Taking Stock: Liam’s Map Flying Unbridled’s Song Flag

We've been waiting a long time for a high-class son of Unbridled's Song to make a statement at stud and stick around to carry his name forward in pedigrees, and that horse appears to be Lane's End's Liam's Map, who got his fourth Grade l winner over the weekend. Unbridled's Song was a terrific stallion and his daughters have made him one of the best broodmare sires around, but he's had difficulties finding sons at stud as good as his daughters. He's had some that showed glimmers of talent, and a few that have been useful, but none that have shown the elite promise that Liam's Map is demonstrating with only three crops racing.

The Brad Cox-trained Juju's Map won the Gl Darley Alcibiades S. at Keeneland on Friday, joining Liam's Map's other top-level winners Basin, Wicked Whisper and Colonel Liam. The 2-year-old filly, who was bred by Fred W. Hertrich lll in Kentucky, is one of 13 black-type winners for her sire. She'd sold for $300,000 at Keeneland September to Albaugh Family Stables, which also bred her sire.

Albaugh Family Stables is the racing operation of Iowans Dennis Albaugh and his son-in-law Jason Loutsch. They've been on quite a run since entering the business in the mid-2000s, mostly with colts, but lately they've been buying yearling fillies, with an eye to eventually breeding them to their stallion Not This Time (Giant's Causeway), who's also making quite a name for himself at Taylor Made with only two crops at the races.

It all started with the purchase of another filly, Miss Macy Sue (Trippi), as a 2-year-old at OBS June in 2005. She's the dam of Liam's Map and Not This Time, but before she became a producer, she was an accomplished runner, winning 11 races from 25 starts, including a Grade lll race, and earning $880,915.

“We started out with a small stable, and Miss Macy Sue was the first mare we owned. Once you get lucky with your first horse, you get the bug,” Loutsch said by phone on Sunday. “Miss Macy Sue took us to the Breeders' Cup and to all these wonderful places. It kind of gets in your blood, and you're just like, we want to do this, you know?”

Loutsch acknowledged, however, that “it's a tough business,” and he and his father-in-law run the operation with the bottom line in mind. That's why they sold Liam's Map for $800,000 at Keeneland September in 2012 to Vinnie and Teresa Viola's St. Elias Stable. Trained by Todd Pletcher–who has trained more top stallions than anyone in recent memory–Liam's Map raced in the name of Teresa Viola Racing Stables (except for his last start, after West Point Thoroughbreds had bought into him), winning six of eight starts, including the Gl Woodward S. at Saratoga and the Gl Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland to close out his career.

“We loved the horse, and we wished nothing but the best for Vinnie,” Loutsch said. “It was purely just a business decision at the time. It was a lot of money, and we figured if we sold him for a good number, we could go out and buy three or four other ones and break even. But it probably made us keep Not This Time. When we go to the sales now, we're still primarily buying colts. Dennis has a great time with them, and we've been to the Derby five times and we've got the dream that someday we're going to [win it].”

Nerud Influence

After Miss Macy Sue retired from racing, Loutsch contacted our firm to do the matings for her. (Albaugh Family Stables is a client of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants.) The mare's pedigree is unique and well constructed, with the strong influence of two heavyweights behind it: Leon Rasmussen, the former Bloodlines columnist for Daily Racing Form; and John Nerud, the master horseman and breeder who ran Tartan Farms in Ocala for William McKnight and family. The outstanding owner/breeder Frances Genter also kept her stock at Tartan.

In the mid-1980s, Nerud had contacted Rasmussen about helping him to reinvigorate the Tartan program. Rasmussen suggested that Nerud use some European-bred or -raced sires, which were plentiful in Kentucky at the time, and, most significantly, he suggested inbreeding some mares to Tartan's iconic females. Rasmussen was an advocate of inbreeding to superior females, and this is now widely referred to as the Rasmussen Factor, or RF. Nerud bought into the idea.

Tartan-bred Grade l winner Quiet American, for example, was a foal of 1986 by Nerud's Fappiano from Demure, by Tartan icon Dr. Fager. Underneath this conventional reading of the pedigree, Quiet American was inbred 4×3 to Tartan's influential mare Cequillo–the third dam of Fappiano and second dam of Demure. This was Rasmussen's favorite type of inbreeding, where the duplicated mare is in the direct female line of both the sire and the dam.

Moreover, Quiet American was also closely inbred 3×2 to Dr. Fager–the sire of the dams of both Fappiano and Demure.

Tartan-bred and Frances Genter-raced Unbridled, a foal of 1987 by Fappiano, was inbred 4×4 to Aspidistra–the dam of Dr. Fager and his outstanding half-sister Ta Wee–and 4×5 to Rough'n Tumble, the sire of Dr. Fager. In this case, Aspidistra was the fourth dam of Unbridled, but the duplication to the mare was through Dr. Fager, Fappiano's broodmare sire.

Unbridled's dam, by the way, was by the imported French Derby winner Le Fabuleux, who stood at Claiborne and was a Rasmussen favorite for the stamina he imparted to his offspring.

How does all of this relate to Miss Macy Sue, who was bred by Bryan J. Howlett in Florida? Howlett worked under Nerud at Tartan, and Miss Macy Sue's pedigree is a homage to Nerud and Tartan, because her Great Above dam Yada Yada, who was also bred by Howlett (and H&R Stable), is intensely inbred 2×3 to Ta Wee–perhaps the greatest female sprinter, as well as being Dr. Fager's half-sister. In this case, Ta Wee was Yada Yada's third dam and Great Above's dam.

Rasmussen also advocated the breeding of highly inbred mares, like Yada Yada, to outcrossed stallions to create “hybrid vigor,” and that's what Howlett did when he sent Yada Yada to Trippi to get Miss Macy Sue. Trippi, a son of the Forty Niner stallion End Sweep, has no duplications of ancestors through at least five generations.

There were many reasons why we liked Unbridled's Song for Miss Macy Sue, but one of them was the Rasmussen and Nerud architecture that was in place to recombine a Tartan-bred stallion in Unbridled, who brought in two strains of Aspidistra–the dam of Ta Wee and Dr. Fager–in the background, with the two crosses of Ta Wee in the background of Miss Macy Sue. But close up, Unbridled's Song, like Trippi, had no inbreeding in his pedigree within five generations, making Liam's Map himself relatively outcrossed within five generations (he is 4×5 Mr. Prospector and 5×5 In Reality).

On the surface, Liam's Map is bred similarly to Unbridled's Song's best racing son, the late Arrogate, as each is from a Forty Niner-line mare. Arrogate, who recently had this third winner, will be represented by only three crops, and perhaps he'll come up with a top-class son over the next few seasons. He was long considered the potential savior of this branch of the Unbridled line, but Liam's Map is the one proving to be a revelation. It's notable, also, that three of Liam's Map's four Grade l winners are from A.P. Indy-line mares–two from Bernardini mares and the latest from a Flatter mare. With so much A.P. Indy blood, particularly through Tapit, in the population, this could further benefit the stallion moving forward.

In 2019, Liam's Map was fourth on the first-crop list by progeny earnings behind American Pharoah, Constitution, and Palace Malice, but in the fine print you'll note that he led all freshman sires that year with two Grade l winners–Basin and Wicked Whisper. That's a sign of a stallion with potential.

Since, Nyquist had two juvenile Grade l winners in 2020, and Gun Runner has two already this year. Both are considered high-class stallions in the making.

Add Liam's Map to the list now.

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

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Juju’s Map Earns Juvenile Fillies Spot With Darley Alcibiades Victory

Albaugh Family Stables LLC's Juju's Map, narrowly favored over her Brad Cox stablemate Matareya, tracked pacesetter Runup through the initial stages of Friday's Grade 1, $400,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes, took command on the stretch turn and drew off to a 4 1/4-length victory under Florent Geroux in the 1 1/16-mile main track contest for 2-year-old fillies on the opening day card at the Lexington, Ky., oval.

The Darley Alcibiades is a Breeders' Cup Win and You're In Challenge Series race, giving the winner a fees-paid berth to the G1 Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 5, along with a travel allowance to California for the horse.

Distinctlypossible, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, finished second, a neck in front of a fast-finishing Sequist and jockey Junior Alvarado in third. Mama Rina was fourth, followed by Dream Lith and Matareya in a dead heat for fifth, then Penny Saver, Miss Interpret, Runup, Myfavoritedaughter and Pipeline Girl in the field of 11. Diamond Wow was scratched.

The Liam's Map filly out of Nagambie, by Flatter, bred in Kentucky by Fred W.  Hertrich III, covered 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.52. She paid $6.80 on a $2 mutuel.

The win was the ninth Grade 1 victory of 2021 for Cox and it was his second in the Alcibiades, the first coming in 2019 with British Idiom. It was the first Alcibiades for Geroux and the Albaugh Family Stables headed by Dennis Albaugh of Ankeny, Iowa.

Juju's Map was a $300,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase. She was winning for the second time in three starts, having broken her maiden in front-running fashion in her second outing at Ellis Park on Sept. 3.

In the Alcibiades, Geroux saved ground after breaking from the No. 1 post position and was content to sit in second while Runup set fractions of :22.75 for the opening quarter and :46:00 for the half mile. Geroux moved Juju's Map to the front through six furlongs in 1:11.23, and she was never seriously threatened thereafter, clicking off a mile split of 1:36.93 en route to her final time.

Cox said if Juju's Map exited the win in good order it would be on to the Breeders' Cup.

“She sat close to a hot pace and was still able to finish, and I thought, 'That's what good horses do,'” said Cox. “She broke running, Florent (Geroux) put her in a good position and she finished up well. I'm very proud of her performance. We'll obviously talk it over with the Albaugh team, and as long as she comes out of it in good order I think we'll march on toward California (and the Nov. 5, $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies-G1). It was a good trip last time and hopefully she can show up and run her race and be very effective.”

“She's very talented to start with, but today it was tricky because there were a couple other speed horses,” said Geroux. “From the one hole, you have to use speed to your advantage, to make sure they don't cross over and slow it down too fast. So I just wanted to break ahead so if they wanted the lead they would have to work for it, and that's what they did.

“I was able to ease her back in the first turn. From there she took a nice breather with me down the backside and from there I knew she was going to be pretty tough. Turning for home I saw (Matareya) coming up and she's pretty talented too, but when I asked her down the lane she gave me another gear, the kind of effort you want to see, and hopefully she's going into the Breeders' Cup in the right way.”

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Liam’s Map Filly Impressive in Alcibiades

Albaugh Family Stables's Juju's Map (Liam's Map) threw her hat in the ring among what appears to be a solid juvenile filly division with a powerful victory in Friday's “Win and You're In” GI Darley Alcibiades S. at Keeneland. Reined in to avoid a speed duel heading into the first bend, the rail-drawn bay sat in a clear second as Runup (Runhappy) zipped along through splits of :22.75 and :46 flat. The 2-1 favorite took over midway on the home bend, and was briefly challenged by her stablemate Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile), but opened up at will once she straightened to report home a convincing 4 1/4-length winner. Pricey maiden Distinctlypossible (Curlin) got going late to be second, with longshot and GI Spinaway S. fourth Sequist (Nyquist) rounding out the trifecta.

“She's very talented to start with, but today it was tricky because there were a couple other speed horses,” said winning rider Florent Geroux. “From the one hole, you have to use speed to your advantage, to make sure they don't cross over and slow it down too fast. So I just wanted to break ahead so if they wanted the lead they would have to work for it, and that's what they did.

“I was able to ease her back in the first turn. From there she took a nice breather with me down the backside and from there I knew she was going to be pretty tough. Turning for home I saw [Matareya] coming up and she's pretty talented too, but when I asked her down the lane she gave me another gear, the kind of effort you want to see, and hopefully she's going into the Breeders' Cup in the right way.”

Juju's Map was second at odds-on sprinting at Ellis July 25 before breaking through at the Pea Patch by 5 3/4 lengths when stretched to a mile Sept. 3.

This was trainer Brad Cox's second Alcibiades win in three years–he took it in 2019 with eventual champion 2-year-old filly British Idiom (Flashback).

“She sat close to a hot pace and was still able to finish, and I thought, 'That's what good horses do.' She broke running, Florent put her in a good position and she finished up well,” Cox said. “I'm very proud of her performance. We'll obviously talk it over with the Albaugh team, and as long as she comes out of it in good order I think we'll march on toward California [and the Nov. 5 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies]. It was a good trip last time and hopefully she can show up and run her race and be very effective.”

Saturday, Keeneland
DARLEY ALCIBIADES S.-GI, $400,000, Keeneland, 10-8, 2yo, f,
1 1/16m, 1:43.52, ft.
1–JUJU'S MAP, 122, f, 2, by Liam's Map
                1st Dam: Nagambie, by Flatter
                2nd Dam: Charming N Lovable, by Horse Chestnut (Saf)
                3rd Dam: St Lucinda, by St. Jovite
   1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
   WIN. ($190,000 Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $300,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP).
O-Albaugh Family Stables LLC; B-Fred W. Hertrich (KY); T-Brad
Cox; J-Florent Geroux. $240,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0,
$280,800. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
2–Distinctlypossible, 122, f, 2, by Curlin
1st Dam: Funny Proposition (GSW, $230,295), by Medaglia d'Oro
2nd Dam: Humorous Miss, by Distorted Humor
3rd Dam: Starry Miss, by Star de Naskra
($200,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP; $670,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR).
O-Bradley Thoroughbreds, Finder, Gary, Belmar Racing and
Breeding, LLC, Cambron, Tim, Cambron, Anna and Team
Hanley; B-John C. Oxley (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $80,000.
3–Sequist, 122, f, 2, by Nyquist
1st Dam: Secret Garden (Per) (G1SW-Per), by Flanders Fields
2nd Dam: Naima, by Quiet American
3rd Dam: Nogalus, by Trempolino
($100,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-West Point Thoroughbreds,
Gervais, Lori, Pigg, Charles R., Andres, Tom, Stewart, Dallas
and Kraft, Karen; B-Clearsky Farms (KY); T-Dallas Stewart.
$40,000.
Margins: 4 1/4, NK, 1 1/4. Odds: 2.40, 7.80, 24.30.
Also Ran: Mama Rina, Dream Lith-(DH), Matareya-(DH), Penny Saver, Miss Interpret, Runup, Myfavoritedaughter, Pipeline Girl. Scratched: Diamond Wow. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Liam's Map, bred by Dennis Albaugh, is now responsible for four Grade I winners and seven graded winners overall. Three of those four reached the highest level at two despite the fact that Liam's Map didn't blossom until four, when he took the GI Woodward S. and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile locally.

Juju's Map is the 17th stakes winner (three graded including a Group 1 winner in Brazil) for Flatter as a broodmare sire. Her unplaced dam is half to GISW Fault (Blame). This is the extended female family of local Grade II winner Fioretti (Bernardini) and MGISW juvenile Bast (Uncle Mo).

Nagambie was acquired for just $14,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale. Her most recent produce was an Audible filly born Apr. 5 and she was bred back to another former Albaugh colorbearer in Not This Time for 2022.

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Liam’s Map Colt Strong in Debut

7th-Santa Anita, $62,500, Msw, 10-3, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.38, ft, 4 1/4 lengths.
WINNING MAP (c, 2, Liam's Map–Starlet O'Hara {SP}, by Discreetly Mine), sent off the 2-5 favorite, powered home an easy four-length winner of his debut at Santa Anita Sunday. The gray colt, a $55,000 KEESEP yearling turned $525,000 OBS March juvenile, went right to the early lead and was in control through a quarter in :22.08. He scampered further clear on the far turn, but Sir London (Malibu Moon) rushed up to challenge the favorite as the half went up in :45.13. Winning Map shrugged off that foe in upper stretch and drew clear to the wire. The winner has a yearling half-sister by Tapizar and his dam dropped a Street Boss colt this season before being bred to Omaha Beach. Sales History: $55,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP; $525,000 2yo '21 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $36,600. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud; B-H & E Ranch (KY); T-Bob Baffert.

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