Breeding and Bloodstock by Sid Fernando

of each of his four starts, three stakes, all at Aqueduct, and counts an additional graded score in the Grade 2 Jerome. In his day, Goldsmith invaded Aqueduct frequently Maryland Connections enough with his homebreds, including the Double Zeus filly Capp It Off, a 1982 daughter of Turn Capp – and Vyjack’s third Breeders Goldsmith, Kossow make dam. With Jerry Bailey aboard, Capp It Off won the 6-furling Key Bridge Stakes impact in pedigrees of classic contenders at Aqueduct in 1986, leading throughout. In her next start, also at Aqueduct, Capp It Off earned graded black type with a third in the Grade 3 Interborough Handicap. Goldsmith was partial to speed. Double Zeus was a Maryland-bred sprinter by Glade Valley stalwart Spring Double. One of Goldsmith’s first good horses was homebred Leematt, also a crack sprinter – he won the Toboggan at Aqueduct and Carter Handicap at Belmont. Leematt was a foal of 1968 by the horse Turn to Reason, and Leematt’s early suc- cess at 2 in 1970 when he was the best juve- nile in the state led to Goldsmith’s decision to breed his acquired Thinking Cap mare Capped to the same sire in 1971. The result was Turn Capp in 1972. Goldsmith was a thinking man, and there were solid reasons for these mat- ings. In a nutshell, Leematt’s dam Sun Rondeau was inbred 3x3 to * and also had *Teddy’s son * III le J Photos b in her pedigree; and Turn to Reason, was Dou Turn Capp, Vyjack’s fourth dam, was bred by C. Oliver Goldsmith by home stallion Turn to Reason. 4x3 to *Sir Gallahad III, with an addition- al strain of –* Sir Gallahad id-Atlantic breeding is on the was Master of the Howard County Hunt, III’s dam – through half-brother Admiral Triple Crown radar, but one recent and he was vice-president of the Maryland Drake. Therefore, Leematt was inbred Mblip may be a false reading. Vyjack, Horse Breeders Association when he died, 4x5x5 to *Sir Gallahad III with a signifi- a -bred gelding by but throughout, he was an extraordinary cant presence of *Teddy and Plucky Liege from Life Happened, by Stravinsky; and breeder of tough, fast Maryland-breds he floating in the background. Likewise, Turn Super Ninety Nine, a Kentucky-bred colt raised at his Longwood Farm in Glenwood Capp also was identically inbred 4x5x5 to by Pulpit out of Exogenetic, by Unbridled’s the old-fashioned way – to run. And most- *Sir Gallahad III. Song, are two highly regarded Kentucky ly, to run short. Turn Capp and Capp It Off were Derby-G1 candidates with deep Maryland His favorite was multiple stakes winner sprinters, so Goldsmith tried to add some roots in tail-female. They won early Derby and 1996 Maryland Broodmare of the Year stamina by sending Capp It Off to Slewpy preps and will be pursued with through Turn Capp, the fourth dam of Grade 3 in 1990. A son of , Slewpy the spring, but Vyjack’s female family is Gotham Stakes winner Vyjack. Turn Capp, won the Grade 1 Meadowlands Cup at 1 dangerously speedy for a classic aspirant. a stakes-winning sprinter by Goldsmith’s 1 ⁄4 miles and had contested the 1½-mile He’s the legacy of the lifetime work of stallion Turn to Reason, won 20 of 44 . The result of the mating C. Oliver Goldsmith of Howard County. starts in the 1970s and earned $137,975 was homebred Miss Slewpy. A winner of Super Ninety Nine, from the family of mainly at Bowie, Timonium, Pimlico, 14 of 26 starts, and fourth or better 24 Curlin, is a product of Washington, D.C., Laurel, Charles Town, Keystone and Penn times, the durable, hard-knocking mare dentist Dr. Herman J. Kossow’s breeding National. She occasionally forayed farther, won eight stakes, including the Grade 2 program. to Thistledown to the west and north Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct over the 1 Goldsmith was a large man, and he to Monmouth and Meadowlands. Turn inner track’s 1 ⁄4 miles, and is the lone grad- was an equally outsized in Capp’s most important win came in the ed stamina marker in the immediate female Maryland breeding and racing circles from 7-furlong Mary Duvall Handicap at Bowie, line which is overwhelmingly notable for the 1960s to his death in 1997. A lawyer by a prominent fixture at the time that drew sprint speed – at least until Vyjack’s suc- 1 profession, horses were his passion, and some of the best local fillies around. cesses up to 1 ⁄16 miles. he left a prominent and lasting mark on Goldsmith, no doubt, would be proud Vyjack’s second dam – Miss Slewpy’s the sport in his home state. At one time he of the undefeated Vyjack. He’s the winner half-sister – is Round It Off, a daughter

58 Mid-Atlantic April 2013 Breeding and Bloodstock by Sid Fernando

of Apalachee. A son of Round Table, Apalachee was a top-class European 2-year-old who became a reliable sire of speed horses at Gainesway Farm. He was more in line with the type of stal- lions Goldsmith patronized (though in retrospect, Slewpy himself turned out to be a good sire of sprinters). Not surprisingly, Round It Off ’s three wins came at 5½ to 6 furlongs, and she was stakes- placed at 5 furlongs. She produced the last good horse bred by Goldsmith: multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter Disco Rico, a winner of $532,244 by the sensationally fast Citidancer. Disco Rico was foaled in 1997, less than a month before Goldsmith died, and was sold as a yearling in 1998. Vyjack’s dam Life Happened – a half-sister to Disco Rico – was le J Photos bred in Maryland by Ron and Carolyn Green’s Green Willow b Dou Farms after Goldsmith’s passing, but very much in a Goldsmithian War Exchange (by Wise Exchange), the fourth dam of Super Ninety style: her sire is European sprinter Stravinsky. Unraced due to a Nine, was purchased by Herman J. Kossow as a juvenile. severe knee injury she suffered as a foal in a shipping accident, Life Happened is also the dam of multiple graded stakes-placed third dam – was bred and raced by Kossow, and for him she pro- 1 Prime Cut, a Bernstein colt who’s been effective up to 1 ⁄16 miles duced the stakes-winning T. V. Commercial mare T. V. Countess. and recently won a Fair Grounds turf race at the distance at the Kossow bred T. V. Countess to the Danzig horse Deerhound, end of January. who stood in Maryland at the time, and sold her in foal in 1994. The Greens sent Life Happened through the ring at Keeneland The next spring champion 2-year-old filly Countess Diana was November in 2006 for $50,000, but it became a no-sale when she born. turned up empty to the cover of Tapit; the Greens sent her back Two Eclipse awards winners in this pedigree courtesy of in 2007, and she brought $30,000 while carrying Prime Cut. Her Kossow’s breeding program give Super Ninety Nine plenty of most recent sale came in 2008, when in foal to Smoke Glacken, she class to navigate classic waters. attracted a bid of $4,500 from Machmer Hall – Vyjack’s breeder. It should be an interesting spring for local observers. Y Maryland-bred Smoke Glacken, ironically, is from this same Sid Fernando is president of Werk Thoroughbr­ ed Consultants Inc., female family further back, as is the quick Crown of Thorns. Both eMatings LLC and eNicks.com. were put on the Triple Crown trail but eventually returned to sprint distances – their true meter. It’s quite possible that Vyjack, too, will revert to sprints, as his pedigree suggests. His sire Into Mischief did, and there just may be too much speed to overcome in his first four Maryland-bred dams, who were designed by their architect to mainly run short and fast. F There’s plenty of speed in Super Ninety Nine’s pedigree, too, but his sire, Pulpit, by stamina influence A.P. Indy, adds more heft to classic aspirations. And on the bottom side, his dam, the unraced Exogenetic, is by Unbridled’s Song, a son of Unbridled who consistently gets classic contenders. Furthermore, Exogenetic is closely related to Grade 1 winner Exogenous, an Unbridled filly who is her three-quarter sister. Exogenous earned nearly a million, won the Grade 1 Beldame Stakes and Gazelle Handicaps, both at 1 1 ⁄8 miles, and placed in such top distance events as the Grade 1 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 ⁄2 miles and the Grade 1 Alabama at 1¼ miles. The nick of the A.P. Indy-line over Unbridled-line mares has been terrifically effective, too, with Grade 1 winners Tapit, General Quarters and Unbridled Command notable representa- tives. Super Ninety Nine could join their ranks in the coming months; to date, he’s won three of five starts, including the Grade 1 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park over 1 ⁄16 miles Feb. 18. Kossow purchased Super Ninety Nine’s fourth dam, Maryland- bred War Exchange (by Maryland sire Wise Exchange), privately early in her racing career as a 2-year-old in 1974. A stakes winner of $122,683, she produced the graded winner Barbarika, a daugh- ter of Bates Motel bred by Kossow in Kentucky. Barbarika is the second dam of champion Curlin. Kossow also bred graded winner Lucky Lady Lauren, a Maryland-bred daughter of Carnivalay and a half-sister to Barbarika. Their half-sister, stakes-placed Count On Kathy, by Maryland sire Dancing Count – Super Ninety Nine’s

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