A promising group looking to punch their tickets to this season's Triple Crown in Saturday's 1 1/16-mile GIII Sam F. Davis S., awarding 'Road to the Kentucky Derby' points to the first four finishers (10-14-2-1). Looking to return to the winner's circle is Kentucky West Racing and Clarke M. Cooper's Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway), trained by Brian Lynch. An impressive 6 1/2-length winner ahead of next-out scorer Trafalgar (Lord Nelson) in his career debut going seven furlongs at Saratoga Sept. 4, the chestnut came home third in Keeneland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity Oct. 9 before playing the bridesmaid to undefeated Smile Happy (Runhappy) in Churchill's GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. Nov. 27. On that occasion, he finished ahead of third-place finisher White Abarrio (Race Day), who returned to annex his seasonal bow in the Feb. 5 GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Classic Causeway for the first time Saturday.
“I'd like to see him get his first graded-stakes victory and keep picking up Derby points,” said Lynch. “His workouts have been solid, and everything about them suggests he should run well.”
He added, “I feel that if he runs his race, he will certainly fit with these horses. He has a high cruising speed and he has gotten much bigger and stronger as a 3-year-old. He has the tactical speed to not be very far from the engine room, and hopefully, he will be first to the wire.”
Red Oak Stable's Make It Big (Neolithic) attempts to collect his first win at the graded level following a trio of wins, including Gulfstream's Juvenile Sprint S. in October before a narrow score in Remington's Springboard Mile S. Dec. 17.
“He got in between horses and had to rate a bit, and then he got hooked late and had to out-battle him to the wire. It was a very professional performance,” said Saffie Joseph Jr. of the colt's latest win. “This horse has a good mind, and he has found a way to win each time. He probably needs to improve to win Saturday, but he has improved in each race, so hopefully he will follow suit.”
Iris Smith Stable's Shipsational (Midshipman) ventures south following a trio of victories facing fellow New York breds. A debut winner at Saratoga last summer, he was fourth in that venue's state-bred Funny Cide S. but bounced back to win his next two, including the one-mile Sleep Hollow S. at Belmont Oct. 30.
God of Love (Cupid), winner of the GIII Grey S. at Woodbine last November, is one of three runners for Mark Casse. The Hall of Famer also conditions undefeated Golden Glider (Ghostzapper) and recent maiden winner Volcanic (Violence).
Howling Time (Not This Time) was a late scratch Friday.
As one of few institutions of American sport to rival its fastest two minutes, the Super Bowl will reopen some painful old wounds among our community. For while many in the Bluegrass presumably feel some allegiance to their nearest NFL team, they owe a deeper loyalty to the very acres on which the game will be contested–to the memories interred below.
Nostalgia for Hollywood Park will be especially piquant now that Arlington Park is in the sickening throes of a similar demise. It's no longer just John Henry, winner of two Arlington Millions and three Hollywood Invitational Handicaps, that unites these two storied venues. In both cases, it's hard to refute the narrative that football has long superseded horseracing in popular culture; that our own sport is like a faded, black-and-white movie, with a script that embarrassingly preserves outdated attitudes, treasured only by an obstinate minority of aficionados soon to be finally inundated by the inexorable tides of the digital age.
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Well, I don't know about that. It wasn't so long ago that everyone was prophesying the demolition of cinemas, outflanked by the domestic miracles of VHS, DVD and streaming. Same with bookshops, which have salvaged a viable market among people who actually feel relieved to drag their eyes from the tyranny of a small screen. But both cinema and publishing first had to be goaded from their complacency. Books were being churned out contemptuously, already halfway to garbage, so cheap was the paper and binding; they had to be made into beautiful objects that you would enjoy handling and possessing. Cinema, similarly, realized that it had to feel like an event, a spectacle, a proper indulgence.
None of us who know the timeless enchantment of the Thoroughbred will ever despair of its ability to captivate new generations of fans; to maintain a glamor once so easily conflated with that of the silver screen, as when founding shareholders of Hollywood Park included the Warner brothers, Walt Disney, Sam Goldwyn, Bing Crosby and Ronald Colman.
But everything depends on our proving equal to the stewardship of these noble animals. And it would be a blithe kind of fellow who congratulated us that we have no need, unlike cinema and publishing when they were in a corner, to raise our game.
As it is, we see a lot of cynics shoehorning high-sounding principles of equity and freedom into the service of their own interests, even when those appear quite blatantly opposed to those of the racehorse and the industry it sustains. Such grubby opportunism is hardly unique to our own walk of life, of course, but you would like to think that even the most self-absorbed and short-sighted members of our community can see how dangerously the stakes have been raised.
Sarah Andrew
Not that these alone need to see the bigger picture. Every time we lose a Hollywood Park, an Arlington, we can't blame only those whose conduct is disfiguring our standing in Main Street. The rest of us need to meet a crisis on this scale with commensurate flair and enterprise. God knows there's no shortage of people in this game with exceptional financial resources and, you know what, maybe some might even owe their wealth to more than hard work and a little luck. Maybe some of them are actually pretty smart, too. In which case, it seems inexcusable if enough of them can't get together and head off the next storied track closure. Just imagine the virtuous circle within their not-for-profit compass: low takeouts stimulating handle, handle stimulating prizemoney and facilities, in turn stimulating field sizes, further stimulating handle.
Coming from a little country like England, I am unqualified to say (though I might guess) why some American horsemen should prefer an existential crisis to fester under the sacrosanct purview of states, rather than tolerate the kind of national solution it plainly requires. As it is, however, that mosaic of fractured interests might well create an opportunity for exactly the kind of dynamism we might sooner hope to see applied to the repair of a dysfunctional system.
Say the current impasse between Bob Baffert and Churchill stays just as it is. Say his attorneys can't prise open the door to the Derby; and Baffert isn't big-hearted enough to absolve his patrons of an invidious sense that their fidelity is being tested in public; and those patrons, for their part, overlook that they are themselves only custodians of a dream for many others, from the breeder to the farrier, who will only ever get one shot at the Derby.
Well, if that remains the case, then what would you expect to be going through the head of any bold racetrack impresario out there right now? He or she will be musing over a first Saturday in May bereft of Messier (Empire Maker), Newgrange (Violence), potentially Corniche (Quality Road), and a whole bunch of other talents being developed by the most powerful barn in the country, maybe Blackadder (Quality Road) if he wins the El Camino Real Derby on Saturday; and not forgetting the fillies, like Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) and Eda (Munnings). How about lining up that lot for a million bucks over 10 furlongs, sometime at the beginning of May? You'd get eyeballs, and you might very well find yourself with a horse that outvotes the Derby winner at the Eclipse Awards this time next year.
Now there's a notion that might concentrate a few minds. And it would certainly conform with the spirit of the age–which is to say, it would bring together two different entities by offering the same answer to the question: “Screw everyone else, how do I gain most?”
Classic Causeway on debut last summer | Sarah Andrew
If that were to happen, then the GIII Sam F. Davis S. will doubtless come to seem so much shadowboxing. I hope not, because it would be wonderful to see Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway) emulate White Abarrio (Race Day) in boosting the form of the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S.
This is one of only three colts eked from the final coverings of the great Giant's Causeway before his death in the spring of 2018, and I'm glad to see Brian Lynch laying down such business-like works over six and seven furlongs at Palm Meadows. I'm not sure what the masters of the past might say about modern trainers getting horses fit 48 seconds at a time, but I do know that Lynch will be playing to the genetic strengths of this particular colt.
After Giant Game bombed out in the GIII Holy Bull S., the onus is on Classic Causeway to carve a fitting memorial to their sire, who recently brought up a posthumous landmark with his 100th graded stakes winner. Classic Causeway did have the raw class to dash clear on debut at Saratoga last summer, but as a son of a Thunder Gulch mare he's entitled to the improvement he needs, with maturity and distance, to claw back the McPeek pair who had too much “foot” for him last fall.
Certainly a breakout performance from Classic Causeway would feel like a wholesome development in this whole Derby nightmare, as an evocation of old school principles among horses and horsemen alike. Because it's not just the rebels who have a cause. Don't forget that Mariah's Storm (Rahy), the dam of Giant's Causeway, won four graded stakes round Arlington; and his sire's mother Terlingua (Secretariat) won her first three starts all at Hollywood Park. Everything we do, every single thing we do, is built on the work of those who went before us; and everything we do, accordingly, should be undertaken with a view to handing on their legacy in the best possible shape.
In this edition of our ongoing mating plans series, we spoke with Robert Tillyer, farm manager of Dixiana Farm.
“Right now we have about 50 broodmares at Dixiana Farm,” Tillyer said. “This year we are going to have around 38 foals. We usually put over 30 yearlings through the sale each year and then Mr. Shively is always happy to retain a few for his own racing stable.“
BRIELLE'S APPEAL (m, 8, English Channel – Court of Appeal, by Deputy Minister) to be bred to Gun Runner
This year Brielle's Appeal is in foal to Speightstown and then she will be visiting Gun Runner, who set a new record for progeny earnings for a first-crop sire last year. He has great colts and great fillies and I'm really excited to see Echo Zulu run again.
This mare was a graded stakes-placed winner and she was very talented. She has proven that she can get a really good physical. She had a $1.15 million Quality Road yearling at Keeneland September last year. With this mare, she's been going to proven stallions. Gun Runner is the new, hot stallion so it just made sense.
HAVANA DREAM (m, 9, Quality Road – Mayo On the Side, by French Deputy) to be bred to Yaupon
This is the half-sister to MGSW Midcourt (Midnight Lute). We kept her first foal, a Kitten's Joy colt, and he is now in training as a 2-year-old. She also has a really nice Uncle Mo yearling filly who is really leggy and looks fast.
We decided to go with Yaupon for her this year. Yaupon was a really talented horse with a lot of speed. With a young mare like her, she's been to two proven sires so now we're going to go with a new stallion.
I'M A FLAKE (m, 14, Mineshaft – November Snow, by Storm Cat) to be bred to Gun Runner
This mare is the dam of MGSW Express Train (Union Rags), who was raised here at Dixiana and recently won the GII San Pasqual S. for a second time. I'm A Flake produced the full-brother to Express Train last year. The colt is a big, strong, correct horse who moves really well.
She is in foal to Munnings this year. Munnings is very commercial and we think he will add speed to the family. She hasn't been to this sire line yet, so we are very excited to see what this mating produces and then she is booked back to Gun Runner.
JULIA TUTTLE (m, 17, Giant's Causeway – Candy Cane (Arg), by Ride the Rails) to be bred to Twirling Candy
This is the dam of GISW Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike). We have her 3-year-old Connect filly in training with Al Stall and we also have her 2-year-old Nyquist colt. She has an American Pharoah yearling filly who is pointing for the Keeneland September Sale.
Last year we opted to go with War of Will. She's already a Grade I producer and War of Will is a beautiful sire. We're looking forward to that foal and then she will be going to Twirling Candy. He's proven and I don't think she's been to that sire line before. Physically, I think he will suit her and he has been doing really well recently.
The full sister to Express Train, Layla had her first foal last year, a Liam's Map colt. We're really happy with him.
This year she will be going to City of Light. We think the cross works well and he's a really popular stallion.
Revitalized (Uncle Mo) and her 2022 Munnings filly | photo courtesy Dixiana Farm
REVITALIZED (m, 4, Uncle Mo – Excited, by Giant's Causeway) to be bred to Authentic
This is a mare that Mr. Shively bought at the 2021 Keeneland November Sale for $360,000. She was one of seven mares he purchased last year. We're really excited about her. She's a beautiful mare and is a full-sister to SW Thrilled. Her 3-year-old full-sister Beside Herself just broke her maiden for Todd Pletcher, so it's a very active family.
Revitalized just had her first foal, a really nice Munnings filly. This year she will be visiting Authentic.
TIGER RIDE (m, 10, Candy Ride {Arg} – Royal Tigress, by Storm Cat) to be bred to Charlatan
Tiger Ride is one of Mr. Shively's favorite mares. She's a homebred who won the GIII Pin Oak Valley View S. at Keeneland and placed in the GI Beldame S.
She had a Tapit colt that we sold as a yearling who is now three. She also has a Tapit filly who is now two that we retained. I saw the filly last week and she looked really good. Then she has an Uncle Mo yearling colt on the ground as well.
This year, she will go to Charlatan. Again, she's been to three proven sires so we're going to try an unproven sire this year. Everyone knows that Charlatan is stunning. He was obviously very talented and John Sikura was very selective with the mares going to him, so we think he has a great shot as a stallion.
TRUE ELEGANCE (m, 9, Distorted Humor – Sealy Hill, by Point Given) to be bred to Essential Quality
The daughter of champion Sealy Hill, this mare produced her first foal in 2019. It was a Kitten's Joy filly who is now in Dixiana's racing stable. She won first out at Arlington Park last summer, beating the boys. She had a little break and just got back into training. We retained the mare's Frosted 2-year-old filly as well. She is currently in training and we really like her. The mare's yearling filly is by Ghostzapper. She looks fast and is correct. She will likely be at the September Sale.
This year the mare is in foal to Authentic. Obviously the Into Mischief-Distorted Humor mating is a proven cross, so we're excited for that foal. Then she is going to go to Essential Quality. We wanted to try a different sire line with her. He was a talented horse and is really good looking. We think he's going to be commercial and is another one that we think has a great shot as a sire.
Let us know who you're breeding your mares to in 2022, and why. We will print a selection of your responses in TDN over the coming weeks. Please send details to: garyking@thetdn.com.
The home of the Kentucky Derby will illuminate its iconic Twin Spires with an orange glow through Sunday night's game in honor of the underdog Cincinnati Bengals, its regional neighbors 92 miles to the northeast and a favorite NFL team for many people in the Louisville area. Sunday's Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams marks the Bengals' first championship appearance since 1989 and only the third in the franchise's history. They seek their first win. The Twin Spires have been the signature symbol of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby since their completion in 1895.
Both the Super Bowl and Kentucky Derby air on NBC.
