Wayne Catalano | Horse Racing Free Tips

Catman’s Nine Lives…and Counting

During the best of times, racing can be a rollercoaster. And for Wayne Catalano, like most other horsemen and women in the sport, that tumultuous lifestyle quickly becomes a way of life. However, despite facing several challenges–both professionally and personally–over the past decade, including a showdown with his own mortality after teetering scarily close to the edge of the eternal precipice, the 'Catman' lived up to his nickname at this year's Breeders' Cup by righting himself midair and landing squarely on his feet in the winner's circle following Aloha West (Hard Spun)'s GI TVG.com Breeders' Cup Sprint victory at Del Mar.

“After 50 years of doing this, we're a bit light on horses and we don't see as much action as we used to, so to win a race like this, it's the pinnacle of my career,” said the 65-year-old, who appeared visibly moved during the post-race interview. “Given the limited opportunities that we have right now, this ranks as one of the best.”

Following Aloha West's thrilling Sprint victory, the press was quick to point out that the New Orleans native, already a three-time Breeders' Cup-winning trainer, was collecting his fourth title at the Championships. Trumpeting his prior wins with 2006 and 2009 GI Juvenile Fillies scorers Dreaming of Anna (Rahy) and She Be Wild (Offlee Wild)–both subsequent Eclipse Award champions–in addition to 2011 GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine Stephanie's Kitten (Kitten's Joy), it was as if the years since had passed unmolested. But in fact, they hadn't.

Catalano enjoyed banner seasons in 2013 and 2014, highlighted by Grade I winners Stephanie's Kitten and Room Service (More Than Ready), in addition to GSWs Imposing Grace (Empire Maker), Title Contender (Pulpit), Solitary Ranger (U S Ranger), I'm Already Sexy (Ready's Image), Poker Player (Harlan's Holiday), Aurelia's Belle (Lemon Drop Kid) and West Coast Belle (Tapit). The business continued to hum along into the summer of 2014, but with just days to go to his 58th birthday, the horseman came down with acute respiratory distress syndrome after contracting Asian Avian Influenza A, which precipitated an epic battle with pneumonia. After spending 22 days in Saint Alexius Medical Center's intensive care, of which nine days were spent under an induced coma, he was finally released to go home.

“Fortunately, I had really great help at that time,” he recalled. “And the horses were really running well. During that time, I won my 1000th race at Arlington and the 2,500th race in my career. The barn was just rolling.”

According to Catalano, during his stint in the hospital, a friend and fellow horseman took to saying, “'Look this guy is in a coma and he's still kicking our ass!'”

For many, the frightening episode might have proven life-altering, however, Catalano admits that his 'coming to Jesus' moment never really materialized.

“It didn't affect the size of my operation, but you know, it should have,” he said. “Because I really thought I was going to cut down after that.”

He added with a laugh, “Any thoughts about cutting back to one division went away in about one week. I went back to the same thing. It didn't stop me. I just kept going.”

Winning connections after Aloha West's Sprint win | Horsephotos

Building on Bedrock

Catalano received his earliest racetrack education under the guidance of legendary horseman and Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg. He had spent much of his youth around horses, thanks to the influence of his 2 1/2-year older brother, Joe, who would go on to become a jockey. Working as a groom and walking hots for Van Berg, he subsequently got his start as a jockey as soon as he turned 16 in 1974. And Catalano quickly rose through the ranks while riding first call for the Hall of Famer and later for Frank Kirby at Hawthorne Race Course. As a rider, Catalano won 1,792 races throughout his career, highlighted by the 1977 season when he won 349 races, second only behind Steve Cauthen while finishing ahead of a slew of future Hall of Famers, including Chris McCarron, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Angel Cordero, Jr. and Eddie Delahoussaye. He hung up his silks in 1983.

“My knee started to aggravate me a little bit near the end and the [quality] of my mounts fell off a bit too,” he said, explaining the decision to stop riding. “I won a lot of races, titles and did really well, but I didn't have as many stakes horses as I would have liked. I was also getting a little older and I wasn't comfortable anymore.

“My knee was bugging me, but more importantly, my heart got weaker,” he said with a chuckle. “If your heart's not in it, you just got to quit.”

Whether by design or scripted by fate, Catalano had already given himself a solid foothold into the next chapter of his career as a trainer. During his tenure with Van Berg, Catalano spent much of his time learning the basics of horsemanship, even during his days as a jockey.

“It didn't matter what you were there for, Jack would teach you horsemanship,” he explained. “So, I learned how to be a horseman first. Being a jockey came afterward. Nearing the end of my riding career, I wanted to be a trainer so I started hanging around the barn, coming back after my rides and learning the ropes. I didn't just ride horses and go home, like most jockeys do.”

Underscoring the importance of learning the tools of the trade from such an iconic horseman, Catalano explained, “Jack taught me hard work and horsemanship. They are the main ingredients that I picked up from him. You have to know how to take care of a horse, first and foremost. And I had the opportunity to learn from one of the greatest trainers of all time.”

Wayne Catalano & GSW Dreaming of Liz | Horsephotos

Ebb and Flow

A considerable amount of Catalano's early success can be pinpointed through his association with oil magnate John Franks, a five-time Eclipse Award winning owner. Armed with a battalion of horses up until his death in 2004, the Louisiana mogul proved to be a valuable source of horse-power for several trainers around the country, including Catalano.

“When I went out on my own, Jack gave me a few horses and then I was introduced to John Franks. I won my first stakes race with him with Croupier Lady. We had tremendous success together,” he said.

Another owner that helped expand Catalano's operation was Chicago businessman Frank Calabrese. The often tempestuous partnership–which was highlighted by a slew of stakes winners, including champion juvenile filly Dreaming of Anna and MGSW Lewis Michael (Rahy)–ended in 2009.

“A big reason I was in Chicago so long was because of [leading Arlington owner] Frank [Calabrese],” said Catalano. “So, when we parted company, my situation in Illinois wasn't really beneficial anymore.

“I had some of my clients who didn't want to race up there. It soon became obvious it just wasn't where I needed to be at that point in time, so we moved our base of operations to Kentucky. And we've been here every year since.”

Having enjoyed a blistering record in Illinois, which included 11 training titles at the recently shuttered Arlington Park, a trio at Hawthorne Race Course and two at Sportsman's Park, Catalano finally found the rocks when transitioning his fleet to Kentucky.

“Leaving my home base of Chicago and moving to Kentucky, we did well but things got a little bit lighter,” he admitted. “We maintained a smaller group and did well, winning races at Keeneland, Churchill Downs and Kentucky Downs. But it just started to get a little bit lighter.

“At one point, when I had horses for Frank, I had about 50 horses just for him. That made a big difference. On the flipside, I once went from 50 horses in my barn to only a pony. There was another time when I had no horses. So, I've reinvented myself a few times.”

Granted the opportunity to usher a slew of top-caliber competitors to the zenith of their careers, Catalano also experienced the shaded underbelly of the game, having lost rising stars to the other trainers. Chief among them are the aforementioned Stephanie's Kitten, who went on to be a Grade I winner for Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown and Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}), who would go on to win the 2011 GI Kentucky Derby and 2013 G1 Dubai World Cup for trainer Graham Motion.

Wayne Catalano & Dreaming of Anna | Horsephotos

Asked if those experiences had left a bitter taste in his mouth, Catalano's reply was almost unexpected.

“Honestly, I was sitting watching the Derby with my wife, Animal Kingdom wins and I felt great. I felt really good about it,” he said. “Why? Because I know, I had a hand in helping develop the horse and I got him to where he needed to be before Graham Motion took over. And he did a great job with the horse. It's like passing the 'Refridgerator' the ball to win the Super Bowl… Just don't drop the ball.”

He continued, “To have a good horse, to develop him and put him in that situation for him to win the Derby, that's what I do. To put in that early ground work and to see it come through, that's very rewarding. No, I didn't get the win for myself in the end, but I knew what it took to get there. It wasn't the easiest thing, but I got the satisfaction in knowing that I played a big part in that.”

Under the guidance of Catalano, Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Stephanie's Kitten won six stakes, including a pair at the Grade I level–the Alcibiades S. and Longines Just a Game S. In 2014, Brown took over training duties from Catalano and the homebred won an additional four stakes, including the 2015 GI Flower Bowl S. and GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Catalano is quick to acknowledge that much of his success was built on horses with humble credentials rather than high-voltage pedigrees and physicals that often go to many of the bigger barns.

“To take a horse like Stephanie's Kitten, a homebred that couldn't sell for $17,000 and to win the Breeders' Cup, that's something to be proud of,” he said. “Also, She Be Wild was a $19,000 buyback at the sale and also went on to win a Breeders' Cup race. Room Service and Dreaming of Anna are also homebreds that won Grade Is. These are the horses I did it with. And not with million-dollar animals. I'm very proud of that.”

Despite facing a tighter ship of approximately 20-25 horses and a more streamlined roster of owners, Catalano has seen his share of success in recent years. Among the most notable are Coffee Pot Stables' Farrell (Malibu Moon), a seven-time stakes winner and earner of over $1 million. Her most notable wins were registered in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks, GII Rachel Alexandra S. and GII Golden Rod S. The homebred also finished runner-up in the GI La Troienne S. Making it a family affair, the filly was ridden throughout her career by Channing Hill, married to his and his wife Renee's daughter Shelbi. And Catalano admits that the importance of family, which includes three grandsons and a granddaughter on the way, is what propels him so much more these days.

“God knows what he is doing,” he asserted. “You have kids, a career and then you have your own grandchildren and you get to do it all over again, but you get to enjoy it a lot better. That's what I look forward to these days.”

Wayne Catalano & grandson Wayllen | Coady

On the Catwalk

Looking ahead to a 2022 campaign, the fun seems likely to continue for Catalano and Eclipse Thoroughbreds via Aloha West. According to the horseman, among options considered for the Maryland-bred is the $1.5-million Saudi Arabian Airlines Riyadh Dirt Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racecourse Feb. 26.

“I'm going to let the horse talk to me,” he said. “If he tells me he is ready to do something, then we'll make a plan as to what we want to do. It was a long trip [from Kentucky to California] and he came back good. We'll gather back up and go from there.”

With his Sprint champion safely back at the horseman's Lexington base on Rice Road, Catalano finally found a moment to reflect on his latest Breeders' Cup experience.

“When I was sitting up in the breakfast tent at the Breeders' Cup, watching the horses train I thought to myself, 'This is what it's all about, this is how every place should be,'” he said. “You get up seven days a week, three o'clock in the morning no matter if it's Christmas, Thanksgiving or New Year's and you put your whole life into this thing. You should have some fun. If you go to work every day and you enjoy it, then it isn't like work, right? Isn't that what they say?”

He continued, “The people around you also make a difference. Ones who can show their appreciation for the job that you did. Let's enjoy it. Everybody wants to win. To get there and have these moments, that's what's important. In these big races, we know only one horse is going to win. So just enjoy it win, lose or draw. [Eclipse Thoroughbreds'] Aron Wellman said to me before the [Sprint], 'No matter what the horse does, let's just have fun.' And that's what we did. That's what it's all about.”

And in the waning hours of Nov. 6, it seemed like things had come full circle for Catalano. Following a lifetime in service to the track and its inhabitants, all Catalano's hard work and struggles appeared to have converged into a single moment with a 4-year-old Maryland-bred getting his nose down first at the wire.

“I've been there a long time,” he said. “I started out many years ago–I was 15 years old when I started and I'm now 65. I've done it all, I've seen it all. Between the jockeys, agents, trainers and horses, you can name it and I can guide somebody through just about anything. After everything that I've accomplished, all the highs and lows, and to come back at this point with much less in the barn, and to win a race like that, we've done it. I feel good about it. I'm happy. All I want to do is make a good living, be close to my grandchildren and stay in the business…and to have fun.”

The post Catman’s Nine Lives…and Counting appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Priceless Sire Revives Aloha West’s Deep Family

Hard to put a price on a stallion like this. Apart from anything else, he is the parting legacy of Danzig–conceived when the great patriarch was 26–and his maternal line brings a daughter of the wartime foal My Babu (Fr) as close up as third dam. True to that venerable seeding, his stock has emulated both the class and constitution that sustained his own speed–carrying commitment on the racetrack. Though his career was compressed into barely a year, he didn't just “dance every dance,” but turned the pages for the orchestra as well. And while he dropped back to seven furlongs for his Grade I, in the King's Bishop, he had held out for second in the GI Kentucky Derby after setting a pace that summoned the winner and third from as far back as 17th and 14th at the third split.

He has just sired his 12th domestic Grade I winner, to add to three in Australia, and looks booked for the top 10 in the general sires' list for the third year running. He finished fourth in 2019, ninth last year and stands eighth this time round. To take an incontrovertibly high-class stallion as benchmark, Uncle Mo was 13th in 2019, fourth last year and-basking in the brilliance of his 10th Grade I winner, Golden Pal–lies 10th as we turn for home in 2021. Uncle Mo duly stood at $175,000 this year, and will trade at $160,000 next spring.

Yet Hard Spun remains at $35,000.

Is there better proven value anywhere in Kentucky? Okay, so the late bloom of his GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Aloha West (unraced until four) confirms that the Jonabell stallion's foals won't always offer what is perceived as “commercial” precocity. But such brilliant acceleration in a dirt dash round a track as dizzy as Del Mar confirms that Hard Spun can get you any kind.

To take a brisk sample: Hard Spun's first crop, which ultimately yielded a record 17 stakes winners, had by midsummer featured a Group 2 juvenile winner in Britain. His biggest earner is a turf sprinter in Australia; he has had a Group 2 winner on the downhill five at Goodwood; and also a GI Arlington Million winner on the grass. At the same time, he has had pour-it-on dirt runners round two turns, like Questing (GB) and Smooth Roller (another who only surfaced at four, but explosively). Spun To Run won his GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile from the front, Hard Not To Love cut them down from the rear in the GI La Brea S. But their sire has also had a dual winner of the GII Marathon, briefly a Breeders' Cup race, at 13 and 14 furlongs.

Moreover Hard Spun is already developing a scarcely less diverse international profile as a broodmare sire, through the likes of Good Magic (Curlin) in the U.S.; Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never), winner of two Group 1 miles in Britain this year; and elite Japanese sprinter Danon Smash (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}).

The one thing he hasn't yet managed, unlike another of Danzig's later sons in War Front, is to secure his own branch of the dynasty. Several of his best performers have been fillies and geldings. Spun to Run drew a solid first book of 119 at Gainesway, however; and Silver State, as a GI Met Mile winner, goes to a farm of corresponding resonance in Claiborne-once, of course, home to Danzig himself. Now Aloha West has emerged from nowhere as another feasible heir, so let's take a quick look at his antecedents.

Aloha West was bred in Maryland by Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine M. Voss from the graded stakes-winning sprinter Island Bound (Speightstown). Expectations for the mare appear to have slightly downgraded of late: having been afforded several chances with Kentucky stallions, she has made down with $5,000 covers in Maryland the last couple of years. But her sights may need to be raised again now, as she has transformed her record in 2021. At the start of the year, her sophomore daughter by Nyquist and 4-year-old son by Hard Spun both remained unraced. But Moquist is now unbeaten in four starts for trainer Dale Capuano, the latest a Laurel optional claimer just a week before the Breeders' Cup; and Aloha West, of course, has been thriving for Wayne Catalano since the summer, winning twice at Saratoga before an unlucky defeat when tried in a Grade II at Keeneland. That emboldened a tilt at the big one at Del Mar, and spectacular vindication for local resident Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, who had moved to buy the horse privately after he showed promise (won on debut, messy start next time) in a belated start to his career for Gary and Mary West at Oaklawn last winter.

Now nobody needs to give the Wests any instruction in the ups and downs of this business. In fact, when they won one of their very first Grade Is, nearly 20 years ago, their second runner in the race collapsed on the track with heatstroke. (Happily, he was okay to fight another day.) That was also the year when they had the favorite break down in Derby week. They've seen it all before, they trade to support their program, and one day everything is going to fall right to redress the disqualification of Maximum Security (New Year's Day). In the meantime, however, you have to hope that they're satisfied with the prices they took for the two 2021 Breeders' Cup winners who left their ownership.

One was the devastating GI Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good (Into Mischief), who made $525,000 as a yearling. His dam is still only eight, so here's a rising tide that floats all boats. (Less happy will be the vendors of the Grade I-placed second dam, at Keeneland November two years ago, for just $15,000–exactly one percent of her cost when carrying her first foal, eight years previously! Purchasers SF Bloodstock clearly realized that her yearling grandson, purchased in the same ring a few weeks previously, was something special.)

Hopefully the Wests also got a fair price for Aloha West back in the spring. Their program is oriented towards the Triple Crown and clearly that moment had passed. Regardless, it turns out that he was yet another typically astute discovery by Ben Glass. The long-serving manager of their operation bought the dam of Life Is Good as a yearling, and picked out Aloha West for $160,000 as Hip 1025 at the Keeneland September Sale.

The overall pattern of the pedigree is actually not dissimilar from that of Life Is Good: a top line representing one of the speedier Northern Dancer lines (Danzig in Aloha West, Storm Cat in Life Is Good); a dam by a grandson of Mr. Prospector (Speightstown in Aloha West, Distorted Humor in Life Is Good); and the second dams respectively by A.P. Indy (in the case of Aloha West) and his son Mineshaft (in the case of Life Is Good).

Aloha West's granddam was a three-time winner with some minor black type, but Island Bound represents the only distinction she had achieved in what proved to be a curtailed breeding career. There is, however, real depth in behind.

The next dam, by Afleet, also showed some talent and soundness (3-for-19) and produced two graded stakes winners (and also a Grade II runner-up) including GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile third Rogue Romance (Smarty Jones). The unraced fourth dam was a Manila half-sister to Ogygian, damsire of Johannesburg; and the next dam is also granddam of a huge modern influence in Fappiano. And, best of all, that means that she in turn is out of the Tartan Farms foundation mare Cequillo (Princequillo).

These aristocratic embers have now been stoked up by Hard Spun, whose own background mirrors the shape of Island Bound's family. Both represent a dashing sire-line, Hard Spun as a son of Danzig; Island Bound as a daughter of Speightstown. And both complement that with sturdy influences seeding the bottom line. We've seen that Island Bound was out of an A.P. Indy mare, for instance, while Hard Spun's second dam was by Roberto-and, moreover, shared a dam with Darby Dan champion Little Current (Sea-Bird {Fr}). This, indeed, becomes a very deep well of aristocratic Darby Dan blood for Hard Spun to draw on: his fourth dam is Banquet Bell (Polynesian), dam of two farm legends (both by Swaps) in Chateaugay and Primonetta.

Even the intervention of the hulking Turkoman, Hard Spun's pedestrian damsire, has not diluted the potency of this blood. Hard Spun's stakes-winning half-sister by Stravinsky has further decorated the family as second dam of multiple Grade I winner Improbable (City Zip).

With these auspicious foundations, Aloha West had the best possible start in life. Bob Manfuso has already bred a top-class runner at Chanceland Farm, which he co-owns with Voss, in Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss), winner of the GI Kentucky Oaks in 2016. And for the sale his breeders had the good sense to send this colt to Nursery Place, a privilege no young horse in the Bluegrass can exceed.

So there have been many different contributors to the flowering of Aloha West-both genetically, and in terms of horsemanship. But he is certainly stamped with the Hard Spun brand, as a horse flourishing with maturity and touched by brilliance.

Just imagine if Hard Spun himself had been permitted to remain in training at four! As it was, his new owner was then investing heavily in a reset of his international stallion program. Of course, Darley is a global program and Hard Spun was sent off to Japan for a year at a critical stage, in 2014. That hiatus, leaving him without U.S. juveniles in 2017/sophomores in 2018, was doubtless what allowed his fee to stabilize at such an accessible level. Remember he was $60,000 before he went to Japan, and $35,000 for his return-even though he had dominated the fourth-crop sires' table in the year of his absence, whether by prizemoney, winners or graded stakes success, finishing ahead of no less a trio than Street Sense (who had accompanied him to Hokkaido), English Channel and Scat Daddy.

I am often rebuked, when lamenting the stampede for rookie sires who will rarely command so high a fee again, that there is no alternative but to roll the dice; that the “proven” sires have all put themselves way out of reach. It's a free world, a free market, and we're all entitled to our opinions. But I would say that here is one stallion that makes that view, well, just a little Hard to understand.

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Bloodlines: Aloha West’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint Adds To Hard Spun’s Growing Legend At Stud

Among the stallions whose stock enjoyed success at the 2021 Breeders' Cup, Darley's Dubawi (by Dubai Millennium) clearly scored the most with three winners: Yibir (in the Turf); Space Blues (Mile); and Modern Games (Juvenile Turf). All three victories came on the turf course at Del Mar.

In other stallion news, Gun Runner confirmed his position as the top freshman sire with Echo Zulu's impressive victory in the BC Juvenile Fillies, which almost certainly will translate into an Eclipse Award for champion juvenile filly, and Quality Road had a correspondingly impressive winner with Corniche, who is a virtual certainty as the Eclipse Award winner for champion 2-year-old colt.

Of all the sires of winners at the 2021 Breeders' Cup, however, the one who added luster to his resume at a most opportune time was the 17-year-old Danzig stallion Hard Spun, who stands at Darley's Jonabell in Kentucky.

Hard Spun has had a really good year as a sire in 2021, with Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap winner Silver State and a half-dozen other stakes winners, including Grade 1-placed Caddo River. At the Breeders' Cup in full view of all the most important breeders and against the strongest competition, Hard Spun captured a major share of the limelight with the winner of the Breeders' Cup Sprint in Aloha West, whose victory pushed the sire into the top 10 stallions nationally by total progeny earnings for 2021.

Second in the Kentucky Derby to Street Sense and second in the Breeders' Cup Classic of 2007 to Curlin, Hard Spun was part of the splendid three-year-old crop of 2007 that included other star sires of the present like Horse of the Year Curlin (Smart Strike) and champion juvenile Street Sense (Street Cry). All three are important stallions in the immensely competitive Kentucky sire pool.

And of the three, Hard Spun would be viewed as the value play by many breeders, standing for $35,000 live foal in 2021 and 2022. For next year, Street Sense is set for a stud fee of $75,000, and Curlin is $175,000.

And yet Hard Spun has proven he can get the major racers, with 87 stakes winners, including Grade 1 winners Questing (Alabama Stakes), Wicked Strong (Wood Memorial), Silver State, and others.

Bred in Maryland by Bob Manfuso and Katharine Voss, Aloha West is out of the Speightstown mare Island Bound. The dark bay colt brought $160,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale, selling to Gary and Mary West, with their agent Ben Glass signing the ticket.

Various setbacks kept the handsome colt from racing at two and three, and he won his debut on Feb. 7 of 2021. Trainer Wayne Catalano noted that Eclipse Stables's “Aron Wellman spotted the colt after he won, and he inquired about buying the horse. The Wests and their agent Ben Glass always want to know if anyone wants to buy a horse, and they say 'yes' or 'no' about selling a horse. They sell a lot of horses. They don't know at the time just how they will turn out, and this one turned out really well. But Mr. West is a business man, and he makes business decisions.

“These are all wonderful people to train for, and sometimes, when the Wests are willing to sell a horse, I try to find owners to keep them in house. Mr. West is a great guy about allowing me to do that.”

Catalano said that he was especially happy to keep Aloha West, as the lightly raced 4-year-old colt “has a world of speed, and we knew there was ability there. But that colt has really shown so much willingness that he deserves to compete with the best.”

A nose away from winning three of his first four starts, Aloha West has also won three of his last four starts, but the Breeders' Cup Sprint was his first stakes victory. The dark bay has now won five of nine starts, all in 2021, and earned $1.3 million.

Aloha West is the second winner of a Breeders' Cup race for Hard Spun. His son Spun to Run won the 2019 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and stands at stud at Gainesway in Lexington.

With the pedigree and speed of Aloha West, there is clearly a spot at stud for him sometime in the future, but Eclipse Thoroughbreds has indicated that he will race in 2022, when he would obviously compete for further glory at sprints…and perhaps at somewhat longer distances.

The post Bloodlines: Aloha West’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint Adds To Hard Spun’s Growing Legend At Stud appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Breeder Voss Celebrates BC Sprint Win For Aloha West

Katy Voss watched this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships with great interest. The breeder, owner, and Laurel Park-based trainer was cheering on her younger sister, Elizabeth Merryman, who bred and co-owns Grade 1 Turf Sprint contender Caravel.

Voss also had a rooting interest in seeing Max Player do well in the $6 million G1 Classic, having bred the colt's dam, stakes winner Fools in Love, with her late-life partner, Bob Manfuso, who passed away in March 2020.

But much of Voss' attention was focused on Aloha West, a 4-year-old son of Hard Spun that she and Manfuso bred and who went into the G1 Sprint with relative anonymity.

“Well, I had certainly heard of him,” Voss said. “I had been following him, and praying.”

Purchased privately by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners following two starts for Gary and Mary West, Aloha West rallied for his first career stakes victory with an 11-1 upset in the six-furlong Sprint, beating Dr. Schivel by a nose on the wire.

“That was pretty exciting,” Voss said. “I've watched every one of his races. I don't know what they paid, but when Eclipse bought him they were very excited.”

Aloha West is out of the Speightstown mare Island Bound, a member of the broodmare band at 191-acre Chanceland Farm in West Friendship, Md. that was established by Voss and Manfuso in 1987. Island Bound was owned by Manfuso and made the final three starts of her racing career for Voss at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. , after going 5-for-24 with trainer Ian Wilkes including a win in the 2012 G3 Winning Colors.

Hard Spun, who ran third in the 2007 G1 Preakness Stakes and went on to become a Grade 1-winning sprinter, stands at Darley's Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky. Aloha West was foaled April 16, 2017.

“I give Bob the credit for that. He always had a great relationship with Darley, and we bred several other mares to Hard Spun so we had been a supporter of Hard Spun from the get-go,” Voss said. “They had sent him to Japan and he had just come back when we sent [Island Bound] down there. We'd always liked Hard Spun. In fact, I just bred Parlay to Hard Spun this year.”

Aloha West went unraced at both 2 and 3, making his debut Feb. 7 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., for trainer Wayne Catalano, winning the six-furlong maiden special weight by three-quarters of a length over a muddy track.

“I was wondering what happened to him, because he never showed up until last winter as a 4-year-old,” Voss said. “First time out, he kind of broke slow, trailed the field, and then circled the field and just won going away. That was exciting.”

Aloha West was brought along patiently by the connections, progressing through his conditions that included back-to-back optional claiming allowance victories over the summer at Saratoga. He was beaten a neck in the G2 Phoenix Oct. 8 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., in his Sprint prep.

“After Saratoga, they were going in the Ack Ack, which seemed like a natural for him to go a mile off of his two [sprint] races at Saratoga. The Ack Ack was the Saturday before the yearling sale, so I was counting on him getting some black type because I was selling his sister. Then they scratched and went in the Phoenix. It was a 'Win and You're In' and they were going three-quarters instead of a mile. I suspected Life is Good is probably why, and they figured they had a better shot in the Sprint.”

Aloha West got shuffled back at the start and chased the pace racing three-wide behind favored Jackie's Warrior. Tipped out in the stretch by jockey Jose Ortiz, he came with a steady run to catch Dr. Schivel in the final jump.

It was another success story for the Voss-Manfuso partnership, also responsible for breeding such stakes winners as 2016 G1 Kentucky Oaks heroine Cathryn Sophia, four-time graded-stakes winner International Star, and multiple stakes winners Cordmaker and Las Setas.

“It's awesome,” Voss said. “I'm sorry I wasn't there.”

Max Player, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, ran last in the Classic behind Knicks Go, the likely 2021 Horse of the Year that was bred in Maryland by Angie and Samantha Moore.

“Maryland was very well-represented,” Voss said. “Nobody was going to beat Knicks Go. They kept talking about how Max Player developed a better style of running, and I just felt like they were all chasing. He was wide on the first turn and he was digging and trying. I've got two half-sisters to his dam, so I'm not complaining.”

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