TDN Snippets: Week of Apr. 11 – Apr. 17

This week's TDN Snippets have a little international flavor, while also appreciating one of America's best, and most versatile, stallions.

Can lightning strike twice?
LNJ's Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast)'s Group 1 exploits in Australia have been well documented, and she's set to be offered through the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in May. The same connections have sent Ivy League (Medaglia d'Oro), formerly with Richard Mandella, to the Ciaron Maher/David Eustace stable trying to repeat the magic formula.

All Purpose. All Places. All Power…
It's not just a marketing slogan, as Speightstown has amassed 23 Northern Hemisphere G1SWs. Here's the breakdown by distance/surface (note: Charlatan won G1s at two different trips, Rock Fall was a 2x G1 winner at 6f)

6fD-6, 6fT-1, 7fD-5, 8fD-2, 8fT-4, 9fD-1, 10fD-2, 10fT-3.

Thanks to Alan Carasso for the research.

22 And Counting…
Less than 24 hours after 'TDN Rising Star' Shirl's Speight became the newest top-level scorer, see above, for WinStar's Speightstown in Friday's Maker's Mark Mile, the nursery's homebred son Under Oath followed suit with an eye-catching Keeneland maiden victory to become the 22nd 'Rising Star' for the son of Gone West. He's still going strong at 24 years of age.

There's Something About Mary…
Mary's Follies (More Than Ready), a MGSW who sold at the 2021 Keeneland January sale for $500,000 to BBA Ireland for the Coolmore connections, is not only the dam of GI Jenny Wiley S. winner Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), but also of Japanese sensation Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah). Sadly, Mary's Follies was reported as having aborted her Curlin foal at the time of her sale, but has the 2-year-old colt Ready to Connect (Connect), who sold at OBS March for $180,000 to Chad Schumer after working a furlong.

Remember Me?
Sunday Racing's Geoglyph (Jpn) (Drefong) closed from off the pace to win Sunday's G1 Satsuki Sho, the first leg in Japan's Triple Crown. This marked the first Group 1 scorer for U.S. Sprint Champion Drefong (Gio Ponti), winner of a trio of Grade I races for Bob Baffert, including the 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Drefong's fee is ¥7,000,000 ($55,000) at Shadai Stallion Station in 2022.

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LNJ Foxwoods’s Jaime Roth Talks Dual-Hemisphere Success On Writers’ Room

It's been a remarkable few weeks for LNJ Foxwoods and Jaime Roth, with the outfit accomplishing the rare double of graded/group stakes victories in both America and Australia during the month of March. Wednesday, Roth joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss GII New Orleans Classic S. winner Olympiad (Speightstown), G1 Coolmore Classic heroine Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast), her affinity for naming horses and much more.

“He's always been a horse that showed tremendous ability,” Roth said of Olympiad, who was off for nearly a year before returning last September and has now recorded three straight open-length successes. “He broke his maiden impressively at Saratoga second time out in 2020 and was prepping for the [GI] Champagne after that. Unfortunately in racing, you have minor setbacks, and our stable personally likes to take as much time as we can and show patience, because we feel that will reward us in the end. He's a beautiful, well-bred horse and it's great, not just for us, but for the racing world to see what I think he can become. It sounds like the [May 6 GII] Alysheba is next. We just got his Ragozin number, which was a four-plus, so he's trending in the right way. He's running better numbers, but not so drastic that you have to worry about bouncing, and his numbers line up with top horses like Life Is Good. I'm not saying we are that by any stretch, but we're starting to fit into the picture of top older horses and I'm just so happy for the horse. For me, it's about him showing the racing community his ability and I'm happy he has a chance to do that now.”

In Lighthouse–a stakes winner in America as a 3-year-old in 2020–LNJ Foxwoods has found a budding down-under star, as the gray has picked up five wins and three seconds in eight starts since relocating across the world, culminating in her Mar. 12 Coolmore Classic conquest.

“LNJ is a very think-outside-the-box operation to try to take advantage of new markets and maybe do things that not everyone is doing,” Roth said. “She was a good horse in the U.S., she won the GIII Music City at Kentucky Downs, but after that, again, had some minor setbacks. I don't think a lot of people realize this, but we already had a few mares down in Australia, including one who had a ton of speed but couldn't quite get the distance here. So we had already had a good experience and thought [Lighthouse] would fit–she's got a lot of speed and is a very big, strong-bodied filly, and I think the change in environment was also key. She was a little high-strung here, and sometimes just doing something new, even going to another country, can be the trick. She trains at the beach, she's happy, she swims with dolphins. And now she's a mature, totally different horse. It's been great to see her excel.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Lane's End, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, XBTV, West Point Thoroughbreds and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers analyzed the 2021 numbers from The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database and NYRA's decision to kick Wayne Potts and Juan Vazquez off the Belmont grounds, then previewed the penultimate major prep Saturday on the GI Kentucky Derby trail. 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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OBS April Catalog Online

A total of 1,231 2-year-olds in training have been cataloged for the Ocala Breeders Sales Company's Spring Sale, to be held Tuesday through Friday, Apr. 19-22 at the auction house's Central Florida complex.

Gracing the cover of the 2022 catalog is 'TDN Rising Star' Corniche (Quality Road), who topped last year's renewal on a bid of $1.5 million from Marette Farrell, agent for Speedway Stables, and who went on to cap an undefeated championship season with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar.

OBS April graduates Emblem Road (Quality Road) and Country Grammer (Tonalist) provided the exacta in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup in Riyadh last month and are featured on the back cover of the catalog. The former was an $80,000 by agent Bruno de Berdt out of this event two years ago, while Country Grammer fetched $450,000 from Bradley Thoroughbreds LLC, agent, in 2019. Winner of the GIII Peter Pan S. as a 3-year-old while under the care of Chad Brown, he added last year's GI Hollywood Gold Cup and was first off a nine-month layoff in the Saudi Cup. Country Grammer goes in Saturday's G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan.

Other high-profile grads of the April sale include the G1 Dubai Turf-bound MGISW Colonel Liam (Liam's Map, $1.2m–2019), the undefeated 3-year-old fillies Kathleen O. (Upstart, $275,000–2021) and 'TDN Rising Star' Shahama (Munnings, $425,000–2021) and recent G1 Coolmore Classic victress Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast, $375,000–2019).

Under-tack previews will be held over the course of six days from Sunday, Apr. 10 through Saturday, Apr. 16, beginning each morning at 8 a.m., with approximately 175 horses breezing each day.

OBS will once again offer online bidding during the sale. For complete information, click here. For the catalog, visit www.obssales.com.

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TDN Snippets: Week of March 7-13

Legacy pedigrees made their presence felt last week as debuters and Derby contenders alike took to the stage. Here's how things stand now that the dust has cleared.

One last hurrah for Giant's Causeway…
Classic Causeway flies his late sire's flag high as part of a very exclusive club. One of three members of Giant's Causeway's final crop–and all colts, the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby winner is the third son of the 'Iron Horse' to conquer the race behind Carpe Diem and Destin. With two generations of Classic-winning dam sires in his pedigree, the chestnut seeks to fly in further rarified air in May.

An American in the Land of Oz…
LNJ Foxwood's Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast) might have shown a new light on US participation in Australian racing when the mare came home strongest of all to win the G1 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill on Saturday. She's the second US-bred in three years to win the Coolmore, joining Con Te Partiro in 2020. Con Te Partiro was purchased privately from Newgate SF (after RNA-ing at Keeneland November in 2020) by Sheikh Fahad's Qatar Racing for $1.6 million.

A strong Constitution
We the People declared himself a voice unable to be ignored when the Constitution colt dominated his allowance rivals at Oaklawn Park en route to declaration of rising stardom. The $230,000 FTFMAR snag by Winstar Farm, CMNWLTH, & Siena Farm became his sire's seventh 'TDN Rising Star' in two years. We the People was bred on the same Constitution/Tiznow cross as MGISW Tiz the Law. Picked up by Henley Farms for $40,000 at the 2019 KEEJAN sale with We the People in utero, his dam, Letchworth produced an Always Dreaming colt in 2020 and an Audible colt in 2021. Both are May foals. She was bred back to More Than Ready.

Team Valor sees green with inexpensive filly…
Green Up (Upstart) might be a bit immature with room to grow, according to Barry Irwin, but the filly has already shown the only path for her is up. Coming off a big figure second place effort for prior connections, the globetrotting silks flew home in a 6 3/4 length masterclass in Hallendale with 'TDN Rising Star' honors as icing. A modest $10,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling, and a later private acquisition by Irwin's syndicate, Green Up claims the solid runner Just Call Kenny (Jump Start) in her female family. She is her sire's second Rising Star along with Reinvestment Risk last year and Upstart also claims Kentucky Oaks prospect Kathleen O.

The Curlin Factor…
Juddmonte homebred Obligatory began her 2022 campaign the same way she ended 2021: with a graded win. Curlin, who is the sire of this filly and 46 other graded winners, has 86 black-type winners to his name, representing just over 11% of his starters. Incredible numbers especially when considering 16 of those are Grade I winners. Obligatory is a third-generation Juddmonte homebred. Juddmonte bought her unraced third dam, Nijinsky Star, for $700,000 at the 1987 Keeneland November sale.

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