EXTRA ANEJO, a $1,350,000 KEESEP purchase bet down to 7-5 for his debut performance, backed up those odds with an impressive romp on debut to earn 'TDN Rising Star' status. After breaking on top, he took steady pressure from a pair of rivals to his outside up the backstretch run. He began to edge clear under his own power into the far turn and showed another gear when asked with a single tap of the crop at the top of the lane to draw off readily. Under a motionless Tyler Gaffalione, Extra Anejo hit the line a geared-down 9 1/2 lengths ahead of a chasing Tshiebwe (Race Day) in second.
Out of a half-sister to MGSP Abingdon (Street Cry {Ire}), Extra Anejo is from the extended female family of MG1SW, GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner, and champion grass mare Islington (Ire) (Sadler's Wells). Further back are a plethora of graded-stakes performers including: G1SW & MG1SP Greek Dance (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), G1SW Mountain High (Ire) (Danehill), G1SP Election Day (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), MGSW & G1SP Patkai (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), and GSW New Morning (Ire) (Sadler's Wells). Superioritycomplex, herself purchased by Mt. Brilliant Farm for 400,000gns out of the 2017 Tattersalls December Mixed Sale, produced a weanling colt by Tapit and was bred back to the leading Gainesway sire for the 2023 season.
7th-Keeneland, $99,588, Msw, 10-13, 2yo, 7f, 1:27.17, ft, 9 1/2 lengths. EXTRA ANEJO, c, 2, Into Mischief 1st Dam: Superioritycomplex {Ire}, by Hard Spun 2nd Dam: Justlookdontouch (Ire), by Galileo (Ire) 3rd Dam: Hellenic (Ire), by Darshaan (GB)
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $58,125. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Mt. Brilliant Farm & Ranch, LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. *1,350,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP.
Purchased by Winchell Thoroughbreds for $1,350,000 out of last year's Keeneland September Sale, EXTRA ANEJO (Into Mischief) debuts Thursday for trainer Steve Asmussen. A bay son of Superioritycomplex (Ire) (Hard Spun), herself a half-sister to MGSP Abingdon (Street Cry {Ire}), he hails from the extended family of MG1SW & American champion grass mare Islington (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), G1SW & MG1SP Greek Dance (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), GSW & G1SP Mountain High (Ire) (Danehill), and GSW New Morning (Ire) (Sadler's Wells). Extra Anejo posted three bullets out of his last four works including a five-furlong drill in :59 1/4 over this same track Oct. 3 (1/9) and gets Tyler Gaffalione in the irons.
Making his second start after a troubled trip on debut at Saratoga is Juan Valdez (Medaglia d'Oro), a $900,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale grad who is a half-brother to MGISW & leading sire Constitution. Dam Baffled (Distorted Humor) brought $1.8m from Don Alberto Corp. at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed sale while carrying Juan Valdez and has also produced GSW Jacaranda (Congrats) and GSW Boynton (More Than Ready). TJCIS PPS
Wicked Whisper (Liam's Map – Zayanna, by Bernardini) made quite an impression in Saratoga during the summer of 2019 when she cruised to a 6 1/4-length juvenile maiden win and earned 'TDN Rising Star' status. That victory was just the beginning for the striking chestnut, who went on to become a Grade I winner at two and a graded winner at three. Now, she prepares to go through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale carrying her first foal by Curlin.
“Wicked Whisper has every ingredient to be a foundation mare for somebody,” said Conrad Bandoroff, whose Denali Stud will consign the 5-year-old. “There are no limits to what her offspring could achieve. She has so many traits that we feel not only American buyers, but also an international audience, will appreciate.”
A $500,000 yearling purchase for Alex and JoAnn Lieblong, Wicked Whisper was the priciest yearling to sell from the first crop of Liam's Map. Bandoroff said her physical is just as stunning today.
“Wicked Whisper is drop dead gorgeous,” he said. “She's big, she's pretty and she has an unbelievable shoulder and a great hind leg. Alex buys tremendous physicals and this has been a special filly for them.”
The Steve Asmussen trainee followed her Rising Star-worthy debut with a win in the GI Frizette S., where she established control early and made easy work of the one-mile contest to win by almost three lengths over future MGSW Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief).
“It was a commanding performance,” Bandoroff said. “I think that 2-year-old form and that level of precocity is rare and it's a great quality when you're looking at a broodmare prospect. So many good mares showed ability and precocity at two. She looked like a winner throughout that race and she carried that confidence into a lot of her races.”
Wicked Whisper continued to excel at three, taking the GIII Miss Preakness S. and running second in the GIII Charles Town Oaks.
Meanwhile her half-sister Point of Honor (Curlin) was building up her own resume, winning the 2019 GII Black-Eyed Susan S. at three and placing in a trio of Grade I starts in 2020.
Their dam Zayanna, a daughter of successful broodmare sire Bernardini, is a half-sister to three graded stakes winners. Zayanna has produced four stakes performers in total including Velvet Mood (Lonhro {Aus}), who was a stakes winner at two, sold for $1 million in 2020 and now has two foals on her own produce record.
Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning said he believes that Wicked Whisper's young family has all the potential to become even more active.
“The depth of her pedigree is sensational,” Browning said. “She has some high-quality sisters that are producing and will be producing for many, many years. So you have this pedigree that is really strong and really deep, but it has the opportunity to explode and expand exponentially over the next decade as well.”
Bandoroff explained that after Wicked Whisper retired from racing last year, the Denali team put their heads together with the Lieblongs to decide on her first mating. It was an easy consensuses when they landed on Curlin. The mating replicates the cross that produced Wicked Whisper's Curlin sister Point of Honor.
“We thought it was a perfect mating to get a Grade I-winning mare like Wicked Whisper started,” he said. “Curlin is having arguably his best year ever with the likes of Clairiere, Nest and Malathaat. The cross that we've replicated with Wicked Whisper and Curlin is a similar cross to GISW Clairiere (Curlin), who is out of the Bernardini mare Cavorting. Not only has this cross worked directly in the family with Point of Honor, but it's a cross that has proven to be gold time and time again.”
Wicked Whisper will sells as Hip 253 at the Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars Sale. Bandoroff said he expects the young mare to be popular as buyers are scouting out broodmare prospects.
“I think Wicked Whisper has a very wide and varying appeal,” he noted. “If you're shopping for top-quality, high-end mares, she has to be on your list.”
“To me it's the complete package,” added Browning. “She's a young, Grade I winner in foal to the leading sire of Grade I stakes winners this year in Curlin, plus she's a beautiful physical and has an unbelievable pedigree. I think she gives you the opportunity, based on her 2-year-old ability, to dream early. But also based on her pedigree and the way she is bred, she gives you the opportunity to dream big in terms of being able to compete successfully at Classic-type distances. She has all the attributes to be a game changer from a broodmare perspective.”
Private Creed, a last-out winner of the $500,000 Global Tote Juvenile Turf Sprint S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 8, added another notch to the win column in Sunday's Indian Summer S. while earning an automatic spot in the starting gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint S. to be run over the same Keeneland course and distance Nov. 4.
Off as the second choice with the scratch odds-on morning-line favorite Love Reigns (Ire) (U S Navy Flag)–who is reportedly training up to the Breeders' Cup–Private Creed was taken in hand by Joel Rosario early to attempt to save some ground from the 10 post. He tugged his way up into fourth just behind the leaders at the top of the lane, and slowly built up his momentum to eventually reel in Love Reigns's favored stablemate No Nay Hudson) in the final sixteenth. An extremely green Mo Stash was flying late, but ran out of real estate and came up 3/4 of a length short. No Nay Hudson held third.
“It worked out perfect,” said Rosario. “He showed a lot of speed, [coming from] the post position on the outside. The whole time I was just the passenger. He did the job.”
A $45,000 KEESEP yearling turned $155,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile off a :10 3/5 breeze but very strong gallop out, the bay graduated on debut at Ellis July 30, and was third–one slot and 3/4 of a length behind No Nay Hudson–in Saratoga's Skidmore S. Aug. 19. Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen added blinkers ahead of the race at Kentucky Downs, which was contested over 6 1/2 panels.
“He acts like he'd go farther, but with the success he's having sprinting we're very happy to keep doing this with him for now,” said Asmussen, adding, “With the addition of blinkers he's two for two, so we definitely like that.”
The winner's dam was a minor stakes winner going two turns on the dirt and was purchased by Sharon and Ed Hudon's Sierra Farm for $85,000 at KEENOV '15. Unlucky in her first three breeding seasons, South Andros's first foal to survive was Private Creed. Her yearling colt by Vino Rosso fetched $200,000 from Spendthrift Farm at Fasig-Tipton July. Next in the pipeline is a Complexity colt, and South Andros is back in foal carrying a full to Private Creed.
INDIAN SUMMER S. PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SELECT, $244,688, Keeneland, 10-9, 2yo, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.30, fm.
1–PRIVATE CREED, 120, c, 2, by Jimmy Creed 1st Dam: South Andros (SW, $207,125), by Sky Mesa 2nd Dam: Misty Rain, by Rubiano 3rd Dam: Vigorous Search, by Vigors
($45,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $155,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-Mike
McCarty; B-Sierra Farm (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Joel
Rosario. $145,313. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-1, $509,313.
2–Mo Stash, 118, c, 2, Mo Town–Making Mark Money, by
Smart Strike. ($130,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE.
O-BBN Racing, LLC; B-Rhineshire Farm LLC (KY); T-Victoria H.
Oliver. $46,875.
3–No Nay Hudson (Ire), 118, c, 2, No Nay Never–Raw Silk, by
Malibu Moon. ($190,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Andrew Farm &
For the People Racing Stable LLC; B-RJB Bloodstock (IRE);
T-Wesley A. Ward. $18,750.
Margins: 3/4, 1, 1. Odds: 2.64, 5.80, 1.81.
Also Ran: Ghent, Mounsieur Coco, Bourbon Therapy, Kbcya Later, Revere Note, Numero Seis, Castelmola. Scratched: Love Reigns (Ire). Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
