Andrew Caulfield, February 7, 2006–High Limit P EDIGREE INSIGHTS He didn't have his first breeze of 1996 until May 18, the day that Louis Quatorze won the Preakness S. BY ANDREW CAULFIELD Trainer Rick Schosberg suggested that the Travers could be his first major target, but it wasn't to be. A Saturday, Santa Anita bruised frog delayed his comeback and he could finish STRUB S.-GII, $300,000, SAX, 2-4, 4yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49, only second when he finally reappeared, in a Belmont ft. allowance July 17. After a disappointing sixth in the GII 1--HIGH LIMIT, 121, c, 4, by Maria’s Mon Jim Dandy S., an announcement soon followed that 1st Dam: Known Romance, by Known Fact Maria's Mon was being retired to Pin Oak Stud, with 2nd Dam: Spa Romance, by Saratoga Six the announcement citing problems associated to his 3rd Dam: Intentional Move, by Tentam earlier injury to his left-fore. ($145,000 yrl '03 KEESEP). O-Gary & Mary West Injury therefore effectively robbed Maria's Mon of his Stables Inc; B-Brookfield Farm (KY); T-Robert J chance of following in the illustrious footsteps of Frankel; J-P Valenzuela; $180,000. Lifetime Record: numerous previous winners of the Champagne S., such GISP, 11-5-1-1, $862,500. as Riva Ridge, Foolish Pleasure, Seattle Slew, Alydar, Spectacular Bid, Forty Niner, Easy Goer, Sea Hero and Click for the brisnet.com chart or the Video, sponsored Timber Country. by Taylor Made. An unproductive sophomore season also can't have helped the stallion prospects of a colt who already Bearing in mind that victory in the GI Champagne S. labored under the handicap of being the only Grade I had been followed by the Eclipse Award for winner ever sired by Wavering Monarch. Consequently, two-year-old male in 13 of the previous 24 years, the Maria's Mon's opening fee was set as low as $7,500, 1995 Champagne stood a pretty good chance of compared to the $30,000 charged for the services of confirming the year's top juvenile. Among the Hennessy and Unbridled's Song. contenders were two previous Grade I winners in With a background like this, there was every chance Hennessy and Maria's Mon, and some extra spice was that Maria's Mon--like so many of today's stallions-- added by the presence of the impressive Unbridled's would struggle to maintain breeders' interest beyond Song, a wide-margin Saratoga maiden winner of his his first and second seasons, unless he rapidly came up only previous start. with the goods. In the event, the race proved a bit of an anti-climax, That is exactly what appears to have happened. as there was only one horse in it at the finish--Maria's Although Pin Oak did a good job of maintaining Mon--who stretched away by nearly four lengths to numbers throughout his first four years, those first four record his fourth victory in five starts. crops varied considerably. Then, nine days later, Maria's Mon suffered a Maria's Mon got off to a magnificent start with his non-displaced condylar fracture to his left-fore ankle, first foals, born in 1998. Among his 72 named foals which left the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at the mercy were three graded winners and six other stakes of his vanquished rivals from the Champagne. winners, for an eye-catching 12.5 percent. Leading the Unbridled's Song took the Juvenile by a neck from way was Monarchos, winner of the GI Florida Derby Hennessy, as Maria's Mon began a recovery which was and GI Kentucky Derby in the first half of 2001. There expected to be complete before the Triple Crown. was also a top winner among the stakes winners from The son of Wavering Monarch duly collected the his second crop in See How She Runs, who notched Eclipse Award, but his recovery wasn't as speedy as the GI Selene S. at Woodbine. had originally been hoped. Caulfield cont. www.coolmore.com Then the doldrums set in. A smaller third crop failed HIGH LIMIT, c, 2002 to produce a single stakes winner and neither of the Majestic Prince Majestic Light American stakes winners from his fourth crop won or Irradiate Wavering Monarch placed at graded level. Buckpasser Uncommitted Fortunately, the emergence of Ilusoria, Lady Lady Be Good Maria’s Mon Andromeda, Silver Tornado, Wedlock, Lil Punkindo and Fortino (Fr) Caro (Ire) Wander Mom among Maria's Mon's dozen first-crop Chambord (GB) Carlotta Maria juvenile winners made breeders sit up and take notice. Naskra Water Malone This, quickly followed by Monarchos' highly Gray Matter encouraging exploits, resulted in a strong fifth crop, Intentionally conceived at an increased fee of $12,500 in 2001. And In Reality My Dear Girl with his fee raised to $35,000 from 2002, we can Known Fact Tim Tam surely expect Maria's Mon's later crops to outshine Tamerett Known Romance Mixed Marriage their predecessors. unraced Alydar The first five weeks of 2006 have seen this 5Fls, 1GSW Saratoga Six Spa Romance Priceless Fame happening. High Limit and Gaff, two four-year-olds 11-1-10, $14,035 Tentam from his fifth crop, have won at graded level and so 9Fls, 1SW Intentional Move 10Fls, 2GSW, 1SW Lunar Dancer have the three-year-olds Cause To Believe and Wait A While. That fifth crop had already produced two other graded winners in Watchmon and Whimsy, as well as Although Maria's Mon wasn't able to show how far the talented Monarch Lane. The chances are that there he stayed, he had plenty of stamina in his pedigree. His will be more graded winners to come from the 2003 grandsires, Majestic Light and Caro, both stayed a mile crop, as Maria's Mon's three Triple Crown entrants and a half, and his second dam, Water Malone, gained include Latent Heat, an impressive maiden winner at one of her Grade II wins over a mile and a quarter. Santa Anita in January. A mature High Limit should also stay a mile and a High Limit was gaining his third success at Grade II quarter, but he doesn't lack speed and neither did level when he ran out a very smooth winner of the Maria's Mon, whose first stakes victory came over six Strub S. Saturday, and he is clearly going the right way now. A bright future also awaits Wait A While, even if furlongs in the GIII Sanford S. the sloppy track might have contributed to the ease of her 14-length victory in Saturday’s GII Davona Dale S. Monarch Lane, the GII Illinois Derby second-place finisher who made an impressive return from a long layoff at Gulfstream in January, as well as High Limit, both have In Reality's son Known Fact as their broodmare sire. Valid Appeal, another son of In Reality, figures as the broodmare sire of the stakes-winning sisters Cauy and Maria's Mirage, while Maria's Mon's only foal out of an In Reality mare is the stakes-winning Saskya. This adds up to a very profitable partnership. However, the most interesting aspect of High Limit's pedigree is that his dam Known Romance is inbred 3x4 to Intentionally and 2x4 to that outstanding mare Tamerett. Tamerett, a half-sister to Sharpen Up's once-raced sire Atan, produced only eight foals, but five of them were stakes winners. Two of these five, Tamtent and Tentam, were by Intentionally, while another, Known Fact, was by Intentionally's son In Reality. It was Tentam who sired High Limit's successful third dam Intentional Move, who produced the Grade I-winning Dance Teacher and the Grade II winner Gold Mover. Tentam--something of a forgotten name these days-- was as versatile as he was talented. As a four-year-old he proved capable of winning the Met Mile on dirt and the United Nations H. over 1 3/16 miles on turf. Tentam sired only 213 named foals during his short innings at Windfields Farm, but 35 of them became stakes winners and his AEI stood at an impressive 2.93. It therefore made good sense to try to replicate the excellence of Known Fact and Tentam by combining these close relatives in a pedigree..