Andrew Caulfield-November 4-Hootenanny Firstly we saw the much-travelled Hootenanny add to PEDIGREE INSIGHTS his international reputation with his win in the GI B Y A N D R E W C A U L F I E L D Breeders= Cup Juvenile Turf. Then, two days later, Blofeld maintained his unbeaten record when he defied BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE TURF-GI, $920,000, SAX, top weight to add the GIII Nashua S. to his earlier 10-31, 2yo, c/g, 1mT, 1:34 3/5, fm. success in the GII Futurity S. 1--s@HOOTENANNY, 122, c, 2, by Quality Road Elusive Quality=s bold showing as a freshman sire 1st Dam: More Hennessy, by Hennessy came with a crop sired at $10,000, but his fee 2nd Dam: Dance Move, by Capote catapulted up to $100,000 in 2005, after his 3rd Dam: Dance Teacher, by Smarten second-crop son Smarty Jones had won eight of his ($120,000 wlng '12 KEENOV; $75,000 yrl '13 nine starts, including the Kentucky Derby and KEESEP). O-Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor & Preakness. Derrick Smith; B-Barronstown (KY); T-Wesley A Among the mares Elusive Quality covered at his new Ward; J-Lanfranco Dettori. $550,000. Lifetime six-figure fee was the twice-raced Kobla, an Allen Record: SW-Eng & G1SP-Fr, 5-3-1-1, $751,975. Paulson-bred daughter of the Australian-bred Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Strawberry Road. You can get some idea of the quality Nick Rating: A++. of Kobla=s female line from the fact that Edward P. Click for the brisnet.com chart, the brisnet.com PPs or Evans had to pay $1,050,000 for her as an in-foal the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO. 4-year-old in 1999. The most relevant fact was that There was a time when landing the title of leading Kobla=s sister Ajina had been a champion 3-year-old freshman sire regularly punched the winner=s ticket to filly, with victories to her name in the GI Mother Goose, the top of the stallion ranks. For example, in a 10-year GI CCA Oaks and GI Breeders= Cup Distaff. period during the late 1970s and early >80s, the title With a background like this, there was every reason went to Raja Baba, Roberto, Mr. Prospector, Seattle to get excited when Quality Road won three of his first Slew, Alydar, Danzig and Fappiano. four starts, including the GII Fountain of Youth S. by Unfortunately, leading the first-crop sires= list has more than four lengths and the GI Florida Derby in track since become a less certain guarantee of future fame record time. (remember Farma Way, Salt Lake, Gilded Time, End The Kentucky Derby was to be the next step and Sweep, Honour and Glory and Valid Expectations?). there seemed every reason to expect Quality Road to But a good first season can still be an accurate pointer cope with the extra furlong, as his first three dams to a young stallion=s long-term potential and two of the were daughters of Strawberry Road, Alydar and Bold stars of the Breeders= Cup weekend were sired by Bidder--all winners over at least a mile and a quarter. former freshman sire champions. Tapit, who topped the Unfortunately, persistent problems with a quarter crack list in 2008, gave us Untapable, while Offlee Wild, the in his right front hoof side-lined him just days before surprise winner in 2009, was responsible for the gallant the race. Bayern. AIt=s not terribly bad, but it=s not right,@ explained There were some near misses too. Congrats, who trainer Jimmy Jerkens. AHe=s really sensitive on the earned a move from Florida to Kentucky by taking the quarter.@ 2010 title, went within half a length of landing the At that stage Quality Road=s owner was still hopeful Juvenile Fillies= with Top Decile (and then took the his colt would make it to the Preakness and the following day=s GIII Tempted S. with Jacaranda, Belmont, but the Triple Crown went by without him. By another filly from his first Kentucky crop). And Scat the time he reappeared at Saratoga he was in the care Daddy, the 2011 winner, had a near miss with No Nay of Todd Pletcher. Never in the Turf Sprint, as well as supplying Daddy D The race chosen for his return was the T, third in the Juvenile Turf. GII Amsterdam S. over 6 1/2 furlongs and Quality Road City Zip, who achieved a spectacular double with showed that he had inherited a good measure of the Dayatthespa and Work All Week, had finished an speed that had earned Elusive Quality track records eye-catching third in 2005with a crop sired at $7,500 over seven furlongs on dirt at Gulfstream Park and over in New York, precipitating a move to Kentucky. a mile on turf at Belmont. Quality Road=s time of Looking through the various freshman sire lists, it 1:13.74 in the Amsterdam broke Topsider=s 30-year-old becomes clear that some years are stronger than track record. others, a fine example being 2002, when Distorted Despite this display of speed, Quality Road was Humor, Awesome Again and Elusive Quality fought out clearly considered a mile-and-a-quarter horse and his a close finish, with less than $50,000 separating the next three appearances were for Grade Is over that trio. distance. He disappointed when favorite for the Now Elusive Quality=s son Quality Road has moved Travers, fading into third place, five lengths behind ahead of Super Saver to lead this year=s class of Summer Bird, but then narrowed the gap to just a first-crop sires, thanks to a very rewarding Graded race length when the pair met again in the Jockey Club Gold double over the weekend. Cup. Unfortunately, he was very reluctant to enter the stalls before the Breeders= Cup Classic and then lashed out dangerously once in the gate. He was withdrawn after sustaining a minor injury. Quality Road wasn=t asked to tackle as long a HOOTENANNY, c, 2012 distance as a mile and a quarter in his first five starts of Mr. Prospector 2010 and he rewarded his connections with four Gone West Elusive Quality Secrettame victories. Touch of Hero’s Honor Three of his wins came at Grade I level, in the Donn Greatness Quality Road Ivory Wand H. (in which he set his third track record), the Met Mile Strawberry Road Whiskey Road and the Woodward S. His only reverse in those first five (Aus) Giftisa (NZ) starts was a narrow defeat at the hands of Blame when Kobla set to concede five pounds or more to his rivals in the Winglet Alydar Highest Trump GI Whitney H. Once again, though, Quality Road=s season was to end on a negative note in the Breeders= Storm Cat Storm Bird Cup Classic, as he was beaten a long way out and was Hennessy Terlingua eased. Island Kitty *Hawaii The question now was how would Quality Road fare More Hennessy T.C. Kitten 2Fls, 1GISW in his new career as a stallion? By the time of his Capote Seattle Slew Dance Move Too Bald retirement to Lane=s End, doubts had been raised by Unraced Smarty Jones=s very disappointing start. Smarty Jones 8Fls, 2SW Dance Teacher Smarten had three crops on the track, all sired at a fee of 8Fls, 1SW Intentional Move $100,000, and they had under-performed to the extent that he had been relocated to Pennsylvania. Smarty Jones, though, was out of a mare by Smile, a stallion who managed to sire just one graded winner from his total of 277 foals. Quality Road=s broodmare sire Strawberry Road had been much more successful, siring 10% stakes winners and achieving an AEI of 2.60. Quality Road is also a very different physical type from Smarty Jones, offering a lot more scope, and it quickly became clear that the market had plenty of faith in him. Judging by the efforts of Hootenanny and Blofeld, that faith was very well placed. These colts suggest that Quality Road has a lot to offer the many breeders with mares from the Storm Cat line. Blofeld is out of Storm Minstrel, a sprint stakes winner by Storm Cat. Hootenanny, on the other hand, is out of More Hennessy, a one-raced filly by Storm Cat=s son Hennessy. I could add that Elusive Quality=s other foals of 2006 included Evasive, out of the royally-bred Storm Cat mare Canda. Evasive looked to have a lot of potential when he won the G3 Horris Hill S. on his final start as a juvenile. Although he managed only three more starts, his pedigree earned him a place at stud in France, where his son Evasive=s First has won five of his seven juvenile starts this year, including the G3 Prix des Chenes. I would ask, though, that breeders don=t develop tunnel vision at this very early stage of Quality Road=s career. He is sure to work with other sire lines, too. For example his J “TDN Rising Star” J Overprepared is out of a mare by Dayjur (also broodmare sire of Elusive Quality=s G1 Prix Morny winner Elusive City). Quality Road=s latest impressive maiden winner, the filly Cult Classic, also has a dam by a son of Danzig, so this could be an equally rich seam to be mined. Hootenanny has proved that he stays a mile but there is no guarantee that he will stay any further. His dam is a 3/4-sister to Cat Moves, a Tale of The Cat filly who won the GI Prioress S. over six furlongs. However, Hootenanny=s third dam, Dance Teacher, won the GI Ladies H. over a mile and a quarter. We have also seen Careless Jewel, another Grade I winner with a dam by Hennessy, win the Alabama S. over a mile and a quarter, so it isn=t impossible that Hootenanny will surprise me.