Sires for 2021
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2021 SIRES FOR 2021: CONSIGNORS TALK FIRST-CROP SIRES AHEAD OF 2-YEAR-OLD SALES by Jessica Martini THE REGIONAL SCENE As the calendar inches inexorably towards March and a spring- long series of 2-year-olds in training sales, consignors are putting the finishing touches on juveniles heading to auction, paying particular attention to youngsters representing their stallions' first crop to hit the track. The TDN is reaching out to consignors with 2-year-olds heading to the sales rings at OBS and Gulfstream Park next month to find out which freshman sires have impressed them. EDDIE WOODS Prolific consignor Eddie Woods has 24 juveniles catalogued for the Ocala Breeders= Sales Company=s March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which will be held Mar. 16 and 17, and a further 17 head catalogued for the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, which will be held Mar. 31. Cont. p8 Laoban flourished in a regional market before making the move to Kentucky | Sarah Andrew IN TDN EUROPE TODAY by Chris McGrath MAXIMUS BRINGS DUNTLE LEGACY FULL After completing our marathon tour of covering options in the CIRCLE Chris McGrath checks into the pedigree of new Bluegrass, today we take a tour of the main regional hubs. Coolmore stallion and MG1SW Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Clearly, it would be impractical to go into anything like the same Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. depth and, besides, local breeders know their own markets best. But while we will only visit some of the principal centers, and pick out only one or two names in each, bloodstock investors anywhere can acknowledge the professionalism that unites horsemen, coast to coast, and think about the possibilities of diversification or experiment--above all in those programs that are incentivizing investment so successfully. For one thing, many stallions discarded prematurely by Kentucky will deservedly flourish as bigger fish in smaller ponds. I'm sure that can still be the case, for instance, with Fed Biz--the son of Giant's Causeway making a fresh start at Highfield Stock Farm in Alberta. He has made a highly respectable start on the track, with only Cairo Prince in their intake exceeding his nine stakes winners to date, but just ran out of commercial oxygen where he was. Access to this true aristocrat, who beat Goldencents in a Del Mar track record, gives local breeders an exciting chance to raise the bar at $4,000. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Tuesday, February 23, 2021 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Project Manager Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Social Media Strategist August 14, 2016. Gunnevera wins the GII Saratoga Special S. Chris McGrath's Justina Severni discussion of regional sires for 2021, including Gunnevera, continues on page 3. | Chelsea Durand Associate Producer Katie Ritz Director of Customer Service NEW ORLEANS TARGET FOR COLONEL LIAM 11 Vicki Forbes Robert and Lawana Low's GI Pegasus World Cup Turf hero [email protected] Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) breezed a half-mile in :48.40 Feb. 20 and is penciled in for his next start in the GII Muniz Memorial S. Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of IT/Accounting SIRES WITH NEW STAKES WINNERS 12 Ray Villa Triple Crown winner American Pharoah was represented by [email protected] his first top-level winner on dirt when Café Pharoah came home [email protected] first in the G1 February S. Sunday in Japan. WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 13 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • FEBRUARY 23, 2021 Sires for 2021: The Regional Scene Royal Delta (Empire Maker)'s half-brother, a $1-million Fasig- Tipton Florida 2-year-old, would hardly be the first to become a (cont. from p1) significant influence after derailing so early in his track career. Equally, of course, there have been many cases of sires We'll see how far he can go, working the reverse passage after but it's surely only a matter starting out with regional mares- of time before he makes a -some, indeed, becoming massive graded stakes breakthrough influences--and those who have after five black-type winners transferred Laoban to the Bluegrass last year. The great thing is from New York will be hoping that that his stock should continue he can follow suit. to thrive: being out of an elite So we know for a fact that there producer by A.P. Indy, he's will be stallions offering good value hardly confined to "Florida out there. Let's look for one or two speed." nuggets. But the word is out and he welcomed 181 mares to FLORIDA Journeyman Stud last year. The big news around here is And he can't be the only unmistakably Khozan (Distorted show in town. Even within his Humor), who maintains the highest The late Awesome Again is an influence in Florida with Awesome Slew own class--i.e. about to fee in the state after winning its and Awesome of Course | Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos launch a third crop of 2020 championship with only his juveniles--The Big Beast (Yes It's True) is matching Khozan's second crop on the track. Nationally he stands fifth, by ratio of winners and he, too, has two graded stakes performers cumulative earnings, among his intake. to date. And, of course, he is less than half the price. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 13 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • FEBRUARY 23, 2021 Brethren, by the same sire as Khozan and now with a first graded stakes winner in Cookie Dough (and overall 10.7% black-type horses-to-starters), and First Dude (Stephen Got Even) punched their $7,500 weight for second and third in the earnings table, albeit arguably nobody gives value more consistently than Adios Charlie (Indian Charlie) at just $4,000. His latest flagbearer Jean Elizabeth has been beaten once (by a nose) in her last 10 starts, including two at graded stakes and six at black-type level. On the same Ocala Stud roster there's now a chance to tap into one of the great modern families through Seeking the Soul (Perfect Soul {Ire}), while the first four dams (Live Oak family) of Awesome Slew (Awesome Again) are all graded stakes performers and producers. But don't forget another heir to the same, sadly departed sire: Awesome of Course (Awesome Again--Mais Oui, by Lyphard), even though he is now an acknowledged veteran quietly plying his trade to tiny books at $2,000. Awesome of Course has real breadth of achievement, crowned by four graded stakes winners and five Grade I performers including Breeders' Cup champion Awesome Feather. In 2020 he numbered Florida Derby runner-up Shivaree among eight 90+ Beyers, so he's still keeping up an absolutely excellent output for this kind of fee. Gunnevera | Sarah Andrew In terms of fresh blood, meanwhile, it's good to see some promising two-turn stallions around the state (and some decent turf quality, too). The closing kick of Gunnevera (Dialed In-- Unbridled Rage, by Unbridled) became so familiar--he was still picking up the pieces in the G1 Dubai World Cup at five, his sixth elite podium--that we tend to forget how he was already rolling in time to win the GII Saratoga Special S. And though he arrives at Pleasant Acres for $6,000 as a famous rags-to-riches story, you couldn't ask for better seeding of his family: first four dams by Unbridled, Graustark, The Minstrel and Turn-To. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 13 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • FEBRUARY 23, 2021 Pleasant Acres Stallions is also home to Bucchero (Kantharos-- And I'm sorry, but I can't resist stressing that the venerable Meetmeontime, by General Meeting), who has covered 291 Greatness (Mr. Prospector--Harbour Club, by Danzig)--with mares in his first two years in the breeding shed, tops among all another small firm, in Solera Farm--offers something pretty Florida-based stallions. Bucchero is a half-brother to the dam of unique, nowadays, as a son of one breed-shaper out of mare by dual-surface Grade I winner and Hill 'n' Dale-based World of another, with next two dams by Graustark and, wait for it, Bold Trouble (Kantharos), and he was the leading Florida stallion by Ruler! His books/crops have largely dried up but he has sired average and median at last month's OBS Winter Mixed Sale, his some very tough and talented runners in his time (Lady's Island, first yearling through the ring having sold for $45,000, nine aged six, won her latest graded stakes just before Christmas times his stud fee. before selling for $310,000 at FTKFEB) and, if you could get a In the market backwaters, meanwhile, there's something filly out of him, how could you price that bloodline at just pretty remarkable astir in Cajun Breeze (Congrats--Cajun Dawn, $2,500? So please do the whole breed a favor and get a last by Awesome Again), who is operating on private-treaty terms at residue of Greatness while we can! Stonehedge Farm South.