Gun Runner, Arrogate to Battle One Last Time For
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2018 SHIFTING BACK TO THE CENTER GUN RUNNER, ARROGATE by Robert D. Fierro TO BATTLE ONE LAST TIME It appears that North American Classic winners are moving back toward the center of the breed, both phenotypically and--if FOR HORSE OF THE YEAR it were still being updated--by Dosage Index. Say what? If one can wrap one's head around that hypothesis stated in the opening paragraph, this could be very interesting news for those who have worried for about a quarter of a century that the breed was "shortening up"--in effect, no longer producing the types of Classic horses which breeders produced since the importation of *Nasrullah, *Princequillo and *Royal Charger. Let's start at the beginning. It is generally accepted that the most influential tool developed for assessing pedigree balance in the past half-century is the Dosage Profile developed by Dr. Franco Varola. Cont. p6 (click here) IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Gun Runner leads Horse of the Year candidates | Horsephotos JAPANESE SIRES LOOKING TO MAKE EUROPEAN IMPACT by Alan Carasso Emma Berry visited Batsford Stud who stand Danon Ballade Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Three Chimneys Farm=s Gun (Jpn), the first son of Deep Impact (Jpn) to stand in Britain. Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}), >TDN Rising Star= Arrogate Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. (Unbridled=s Song), the horse that handed him his lone defeat of the year, and World Approval (Northern Afleet), who closed out his season with a stirring success in the GI Breeders= Cup Mile, are the three finalists for the Eclipse statuette for U.S. Horse of the Year, it was announced Friday afternoon. Gun Runner was nothing short of brilliant in 2017, with five wins from six trips to the races, including the GI Stephen Foster H., GI Whitney S. and GI Woodward S., storied races he won by a combined 22 1/2 lengths. Trained up to the GI Breeders= Cup Classic, the athletic chestnut was pressured through sharp fractions on that Saturday afternoon by the seaside, but turned back the challenge of GI Pacific Classic hero and champion Dirt Male finalist Collected (City Zip) en route to a 2 1/4-length tally. Partnered throughout the season and in all but three of his 18 career starts by Florent Geroux, Gun Runner remains in training for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park in three weeks= time. Gun Runner would become the fourth Horse of the Year for trainer Steve Asmussen (Curlin, 2007, 2008; Rachel Alexandra, 2009). Gun Runner enters stud at Three Chimneys following the Pegasus. Cont. p3 by Medaglia D’oro out of dreaming of Anna - Eclipse Champion 2YO Out of a Half Sister to 6x Champion Sire Kitten’s Joy “There’s Three Chimneys’ Fast Anna, by Medaglia d’Oro out of Dreaming of Anna, the Rahy mare who won the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and was Champion 2-Year-Old Filly of 2006. She wasn’t as fast as Fast Anna, though; he got the Rahy rocket gene you sometimes see ... man was he fast: he ran a half-mile in :43 and change or :44 and change six times in nine starts, and was beaten a head in the GI King’s Bishop, in his only start at seven furlongs, and in just his third lifetime start. He’s been well-managed and well promoted.” - Bill Oppenheim, TDN 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] Saturday, January 6, 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 Alexa Reisfield Michelle Benson Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew Winter at the Big A. Snow blankets the paddock at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, [email protected] NY on Friday morning. Due to a winter storm followed by three days of extremely cold Social Media Strategist temperatures and dangerously low wind chill values, training at Belmont and Aqueduct Justina Severni is closed through January 6 and live racing will resume on January 11. | Alysse Jacobs Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes NEW VOCATIONS HAS ‘CHARITABLE LINK’ TO KEEJAN 9 [email protected] The 3-year-old filly Charitable Link (Data Link) sells next week at Marketing Manager Keeneland January, with the proceeds to benefit New Vocations. Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Christie DeBernardis has the story. Director of Information Technology Ray Villa TODAY’S GRADED STAKES [email protected] EST Race Click for TV Bookkeeper 2:35a Nikkan Sports Sho Nakayama Kimpai-G3, NAK --------------- ------- Terry May 2:45a Sports Nippon Sho Kyoto Kimpai-G3, KYO --------------- ------- [email protected] 9:00a Cartier Paddock S.-G1, KWH --------------- ------- WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 9:40a L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate-G1, KWH --------------- ------- International Editor 5:30p Sham S.-GIII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 6:30p San Gabriel S.-GII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG [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 13 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JANUARY 6, 2018 Eclipse Award Finalists cont. from p1 Arrogate parlayed success in the inaugural Pegasus into a 2 1/4-length defeat of Gun Runner in the G1 Dubai World Cup, overcoming a woeful beginning to record an astonishing victory that to this date remains the world=s highest-rated performance of 2017. The $560,000 Keeneland September graduate, who enters stud in 2018 at Juddmonte Farm in Kentucky, was the runner-up to California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) in 2016. Arrogate and Gun Runner are also finalists in the Older Dirt Male category. Like Gun Runner, Live Oak Plantation=s World Approval posted wins in five of his six starts in 2017, his lone blemish a fifth in the GI Manhattan S. in June. The homebred, a half-brother to Eclipse Award winner Miesque=s Approval (Miesque=s Son), ran the table thereafter, with victories in the GI Fourstardave H. and the GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile prior to a perfect-trip success on Breeders= Cup Saturday. World Approval | Breeders= Cup/Eclipse Sportswire Several of the categories have a wide-open feel to them. In the Juvenile divisions, it remains to be seen if voters opted for body of work over Breeders= Cup success in the case of Bolt d=Oro (Medaglia d=Oro) versus Good Magic (Curlin) among the males and between >TDN Rising Star= Moonshine Memories (Malibu Moon) and Caledonia Road (Quality Road) in the fillies= division. There are no Tepins standing in the way of a divisional championship for Lady Eli (Divine Park), assuming voters were willing to forgive her unplaced effort behind fellow finalist Wuheida (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the GI Breeders= Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Roy H (More Than Ready) seems to have accomplished enough in the Male Sprinter category, but no horse set itself apart in the female counterpart, with the 66-1 upset in the GI Filly & Mare Sprint by Bar of Gold (Medaglia d=Oro) only further complicating an already muddled picture. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 13 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JANUARY 6, 2018 Eclipse Award Finalists cont. TVG will air the Eclipse Awards ceremony live as part of an Abel Tasman (Quality Road) holds a strong hand for agreement finalized this week with the National Thoroughbred sophomore filly Eclipse, but one of the more surprising Racing Association, which administers the award. Nick Luck will omissions across all categories was that of >TDN Rising Star= serve as master of ceremonies. Paradise Woods (Union Rags), who thrashed her peers in the GI Santa Anita Oaks and could boast of a defeat of older females in the GI Zenyatta S. ahead of a third-place finish in the GI Breeders= Cup Distaff. Among all sires, Medaglia d=Oro is represented by five Horse of the Year individual finalists, with Curlin, More Than Ready, Quality Road Arrogate (Unbridled=s Song) and Unbridled=s Song with two apiece. Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) In addition to honoring the 17 winners in the horse and human World Approval (Northern Afleet) categories, Frank Stronach, Thoroughbred owner, breeder and racetrack owner, will receive the Eclipse Award of Merit for a 2-Year-Old Male lifetime of achievement in the Thoroughbred industry. Ray Bolt d=Oro (Medaglia d=Oro) Arsenault will receive an Eclipse Award as the 2017 Horseplayer Good Magic (Curlin) of the Year. Members of the media will be honored for Solomini (Curlin) outstanding coverage in six categories. Tickets to The Eclipse Awards ceremony, to be held Thursday, 2-Year-Old Filly Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park, are on sale for $425 each or $4,000 Caledonia Road (Quality Road) for a table of 10. For reservations, please contact Casey Moonshine Memories (Malibu Moon) Hamilton of the NTRA at [email protected], or call (859) Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) 422-2627. For more information, visit www.ntra.com/eclipse-awards/2017-eclipse-awards. Cont. p5 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 13 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JANUARY 6, 2018 Eclipse Award Finalists cont.