Street Cry | Horse Racing Free Tips

Flashback: Street Cry Gives Jerry Bailey A Fourth Dubai World Cup Victory

The Dubai World Cup meeting celebrates its historic 25th anniversary on March 27, with six Group 1 races and three Group 2s, including one of the world's premier races, the $12 million Dubai World Cup, sponsored by Emirates Airline.

Over the next three weeks, the Dubai Racing Club will pay tribute to each of the previous Dubai World Cup winners. Today, we rewind to 2002 when Street Cry gave jockey Jerry Bailey his fourth and trainer Saeed bin Suroor his third Dubai World Cup title.

Champion American jockey Jerry Bailey collected his fourth victory in what was the world's richest race as the Godolphin owned and Saeed bin Suroor-trainee Street Cry dominated in the seventh running of the US$6,000,000 Group 1 Dubai World Cup.

Street Cry's success gave Bailey his fourth win in the event after Cigar (1996), Singspiel (1997) and Captain Steve (2001).

“It's great to have won this race four times but it's because I have had some nice horses to ride,” Bailey commented after the win, while for Saeed bin Suroor it was his third success after Almutawakel (1999) and Dubai Millennium (2000).

The seventh running of the Dubai World Cup proved to be a triumph for Middle East-based horses as the first five over the line were trained in either the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia with the Japanese runner Agnes Digital the best from outside the area, finishing sixth. Bailey secured the ride on Street Cry after Godolphin stable jockey Frankie Dettori opted for Sakhee (winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe). That horse finishing third, over eight lengths away from the winner.

Street Cry was allowed to settle midfield on the inside of Sakhee and as the field approached and rounded the home turn. Sakhee went around the early leaders Western Pride and To The Victory, while Bailey had no hesitation in keeping to the fence on Street Cry. Sakhee got to the front momentarily, however Street Cry grabbed him quickly and then kicked clear. Sakhee was beginning to labour as Street Cry got a winning break at the 200m and it was Saudi Arabia's Sei Mi (fifth to Captain Steve in the 2001 Dubai World Cup) who came from last to finish second, four and a quarter lengths away.

Street Cry went to America and appeared certain to dominate after an impressive performance to win the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs before a second in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga, and then injury unfortunately brought a premature retirement to Jonabell Farm.

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Taking Stock: Street Sense Poised for Big Years

“He's technically full,” said Darley America sales manager Darren Fox the other day, discussing Gl Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}), who's standing this year for $60,000, down from $75,000 in 2020.

“If you had a nice mare, there's a couple of spots that mares haven't been named yet. We keep him at around 140 mares. He was very hard to manage the demand, especially last year at 75, and he's 60 now, but that's because of overall market conditions. It wasn't a reflection of cooling off on the track or anything to that end.”

Indeed, the stallion couldn't be hotter right now. Last Saturday, the Bob Baffert-trained Concert Tour, a debut TDN Rising Star for owner-breeders Gary and Mary West, won the Gll San Vicente S. at Santa Anita over seven furlongs in his second start to announce his arrival as a player in future Classics preps, and this Saturday Godolphin's undefeated 4-year-old Grade l winner Maxfield, four-for-four in a career that's been stopped several times by injury, will be heavily favored to win the Glll Mineshaft S. over a mile and a sixteenth at Fair Grounds, a race that trainer Brendan Walsh no doubt hopes will launch him into the elite races of the older-horse division.

At one time, after winning the Gl Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland at two, Maxfield was considered a leading 2020 Classics contender for Godolphin, but in a trying year that saw him make just two starts, he was able to only salvage wins in the Glll Matt Win S. at Churchill in May and the Tenacious S. at Fair Grounds in December, missing the glamour races of the division. However, as a consolation, Godolphin did manage to win a pair of Grade lll Derbys last year with another son of Street Sense who was bred like Maxfield. Trained by Brad Cox and also from a Bernardini mare like Maxfield, Shared Sense won the Indiana and Oklahoma Derbys.

If you saw TDN's list of leading sires of 3-year-olds in Wednesday's paper, you'll have noted that Street Sense leads all sires by black-type winners with three and that he's tied with Candy Ride (Arg) and Medaglia d'Oro with two graded winners through the first six weeks of the year. He's also second by progeny earnings to Into Mischief. He started the new year with Capo Kane's win in the Jerome S. over a mile at Aqueduct on Jan. 1, followed by two-for-two Shadwell homebred Zaajel's score in the seven-furlong Glll Forward Gal S. at Gulfstream on Jan. 30, which was a week before Concert Tour's San Vicente. If Maxfield wins on Saturday, he will give Street Sense a third consecutive weekend graded winner and his first in the older horse division.

“When you get a good Street Sense, you get a really good one,” Baffert emphasized, and he'd know. He trained McKinzie, who won the Gl Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity at two, the Gl Pennsylvania Derby and Malibu S. at three, and the Gl Whitney at four, along with several other graded races, earning almost $3.5 million. He's standing his first year now at Gainesway for $30,000. Baffert thinks that Concert Tour, who earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure in the San Vicente, will also get better as he matures and as the distances increase, and he's looking forward to stretching him out after two starts in sprint races.

“That's how Street Sense performed,” Fox said. “That's how his more high-caliber, signature horses have been. Colts and fillies going two turns on dirt. That's how he was, and that's what gets the market most excited about him.”

What Fox is most excited about, however, are the high-quality books Street Sense had in 2018, 2019, and 2020 during McKinzie's heyday, when the horse served 140, 147, and 135 mares, respectively, as his stud fee went from $35,000 to $50,000 to $75,000. What this means, Fox said, is that Street Sense is poised to have some bigger years ahead, and this is an opportune time to breed to him to capitalize on that.

“He's flying on the track right now, but if you breed to him in 2021, you're going to be hitting the market perfectly because he's got three awesome books coming.”

Street Cred
From a Darley roster that features an array of proven stallions and promising young guns, from Medaglia d'Oro, Bernardini, and Hard Spun to Nyquist and Frosted, Street Sense must occupy a special place as one of two on the farm along with Street Boss that are sons of Sheikh Mohammed's pivotal sire Street Cry, who's commemorated with a statue on the ex-Jonabell property for being the first to establish the Darley imprimatur.

Though he died young at 16, Street Cry sired 131 black-type winners and has been influential around the world. His first N. American crop contained Street Sense, a champion 2-year-old and Kentucky Derby winner; Street Boss, a high-class specialist sprinter; and Zenyatta, a late-developing champion and icon. Add in another icon in Australia in Winx and a G1 Melbourne Cup winner in Shocking, and these five runners alone do the job of illustrating the versatility and aptitudinal scope of their sire over the span from sprints to Classic distances to two miles, on surfaces from dirt to all-weather to turf, with championship class at two and above, and Classic success at three.

That's quite a legacy to follow, but the Gl Breeders' Cup Juvenile/Kentucky Derby double marked Street Sense as unique, and the other horse that has won both races is Street Sense's barnmate Nyquist, who's started his stud career in great style. Darley has a chance to land another winner of the double with Godolphin's homebred champion 2-year-old Essential Quality (Tapit), who impressively won the BC Juvenile last year, but he'll have Darley-sired Derby aspirants like Concert Tour, Caddo River (Hard Spun), Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro), and The Great One (Nyquist) among others to potentially contend with in preps leading up to the big race in Louisville.

Street Sense, who is 16.3 hands with a deep girth and plenty of leg, is a more refined version of his coarse sire. He entered stud in 2008 for a $75,000 fee and was a member of a class that included Curlin, Hard Spun, and Scat Daddy, all of which finished behind him in the Derby. All of these horses suffered along with the industry during the tough years of the recession, and also in the aftermath of the early recovery years. Street Sense's stud fee dropped over the next four seasons to $60,000, $50,000, $40,000, and $40,000 from 2009 to 2012. He was sent to Darley Japan in 2013, but returned the following year, conceiving Mckinzie, a foal of 2015.

After his return, Street Sense had attained a level of status as the sire of five Grade l winners from his first five crops, but because each of his top-level winners to this point were fillies–Aubby K (2009), Wedding Toast (2010), Sweet Reason (2011), Callback (2012), and Street Fancy (2013)–he had to fight a perceived sex bias, along with a missing domestic crop, in the immediate years after Japan. His stud fee from 2014 to 2018 ranged from $35,000 to $45,000, but McKinzie's success changed perceptions, followed by the arrival of Maxfield as a 2-year-old in 2019. Street Sense had also sired four S. Hemisphere Group 1 winners during a few shuttle seasons to Australia early on, two of them males, and this further bolstered Darley's confidence that more top-level colts would follow. Fox said Darley continues to breed 12 to 15 mares a year to him and is particularly keen about what's to come in his next three crops with 76 black-type winners already in the bank.

Street Sense is now 17, an age when most successful horses have established a high floor and you know what you're going to get. But in his case, with the way the trajectory of his career has played out, he may yet have the type of high ceiling that's usually projected for promising horses like Nyquist at the beginning of their careers.

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

The post Taking Stock: Street Sense Poised for Big Years appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Constitution, Daredevil Join Exclusive Fraternity Of First-Crop Classic Sires

Whether they stand in Kentucky's finest stallion station or a remote outpost in Alaska, the best-case scenario for any North American sire involves having a runner from his first crop win a Triple Crown race.

History has proven this to be easier said than done, but a young sire that manages to achieve the feat is more often than not set up for a long, bountiful stud career.

This year's Triple Crown series saw Constitution become the 10th horse to sire a North American classic winner in his first crop since 1995, when Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes in June. In October, Daredevil became the 11th stallion to join the club when his daughter Swiss Skydiver shocked the Preakness Stakes.

It was the first time two first-crop sires were represented by classic winners since 2017, when Always Dreaming won the Kentucky Derby for Bodemeister and Cloud Computing upset the Preakness Stakes for Maclean's Music.

Of course, there are no sure-fire indicators of future success or failure in a young stallion. There are plenty of examples of one-hit wonders whose Triple Crown race winner was their only upper-crust runner of note. Some of them just have their time in the sun earlier than others.

The market has proven, though, that a stallion that hits early will get more chances to succeed, and many of the 11 horses in the “First-Crop Club” took advantage of that trend and continued to do well.

The debate over the club member with the most successful stud career depends on the metric one wants to use.

For those counting by earnings, the winner is Street Cry, who saw champion Street Sense take the 2007 Derby. Street Cry currently sits with progeny earnings in excess of $170 million.

The late resident of Darley's Jonabell Farm became an international star at stud, siring arguably the best fillies of this century on both sides of the world: Hall of Famer Zenyatta in the Northern Hemisphere, and Australian superstar Winx in the Southern Hemisphere. He's also responsible for another top filly, Australian-born Oh Susanna, who was named South Africa's Horse of Year in 2018.

Street Cry's four progeny Breeders' Cup victories tied him with fellow Darley stallion Medaglia d'Oro for the most among the club members.

Medaglia d'Oro can also stake a claim for producing the top Northern Hemisphere filly of the century, in Rachel Alexandra, who won the 2009 Preakness as part of her sire's first crop.

Like Street Cry, Medaglia d'Oro has fashioned himself into an international sire, capable of getting a winner over any ground put before his foals. His runners have made 34 starts in Breeders' Cup races, giving him the most in the club, and his 78 graded or group stakes winners is highly likely to pass leader Street Cry's 82 before long.

Currently one of North America's most reliable high-level commercial sires, Medaglia d'Oro is also responsible for two-time champion Songbird, Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot, and Breeders' Cup winners Talismanic, Bar of Gold, and New Money Honey.

Looking at the overall body of work, Unbridled has a case for being named the most successful member of the club, as well. He became the first member of the club to post a first- crop classic winner after 1995, when Grindstone won the 1996 Derby.

Since then, Unbridled rests as the club's leader by Eclipse Award winners (four) and classic winners (three) and co-leader by classic starters. This made all the more impressive considering he did it with just 10 crops – less than five of his contemporaries.

In the years that followed Grindstone's Derby victory, Unbridled added 2000 Preakness winner Red Bullet and 2003 Belmont winner Empire Maker. He had a pair of champion 3-year-old fillies in Banshee Breeze and Smuggler, and a pair of 2-year-old Breeders' Cup winners who won their respective Eclipse Award categories in Half- bridled and Anees.

Of course, any conversation about the impact of Unbridled on the racetrack and beyond can't take place without Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and leading sire Unbridled's Song, as well.

Unbridled is one of three sires in the club to have another classic winner after their initial success. Maria's Mon punched his ticket when Monarchos won the 2001 Derby, then Super Saver won the same race nine years later.

Distorted Humor saw Funny Cide claim the Derby and Preakness in 2003, making him the only first-crop sire since 1995 to take two legs of the Triple Crown with the same runner. In 2010, Drosselmeyer scored the upset in the Belmont Stakes to give him another classic triumph. A year later, Drosselmeyer shocked the world once again winning the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Distorted Humor is the most experienced member of the club, with 19 crops of racing age through 2020, and more to come. The WinStar Farm resident's 167 stakes winners is the most of the horses in this group, and his 30 Breeders' Cup starts is second. He is also tied for the club's most classic starters, with nine.

Birdstone's admission into the club was unique, being the only sire in the group to punch his ticket with two different classic winners. In 2009, Mine That Bird skimmed the rail to upset the Kentucky Derby, then Summer Bird won the Belmont Stakes en route to securing that year's champion 3-year-old male honors.

Getting two classic winners and a champion out of a first crop seems like it ought to project to a massive stallion career, but Birdstone was never quite able to follow up on that early momentum. Noble Bird became a Grade 1 winner for his sire, and Swipe finished second in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile by just half a length, but Birdstone never had another classic starter after his first crop. Though he had a stud career that many stallions could only strive to attain, it lagged behind his breed-shaping contemporaries who entered the club around the same time.

After Birdstone and Medaglia d'Oro punched their tickets into the club, there was a seven-year gap before another stallion joined them, but that newcomer proved to be worth the wait.

With just six crops of racing age, Ashford Stud's Uncle Mo is on pace to compete for the mantle as the club's most successful member. After his first crop of juveniles set the earnings record for a freshman sire, led by champion 2-year-old male and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Nyquist, the same horse won the 2016 Derby.

Uncle Mo is already tied for the group's most classic starters, with nine, including three in his first Derby. His 69 stakes winners is the fourth-most among his contemporaries, and his 41 graded/group stakes winners is in the top four. With blazing speed, Uncle Mo proved himself as a sire of the highest-quality runners, and his reward was a place in the upper echelon of today's commercial sires.

A year after Uncle Mo punched his ticket, Bodemeister joined the group with Always Dreaming in the Derby, and Maclean's Music earned his place with Cloud Computing in the Preakness.

Despite entering stud as one the more lauded prospects in his class, Bodemeister never caught the same spark after Always Dreaming's high-level run in the spring of 2017. He has no Breeders' Cup starters through his first four crops of racing age. The grandson of Unbridled through sire Empire Maker was sold to stand in Turkey at the end of the 2019 breeding season, which means time is running out for him to sire another significant top-shelf U.S. runner.

Maclean's Music, a resident of Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, has high-level results almost in lockstep with Bodemeister, with about half the starters. The son of fellow club member Distorted Humor has been on the upswing heading into this year's Breeders' Cup, with multiple Grade 1 winner Jackie's Warrior pointing toward the Juvenile and Grade 1 winner Complexity contending for the Dirt Mile.

Much like the last two stallions to accomplish the feat in the same year, Constitution and Daredevil are on different trajectories, even though they started in the same place at WinStar Farm.

Constitution, a son of Tapit, appears destined for stardom at stud. In one of the deepest sire classes in recent memory – one including Triple Crown winner American Pharoah – Constitution has stood out as the kind of stallion that will aim to compete for a spot on the top shelf as a sire of runners and top-dollar horses. He had several buzzed-about runners on this year's Triple Crown trail, including Grade 3 winner Independence Hall and multiple Grade 1-placed Gouverneur Morris. He's also responsible for a pair of Group 1 winners in Chile.

Like Bodemeister, Daredevil was sent to Turkey after the 2019 breeding season. Because the pipeline of new foals was already at a trickle before he was exported, the son of More Than Ready's mission to carry on the momentum set by Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver and Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil will be more of an uphill climb than his contemporary. However, that positive momentum on the racetrack earned Daredevil a ticket back stateside, following the announcement that he'll stand at Lane's End in 2021 as property of the Turkish Jockey Club. The race, it appears, is far from over.

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‘A Traumatic Time,’ Australian Superstar Winx Loses Her First Foal

Winx, the Australian superstar who gained a world following during her four Horse of the Year campaigns in her native country, has lost her first foal, according to a brief statement posted Tuesday morning in Australia on her official website.

The daughter of Street Cry, now 9 years old, was pronounced in foal last Dec. 6 to the Northern Dancer line stallion I Am Invincible, leading freshman sire in Australia for the 2013-14 season who later sired a record 28 stakes winners in a single season.

Her connections said the foal Winx lost was a filly.

Following is the full text of the statement:

“It is with great sadness that the Kepitis, Tighe and Treweeke families wish to inform everyone that unfortunately overnight Winx lost her foal.

“There are so many people involved in the Winx story from owners, staff past and present to her many fans around the world. Our thoughts and attention at the moment are on Winx ensuring that she remains healthy, as anyone in this situation would respect. It is a traumatic time for a mother and those involved and Winx is now the centre of our attention following the loss of a beautiful filly this morning.

“We wish to thank everyone for their support and understanding, please respect the connections during this sad time and we will update you as soon as appropriate.”

Winner of 37 races (25 Group 1, including four runnings of the Cox Plate) in 43 starts, Winx was victorious in her final 33 outings.Trained by Chris Waller and ridden most often by Hugh Bowman, she retired with earnings in excess of AUS$26 million.

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