Andrew Caulfield, May 21-Oxbow The fascinating part of Oxbow=s story dates back to PEDIGREE INSIGHTS the late 1980s, when the late Cecilia Straub-Rubens B Y A N D R E W C A U L F I E L D bought a couple of yearlings, paying $50,000 for a Seattle Saturday, Pimlico Racecourse Song filly in 1987 and PREAKNESS S.-GI, $1,000,000, PIM, 5-18, 3yo, $72,000 a year later for a son 1 3/16m, 1:57 2/5, ft. of Relaunch. The story goes 1BsOXBOW, 126, c, 3, by Awesome Again that Straub-Rubens was so 1st Dam: Tizamazing, by Cee's Tizzy excited after the purchase of 2nd Dam: Cee's Song, by Seattle Song the well-connected Relaunch 3rd Dam: Lonely Dancer, by Nice Dancer colt that it threw her into a ($250,000 yrl '11 KEESEP). O-Calumet Farm; B-Colts tizzy, hence the colt=s name. Neck Stables LLC (KY); T-D Wayne Lukas; J-Gary Cee=s Tizzy was bred to be Stevens. $600,000. Lifetime Record: 11-3-1-1, pretty good. With a tally of $983,500. *Full to Awesome Patriot, SW & GSP, 86 stakes winners, including $114,600. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Breeders= Cup winners Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Skywalker and One Dreamer, Oxbow Foaled, Raised & Sold by BURLESON FARMS for Colts Neck Stables Relaunch proved himself one Horsephotos of the best stallion sons of In Reality. Then there was Cee=s Tizzy=s second dam Three days ago, we saw a legendary trainer record Tizna, a Chilean import who landed three Grade I races his 14th Triple Crown success after a 13-year hiatus during a highly distinguished American career. with a colt partnered by a comeback jockey whose last There was no shortage of stamina in Cee=s Tizzy=s Triple Crown successes came in 2001. In such pedigree, as Relaunch=s exploits included a close extraordinary circumstances, there=s every chance that second to John Henry in the GI San Luis Rey S. over a the personalities will steal the show from the actual mile and a half and the versatile Tizna included the horse. Fortunately the colt in question--Preakness hero Ladies H. over a mile and a quarter among her major Oxbow--also has a colorful back story, even if it pales a successes. little alongside those of his legendary trainer D. Wayne All horses in the TDN are bred in North America, Lukas and veteran rider Gary Stevens. unless otherwise indicated Caulfield cont. Cee=s Song=s daughters had a lot to live up to. It was therefore no surprise to see Cee=s Tizzy tackle Budroyale, the second of her foals, had been claimed a mile and a quarter in the 1990 GI Super Derby. By on his debut, but went on to build earnings of over that time he had won three minor races in very fast $2.8 million, with a fair slice of that coming from his time in California and he justified his shot at the big second to Cat Thief in the 1999 GI Breeders= Cup time. After leading for a mile at Louisiana Downs, he Classic. Then Budroyale=s younger brother Tiznow went lost second place to Unbridled by only a neck, even one better in the 2000 Classic, before following up in though it transpired that he had suffered a 2001. Tizbud, the last of the partnership=s four colts, career-ending knee fracture in the process. Although also became a stakes winner. Cee=s Tizzy managed only six starts, his four In trying to unearth the source of Cee=s Song=s grandparents collectively notched a total of 130 starts, success, I delved through her female line. Her fourth so he was qualified to sire progeny more durable than dam Blue Canary, born in 1952, had the himself. attention-grabbing record of having raced 127 times Straub-Rubens= other yearling, Cee=s Song, proved over a seven-year period, for an average of 18 starts more durable, but less talented. She won only once, on per year. Perhaps she would have been retired earlier dirt, during an 18-race career, and was also second had her connections known that her younger eight times on the turf. However, she was a half-brother, Crimson Satan, was to become 1961=s granddaughter of the great Seattle Slew. Although her champion 2-year-old. Incidentally, the progeny of their sire Seattle Song wasn=t a great success as a stallion, dam, the Chilean-bred Papila, provide a reminder of a with only one Grade I winner to his credit, he had been totally different era. Despite his class, Crimson Satan good enough to win at the highest level in France (Prix packed 58 starts into four seasons, while his de la Salamandre) and the U.S. (Washington D.C. half-brothers Red Red Robin, Cardinal Sin and Sports International). Reporter respectively raced 72, 89 and 92 times. As a non-graded winner, Cee=s Tizzy started his To get back to Oxbow, it is remarkable that he and stallion career in 1991 at a bargain-basement level and Paynter are both by Awesome Again. With sisters as he was to spend his first nine seasons at fees ranging their dams, they are brothers-in-blood. The incentive for from $1,500 to $2,500. His crops during this time pairing these sisters of Tiznow with Awesome Again averaged little over 30 foals, but he had one fairly surely stems from the fact that their grandsire, constant companion in Cee=s Song. Over an 11-year Relaunch, figured as the broodmare sire of period, the mare produced nine foals to Cee=s Tizzy and Ghostzapper, Awesome Again=s most outstanding she was carrying the last of the nine, Oxbow=s dam winner. Tizamazing, when she was sold for $2.6 million at Ghostzapper=s arrival to stand alongside his sire at Keeneland=s 2001 November Sale. Adena Springs in 2006 can=t have made things any Of course Tizamazing--who was sold for $1 million as easier for the 1998 Breeders= Cup Classic winner. By a yearling--was by no means the only celebrity among that time Awesome Again=s fee stood at $125,000 and the nine siblings. Her immediate predecessor, Tizdubai, it was to rise to $150,000 in 2008, on the strength of justified her $950,000 price tag by taking the his having sired four winners on Breeders= Cup day GII Sorrento S. Another full sister, Tizso, failed to win (Ghostzapper, Wilko, Round Pond and Ginger Punch). in two attempts, but has made ample amends by Awesome Again was originally slated to cover the becoming the dam of Paynter (Awesome Again), the 2009 season at the same fee but, with the start of the colt who looked a threat to the best of his generation economic downturn, his fee was lowered to $125,000. when he landed last year=s GI Haskell Invitational S. Of Even so, he attracted only 67 mares, for 57 live foals. course, severe illness then threatened to end the colt=s His owners responded by slashing his fee to life, not just his career, before Paynter staged a truly $50,000 for the next three seasons and the ploy remarkable recovery. worked, at least numerically. It will be fascinating to see whether these cheaper OXBOW, c, 2010 crops can boost Awesome Again=s stash of Grade I Northern Dancer winners, which now stands at 13 from his first Vice Regent 11 crops. There is absolutely no reason why they Deputy Minister Victoria Regina Bunty’s Flight shouldn=t, as he spent his first five years at $50,000 Mint Copy and it was those first five crops which produced 10 of Awesome Again Shakney Red God his Grade I winners, the exceptions being Game On Blushing Groom (Fr) Dude, Paynter and Oxbow. Runaway Bride Primal Force The next difficult question facing Oxbow is whether Prime Prospect Mr. Prospector he has enough stamina for the mile and a half of the Square GI Belmont S. Although his penchant for racing in the Relaunch In Reality front rank won=t make his task any easier, he is in with Cee’s Tizzy Foggy Note a chance. Paynter attempted to lead throughout in last Lyphard Tizamazing Tizly year=s Belmont and failed by only a neck to withstand 5 Fls, 3 Wnrs, Tizna (Chi) Union Rags= challenge. Then there=s the fact that Seattle Slew 1 G1SW, 1 SW Cee’s Song Seattle Song Tiznow, a brother to Oxbow=s dam, sired Belmont 14 Fls, 9 Wnrs, Incantation winner Da= Tara, while Deputy Minister, sire of 1 Ch, 3 GSW Lonely Dancer Nice Dancer Awesome Again, also had a Belmont winner, Touch 15 Fls, 2 SW Sleep Lonely Gold, among his best representatives.