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Risen Star Upsetter Continuing Sire-Making Tradition

This Saturday, Calumet Farm looks to pull off a bit of an upset in the GII Risen Star with their homebred Santa Cruiser (Dialed In), who broke his maiden last November and ran fourth in his most recent start in the GIII Lecomte S.

Santa Cruiser may go off as one of the longer shots on the board, but if he were to win, it wouldn't be the farm's first upset in the same race.

Three years ago, Calumet's homebred Bravazo (Awesome Again-Tiz O'Gold, by Cee's Tizzy) won the GII Risen Star S. at odds of 21-1 and went on to earn over $2 million.

This year, he retires to stud at his birthplace, having danced nearly every dance over his four-year career while running in the money in six of some of the top Grade I races of his division.

Bravazo will stand for a fee of $6,000 in his first year at stud, beginning his career as the first homebred to take up stud duty at Calumet since the farm was placed under new ownership in 2012.

“He would be the first stallion to have been born and raised and then go off to the track for Calumet and return as a stallion,” said Calumet stallion manager Darrell Hayes. “So he's pretty much a new chapter for Calumet under its new owner.”

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas, the dark bay broke his maiden at second asking as a juvenile before placing second in the GI Breeders' Futurity. He stamped his ticket to the Kentucky Derby with his victory in the GII Risen Star S., taking the three path around the far turn and battling to get the nose over stakes winner Snapper Sinclair (City Zip).

“Bravazo was such a hard-knocking horse,” Hayes said. “He started his 3-year-old campaign in the Risen Star winning just as he does best, coming down the stretch and leaving everything on the track. Guts out, heart out, determined to get ahead and leaving everything on the track. That to me showed a lot of guts, a lot of will.”

Bravazo got up for sixth in the 2018 GI Kentucky Derby and nearly caught Justify in the GI Preakness S., finishing a close second.

Later in his sophomore season, the colt ran second behind champion Good Magic (Curlin) in the GI Haskell Invitational S., third in the GI Runhappy Travers S., third in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and second behind Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Clark H.

“Bravazo's 3-year-old campaign had 11 starts, eight of which were Grade I and five of which he placed and showed in,” Hayes said. “To me, it was one of the strongest 3-year-old crops, including a Triple Crown winner who Bravazo almost caught at the wire. Bravazo was one of those horses that showed up every day and played his heart out. Whether he won or not, he left everything on the track that he could give.”

“It showed in all those Grade I races that he ran in,” he continued. “They were filled with champion horses. He wasn't scared to run against the tough competition. Bravazo had such a tough campaign as a 3-year-old and had almost double the amount of starts as any other top competitor that he had that year.”

In recent years, the rather obscure cross of Awesome Again with Cee's Tizzy in Bravazo's pedigree has developed into a tried-and-true sire-producing match up.

It started with Ghostazpper. The first and most famous son of Awesome Again to be named a champion, his stakes-winning dam was a daughter of Relaunch – the sire of Cee's Tizzy. Ghostzapper is now on track to surpass his late sire with 12 Grade I winners.

Then came another son of Awesome Again named Paynter. This one was out of Tizso (Cee's Tizzy), a full-sister to Tiznow but also a granddaughter of Relaunch. Paynter would, of course, go on to stand at WinStar Farm as a Grade I-winning millionaire now making headlines as the sire of red hot champion Knicks Go.

Calumet stallion Oxbow (Awesome Again) was bred by Colts Neck Stables and is out of Tizamazing, a full-sister to the dam of Paynter. Their dam, Cee's Song, was bred to Cee's Tizzy eight times, six of those resulting in stakes winners or the producers of stakes winners.

Oxbow was purchased by Brad Kelley's Bluegrass Hall as a yearling for $250,000 in 2011. A year later, the Calumet Investment Group purchased Calumet Farm and leased it to Kelley. Oxbow's win in the 2013 GI Preakness S. marked the first Triple Crown race win for the farm in 45 years. He now stands at Calumet as a five-time stakes producer and his 3-year-old Hot Rod Charlie ran second in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Oxbow's full brother and now sire Awesome Patriot won the 2011 Alydar S.

A year after Oxbow's Preakness win, Calumet found a similar mating up for grabs at the Keeneland November Sale. Tiz o'Gold was in foal to Awesome Again and, just as the dams of Oxbow and Paynter, was by Cee's Tizzy. Additionally, all three broodmares were out of mares with Seattle Slew as their grandsire.

Calumet Farm brought Tiz O'Gold home for $35,000 and soon after, she foaled Bravazo.

Hayes said that this son of Awesome Again offers unique qualities from those of the aforementioned studs.

“Bravazo has a very attractive, maybe thinner top than a lot of the Awesome Agains,” he said. “He's a good-looking horse with a fantastic head. He brings a little bit more late speed that I think will help him down the road.”

Bravazo now has the entire Calumet team anticipating this new season in the homebred's career.

“We've had some other horses come in that we've acquired during this racing careers, but for him to be an actual bred-and-raised racehorse, foaled on the farm, is unexplainable,” Hayes said. “We're so excited; we're looking forward to getting him in the breeding shed and having his foals come next season.”

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Unbeaten Tobys Heart to Stretch Out Versus Graded Company in Return

Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Tobys Heart (Jack Milton) is aiming for a return to action in either the GIII Herecomesthebride S. at Gulfstream Park Feb. 27 or the GIII Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs Mar. 6. Both races are contested on grass at 1 1/16 miles.

Co-owned by Terry Hamilton and trainer Brian Lynch, the 3-year-old filly was impressive in a pair of efforts sprinting on the lawn last term.

After kicking off her career with a 'Rising Star' performance beneath the Twin Spires June 4–following a slow start, she unleashed an explosive run to graduate by 6 3/4 lengths–Tobys Heart followed up with a good-looking, come-from-behind score in a loaded renewal of Saratoga's Bolton Landing S. most recently Aug. 19 (video).

The second through sixth-place finishers in the Bolton Landing–Joy's Rocket (Anthony Cross) (second), Amanzi Yimpilo (Ire) (No Nay Never) (third), Mischievous Dream (Into Mischief) (fourth), Quinoa Tifah (Gemologist) (fifth) and Sweet Souper Sweet (First Samurai) (sixth)-have all added stakes victories since.

“She had two tiny chips removed from the front of her P1 on both ankles,” Lynch said. “We cleaned them up and gave her a little bit of time and I think it's been a blessing. She seems like she's blossomed–bigger, stronger filly. It gives you something to look forward to.”

Tobys Heart has posted eight workouts at Lynch's Palm Meadows base since mid-December, including a five-furlong spin in 1:03.45 (12/26) on grass Friday.

“She hasn't missed a beat since we put her back into training,” Lynch said. “We're looking to stretch her out and look forward to seeing what she shows us when we try her around two turns. She's doing everything right, so fingers crossed.”

Tobys Heart, a $5,500 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall yearling, brought $45,000 from Alistair Roden Bloodstock on behalf of Hamilton and Lynch after breezing an eighth in :10 1/5 at OBS March.

Bred in Kentucky by Trackside Farms, Tobys Heart is from the second crop of young Crestwood Farm stallion Jack Milton. She is out of the stakes-winning Lil's Lad mare Pick of the Pack, a half-sister to GSW Great Attack (Greatness).

Lynch and his aforementioned longtime client also campaign recent GIII John B. Connally Turf Cup S. winner Spooky Channel (English Channel). The duo, of course, also teamed up on popular GISW Heart to Heart (English Channel).

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This Side Up: Proxy Steps In to Try that Unique Fit

Derby dreams at this time of year can prove as ephemeral as the vapours rising into the glacial air of Hot Springs. But the owner of the champion juvenile knows perfectly well that plans, with Thoroughbreds, can only ever be provisional–and that the postponement of Monday's Oaklawn card is a relatively trivial inconvenience to Essential Quality (Tapit). To recall the graver vexations that can unravel a Derby colt, Sheikh Mohammed needs only rewind to the last cycle, and the last colt that offered to requite perhaps the greatest single ambition still animating the biggest bloodstock empire in the breed's history.

Anyone with a sophomore of elite potential knows the highwire that axiomatically permits every Thoroughbred foal one opportunity, and one only, to contest the Kentucky Derby. If, with the approach of his third summer, he is not fit and well on the first Saturday in May, then fortune will never indulge him with a second chance. There might yet be greatness, a Travers or a Breeders' Cup. But there will be no Derby.

In 2020, however, the unprecedented (and arguably unnecessary) disordering of the Classic calendar offered some horses a reprieve even as it destroyed the fortunes of others. Nadal (Blame) and Charlatan (Speightstown) showed their readiness for the appointed hour, when the same track that is frozen this weekend salvaged an appropriate Grade I for sophomores on Derby day. Both colts, however, were sidelined by the time Churchill eventually staged a September Derby. In contrast, Maxfield (Street Sense) had appeared to be thrown a lifeline after a layoff that would have made a normal Derby very tight, if not impossible–only to be derailed by another setback in the summer.

Happily, Maxfield made a seamless resumption before Christmas to nourish hope the patience of all involved can be vindicated, and his full potential finally explored, by an uninterrupted campaign at four. Fitting, then, that he should be resuming Saturday in the GIII Mineshaft S.–a race honoring the 2003 Horse of the Year, who built with maturity on foundations laid so carefully in his European nursery.

Maxfield | Horsephotos

Among horsemen, after all, hope springs eternal. And while Maxfield provides a cautionary context, Godolphin certainly has some exciting young colts. Besides Essential Quality, there's the eye-watering Gulfstream maiden winner Prevalence (Medaglia d'Oro); while in yesterday's edition colleague Steve Sherack highlighted the prospects, down the line, of Speaker's Corner (Street Sense). Closer to hand, meanwhile, the deferral of the champion's reappearance switches attention to the aptly named Proxy (Tapit).

The GII Risen Star S. pitches this colt into a rematch with the pair who sandwiched him not only on the GIII Lecomte S. podium, but more or less from the moment the gate opened. That was not so much a horserace as a procession, all three basically holding their positions throughout as Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) controlled a light pace. Seemingly Proxy's rider was intent on engaging Mandaloun (Into Mischief) in the stretch, which possibly helped the leader to hold out. Be that as it may, Proxy gets Johnny V. this time while stretching out to serve a pedigree lavishly seeded by Classic influences. As yet another string to the Tapit bow, alongside Essential Quality and Greatest Honour, Proxy is getting a solid grounding to help add mental maturity (has shied under pressure) to the palpable progress he is making in physical terms.

'TDN Rising Star' Mandaloun | Coady

It remains to be seen whether things can play out quite so conveniently for Midnight Bourbon this time, while Mandaloun must excel not to get caught wide again from gate 11. He certainly has the kind of family that is now supporting his sire, freshly gilded by Authentic, as a bona fide Classic stallion. Indeed, beyond the mare who became agent of its transfer to Juddmonte (bred first three dams), there's an unbroken Whitney line going back to 1918!

The big story bubbling under this race, of course, is Senor Buscador (Mineshaft). Joe Peacock, Jr.'s homebred looks an explosive talent and could put a smile on many faces at Remington Park, in the weeks leading up to May 1, if banking 50 Derby points here. He's a half-brother to Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper), whose GIII Sunland Derby a couple of years ago remains the solitary graded stakes win among 1,158 overall for Todd Fincher. Veteran racetrackers everywhere would be thrilled to see Fincher consoled for the way Runaway Ghost had to leave the Churchill trail with injury.

Senor Buscador | Dustin Orona

It's not just Sheikh Mohammed, then, who knows how precarious a trek these horses are trying to make. So far as Godolphin is concerned, however, I hope it's right to perceive a wholesome shift in the way their Derby quest is viewed. Whether through its owner or the media, there was always something a little too politicized about winning the race “from the desert.” The Sheikh would still be deservedly gratified to realize that dream, but it would be no less a consummation of his unprecedented Turf career to get the job done from an American barn.

Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}), himself a G2 UAE Derby winner, subsequently confirmed himself as eligible a Derby runner as Godolphin has found–yet his deranged antics on breaking were a bewildering reminder that nobody has ever cracked this challenge until that garland is over your horse's withers.

Proxy | Hodges Photography

Suffice to say, for now, that the Sheikh must be delighted with the work of his Stateside team. Maybe none of these horses will reach a sufficient peak to seize the hour on May 1, but right now nobody can know that. Godolphin, remember, have not even had a dozen Derby runners. People who talk of “failure” or “frustration” are forgetting the exorbitant ratios involved, just to get any colt out of the global crop into the Derby gate. They also need to remember that the more difficult this man finds a challenge, the more he enjoys it; and the more he will persevere.

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Lecomte Runners Rematch in Risen Star

The top four finishers from the GIII Lecomte S. Jan. 16 take their next steps down the GI Kentucky Derby trail Saturday in the GII Risen Star S. at Fair Grounds. A $525,000 KEESEP buy, Lecomte winner Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) was second in the GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill in September and was third in Belmont's GI Champagne S. in October. The bay took the field wire-to-wire in the Lecomte, besting Proxy (Tapit) by a length.

“I think the distance is right in his wheelhouse and we're excited about running him in this series because of the distance of these preps,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “He's an efficient mover with a high cruising speed and horses like that can be very effective at Fair Grounds. We were very pleased with how he started off the year and this is the next step.”

A second-out graduate here in November, Proxy captured a 1 1/16-mile allowance in NOLA Dec. 19 prior to the Lecomte. Juddmonte homebred Mandaloun (Into Mischief) opened his account with a pair of wins, debuting at Keeneland in October and then at Churchill Nov. 28. Prepping for this with a best-of-35 five panels here Feb. 6, the bay adds blinkers for this event. Lecomte fourth-place finisher Santa Cruiser (Dialed In) broke his maiden at third asking at Churchill Nov. 15 before taking the leap to graded company.

'TDN Rising Star' Carillo (Union Rags) looks to make yet another headline if he pulls off the upset here. The bay was quite impressive when capturing his career bow at Aqueduct Jan. 8 for the estate of his late breeder Paul Pompa and trainer Chad Brown. The bay topped the Keeneland January sale days later, selling to bloodstock agent Lauren Carlisle for $875,000, and was sent to Tom Amoss. He makes his first start for Amoss and new owners Greg Tramontin, Joel Politi, Brittlyn Stable and Asaro Enterprises in the Risen Star.

“He trains like he ran and shows a great deal of stamina in the mornings and in his workouts,” Amoss said. “He shows a very good turn of foot at the end. The horse is pretty straightforward since I've gotten him. He needs to show he can make the transition from one to two turns but he's not the only horse like that at this time of year. All things point to that being something he's going to successfully do but he hasn't done it at this point.”

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