Alan Porter, August 10, 2005–Commentator & Roman Ruler WEEKEND PEDIGREE We covered the pedigree of Roman Ruler after his GII Dwyer S. triumph and the pedigree of Flower Alley after PERSPECTIVES the GII Jim Dandy S. To recap briefly, however, Roman by Alan Porter Ruler--one of seven first-crop stakes winners, and two Grade I winners from the first crop of Fusaichi WHITNEY H.-GI, $750,000, SAR, 8-6, 3yo/up, 1 1/8m, Pegasus--is out of a mare by Silver Deputy, who is a 1:48 1/5, ft. Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector cross, which is the 1--@sCOMMENTATOR, 116, g, 4, by Distorted Humor reverse to Fusaichi Pegasus. Flower Alley is out of a 1st Dam: Outsource, by Storm Bird Mr. Prospector-line mare, who is inbred to Northern 2nd Dam: True Grit, by Woodman Dancer, and his sire, broodmare sire, and dam are all 3rd Dam: Quite Honestly, by Believe It Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer crosses. ($45,000 wlng '01 KEENOV; $135,000 yrl '02 As for Commentator, he joins Funny Cide and FTKJUL). O-Tracy Farmer; B-Michael Martinez (NY); Awesome Humor as one of three Grade I winners from T-Nicholas P Zito; J-G L Stevens; $450,000. Lifetime the first three Northern Hemisphere crops sired by Record: 8-7-0-0, $660,092. Distorted Humor (all at a $10,000 stud fee), whose Click for the brisnet.com chart or the free brisnet.com stud career we looked at in detail in last week’s catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Taylor column. Commentator, a member of his sire’s second Made. crop didn’t race at two, but rapidly made up lost time the following year. He made his first three starts HASKELL INVITATIONAL H.-GI, $1,015,000, MTH, against New York-breds, taking his maiden by 10½ 8-7, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49 4/5, ft. lengths; a Saratoga allowance race by seven lengths; 1--sROMAN RULER, 119, c, 3, by Fusaichi Pegasus and a Belmont Park allowance race by 9¾ lengths. 1st Dam: Silvery Swan, by Silver Deputy Commentator’s first outing in open company saw him 2nd Dam: Sociable Duck, by Quack capture the seven-furlong Perryville S. at Keeneland by 3rd Dam: Unsociable, by Never Bend seven lengths over Eurosilver. He concluded an undefeated first season stretching out to a mile in a ($500,000 yrl '03 KEESEP). O-Fog City Stable; Churchill Downs allowance, and tallied by eight lengths. B-Needham/Betz, Liberation Fm & Ashford Stud (KY); Commentator began his 2005 campaign in the nine- T-Bob Baffert; J-J D Bailey; $600,000. Lifetime furlong GIII Hal’s Hope H. at Gulfstream Park and Record: 8-5-1-0, $1,020,800. *1/2 to El Corredor suffered the first defeat of his life leading for half a mile (Mr. Greeley), GISW, $727,920; Silver Tornado before backing up to finish seventh, beaten 9½ lengths (Maria’s Mon), GSW, $133,075. by the winner, Badge of Silver. Away from the races for Click for the brisnet.com chart or the free brisnet.com five months, Commentator returned in a seven-furlong catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Taylor optional claiming event at Belmont (from which Roman Made. Ruler was scratched), and scored by 16½ lengths in a scorching 1:20.1. There seems to be something of a trend developing It was his speed which was once again decisive in here. Last weekend the GII Jim Dandy S. was captured the GI Whitney H., as a first three-quarters in 1:09.3 by Flower Alley, a son of Distorted Humor. This allowed him to open up 5½ lengths on Saint Liam, and weekend, Commentator, another son of Distorted his courage did the rest, as he fought off Saint Liam’s Humor, took the GI Whitney H. on Saturday, while closing charge to win by a neck. Porter cont. Roman Ruler, a Fusaichi Pegasus colt who had narrowly beaten Flower Alley in the GII Dwyer S., took the GI COMMENTATOR Haskell Invitational H. Raise a Native The two stallions responsible for this trio--Distorted Mr. Prospector Gold Digger Humor and Fusaichi Pegasus--would have to be among Forty Niner Tom Rolfe the hottest young sires in the country, but they have File Continue more than that in common. In fact their pedigrees are Distorted Humor Northern Dancer remarkably similar. Distorted Humor is by Forty Niner Danzig Pas de Nom (by Mr. Prospector), out of a mare by Danzig, with a Danzig’s Beauty Mr. Leader second dam by Mr. Leader (by Hail to Reason); Fusaichi Sweetest Chant Gay Sonnet Pegasus is by Mr. Prospector, out of a mare by Danzig, Nearctic Northern Dancer with a second dam by Halo (by Hail to Reason). Natalma Storm Bird New Providence South Ocean Outsource Shining Sun Wanna See How Your Favorite Sire’s Doing? Unraced Mr. Prospector 2Fls, 1 GISW Woodman Check out TDN’s Progeny PPs. True Grit Playmate Race Record Hundreds of stallions are represented! 6Fls, 1 SW Quite Honestly Believe It 12Fls, 3SW Tesao Alan Porter cont. Commentator’s GI Whitney H. win made amends for the narrow loss suffered by his relative Behrens, who was beaten a nose by that year’s champion older male, Victory Gallop (now a stud companion of Distorted Humor), in the 1999 renewal. Behrens, who was also third in the GI Whitney to Lemon Drop Kid and Cat Thief the following year, did hit the wire first in seven graded stakes, including the GI Oaklawn H., and back-to-back renewals of the GI Gulfstream Park H. Behrens’ dam was the GIII Santa Ynez S. and GIII Rancho Bernardo Breeders’ Cup H. victress Hot Novel. She was by Mari’s Book, a son of Northern Dancer, so bred on similar lines to Commentator’s dam Outsource, who is by Northern Dancer’s son Storm Bird out of True Grit, a Woodman half sister to Hot Novel. The similarities between Commentator and Behrens aren’t confined to their distaff sides either. Behrens’ sire Pleasant Colony was by a son of Ribot and his dam was bred on a Double Jay/Nasrullah cross. Distorted Humor’s sire Forty Niner is out of the mare File, a Ribot granddaughter, with a dam bred on a Double Jay/Nasrullah cross, so the pedigrees of Commentator and Behrens have quite a lot of strains in common. We’ve just mentioned that Commentator’s dam Outsource is by Storm Bird (by Northern Dancer) out of a mare by Woodman (by Mr. Prospector). Of course, this means she is bred on a reverse cross--Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector--to that which produced Distorted Humor. At this point we’re back where we started, with the similarly bred Fusaichi Pegasus and Distorted Humor (both Mr. Prospector/Danzig (Northern Dancer) crosses, getting Roman Ruler, Flower Alley and Commentator, out of mares which not only give inbreeding to Mr. Prospector or Northern Dancer, but actually have Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer, or Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector crosses. Alan Porter may be contacted at [email protected]. Please cc TDN management at [email protected]. ROMAN RULER Native Dancer Raise a Native Raise You Mr. Prospector Nashua Gold Digger Fusaichi Pegasus Sequence 1997 Northern Dancer Danzig Pas de Nom Angel Fever Halo Rowdy Angel Ramhyde Vice Regent Deputy Minister Mint Copy Silver Deputy Mr. Prospector Silvery Swan Silver Valley 1994 Seven Valleys unraced T.V. Lark Quack 7Fls, 3GSW Sociable Duck Quillon GISP 11Fls, 2 SW Unsociable Never Bend 11 Fls, 1SW, 1 GSP Vassar Grad.