Quality Road | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rising Star Seeks BC Berth in American Pharoah

'TDN Rising Star' Corniche (Quality Road) looks to stamp his ticket to the upcoming GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile in Friday's GI American Pharoah S. at Santa Anita. Topping the OBS April sale at $1.5 million, the Speedway Stable colorbearer wired the field for an effortless 4 1/4-length graduation in his 5 1/2-panel unveiling at Del Mar Sept. 4, earning a gaudy 98 Beyer Speed Figure. His breeding indicates this extension to a route of ground should be no problem and with his rail draw, pilot Mike Smith is likely to weaponize the colt's speed yet again.

Baffert saddles two more members of this seven-horse field in Rockefeller (Medaglia d'Oro) and Flying Drummer (Gun Runner). A $750,000 KEESEP purchase by the group know as the Avengers, Rockefeller led every step of the way in his career bow going six furlongs at Del Mar Aug. 28 and was geared down late, coasting home to a 2 1/4-length win and an 80 Beyer Speed Figure. The red hot Flavien Prat climbs aboard for this two-turn bow and Rockefeller is another colt who should not blink at the added distance.

The maiden Flying Drummer, an $850,000 OBSAPR buy, rounds out the Baffert trio. Missing by a head in his six-panel debut at Del Mar Aug. 7, the gray finished 4 1/4 lengths behind Oviatt Class (Bernardini) last time going a mile at the seaside oval Aug. 27.

Pappacap (Gun Runner) looks to return to winning ways in this event. A front-running winner of his career bow at Gulfstream May 14, the bay was a decisive winner of the Aug. 7 GII Best Pal S. at Del Mar, beating Finneus (Stay Thirsty) by 4 3/4 lengths. He was fourth last out behind the Baffert-trained Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) in the GI Del Mar Futurity S. Sept. 6, in which Finneus was second.

Undefeated Cal-bred Joker Boy (Practical Joke) rounds out the field. Rallying to win at first asking in a state-bred event at Del Mar, the bay wired the Cal-bred I'm Smokin S. last out sprinting in SoCal Sept. 4. He tries open company and two turns for the first time in this leap into the deep end.

The post Rising Star Seeks BC Berth in American Pharoah appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Taking Stock: City of Light Stars at Keeneland

There are folks who sound like broken records when it comes to first-crop sires, complaining that breeders who use them and buyers purchasing those yearlings at auction are about as foolish as dunk-tank clowns. However, when one of those sires succeeds with his first 2-year-olds, those same people are usually the first to wax eloquent with platitudes, forgetting what they'd said earlier. That's human nature, I suppose.

What they forget is that all sires start out with first crops, and there are people on the other end that wildcat for next big sire–the next Into Mischief, Tapit, Curlin, Uncle Mo, Quality Road, etc. It's a given that most horses that enter stud will fail, but every year a few stars will appear to justify the process. This year, for example, Three Chimneys's Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) is on a tear with his first juveniles, with five black-type winners to date, including two at the highest level. In Europe over the weekend, Coolmore America's Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) and Overbury Stud's Ardad (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) were represented by the winners of the G1 Cheveley Park S. and the G1 Middle Park S., respectively, from their first crops. There are too many current and historical examples of first-season success to list here, but it shouldn't surprise anyone that it happens, because these horses tend to get their best books of mares in their first years at stud, their own intrinsic abilities aside.

Sometimes, yearling sales will tip off future success. Gun Runner, a Horse of the Year who entered stud in 2018 for a $70,000 stud fee, led all first-season sires at Keeneland September in 2020 with an average price of $253,750 for 32 sold, and that was during the height of COVID, which depressed prices across the board. Because of his exceptional early success on the track, Gun Runner's second crop of yearlings benefitted, averaging $325,925 for 40 sold at Keeneland this year.

With COVID now somewhat under control, yearling prices soared across the board at Keeneland, which concluded last Friday, and the unequivocal star of first-crop sires was Lane's End's City of Light (Quality Road), with an average price of $372,872 for 47 sold–almost an average of $50,000 more than the Gun Runners. More germane, City of Light entered stud for $35,000 in the same year that Coolmore America's powerful Scat Daddy duo of Justify, a Triple Crown winner; and Mendelssohn, a half-brother to Into Mischief and champion Beholder, started out for fees of $150,000 and $35,000, respectively.

Justify had 61 sell for an average price of $367,721, which placed him second behind City of Light. Mendelssohn, with an identical initial fee to City of Light, had 64 yearlings sell for an average of $160,078. City of Light, Justify, and Mendelssohn led all first-crop sires at Keeneland by average price, and the sales results for all of them were excellent returns on investment for breeders and consignors who'd supported them. But it's obvious that City of Light's numbers stand out.

Moreover, a $1.7-million colt by City of Light topped the sale, and for good measure, he had another colt bring $1.05 million.

City of Light

A $710,000 Keeneland September yearling bred by Ann Marie Farm, City of Light is an exceptionally attractive physical specimen, tall, athletic, and rangy, built very much like his sire, who also stands at Lane's End. When it was announced in late 2018 that City of Light would enter stud at Lane's End, the farm contacted me to write a piece about him for its website. I said this about his sire:

“The scope of Quality Road's success at stud has been astonishing, though not entirely surprising given his looks, race record, and pedigree. Bred and raced by the late Edward P. Evans, Quality Road is by Elusive Quality and is therefore a member of the Gone West branch of Mr. Prospector. On the bottom, he traces in tail-female to the highly influential mare Myrtlewood (seventh dam), from which Mr. Prospector (fourth dam) and Seattle Slew (fifth dam) also descended. Speed was the salient characteristic of these horses, and Quality Road expressed that trait by setting three track records, one at 6 1/2 furlongs and two at nine furlongs. He stayed 10 furlongs well enough when second in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, beaten a length. He is physically attractive, with height, length, and balance, and he was nimble, athletic, and notably fast for a 16.3-hand specimen. He reliably passes along his physical and aptitudinal traits to his offspring, who are effective from sprints to classic distances on dirt and turf at the highest levels, and as a sire, he has ascended to elite status in a short time.”

Todd Pletcher, who has had his hands on more top-class stallions than anyone else, guided the career of Quality Road after taking over from Jimmy Jerkens midway through the colt's 3-year-old season, and perhaps it's fitting that Pletcher's longtime assistant Michael McCarthy trained City of Light for owners Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren, Jr.

City of Light was a top-class racehorse, winning six of 11 starts, and he was never off the board in his other five races, earning $5.7 million. Most notably, the colt won two Grade I sprints at Santa Anita over seven furlongs, the Malibu S. and the Triple Bend S.; the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill; and the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream over nine furlongs. In between, he'd also placed third in the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita over 10 furlongs. By racing aptitude, he was also very much his father's son, and he was unlucky to never have won an Eclipse Award.

City of Light is from the Dehere mare Paris Notion and comes from a family developed by Ray Stark and Fares Farm that also includes Grade l winners Fabulous Notion (his second dam), Cacoethes, Subordination, and Careless Jewel.

With the physique, sire, race record, and female family behind him, it's no surprise he was a hit with breeders from the beginning. WTC bloodstock editor Frances J. Karon tweeted a photo of him at Lane's End in February of 2019 and wrote: “If you like Quality Road–and who doesn't?!–you will *love* his son City of Light, a real 'wow' horse.” And in another tweet on the same thread, she wrote: “City of Light won the GI Pegasus barely more than 30 days ago. Horses aren't supposed to look this phenomenal a month out of training, so that tells you a lot about this guy.”

Usually, a stallion's stud fee will decrease after his first few years at stud, but that wasn't the case with City of Light. In 2020, he went up $5,000 to $40,000–the same fee he was at this year. That's a testament to his popularity.

His first weanlings to sell confirmed this, with 20 selling in 2020 for an average price of $190,875. That was the clue that he was going to be a hit at the yearling sales this season.

So far, there haven't been too many Quality Road sons at stud, but one who is doing well this year with his first crop is Darby Dan's Klimt, a Grade l winner at two. Klimt is in a different price range–he's been at $10,000 all four years at stud–but he's sixth on TDN's first-crop list with progeny earnings of $620,916. Klimt has 12 winners, which makes him co-tied for fourth place in that category, and has three black-type-placed horses.

These are good signs for City of Light, and all eyes will be on him next year when his first runners hit the track.

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

The post Taking Stock: City of Light Stars at Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Dixiana-Breds Hit the Right Notes for Ingordo

The silks of Lee and Susan Searing's CRK Stable have been a formidable presence in California in recent years thanks in large part to MGSWs Express Train (Union Rags) and Midcourt (Midnight Lute). Both stable stars have excelled in their division for trainer John Shirreffs with Midcourt taking last year's GII San Pasqual S. and Express Train claiming winning honors in the same race this year before also adding the GII San Diego H. to his growing resume.

While separated by two years in age, the stablemates also share the same breeder. Dixiana Farm sold Midcourt to David Ingordo, who signed on behalf of Mayberry Farm, for $450,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Sale. Two years later, Express Train was purchased by the same connections for $500,000.

This year, Ingordo went back to the well for another Dixiana-bred to send on to Shirreffs for CRK Stable. During the second session of the Keeneland September Sale, he purchased Dixiana's Quality Road colt out of their stakes-placed homebred Brielle's Appeal (English Channel) for $1.15 million.

Steve Cauthen, who serves as Dixiana's racing manager, said their team was thrilled with the final hammer price.

“By the time we led him up into the ring, we knew he was a very popular horse and that we were going to be well-paid for him, but I don't think we were thinking he was going to pass the million-dollar mark,” he admitted. “But it was a good sale and he was a good horse out of a young mare and Quality Road is about as hot as any stallion on the market. So all the stars came together and worked for us.”

The successful sale was significant for the colt's breeders as it was the first million-dollar yearling produced by the farm's current owners, William and Donna Shively.

“The great thing that made Mr. Shively very happy was the fact that we bred and raced the dam and now we bred this horse,” Cauthen explained. “That's what you do this for. When you lead them up into that ring, it's like you're watching your kid playing soccer. When they do well, you're very proud about it.”

It was a symbolic purchase for Ingordo as well, as it marked the longstanding connection he shares with Dixiana Farm and the colt's female family.

Brielle's Appeal takes an allowance at Keeneland by over five lengths in 2018 | Coady

“When I was about 21, I worked at Walmac Farm under Johnny Jones,” Ingordo recalled. “One weekend, I had forgotten that there was an appointment and I had gone out on the farm jogging with my dog. Then this appointment showed up and it was Bill Shively. That was about 24 years ago, but it was one of those things that was probably fate because I hit it off with Bill immediately and he has been a good friend of mine since. He's given me a lot of good advice about life and business, and hopefully I've given him some good horse advice.”

One important tip that Ingordo offered to Shively came a few years later in 2006, when Ingordo recommended the purchase of an unraced 3-year-old named Court of Appeal (Deputy Minister). Dixiana Stables purchased the mare, who was in foal to Quiet American, for $335,000.

Two years later, Court of Appeal's Quiet American filly was offered at the Keeneland September Sale and Ingordo signed the $250,000 ticket on the yearling for Padua Stables..

“My arrangement with Padua was that I owned part of every horse,” Ingordo said. “She was kind of a start-and-stop filly, but we finally got her to Todd Pletcher.”

The filly, named Authenticity, didn't make her first start until she was four, but would eventually claim the GII La Troienne S. and GIII Shuvee H. while also running second in three Grade I contests. Sold for $1.2 million to Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings in 2013, she is now responsible for recently-retired MGISW 'TDN Rising Star' Charlatan (Speightstown).

In 2014, Court of Appeal produced a filly by English Channel. Dixiana sent the homebred to trainer Albert Stall. Named Brielle's Appeal, the filly won on debut at Kentucky Downs at three before later adding an allowance win at Keeneland to her resume and running third in the GIII Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint S. Retired to the farm where she was foaled in 2019, her first foal was the million-dollar Quality Road colt.

“I've been following [this colt] for almost a year,” Ingordo said. “On my internal notes that I made for myself and for the farm, he always scored very, very highly. Because I knew his pedigree so well, it all added up to a million-dollar plus sale.”

“There are two kinds of people in this business,” he continued. “There are the ones that let the horses do the talking and the ones that the humans do the talking for. Mr. Shively is one that lets his horses do the talking. I think it was a great honor for him to sell a horse like this. He's been a big supporter of racing for a very long time, but he's only getting started in a lot of ways. His family is involved and he's setting up for the long run.”

Dixiana Farm, a historic landmark in Lexington for well over a century, was purchased by Bill and Donna Shively in 2004. Cauthen, who has been on the farm's team for six years, spoke on the relationship Dixiana holds with Ingordo.

“David is obviously a good horseman and he likes the way Dixiana breeds and raises their horses,” he said. “He's around the farm a lot and gets to watch the horses as they're growing and maturing. We're happy to have the association with David. He's been a big part of helping our farm continue to succeed and grow.”

Dixiana Farm's Bill Shively | Keeneland

“Mr. Shively does such a good job of raising them,” Ingordo said. “No expense is spared for the horses and it gives you confidence to go and buy them and try to develop them. A rising tide lifts all boats, so these pedigrees continue to improve and it's a symbiotic relationship. My clients asks to buy Dixiana-breds because we've had such good luck with them.”

In addition to purchasing the $1.15 million Quality Road colt at the September Sale, Ingordo also went to $300,000 for the Accelerate half-brother to CRK Stable's Express Train–the goal being that this pair of youngsters can follow the same path as their two Dixiana-bred predecessors

“It's fine to sell a horse for a lot of money, but how many Express Trains and Midcourts are there that people give $450,000 and $500,000 for, but they never run,” Ingordo said. “It's a really positive thing for Dixiana that their horses sell for top dollar and then they go on and perform. That's something we don't always see. One of the great things about Dixiana is that they raise their horses really organically. They have good land and do everything right.”

While Brielle's Appeal did not produce a foal this year, she is now in foal to Speightstown. The closely-related cross to the speedy Charlatan could be an exciting sales prospect in just a few years.

“We're thinking maybe a champion in the Breeders' Cup Mile,” Cauthen said with a laugh, then added that Shively has expressed an interest in putting more focus on producing quality turf runners.

“[Shively] is a big fan of turf racing,” he said. “Compared to back when I was riding, there are at least twice as many turf races and turf stakes races, so I'm all for it. That's one of his main focuses, but obviously the goal is to raise good horses. Raise them healthy and do it the right way. We race a few, but mainly we breed for the sales. I think we're starting to really find our footing in the sales arena and hopefully now on the racetrack as well.”

The post Dixiana-Breds Hit the Right Notes for Ingordo appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Freshman Sire Hootenanny Off The Mark at Pontefract

Hootenanny (Quality Road) became the latest freshman sire off the mark when the Kevin Ryan-trained Louisiana-bred filly Esken Rose shed maiden status on debut in Thursday's Northern Commercials Service, Sales & Parts Novice S. at Pontefract. The $4,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling and £38,000 Goresbridge@Newmarket breezer, who sported the colours of Hambleton Racing, made all to defeat Clarets Glory (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) by a length.

1st-Pontefract, £7,200, Nov, 9-16, 2yo, 6fT, 1:16.39, g/f.
ESKEN ROSE (f, 2, Hootenanny–Eskenforandreya, by Eskendereya) was the sharpest of nine into stride and seized an immediate lead in this debut. Holding sway throughout, the 14-1 chance turned for home with a comfortable buffer and kept on strongly under a final-furlong drive to hold the late bid of Clarets Glory (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) by a length, becoming the first winner for her freshman sire (by Quality Road). Esken Rose is the lone foal produced by a winning full-sister to dual stakes scorer He's The Reason (The Factor) and stakes-winning GIII Ohio Derby and GIII Palm Beach S. placegetter South Bend (Algorithms). The April-foaled bay's MGSP second dam Sandra's Rose (Old Trieste) is a half-sister to three black-type winners headed by GII American Derby hero and GI Hollywood Derby runner-up Mananan McLir (Royal Academy). Sales history: $4,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT; £38,000 2yo '21 TATGOR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $5,381.
1ST-TIME STARTER. O-Hambleton Racing Ltd XXXVIII; B-J Adcock & Hume Wornall (LA); T-Kevin Ryan.

The post Freshman Sire Hootenanny Off The Mark at Pontefract appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post