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Sunday’s Racing Insights: Well-Bred Juveniles Debuting All Over

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2nd-BEL, $80K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, post time: 12:55 p.m. ET
Several well-bred firsters will look to run down the likes of morning line favorite Exact (Competitive Edge), who was second over track and trip Sept. 18. Allen Stable and Shug McGaughey unveil Cafe Society (Empire Maker), a $135,000 KEESEP yearling turned $475,000 OBSAPR 2-year-old off a :10 flat breeze. Dam Full Tap (Tapit) was carrying Cafe Society when she brought $375,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November sale. The three-time winner, who was third in her Saratoga unveiling at two, is out of SW Miss Challenge (More Than Ready) and from the family of MGSW sprinter Ventana (Toccet). Juddmonte homebred Obligatory (Curlin) is out of SW Uno Duo (Macho Uno), a stakes-winning half to G1SW Etoile Montante (Miswaki), who in turn produced MGSW Starformer (Dynaformer). This is also the female family of Juddmonte’s 2020 GII Fair Grounds Oaks winner and GI Alabama S. and GII Black-Eyed Susan S. runner-up Bonny South (Munnings). Salt Plage (Quality Road) is half of an Alpha Delta Stables/Linda Rice entry. She’s out of GSW French Satin (French Deputy), already the dam of GSW Long Haul Bay (Quality Road), SW/GSP Midnight Transfer (Hard Spun) and SW Scilly Cay (Fed Biz). French Satin is half to MGISW Lion Heart (Tale of the Cat). Entry mate Nisbet Beach (Fed Biz) is out of a half to MGSW Sara Louise (Malibu Moon). Hit the Woah (Vancouver {Aus}), a $150,000 KEESEP buy, is out of a half to Japanese Grade I winner Mozu Superflare (Speightstown) and GSW sprinter Sacristy (Pulpit). Another half to the dam produced G1 South Australian Derby winner Qafila (Aus) (Not a Single Doubt {Aus}). TJCIS PPs

6th-KEE, $70K, Msw, 2yo, 7f 184 ft., post time: 3:51 p.m. ET
Beatbox (Pioneerof the Nile), the sixth-priciest yearling at Keeneland September last year at $2.1 million, makes a much-anticipated debut amid a field of well-bred newcomers. Bred by Three Chimneys Farm, who still owns the colt with e Five Racing, the May foal is a half to ‘TDN Rising Star’, MGISW and fellow Chad Brown trainee Guarana (Ghostzapper); and precocious SW and ‘Rising Star’ Magic Dance (More Than Ready). His second dam is GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff heroine Pleasant Home (Seeking the Gold). Flaxman Holdings homebred Tiwanaku (Tapit). His dam took the 2012 GI Jenny Wiley S. over the local lawn before bringing $1.3 million there the following November. War Machine (War Front) is half to GISW juvenile Sweet Loretta (Tapit). The $575,000 KEESEP RNA’s SP dam Ithinkisawapudycat (Bluegrass Cat) was purchased for $2.2 million in foal to Constitution at the 2016 Keeneland November sale. Ithinkisawapudycat is half to Canadian champion 2-year-old filly and local GI Darley Alcibiades S. heroine Spring in the Air (SpringAt Last). TJCIS PPs

10th-SA, $55K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, post time: 8:45 p.m. ET
The week of racing concludes at Santa Anita with a heat for juvenile fillies led by a pair of Bob Baffert trainees. Private Mission (Into Mischief), a $750,000 FTSAUG yearling buy for Baoma Corp., is out of SW Private Gift (Unbridled)–a $2.3-million 2008 Fasig-Tipton November purchase in foal to A.P. Indy. Private Gift has produced SW/GSP Secret Someone (A.P. Indy) as well as the dam of GISW Dunbar Road (Quality Road). She is a half to GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Secret Status (A.P. Indy). Private Mission’s impressive morning activity includes a :59 3/5 (2/16) spin from the gate Sept. 23 (XBTV Video). Godolphin homebred Frosteria (Frosted), meanwhile, Grade I-winning sprinter and 2007 GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff runner-up Hystericalady (Distorted Humor). That near $2.4-million earner sold the same November as Private Gift, across town, for $3 million at Keeneland. Hystericalady’s best runner to date has been the long-winded GSW and GISP turfer Lady Montdore (Medaglia d’Oro). Frosteria prepped for this with a work inside of MGISP maiden stablemate Spielberg (Union Rags) that saw the pair accidentally hook up with another duo in the stretch. Frosteria was credited with four furlongs in :47 flat (2/61, XBTV Video). TJCIS PPs

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Country Life’s Christy Holden Named Finalist for Leadership Award in Breeding

Congratulations to Christy Holden, a finalist in the Leadership Award in Breeding category of the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards (TIEA), presented by Godolphin. Holden has been the general manager of Maryland’s Country Life Farm, including its Merryland division, since 2015 after first working at Country Life 30 years prior as a teenager. She eventually returned to Country Life in 2004, beginning in the office and working her way up to broodmare manager and finally general manager. Holden, who has also served on the board of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association (MHBA) since 2018, works closely with Country Life owners and brothers Josh and Mike Pons and calls them her mentors.

Click for the video feature on Holden done by TIEA.

Other finalists for the Leadership Award in Breeding are Wayne Clem of Claiborne Farm and Matt Lyons of Candy Meadows Farm, who will also be recognized on these pages in the coming days. The Leadership Award in Breeding is presented annually to an individual who displays exceptional leadership qualities while in a managerial or supervisory position on a Thoroughbred farm.

A total of seven award categories will be honored by TIEA for 2020. Maria Cristina Silva of New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NYTHA) has already been announced as the winner of the Community Award, while the winners in the other categories will be announced live in a virtual ceremony hosted by Jill Bryne and streamed at the TDN homepage Thursday, Nov. 5, at 12:00 p.m. ET. All finalists will be spotlighted in TDN in the days leading up to the ceremony.

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Saturday’s Racing Insights: Performer Resurfaces, Bisou Half Debuts

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

3rd-BEL, $70K, OC ($80K), 3yo/up, 1m, post time: 1:28 p.m. ET
Phipps Stable and Claiborne Farm’s Performer (Speightstown) makes his belated first start of the year. The Shug McGaughey trainee has been off since winning his fourth straight (from five attempts) in Aqueduct’s nine-panel GIII Discovery S. Nov. 30. His third dam is MGSIW My Flag (Easy Goer), who in turn produced champion juvenile filly Storm Flag Flying (Storm Cat). TJCIS PPs

7th-KEE, $70K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f 184 ft., post time: 4:24 p.m. ET
Well-related firsters take on formidable runners with experience in this wide-open event. Woodford Thoroughbreds homebred Wicked Bisou (Wicked Strong) is a half to none other than recently retired MGISW and champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute). Woodford sold their GSW dam Diva Delite (Repent) for $750,000 in foal to Pioneerof the Nile at FTKNOV ’18–she brought $1.2 million in foal to Justify a year later. Tom Amoss will send out both Wicked Bisou and Miss Dial (Dialed In). The latter is a full-sister to MSW near millionaire and 2018 GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Sprint runner-up Chalon. A $165,000 KEESEP yearling, she cost $310,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale off a swift :10 flat breeze. Steve Asmussen pupil Willful Woman (Nyquist), a $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad, is out of MSW/MGSP Foxy Danseur (Mr. Greeley), making her a half to former Asmussen trainee and 2017 GIII Fantasy S. heroine Ever So Clever (Medaglia d’Oro). TJCIS PPs

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One More Race for the Partners in a `Horse of a Lifetime’

After Uni (GB) (More Than Ready)’s five-year-old campaign which concluded in the Champion Turf Female award, bloodstock advisors suggested to the partners in her ownership group that it might be time to retire and sell her. After all, the owners had probably already gotten more than they had bargained for: they had campaigned her at 3, 4, and 5, and watched her win three Grade I stakes as well as Grade II, Grade III and Listed events.

But, “Sol and I are and Bobby are racing guys,” said Michael Dubb of the decision made by him and partners Sol Kumin and Bob LaPenta to bring her back for one more year. “We want to race and she’s six years old now. Typically these broodmares are retired at five. And against the advice of bloodstock agents, we went ahead and raced her at six years old because we had so much fun winning the Breeders’ Cup once with her, and so we said, “Why not try to do it again?” So she will be pointing to the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland–the mile race against the boys.”

The decision to keep her in training for one more year has already proven to be a sound one, as Uni picked up her fourth Grade I win in Keeneland’s First Lady last out, had another Grade I placing earlier in the year, and has earned almost a quarter-million dollars in 2020. She’ll head into the Breeders’ Cup Mile as one of the top choices before selling at Fasig-Tipton November as Hip 228 for Elite Sales.

For Dubb, there’s another reason to keep her around for this year’s Breeders’ Cup: he was unable to see her 2019 win in person, and instead watched it on his iPhone standing on 10^th Street in Manhattan.

“I could not be there last year because it was my daughter’s engagement party in New York City,” said Dubb. “I had to walk out of the restaurant and watch the race on my iPhone leaning on the hood of somebody’s car. And fortunately, my son walked out to see what his crazy dad was doing and to see the bedlam that was ensuing on 10th Street when the horse crossed the wire and made that tremendous come-from-behind run. So that was truly the greatest moment, but there have been so many with Uni.”

Uni was bred by Nicolas de Chambure’s Haras d’Etreham, and Dubb and Kumin bought into her early in her three-year-old year on the recommendation of Nicolas de Watrigant and Bradley Weisbord. She remained in France for her two races for the new ownership group, winning the Prix Matchem at Maisons-Laffitte against colts. Transferred to Chad Brown’s barn at Belmont in June, 2017, she was third first out in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational. The new owners bought out de Chambure, added Bob LaPenta to their group, and were off to the races.

Since that time, Uni has been consistently brilliant, winning four Grade Is, turning in a perfect four-for-four year in 2018, and was three-for-four in 2019 with a Breeders’ Cup win. Overall, she has won 10 of 17 starts and earned over $2.5 million.

Her win in the Breeders’ Cup Mile against males puts her in a rarefied air, as she joined some of the great race fillies and mares of all time in the feat, including Miesque, Goldikova and Tepin, becoming just the seventh filly or mare to win the race.

Her consistency and durability have been defining qualities, with her owners enjoying successful three, four, five and six-year-old seasons with her.

“We’ve watched and enjoyed Uni over an extended period of time,” said Fasig-Tipton CEO Boyd Browning. “She has maintained her form at the Grade I level for four seasons now. It was really interesting and really cool to see the performance that she put on recently in the First Lady, coming back and winning another Grade I in 2020 against an outstanding field. She’s been durable, she’s been consistent, but she’s also been brilliant. Those are certainly some of the characteristics that everyone’s looking for from a broodmare prospect with the potential that she would have on a long-term basis.”

Moreover, said Browning, she offers a rather unique pedigree.

“One of the things that’s really intriguing about Uni is her pedigree,” he said. “Not only is she by More Than Ready, who’s certainly become a sire who has had worldwide great success, both in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, but she’s out of a Dansili (GB) mare whose dam is by Generous. I think that you’ve got a really unique opportunity to kind of craft and create your own vision to utilize those bloodlines.

“It’s a great outcross pedigree, and it’s a family full of significant runners for many, many, many generations. But you’ve really got an opportunity to kind of put your fingerprint on it, and create a legacy that should hopefully endure for generations to come.”

For Dubb and his partners, though, enjoying her for these past four seasons has been the ride of a lifetime.

“Looking forward, we hope she can be a two-time winner against the boys of the Breeders’ Cup Mile,” he said. “And I will be at the Breeders’ Cup with my binoculars in my hands, cheering and clapping. But whether she does it or not, she has given us indescribable pleasure and joy.

“If you’re in the game as long as I am,” Dubb said, “this kind of horse sticks out. She’s really special. She’s the horse of a lifetime.”

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