Second Chances: Arrogate Colt ‘Could be a Player in 3yo Ranks’

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar.

Backed as the 9-5 favorite in his six-furlong unveiling for John Sadler at Del Mar Nov. 28, Got Thunder (c, 2, Arrogate–Ask the Question, by Silver Deputy) stamped himself as one to watch with a very promising second-place finish.

The gray flashed good early speed from the fence while three of them lined up through an opening quarter in :22. Beginning to give way–or at least appearing to do so as the Bob Baffert-trained firster Newgrange (Violence) powerfully struck the front at the top of the stretch–Got Thunder wasn't done yet, however, and fought on gamely beneath Flavien Prat down the lane to keep the final margin at 1 1/2 lengths. He earned a 77 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

Got Thunder brought $750,000 from West Point Thoroughbreds and Talla Racing LLC after breezing an eighth in a bullet :10 flat from the Wavertree Stables, Inc. (Ciaran Dunne), Agent III, consignment at OBS Spring. He was previously a $155,000 Keeneland September yearling. Along with Woodford Racing, West Point and Michael Talla also joined forces on the $1.7-million Keeneland September yearling colt topper by City of Light.

“We were second to a horse that I know was well-meant–they think a lot of him,” West Point's Terry Finley said. “We loved this horse at the 2-year-old sale. Ciaran Dunne sold him and really thought he was a horse that had the potential to be a good one.”

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, Got Thunder is a half-brother to Canadian champion and grassy MGISW Heart to Heart (English Channel) and the MGSP 3-year-old filly Lady Traveler (Quality Road). West Point campaigns the latter, second in this year's GIII Forward Gal S. and third in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S., in partnership. Calumet Farm purchased the winning 18-year-old mare Ask the Question with Got Thunder in utero for $150,000 at the 2019 Keeneland January sale.

The brilliant Arrogate, the richest North American racehorse in history, was humanely euthanized after suffering from an undetermined illness last June. He is represented thus far by 10 winners from his first crop to race. Got Thunder was Arrogate's most expensive 2-year-old colt sold at auction this year. An Arrogate filly out of Amen Hallelujah, now named Shailene, brought $1 million from Katsumi Yoshida at the same Ocala sale and just missed by a neck on debut late last month in Japan.

“We have his half-sister Lady Traveler, who is trained by Dale Romans, and has plenty of upside to her,” Finley said. “The family is there. Arrogate, unfortunately, we're not gonna see a ton of them, but you are going to start to see this crop establish themselves and come to the fore as we get to the end of the year and they get into their 3-year-old year.”

What's next for Got Thunder?

“We're excited to get him two turns,” Finley said. “He's got to come forward, but he's certainly giving John Sadler the indication that he could be a player in the 3-year-old ranks in 2022. He's generated a lot of excitement.”

Previous standouts featured in 'Second Chances' include: two-time Breeders' Cup winner Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner and Lane's End stallion Honor A. P. (Honor Code), MGISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Paradise Woods (Union Rags), GIII Las Virgenes S. heroine Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), GII Los Alamitos Futurity winner and MGISP Spielberg (Union Rags), GSW Backyard Heaven (Tizway), MSW and 'TDN Rising Star' Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), GI Frizette S. third-place finisher A Mo Reay (Uncle Mo) and Discovery S. runner-up Speaker's Corner (Street Sense).

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Daredevil Filly Romps To ‘Rising Star’-dom at Del Mar

Electric Ride (f, 2, Daredevil–Why Oh You, by Yes It's True) stormed home through the final furlong to earn 'TDN Rising Star' honors on her Del Mar unveiling Saturday afternoon.

Sent off at odds of 23-5 beneath an in-form Joe Bravo, the Indiana-bred bay broke alertly and took up a pace-pressing position from second through an opening quarter-mile that was timed in :22.19. Appearing to have front-running Gritty Girl (Street Boss) when she wanted, Electric Ride poked her head in front at the five-sixteenths pole, was shoved on entering the stretch and widened at will before being taken in hand for the closing stages. The winning margin was 8 1/2 lengths over 7-5 favorite Valentina Ghada (Practical Joke). Captaire (Uncle Mo), the half-sister to Horse of the Year California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), never landed a blow in finishing 20 lengths behind Electric Ride in fourth.

Electric Ride was the third most expensive of her sire's 28 yearlings reported as sold in 2020 after hammering for $130,000 at the Fasig-Tipton October Sale. Consigned to this year's OBS April Sale, she worked a furlong in a smooth :9 4/5 and was knocked down to owner Michael Talla for $250,000, the priciest of 19 of Daredevil's current juveniles to sell this year. Electric Ride is a maiden 'Rising Star' for her Lane's End-based sire.

Why Oh You, a winning half-sister to SW Amapola (Broken Vow), was bred to both Maximum Security and Tiz the Law in 2021.

1st-Del Mar, $70,500, Msw, 8-28, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.84, ft, 8 1/2 lengths.
ELECTRIC RIDE, f, 2, by Daredevil
1st Dam: Why Oh You, by Yes It's True
2nd Dam: Dinner With D C, by Dixie Union
3rd Dam: Casual Feat, by Cozzene
Sales history: $130,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT; $250,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $42,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.
O-Talla Racing LLC; B-St Simon Place (IN); T-John W Sadler.

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Rosario to Ride Rock Your World in Derby

Jockey Joel Rosario will replace Umberto Rispoli on unbeaten GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby hero Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Kentucky Derby. The decision came after it was announced that Bob Baffert trainee Concert Tour (Street Sense), who Rosario had ridden in each of his four starts, would skip the Derby and opt for the GI Preakness S.

Rosario rode Rock Your World in his turf sprint debut win at Santa Anita Jan. 1, but Rispoli was up for both the Pasadena S. and Santa Anita Derby. Rosario has had significant success riding for Rock Your World's trainer John Sadler and co-owner Hronis Racing, including with 2018 Horse of the Year Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky).

“Let's be very clear here, I was rooting for [Bob Baffert's] Concert Tour to win the [Apr. 10 GI] Arkansas Derby and [then] this is all a non-conversation,” Sadler said on the “Thoroughbred Los Angeles” radio show Sunday morning. “We decided to wait until after the Concert Tour race to see what was going to happen and nobody could've predicted that (a third-place finish), really. I mean, he was 1-5 or whatever and then he didn't run on.

“So, when Joel came available…You know, these are agonizing decisions and not easy. I want to be very clear, I think the world of Rispoli and I think the world of his riding. He's a terrific rider on our circuit and he's been a great addition to California and will continue to be. But, I had to make a call and this is the call I made… History will tell whether I'm right or wrong. Things could go bad, you know, overnight in this game, but this is the decision we made for this race, so you know, we have to live with it and go forward.

“We think with [Joel's] experience over the track… And just my relationship with him and these owners (Hronis Racing LLC and Talla Racing LLC)… this gives us our strongest position. So, this is what we're going to do.”

Sadler said that Rock Your World would ship to Louisville on Sunday, Apr. 26.

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Sadler Charts Derby Course with Rock Your World

The spoils of victory typically come with a nice polish. Gleaming trophies. Glossy plagues. But not always.

“He offered me an egg roll at Clocker's Corner on Sunday morning,” said trainer John Sadler, on Ron McAnally's act of largesse the day after Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), the horse the veteran conditioner bred, careened away with the GI Santa Anita Derby.

“It was pretty good, but I don't think it was breakfast food,” Sadler added, tongue firmly in cheek, before explaining that McAnally-who also trained both Rock Your World's sire and dam, Charm the Maker-offered more than just epicurean rewards. “He congratulated me, of course, said what a good job I've done.”

Sadler has known McAnally since his foundling days at the track, when, as veterinary assistant to Jack Robbins, Sadler's second stop during morning rounds was the Hall of Famer. “I've known him my whole career.”

And with Rock Your World maintaining his unbeaten record with such panache in the Santa Anita Derby, Sadler is in an enviable position to check a box that's missing on both men's resumes-a victory in the year's premier classic.

And how has Rock Your World-owned by Hronis Racing (brothers Kosta and Pete) and Michael Talla's Talla Racing-come out of his Derby prep? “He came out of it very well,” Sadler replied. “He looks great.”

Casual observers might have been taken aback by Rock Your World's performance earlier this month. The public's first glimpse of this rangy colt came the very first day of 2021, when he showed speed aplenty in dispatching a field of maidens going six furlongs on the turf with minimum fuss.

His next start-the Pasadena S. over a mile on the turf at Santa Anita towards the end of February-proved something of an expedited university course.

“He did everything wrong in the Pasadena, and he still won,” said Sadler, describing the race as a valuable teaching experience. “It started in the paddock. I could barely get the saddle on him. He just had that second race jitters.”

In the race itself, Rock Your World dwelt coming out of the gates, and at the top of the stretch took a moment or two to get organized before leveling off to win going away.

“After the Pasadena, we went to work a little bit harder on things that weren't working for him. We took him to the gate three times before the Santa Anita Derby, we did extra schooling in the paddock.”

These homework assignments weren't squandered. In the Santa Anita Derby, he was slick out the gates, promptly sent to the lead where he stayed, stretching clear towards the wire.

Much has been written about Rock Your World's germinal starts on the turf, with Sadler saying, for example, that the Pasadena was chosen in part to avoid Bob Baffert's latest phenom, Life is Good, in the GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita.

“I also wanted to start on the grass because I thought it would be easier,” Sadler said. “He's a big horse-wanted to give him time to develop, grow up, mature into himself. He's done that.”

It helps, of course, that Rock Your World is bred to handle any surface, as Sid Fernando recently pointed out. And in Candy Ride, Sadler has a sire as familiar as a glance in the mirror. He trained the stallion's second ever top-flight winner-Evita Argentina, who claimed the 2009 La Brea S.-and has done arguably more than any trainer to embellish the sire's record at stud.

With just three starts, all within his 3-year-old season, Rock Your World has the sort of comet-like profile that until recently would have faced skeptical glances. Mind, it took 126 years for Justify to mimic Apollo's feat of winning the Derby without a 2-year-old start, and Sadler will be the first to admit Rock Your World's education is far from complete.

“He doesn't have a ton of seasoning. No question about that-it's a concern,” he admitted. “But I'm happy where I'm at, and it's one of those things you can't do much about.”

And how will he handle the rough-and-tumble of the Derby, kick-back an' all? “That's a hard question-you won't really know until it happens. We'll see where we draw. Who knows.”

But if inexperience is a mountain to climb, good temperament is the tool most useful to the task.

“He's lovely in the barn-on the track he's all business,” said Sadler, ticking off like a report card a string of desirable traits in a student: “Does whatever you want. Willing worker. Pretty nice horse to train. Good energy.”

“I'm doing it just the way I want to this year”

The support the Hronis Brothers have given Sadler the last decade or so has, like a gusty sea-breeze filling the sails, propelled the Sadler barn into rarely chartered waters, during which time, the California mainstay has secured a number of notable milestones:

First Breeders' Cup victory (Accelerate in the 2018 Classic), first GI Pacific Classic (Accelerate in 2018), first GI Santa Anita “Big Cap” H. (Accelerate in 2008, with Gift Box and Combatant repeating the dose in subsequent years).

Such contemporary accolades obscure what has been a career forged upon the anvil of consistency. Sadler enjoyed his first graded stakes victory in 1982, when Don Roberto won the GIII Rolling Green H. at Golden Gate Fields. Since then, he's sent out a further 172 graded stakes winners.

Given the trainer's longevity and stature, it's perhaps startling to think he's had only four prior starters in the nation's most famous race. But then again, consistency in horse racing can't be found among those who see in their horses children of exceptional talents.

“We've never been ones to force it,” Sadler said. “I've never really had a 3-year-old that I've said, 'okay, he's not that great, I'm going to try to get us some cheap points.'”

Thus far of Sadler's Derby four, the first shot flew the farthest. “We actually ran really well,” said Sadler, of his 1993 Derby runner-the Allen Paulson-owned Corby who finished 6th to Sea Hero in the Paul Mellon silks.

“Even though he didn't win, he ran a really good race,” said Sadler of Corby. “He loomed up at the quarter pole, looked a pretty good threat, and just got beat by better horses. It was a lot of fun.”

The next three attempts were less salutary, however. In 2010, the heavens opened before Line of David and Sidney's Candy's Derby bids, leaving them stuck in the mud. Four years later, Candy Boy “got wiped out at the first eighth of a mile,” said Sadler.

What have these prior experiences taught Sadler of the Churchill Downs gauntlet? “A lot can happen is what I've learned,” he said.

“I know one thing about the Derby-run in it a few times, watched it every year-you can't force it. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. I'm not going to waste energy making myself crazy on what post we get-we'll deal with all the circumstances as they come up,” he said.

“I'm relaxed right now, but I'm not saying I'll be [relaxed] the week of the race.” What helps, he said, is that this year, “I'm doing it just the way I want, which is with a leading contender.”

Between now and that first Saturday in May, Rock Your World's preparations will have a distinctly California-flavor. “It's a program that works,” he said, alluding to other Derby winners-Giacomo, California Chrome, the Baffert stars-that arrived in Kentucky sporting bronzed winter tans.

Rock Your World is scheduled to work this weekend and again a week prior the race, before flying out the Sunday before.

“I'm very strong about staying in California because we know one thing we have here that they don't have there: We're not going to get rain in April,” he said.

“But maybe the racing gods will knock me down for saying that,” Sadler added, giving his wooden desk-positioned with an unimpeded view of the shed-row-a rap of his knuckles.

A little superstition can't hurt, therefore, even after a career that has brought more than the usual haul of trophies-egg rolls included.

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