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Champion Accelerate Stamping His First Crop of Yearlings

David Ingordo has undoubtedly inspected thousands of yearlings, many of whom went on to become Ingordo-purchased success stories, since he saw Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky) at the 2014 Keeneland September Sale. Nevertheless, the well-respected agent has a vivid memory of seeing Hip 1162 at the Bluewater Sales consignment, a May-foaled son of the stakes-placed Awesome Again mare Issues.

“When a horse first walks out, you get an impression–at least, that's what it is for me,” Ingordo said. “And he was an extremely well- balanced horse, plenty of substance to him. He caught my attention. He was a beautiful chestnut color and was really well prepared. When you see them, you project what they're going to turn into. What he looked like to me there is what I hoped he would grow up to be, which is this beautifully well-balanced older horse now.”

Flash forward seven years after Ingordo purchased the yearling colt for $380,000, and Accelerate is now an Eclipse-earning, Breeders' Cup Classic-winning Lane's End sire with first yearlings hitting the market this summer.

Aside from the quality physical Ingordo recognized in Accelerate as a yearling, there was one intangible trait, according to Ingordo, that made the son of Lookin at Lucky such a success on the track.

“The thing you can't see is his heart,” he explained. “We buy these horses and they're all balanced, they have the pedigrees, they're good walkers and they vet clean. You put them in training and put them in company and they move forward each week. But what you never know is when they get hooked in a race, how bad do they want it? And Accelerate, he wanted it badly every time.”

That competitive energy led the Hronis Racing colorbearer to 10 career victories, from an 8 3/4-length maiden score as a sophomore to a win two years later in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Between those bookend wins, the John Sadler trainee also brought home Grade I scores in the Santa Anita H., Gold Cup at Santa Anita S., Pacific Classic S. and Awesome Again S. during his championship 5-year-old season.

“The thing I remember about Accelerate's 5-year-old campaign was just how dominant he was,” Ingordo said. “When John led him over [in the Breeders' Cup Classic], there wasn't any doubt we were going to run well. But the way he did it, he drew outside and delivered with a powerful performance.”

Retiring to Lane's End with over $6.6 million in earnings, Accelerate served 167 mares in his first year at stud at a $20,000 fee. He held the same stud fee in 2020 and bred 137 mares in his second book. This year, his fee was adjusted to $17,500.

Look closely to see Accelerate's eventual purchaser inspecting the colt at the Bluewater consignment. | Lucas Marquardt

Ingordo has been busy visiting Accelerate's first crop of foals slated for the approaching yearling sales.

“When I go around looking at the offspring of a stallion, I expect to see the stallion in that foal,” he said. “So a lot of times before I go out looking at a crop of horses, I like to go see the stallion. So I'll come look at Accelerate and refresh myself about what I like about the horse. He's exceptionally well balanced, he's got a great shoulder, is very powerful behind, wide across his hips and has great bone.”

This physical description, Ingordo says, also fits the trends he's seeing in Accelerate's yearlings.

“They look like miniature versions of him. He's kind of throwing back to the Smart Strike part of his pedigree, which I think is an important element of what made Accelerate so good and I think that's going to help his offspring as they get to the track,” he said.

Ingordo also said he finds Accelerate's presence and demeanor reflected in his progeny.

“Accelerate is very regal. He's all class. I've noticed that same trait in his offspring. You can't teach that; they either have it or they don't, and they've definitely got his head and his eye, that presence,” he said.

One big boost to Accelerate's appeal to both breeders and buyers, according to Ingordo, is the support he received in his first books.

“What was great for the stallion, the syndicate and then for me as a buyer of the Accelerates this year is how solid of a book of mares people presented to the horse. We've also gotten some really good updates. I just saw a colt that's going to one of the later sales and is a half to [2021 GII San Pasqual S. winner] Express Train (Union Rags) and he is a killer. I looked at several others around town and they're all really, really nice. They remind me of him at that stage of his life.”

Accelerate, a late-blooming May foal, did not see the starting gate until his sophomore year.

“He was broke and trained at Mayberry Farm and he always did everything right, but we had to remind ourselves that he was almost a June foal,” Ingordo said. “He hit another growth spurt once he went out to California so we weren't able to really run him as a 2-year-old. Our program is not to force them. We could have gotten Accelerate there faster if we wanted to, but that didn't make any sense for the horse.”

Accelerate's belated start makes Ingordo all the more excited to see his first runners begin their career earlier than their sire was able.

“I think they're going to be Classic types,” he said. “We missed that opportunity with Accelerate just because of his age, but I see these foals and they're a little more mature than he was. I could see him getting the Classic horse that every breeder and owner wants to get to the Derby or even some of the earlier 2-year-old races.”

At last year's weanling sales, Accelerate's offspring averaged $46,159 with 22 of 30 sold. His top lot, a filly out of Grade III-placed Mystic Mama (Scat Daddy), sold for $140,000 to Buena Madera at the Keeneland November Sale. Two Accelerate colts, one out of Aspiring (Seeking the Gold) and another out of Onestaratatime (Cape Canaveral), brought $110,000 at Keeneland November.

Accelerate yearling out of West Coast Chick sells as Hip 95 at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale.

Accelerate has 11 yearlings cataloged for the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale on July 13.

Hip 95, a colt out of West Coast Chick (Malibu Moon), will sell with the Lane's End consignment. The youngster is the second foal from his winning dam, who was runner-up to GISW Paulassilverlining (Ghostzapper) in the 2016 GIII Vagrancy H. and is a half-sister to GISW and sire Klimt (Quality Road).

“The cross is very good,” Ingordo noted. I like the Accelerate, Lookin at Lucky, Smart Strike line bred over Malibu Moon. The colt is a bay version of his sire. He's an excellent mover, a good athletic type, and has the head, eye and shape that we've been talking about. I wish I owned him.”

Other Accelerate yearlings heading for the Fasig-Tipton July Sale include Hip 13, a colt out of a daughter of GISW and graded producer Harmony Lodge (Hennessy), Hip 61, a filly out of a full-sister to champion Trinniberg (Teuflesberg) as well as Hip 98, a filly out of a daughter of Grade III winner Win Crafty Lady (Crafty Prospector), the dam of three graded winners, including Harmony Lodge. See Accelerate's full Fasig-Tipton July roster here.

Ingordo said he has high hopes for this first crop of yearlings as they take on the sales, but added that he believes Accelerate and his progeny will find even greater success in coming years.

“I'm going to say this is the cheapest they're ever going be is out of this first crop,” he said. “I think they're going to be horses that are bought on the high end of a reasonable price. I'm pretty excited about them. I plan on every customer of mine that has an order is going to have one, because I'm a believer. Everybody has their own horses and they can get barn blind, but we like to put our money where our mouth is on this and this is a horse that I'm going to support at the sales, my clients want to support him at the sales, and hopefully we will help him then on the racetrack.”

Click here for the first feature in our 2021 First-Crop Yearling Sire series on Gainesway's Tapwrit.

The post Champion Accelerate Stamping His First Crop of Yearlings appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Bloodlines: Country Grammer Piles On Laurels For Deep Juddmonte Family

This year has been a good one for the family of the mare Nijinsky Star, a half-sister to stakes winner Six Crowns (by Secretariat) who became the dam of champion Chief's Crown (Danzig). Nijinsky Star herself became the dam of three stakes winners who all produced stakes winners themselves.

In addition, her unraced daughter Willstar (Nureyev) also produced a pair of stakes winners, (Etoile Montante and Uno Duo), and this branch of the family has been making hay in 2021. In addition to the graded stakes winners Bonny South (Munnings) and Obligatory (Curlin), Country Grammer (Tonalist) added further laurels to this set of the family by becoming its first G1 winner since Etoile Montante.

That Miswaki filly won the G1 Prix de la Foret, as well as taking seconds in the Prix Marcel Boussac, Prix Maurice de Gheest, and Matriarch. Speed was her forte, but Country Grammer has shone over more extended trips, and his best effort to date came in the Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 31.

This branch of the Miss Carmie family through champion Chris Evert (Swoon's Son) has been developed by Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms from the Nijinsky mare mentioned above, Nijinsky Star. Juddmonte purchased her for $700,000 at the Keeneland November sale out of the consignment of Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services (John Stuart), agent for Carl Rosen.

Entrepreneur and sportsman Rosen had purchased Chris Evert as a yearling, named her for the tennis star who had branded a line of sportswear through his clothing business, and bred both Six Crowns and Chief's Crown, among others.

Juddmonte bred the subsequent generations of mares leading to Country Grammer, including his second dam Prima Centauri (Distant View), a half-sister to Etoile Montante who had been unplaced in two starts in France. That put Prima Centauri among those who were surplus to needs for Juddmonte, and the mare subsequently sold for $270,000 at the 2005 Keeneland November sale to Dixiana Farm, carrying a foal by Forestry (Storm Cat). Prima Centauri's best racer was the Marju gelding Bodes Galaxy, who ran second in the G2 Richmond Stakes and third in the G2 Gimcrack as a 2-year-old.

The mare's later Forestry filly of 2008 was Arabian Song, a winner at three. She is the dam of Country Grammer and his half-sister Joyful Cadence (Runhappy), who is a winner this year and was third in the G3 Miss Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in May.

Bred in Kentucky by Dixiana Stables, Arabian Song had sold for $40,000 to Rabbah Bloodstock at the 2009 Keeneland September sale, won a maiden claiming race ($40,000) at three, and subsequently changed hands privately prior to foaling Country Grammer, who was bred in Kentucky by Scott Pierce and Debbie Pierce.

A May 11 foal, the 4-year-old Country Grammer is from the first crop by Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist (Tapit) and is his sire's first Grade 1 winner. The breeders sold the bay colt as a yearling for $60,000 at the Keeneland September sale, and he resold as a 2-year-old in training to Bradley Thoroughbreds, agent for Paul Pompa, for $450,000 out of the Wavertree Stables consignment at the 2019 OBS April sale.

Country Grammer raced for Pompa, winning the G3 Peter Pan last season, but after his death in 2020, Pompa's Thoroughbreds were dispersed by his estate. At the 2021 Keeneland January sale, Country Grammer sold for $110,000 to WinStar Farm, was sent to trainer Bob Baffert, and made his first start of the year in the G2 Californian, finishing second.

The Hollywood Gold Cup was the colt's second start of the year, and he won by a head over the Brazilian-bred Royal Ship (Midshipman), who had won the Californian on April 17 by a neck from Country Grammer.

One of a half-dozen stakes winners to date by Tonalist, who won four G1 races and earned $3.6 million, Country Grammer appears to be the best athlete from this branch of his famous family for a couple of generations and is the best racer to date for his young sire, who stands at Lane's End Farm outside Versailles, Ky.

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Winning On Three Fronts In One Day, West Point’s Finley Extols ‘Power Of The Partnership’

Saturday was a banner day here, there and yonder for Terry Finley's West Point Thoroughbreds, who enjoyed victories with promising horses at three racetracks.

The prominent racing syndicate kicked off Saturday's early daily double at Belmont Park with highly-regarded First Captain winning on debut in the opener, followed by Classic Colors defeating New York-bred winners going 1 1/16 miles over the Widener turf course.

“It really drives the fact that horseracing is a team effort,” Finley said. “We think about all the people that have played a part of these magical horses. It's just an overall great experience for the partners.”

Owned in partnership with Bobby Flay, Siena Farm and Woodford Racing, First Captain utilized a prominent trip going seven furlongs on debut for Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey.

The Curlin sophomore registered a 93 Beyer Speed Figure, tracking along the rail in third position early on, saved ground around the far turn, and found a new gear in the final sixteenth of a mile when surging past favorite Mahaamel under a hand ride by jockey Jose Ortiz

Bred by Flay, who also campaigned the horse's graded stakes-winning dam America, First Captain was a $1.5 million purchase from Arthur Hancock III's Stone Farm consignment at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale.

“He's just a really cool horse. Bobby Flay owned and bred the dam and he stayed in on the horse when we bought him,” said Finley. “He has a commercial operation, so when he's willing to stay in it gives us some confidence. We put together a great partnership. [Bloodstock agent] David Ingordo is our man when it comes to buying horses and he's tied in with Lane's End and they have a partnership in Woodford Racing. I've always admired Shug, so when he was in position and the opportunity came up to give him some horses, we took it. Everything just fell into place.”

Finley said he is unsure where the promising First Captain would race next, but said he is already starting to dream big.

“A debut like that makes a lot of people happy and that's the power of the partnership,” Finley said. “Shug's the captain of the ship and he's faced these situations before. I'm sure he's just as excited as we are. We know the targets during the second half of the year, but it's just figuring out how to get there.”

While First Captain utilized a stalk-and-pounce approach, fellow West Point color-bearer Classic Colors came from eight lengths off a leisurely pace to secure a first-level allowance triumph for trainer Christophe Clement and co-owners Harrell Ventures, Kenneth G. Beitz and Gail P. Beitz.

Bred in the Empire State by John Lauriello, the daughter of Street Sense handled her first start in seven months with aplomb. Placed at the rear of the field by Ortiz down the backstretch, Classic Colors made one big run in mid-stretch to win by 1 ½ lengths. The win registered a career-best 74 Beyer.

“Going down the backside, Jose had plenty of horse,” said Finley. “Christophe and [assistant and son] Miguel [Clement] liked the way she was coming off her winter break. With a good filly like this, we decided to let her catch her breath a bit.”

While restricted New York-bred stakes are an option for Classic Colors, Finley said open company stakes are very much within the realm of possibility.

“The New York-bred stakes are always an option,” Finley said. “But with this filly, there's enough quality that we could go hunting for a bigger race.”

A winner at third asking at Belmont Park, Classic Colors previously faced open company when finishing third to subsequent Grade 1-placed Seasons in her second start. She backed up her heavy favoritism in her September 24 maiden victory coming from well off the pace to win by a half-length.

Classic Colors was purchased by Clement for $170,000 from the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred Yearling Sale, where she was consigned by Indian Creek. She is out of the unraced Tale of the Cat mare Flaunted and is a direct descendant of the prolific matriarch broodmare La Troienne.

West Point's winning ways kept rolling with a stakes triumph from Jaxon Traveler, who captured the six-furlong Bachelor at Oaklawn Park in gate-to-wire fashion.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the Maryland-bred son of Munnings made his first trio of starts in the Old Line State winning his first two starts by open lengths at Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park, respectively. In his third start, he defeated his state-bred counterparts in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity on December 5 at Laurel Park before shipping to Oaklawn, where he suffered his lone defeat finishing a head shy of victory in the Gazebo at the Arkansas oval.

“He's a good gate horse as a lot of Steve's horses are, which helped him,” Finley said. “Every time he runs he puts in that surge on the turn. The ability to really separate himself in the race has helped him a lot.”

Finley mentioned the Grade 3, $200,000 Chick Lang on May 15 at Pimlico Race Course and the Grade 1, $400,000 Woody Stephens on June 5 at Belmont Park as possible next targets.

“I think he's in the spot where he deserves to try the big dogs,” Finley said.

West Point owns Jaxon Traveler in partnership with Marvin Delfiner.

“He's been in the business for 60 years and he's having a ball. I couldn't get him off the phone last night he was so excited,” said Finley.

West Point's most exciting performance was saved for last when Flightline put on a paid workout like performance in his career debut at Santa Anita going six furlongs. The son of Tapit, out of graded stakes winner Feathered, was never asked by jockey Flavien Prat, cruising home a gate-to-wire winner by 13 ¼ lengths, garnering a 105 Beyer.

Flightline is trained by John Sadler and owned in partnership with Hronis Racing, Siena Farm and Summer Wind Equine.

“We always have liked this horse,” Finley said. “He was broke at Mayberry Farm in Ocala, who David Ingordo has used for a training center for a while. They tout a little bit, but they really touted this one coming off the farm. We were expecting a good performance, but not quite what we saw yesterday.”

The Grade 3, $100,000 Lazaro Barerra on May 15 at Santa Anita going 6 ½ furlongs is a possible next target.

“That race would only give us three weeks, but he wasn't really taxed in yesterday's race,” Finley said. “He cooled out pretty quickly so it would be a matter of if we want to run back that quickly. I think he wants to go further.”

Flightline is a direct descendant of prominent Phipps broodmare Blitey and comes from the same family as accomplished runners Finder's Fee, Furlough, Heavenly Prize, Dancing Forever, Good Reward and Pure Prize. All were campaigned by the Phipps family.

“He comes from a very productive family and he has us already thinking about big races later on. Saratoga has a great program for 3-year-olds so he could end up shipping there this summer,” Finley said.

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Taking Stock: Rock Your World is Bred For Any Surface

On Wednesday on Steve Byk's radio show “At the Races,” while discussing the pedigree of Gl Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), I mentioned that the undefeated colt is suited for dirt despite beginning his career successfully with two wins on grass. In fact, Rock Your World, who earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure on the main track, is bred to handle any surface and would probably be equally as adept on all-weather.

Owned by Hronis Racing and Talla Racing and trained by John Sadler, Rock Your World is out of the Empire Maker mare Charm the Maker, a black-type winner of three races and $340,290. She won the listed Sharp Cat S. at Hollywood Park, the restricted Adoration S. at Del Mar, and was placed in the Gl Hollywood Starlet S. on all-weather, but she was also placed in the Gl Oak Leaf S. at Santa Anita on dirt and the Glll Autumn Miss S. on turf at the same track.

Likewise, Rock Your World's Argentine-bred sire was versatile. An undefeated winner of six races, Candy Ride won the G1 Joaquin S. de Anchorena at San Isidro in Argentina on turf and the Gl Pacific Classic at Del Mar on dirt among other major wins.

Ron McAnally, who famously trained John Henry to Grade l wins on dirt and turf, conditioned both Candy Ride and Charm the Maker, and together with his wife Deborah McAnally he's the breeder of Rock Your World. The McAnallys knew what they were doing with this mating–they bred and raced Charm the Maker–and they created a high-class colt in Rock Your World that was meant to be versatile, and he is. Rock Your World was sold for $650,000 as a Keeneland September yearling and his win Saturday has put a spotlight on the low-key McAnallys' breeding program, which is not only potent but also commercially successful.

Rock Your World's 5-year-old full sister She's Our Charm–Charm the Maker's first foal –is a McAnally homebred trained by Ron McAnally that is Grade lll-placed on turf. She was bought back for $600,000 as a Keeneland yearling, and as she's made all 11 of her starts on grass, she probably provided Sadler with the blueprint for debuting Rock Your World on turf.

The McAnallys' inside knowledge of this pedigree goes deeper than a cursory surface reading indicates. Rock Your World's second dam, the Giant's Causeway mare Charm the Giant (Ire), was bred and raced by Deborah McAnally and trained by Ron McAnally, and she was a Grade lll winner on turf who produced Gll John Henry Turf Championship S. winner Liam the Charmer (Smart Strike) in addition to Charm the Maker. The McAnallys didn't race Liam the Charmer, selling him for $500,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2014 through Don Robinson's Winter Quarter Farm, which also sold Rock Your World and boards the McAnallys' breeding stock.

Rock Your World's third dam is the Olympio mare Olympic Charmer, also bred and raced by Deborah McAnally and trained by her husband, who also trained Olympio, a Grade l winner on turf and a multiple Grade ll winner on dirt for Verne Winchell. Olympic Charmer won the Gll Railbird S. at Hollywood, the Gll El Encino S. at Santa Anita, and placed in the Gl La Brea S. at Santa Anita on dirt. Olympic Charmer's unraced Majestic Light dam Light a Charm had been pivotally acquired by Deborah McAnally to begin this run of success over the last 25 years, and Rock Your World is a fourth-generation McAnally-bred in the tail-female sequence of this family that has produced prominent runners in graded races on dirt, turf, and all-weather.

Candy Ride

Candy Ride began his career at John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale for $10,000, but now stands at W.S. Farish's Lane's End for $75,000. He is the sire of 98 black-type winners, including Horse of the Year Gun Runner and champion Shared Belief, and I've previously written extensively about this outstanding stallion, including this piece from 2019, “Candy Ride and His North American Success.” Lane's End also stands his best stallion son, Twirling Candy ($40,000 fee and the sire of Classic hopefuls Rombauer and Dream Shake); his latest champion, first-season sire Game Winner ($30,000); and Unified ($10,000), whose first-crop 2-year-olds will race this year after being well received at the sales. It's safe to say the farm is well invested in this line, which traces to former Lane's End sire Fappiano through the unusual sequence of Ride the Rails/Cryptoclearance/Fappiano.

The more common paths to Fappiano in pedigrees go through Unbridled's Song and Empire Maker, both sons of Fappiano's Gl Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, or through Quiet American, the tail-male grandsire of Midnight Lute and the broodmare sire of that outstanding sire of broodmares, Bernardini.

You'll note that Rock Your World is out of a mare by Empire Maker, which means that he's inbred 4×4 to Fappiano on the sire-line cross. There are two other black-type winners bred on this cross, including fellow Grade l winner Separationofpowers.

Candy Ride is also the sire of Grade l winner Leofric from an Unbridled's Song mare, so you get the drift that he blends well with Fappiano, and not just on the sire-line cross. Gun Runner, for example, is also inbred 4×4 to Fappiano through Quiet American, the sire of his second dam.

Gun Runner's dam is by Giant's Causeway, who, as noted earlier, is the sire of the second dam of Rock Your World, meaning that both of these Candy Ride Grade l winners have some similar elements in their respective dams. This is yet another indication of how well thought out the planning was for the mating that produced Rock Your World.

“I don't know that Ron [McAnally] really wanted to sell Rock Your World,” said David Ingordo by phone Thursday, and the fact that McAnally bought back his full sister for $600,000 as a yearling is probably an indication that he was firm on a stiff price. Ingordo, who heads Lane's End Bloodstock and is the buyer for clients Hronis Racing and John Sadler, was instrumental in the purchase of Rock Your World for $650,000–a price only eclipsed by the $1 million paid for the yet-as-unraced Contango for Candy Ride yearlings in 2019. Contango was also a graduate of Winter Quarter Farm. That year, there were three others by Candy Ride that also made $650,000: unraced Secret Weapon, who breezed a bullet :59 flat at Santa Anita Mar. 27; Red Hot and Blue, third in his only start in a maiden special at Gulfstream Feb. 7; and Constituency, who was third Mar. 13 in a $20,000 maiden claimer at Gulfstream in his third start.

Ingordo, who plucked out Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}) for $60,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, has an excellent eye for projecting young stock for two-turn races, and he was attracted to Rock Your World because of his size and scope. “We love Candy Ride as a sire, of course, and he was a big colt who reminded me of Twirling Candy; maybe he was a bit bigger and stretchier, and he looked like a two-turn horse. Plus, his pedigree is so California-centric,” Ingordo said. West Coast-based Hronis Racing and Sadler also campaigned champion older horse and Gl Breeders' Cup Classic winner Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), now a stallion at Lane's End. Ingordo also purchased Accelerate, for $380,000 as a KEESEP yearling, but he was better as an older runner than he was at three, like Zenyatta.

Rock Your World, however, is now firmly in the Derby picture, and with his sire and female family behind him, a Classic win would send his stud value into the stratosphere. I'm sure Lane's End is anticipating exactly this and looking forward to standing yet another son of Candy Ride when it's all said and done, thanks to Ingordo.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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