Andrew Caulfield, January 5, 2009-Cat By the Tale The Irish National Stud also provides a perfect PEDIGREE INSIGHTS illustration of this. The stud=s roster in the BY ANDREW CAULFIELD 1970s and =80s featured top-class miler , who made amends for missing the various 2000 Guineas Saturday, Santa Anita races by reeling off five consecutive wins, including the SAN GORGONIO H.-GII, $150,000, SAX, 1-2, 4yo/up, Sussex S. and the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. f/m, 1 1/8mT, 1:48, fm. Sallust was joined in the =80s by his remarkable son 1--#@CAT BY THE TALE, 115, m, 5, by Tale of the Cat , who had numbered the National S. 1st Dam: St Clair Ridge (Ire) (GSW-Ire, MSW & among his seven juvenile scores in 1978. Tap on Wood GSP-US, $243,592), by (Ire) is best remembered, though, for carrying the newly 2nd Dam: St Clair Star (Ire), by Sallust (Ire) arrived Steve Cauthen to victory in the 1979 2000 3rd Dam: Clariden (GB), by Hook Money Guineas, in which he became one of only two horses ($75,000 yrl '06 KEESEP; $52,000 HRA >08 KEEJAN). ever to defeat champion miler during his 16-race O-Raymond Keogh; B-T F Van Meter, Doug Hendrickson career. & Michael Lowenbaum (KY); T-Neil D Drysdale; J-Joel In the 1990s, the Irish National Stud recruited Indian Rosario; $90,000. Lifetime Record: 17-5-1-5, $248,563. Ridge, who had been conceived at the farm during the WerkNickRating: F (1SW). Click for years his rags-to-riches sire was resident eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. there. Indian Ridge had spent four seasons at modest fees in England, during which time Indian Ridge=s In trying to work out how certain nicks come about, owners Sean and Anne Coughlan had supported him by don=t underestimate the role played by location. While it sending him their homebred Tap on Wood mare Ben=s doesn=t sound sufficiently complicated, you will often Pearl. The first foal from that pairing was Ridgewood find that loyal clients of a particular stallion farm will Ben, who was good enough to win the G3 Gladness S. often send daughters of one of the farm=s to and to finish third in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas. The one of the farm=s newer stallions. If the early matings second mating did even better. This time it produced a produce a good winner, the cross starts to gather filly, , who gave a perfect momentum. Off the top of my head, I can think of demonstration of her talents when she slammed the Nasrullah/Princequillo and Mr. Prospector/Buckpasser at opposition in the 1995 Breeders= Cup Mile, having Claiborne and Roberto/ at Darby Dan. earlier taken the Irish 1000 Guineas, Coronation S. and Prix du Moulin.

www.coolmore.com Northern Dancer Moving Indian Ridge to the Irish National Stud made Storm Bird him easily accessible to more daughters of Tap On South Ocean Storm Cat Wood, and also to daughters of Sallust. By the time Secretariat Terlingua Indian Ridge died in 2006, he had sired 16 foals from Crimson Saint Tale of the Cat 11 daughters of Tap On Wood. Of the 14 which raced, Raise a Native Mr. Prospector 11 became winners and as many as five became stakes Gold Digger Yarn winners (that=s 31 percent). Indian Ridge also sired five Honest Pleasure Narrate foals from four daughters of Sallust and one of the five, State St Clair Ridge, became a group winner. * Ahonoora (GB) As a pedigree pundit, I have to believe that this Helen Nichols (GB) Indian Ridge (Ire) widespread success was based on more than just a St Clair Ridge Swing Easy Hillbrow (GB) convenient location. One possible explanation for this (Ire) Golden City (GB) GSW fruitful relationship could be that Indian Ridge had three (GB) lines to Fair Trial, while Tap On Wood and Sallust were 7Fls, 3W, St Clair Star (Ire) Sallust (Ire) 1GSW Bandarilla (GB) members of the Fair Trial male line. 13Fls, 8W, 1GSW Clariden (GB) Hook Money Inevitably breeders also tried sending daughters of 14Fls, 1GSW Matterhorn (GB) Tap On Wood to sons of Indian Ridge and they were rewarded with the fast and Blue Dakota (by Namid) and the outstanding stayer (by Click for the brisnet.com chart, the brisnet.com PPs or the ). Another son, , has a free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, Group 2 winner with a third dam by Tap On Wood. sponsored by Taylor Made. Mention of Vinnie Roe is a reminder that, while speed was the main asset of Indian Ridge and most of his sons, he was able to follow Ahonoora=s example of siring the occasional top performer over much longer distances. One would have expected his daughter St Clair Ridge to follow the speed route. Not only was her dam St Clair Star inbred 3x3 to the high-class sprinter Matador, but she was also a half-sister to Superlative, a leading two-year-old sprinter of 1983. However, St Clair Ridge became a group winner over seven furlongs at two years in Ireland before being switched to the USA, where she won a pair of stakes over 1 1/16 miles and was second at Grade II level. Now St Clair Ridge has become the dam of a Grade II winner over a mile and an eighth, thanks to the San Gorgonio H. victory of her daughter Cat By the Tale. In view of her background, it is easy to see why Cat By the Tale=s purchasers decided to transfer her to Ireland after she had been acquired for $52,000 at Keeneland=s 2008 January Sale. She justified the move by winning twice, but there was surely always a chance that she would be more at home on America=s faster turf tracks. Cat By the Tale--as her name suggests--is by Tale Of the Cat. With the likes of Gio Ponti, Cat Moves and Alpha Kitten helping him to a second consecutive top-10 finish in 2009, Tale Of The Cat remains an attractive option at a fee of $30,000. For a while I was of the opinion that speed rather than stamina was definitely Tale of the Cat=s strong suit as a stallion. After Tale of Ekati=s victory in the GI Wood Memorial, I pointed out that Anone of his best winners has so far succeeded in winning a graded race over a distance longer than 1 1/8 miles, and only three had managed to score over that distance prior to Tale of Ekati=s victory over the game War Pass.@ I might have to revise that a little, now that Gio Ponti has enjoyed Grade I success over 1 1/4 miles and 1 3/8 miles. Another of Tale Of The Cat=s sons, Naval Officer, won the G3 Prix de Conde over 1 1/8 miles as a two-year-old towards the end of 2008, before being transferred to Saudi Arabia, and now Cat By the Tale has shown that she, too, is suited by that route.