Leading sire Curlin (by Smart Strike) picked up another first-time stakes winner over the weekend, and the victory came in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. Idol was making his sixth start, and the Santa Anita Handicap came as the bay colt's third success from six starts, with two seconds and a third, for earnings of $416,464.
The 75th stakes winner by Curlin, Idol was bred in Kentucky by My Meadowview LLC and sold as a yearling for $375,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale.
Lincoln Collins, the bloodstock adviser for My Meadowview, said that “Idol was always a strong, good-looking young horse who looked like he would mature into a colt who would thrive at 10 furlongs, and we had great hopes for him.”
The big bay did not immediately, however, prove out those high hopes for his success.
Unraced at two, Idol made his debut last year at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5 as a 3-year-old and finished second going six furlongs. The colt moved up to seven furlongs for his second start, on Sept. 26 at Churchill, and with the help of a swift early pace, he mowed down the opposition to win by 2 1/2 lengths in 1:22.04.
An allowance victory on Nov. 8 at 9.5 furlongs brought a new Churchill Downs track record of 1:55.95 as Idol won off by 5 3/4 lengths as the odds-on favorite at .50-to-1. The colt's three subsequent starts have all been in graded stakes at Santa Anita: the G2 San Antonio (second), G2 San Pasqual (third), and the Santa Anita Handicap.
Not only has Curlin made his name as a sire by producing high-quality performers at more than a mile but also having stock that stay sound and succeed as they mature. Idol has clearly followed the memo.
Collins said, “One of the challenges of breeding a horse like this is that one is treading a fine line between a horse that stays and a horse that is slow. And especially here in the States, a horse that stays has to be very high class; otherwise there's no place for him to race.”
By a two-time Horse of the Year, Idol is the third foal out of the listed stakes winner Marion Ravenwood (A.P. Indy), and he is the mare's first stakes winner, although her second foal, the Midnight Lute colt Ark in the Dark, has current earnings of $193,023.
The mare has an unraced 3-year-old colt by Pioneerof the Nile named Dr Jack. He sold for $250,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale as a weanling, then resold as a 2-year-old in training at the OBS spring sale last year (April sale in June) for $170,000.
Marion Ravenwood herself sold for $400,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November auction when Idol was a weanling. The mare was in foal to Pioneerof the Nile with Dr Jack at the time. In addition to the colt above, the mare's 2019 filly was a full sister to Idol who sold for $350,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale.
Last year, Marion Ravenwood produced a colt by Violence and she was bred to City of Light for 2021.
Although Idol missed out on the classics, he comes from a family with a grand classic tradition. The colt traces in the female line to Boudoir, a daughter of English Derby winner Mahmoud. Her most important foals were Your Host (Alibhai, by English Derby winner Hyperion, by wartime English Triple Crown winner Gainsborough). Your Host became the sire of five-time Horse of the Year Kelso, and Your Host's full sister Your Hostess was stakes-placed and became a famous broodmare.
Your Hostess produced four stakes winners, including T.V. Commercial (T.V. Lark), who won 15 of 55 races, including the Arlington-Washington Futurity and the Breeders' Futurity; Gallatia (Gallant Man), who won the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga; and Corragioso (Gallant Man), who won the Alcibiades and five other stakes.
More importantly for our story was the fourth foal of Your Hostess: Gay Hostess (Royal Charger). This striking mare produced Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Majestic Prince (Raise a Native), as well as the English highweight juvenile colt Crowned Prince, also by Raise a Native. Their full sister Meadow Blue was the last foal out of Your Hostess and was not raced.
At stud, Meadow Blue produced a stakes winner and a pair of stakes-placed racers. All five of her daughters produced stakes winners. The most immediately important was the Believe It mare Really Blue, who became the dam of champion Real Quiet (Quiet American), winner of the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, 1997 Hollywood Futurity, and the 1999 Pimlico Special and Hollywood Gold Cup.
Meadow Blue's stakes-winning daughter Nureyev's Best (Nureyev) is the third dam of Idol. Her best foal was the G2 stakes winner Andujar (Quiet American), who won the Milady, was third in the G1 Vanity at Hollywood Park and in the G1 Go for Wand at Saratoga. Andujar is the second dam of Idol, and her two stakes winners are Marion Ravenwood (A.P. Indy), dam of the Idol, and Abstraction, by A.P. Indy's high-class son Pulpit and a winner of the Federico Tesio Stakes.
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