Taking Stock | Horse Racing Free Tips

Taking Stock: Breeders Robertson, Gonzalez Elevate Dialed In’s Profile

Somewhere on the grounds of OBS on Tuesday, the two unacquainted men who bred Dialed In's (Mineshaft) only two Grade l winners to date–Gl Kentucky Derby-bound Get Her Number and Super Stock–quite likely passed each other unaware of the other in that random way of the universe that plays with degrees of separation.

I assume this because I was on the phone with Phil Robertson, who co-bred Get Her Number with his wife Brenda, when Pedro “Pete” Gonzalez, the co-breeder of Super Stock with his grandson P.J. Gonzalez, phoned me. I was finishing up my call with Robertson, who was three hips away from selling a 2-year-old, and immediately returned the Gonzalez call when I hung up with Robertson.

The first thing I noticed when Gonzalez started speaking was a distinct background voice that had also been present in my call with Robertson. For all I know, they could have been standing within feet of each other when speaking to me about why they sent their respective mares to Darby Dan's Dialed In in 2017.

Of course, there was every reason to send a mare to Dialed In that spring because the stallion, who'd stood his first four seasons for $7,500, had dramatically defeated Lane's End's Union Rags (Dixie Union) for the champion freshman sire title on the last day of the year, in the very same race at that–the $100,000 Gin Talking S. at Laurel. Dialed In's Ms Locust Point won the race, earning $60,000, while Union Rags's daughter Aiden's Rag Doll finished fifth. The margin separating the two stallions had been only $35,194 before the race. It was a victory for David versus Goliath, because Union Rags had been syndicated for more than $12 million and stood for a $35,000 fee.

Breeders came in droves to Dialed In in 2017 despite the doubling of his fee to $15,000, and among the 231 mares bred to the stallion that year were Robertson's homebred Bernstein (Storm Cat) mare Fancier, the dam of Get Her Number, and Gonzalez's homebred Super Girlie, the daughter of Closing Argument (Successful Appeal) who produced Super Stock.

Robertson and Gonzalez are small breeders with a lot in common–the former owns 15 mares while the latter has seven–and both have small farms, Robertson's in Versailles, Gonzalez's in Ocala. Roberston is retired from the construction business and shuttles between his lake home in Granbury, Texas, and the Kentucky farm, while Gonzalez, who's also retired from the construction business, drives back and forth from his base in Miami to Ocala to check on his stock. Both men are passionate about breeding and are also exceedingly polite, and if they'd bumped into each other at OBS, I have no doubt that they'd have had a heck of a conversation about horses, construction, and the thrill of having bred a horse slated for the Derby, by the same stallion as it turns out.

Dialed In

With two potential Derby starters, Dialed In joins Into Mischief, the hottest and most expensive sire in the country at a fee of $225,000, as the only two stallions with multiple runners intended for the Classic at this writing. However, Dialed In's two colts are Grade l winners whereas Into Mischief's three–Mandaloun, Highly Motivated, and Soup and Sandwich–have only one Grade ll win amongst them in graded company.

This is a terrifically complimentary comparison for the Darby Dan horse, who started as the favorite in the 2011 Derby after winning the Gl Florida Derby, a fixture that's turning out to be the premier sire-making race in the country with such alumni as Nyquist (Uncle Mo), Constitution (Tapit), Quality Road (Elusive Quality), Scat Daddy (Johannesburg), Empire Maker (Unbridled), and Harlan's Holiday (Harlan) in the recent past.

Altogether, Dialed In won three of seven starts and earned $941,936. He'd been bred by the partnership of W.S. Farish, Madeleine Pickens (previously married to Allen Paulson), and Skara Glen Stables, and he was purchased for $475,000 as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga by Robert LaPenta's Whitehorse Stable, which has a penchant for A.P. Indy-line horses. Dialed In is from the immediate family of Paulson's champion filly Eliza (his second dam) and Gl Santa Anita Derby winner Dinard, and he was trained by Nick Zito in a come-from-behind style that's frequently associated with the best of Zito runners. It's not, however, the preferred front-running style that's popular with breeders and stud farms, and after Dialed In's eighth-place finish in the Derby and only two more combined starts after that in 2011 and 2012, the horse was somewhat forgotten and wasn't among the most sought-after stallion prospects for 2013, allowing Doug Cauthen and Darby Dan's Robert Hammond to secure him for stud duty to stand at John Phillips's historic nursery at a fee of $7,500.

A good-looking stallion standing 16.1 hands with plenty of substance to him, Dialed In has since defied the odds, much like Into Mischief in his early years when his stud fee once touched $7,500 before his first-crop runners took off. Dialed In started off hot, too, getting multiple Grade ll winner and Grade l-placed Gunnevera, who's earned $5.5 million, and five other black-type winners from his first crop. By the time Robertson and Gonzalez had contracted to send their mares to the stallion In in the spring of 2017, Gunnevera was well on the Classics trail. He finished seventh in the Derby but subsequently showed he handled a mile and a quarter when placing in the Gl Travers S., the Breeders' Cup Classic, and the Dubai World Cup, a good sign for Get Her Number and Super Stock in the Derby.

Gunnevera is one of 15 black-type winners for his sire through five crops (not including 2-year-olds of 2021), and his accomplishments from two to five helped Dialed In win the freshman sire championship and see a bump in his fee from $15,000 in 2017 to $25,000 in 2018 and 2019. However, by 2020 the stallion was down to $20,000, and this year he's serving mares for $15,000, which illustrates the difficulties stallions face with their second, third, and fourth crops as mare books get watered down after the first year at stud. This is particularly acute for horses standing for cheaper fees. Note that to date Dialed In has only three black-type winners from his second crop and just one from his third crop.

During these lean years, Dialed In nevertheless showed he could get quality runners, even if they weren't black-type winners. For instance, the 4-year-old Finnick the Fierce placed in a Grade ll race at two and last year was third in the Gl Arkansas Derby, the same race that Super Stock won two weeks ago for Steve Asmussen with Get Her Number a fast-closing fourth. Last year, Get Her Number, trained by Peter Miller, won the Gl American Pharoah S. at Santa Anita, becoming his sire's first top-level winner.

Grade l Breeders

Phil and Brenda Robertson have raced some good horses, including graded winners Reigning Court and Savorthetime with Asmussen, and they've bred some others, such as Group 2 winner Sander Camillo, a Dixie Union filly they'd sold as a yearling for $160,000 in 2005 that later sold to Godolphin as a broodmare prospect for the equivalent of $6.9 million at Tattersalls in 2007.

Phil Robertson didn't want to sell Get Her Number, which he did last year with Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree at OBS April for $45,000 to trainer Peter Miller. “He was always a good-looking colt. The sale was postponed to June last year with Covid,” Roberston said, “and with Covid and how uncertain things were with the economy, I just figured it was the right thing to do financially.”

The colt's dam, Fancier, had been bred and raised by the Robertsons and was a winner of three races from 10 starts, but “she was a mare that was hard to get pregnant. She wouldn't cycle right.” Her second dam was the Group 1-placed Irish River (Fr) mare Shy Princess, a half-sister to Gl Breeders' Cup Mile winner Opening Verse, and though her extended family was deep, her immediate family was light and her foals catalogued with two “blank dams,” a commercial kiss of death. On the advice of his veterinarian, Robertson had sold her in foal to Astern for $1,300 at Keeneland November the year before her son won his Grade l race.

Robertson said he'd sent the mare to Dialed In because “she was a tall, lighter mare with a lot of leg, and he was shorter and stockier. He had more substance, and she needed that.”

Pete Gonzalez sent his homebred mare Super Girlie, the dam of Super Stock and a winner of seven races from 39 starts and $121,728, to Dialed In mainly for pedigree reasons. “My mare mixes well with A.P. Indy and Storm Cat, which is how Dialed In is bred, and he has Mr. Prospector in the pedigree, and she's got Mr. Prospector, and I wanted to inbreed to Mr. Prospector. I love speed, and with A.P. Indy there is distance, but I wanted to get more speed for distance.”

Gonzalez and his grandson also bred Super Stock's Gl-placed half-sister Boujie Girl (Flashback), who Peter Miller purchased from the OBS April sale for $65,000 three years ago. Earlier, in 2012, Miller had purchased the Gl La Brea S. winner Heir Kitty (Wildcat Heir) from OBS April for $32,000, and Heir Kitty was produced from a half-sister to Super Girlie and was also bred by Pete Gonzalez, in partnership with Jorge Herrera.

Gonzalez sold Super Stock as a yearling at Keeneland September through Taylor Made for $70,000 to Keith Asmussen and Erv Woolsey. “He was a really nice yearling. My farm manager in Ocala, Ivan Gardea, prepped him early, and then I sent the colt to Ramiro Salazar at Phoenix Farm in Midway to get him ready for the sale. We thought he'd bring more,” Gonzalez said.

Super Girlie, who is based at Salazar's Phoenix Farm, has a yearling by Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) and is in foal to Authentic (Into Mischief).

Gonzalez, a Cuban-American, has been breeding horses for 25 years and attributes his success to his wife, Georgelina. “I thank her for it all, and for always supporting me,” he said. “You know, when Super Stock won the Arkansas Derby, I became the first Cuban-American to breed the winner of that race. How do I know? I did the research.”

If Super Stock wins the Kentucky Derby, Gonzalez will have more research to do. If Get Her Number upsets the Classic, the Robertsons will get just compensation in historical prestige for culling his dam. And if either wins, Dialed In's profile will be elevated to a whole new level than the high plane it's on now, thanks to Robertson and Gonzalez.

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

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Taking Stock: Rock Your World is Bred For Any Surface

On Wednesday on Steve Byk's radio show “At the Races,” while discussing the pedigree of Gl Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), I mentioned that the undefeated colt is suited for dirt despite beginning his career successfully with two wins on grass. In fact, Rock Your World, who earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure on the main track, is bred to handle any surface and would probably be equally as adept on all-weather.

Owned by Hronis Racing and Talla Racing and trained by John Sadler, Rock Your World is out of the Empire Maker mare Charm the Maker, a black-type winner of three races and $340,290. She won the listed Sharp Cat S. at Hollywood Park, the restricted Adoration S. at Del Mar, and was placed in the Gl Hollywood Starlet S. on all-weather, but she was also placed in the Gl Oak Leaf S. at Santa Anita on dirt and the Glll Autumn Miss S. on turf at the same track.

Likewise, Rock Your World's Argentine-bred sire was versatile. An undefeated winner of six races, Candy Ride won the G1 Joaquin S. de Anchorena at San Isidro in Argentina on turf and the Gl Pacific Classic at Del Mar on dirt among other major wins.

Ron McAnally, who famously trained John Henry to Grade l wins on dirt and turf, conditioned both Candy Ride and Charm the Maker, and together with his wife Deborah McAnally he's the breeder of Rock Your World. The McAnallys knew what they were doing with this mating–they bred and raced Charm the Maker–and they created a high-class colt in Rock Your World that was meant to be versatile, and he is. Rock Your World was sold for $650,000 as a Keeneland September yearling and his win Saturday has put a spotlight on the low-key McAnallys' breeding program, which is not only potent but also commercially successful.

Rock Your World's 5-year-old full sister She's Our Charm–Charm the Maker's first foal –is a McAnally homebred trained by Ron McAnally that is Grade lll-placed on turf. She was bought back for $600,000 as a Keeneland yearling, and as she's made all 11 of her starts on grass, she probably provided Sadler with the blueprint for debuting Rock Your World on turf.

The McAnallys' inside knowledge of this pedigree goes deeper than a cursory surface reading indicates. Rock Your World's second dam, the Giant's Causeway mare Charm the Giant (Ire), was bred and raced by Deborah McAnally and trained by Ron McAnally, and she was a Grade lll winner on turf who produced Gll John Henry Turf Championship S. winner Liam the Charmer (Smart Strike) in addition to Charm the Maker. The McAnallys didn't race Liam the Charmer, selling him for $500,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2014 through Don Robinson's Winter Quarter Farm, which also sold Rock Your World and boards the McAnallys' breeding stock.

Rock Your World's third dam is the Olympio mare Olympic Charmer, also bred and raced by Deborah McAnally and trained by her husband, who also trained Olympio, a Grade l winner on turf and a multiple Grade ll winner on dirt for Verne Winchell. Olympic Charmer won the Gll Railbird S. at Hollywood, the Gll El Encino S. at Santa Anita, and placed in the Gl La Brea S. at Santa Anita on dirt. Olympic Charmer's unraced Majestic Light dam Light a Charm had been pivotally acquired by Deborah McAnally to begin this run of success over the last 25 years, and Rock Your World is a fourth-generation McAnally-bred in the tail-female sequence of this family that has produced prominent runners in graded races on dirt, turf, and all-weather.

Candy Ride

Candy Ride began his career at John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale for $10,000, but now stands at W.S. Farish's Lane's End for $75,000. He is the sire of 98 black-type winners, including Horse of the Year Gun Runner and champion Shared Belief, and I've previously written extensively about this outstanding stallion, including this piece from 2019, “Candy Ride and His North American Success.” Lane's End also stands his best stallion son, Twirling Candy ($40,000 fee and the sire of Classic hopefuls Rombauer and Dream Shake); his latest champion, first-season sire Game Winner ($30,000); and Unified ($10,000), whose first-crop 2-year-olds will race this year after being well received at the sales. It's safe to say the farm is well invested in this line, which traces to former Lane's End sire Fappiano through the unusual sequence of Ride the Rails/Cryptoclearance/Fappiano.

The more common paths to Fappiano in pedigrees go through Unbridled's Song and Empire Maker, both sons of Fappiano's Gl Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, or through Quiet American, the tail-male grandsire of Midnight Lute and the broodmare sire of that outstanding sire of broodmares, Bernardini.

You'll note that Rock Your World is out of a mare by Empire Maker, which means that he's inbred 4×4 to Fappiano on the sire-line cross. There are two other black-type winners bred on this cross, including fellow Grade l winner Separationofpowers.

Candy Ride is also the sire of Grade l winner Leofric from an Unbridled's Song mare, so you get the drift that he blends well with Fappiano, and not just on the sire-line cross. Gun Runner, for example, is also inbred 4×4 to Fappiano through Quiet American, the sire of his second dam.

Gun Runner's dam is by Giant's Causeway, who, as noted earlier, is the sire of the second dam of Rock Your World, meaning that both of these Candy Ride Grade l winners have some similar elements in their respective dams. This is yet another indication of how well thought out the planning was for the mating that produced Rock Your World.

“I don't know that Ron [McAnally] really wanted to sell Rock Your World,” said David Ingordo by phone Thursday, and the fact that McAnally bought back his full sister for $600,000 as a yearling is probably an indication that he was firm on a stiff price. Ingordo, who heads Lane's End Bloodstock and is the buyer for clients Hronis Racing and John Sadler, was instrumental in the purchase of Rock Your World for $650,000–a price only eclipsed by the $1 million paid for the yet-as-unraced Contango for Candy Ride yearlings in 2019. Contango was also a graduate of Winter Quarter Farm. That year, there were three others by Candy Ride that also made $650,000: unraced Secret Weapon, who breezed a bullet :59 flat at Santa Anita Mar. 27; Red Hot and Blue, third in his only start in a maiden special at Gulfstream Feb. 7; and Constituency, who was third Mar. 13 in a $20,000 maiden claimer at Gulfstream in his third start.

Ingordo, who plucked out Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}) for $60,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, has an excellent eye for projecting young stock for two-turn races, and he was attracted to Rock Your World because of his size and scope. “We love Candy Ride as a sire, of course, and he was a big colt who reminded me of Twirling Candy; maybe he was a bit bigger and stretchier, and he looked like a two-turn horse. Plus, his pedigree is so California-centric,” Ingordo said. West Coast-based Hronis Racing and Sadler also campaigned champion older horse and Gl Breeders' Cup Classic winner Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), now a stallion at Lane's End. Ingordo also purchased Accelerate, for $380,000 as a KEESEP yearling, but he was better as an older runner than he was at three, like Zenyatta.

Rock Your World, however, is now firmly in the Derby picture, and with his sire and female family behind him, a Classic win would send his stud value into the stratosphere. I'm sure Lane's End is anticipating exactly this and looking forward to standing yet another son of Candy Ride when it's all said and done, thanks to Ingordo.

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

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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.

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Taking Stock: Midnight Bourbon’s American Lines

Throughout time, American bloodstock has been continually infused with new blood from other countries, just as a long history of immigration has made this country a melting pot of cultures. But these things come at some cost, don't they? What of the more or less original American sire and dam lines that have been subverted by the newer arrivals? Who's looking out for their interests as they get forgotten and cast aside?

The Tiznow colt Midnight Bourbon, who is on the Gl Kentucky Derby trail after winning the Glll Lecomte S. at Fair Grounds two weeks ago, represents patriotic pushback in a way. He was bred by Barbara Banke's high-profile Stonestreet with an assist from Kenny Troutt's high-flying stud farm WinStar, where recently retired Tiznow stood, and both deserve credit. Tiznow traces in tail-male to Man o' War, that great and iconic American symbol of grandeur, and the dams in Midnight Bourbon's tail-female line of descent could be members of the group Daughters of the American Revolution. Stonestreet and WinStar have combined to put America first in Midnight Bourbon, and if he were to win the Derby, or any Grade l race for that matter, earning a prominent chance at stud, there'll be a lot of grateful hallelujahs from nativists for making an American pedigree great again.

The Man o' War line has been on the fringes for decades, but in recent times Tiznow, the sire of 82 black-type winners, was its primary face and force, and he was a horse who also inspired patriotism on the track. Remember Tom Durkin's indelible “Tiznow wins it for America!” call after the son of Cee's Tizzy notched his second Gl Breeders' Cup Classic by a nose from European invader Sakhee after 9/11? And some of you may recall that Relaunch (In Reality), the sire of Cee's Tizzy, was notably advertised during his stud career as “The Great American Racehorse Sire,” and for good reason. This uninterrupted American-bred line from Tiznow back reads: Cee's Tizzy (1987)—Relaunch (1976)—In Reality (1964)—Intentionally (1956)—Intent (1948)—War Relic (1938)—Man o' War (1917)—Fair Play (1905)—Hastings (1893). The first imported stallion in this line was Australian (GB) (1858), the grandsire of Hastings.

Unfortunately, several well-performed sons of Tiznow haven't been able to carry his name forward yet, and it's fair to say the Man o' War line is on the precipice of extinction unless a savior arrives. WinStar does have young sire Tourist, a son of Tiznow with first-crop 3-year-olds at the races, but there aren't many others around, which is one reason why Midnight Bourbon's future success will be celebrated.

This is also an heirloom sire line as it's the only one alive in America that tracks to the Godolphin Arabian, one of the three founding sires of the Thoroughbred along with the Byerley Turk and the Darley Arabian–to whom most Thoroughbreds now trace. The American line of Plaudit/Himyar that was briefly revived by Holy Bull is also an heirloom variety that's barely surviving, but it does go directly to the all-conquering Darley Arabian.

The accompanying chart of the sire lines of the last 100 winners of the Kentucky Derby puts the state of affairs of the Man o' War line and the Godolphin Arabian in bas relief. War Admiral was the last from this line to win the Classic, in 1937, and before him it was Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.

This chart also illustrates the chain migration of sire lines from foreign lands. Take the French import Sir Gallahad lll (Fr), who was later followed by his brother Bull Dog (Fr), the sire of Bull Lea. These brothers had outstanding success at stud, mirrored in the Derby results, and later their sire Teddy (Fr) was imported as an older stallion after they'd established themselves. Teddy's own success was limited here in old age, but he did get Case Ace after his arrival, and Case Ace's daughter Raise You pivotally produced Raise a Native–the main source of Sickle (GB)/Phalaris (GB).

The virulent success of the Phalaris line through sons Sickle and Pharos (GB), and to a lesser extent Sickle's brother Pharamond (GB), particularly stands out. This line accounts for 45 of the last 50 winners of the Derby (42 for Sickle and Pharos without Pharamond), and the commercial popularity of some of its members has created reactionary backlash in the form of limits to books at 140 mares and concerns of too many of the same names in the population. There's certainly some nostalgia for the good old days at play in these sentiments.

The Tail-Female Line

There's some of that same nostalgia in reflecting on Midnight Bourbon's tail-female line, which is absent of foreign interlopers. The entirely American-bred dams in this sequence go back to the mid-1700s in a line of descent that ends at a foundation mare called Janus Mare Number 1 (American Foundation Mares A1 family), a daughter of the imported Godolphin Arabian grandson Janus. This makes Midnight Bourbon even more unique, tracing to the Godolphin Arabian on his top and bottom lines.

The family of Janus Mare Number 1 through the years has had bursts of success, producing Regret, the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, as well as other Derby winners Riley, Azra, Ben Brush, and Exterminator, but the most recent member to win the Classic was Gato Del Sol in 1982, and he's the only one from the family to do it in the last 100 years.

Essentially, this family in recent times had been living a fairly blue-collar existence, but occasional successes now and then–Shancelot, Silver Max, and Kiss a Native, to name three notable recent representatives–suggested that it could get upwardly mobile if given a chance. Barbara Banke gave it opportunity, and she's been rewarded.

Banke purchased Midnight Bourbon's unraced dam Catch the Moon (Malibu Moon) for $240,000 at Keeneland November in 2015 carrying a foal by Shanghai Bobby. The mare made that money mostly because her first foal Cocked and Loaded (Colonel John) was two at the time of sale and had won the Glll Iroquois S. As a son of the Tiznow stallion Colonel John–a WinStar homebred Grade l winner who stood at WinStar before going to Korea–Cocked and Loaded provided Banke and her team with the blueprint for the mating that produced Midnight Bourbon in 2018, after Catch the Moon was barren to Curlin in 2017.

Catch the Moon has become a remarkable producer since. Her second foal Girvin (Tale of Ekati) won the Gl Haskell Invitational S. in 2017, and her third, the Stonestreet-bred Pirate's Punch (Shanghai Bobby), was Grade lll-placed in 2019 before Midnight Bourbon sold for $525,000 at Keeneland September that year. Pirate's Punch has subsequently become a Grade lll winner, and with Midnight Bourbon's Lecomte win, Catch the Moon has now accomplished the rare feat of producing four graded winners from her first four living foals, two of them from the Man o' War line via Tiznow.

Until Tiznow, Catch the Moon had made her mark with two stallions that were subsequently exported (Colonel John and Shanghai Bobby) and one that now stands for $5,000 (Tale of Ekati). She once sold for only $30,000 carrying Cocked and Loaded but is now a bona fide commercial mare, fully part of the establishment with foals on the ground or in the pipeline by Curlin and Quality Road.

She's the American dream in more ways than one.

Postscript

Catch the Moon's stakes-winning dam Catch My Fancy (Yes It's True) is a product of close 3×2 inbreeding to the mare Monique Rene (Prince of Ascot)–Midnight Bourbon's fourth dam. Yes It's True's dam Clever Monique was a daughter of Monique Rene, a tough and popular Louisiana-bred stakes winner of 29 races, and Catch My Fancy's dam Walk Away Rene was also a daughter of Monique Rene. This type of inbreeding to females is frequently referred to as the RF or Rasmussen Factor, named after my great friend, pedigree authority and longtime DRF columnist Leon Rasmussen.

Louisiana oilman John Franks was the official breeder of Catch My Fancy, but it was his advisor Dan Kenny who probably planned her mating. Dan was a keen student of pedigrees, and he would frequently discuss the RF with me whenever I was in Lexington in the 1990s, knowing of my friendship with Leon. Although I can't verify this with certainty because Dan died a couple of years ago, I'm about 99% sure that this mating has his fingerprints all over it.

Catch My Fancy, by the way, produced the listed winner and Grade lll-placed Dubini (Gio Ponti) in 2013, one year before her daughter produced Girvin. The sires of both are by Tale of the Cat, a son of Storm Cat. Catch My Fancy's only other black-type winner is What a Catch (Justin Phillip), who's by a Storm Cat-line sire.

Similarly, Midnight Bourbon's half-brother Pirate's Punch and Shancelot (from a three-quarter sister to Yes It's True) are by Shanghai Bobby, also a Storm Cat-line horse.

Yes It's True (Is It True) was a top-class sprinter and an outstanding physical specimen who was officially bred by George Waggoner, but it was Johnny T.L. Jones Jr. of Walmac who'd sold Clever Monique carrying Yes It's True to Waggoner for $16,000 at Keeneland November 1995.

At the time, Waggoner was being advised by pedigree consultant Les Brinsfield, who was crazy about Clever Monique's pedigree and recommended her purchase. Brinsfield made it a habit to study female families in depth, had great knowledge of their histories, and certainly would have been enamored by an American family that traced to Janus Mare Number 1. He deduced right away that this family could benefit from the American blood of Man o' War.

Presaging the matings that produced Midnight Bourbon and Cocked and Loaded, Waggoner and Brinsfield bred Clever Monique in consecutive years to Skywalker, a son of Relaunch, but neither mating produced a stakes horse. In 1998, Waggoner bred the mare back to Yes It's True's sire, and later that year he benefited from this when 2-year-old Yes It's True–who he'd sold for $220,000 as a yearling and was later pinhooked at two for $800,000–twice won Grade lll races and was second in the Gl Futurity S. Yes It's True would go on to become a Grade l winner the next year.

Around this time, pedigree consultant Alan Porter was now advising Waggoner, who wanted to cash out on the mare, and sometime in late 1998 or early 1999 Porter and I privately sold the in-foal Clever Monique to Becky Thomas, who became the breeder of Yes It's True's stakes-winning sister Honest Deceiver. This branch of Monique Rene hadn't done much since and had fallen on hard times until last year when the obscurely sired Hollywood Hills (Hoorayforhollywood), whose second dam is Honest Deceiver, won a Cal-bred black-type race at Del Mar and then placed second in the Glll Torrey Pines S. at the same track for owner-breeder George Krikorian.

Krikorian bred, raced, and stands the sire Hoorayforhollywood, who wasn't a stakes winner but happens to be a son of Storm Cat, and this may be yet another indication that an alliance for this family with the Storm Cat line–a member of Pharos/Phalaris–may ultimately be the avenue for its survival as options for using Man o' War-line horses diminish.

Sometimes you have to accept the inevitable.

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

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