Greatest Show in Racing by Ray Paulick
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November 2, 2015 www.PaulickReport.com SPECIAL Greatest Show in Racing By Ray Paulick Let me start by saying that I never met a Breeders’ Cup I Horse of the Year was likely settled with most Eclipse Award didn’t like – and I’ve been to 28 of them. Some years have voters when American Pharoah became the first horse to win been better than others, both in the competition on the race- the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. The only horse with track and the customer service delivered to the participants any chance to overtake him was the two-time champion mare and paying customers in the grandstand. Beholder, who ultimately was scratched from the Classic after a post-gallop endoscopic examination showed she had bled. Having said that, I loved almost everything about the “home- coming” Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland on Friday and Saturday. With his demonstration of complete superiority in the Classic, In a word, it was spectacular. There was one outstanding per- American Pharoah will be the unanimous choice for Horse of formance after another on the Keeneland dirt and turf, and the Year. the management, staff and outside security, traffic control and customer service team representing Keeneland and Breeders’ At the 2014 Keeneland September Sale, I ran into Fox Hill Cup were incredibly organized and efficient in helping put on the Farm’s Rick Porter, who mentioned that he was going to send Greatest Show in Racing. some young horses out to California for the first time. Continued on Page 5 American Pharoah’s overpowering performance in the Classic gave the 50,155 fans in attendance on Saturday something to tell their children and grandchildren. The Zayat Stables run- ner by Pioneerof the Nile goes to stud at Coolmore/Ashford with a record unlike any other horse in history: victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic. The winning margins in those four races were one length, seven lengths, 5 1/2 lengths and 6 1/2 lengths, re- spectively. He retires with a record of nine wins from 11 starts, his lone defeats coming in his career debut at Del Mar in Au- gust 2014 and in the Travers at Saratoga in August 2015. Maybe he doesn’t like August. While watching American Pharoah train for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert at Del Mar this summer, I’ll never forget what another trainer said about the colt as he breezed by in effortless fashion: “He has an insanely perfect way of going.” ASK RAY QUESTION: Aside from American Pharoah, what Breeders’ Cup winner impressed you the most? ANSWER: That’s a three-way filly dead-heat: Song- bird was sensational in the Juvenile Fillies, Tepin ran a monster race in the Mile and Found, running in her fourth Grade 1 over seven weeks in four countries, beat a very good and game Golden Horn in the Turf. www.PaulickReport.com Page 2 Stallion Spotlight Pioneerof the Nile By Frank Mitchell Siring a superhorse takes a stallion to another level Then when American Pharoah showed his G1 form in in the estimation of buyers and breeders, not to men- the latter part of 2014, Pioneerof the Nile took a very tion the general public. Even with a fully proven stallion healthy bump in stud fee, and now the Triple Crown and like Bold Ruler, we saw the effect in the sales price of Breeders’ Cup Classic of 2015 are part of racing $600,000 when Wajima topped the Keeneland July sale history. as a yearling in 1973 after Secretariat had won the first Triple Crown in 25 years, and Bold Reasoning and Ex- Right in step with that rise in fee, we will see a rise in clusive Native became household names for major buy- both demand and price for stock by Pioneerof the Nile. ers when Seattle Slew and Affirmed showed their class. We have already seen it with the stallion’s yearlings of Ironically, two of the three sires of Triple Crown winners 2015, and the weanlings will certainly follow suit. in the 1970s, Bold Ruler and Bold Reasoning, were dead by the time their sons won the Among the 2015 foals by Pio- classic series. neerof the Nile cataloged for Keeneland November is a full Only Exclusive Native was alive brother to Cairo Prince, Hip 84. and well, but his experience of This gray colt is a February foal the Triple Crown effect is impor- and, in addition to Cairo Prince, tant. Somewhat like Pioneerof is a half-brother to two stakes the Nile, Exclusive Native was performers, including G1-placed clearly a sire of substance, even Nonna Mia, by Pioneerof the before the Triple Crown winner Nile’s sire Empire Maker. They came along. Like Exclusive Na- are out of the stakes-winning tive, Pioneerof the Nile will re- Holy Bull mare Holy Bubbette. ceive a hefty hike in stud fee, in this case to $125,000, and you Three hips earlier is a bay Pio- can say they both earned the neerof the Nile colt out of a distinction because it isn’t every Pioneerof the Nile half-sister to those three stakes horse who is suited to siring classic stock. horses. Hip 81 is out of the Forestry mare Heavenly Vi- sion, a good winner and dam of a winner from her only Even before American Pharoah made his debut last season, other foal. And later in the sale is Hip 134, a full broth- one of the talking points among the stallions with first-crop er to G2 stakes winner Midnight Storm, winner of the racers was that Pioneerof the Nile was getting genuine two- Del Mar Derby and second in the G1 Shoemaker Mile. turn horses with class. The first-crop class leader for the stal- lion was Cairo Prince, a scopy and grand-looking gray who had These Book 1 offerings will draw plenty of lookers, and won the Nashua Stakes at the end of his juvenile season. But with the stallion’s increasing celebrity, the sky is the other sons and daughters of the stallion quickly came to hand limit for him. PRS at 3, showing speed, showing stamina, showing class. THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS! Join our stable and be a part of the most unique sales program in all of sports. NTRA generates over $50 million in new sales annually for its partners. For 2016 Partnership Opportunities, call toll-free 866-678-4289. www.PaulickReport.com Page 3 Honor Roll Lovely Maria: From $5,000 RNA To Millionaire By Scott Jagow A few weeks later, Clark and Lovely Maria, named by Brere- ton Jones after a special needs child affiliated with the staff member of a family resort destination, capped off a fairy tale month, winning the G1 Kentucky Oaks. “I didn’t think this was ever going to happen to me,” said Clark. “This was just a blessing. It doesn’t get any better than this.” “We’ve named seven horses for people at the Sea View Hotel (in Florida),” Jones said afterwards. “Six of those be- came stakes horses.” After Lovely Maria struggled in three subsequent starts, Larry Jones decided she might need a vacation as well, so at the moment, she’s on hold until 2016. 2012 Bay Filly, Majesticperfection - Thundercup, by Thunder Gulch. Consigned by VanMeter Sales to 2012 “She’s won two Grade 1s, she’s a millionaire, and she’s KEE Nov., $5,000 RNA earned a rest,” he told reporters. “So they’re going to rest PRS Good relationships can go a long way in the Thoroughbred her up a little bit and see what happens from there.” business. When Lovely Maria, as a weanling, failed to at- tract a worthy bid in the 2012 Keeneland November Sale, co-breeder Thomas Gaines thought a deal might be in or- der. “In lieu of the stud fee, we asked Brere (Brereton Jones, whose Airdrie Stud stands her sire) if we could give him the filly,” said Gaines. “To his credit, he said ‘Fine, I’ll take her.’” Jones wanted to support his stallion Majesticperfection. Despite what Lovely Maria has become since then, Gaines has no regrets. In fact, Gaines and his breeding partner Olin Gentry, ended up selling Lovely Maria’s dam, Thunder- cup, privately before the Kentucky Oaks, at least reaping some benefit from the weanling they gave away. “She brought a fair price,” Gaines said. As for Lovely Maria, her career on the racetrack so far has been more than fair. After winning her debut race at Delaware Park Sept. 4, 2014, she showed promise to trainer Larry Jones in allow- ance company for the rest of her 2-year-old season. Then, she flashed signs of having top-class potential as a sopho- more, finishing second to stablemate and future Grade 1 winner I’m a Chatterbox in the G3 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds. In her next start, she proved Grade 1 worthy, winning by more than three lengths in the Ashland Stakes at Keenel- and, giving her 56-year-old jockey Kerwin Clark his first G1 victory. www.PaulickReport.com Page 4 Breeders’ Cup Buzz Comments from Breeders’ Cup Champions Bob Baffert, trainer of Classic winner American Pharoah: Edgar Prado, jockey of Runhappy: “From the first time “It’s probably the greatest horse I’ll ever be involved with and I got on this horse, I knew he was special. He keeps get- I’ve had some really nice horses. But I just have never seen ting better and better.