TDN AMERICA TODAY and He=S Won on Good-To-Firm Ground at Nottingham and in MORE to COME from DERBY SIRE PROTONICO Pretty Testing Conditions Today
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SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021 MONOMOY GIRL TO GET A BREAK MORE TO COME FOR by Bill Finley DERBY SIRE PROTONICO According to co-owner MyRacehorse, Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) is having some minor physical issues and will be given a freshener before returning to the races later this year. "After collaborating with our partners, Spendthrift Farm, and trainer Brad Cox, have decided to give Monomoy Girl a brief break from training, with the expectation of the 6-year-old mare returning for a second-half of the year campaign on the racetrack," read an email sent to those owning a share of Monomoy Girl through Myracehorse. The email went on to say that Monomoy Girl "didn't bounce out of her gutsy second-place finish in last month's Grade I Apple Blossom H. as quickly as we would have hoped.@ Cont. p6 Click here to see Kentucky Derby-producing sire Protonico at Castleton Lyons Farm. by Katie Ritz IN TDN EUROPE TODAY For all the round-the-clock pedigree scrutiny and conformation SEA THE STARS COLT ENTERS DERBY REALM analysis that goes into finding a stallion that will produce a Third Realm (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) stamped himself a winner on the first Saturday in May, it took a horse standing for Derby contender with a win in Lingfield’s Derby Trial S. Click $5,000 and lacking that coveted Grade I win on their race record or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. to get the job done. Of the 26 second-crop stallions standing in Kentucky today, Protonico was one of five to breed less than 20 mares last year. And yet, here he is now sitting atop the Leading Second-Crop Sires list after his son Medina Spirit charged home to win the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby at 12-1 odds. When Protonico began his career at Taylor Made Farm in 2017, he bred just 34 mares. After moving over to Darby Dan Farm the next year, he couldn=t do much better there with a 51-strong book. Eventually, he found a home at the Ryan family=s Castleton Lyons Farm outside of Lexington and not long after, produced a Kentucky Derby winner from his first crop of 3-year-olds. AIt=s kind of a fairytale story,@ Castleton Lyons equine manager Pat Hayes said. AIt just goes to prove that a good racehorse can come from anywhere--at any level and any price point in the stallion ranks. It gives a lot of assurance to breeders that good stallions might not be priced expensively, but they are out there. So you just have to dig a little deeper, I guess, and hope you land on one.@ 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 Senior Contributing Editor Sunday, May 9, 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 Saturday's Preakness Update. A trio of Preakness-bound runners breezed at Belmont Saturday. Plus, the legendary Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas has confirmed Ram Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew (American Pharoah) for the second jewel of the Triple Crown. See p7. | Horsephotos [email protected] Social Media Strategist Justina Severni ANOTHER PURRR-FECT RIDE! 8 Johnny V. did it again. A week after wiring the GI Kentucky Derby Associate Producer aboard Medina Spirit (Protonico), John Velazquez sent Calumet Katie Ritz Farm homebred Channel Cat (English Channel) to the front in Director of Customer Service Saturday's GI Man O' War S., and just held on by a nose over favored Vicki Forbes Gufo (Declaration of War). [email protected] Marketing Manager TODAY’S GRADED STAKES Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen ET Race Click for TV 2:40a NKH Mile Cup-G1, TOK -------------- TVG Director of IT & Accounting 9:00a Comer Group International Oleander-Rennen-G2, HOP -------------- ------- Ray Villa [email protected] 9:15a Amethyst S.-G3, LEO -------------- TVG [email protected] 9:45a Irish 1000 Guineas Trial S.-G3, LEO -------------- TVG 10:15a Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial S.-G3, LEO -------------- TVG 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 15 • THETDN.COM SUNDAY • MAY 9, 2021 Protonico cont. from p1 Medina Spirit=s win in the 2021 Kentucky Derby gave his sire the first Grade I victory of any second-crop sire this year. Horsephotos While most of the commercial market may have initially turned its nose at the near million-dollar earner, Protonico=s owner and breeder Oussama Aboughazale never wavered in his belief in the horse. AThe first time I met Mr. Aboughazale was in the spring of 2019,@ Hayes recalled. AHe put his arm around me and said, >Pat, this horse will breed a champion.= So for all this to happen with his first crop is truly a testament of Mr. Aboughazale=s belief in him. He told us he was going to support him with 10 to 20 mares every year and he has lived up to that and bred some really nice mares to him.@ Perhaps Aboughazale developed such a passionate faith in Protonico when he had a bird=s-eye view of the son of Alpha Spirit (A.P. Indy) during his early days on the track. Aboughazale trained Protonico in his first two career starts, taking the colt to a 12 3/4-length debut victory before he was transferred to Todd Pletcher=s barn for his 3-year-old campaign. As a sophomore, Protonico reeled off victories in the GIII Smarty Jones S. and GIII Discovery S., but came just short of a Grade I win in the Clark H., where he bested third-place finisher Constitution (Tapit), but couldn't quite get to Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday). He came back at four to take the GIII Ben Ali S. and GII Alysheba S. for Aboughazale=s Sumaya U.S. Stable. AThe stallion game is so competitive here,@ Hayes said. AHe was just a tick off in the Clark H. to win a Grade I, and I think that really hurts a stallion coming to retire in Kentucky. But his pedigree was there. There were a couple of other Giant=s Causeways retiring at the same time as him, but looking at his race record, we thought he was just as good as a lot of them.@ TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 15 • THETDN.COM SUNDAY • MAY 9, 2021 Medina Spirit | Coady So the team at Castleton Lyons was rewarded last weekend, when their belief in the previously-disesteemed stallion was fulfilled by Medina Spirit=s victory and the calls started coming in with breeders begging for a slot with Protonico in the last few weeks of the breeding season. AGoing into the Derby, I think everybody at the farm was a little nervous,@ Hayes admitted. AWe thought it was possible, but watching the race and seeing him go wire-to-wire was awesome. Since then, the phones have been ringing quite a lot. It=s been pretty hectic, but we=ve gotten a lot of contracts to Protonico since, which is what every stallion owner wants to hear.@ What was the first thing Hayes heard from Aboughazale after the big day at Churchill Downs? AI spoke with him yesterday and his comments were, >I told you so,=@ Hayes relayed with a laugh. Hayes added that it should come as no surprise that a grandson of the >Iron Horse= would display such grit. AMedina Spirit has that heart and courage that Protonico had as a racehorse. When they were all bearing down on him in the [Kentucky Derby] stretch, he just kept fighting and fighting. Bob Baffert has touched on this a lot this week, that the horse never gives up and doesn=t know how to say stop. It=s great for a stallion to pass that along and Medina Spirit really embodies a lot of what Protonico was as a racehorse. They have quite a similar way of running with a low head carriage and they=re very economical movers.@ Karl Keegan, who founded Lucan Bloodstock last year, was the eye behind the famed recommendation Aboughazale gave to Amr Zedan that resulted in Medina Spirit=s $35,000 purchase by Zedan Racing Stables at the 2020 OBS July Sale. Keegan vividly recalls first seeing Medina Spirit on the OBS sales ground. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 15 • THETDN.COM SUNDAY • MAY 9, 2021 AI was stabled at barn 15 and this horse kept catching my eye at barn 16, so I went to take a closer look and I was blown away.@ At the time, Keegan was working with several Sumaya Stables- owned horses, so he called their team to pass on the tip. AThat night I went home and watched his breeze a bunch of times and was amazed he had stopped the clock in :33 flat,@ Keegan said. AWe had a conference call the next day with the Sumaya team and they were happy about my positive review of the son of their stallion, so that gave Mr.