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TDN Snippets: Week of Apr. 11 – Apr. 17

This week's TDN Snippets have a little international flavor, while also appreciating one of America's best, and most versatile, stallions.

Can lightning strike twice?
LNJ's Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast)'s Group 1 exploits in Australia have been well documented, and she's set to be offered through the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in May. The same connections have sent Ivy League (Medaglia d'Oro), formerly with Richard Mandella, to the Ciaron Maher/David Eustace stable trying to repeat the magic formula.

All Purpose. All Places. All Power…
It's not just a marketing slogan, as Speightstown has amassed 23 Northern Hemisphere G1SWs. Here's the breakdown by distance/surface (note: Charlatan won G1s at two different trips, Rock Fall was a 2x G1 winner at 6f)

6fD-6, 6fT-1, 7fD-5, 8fD-2, 8fT-4, 9fD-1, 10fD-2, 10fT-3.

Thanks to Alan Carasso for the research.

22 And Counting…
Less than 24 hours after 'TDN Rising Star' Shirl's Speight became the newest top-level scorer, see above, for WinStar's Speightstown in Friday's Maker's Mark Mile, the nursery's homebred son Under Oath followed suit with an eye-catching Keeneland maiden victory to become the 22nd 'Rising Star' for the son of Gone West. He's still going strong at 24 years of age.

There's Something About Mary…
Mary's Follies (More Than Ready), a MGSW who sold at the 2021 Keeneland January sale for $500,000 to BBA Ireland for the Coolmore connections, is not only the dam of GI Jenny Wiley S. winner Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), but also of Japanese sensation Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah). Sadly, Mary's Follies was reported as having aborted her Curlin foal at the time of her sale, but has the 2-year-old colt Ready to Connect (Connect), who sold at OBS March for $180,000 to Chad Schumer after working a furlong.

Remember Me?
Sunday Racing's Geoglyph (Jpn) (Drefong) closed from off the pace to win Sunday's G1 Satsuki Sho, the first leg in Japan's Triple Crown. This marked the first Group 1 scorer for U.S. Sprint Champion Drefong (Gio Ponti), winner of a trio of Grade I races for Bob Baffert, including the 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Drefong's fee is ¥7,000,000 ($55,000) at Shadai Stallion Station in 2022.

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In Due Time Seeks to Land on Derby Bubble in Lexington

It's last call for many in Keeneland's GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. as the race to solidify, or sneak into, the GI Kentucky Derby starting gate enters the final furlong. In Due Time (Not This Time) heads this field with an ever-improving resume in both distance and class. A debut winner in the mud at Monmouth last summer, the chestnut was shelved for six months, resurfacing with a third in a Gulfstream optional claimer Jan. 8. A dominant optional claimer winner next out when extended to a mile in Hallandale Feb. 4, good for a 92 Beyer Speed Figure, he was a strong second behind Simplification (Not This Time) in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. last out Mar. 5. In Due Time currently sits in 29th on the Derby leaderboard with 20 points and he could secure 20 more with a win here, which would put him right on the bubble for a spot in the Derby starting gate.

One who races to keep his spot as number 20 on the leaderboard is the hard-trying Tawny Port (Pioneerof the Nile), who is one of five runners with 40 points. A win here will jump the colt into 12th with 60. Opening his account with a pair of wins on the Turfway synthetic, Tawny Port closed to be fifth in his first try on dirt in the GII Risen Star S. at Fair Grounds Feb. 19, which was one by Derby points leader Epicenter (Not This Time). Second to Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb) last out Apr. 2 in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S. back on the synthetic at Turfway Park, Tawny Port will try to overcome a two-week turnaround as the 5-2 morning line favorite.

The formidable WinStar and Siena Farm partnership will send out two in hopes of landing points and a spot on the bubble: Major General (Constitution) and Strava (Into Mischief), who is also owner in partnership with Denny Crum. A $420,000 KEESEP buy, Major General followed a first-out score with a win in the GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill in September. He adds blinkers for this event after a non-factor 10th in the GII Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 12. Also adding blinkers here, $825,000 KEENOV purchase Strava captured his debut sprinting at Keeneland in October and was second next out in the slop at Fair Grounds Jan. 15. Extended to two turns in NOLA a month later, the bay checked in third behind recent GI Arkansas Derby victor Cyberknife (Gun Runner).

D. Wayne Lukas saddles Ethereal Road (Quality Road), who is back in just a week after a tired seventh-place effort Apr. 9 in the local GI Toyota Blue Grass S.

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Courier-Journal Reports New Details in Laoban Suit

The Louisville Courier-Journal is reporting that Laoban (Uncle Mo)'s death last year resulted after the stallion was injected with a cocktail of vitamins and minerals they called the “Black Shot,” which was meant to increase his interest in breeding after he struggled to cover mares toward the end of the season.

The Courier-Journal based much of its reporting on insurance documents it obtained regarding the death of the stallion that stood at WinStar Farm. Part-owners Cypress Creek Equine and Southern Equine Stables filed suit last month in Fayette Circuit Court in an effort to have the insurance company, The North America Specialty Insurance Company (NAS), pay off a claim they submitted after the horse died.

In March, it was reported that Cypress Creek Equine, LLC was suing the insurance company for an undisclosed sum that includes mortality coverage, compensatory damages, court costs and attorney fees.

NAS has alleged that three of the four substances given to Laoban had been administered after their expiration date and that one of them had expired nearly nine years ago. The insurance company has charged that the “acts, errors and omissions” of attending veterinarian Dr. Heather Wharton were a matter of failing to provide proper care for the horse and that she took risks not covered in the policy.

“WinStar has been in the Thoroughbred business for over 20 years,” WinStar CEO and President Elliott Walden said in a statement to the paper. “Laoban's passing was a traumatic experience and felt by everyone at the farm. As we stated at the time, insurance companies in general have a self-serving interest in denying claims and blaming others. We resolved by mutual agreement any concerns that were brought to us and closed the chapter of this tragic loss a long time ago.”

Citing the insurance documents, the Courier-Journal reported that Laoban mounted three mares on May 22, 2021, but “failed to finish his job” and failed again the following day when matched with two more mares. He was treated with the shot the next day and, according to the insurance company, died within minutes of being given the injection. The incident was on videotape.

Laoban was eight at the time of his death. He entered stud in New York at Sequel Stallions for a fee of $7,500, but was relocated to WinStar based largely on the performance of his first crop to the races in 2020. That group included Simply Ravishing, the winner of the 2020 GI Darley Alcibiades S. He also sired Grade II winner and multiple Grade l-placed Keepmeinmind.

Sequel Stallions' owner Becky Thomas, who retained partial ownership of Laoban after WinStar became its syndicate manager in October 2020, told the Courier-Journal that the stallion's death was a “very unfortunate accident.” She confirmed she had settled with WinStar.

Laoban's stud fee was increased to $25,000 upon the move to WinStar. He sired 219 registered foals. He was bred to 126 mares in 2021.

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TDN Snippets: Weeks of Apr. 4 – Apr. 10

Karma, football, a wild longshot in the Santa Anita Oaks, and one of the industry's oldest farms striving to break new ground in new areas. Let's also not forget the big Twin Spired shadow looming over us. Here's how the controlled chaos went down this week.

Defying the odds…again
Taiba will be up against all sorts of historical norms by forging ahead to the Kentucky Derby off just two lifetime starts. Since 1937 (the advent of detailed start statistics), only four horses have ever even attempted the Derby in career start number three: China Visit (sixth in 2000), Disposal (18th in 1992), Senecas Coin (DNF in 1949) and Perfect Bahram (ninth in 1946).

It's a dry heat…
Arizona will get a chance to bring that lovely weather with them to the Kentucky Oaks after Desert Dawn's shocking upset of the GII Santa Anita Oaks. Her AZ-based owners Hollis and Elena Crim (racing under the farm name of H & E Ranch) kept the faith in their homebred through a three deep string of off-the-board finishes against graded company in California, and were rewarded with a gutsy breakthrough win. A lifetime of dreams are now poised for a run on the first Friday in May.

Pioneerof the Nile's enduring legacy…
The passing of any horse is difficult, doubly so when they're poised for a future like what WinStar experienced with Pioneerof the Nile even if he hadn't sired a Triple Crown winner. As his final crops start racing, the loss becomes more noticeable. Which makes the arch of the universe all the more curious when one considers that his GIII Beaumont S. winning daughter Matareya was born two days before her sire died in 2019: the filly hitting the ground March 16, and Pioneerof the Nile passing away March 18. And so, the world turns and the karmic arc bends more in his favor every day.

Football and the ponies…how very Kentucky
War of Will's syndicate announced a N.I.L. (Name, Image and Likeness) deal with the University of Kentucky's starting quarterback Will Levis. Both Wills love a good race, so the opportunity poses an interesting approach to marketing the sport to a younger, more diverse audience and the stallion to the hardcore UK fans in the breeder ranks. Claiborne Farm is the first such operation to partner with a Division I athlete, and it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out for horse and man.

Through Prevalence, Enrichment is prevalent…
It's a remarkable feat for a broodmare to get two winners on the same card. In Enrichment's case, they came during the incredibly competitive opening weekend at Keeneland. Emirates Road, the youngest of racing age, charged home in the second race on Saturday to win in his second lifetime start. Three races later, Prevalence outran fellow 'Rising Star' Nashville and eight others to capture his first graded stakes, the GIII Commonwealth, for their shared connections of Godolphin and trainer Brendan Walsh. With a blue hen, a two-time leading Ecuadorian sire, and a variable assortment of graded stakes winners beneath her in the pedigree, Enrichment is set to reap ever more bountiful rewards.

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