Tyler's Tribe | Horse Racing Free Tips

Tyler’s Tribe Pointing to Dec. 9 Advent Stakes at Oaklawn

After a failed attempt in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in which he bled, Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) will return to his comfort zone for his next start. Trainer and co-owner Tim Martin reports that his Iowa-bred gelding will start next in the Dec. 9 Advent S. at Oaklawn at 5 1/2 furlongs on the dirt for 2-year-olds.

“This will give him five weeks between races,” Martin said. “We worked him last week and he didn't bleed. Everything looked good. I'll breeze him again Saturday. In this race coming up we can use Lasix and I'd like to take advantage of that.”

Tyler's Tribe, an Iowa-bred who cost $34,000 as a yearling, dominated his competition in his first five starts, all of them at Prairie Meadows, winning by a combined margin of 59 3/4 lengths. With no dirt sprint race for 2-year-olds available at the Breeders' Cup, Martin elected to try Tyler's Tribe on the grass in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. It was more or less a disaster. Racing without Lasix for the first time in his career, Tyler's Tribe bled and had to be vanned off the track.

“He just got stressed that day,” Martin said. “I don't think he liked the turf. Then he made a pretty good bobble and his head went down right before he bled. When he walked on that turf course he started washing out. He never did that before. He had always been calm. He was doing fine in the post parade. The minute he stepped on turf he started sweating.”

While going back on Lasix in the Advent may help Tyler's Tribe in the short term, Martin can't count on using it throughout the year. In the races in which horses can accrue points for the GI Kentucky Derby, Lasix is not allowed. Martin is still holding out hope that Tyler's Tribe can prove worthy of chasing after the Derby and is hopeful that bleeding won't be an issue.

“We breezed him last week and he breezed good,” Martin said. “He scoped good, there was no mucus, no blood, no anything. Everything was good. I never have thought he was a bleeder.”

Should Tyler's Tribe win the Advent, Martin will reevaluate where he is with the horse. A race like the Smarty Jones S., run at a mile on Jan. 1 is a possibility.

“Will I point for the Derby? Maybe,” he said. “I want to see how he does in this race first.”

With Tyler's Tribe having never run beyond six furlongs, he'll need to prove he can go a distance. Martin doesn't think it will be a problem.

“I love the thought of him going a distance,” he said. “The rider thinks he'll be great going long. I never thought he was a sprinter. That he did so well in sprints kind of surprised me. At the end, he always has a lot left.”

The Advent is a $150,000 race and will be run on opening day at Oaklawn.

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Breeders’ Cup Notes: War Like Goddess, Domestic Spending, Tyler’s Tribe Add Intrigue to Turf Races

While all eyes were on where undefeated superstar Flightline (Tapit) would be slotted at Monday's Breeders' Cup draw, and overall the dirt races this weekend have gotten a bit more attention, the fields for the turf contests also bring plenty of interesting storylines.

George Krikorian's War Like Goddess (English Channel) was the beaten favorite when finishing a close third in last year's GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, and received that betting attention because of her utter dominance over her fellow American turf mares. This year, trainer Bill Mott has decided to try to conquer new territory for the 5-year-old, as she defeated males in her first try in the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Invitational S. last out and this time will take on the boys in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf.

The seven-time graded stakes winner continued her preparations for the 1 1/2-mile test with a gallop over the Keeneland dirt track at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

“She's as good a turf horse as we've got in our country,” Mott said. “That doesn't mean she has to win on Saturday, but she's a competitor and she's done very well throughout her entire career. We've won the race a couple times and it would be really nice to win it with a filly.”

War Like Goddess seeks to give Mott a third Turf win, but first since he scored with Fraise in 1992. He also took the 1987 renewal with Theatrical (Ire). Mott explained that the decision to race her in the $4-million Turf mostly has to do with the 1 3/16-mile distance of the $2-million Filly & Mare Turf being too short for the star mare.

“First of all, it's not about the money, it's about winning. Frankly, if you win, the money follows. Sometimes I don't even know the size of the purse,” Mott explained. “With her, it happens to be the distance. I think that she's a true mile-and-three-eighths, mile-and-a-half horse and we wanted to get her in that type of race and that's what we did last time [in the 12-furlong Hirsch]. We ran her against the boys and she pulled it off. She was very good. A mile and three-sixteenths was probably just a little short for her. That doesn't mean she couldn't get up, but I think she's a little more effective [going longer] … and it is a big purse.”

In the GI Breeders' Cup FanDuel Mile, trainer Chad Brown will try something outside the box with Klaravich Stables' multiple Grade I winner Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}). Sporting a record of six wins in eight career starts, the gelding figured to be among the favorites in last year's Turf, but had to be sidelined because of an injury. Now, in total, he hasn't raced in over 14 months, having most recently run second in the 2021 GI Mister D. S. in August at Arlington.

“I have thankfully good horses in my barn for him to work with, even if I haven't had the benefit of a prep race for him,” Brown said. “A few weeks ago, I started to watch him work thinking this is a possibility. I know it's a tall order, but all I can do is get him ready to run the best race I can and he's going to have to work out his own trip. We are going to find out if he needed the benefit of that prep race. It's a likely possibility that it will affect him–I'm not confused about that–but there's also a chance that he's such a brilliant racehorse that he can overcome it, especially if the dynamics of the race fall right for him.”

The Cinderella story of the Breeders' Cup is Iowa-based Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca), the undefeated and untested gelding owned by Tom Lepic and trainer Tim Martin who will contest Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Five-for-five so far in his career, all races coming over dirt, the speedy dark bay got a spin over the Keeneland turf Tuesday morning.

“We did the turf today, will walk Wednesday, go to the gate Thursday and won't go to the track Friday morning,” Martin said. “I'm quarter horse training; I want him fresh and fast!”

Tyler's Tribe drew the 10-hole in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, which Martin says is no problem.

“The 10 is fine; he broke his maiden from there,” he said. “On the dirt, he has a fast cruising speed and I'd like to see him get out of the gate good and then settle. He's a fast horse and the speed [Speed Boat Beach and The Platinum Queen] is outside of us. If they want the lead, they are going to have to go around us.”

The colt is named for the followers of Lepic's grandson Tyler Juhl, who was declared cancer free last week in his battle with leukemia.

“There are going to be watch parties all over the state and there will be about a hundred Iowans here for the race,” said Lepic, who has turned down offers for Tyler's Tribe.

“We never ever had even a thought of selling. We had a lot of awfully good offers but it was never considered,” Lepic said. “He's a family horse, a horse that means so much more than just to our family but to the Leukemia Foundation. He will stay with our family and Tim Martin his entire life.”

Tyler's Tribe also had been pre-entered in the $2-million GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but the connections opted to stay at a sprint distance and try the grass.

“He's going to Oaklawn Park right after this,” Lepic said. “They have four stakes there and we will stretch him out and see what happens.”

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Taking Stock: Freshman Sires Are Flexing

This is somewhat of a watershed year for freshman sires, with six first-crop sires within the top 10 on the list of leading sires of 2-year-olds in North America through Monday. Spendthrift stalwart Into Mischief leads the group (as he has for five of the last seven years), but the same farm's freshman Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) is second, Hill 'n' Dale's Good Magic (Curlin) is third, Coolmore America's Justify (Scat Daddy) is fourth, Hill 'n' Dale's Army Mule (Friesan Fire) is fifth, Three Chimneys's Sharp Azteca (Freud) is seventh, and Airdrie's Girvin (Tale of Ekati), relocated from Florida for the 2023 season, is ninth through Monday.

Also threatening to make the top 10 by year's end are Coolmore America's Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) in 11th, Mill Ridge's Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy) in 15th, and Lane's End's City of Light (Quality Road) in 16th.

To put this in perspective, consider that among freshman sires in 2014 only Lane's End's Quality Road (seventh) and WinStar's Super Saver (ninth) made the top 10 list; in 2015, Coolmore America's Uncle Mo (first) was the sole first-crop representative; in 2016, there was only Darby Dan's Dialed In (ninth); in 2017, the two freshmen were WinStar's Overanalyze (ninth) and Hill 'n' Dale's Violence (10th); in 2018, only Spendthrift's duo of Cross Traffic (fourth) and Goldencents (10th) made the cut; in 2019, Coolmore America's American Pharoah (second), WinStar's Constitution (fourth), and Three Chimneys's Palace Malice (eighth) made it three for the young guns; in 2020, another trio made the list, with Darley's Nyquist (third) topping Sequel/WinStar's Laoban (fifth) and Taylor Made's Not This Time (sixth).

Last year, four freshman sires made the top 10: Three Chimneys's Gun Runner (first), Coolmore America's Practical Joke (third), Lane's End's Connect (fifth), and Coolmore America's Classic Empire (10th).

The trend is obvious, isn't it? More freshman sires are flexing their way into the top 10 this year than before, and it's not like they were uniformly the recipients of the best mares. At an opening stud fee of $150,000, Triple Crown winner Justify was getting that quality of mare, but horses like Girvin, who started off for $7,500 at Ocala Stud in Florida; Sharp Azteca at $10,000; and Army Mule at $10,000 were not.

Bolt d'Oro ($25,000), Good Magic ($35,000), Mendelssohn ($35,000), Oscar Performance ($20,000) and City of Light ($35,000) were priced to compete with one another in 2019, but they were cheaper than a number of proven sires not in the top 20 to date, such as Tapit ($225,000), Speightstown ($80,000), More Than Ready ($80,000), Ghostzapper ($85,000), Candy Ride (Arg) ($80,000), Curlin ($175,000), and Quality Road ($150,000), to name a few.

The five Breeders' Cup juvenile races will play a pivotal role in deciding where these freshmen end up when all is said and done, but several have live contenders, including the three just outside the top 10.

For first-crop sire watchers, it's going to be an interesting Breeders' Cup.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile

Among freshmen, Good Magic, a champion 2-year-old, holds a strong pair for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile with Breeders' Cup Challenge winner Blazing Sevens, who won the Gl Champagne S. at Belmont-at-Aqueduct, and Curly Jack, winner of the Glll Iroquois S. at Churchill. So far, Good Magic is the sire of 17 winners and three black-type winners–each of them at graded level. Only Justify has as many graded/group winners, but no freshman except for Good Magic has sired a Grade l winner so far.

Justify, who didn't race at two, has a contender in Verifying, who was second to Blazing Sevens in the Champagne, and he leads all freshman sires with four black-type winners. He's represented by 20 winners overall.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies

City of Light has a good chance in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies with Chop Chop, who lost the Gl Darley Alcibiades S. at Keeneland by a nose. She's one of three black-type winners for City of Light from eight winners so far.

Good Magic's Gll Sorrento S. winner at Del Mar, Vegas Magic, was most recently fourth in the Gl Del Mar Debutante, but she has points and has been training forwardly.

Justify's Just Cindy, winner of the Glll Schuylerville S. at Saratoga in July, has since been defeated in both the Gl Spinaway at Saratoga and the Alcibiades, but his daughter Justique, most recently third in the Gll Chandelier S. at Santa Anita, may be a possibility for the race.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf

Mendelssohn's Delight won the Gll J.P. Morgan Chase Jessamine S. at Keeneland, a Breeders' Cup Challenge race, by five lengths with her ears pricked and looks a strong contender for the North American contingent. She's her sire's lone black-type winner from 17 winners overall.

Oscar Performance's G Laurie has points for the race as well. She was third in the Gl Natalma S. at Woodbine with a troubled trip and is one of 11 winners for Oscar Performance, who is represented by one black-type winner to date–the Grade ll-winning colt Andthewinneris.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf

Andthewinneris won the Gll Bourbon S. at Keeneland, a Breeders' Cup Challenge race, leading a one-two finish for Oscar Performance with Deer District in second. Not only that, Oscar Performance also has Lachaise, who was third in the Gll Pilgrim S. at Belmont-at-Aqueduct, with points for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

Bolt d'Oro also has a couple of contenders. His Major Dude won the aforementioned Pilgrim, a Challenge race, and Boppy O won the Glll With Anticipation S. at Saratoga. They are two of four black-type winners for Bolt d'Oro, who is represented by 19 winners.

City of Light's Battle of Normandy, second in the With Anticipation, also has points for the race, as does freshman sire Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music) with I'm Very Busy, second in the Pilgrim. Cloud Computing doesn't have a black-type winner yet, but he's represented by eight winners.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint

Sharp Azteca's undefeated Iowa-bred Tyler's Tribe has been penciled in for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. He's never raced over turf, but he's registered some sparkling Beyer Speed Figures in dirt sprints, and his sire has been represented by some turf winners. Tyler's Tribe is one of three black-type winners for Sharp Azteca, who has 23 winners. One of them is Sharp Aza Tack, who won the Listed Tyro S. at Monmouth over five furlongs on turf by 7 1/4 lengths, and he could be a possibility for this race as well. He last worked five furlongs over Keeneland's all-weather training track in 1:00.20 Saturday.

City of Light's Gaslight Dancer, who was second by a neck in the six-furlong Glll Futurity S. at Belmont-at-Aqueduct on turf, also has points for the race.

A Takeaway

The freshman sires competing to make this list are doing so not only against others with first crops, but also against established sires. They are also fighting to make themselves relevant for next year, because in the commercial marketplace that now exists, a poor showing this year will mean fewer mares to cover next spring. It's paramount, therefore, that they get some graded winners or a Grade l winner among their first 2-year-olds, and it's for this reason that stud farms front load their books as much as they can with more quality than most will see again unless they are successful.

One result of this is that a stallion's second, third and fourth books usually tend to yield less quality than the first, and yearling buyers, aware of this phenomenon, tend to pay more for first-crop yearlings.

Moreover, even those stallions that end up in the top 10 this year aren't necessarily guaranteed to succeed, unless their first 3-year-olds continue to win next year. Note that in 2017, Overanalyze was ninth on this list but is no longer in Kentucky, while Violence, who was 10th the same year, has continued to make a mark and is represented by Forte, the leading 2-year-old in the East this year.

Some excellent stallions have also emerged from a prominent spot as freshmen on this list over the years. In 2014, it was Quality Road; in 2015, Uncle Mo; in 2019, American Pharoah and Constitution; in 2020, Not This Time; and last year, Gun Runner.

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

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The Week in Review: Small-Circuit State-Breds Spark Underdog BC Appeal

The Breeders' Cup is always a bit more interesting when underdog horses from smaller circuits are in the mix, and both Slammed (Marking) and Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) have the potential to bring outsized attention to their respective breeding programs in New Mexico and Iowa when they run in the Nov. 4 and 5 championships.

In the entire history of the Breeders' Cup dating to 1984–out of a pool of 4,344 horses–those two states have accounted for just one state-bred starter each.

Slammed will represent New Mexico, and you could say that she arguably has the better chance in her race, the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. After breaking out at Del Mar this summer, she's more proven at the national level, and she also owns a recent sharp win over the Keeneland surface, having earned a Breeders' Cup berth with an Oct. 8 GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. victory.

But figuratively, Slammed has to outrun the oddball specter that lingers from the only other Land of Enchantment-bred to give the Breeders' Cup a go: Ricks Natural Star, whose start in the GI Turf in 1996 rates as one of the most captivatingly bizarre happenstances in the history of the series.

As Andrew Beyer wrote in his Washington Post preview of that year's championships, “On a morning when the world's best horses were entered for Saturday's Breeders' Cup, the main object of attention at Woodbine Racetrack was a hopeless 7-year-old from New Mexico…. In the view of many at Woodbine, [Ricks Natural Star] is making a mockery of the sport's biggest event. To others, this quixotic venture epitomizes the romance of the game.”

When the gelding's offbeat owner and trainer, William Livingston, took out a loan and submitted a surprise $40,000 entry to enter his one and only racehorse against the planet's top turfers, Breeders' Cup officials were both appalled and perplexed. This was the era prior to the current stricter qualifying standards and more enlightened veterinary oversight, and to say the entry was off their radar would have been an understatement: Ricks Natural Star hadn't raced in over a year and hadn't won a race in three years, since besting $3,500 claimers on the dirt at Sunland Park.

Livingston, a veterinarian from New Mexico who claimed to treat everything from “parakeets to elephants,” had only gotten his training license just prior to the Breeders' Cup, and he told the media that he had conditioned Ricks Natural Star by driving alongside him on a ranch in a pickup truck.

Livingston then drove the gelding to Canada in a one-horse trailer, keeping his Turf entrant in a makeshift pen in the parking lots of motels when he stopped for the night. Informed by Breeders' Cup officials along the way that Ricks Natural Star lacked a required published workout that would preclude him from starting, Livingston made a side trip to Remington Park in Oklahoma so the gelding could stretch his legs in a leisurely six furlongs in 1:21.46.

There were border-crossing difficulties getting into Canada and Livingston arrived without proper tack and equipment, yet he delighted in showing off Ricks Natural Star, even allowing onlookers to climb atop the gelding's back for photo opportunities. This was the Breeders' Cup that would feature the mighty Cigar's final race (he'd finish third in the GI Classic), but all of the pre-event attention was riveted on Ricks Natural Star, with Livingston insisting he would win the Turf.

Local jockey Lisa McFarland was recruited (or perhaps drew the short straw) from the local riding colony to pilot Ricks Natural Star, and if her strategy was just to let him run freely then get out of the way of everyone else, she executed it with precision. Far underlaid in the betting at 56-1, the popular gelding forced the pace for a half-mile then was eased back through the field, distanced well behind winner Pilsudski (Ire).

Ricks Natural Star made one more start a couple months later in New Mexico for a $7,500 tag (sixth, with the chart caller's comment “showed nothing”), but was claimed out of that race by new connections solely for the purpose of retiring him.

Conversely, the unbeaten 2-year-old Iowa-bred Tyler's Tribe, who has never been headed while winning five dirt races by an aggregate 59 3/4 lengths, is on target for the GI Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Tyler's Tribe will bring a little more “undefeated appeal” into his Breeders' Cup appearance (his connections are opting for first-time turf rather than stretching out to two turns against what looms as a deep GI Juvenile field on dirt). But his Iowa roots don't come with any oddball back story like his New Mexico counterpart. The only previous Iowa-bred in the Breeders' Cup was Topper T (Bellamy Road), who ran eighth in the 2018 GI Juvenile.

End Zone Athletics Hits 200 Wins

With a pair of victories at Remington on Saturday night, End Zone Athletics, the stable name for horses owned by trainer Karl Broberg, quietly hit the 200-victory mark for the year–again.

End Zone, which operates at numerous tracks throughout the South and Midwest, is well on its way to leading the continent for wins as an owner, as it has every year since 2016.

Save for the pandemic-altered 2020, when Broberg's outfit won “only” 165 races, End Zone has now cracked the 200-win mark every season since 2017.

Even more impressively, consider for perspective that during that entire time frame, only one other owner has reached 200 victories in a single season (Loooch Racing Stables in 2018).

In the North American trainer standings, Broberg is currently second on the year for victories. He was the continent's winningest trainer by that metric between 2014-19, and was second in wins in 2013, 2020 and 2021.

No Walk in the Park for 'Beverly'

Beverly Park (Munnings) came a neck shy of winning his 12th race of the year on Saturday at Keeneland. But the third-place effort might have been gutsier than any of the 11 victories racked up so far this year by North America's winningest horse for 2022.

Facing $20,000 starter-allowance company for the second straight time after feasting primarily on $5,000 starter-allowance foes during the earlier part of the season, the 5-year-old forced the issue under jockey Rafael Bejarano while widest in a four-way speed duel, put away those three rivals by the quarter pole, led until the eighth pole, then couldn't withstand a pick-up-the-pieces late rally from a fresh closer.

Beverly Park, who races for owner/trainer Norman Lynn Cash (Built Wright Stables), still has a three-victory cushion over his next closest competitor, Exit Right (Effinex), who ran sixth and last in a $5,000 starter/optional claimer at Delaware Park on Friday.

No North American Thoroughbred has won more than 12 races in an entire calendar year since 2011.

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