Kentucky Sires for 2021: Fourth-Crop Stallions

What a tough game this is. You only get to show the first card in your hand before virtually the whole pile of chips is distributed. One or two players gather up their winnings, whooping triumphantly, and suddenly your own hopes of staying in the game–your hopes of a viable stud career in Kentucky–depend exorbitantly on the next card. Generally speaking, it doesn't matter if you turn out to have had a whole sheaf of aces farther into your hand. By the time you can turn those over, there will be nothing left on the table but empty glasses and a full ashtray.

We noted in the previous instalment that a third crop of juveniles, alongside a first crop of 4-year-olds, typically represents a final chance. Sure enough, compared with 18 Bluegrass stallions approaching that crossroads, we find just six left to review today from the preceding intake.

But whatever sympathy we feel for those meanwhile driven into regional or overseas programs, the nature of the business today means that they have actually delivered as legible and legitimate a sample of their work as we are ever going to get. So many stallions nowadays cover 500 mares across their first three seasons, only to find themselves reduced to a dozen or two within a couple of years. If anything, then, their embarrassment now should prompt us to revisit the vogue they enjoyed when first going to market–and perhaps the contrast might even make us hesitate before rushing to the next lot of rookies off the carousel.

In this group, however, there are a couple who have done something beyond almost all young stallions and created a sustainable niche in the market. Having made a brisk start with his first juveniles in 2018, in fact, GOLDENCENTS (Into Mischief–Golden Works, by Banker's Gold) entertained no fewer than 239 mares at Spendthrift the following spring and another 204 last year–taking him to an aggregate 1,133 through his first six years.

And he will presumably maintain the traffic, his farm having taken such a purposeful lead on fee cuts in the pandemic marketplace: for 2021 he's back down to his original fee of $15,000, from $25,000 last year.

Goldencents topped the third-crop championship in 2020 by nearly all indices, having previously been champion freshman by winners (second to studmate Cross Traffic by prize money) and then headed the second-crop table. Given his fairly industrial output, however, he is nothing like so dominant in percentage terms. It would be pushing things, certainly, to describe nine black-type winners and three graded stakes winners from 255 starters as a wildly exciting yield.

By My Standards has been a standard-bearer for Goldencents | Coady

But then Goldencents, having been one of the first to demonstrate his sire's capacity to upgrade mares, has also been in the vanguard in terms of testing whether that prowess will be recycled by his sons. He was just a $5,500 yearling, remember, out of a $7,000 mare by a stallion who ended up in Cyprus. The family did bring hardiness (next two dams respectively 18-for-45 and 13-for-46), but somehow Into Mischief ignited a spark of quality in Goldencents that burned up consecutive editions of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. And while his sire was still available at $35,000 when Goldencents joined him at Spendthrift, his relative affordability has obviously been at a growing premium ever since.

Goldencents was blessed that his own first crop produced a couple who did much the same service, in promoting their sire, as he had himself performed for Into Mischief. In fact, By My Standards and Mr. Money remain far and away his biggest earners to date. And while neither has quite broken the Grade I ice, By My Standards certainly neared the top of the handicap division in his third season and has helped to keep his sire's names in lights all the way through.

Arguably it's about time Goldencents produced a new star, but that's precisely what he can hope to do after getting that reboot from his prolific first crop. In the meantime, admittedly, he has been treading water somewhat at the sales: while one daughter did bring $300,000, he averaged a steady $29,069 with his 2020 yearlings, for 52 sold of 68 offered.

That yield, and all the rest cited here, must of course be placed in the context of an exceptionally challenging market. Be that as it may, we will pretty soon have to cease doing what we're doing today–comparing these survivors against other stallions at the same stage of their career–and instead start measuring them against all those established operators who, having shed the commercial allure of novelty, have already chiselled a lasting foothold in the market.

Cairo Prince | Sarah Andrew

Sticking to this group, however, you couldn't ask for a more instructive foil to Goldencents than CAIRO PRINCE (Pioneerof the Nile–Holy Bubbette, by Holy Bull). They have reached this point absolutely in tandem: Goldencents has 384 named foals, Cairo Prince 380; Goldencents has had 256 starters, Cairo Prince 249; Goldencents has 158 winners, Cairo Prince 156; they both, moreover, have 26 black-type horses. Sure enough, they stand for the same fee. But it's the Airdrie stallion who has a slight but consistent edge at the top end: by stakes winners (13 plays nine), graded stakes winners (five plays three) and graded stakes horses (ten plays seven).

Moreover Cairo Prince is one of those rare stallions whose initial market reception was way out of line with the ranking implied by his opening fee. We've seen, throughout this series, how that seldom guarantees anything–whether for better or worse. In this case, however, it has turned out that Cairo Prince was quite rightly “found” as a $10,000 start-up.

His stock was received with such enthusiasm that he actually earned two fee hikes before he had a single runner, an extremely rare accolade. And if he, too, has now required a trim from $25,000, then the buzz he generated with his sales debut in 2017–when he achieved a staggering average yield of 15 times his fee–will only now start to tell in the improved quality of his mares.

True, commercial opportunism tends to be finite wherever it occurs in the cycle, and Cairo Prince dropped to 87 mares last spring after being basically fully subscribed to that point. But it's a confident bet that the juveniles heading to the track this year, conceived after that remarkable sales debut, will give fresh commercial kudos to the foals he breeds this time round.

In the meantime, Cairo Prince continues to impress with his sales stock, averaging $47,601 for 57 sold of 78 offered in 2020, confirming him far and away the most resilient and productive sales sire in this group. He just needs his big horse, now, but he's having an excellent winter on the track (three new stakes winners over the past month) and, nationally, only Into Mischief, Tapiture, Not This Time and American Pharoah had more juvenile winners last year. And it certainly does no harm that he now has another productive young stallion so close up, his Grade I-placed half-sister having gained new celebrity as dam of WinStar's thriving rookie Outwork (Uncle Mo).

Mucho Macho Man | EquiSport Photos

In 2020, however, the star turn in this group was MUCHO MACHO MAN (Macho Uno–Ponche de Leona, by Ponche), who inserted himself between Goldencents and Cairo Prince in the third-crop prize money table with two Grade I winners. In previous years, of course, Mucho Gusto's success in the Pegasus World Cup would have been still more lucrative. Moreover that horse was unfortunate to be sidelined after his trip to the desert and only resurfaced when fourth behind Cairo Prince's latest graded stakes winner, Kiss Today Goodbye, in the GII San Antonio S. at Christmas.

Anyhow his sire followed through with an elite success on turf, as well, Rodeo Drive S. winner Mucho Unusual having meanwhile added another two graded stakes even since Christmas. In fact, with a total 51 winners from just 77 starters in 2020, Mucho Macho Man topped the national field last year in earnings-per-foal–and, importantly, we know that his stock is just going to keep thriving. Though precocious enough to contest all three legs of the Triple Crown before his third birthday, he kept filling that great rangy frame of his to win the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at five.

These results are barely filtering through to the commercial market, as he averaged $24,883 for 21 yearling sales of 28 offered, but then he only stands for $7,500. And he goes well at the juvenile sales (Mucho Gusto made no less than $625,000!) just as we should expect of a stallion who relies on deeds not hype. He's a mad outcross but is quietly earning his stripes and hopefully people are beginning to pay attention. His third book had dwindled to just 35, but he has since welcomed 96, 86 and 77 guests to Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa. Lot of horse for the money, in every way.

Will Take Charge | Louise Reinagel

The rival Mucho Macho Man nosed out for his greatest success was a barely less imposing creature, but now finds himself on a rather less encouraging tangent. It seems a long time, certainly, since WILL TAKE CHARGE (Unbridled's Song–Take Charge Lady, by Dehere) set out at $30,000 and duly dominated this lot in their sales debut with a $169,190 average. This time round he cashed out 37 of 41 for just $13,712, and he's down to a bargain $5,000 at Three Chimneys after being reduced to a very small book last spring.

Will Take Charge has mustered a handful of stakes winners, notably Grade I-placed sprinter Manny Wah, and maybe he will just prove a slow burner, as will sometimes happen with such a scopey horse. His was an especially fine constitution by the standards of his sire, highlighted by an 11-start sophomore campaign that started in January and ended, 26 days after his huge run at the Breeders' Cup, with success in the GI Clark H. His maternal family, meanwhile, has only become more aristocratic with the rise of Omaha Beach (War Front). Everything seemed to be in place so it would be a mystery, as well as a pity, if he can't turn things round.

Cross Traffic | Sarah Andrew

CROSS TRAFFIC (Unbridled's Song–Stop Traffic, by Cure the Blues) is by the same sire and made a stronger start in contesting the succession, helped to the freshman's title by Breeders' Cup champion Jaywalk but also topping the class by overall stakes winners/ performers.

He has not quite maintained that flying start and Spendthrift, who briefly rewarded his freshman title with a hike to $25,000, will be hoping for a reset after halving him from $15,000 to $7,500 this time round. But there are solid grounds for optimism.

For a start, Cross Traffic is no longer dining out simply on Jaywalk. Among his second crop, Ny Traffic carried his standard very valiantly–never more conspicuously than when running Authentic (Into Mischief) himself to a head in the GI Haskell, while he was previously only beaten a length by Maxfield in the GIII Matt Winn S.

And Cross Traffic can soon expect a healthy spike in the graph, with his post-freshman, 2019 book having soared to 188 mares from 60. True, he promptly sank to 59 last year, but that's how fecklessly the commercial market works nowadays. The thing to remember now is that he will have that big crop of juveniles next year, so he's another who can hope that foals conceived this spring may ride fresh headlines on the track.

True, Cross Traffic stands in need of that revival after averaging just $11,630 for the 16 yearlings of 17 sent into the pandemic market, but at least he has exactly that chance brewing. Let's not forget how naturally talented he was, nailed only on the line in the stallion-making GI Met Mile just four months after his debut (got his Grade I next time).

As noted, many stallions in this group have been sold to regional programs or exported, and we're particularly sorry that Fed Biz (great work, Highfield Farm of Alberta!) and Noble Mission (GB) weren't able to get adequate traction. One or two others, however, appear to have slipped off Kentucky rosters with zero announcements on their relocation. I know the farms in question will have applied impeccable standards in deciding their future but it would be a concern if due candour about their “failure,” after so brief an opportunity, is being viewed as too instructive of the flimsiness of the commercial model.

Real Solution | ThoroStride

The only other member of this intake apparently still operating in the Bluegrass on a commercial basis is REAL SOLUTION (Kitten's Joy–Reachforthe-heavens, by Pulpit). Actually he has reversed the standard procedure, having returned to Calumet after a couple of years in Louisiana early on. But he certainly fits the bill for this farm as a dual Grade I winner on turf, with venerable Classic influences seeding his family: his third dam is a Northern Dancer half-sister to champion Slew o' Gold (Seattle Slew) and Classic winner Coastal (Majestic Prince), as well as to the dam of Aptitude (A.P. Indy).

Real Solution covered just 27 mares last spring and his handful of yearlings couldn't work even a $5,000 fee, but he's had a $675,000 2-year-old and, bottom line, he's there to breed runners. That's just what he produced (thanks to the breeders who made his sire) in Ramsey Solution, who is five-for-nine including a $300,000 stakes at Kentucky Downs last September.

In fact, Real Solution has had 33 winners from just 44 starters overall, including three at black-type level; while $10,000 yearling and six-time winner Queens Embrace earned a Grade II placing at Saratoga last summer. That shows what can be done if your priorities are right, and Real Solution could appeal to enlightened breeders as being well named.

In the long term, after all, the breed will suffer badly if people can only afford to use fast-buck commercial sires who are expelled from the Bluegrass the moment their first yearlings leave the sales ring. With so few stallions surviving in this intake, however, we'll combine them with the preceding class for a composite “value podium” next time.

The post Kentucky Sires for 2021: Fourth-Crop Stallions appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Trio Of Graded Stakes Winners Top Nominees For Jan. 30 Holy Bull Stakes

Grade 2 winner Mutasaabeq, who captured the Mucho Macho Man Jan. 2 in his season debut, and Grade 3 winners Pickin' Time and Sittin On Go are among 22 sophomores nominated to the $200,000 Holy Bull (G3) Saturday, Jan. 30 at Gulfstream Park.

The 30th running of the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull is the next step for 3-year-olds on Gulfstream's road to the March 28 Florida Derby (G1), and headlines a program featuring five graded-stakes worth $600,000 in purses.

Shadwell Stable's Mutasaabeq was a popular 1 ½-length winner of the one-mile Mucho Macho Man, his return to the main track after winning the 1 1/16-mile Bourbon (G2) on grass and finishing 10th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1). The next four horses that finished behind him – Papetu, Awesome Gerry, Pickin' Time and Ultimate Badger – are also nominated to the Holy Bull.

John Bowers Jr.'s New Jersey homebred Pickin' Time won the Smoke Glacken at Monmouth Park and Nashua (G3) at Aqueduct in back-to-back starts last fall before a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen (G2) Dec. 5 and the Mucho Macho Man, where he wound up beaten 11 ¼ lengths after a troubled start.

Albaugh Family Stables' Sittin On Go has been training forwardly at Gulfstream for trainer Dale Romans ahead of his 3-year-old debut. Winner of his first two career stats in Kentucky, including the Iroquois (G3), before finishing ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and sixth in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), a race where Romans-trained stablemate Smiley Sobotka and fellow Holy Bull nominee ran second by less than a length.

Slam Dunk Racing's Drain the Clock, Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained stablemate of Awesome Gerry, exits a 7 ½-length romp as the favorite in the six-furlong Limehouse Jan. 2 at Gulfstream. The Maclean's Music colt has won all three races he has finished, losing his rider when the irons broke in the Jean Laffite Nov. 30 at Delta Downs.

Championship Meet-leading trainer Todd Pletcher nominated five horses including Remsen (G2) runner-up Known Agenda and recent Gulfstream maiden winners Amount, Donegal Bay and Prime Factor. Also among nominees are Capo Kane, winner of the Jan. 1 Jerome at Aqueduct; and Gulfstream maiden winners Greatest Honour, Jiraifales, Lucky Law, Simovitch and Willy Boi, the latter improving to 2-0 with a Florida-bred allowance victory Jan. 7.

Amount, Awesome Gerry, Drain the Clock, Papetu, Sittin On Go, Smiley Sobotka, Ultimate Badger and Willy Boi are also among 22 nominees to the $100,000 Claiborne Farm Swale for 3-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs, along with Competitive Speed, winner of the 6 ½-furlong Glitter Woman Jan. 2 at Gulfstream; Hot Blooded, winner of the one-mile Proud Man on the Gulfstream turf last summer; and Poppy's Pride, a winner of three consecutive stakes and four races overall.

Along with being nominated to the Swale, John Minchello's Competitive Speed is among 16 3-year-old filly nominees to the $100,000 Forward Gal, also contested at seven furlongs. She is joined by Gulf Coast, half-length winner of the one-mile Cash Run Jan. 1 at Gulfstream; Shea D Summer, fourth in the Cash Run after winning the Juvenile Fillies Sprint Nov. 14 at Gulfstream Park West; Gasparilla winner Adios Trippi; and Gone to Cabo and Dial to Win, respectively third and fifth in the Glitter Woman.

Rounding out the stakes are a pair of $100,000 turf events for 3-year-olds – the Kitten's Joy (G3) led by stakes winners Kentucky Pharoah, Hot Blooded, Never Surprised and Omaha City, and the Sweetest Chant (G3) for fillies featuring stakes winners Con Lima, Dirty Dangle and Gulf Coast.

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Tax Team Hoping Perseverance In Pegasus World Cup Will Finally Pay Off

No owners have supported Gulfstream Park's Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational program more than Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and R.A. Hill Stable.

With Tax in Saturday's $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) for the second straight year, Dean and Patti Reeves and Randy Hill will have competed in the headliner four of the five years since the stakes was transformed from the Donn Handicap into one of the world's most lucrative races for older horses. The only year the partners weren't in the Pegasus, they were represented in the 2019 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) with Channel Maker.

Now, they just need to hit the board for the first time in a Pegasus event. Tax finished ninth last year after stumbling badly at the start of the 2020 edition. He's raced only twice since, finishing fifth in the May 2 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) and returning from a 7 1/2-month hiatus for a dominating front-running 4 1 /2-length victory in Gulfstream Park's Harlan's Holiday (G3) Dec. 12. Luis Saez has the return mount for the Pegasus.

“I think he's as good as anybody in the race, and I think we'll be very competitive,” said Dean Reeves, who campaigns his large stable with wife, Patti. “I think this is the best shot for Randy and I, hopefully, to get some of our money back that we put into the Pegasus. Because we've had a horse in it every year since they started it, and maybe perseverance will pay off for us.”

Trainer Danny Gargan claimed Tax out of a $50,000 maiden claiming race in his second career start with owner Hugh Lynch. Gargan offered part of the horse to Reeves and Hill, but they decided they had enough horses and weren't interested. After Tax finished third in Aqueduct's 2018 Remsen Stakes (G2), “We called Danny up and said, 'We just became interested,'” Dean Reeves recalled with a laugh.

The gelded son of the late Claiborne Farm stallion Arch has been a terrific acquisition, including winning Aqueduct's Withers (G3) in his next start for his new owners and taking second in the 2019 Wood Memorial (G2) to land in the Kentucky Derby (G1). While he languished home 15th in a quagmire that day, Tax rebounded to be a close fourth in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and went on to capture Saratoga's Jim Dandy (G2). If he finishes in the top seven in the Pegasus, he'll become a millionaire.

After the Oaklawn fifth-place performance that Gargan says was deceptively good, Tax was given time off with the goal of pointing to the Breeders' Cup. A particularly untimely temperature kept him out of a Breeders' Cup prep race, with the Pegasus then becoming the objective.

“It seems like the best thing we did was giving him some time over the summer,” Dean Reeves said. “He ran as good as we've ever seen him run in the Harlan's Holiday.”

Gargan, who could win his first Grade 1 race in the Pegasus, agrees.

“He's doing tremendous,” he said. “The time off helped him grow up. He's a better horse than he used to be. I think this year is going to be the best of his career. He's bigger, he's stronger, he's doing better, eats better. He looks phenomenal. When he was a young horse, he had some issues, little things that plagued him through his 3-year-old year that have gone away with time and the layoff.”

The Reeveses were fairly new to horse racing, and definitely new to the sport's top echelon, when they bought into a 2-year-old named Mucho Macho Man, whose eventual nine victories and $5.6 million in earnings included the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita. He also finished third in the 2011 Kentucky Derby.

If the Reeveses quickly were at the top of the sport, they subsequently learned how difficult that is to achieve.

“I want to say it was five years before I won a graded stakes again,” Dean Reeves said. “I thought you just go down there and buy you another one, and they're going to be like Mucho Macho Man. It really showed me what a great accomplishment that horse had in his career, what he was able to accomplish with [trainer] Kathy (Ritvo) and the work everybody did. I realized five years later, when Classic Rock won a Grade 3, just how difficult it was. Looking back, it's tough to win a Grade 1. Those are few and far between.”

Mucho Macho Man got better with age, and Dean Reeves believes the same is true for Tax.

“I understand how everybody has to look at it financially,” he said of deals with stud farms. “But we're retiring some of these horses well in advance of them reaching their full potential. I think I saw that in Mucho Macho Man. He ran well as a 4-year-old, finishing second in the Breeders' Cup,  but then won it as a 5-year-old.

“I see a lot of similarities between Mucho Macho Man and Channel Maker, how as they've gotten older how they've gotten so much better,” he added. “And I think they become so mentally tough. I just think Tax is going to have a tremendous year, and I hope we run well in the Pegasus.”

Reeves and Hill finished eighth in the 2017 Pegasus with Breaking Lucky and 12th in 2018 with Toast of New York, while Channel Maker was fifth in the 2019 Pegasus Turf, sparking Reeves to quip, “I'd have loved to have had Mucho Macho Man run in it.”

Mucho Macho Man was sent to stud at age 7 in 2015, his subsequent progeny including 2020 Pegasus World Cup winner Mucho Gusto. With both Tax and the 7-year-old gelding Channel Maker, a leading contender to be voted 2020's male turf champion, Reeves doesn't have to worry about a stallion career.

“Let me tell you: I used to go, 'Oh, it's a gelding. I don't want him,'” Reeves said. “Now, to have a gelding that can run and win money for you for four or five years is great. For Tax, we may run in the Pegasus three times with him or three more times. We may go to Dubai or Saudi Arabia with him. A lot of his competition is retired, so having a good gelding is not a bad deal.

“Channel Maker's another gelding. Look, it isn't all about being a stallion. I mean, we're in it for the races. Hey, if we can win it, they still pay you,” he added.

While Mucho Macho Man retired from the track to a palatial stud home, first at Adena Springs and now at Hill 'n' Dale Farms, most horses don't have such post-racing guarantees. The Reeves' are big supporters of the nonprofit Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, which accredits, inspects and awards grants to its approved aftercare organizations to retrain, retire and adopt out horses using industry-wide funding.

“It's important to make sure retired horses get a good home,” Dean Reeves said. “When you buy them, you think they're all going to be superstars. Some obviously have more talent than others, but that doesn't mean they're not trying. They become like family. When they do leave the nest, so to speak, you want to make sure who they're going to, keeping the (registration) papers so they don't race anymore, just doing your due diligence.

“We've gotten as much satisfaction seeing some of our horses come back as great dressage horses or eventing horses, where people send us pictures of them when they've won ribbons and awards. We just love that. We take a lot of pride in seeing them where they access in a second career,” he added.

The Reeveses also are supporters of accredited TAA facilities such as New Vocations in Lexington, Ky., and South Carolina's Equine Rescue of Aiken and other organizations. They are among the horse owners committing a percentage of any Breeders' Cup earnings, such as Channel Maker's third in the $4 million Longines Turf, to the TAA.

“Patti and Dean Reeves have been very successful in Thoroughbred racing, and they really do care about their horses long term,” said TAA operations consultant Stacie Clark Rogers. “Their stable has been very supportive of the TAA and of our TAA accredited organizations.”

Florida consultant Jay Stone and trainer Kathy Ritvo are instrumental in helping the Reeveses find new homes for their equine retirees. Patti Reeves says she works to spread their horses around and find the best match, including what its new career might be.

She points to Mac Daddy Mac as a prime example. The Reeveses purchased the colt after he won his debut at Santa Anita at 40-1 odds, finishing second in a Grade 3 stakes in his next start. A throat issue compromised his ability, and Mac Daddy Mac was ultimately retired after three more races spread over his 3- and 4-year-old seasons. Now he's finding success in the show world, with equestrian Ashley Keller retraining Mac Daddy Mac into an eventing horse at Chattahoochee Hills Eventing near Atlanta, where the Reeveses live.

“He was a great horse, just loved his job, had great personality,” Patti Reeves said. “We found a new home for him in the Atlanta area at Chattahoochee Hills Eventing. (Keller) taught him dressage, jumping, eventing. What she has done with this horse is amazing. He's just a great example of a horse that just because he couldn't race, he wasn't done. You're involved in racing, but that's just a short part of their life. We care about the entire program for the horse. We don't want to just be good to the horse while they're racing. We want to make sure they end up in good places and are treated well.”

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Mucho Unusual Handles Compact Field In Megahertz Stakes

Although spring training in Arizona and Florida is a month and a half away, George Krikorian's homebred Mucho Unusual nonetheless took a base on balls Monday at Santa Anita, as she powered to a three-quarter-length win at odds of 2-5 in the Grade 3, $100,000 Megahertz Stakes.  Trained by Tim Yakteen and ridden by Joel Rosario, the 5-year-old California-bred mare by Mucho Macho Man got one mile on turf and thus became the Arcadia, Calif., track Winter Meet's first two-time stakes winner in the process.

With a pair of program scratches reducing the field of older fillies and mares to four, Mucho Unusual broke alertly from her number three post and was immediately lapped on Chilean import Brooke, who went straight to the lead from her rail post.

Second, while a measured three quarters of a length off the leader at the three-furlong pole, Mucho Unusual drew alongside leaving the quarter pole and was carried out to the four-path by Brooke at the top of the lane.  From there, Mucho Unusual leveled nicely, put away the pacesetter leaving the furlong pole and easily held sway near the wire as Sedamar mounted a late rally.

An impressive three-quarter-length winner of the G3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on turf here on Dec. 27, Mucho Unusual paid $2.80 and $2.10, with no show wagering.

“She's super honest, we're excited to have her in the stable, (it's been) just a great ride,” said Yakteen, who saddled Mucho Unusual for the 19th time on Monday.  “We were thinking about keeping her at a mile and one eighth, mile and a quarter, unfortunately, there really wasn't anything coming up until the end of March, so we thought we would take advantage of a lighter field.”

Out of Krikorian's Unusual Heat mare Not Unusual, Mucho Unusual, a winner of the G1 Rodeo Drive Stakes three starts back at a mile and one quarter on turf Sept. 26, registered her fourth graded stakes win (fifth overall) and improved her career mark to 19-7-3-4.  With the winner's share of $60,000, she increased her earnings to $822,715.

“I just got a good break and see what I had,” said Rosario.  “I went to the first turn and it looked like the one horse (Brooke) really wanted to go to the lead, so I just waited behind (her) a little bit.  This horse is really good…Thank you to the team and to George (Krikorian) for the opportunity.”

Sedamar, like the winner, a Cal-bred, was an attentive fourth early and was carried five wide turning for home while rallying as second-best.  Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Sedamar was off at 7-2 and paid $2.60 to show while finishing a half length in front of Brooke.

Ridden by her regular rider in Chile, Jeremy Laprida, Brooke, who was off at 4-1 in her U.S. debut, came back to the rail after drifting out at the top of the stretch, taking the path of Colonial Creed and Flavien Prat a furlong out.  As a result of this interference, Brooke was disqualified by the stewards and placed last.

Fractions on the race were 23.78, 48.00, 1:12.55 and 1:24.43.

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