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Deep Impact’s Danon Kingly Salutes in Yasuda Kinen

Danox Inc.'s Danon Kingly (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) dethroned MG1SW Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in her bid to win back-to-back G1 Yasuda Kinens, with a narrow victory at Tokyo on Sunday. It was the 5-year-old entire's first win at the highest level after he had been placed in a pair of Classics in 2019 and the race is a “Win And You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile this fall.

Sent off at 47-1, Danon Kingly perched three deep in midfield as Daiwa Cagney (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) rattled off fractions of :23.30 for the opening quarter and :46.40 for the half-mile over the firm turf. Winding up for his bid on the far turn, the bay fanned widest of all bar two at the 400-metre mark. He was soon in touch with the leaders, but inside the final furlong, anyone of four were in with a shot.

Favoured at 50 cents on the dollar, Gran Alegria, who had arrived on the scene from farther back than Danon Kingly, thrust her head in front in the shadow of the wire towards the inside, but the winner was flashing home even more strongly and got his head down first at the line. It was only a half-length back to Group 1 winner Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) in third to the inside of Danon Kingly, while only a neck separated him from fourth-place Indy Champ (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}), who'd won this affair in 2019, and was sandwiched between the second and third home.

“He felt a bit tense first entering the track but he had good rhythm during the trip and had plenty of horse left,” said jockey Yuga Kawada. “He responded just as I hoped turning the last corner and ran well after that. Although he hasn't been

able to put in the best results in the past, he has definitely demonstrated his true strength today and I'm happy to have been a part of it in my first time in the saddle.”

Unbeaten in two starts as a juvenile and in his 3-year-old bow, the 2019 G3 Kyodo News Hai, Danon Kingly ran third in the G1 Japanese 2000 Guineas and went one better in the G1 Japanese Derby in May of that year. Given some time off, he returned with a win in the G2 Mainichi Okan that October and, after an unplaced run in the G1 Mile Championship, returned at four to take the G2 Nakayama Kinen first up over 1800 metres last March. Third in the G1 Osaka Hai last April, he ran unplaced in both the 2020 Yasuda Kinen and in the Nov. 1 G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn). This was his first start at five.

Pedigree Notes

Danon Kingly is the 51st Group 1 winner for his late sire, who celebrated another Classic winner in the past few days with record 16-length G1 Cazoo Oaks heroine Snowfall (Jpn). Of the former Shadai stallion's 175 black-type winners and 142 group winners, 16 are out of Storm Cat mares. Group 1 winners A Shin Hikari (Jpn), Loves Only You (Jpn), Kizuna (Jpn), Satono Aladdin (Jpn), Real Steel (Jpn), Study Of Man (Ire), Lachesis (Jpn) and Ayusan (Jpn) are bred on this cross. Of these nine, four won Classics in Japan and France.

A winner at three, My Goodness's first foal is G3 Capella S. victor Danon Legend (Macho Uno), who was purchased for $385,000 out of the Barretts March sale in 2012 and sent to Japan. Her 2012 produce was the Japanese listed winner Danon Good (Jpn) (Elusive Quality). Danon Kingly is the most decorated of her nine offspring, while he is also a half-brother to the 3-year-old colt Danon Velocity (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), a 2-year-old full-brother to Danon Velocity and a yearling filly by Heart's Cry (Jpn) yet to come. My Goodness, a half-sister to American Champion 3-Year-Old Colt West Coast (Flatter), a winner of the GI Travers S. and GI Pennsylvania Derby, visited the court of Epiphaneia (Jpn) last spring.

The duo are out of U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Caressing (Honour and Glory), whose biggest claim to fame was a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, but who also struck twice at Grade III level Stateside. She, in turn, was a half-sister to Listed Natalma S. heroine Platinum Blonde (Silver Hawk). This is the extended family of GI Donn H., GI Meadowlands Cup H. and GI Gulfstream Park H. hero Sea Cadet (Bolger), as well as GII Del Mar Futurity victor and GI Champagne S. third On Target (Forty Niner), both later sires.

Sunday, Tokyo, Japan
YASUDA KINEN-G1, ¥252,260,000, Tokyo, 6-6, 3yo & up, 1600mT, 1:31.70, firm
1–DANON KINGLY (JPN), 128, h, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)
                1st Dam: My Goodness, by Storm Cat
                2nd Dam: Caressing, by Honour and Glory
                3rd Dam: Lovin Touch, by Majestic Prince
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Danox Inc.; B-Mishima Bokujo (Jpn);
T-Kiyoshi Hagiwara; J-Yuga Kawada. ¥132,982,000. Lifetime
Record: 12-6-1-2. *1/2 to Danon Legend (Macho Uno), GSW
-Jpn, $3,324,208; and Danon Good (Jpn) (Elusive Quality), SW-J
pn, $1,161,123. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Gran Alegria (Jpn), 123, m, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Tapitsfly, by
Tapit. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm (Jpn); ¥52,876,000.
3–Schnell Meister (Ger), 119, c, 3, Kingman (GB)–Serienholde
(Ger), by Soldier Hollow (GB). O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern
Farm (Ger); ¥33,438,000.
Margins: HD, HF, NK. Odds: 46.60, 0.50, 9.20.
Also Ran: Indy Champ (Jpn), Taurus Gemini (Jpn), Cadenas (Jpn), Danon Premium (Jpn), Salios (Jpn), Gibeon (Jpn), Cadens Call (Jpn), Daiwa Cagney (Jpn), Catedral (Jpn), Karate (Jpn), Lauda Sion (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Taking Stock: Coolmore Investment In Scat Daddy Sons Paying Off

No matter how ugly racing can get over here on our dirt tracks, most recently highlighted by the Gl Kentucky Derby betamethasone positive of the Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit (Protonico), North American pedigrees have to be reckoned with wherever racing is conducted at the highest levels, and that includes on turf in Japan (Sunday Silence) and Australasia (Danehill) in addition to Europe (Sadler's Wells). No one knows this better than the Coolmore partners, headed by maestro John Magnier, who learned this lesson decades ago on American buying sprees as the then-junior partner of Robert Sangster and Magnier's father-in-law Vincent O'Brien. The Irish group made a killing buying and breeding offspring of GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. winner Northern Dancer, a colt who, by the way, raced on Lasix in the Derby when no one had a clue as to what that drug was. He sired–among many other icons–the great Coolmore stallion Sadler's Wells, in turn the sire of Coolmore's more recent giants Galileo (Ire) and the late Montjeu (Ire).

Coolmore is the ultimate stallion maker, and it is invested to this day in various lines of Northern Dancer aside from Sadler's Wells that have far-reaching influence. Protonico, the sire of Medina Spirit, is by Coolmore's late Giant's Causeway, the best racing son of Storm Cat. Bred in Kentucky by Coolmore partners, Giant's Causeway began his stud career in Ireland and was later transferred to its Kentucky satellite at Ashford Stud. Giant's Causeway is also the sire of Cowboy Cal, the broodmare sire of last weekend's Preakness S. winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy), and his influence is particularly profound through his Kentucky-bred son Shamardal, who has a boatload of promising young sons at stud in Europe, particularly for Godolphin.

The Irish-headquartered operation is back at it again with another Storm Cat-line horse in Caravaggio (Scat Daddy), a young American-bred freshman stallion based this year at Coolmore America. So far through a young juvenile season, Caravaggio is making a loud noise in Europe with six winners to his credit, suggesting that he could have a mammoth year at the rate he's clicking, and his start at stud is reminiscent of No Nay Never, another son of Scat Daddy. A Group 1 winner in Europe, No Nay Never began his racing career at Keeneland (yes, on Lasix, unlike in his European wins) and is now one of the most exciting young sires in Europe, standing in Ireland for €125,000 after starting out for €20,000 in 2015 and reaching a reported €175,000 in 2020.

Hours before Rombauer won the first Lasix-free Preakness in decades, Caravaggio got his fifth winner, The Entertainer (Ire), a colt trained by Aidan O'Brien for the Coolmore partners, and the day after the Baltimore Classic, the muscular grey stallion got his sixth winner when Andreas Vesalius (Ire) and Silver Surfer (GB) ran one-two in a Naas maiden race for trainers Joseph and Donnacha O'Brien, respectively. He's the young horse everyone is talking about in Europe the same way they did of No Nay Never, and he's available this year for $25,000 to American breeders after three seasons in Ireland, where he entered stud for €35,000 (the equivalent of about $40,000 at the time) in 2018.

To say that Coolmore is heavily invested in the Scat Daddy line, both here and in Ireland, is an understatement. Aside from Caravaggio, Coolmore also stands Scat Daddy's sons Justify and Mendelssohn at Ashford. The latter, a Grade l winner who was campaigned in England, Ireland, Dubai, and the U.S., was purchased by Coolmore for a sale-topping $3 million at Keeneland September in 2016, while the 2018 Triple Crown winner was purchased from WinStar and partners for a reported valuation of $75 million.

In Ireland, Coolmore stands the aforementioned No Nay Never, a Group 1 winner at two, and the Kentucky-bred 2-year-old Group 1 winner Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy). Also standing there are No Nay Never's sons Ten Sovereigns (Ire), a Group 1 winner at two and three; and Arizona (Ire), a Group 2 winner who was twice Group 1-placed–all at two. Coolmore obviously moved Caravaggio from Ireland to Kentucky to give him new life for his fourth year at stud and to make way for Ten Sovereigns, because the two are essentially the same type: Caravaggio was also a Group 1 winner at two and three and a specialist sprinter like Ten Sovereigns.

The best European-raced offspring of Scat Daddy tended to be, like the aforementioned horses, 2-year-old Group winners and/or fast sprinters–think of G1 King's Stand S. and Prix Morny winner Lady Aurelia, too–and this is very much a sire-line trait for this branch of Northern Dancer that started with Storm Bird. In fact, each stallion in the sequence to Caravaggio that goes from Storm Bird/Storm Cat/Hennessy/Johannesburg/Scat Daddy was a Group 1 or Grade l winner at two.

Note also in this sire-line sequence that every horse from Storm Bird to Caravaggio stood at Ashford except for Overbrook's Storm Cat, but he was one that Coolmore identified early as a breed-shaper and jumped on board to use. One of his last remaining sons at stud, Tale of the Cat, still stands at Ashford.

In contrast to Europe, the best Scat Daddys in North America stayed farther, and Justify is obviously the supreme example. He also was unraced at two, and his forte was dirt; therefore, Coolmore now has all the racing aptitudes covered in Kentucky with the Scat Daddy sires Justify (Triple Crown winner, dirt); Mendelssohn (Grade l winner on turf at two at a mile, Grade ll winner and multiple Grade l-placed on dirt at three at up to a mile and a quarter); and Caravaggio (Group 1 winner on turf at two and three in sprints).

Caravaggio's return to Kentucky was something of a homecoming because he was bred by Coolmore America director of sales Charlie O'Connor (Petaluma Bloodstock) in partnership with his father-in-law's Windmill Manor Farms. The specialist sprinter was produced from the Holy Bull black-type winner Mekko Hotke and has a thoroughly American pedigree on the dam's side, but he was campaigned by the Coolmore partners on the turf in Europe, where he won seven of 10 starts and was undefeated in four starts at two for Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle.

His early promise now, coupled with the rise of No Nay Never, bodes well for the other sons and grandsons of Scat Daddy that Coolmore has in the pipeline. Coolmore lost Scat Daddy, a dirt horse who raced on Lasix, in December of 2015 at age 11, a few months before the stallion was to cover mares at a career-high fee of $100,000. He'd entered stud for $30,000 in 2008 and had dropped to a low of $10,000 in his fourth year at stud before his first crop took off, and in hindsight his loss has been massive for Coolmore, which has double-downed on his sons. And the gamble appears to paying off.

The global operation dominates the European Classics with its Galileos but is one European-based entity that has a healthy dose of respect for American-raced horses, even the ones that campaigned on race-day medication. Scat Daddy, for example, had no issues siring high-quality runners that raced without medication in Europe, and Coolmore has never thumbed its nose at dirt performers. Magnier's son M.V. Magnier put it unequivocally a few years back when he said, “My grandfather M. V. O'Brien built Ballydoyle off the backs of some brilliant American Classic horses. In Justify and American Pharoah we now have two all-time greats, so we couldn't be more optimistic about the future.”

Perhaps this is the reason that Coolmore is the leading racing stable and stud operation in Europe and, arguably, the world.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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Body & Soul: Hey Sport, How Ya Doin’?

Your correspondent distinctly remembers interviewing a youngish financial guru over lunch at The Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel on Central Park West. It was in 1977, and it was shortly after Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown, something one doesn't forget.

What sticks in our mind, however, was not the interview. Rather he went on a rave about “Slew” after our chat uncovered a mutual obsession with the sport. We tossed out that he might be judged a “freak” by blue-blooded observers, upon which my tablemate provocatively opined that, “No, he's not a freak, he's a 'sport.'”

That caused an eyebrow to arch. We'd come across the term in biology class in college and while subsequently covering a wide variety of sports as a journalist and statistician. However, in 2021 we found this definition in the Macmillan Dictionary: “A sport is a plant or animal that is different in a noticeable way from other plants or animals of the same type.” Not exactly “part of the in-crowd,” maybe a bit of an outlier.

Rather than get into a spat over semantics, our opinion was exactly the opposite: Seattle Slew was what you might imagine would be the result if you bred his fifth dam Myrtlewood to his great grandsire Bold Ruler–he was a replica and thereby the culmination in the perfection of a physical type. He was “part of the in-crowd,” so to speak. But he was no “sport.”

This all comes to mind because of our continual research into how Thoroughbred functionality as expressed in biomechanics and pedigree research can be combined to produce insights into how the breed has evolved and, perhaps, what we can look forward to in the future. In this respect we adhere to the underlying theses set forth by Dr. Franco Varola, by virtue of the titles of his two books: The Typology of the Racehorse (1974) and The Functional Development of the Thoroughbred (1979).

Varola's development of the Dosage system has been misinterpreted by many as a pedigree tool first and foremost. In fact, he developed the system based on how the offspring of stallions performed, what types they produced, how those types functioned, how they influenced the breed typologically–i.e., biomechanically. Along the way the functionality accrued to the pedigrees, but to date there has really been no detailed research into how the two arts (or, scientific arts) have interacted–or could.

We have no issue with pedigree research or utilizing a Dosage system as a basis or supplement to insight. But what sparked our interest of late is that in going through our biomechanical database, we discovered that in the past 30 years there has been one epochal and three additional extraordinary stallions which when they retired to stud were not considered in any biomechanical or pedigree sense “part of the crowd.” They were considered somewhat like outliers. They are their own crowd phenotypically.

A bit of background here: It is axiomatic that a species has a best chance of survival if the breeding population develops leaders whose physical properties adapt to and survive challenges to their environments–ergo, the strong survive. In Thoroughbreds, one wants a balance of power for speed, stride or extension for flexibility, and body weight that neither runs out of gas sprinting (too heavy) or going long (too light).

Phenotype charts tend to place the most consistent breeders close to the center of a target–the more balanced the phenotype, the more likely it will pass on quality.

Our research has shown this to be extremely consistent–indeed, leading sires were usually very well balanced physically and were usually by excellent stallions and had historically successful family trees. Crucially, however, they were of certain types with one or two biomechanical properties that produced runners who could compete at the top levels within the demands of racing programs and market preferences at the time.

For example, the racing programs through the end of the 1970s were geared toward prepping horses for the Classics and handicap races. One of the key properties that was consistent in stallions in those days was that the combination of gears through the hip, or rump if you will, were almost always of the same lengths.

The congruency of these body parts equals balance and strength. If one of them is longer, the function provided by that part of the gears would more than likely help define the racing aptitude of the horse. Up until the 1980s, the only one of those gears that was most often longer than the others was the tibia–whose function was to provide strong, steady closing power–which was what owners of Classic and handicap horses prized.

Beginning in the 1980s and increasingly with the blending of successful European racehorses into North America we saw something more often associated with horses that excelled on the turf–the tibia was shorter than the ilium and femur. This functionality is the biomechanical explanation behind the word “kick.” The shorter the tibia, the more quickly the horse was likely to move late, more likely on the turf at any distance. The longer the ilium, the more pronounced a horse's downhill motion could be generated. The longer the femur, the stronger the thrust toward flexible speed.

Rarely, if ever, had we seen a major commercial sire prospect enter the stud with either the ilium or femur longer or shorter than the tibia–and, more importantly, few of them ever appeared among the leading sires. However, the demands of the marketplace caused breeders to alter their selection processes and, even if they were unaware of biomechanical implications, what happened is that half of the leading lifetime sires of 2020 had “mixed” rear triangles. However, they are almost all completely different from each other phenotypically and most of them are backed by extremely commercial pedigrees.

Then two in 2005 and another in 2012 with completely different pedigrees showed up with rear triangles that were completely different than what we were used to–and they were almost identical to each other phenotypically. Even more remarkable was the fact that they are virtually identical phenotypically to the qualities a previous “sport” brought to the breeding shed in the 1980s. His name was Storm Cat: his rear triangles were evenly balanced but, wow, did they deliver.

Remarkably, none of them look like you would have expected based on their sires or their broodmare sires. None comes from a distaff family that until they came along could have wedged close relatives into select portions of yearling or mixed sales. Functionally as racehorses they were brilliant miler-middle distance types–brilliance accentuated by one or more rear triangle lengths being longer or shorter than the tibia.

Does Medaglia d'Oro remind you of El Prado (Ire) or his broodmare sire Bailjumper?

Does Candy Ride (Arg) remind you of his rangy paternal grandsire Cryptoclearance or his blocky broodmare sire Candy Stripes?

Does Uncle Mo remind you of Indian Charlie or Arch?

Each is his own man, and each reproduces a replica often enough so that he has become an influencer.

Looks like they are making “sports history.”

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

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A Tale of Ashford Stud’s Elder Statesman

It will be exactly 23 years ago on Sunday- August 23, 1997. Julie Krone vividly, and affectionately, recalls the day that she and Tale of the Cat took the GII King’s Bishop S.

“We had an inside post that day, and there were some great sprinters,” Krone recounted. “It was a really tough field, but Tale of the Cat literally had wings. He just came out of there and it was like the faster we went, the more his ears came up and his stride got longer and more relaxed. To feel him grab the ground and be as fast as he was with the wind blowing by you, and then to be able to put your hands on his neck and push and have him go even faster yet, it was an amazing feeling.”

Krone rode the nimble son of Storm Cat to a five and-a-half length victory that day at Saratoga, as was she aboard in his eight other career starts. Together, they ran in the money in all but one of those races, including three Grade I’s.

“Tale of the Cat was one of the most beautiful, put-together sprinters I’ve ever ridden in my life,” Krone said. “He was such a great horse and was so capable of that high cruising speed.”

She uses the term ‘mentally-strong’ to describe his personality.

“Everything he did had to do with how his brain worked a little faster,” the Hall of Famer said. “He was aggressive and so you just had to plan ahead and know what you were going to do.”

She remembers working the colt through his first relaxed breezes before his winning debut, insisting to trainer John Forbes that the youngster was going to be something special.

“From the very first time he breezed to when he matured as an older horse, he was always together,” she recalled. “He always got his lead changes and was quick to learn how to break out of the starting gate. All the things that make a sprinter a great sprinter, he just came with those things.”

Now over two decades later as the elder statesman of Ashford Stud, Tale of the Cat has greatly contributed to building the fortress that is the American arm of Coolmore. With 19 crops on the ground, he’s produced 1,146 winners to date, a figure surpassed only slightly by fellow Coolmore sire Galileo (Ire), and ranks him as the leading active sire in North American by cumulative winners.

“Tale of the Cat was one of the most impressive early stallions that we ever had here,” said Coolmore America’s Adrian Wallace. “He’s stood the test of time and has been a wonderful servant to Ashford Stud. Horses like Tale of the Cat, he’s responsible for this farm. He has built countless barns. He’s furnished and bought countless mares. He’s a small enterprise in himself.”

Tale of the Cat’s pedigree is infused with Coolmore-affiliated blood, both old and new, with his grandsire Storm Bird the founding stallion at Ashford Stud.

His dam Yarn (Mr. Prospector), part of a prominent breed-shaping broodmare duo with her full sister Preach, also produced Minardi (Boundary), who was bred like Tale of the Cat at Indian Creek and was named a European juvenile champion for Coolmore in 2000. Additionally, through her daughter Myth (Ogygian), Yarn is the granddam of Johannesburg (Hennessy), a juvenile champion in Europe and the U.S. for Coolmore before he retired to Ashford and sired the late leading stallion Scat Daddy, whose sons Justify and Mendelssohn now stand alongside Tale of the Cat at Ashford.

“He has a very illustrious family behind him,” Wallace said of his damside.”It’s a really current pedigree and it’s one of the best, most iconic American pedigrees.”

Tale of the Cat’s best son Gio Ponti takes the GI Woodford Reserve Manhattan H. | Sarah Andrew

Of the sire line, he added, “The Storm Cat sire line is responsible for a lot of our success over here, and it’s one that we will keep looking to go back to. Tale of the Cat is very emblematic of that.”

Since entering stud in 1999, he has sired seven Grade I winners, headlined by Gio Ponti, who collected seven Grade I’s in his own right, plus three Eclipse Awards, and is now a Grade I-producing sire. Tale of the Cat’s leading daughter, Stopcharingmaria, made waves on the New York circuit, taking the GI Coaching Club American Oaks- GI Alabama S. double at Saratoga before winning the 2015 GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Two of his sons, Lion Heart and Tale of Ekati, were dual Grade I winners and are now showing their hand as sires.

Both progeny come from mares from the Hail to Reason line, with Lion Heart out of a Mr. Leader mare and Tale of Ekati out of a mare by Halo’s best son Sunday Silence. Stopchargingmaria also has a second dam by Kris S (Roberto) who hails from the same line.

Despite the achievements with this family, Wallace said that Tale of the Cat has found success with a wide variety of mares.

“One of the great things about him was that he was very versatile,” he said. “Being by Storm Cat and out of a Mr. Prospector mare meant he suited a wide range of American families. He had a huge amount of success when inbred to Mr. Prospector. He worked very well with Unbridled’s Song, as well as the Seattle Slew line.”

Tale of the Cat produced six stakes winners with mares by Unbridled’s Song, including three Grade II winners in A Shin Top, Appealing Tale and Alpha Kitten, as well as the Grade I-placed Luminance. His Grade I winner Cat Moves is out of a mare by Capote (Seattle Slew) and he sired two additional graded/group winners out of Seattle Slew mares with Tale of a Champion and Ilusora.

“He got very good 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds and older horses,” Wallace said. “He got runners on dirt, turf and synthetic surfaces. So he’s a horse that really suited a wide range of breeders.”

The 26-year-old stallion is still active at stud, although in his twilight years of his career having bred 32 mares last year, and a combined 138 in the three years prior.

“We’re delighted to be talking about Tale of the Cat because he’s one of the unsung heroes at this farm,” Wallace said. “He’s a horse that’s been here longer than I’ve been here, having arrived in 1999. He’s our elder statesman and we’re very proud of him. His contribution to the Thoroughbred breed and to Ashford Stud is immeasurable.”

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