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Global Campaign and Tom’s d’Etat at WinStar Farm

With 18 stallions already standing at stud, WinStar Farm already had one of the largest stallion rosters in Kentucky, but they will be busier than ever in 2021 after having welcomed five new recruits for the upcoming season. Laoban (Uncle Mo) will stand his first year in Kentucky after becoming a Grade I-producing sire this year, while Grade I winners Improbable (City Zip) and Promises Fulfilled (Shackleford) will start off their career at the Versailles farm.

Today, we speak with WinStar’s General Manager Dave Hanley on Global Campaign (Curlin) and Tom’s d’Etat (Smart Strike), who round out the list of new additions and who both rank among the top earners for their respective trainers.

Tom’s d’Etat (Smart Strike), $17,500

While it would be difficult to top the career of Horse of the Year Blame, Tom’s d’Etat comes close as trainer Al Stall Jr.’s next-highest earning Grade I winner.

“You could tell by listening to Al that he had really high regard for Tom’s d’Etat,” Hanley said. “He’s the coolest horse to be around. Really laid back with the most beautiful head and demeanor about him. I think he’s got a lot of class. You know, Al had trained Blame, but you could tell Al really loved this horse.”

Tom’s d’Etat was a $330,000 Keeneland September buy for Gayle Benson’s G M B Racing. From the family of top sire Candy Ride (Arg), the SF Bloodstock-bred son of Smart Strike is out of stakes winner and Grade III-placed Julia Tuttle (Giant’s Causeway).

“Being by a sire that’s a proven sire of sires and having a sire like Candy Ride in his pedigree is quite extraordinary,” Hanley said. “What’s interesting about his pedigree is his dam is by Giant’s Causeway, who was out of a Rahy mare. Rahy is by Blushing Groom (Fr) and Candy Ride’s broodmare sire is also by Blushing Groom. Northern Dancer on top of Blushing Groom gives you sires like Awesome Again, who is out of a Blushing Groom mare. Carson City was also out of a Blushing Groom mare and was obviously the sire of City Zip. So it’s a very strong sire-making cross.”

Hanley said that in terms of conformation, Tom’s d’Etat is a reflection of both Smart Strike and Candy Ride.

“He’s put together much like his sire and also has a little bit of Candy Ride in his make and shape,” he said. “He’s a beautifully balanced horse in that everything works for him. He’s got great use of his shoulders and carries his head and neck in a good position. He’s a beautiful mover and really opens his shoulder when he moves. His mechanics work really well and when he’s galloping, you can see what good use he has of himself.”

On the track, Tom’s d’Etat broke his maiden at Saratoga as a sophomore before adding four more wins in optional claimers at four and five. Stepping up into stakes company, he won the Tenacious S. at Fair Grounds to cap off his 5-year-old season.

After running second to four-time Grade I winner McKinzie (Street Sense) in the GII Alysheba S., the fleet-footed bay added the Alydar S. at Saratoga to his resume last summer as he reached top form. WinStar started to take notice of the stallion prospect.

“From May of 2019 to August of 2020 he ran nine-straight triple digit Beyers,” Hanley said. “He was such a dominant racehorse and was so talented, he really took our attention.”

His next win came in the GII Hagyard Fayette S. at Keeneland, his first graded stakes success, followed by his signature Grade I victory in the Clark S.

“His win in the Clark was another example of one of his dominating performances,” Hanley said. “He sat mid-division and then made an unbelievable move. He didn’t just go to the front, he flew.”

After defeating Improbable (City Zip) in the Oaklawn Mile S., Tom’s d’Etat added another win in the GII Stephen Foster S. where he earned a career-best 109 Beyer and just missed the track record by 0.02 seconds.

“It was quite a brilliant performance,” Hanley recalled. “Actually, he was eased down that day. Had they ridden him to the line, he might have even broken the track record.”

After two troubled trips in the latter half of his 2020 season in the GI Whitney S., where he still fought to finish third, and the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic, Tom’s d’Etat retired with earnings of over $1.76 million, having run in the money in all but five of his 20 starts.

Hanley said that their team is not at all phased that Tom’s d’Etat retires at the age of seven. It’s not their first time retiring older horses to stud.

“Some people are against that or think it’s a disadvantage to him,” Hanley said. “But you know, we’ve had two very good horses go through our stud barn here in Speightstown and Distorted Humor that both came to stud at age six and stood their first year as 7-year-olds. So, it doesn’t bother us at all. I think he’s going to be a good stallion regardless. Tom’s d’Etat’s pedigree is really stacked with sire-making potential. We’re going to support him really well together with our shareholders like Fred Hertrich, Siena Farm and Taylor Made. We really believe in his chance of becoming a top stallion.”

Global Campaign (Curlin), $12,500

Big names jumped off Global Campaign’s pedigree from the start with the likes of his half-brother, dual Grade I winner Bolt d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro), as well as another stakes-winning half-brother in Sonic Mule (Distorted Humor). His family also includes ‘TDN Rising Star’ Recruiting Ready (Algorithms), plus three-time Grade I winner and sire Zensational (Unbridled’s Song).

“Global Campaign is probably the best-bred son of Curlin,” Hanley said. “He’s a very good-looking horse for his sire line. He has very clean lines and is a smooth horse. He’s beautifully made, very well proportioned and is a really good mover. It’s hard to fault him. He’s a really exceptional physical.”

The WinStar-bred was a $250,000 Keeneland September purchase for Sagamore Farm and was given to trainer Stanley Hough to race in partnership with WinStar.

“About a month before the September Sale, he got a bang on his knee that fired up physitis in the knee,” Hanley said. “So going into the sale, I think that took a number of people off him. But we really liked him and were anxious to stay in for a piece. Stanley Hough and Hunter Rankin were very gracious to allow us to do that.”

Global Campaign was sent to Ocala Stud to undergo training, and Hanley said he remembers visiting the youngster.

“Elliott [Walden] and I went down in the spring of his 2-year-old year and they were already excited about him,” he said. “He was starting to separate himself from the others and they thought he was one of the nicest horses they had down there. He was a beautiful mover, a very positive horse in his work, and looked like he was going to be something.”

In January of his sophomore season, the colt turned heads on debut when he broke his maiden by almost six lengths and then earned ‘Rising Star’ status in his next start. Later in the season, he defeated eventual GI Belmont S. winner Sir Winston (Awesome Again) in the GIII Peter Pan S. followed by a third-place effort in the GII Jim Dandy S.

“Unfortunately in that race, he grabbed himself coming out of the gate and took a chunk out of his heel,” Hanley relayed.

After a nine-month layoff, the bay returned with a victory at four in a Gulfstream optional claimer before stepping back into graded stakes company and taking the GIII Monmouth Cup S.

“He made the running and had his ears pricked in front,” Hanley recalled. “The other horse, Bal Harbour (First Samurai), went to go by him and he just rallied and put the race away. He was the kind of horse that I think always ran with a bit more in the tank than you saw. He’s a horse that liked to get on the front end, relax, and could finish up really well.”

Global Campaign made his Grade I debut this summer in the Woodward H., breaking first and never looking back to defeat the likes of Grade I winner Math Wizard (Algorithms) and multiple graded stakes winner Tacitus (Tapit).

He earned a career-best 106 Beyer in his final start this year, fighting to place third after a troubled start in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic behind Horse of the Year favorite Authentic (Into Mischief) and fellow WinStar studmate Improbable.

Hanley spoke about the meaning the horse had for his connections in taking co-owner Sagamore Farm on their probable final trip to the Breeders’ Cup as they phase out of racing and becoming trainer Stanley Hough’s leading earner.

“It was really nice for Sagamore to have a really good horse like him as they get out of the business,” he said. “Both Hunter Rankin and Stanley Hough did a marvelous job managing the horse. Stanley is a real all-time horseman and you could tell being around him how excited he was about this horse.”

While WinStar had initially announced that they were considering pointing the Grade I winner towards the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S., they later decided that he would not resume training following the Breeders’ Cup.

“When we took him back to the farm, he was going down so well with the breeders and looked so good,” Hanley said. “We’re very happy that he’s here. He’s been very, very popular. I think he’s already booked to 80 mares and people really like him.”

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Body & Soul: How Quickly the Tide Turns…

Those of us who grew up in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s were not only blessed with some extraordinary major league teams and athletes, as well as more than enough superior racehorses, but were also lucky that so many of the radio and television play-by-play announcers were among the greatest of all time–ranging from Vin Scully in Brooklyn to Mel Allen in the Bronx to Fred Capossela at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga.

But the voice that sticks in our mind is that of the man who called the Knick games (Knickerbockers to us luddites): Later a legend in Hawaii, his name was Les Keiter and he kept your interest even in runaways until in some games one team would go on a streak into which he would exclaim, “How quickly the tide turns in basketball!”

Well, dear reader, keep that line in mind because when it comes to stallions whose first foals are yearlings, we have a crowd that has come in on a strong tide that has carried a select group of potentially “big fish” for buyers to consider starting with the upcoming yearling sales.

More specifically we refer to the Freshmen stallions whose offspring would be most likely in demand. We have determined that there will be 27 of them, most of whom stand in Kentucky, and of those 20–or 74%–represent only three sire lines: A.P. Indy, Fappiano and Smart Strike. We have checked our data for the past decade and found that only the Freshman crop of 2010 was close to being as concentrated with specific gene pools with A.P. Indy, Distorted Humor and Storm Cat accounting for 40% of 46 in the base group.

For the purposes of this report, we have grouped together stallions which we have analyzed biomechanically as well as a few that are not in our database yet have enough foals and credibility in their regions to indicate they will have followings. In any case there are only a few of the latter and are not likely to tip the scales dramatically when it comes to the attending Phenotype Targets.

Representing the A.P. Indy line are Malibu Moon’s sons Mr. Z, Gormley and Stanford; Pulpit’s sons American Freedom and Lord Nelson; Tapit’s sons Cupid, Divining Rod and Mohaymen; and Greenpointcrusader, by Bernardini.

From the Fappiano line we have Candy Ride (Arg)’s sons Gun Runner, Unified and Mastery; Unbridled’s Song’s sons Arrogate (deceased) and Bird Song; and from the Empire Maker branch Classic Empire and Midnight Storm, both by Pioneerof the Nile.

We chose Smart Strike as a foundation sire because he has come on strongly through his son Curlin, who has Connect, Keen Ice and Union Jackson in this crop; in addition, Smart Strike now has Lookin At Lucky, whose son Madefromlucky is the first one by that suddenly desirable sire to get a chance at stud.

Let us clarify a few things here. First, we are not necessarily wedded to the concept of sire lines that remain viable as definitive expressions of the aptitudes of a line’s namesake over a long period of time. We have seen so many physical variations within lines over the years that we tend to keep an eyebrow arched when it comes to evaluating whether such a progenitor’s descendants fit a given pattern. In our world that pattern is loosely defined by similarity in Phenotype.

A Phenotype is loosely defined as any characteristic (structural, physiological, or behavioral) which has been determined by its genotype (genetic code) and environment (competitive racing).

Three Phenotype charts, which we have utilized before, illustrate how members of a peer group might resemble each other phenotypically. They are color-coded to identify the sire of each horse, and those sires are also in the group. Caveat: Not every one of the 20 stallions we have mentioned above is depicted on the charts but as we indicated the ones which are not there are not going to significantly shift the patterns shown.

When we first looked at this crowd, we were struck by the impression that over the years what might not have been expected from sons of Fappiano, A.P. Indy and Smart Strike was that they would develop phenotypical tribes of their own. This was especially surprising when it came to Fappiano, who was as structurally balanced as one could hope for (he would be a dot in the center of his target) and yet remains influential today thanks to Cryptoclearance and Unbridled. These were two large individuals who may have appeared to be completely different to the naked eye–Cryptoclearance was rangy and somewhat light while Unbridled was solid and muscular. In fact, they were close to being the same phenotypically and relatively close to each other on the Fappiano chart.

Cryptoclearance went on to be a decent sire (Victory Gallop won the GI Belmont S.), but few would have predicted that one of his more modestly accomplished sons, Ride the Rails, would sire Candy Ride (Arg). Although we have no biomechanical data on Ride the Rails, we did inspect him in Argentina in the year Candy Ride was foaled and he seemed a combination of Fappiano and Cryptoclearance whereas Candy Ride favors his broodmare sire Candy Stripes, a son of Blushing Groom (Fr). All that said, this tribe expresses itself on the chart in a way that roughly corresponds to their racing aptitudes–powerful, but not overpowered to be considered one-dimensional speedballs.

Except for one representative of Malibu Moon, the A.P. Indy cluster is much more uniform in biomechanical expression–it’s a clear reflection of the fact that breeders wanted to bring more speed in the broodmares to him and his sons and the result is a virtual uniform phenotypical identity.

Smart Strike’s crowd may appear to be all over the place but in some respects it’s actually reflective of what a Phenotype target would look like for his sire Mr. Prospector and his more accomplished sons–some with almost unbalanced power and others more blended with stride factors. We find this intriguing and if Curlin and Lookin At Lucky can continue to throw out high-class colts, we might be on the verge of a line being solidified.

So, which Freshmen sires do we like? Not so fast, please. We have not been able to inspect a whole lot of this crowd because of the pandemic, and we will need to deploy our troops widely in the upcoming months to hone our algorithmic projections. In addition, there are some very nice prospects with first yearlings whose sires are by Into Mischief (Practical Joke), Ghostzapper (Shaman Ghost), Medaglia d’Oro (Astern {Aus}), Put It Back (Bal a Bali {Brz}), Quality Road (Blofeld, Hootenanny and Klimt) and War Front (War Correspondent).

Like Les Keiter, we’ll be watching for any shifts in the tide.

(Bob Fierro is a partner with Jay Kilgore and Frank Mitchell in DataTrack International, biomechanical consultants and developers of BreezeFigs. He can be reached a bbfq@earthlink.net).

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Pointing To Forego, Vekoma Takes Over NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

With Midnight Bisou and Tom's d'Etat both suffering defeats in their respective Grade 1 races at Saratoga Race Course this past weekend, multiple top-level winner Vekoma gained the majority of support among voters to move into the No. 1 position on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Vekoma has been flawless in his 4-year-old campaign to date, winning all three of his outings including victories in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. The son of Candy Ride (ARG) surged to the top of this week's poll with 13 first-place votes and 321 total points and is expected to make his next start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Forego on August 29 at Saratoga.

“We're trying to make it to the Breeders' Cup and the Forego is the most logical next spot,” trainer George Weaver told the NYRA publicity team regarding Vekoma. “So far, everything's looking good and we're looking forward to getting him back to the races. The sky's the limit for him.”

Tom's d'Etat could have made a case to move into the No. 1 slot with a victory in last Saturday's Grade Whitney Stakes but the 7-year-old stumbled out of the gate en route to a third-place finish. The son of Smart Strike still earned 6 first-place votes and 299 points to hold onto the No. 2 spot while his Whitney conqueror Improbable moved into the third position with 6 first-place votes and 278 points.

Champion Maximum Security (9 first-place votes, 256 points) maintains the fourth spot while fellow Eclipse Award-winner Midnight Bisou – who had held the top spot in the poll since March 10 – dropped to fifth with 1 first-place vote and 248 points after she finished second as the favorite behind Vexatious in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes.

Zulu Alpha (140 points) ranks sixth followed by Monomoy Girl, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2018, in seventh with 2 first-place votes and 120 points. Top-ranked sophomore Tiz the Law ranks eighth with 3 first-place votes and 118 points while By My Standards (112 points) and Volatile (56) round out the top 10.

Ahead of his expected run in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga this Saturday, Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law remains the clear choice in the NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Poll with 40 first-place votes and 400 total points. Honor A. P., who finished second in the Shared Belief Stakes on August 1, holds onto the No. 2 spot with 300 points.

Grade 1 Haskell Stakes victor Authentic (280 points) sits third followed by Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes winner Art Collector (276), who is expected to be the heavy favorite in the Ellis Park Derby on August 9.

Los Alamitos Derby victor Uncle Chuck (180 points) ranks fifth ahead of his planned start in the Travers Stakes while stablemate Thousand Words (138) rejoins the top 10 in sixth following his victory in the Shared Belief Stakes.

Haskell runner-up Ny Traffic (112 points) ranks seventh followed by King Guillermo, winner of the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, in eighth with 106 points. Sophomore fillies Swiss Skydiver (89 points) and Gamine (84) complete the top 10.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in both the Top Three-Year-Old Poll and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup in November.

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Nicknamed ‘Bumble’ As A Young Colt, Tom’s D’Etat Has Maintained His Steady Demeanor

G M B Racing's Tom's d'Etat, the 6-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney at Saratoga Race Course, has come a long way from his humble beginnings as a laid-back yearling.

Long before the 7-year-old son of Smart Strike was a Grade 1-winning millionaire and among the leaders of the North American handicap division, he was selected by trainer Al Stall, Jr. and Frank Wooten at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was purchased for $330,000 and was sent to Wooten's farm in Camden, South Carolina for his first lessons under saddle.

Tom's d'Etat arrives at the Whitney off four straight triumphs, including scores in the Grade 2 Fayette on October 26 at Keeneland, the Grade 1 Clark on November 29 at Churchill Downs, the Oaklawn Mile on April 18, and the Grade 2 Stephen Foster on June 27 at Churchill Downs and has accumulated $1,627,272 in lifetime earnings.

Much has changed the past six years with Tom's d'Etat, but Wooten said his demeanor is a notable exception.

“When we first got him here, he was so laid back,” said Wooten. “I galloped him myself and I thought 'Oh my God, we bought a plodding horse.' He was easy to gallop. He was a beautiful mover, but just kind of a lazy big horse, but he progressed from there.”

Tom's d'Etat remained with Wooten following the 2014 sale until later that following spring.

When Wooten began breezing Tom's d'Etat at the Camden Training Center, he said the horse took some major steps forward but still did not display an aggressive nature.

“He always had been a good actor and very easy to break, which was nice,” Wooten said. “A lot of the good horses are hard to handle, but he had a great mind. Mentally, he was just a nice horse. He took everything in stride and dealt with everything nicely. Some of the other ones, their eyes are popping out of their head and they get aggressive, but he took everything in stride.”

Tom's d'Etat's large stature and quiet manner earned him a unique nickname at the barn.

“We called him Bumble, like the abominable snowman [from the animated TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer],” Wooten said. “He was so big and just plodded along as baby, I kept thinking 'Once we light his fire, he'll get tougher' but he never really did. He was just the same. He was a beautiful mover across the ground, but just was not aggressive.”

Lightly raced for a horse his age, Tom's d'Etat has a couple of gaps in his form. Following a maiden victory at third asking over the Saratoga main track in August 2016 , he did not race again until the following March, where he defeated winners at Fair Grounds. In July 2017, he registered a 106 Beyer Speed Figure from a nine-length victory in a Saratoga allowance optional claiming event over stakes winners Far From Over and Bodhisattva. He did not return to action until November 2018, but did so in style with a 7 ¼-length romp over an off track at Churchill Downs.

“Al always knew he had the talent,” Wooten said. “There were just some small nagging things here and there that got in the way. He was just a big horse with a ton of speed and that didn't go well together, especially with a young horse. We always knew he had the talent.”

Wooten is no stranger to developing subsequent top-level performers having worked with Grade 1-winners Action This day, Upstart as well as Happy Ticket, the latter of whom Wooten said was similar in temperament.

“She was actually like the female Tom's d'Etat. She was taking everything in stride,” Wooten said of the three-time Louisiana-bred graded stakes winner, who won the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga in 2005.

Wooten credited Stall, Jr.'s patient approach with Tom's d'Etat, which he said allowed the big horse to develop.

“There aren't many trainers that will give a horse the time it needs, but Al will give a horse the time,” Wooten said. “The good thing about him is that he will race these horses when they're 5, 6 or even 7, especially when he knows he has something special.”

Wooten and Stall, Jr.'s success has gone beyond Tom's D'Etat. On Wednesday afternoon, the conditioner saddled 3-year-old Zero to Sixty to a debut maiden victory at Saratoga. The Colombine Stable-owned American Pharoah filly was shown the ropes by Wooten.

“He took his time with her, too. She didn't run as 2-year-old. I just hope she continues to mature,” Wooten said.

Wooten said he is hopeful that Tom's d'Etat can have an equally as successful career as a sire when he takes up residence at WinStar Farm upon retirement

“Al said that he's still a nice horse to be around and hopefully he'll pass that on,” Wooten said.

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