Two years ago, the Gunther family's Glennwood Farm celebrated another graduate grabbing one of the sport's brass rings, when Vino Rosso kicked away down the Santa Anita Park stretch to win the 2019 Breeders' Cup Classic by four lengths.
The win propelled the son of Curlin to an Eclipse Award for champion older male, and a stall in the stallion barn at Spendthrift Farm.
In the span of just two years, the Glennwood operation had produced two blue-chip stallion prospects, following Justify's Triple Crown conquest a year earlier.
“Vino Rosso and Justify were field-mates as foals so it was pretty special to see both horses run in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont in 2018,” said Glennwood's Tanya Gunther. “After being in the shadow of Justify as a 3-year-old, it was very rewarding to see Vino Rosso mature into a dual Grade 1 winner, culminating with an emphatic victory in the Classic in 2019 as a 4-year-old. We have supported both stallions since they retired to stud and can't wait for the progeny to come of racing age. Exciting years ahead.”
Now, with another Breeders' Cup recently in the books, Vino Rosso's first weanlings have arrived at the sales grounds for the Kentucky fall mixed sales. After playing such a key role in Vino Rosso's early life, Glennwood Farm will play a key role in his early stud career.
The Glennwood Farm consignment will offer a pair of colts from the first crop of Vino Rosso during the Keeneland November sale, both in the prestigious first book. They will be part of the 41 Vino Rosso weanlings cataloged in the Keeneland sale, following the five entered across town at the Fasig-Tipton sale.
Hip 73 – Colt out of Bending Strings, by American Chance
This dark bay or brown colt is out of a four-time graded stakes winner, in Bending Strings.
A Glennwood homebred, Bending Strings was a standout sprinter, notching wins in the G2 Nassau County Breeders' Cup Stakes, the G2 First Flight Handicap, and the G3 Safely Kept Breeders' Cup Stakes. She also picked up a graded stakes score at a mile in the Grade 2 Chilukki Stakes.
As a broodmare, Bending Strings' resume is highlighted by Sun Studio, a stakes-placed Speightstown filly. She is also the dam of the stakes-producing Tapit mare Delightful Melody, who has the stakes winner Arzak.
His second dam, Straight South, is also a stakes winner with four black type-producing daughters. The standouts under that branch of the tree are Get It Straight, dam of Grade 3 winner Bangkok, and Rich Seam, who had a pair of stakes winners.
“We have been very pleased with our Vino babies so far and there seems to be a great buzz about his first foals,” Gunther said. “Curlin is one of our favorite proven stallions in the U.S., so with Vino Rosso being arguably Curlin's most credentialed son at stud, we eagerly await his freshman year as a sire.
“Our Vino foals of 2021 have great balance and nice big walks which is highly encouraging and they seem to have a lot of quality about them,” she continued. “We also think Spendthrift started Vino out at a very competitive price – to be able to breed to a Breeders' Cup Classic and Eclipse Award-winning son of Curlin for $30,000 in his first year seemed phenomenal value for a new sire.”
Hip 112 – Colt out of Fair Huntress, by Tiznow
The third foal out of Fair Huntress, an unraced mare purchased by Glennwood's John Gunther at the 2017 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale.
Fair Huntress comes from a strong producing dam herself, in the stakes-placed Devil His Due mare Beauty's Due. Her most proven daughter in the breeding shed is the Grade 3 winner Devil By Design, who had the Grade 1 winner Competitionofideas.
“We believed Vino would suit the two mares well physically and were very happy when the stork arrived with these two nice packages,” Gunther said. “Both are bays, which doesn't reflect Vino's coloring per se, but they do have good swagger and nice temperaments, which remind us of him. And of course, Vino's sire Curlin has a couple of bays among his top horses – Malathaat and Clairiere for example, who both ran in this year's Breeders' Cup Distaff.”
Vino Rosso, a 6-year-old son of Curlin, stands at Spendthrift Farm for an advertised fee of $25,000.
Vino Rosso won six of 15 starts and earned $4,803,125 on the racetrack. In addition to his signature Breeders' Cup Classic score, the stallion picked up victories in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes, and the G2 Wood Memorial Stakes.
The post Toast To Vino Rosso Presented By Spendthrift Farm: Vino Rosso’s First November Weanlings Mark Full-Circle Moment For Glennwood Farm appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
