Juju’s Map Much the Best in 3-Year-Old Debut

4th-Churchill Downs, $134,897, Alw (NW2$X)/Opt. Clm ($62,500), 5-6, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.35, ft, 4 3/4 lengths.
JUJU'S MAP (f, 3, Liam's Map–Nagambie, by Flatter), back in action after six month freshening, was the 1-2 favorite off a juvenile campaign that included a win in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. Oct. 9 and a placing behind champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GI NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 5 at Del Mar. Racing for the first time as a 3-year-old with Lasix, Juju's Map was off a step slow but came into the bridle quickly to assume the lead from between horses into the first turn. She led unchallenged down the backstretch until Powder River (Mineshaft) drew closer into the far turn. But the pressure was only temporary as Juju's Map easily kicked clear from that rival turning for home and won wrapped up by 4 3/4 lengths. From the extended family of MGSW Fault (Blame) and MGISW Bast (Uncle Mo), Juju's Map has a yearling half-sister named Cosmic Thread (Audible) and her dam produced a colt by Not This Time in 2022. Sales History: $190,000 Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $300,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: GISW, 5-3-2-0, $698,180. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Albaugh Family Stables LLC; B-Fred W. Hertrich (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.

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Pletcher Talks Life Is Good, Colonel Liam, Top 3YOs On Writers’ Room

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Tuesday fresh off of a pair of seven-figure wins at Gulfstream and amid one of the hottest streaks of his training life. Sitting down with Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and Jon Green as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Pletcher talked about Life Is Good's dazzling win in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. and what's next for the superstar son of Into Mischief, a planned Dubai trip for MGISW turfer Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), what he thinks of his ample stable of Triple Crown nominees and more.

Asked about the plan for Life Is Good going into the Pegasus relative to how the race played out, Pletcher said, “When you're coming up with a strategy for a race, you know what you want to do, but you don't always know what your opponent wants to do. I thought when Knicks Go drew the rail, their hands were cuffed and they were going to have to come out running. And we wanted to come out running and play to our horse's strength, which is his speed. It surprised me a little bit that he cleared off as easily as he did. But if you look back to the Allen Jerkens at Saratoga, he's super fast. He was a couple of lengths in front of Jackie's Warrior down the backside. He didn't break great [in the Pegasus], but his second, third and fourth steps were really good, and he got [to the lead] the right way. I was pretty confident turning up the backside, but he still had some running to do. And we were just delighted with his performance. It was everything we hoped for.”

Pletcher added that Life Is Good's first post-Pegasus breeze would likely come this Friday, with his next start expected to come in the Mar. 26 G1 Dubai World Cup, and GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. would likely be on that plane with him.

“If everything stays on course [with Life Is Good] and we go to Dubai, we're going to take him as well for the [G1] Dubai Turf,” he said. “It's the same timing as with Life Is Good, so we feel the timing's good. I feel like he came out of the Pegasus Turf even better than he went into it, so taking a shot at a race like that is worthwhile.”

The conversation turned to a potential third, synthetic surface potentially being installed at Belmont Park as has been done at Gulfstream and whether or not that would help keep some turf horses in New York who would normally ship south during the winter months.

“To be honest with you, I I don't know what the synthetic would do there, and one of the things that we're sort of learning during this [Gulfstream] meet is which horses handle the Tapeta and which ones don't,” Pletcher said. “And I haven't been able to do it without actually running them on it. We've had several horses that have won Tapeta races that were off the turf who were coming off turf wins and they handled it fine. We had a couple other ones that were coming off good turf races that we ran on the Tapeta, and you can tell in the first 100 yards that they hated it. So that was one of the things that was difficult for us before [with synthetic tracks]. I can think of an example at Keeneland. Years ago, we had a filly named Wait A While who was a top class turf mare. She worked at Keeneland on the synthetic, going a ridiculous :46 flat [half-mile], with her neck bowed, in hand the whole way. We were running in the [GI] First Lady. It rained, it came off the turf and I was like, off that breeze, I have no reservation running her at all. But that afternoon, she never tightened the bridle. She hated it. So it's a little bit tricky to get a line on [the track] without running on it. So could it keep some turf horses in New York? Possibly, yeah I think it could, and then it would just be a matter of seeing if they actually took to it.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers discussed the ongoing silence over hearings to adjudicate to the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, Jonathon Kinchen's suspension from the NHC Tour and Thursday night's Eclipse Awards. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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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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Colonel Liam Goes Back-To-Back For Emotional Irad Ortiz In Pegasus World Cup Turf

Robert and Lawana Low's Colonel Liam became the first back-to-back winner of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf this Saturday, getting a good trip from Irad Ortiz, Jr. to defeat his stablemate Never Surprised by just over a length. It was the second year in a row that Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher saddled the top two finishers in the $1 million contest at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Sent off as the 6-5 favorite despite not running in 239 days, Colonel Liam completed nine furlongs over the firm turf course in 1:49.95. The 5-year-old son of Liam's Map has now won seven of his 10 career starts for earnings of over $1.8 million.

Ortiz was emotional after the victory, his third win in the Pegasus Turf (he won it in 2018 with Bricks and Mortar). The jockey acknowledged that January had been “a tough month” for him, personally. After returning from a 30-day suspension, Ortiz suffered a knee injury at Gulfstream that initially looked as though it may force him to miss Pegasus day. Instead, the faith of his doctor got Ortiz back in the saddle and Colonel Liam carried him to the winner's circle.

Never Surprised broke on top of the 12-strong Pegasus Turf field, pulling away to lead by as much as two lengths through early fractions of 25.43 and 49.39 seconds. Colonel Liam was in the clear while three-wide for most of his trip, and Ortiz allowed him to join his stablemate on the far turn.

Battling through the length of the stretch, Colonel Liam prevailed in the final sixteenth and pulled away to win by about 1 1/2 lengths. Never Surprised had to settle for second, while Space Traveller came flying up the inside late to nab third.

Bred in Kentucky by the Phillips Racing Partnership, Colonel Liam is out of the unraced Bernardini mare Amazement, herself out of two-time G1-winning millionaire Wonder Again. Purchased for $50,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling sale, Colonel Liam commanded $1.2 million as a 2-year-old at OBS April the following year.

Though he didn't debut until his 3-year-old season, Colonel Liam won at first asking. That year, he won the listed Tropical Park Derby in December and finished fourth in the Saratoga Derby Invitational. In 2021, Colonel Liam kicked off the season with a win in the Pegasus Turf, then added wins in the G2 Muniz Memorial and the G1 Turf Classic before finishing off the board in the G1 Manhattan. Pletcher trained him up to the Pegasus off that long layoff, and the horse improved his overall record to seven wins from 10 starts to earn over $1.8 million.

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