INTO MISCHIEF COLT HAS SWALE on >TO DOO= LIST
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018 HOW DARBY DAN GOT ITS MOJO BACK INTO MISCHIEF COLT HAS by Bill Finley It may still seem at times that Darby Dan Farm is something SWALE ON >TO DOO= LIST out of racing=s past, when America=s aristocracy--Mellons, Vanderbilts, Galbreaths, Phippses--ran the sport=s top racing and breeding farms. Think Darby Dan and you think Chateaugay, Proud Clarion, Roberto, Little Current, Graustark, great horses but horses from a long gone era. John Phillips, owner of the farm, is proud of Darby Dan=s reputation but knows nobody in modern times cares what a farm might have done in 1967. If Darby Dan, after many down years, was to have a resurgence, resting on laurels was certainly not the answer. Darby Dan Farm, which was purchased by the Galbreath family in 1935, may never be what it was in its glory days and it does not go after the most sought after stallions when they come off the racetrack, but Phillips has found a formula that is working and has sparked a resurgence of the iconic property. He doesn=t try to hit home runs. Ground rule doubles are fine. Cont. p4 Tricks to Doo winning the Inaugural | SV Photography IN TDN EUROPE TODAY by Joe Bianca TWO LOTS SET NEW TATTERSALLS RECORD Lael Stables= Gretchen Jackson has spent a lot of time in racing, Thetis (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) with her Lope de Vega (Ire) filly at so it takes something way out of the ordinary for her to have a her side and Smoulder (GB) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) were each new experience. She got one she probably would=ve preferred knocked down for 550,000gns to set a new joint-record on Day 1 of not to have Oct. 27 at Laurel, but it was one that showed her the Tattersalls February Sale. Click or tap here to go straight to and trainer Arnaud Delacour that they might have a special TDN Europe. runner on their hands. Tricks to Doo (Into Mischief), a $600,000 OBS March buy after breezing a furlong in :9 4/5, finished third on debut in a live maiden race 20 days earlier at Keeneland, and was accordingly dispatched as the 1-10 favorite against softer company at Laurel. A little over a sixteenth of a mile into the running, his backers, along with Jackson, Delacour and especially rider Feargal Lynch, got more than they bargained for when the horse=s left rein suddenly broke. AWe=ve had all sorts of things happen, but we=ve never had that,@ Jackson said. AI was only watching on TV, I wasn=t there, so we saw something flapping and wondered what it was. In seeing it again, we realized that Feargal had grabbed onto the mane of the horse. I=m sure it took a lot of guts to stay on that horse. He had to be scared to death.@ Composing himself, Lynch urged Tricks to Doo to overhaul a longshot pacesetter nearing the stretch and gave him a few pops of his right-handed whip en route to an improbable and powerful 5 3/4-length score. Cont. p3 PRESIDENT & CO-PUBLISHER Barry Weisbord @barryweisbord [email protected] SR. V.P. & CO-PUBLISHER Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Friday, February 2, 2018 Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN News and Features Editor Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN Assistant Editor Bobby Klatt ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Time Flies. Time Test (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) pictured during the TBA Stallion Parade at Alexa Reisfield Michelle Benson Tattersalls. A dual Group 2 winner for Roger Charlton, Time Test was subsequently transferred to Chad Brown last year. The Juddmonte colorbearer finished second on all Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew three U.S. attempts. | Amy Lanigan [email protected] Social Media Strategist Justina Severni Director of Customer Service ‘PHAROAH FACTOR’ COULD BOOST TWO FTKFEB MARES 7 Vicki Forbes There are just two mares in foal to American Pharoah being offered [email protected] at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed sale and his sire power Marketing Manager could give them an edge. Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of Information Technology Ray Villa BAFFERT TAKING HIS TIME WITH WEST COAST & COLLECTED 9 [email protected] Bob Baffert is in no rush to name future races for his GI Pegasus Bookkeeper World Cup Invitational S. contenders West Coast (Flatter) and Terry May Collected (City Zip). [email protected] 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 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 10 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 2, 2018 Into Mischief Colt Has Swale On >To Doo= List cont. from p1 Tricks to Doo crossing the wire with his broken rein at Laurel | MJC While it certainly was a valiant effort from the jockey, it also said a lot about the horse and Delacour=s training job that Lynch was able to steer him home without further issue. AThat was stressful, but he showed some class,@ Delacour reflected. AHe did the right things and he=s a horse with class for sure.@ That class, along with his obvious talent, was confirmed when Tricks to Doo returned to romp by 7 1/4 lengths in Tampa=s Inaugural S. Dec. 16. Those qualities will be further tested when he makes his graded stakes debut and first start beyond six furlongs against five rivals in the seven-panel GIII Swale S. Saturday at Gulfstream. AHe=s improved and matured and he=s ready to move up the ladder,@ Jackson said. AWe only will know how talented he is by doing it, so it=s the first test at another level and we=re anxious to see if he can do it or not.@ AThe logical spot would have been to go seven furlongs and in order to do that, we had the Swale or the Pasco [S.] at Tampa,@ Delacour added. AI thought after what he showed in the [Inaugural], we=d see if we could run him in a graded stake.@ The main hurdle for Tricks to Doo in the Swale will almost certainly be Courtlandt Farms= homebred Strike Power (Speightstown). Debuting at Gulfstream Dec. 23, the chestnut showed abundant pace and never looked back, graduating by eight lengths to earn >TDN Rising Star= status along with a 102 Beyer, the second-fastest figure by a 2-year-old in 2017. AHe=s obviously a pretty impressive horse who liked the track at Gulfstream and trains there, so there=s no question mark about it for him,@ Delacour said. AWe=ve never run at Gulfstream, but at this stage with 3-year-olds, they can move forward or move backward very easily, so I=m just excited to be able to test him a little bit and see if we belong with those kinds of horses.@ Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 10 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 2, 2018 Into Mischief Colt Has Swale On >To Doo= List cont. How Darby Dan Got Its Mojo Back cont. from p1 Though not one to cry poverty, Phillips does not have the resources of his grandfather, Darby Dan patriarch John W. Galbreath. Galbreath, who passed away in 1988 at age of 90, made his fortune in real estate, owned the Pittsburgh Pirates and campaigned two GI Kentucky Derby winners, Chateaugay (1963) and Proud Clarion (1967). Darby Dan also owned 1972 G1 Epsom Derby winner Roberto, named for the Pirates= Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. Galbreath made his fortune in real estate, and in 1986, Forbes estimated that, along with his son, Dan, he was worth $400 million. Darby Dan has done remarkably well in recent years with mid- level stallions. Now standing for $25,000, Dialed In (Mineshaft) was the champion first-crop sire of 2016 and had more black type winners than any other second crop sire in 2017. Cont. p5 Roy Jackson, Arnaud Delacour and Gretchen Jackson | Sarah Andrew Tricks to Doo=s speed has been a weapon, but it=s also the reason Delacour has decided to keep the colt at sprint distances through his first four starts. AHe=s very forward in his training and he actually has a tendency to do a little too much in the morning,@ the French- born conditioner said. AI can either breeze him alone or behind a horse, but head-to-head, he wants to do a little bit too much. We=ve been trying to--not slow him down because I still think his speed is his best asset--but just to get him to relax a little bit.@ If he delivers another promising run in the Swale, however, the temptations would be great to see how far Tricks to Doo can go as the road to the GI Kentucky Derby ramps up. Delacour is not yet convinced that his quick pupil will be a router, but he=s ready John Phillips | Shandon Cundiff for that contingency should he see indications of untapped stamina Saturday.