.

The 4-year-old Tonalist bay rounded out the trifecta in the July 5 Grand Couturier at Belmont ahead of a late-closing third in the Grade 2 Bowling Green on July 31 at Saratoga.

“I thought he got the trip we were looking for last time, it was nice to see him get that stake win,” Pletcher said. “I think the cutback is fine. He's had some success going three turns and seems to run well no matter what you throw at him.”

Shamrocket will leave from post 5 carrying 124 pounds. under Javier Castellano.

Wertheimer and Frere homebred No Word, also for the Pletcher barn, was a last out fifth in the Grade 3 Knickerbocker on October 10 at Belmont. The 4-year-old Silent Name colt has earned graded stakes placings three times, including a runner-up effort in last year's Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational.

Carrying 122 pounds, No Word will be piloted by Jose Lezcano post 9.

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Morris Bailey, Wonder Stables and Michael J. Caruso's Solider Rising will face elders for the first time while attempting to become the first 3-year-old to win the Red Smith since Monarch's Maze in 1999. The son of Frankel strives to make amends after cutting back to nine furlongs and finishing fifth as the beaten favorite in the Grade 2 Hill Prince on October 23 at Belmont.

Soldier Rising was second in both the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational on August 7 and the Jockey Club Derby Invitational six weeks later at Belmont for trainer Christophe Clement.

“I think he's good enough to make the jump,” said Clement, who saddled previous Red Smith winners Flag Down [1995] and Grassy [2010]. “I thought he ran well last time, but we asked of him an impossible task being so far back.”

Solider Rising, who will carry 118 pounds, is owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Morris Bailey, Wonder Stables and Michael J. Caruso. Jose Ortiz will ride from post 3.

Completing the field are Tide of the Sea [post 1, Luis Saez, 126], Corelli [post 6, Manny Franco, 126], Sanctuary City [post 8, Ruben Silvera, 122] and Price Talk [post 10, Eric Cancel, 122].

Known as the Edgemere Handicap until 1981, the Red Smith pays tribute to the late Pulitzer Prize winning author and sportswriter Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith, whose 55-year career in journalism covered a wide array of sports, including horseracing, for the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Times. The Red Smith will be carded as Race 9 on Saturday's 10-race program. First post is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

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And New York-based trainer Chad Brown, who has shipped in nine winners from his deep bench of grass runners in the past, hasn't been heard from yet.

But several other prominent Midwest- and East Coast-based conditioners have, leading to expectations in the racing office of quality and quantity invaders for the main events on the Bing Crosby Season's final four days.

A sneak peek, with horse names being withheld until close of entries:

Hollywood Turf Cup, Friday, November 26th, Grade 2, $250,000, 1 ½ miles (turf), 3-year-olds and up: Trainer Mike Maker has placed five in nomination for a race Brad Cox won last year with Arklow.

Hollywood Derby, Saturday, November 27th, Grade 1, $400,000, 1 1/8 miles (turf), 3-year-olds: Wesley Ward, Dallas Stewart, Ken McPeek, Maker (2), Jack Sisterson (2), Graham Motion, and Gregory Sacco have nominees. Brown has won it three times, sending out Annals of Time (2016), Raging Bull (2018), and Domestic Spending last year.

Seabiscuit Handicap, Saturday, November 27th, Grade 2, $250,000, 1 1/16 miles (turf), 3-year-olds and up: One horse from Japan is listed while Maker has submitted two names and Motion one. Phil D'Amato has carried the locally-based trainer banner to wins with Midnight Storm (2015), Hunt (2017), and Count Again (2020). Add Richard Baltas' win with Next Shares in 2019 and this has been a good Festival race for the home team.

Jimmy Durante Stakes, Saturday, November 27, Grade 3, $100,000, 1 mile (turf), 2-year-old fillies: Maker and Motion (2) have nominees for an event dominated by shippers over the years. Brown-trained Fluffy Socks won last year. Mike Stidham won the two years before that and George Weaver, Motion, and Mark Casse have also scored in the seven editions at Del Mar.

Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, Sunday, November 28, Grade 3, $100,000, 1 mile (turf), 2-year-olds: Motion has an early nominee in an event that has been good for locals. Smooth Like Strait won for Mike McCarthy in 2019 and Beer Can Man for Mark Glatt last year. Both horses ran during the recent Breeders' Cup Week here.

Matriarch Stakes, Sunday, November 28, Grade 1, $400,000, 1 mile (turf), older fillies and mares: Trainer Joe Sharp has two nominated and Stidham one for the climactic stakes race of the meeting. Brown has shipped in three winners in seven meetings, among them Viadera in 2020.

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Initially training for a start in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf last Saturday at Del Mar, Channel Cat did not draw into the race and did not breeze last weekend. On Saturday morning, Channel Cat went a half-mile in :49.60 over the Keeneland main track.

“He's showing signs that he's coming up for a big effort,” Sisterson said. “We had his work schedule penned out to run in the Breeders' Cup. We missed a work with him because we didn't want to put him over the top.”

Last out, Channel Cat was a distant sixth in the G2 Kentucky Turf Cup on September 11 at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., when tracking the pace from third.

Sisterson said he would like to see Channel Cat, who will add blinkers, show the same early speed which earned him victories in the G1 Man o' War in May at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., and the G2 Bowling Green in August 2019 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“I felt like his last couple of starts he lacked that little bit of spark and the addition of blinkers will help him do that,” Sisterson said. “In the race at Kentucky Downs, he didn't make the lead and didn't really finish up. I felt that there was something missing the last two races and I think blinkers will help.”

Channel Cat boasts a ledger of 29-6-3-5 with earnings in excess of $1.4 million.

Sisterson spoke of the recent retirement of Grade 1-winner Lexitonian, who upset the G1 A.G. Vanderbilt field in July at Saratoga at 34-1 odds. The son of Speightstown, a Calumet Farm homebred, was ninth in the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint last Saturday and will stand at Lane's End Farm in Midway, Kentucky for a $10,000 stud fee.

“It's a dream for myself, the barn, and the rest of the guys who do all the hard work for the horse to go on to a fantastic second career and to a farm like Lane's End,” Sisterson said. “It's very humbling that Calumet and Lane's End were able to work something out. He's every trainer's dream to have speed, be sound, and win a Grade 1. He should have a successful stud career.”

Lexitonian is the first progeny out of the Tapit mare Riviera Romper. His second dam is Swap Fliparoo, who captured the 2006 G1 Test at Saratoga.

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Winner of the GIII Chick Lang S. as a sophomore in 2019 and beaten a nose I the 2020 GI Bing Crosby S., the Calumet Farm homebred defeated the likes of next-out GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. winner Special Reserve (Midshipman) and 2020 champion sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) in the prestigious GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga this July.

“He's a horse who fights”, said trainer Jack Sisterson. “He has the talent, the will and the heart. He's a class act winning and placing second in multiple Grade I races. I've had a tremendous amount of confidence in him throughout his career because you can run him over any track, and he always knows what to do.”

The chestnut is a grandson of GI Test S. winner Swap Fliparoo (Exchange Rate), and his dam was carrying him when she brought $310,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale.

“We are thrilled that Calumet is entrusting us with a horse as special as Lexitonian is,” said Bill Farish of Lane's End Farm. “He has been a consistent top-level performer at all stages of his racing career. He has the pedigree, racing ability and soundness that we think will set him up for success at stud.”

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An impressive two-year-old debut winner at Belmont, the son of champion Speightstown went on to win the Grade 3 Chick Lang Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., along with the Concern Stakes before hitting the board in the G2 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland in his 3-year-old season. At 4, he ran second by a nose to Collusion Illusion in the G1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. In his 5-year-old campaign, he ran second by a head to Flagstaff in the hotly contested G1 Churchill Downs Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on the Kentucky Derby undercard and scored a huge victory in the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., defeating 2020 Champion male sprinter Whitmore and G1 winners Mischevious Alex and Firenze Fire.

“He's a horse who fights”, said trainer Jack Sisterson. “He has the talent, the will, and the heart. He's a class act winning and placing second in multiple Grade 1 races. I've had a tremendous amount of confidence in him throughout his career because you can run him over any track, and he always knows what to do.”

“We are thrilled that Calumet is entrusting us with a horse as special as Lexitonian is,” said Bill Farish of Lane's End Farm. “He has been a consistent top-level performer at all stages of his racing career. He has the pedigree, racing ability, and soundness that we think will set him up for success at stud.”

A 5-year-old son of prominent sire Speightstown, Lexitonian is the first foal out of the young Tapit mare Riviera Romper. She is a daughter of G1 Test winner Swap Fliparoo that Calumet acquired at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale for $310,000 while carrying him.

Lexitonian will stand for $7,500 for the 2022 breeding season.

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