TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2021 THE TDN DERBY TOP 20 FOR APRIL 20 OBS SPRING SALE by T.D. Thornton We=ve entered that fun phase of microscopic scrutiny that RETURNS TUESDAY accompanies the GI Kentucky Derby waiting game. The rankings below are independent from the ARoad to the Derby@ points leaderboard that Churchill Downs will use to determine starting berths; that list can be accessed here. 1) ESSENTIAL QUALITY (c, Tapit--Delightful Quality, by Elusive Quality) O/B-Godolphin (KY). T-Brad Cox. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt & MGISW, 5-5-0-0, $2,265,144. Last Start: 1st GII Toyota Blue Grass S., KEE, Apr. 3 Accomplishments: 'TDN Rising Star', 1st GI TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile, KEE, Nov. 6, 1st GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, KEE, Oct. 3, 1st GIII Southwest S., OP, Feb. 27 Equineline PPs. KY Derby Points: 140. Cont. p4 OBS back walking ring | Photos by Z IN TDN EUROPE TODAY by Jessica Martini THE WEEKLY WRAP: SNOW IN APRIL The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year- Kelsey Riley pens The Weekly Wrap after a busy week of Olds in Training, which was delayed until June in 2020 due to the Classic preps and sales. Click or tap here to go straight to pandemic, returns to its traditional spot on the calendar when it TDN Europe. begins its four-day run in Central Florida Tuesday. AIt feels good to have April back in its normal slot,@ agreed OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. OBS opened the 2021 juvenile sales season with a competitive renewal of its March sale last month which featured frenetic bidding through a wide swath of the market. AWe certainly would like to capitalize on the momentum from the March sale,@ Wojciechowski said. AThere were a lot of people on the grounds and a lot of people hungry for horses in March. We hope that trend continues. And there seems to be a good feel on the grounds so far.@ The March sale included a strong middle market. If that trend is to continue at the Spring sale, it will have to do so with the ongoing absence of Korean buyers, who have helped drive the middle market in recent years. South Korea currently has an embargo on importing foreign racehorses as a way to counteract the economic impact of the pandemic on the country's breeding industry. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Senior Contributing Editor Tuesday, April 20, 2021 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Project Manager Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), winner of the GIII Lecomte S. in January, worked at [email protected] Churchill Downs Monday towards his expected start in the GI Kentucky Derby May 1. Social Media Strategist The Steve Asmussen trainee went five furlongs in a bullet :59 4/5 (1/13). | Coady Justina Severni Associate Producer Katie Ritz NEUMAN NAMED ANNOUNCER AT PRAIRIE MEADOWS 12 Director of Customer Service Veteran racecaller Bobby Neuman was named the announcer Vicki Forbes [email protected] at Prairie Meadows for the 2021 season Monday. A longtime mainstay at Calder Race Course, he more recently was a regular Marketing Manager in the commentator's booth at Los Alamitos. Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of IT & Accounting Ray Villa [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES [email protected] ET Race Click for TV WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 8:50a Prix Sigy-G3, CHY -------------- TVG 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 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 12 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • APRIL 20, 2021 OBS Spring Preview cont. from p1 AWe are dealing with some rain, but in between the rain you AI see promise [for the middle market],@ Wojciechowski said. see a lot of horses out around the barns and a lot of people AIf the demand that we saw in March continues, that will looking,@ Wojciechowski said. AWe have 1200 horses on the certainly help things. We are going to miss the Korean buyers, grounds and there are horses in all 29 barns. The horses aren't but I think we have the capability to pick up that slack.@ as concentrated in one area, so sometimes it may not look like OBS hosted a rain-shortened six-session under-tack show last there are that many people. But there sure are a lot of people week. The company was forced to cancel the first day of the out here looking.@ show due to stormy weather, but added horses each day of the A Top Line Sales-consigned filly by Not This Time topped the remaining days to compensate. The start of Saturday's final 2020 Spring sale when selling for $1.35 million to bloodstock session was delayed over an hour by rain. agent Gary Young on behalf of Zedan Racing. Named Princess AIt's April and it sometimes rains in April in Florida, as we all Noor, she won last year's GI Del Mar Debutante S. The filly was know,@ Wojciechowski said. ABut fortunately, we had built in a one of two to bring seven figures at the auction. In all, 634 head little extra time. The initial plan was to breeze over seven days, sold for $57,715,000 for an average of $91,033 and a median of but we had that opportunity that if we were presented with a $50,000. situation like we had on Sunday we could adjust and overcome The OBS Spring sale will be held Tuesday through Friday, with it. And we got very lucky Saturday, there was rain all around us bidding beginning each day at 10:30 a.m. and rain early in the morning, but we were able to pull it off.@ During the under-tack show, a pair of fillies by first-crop sires earned the quarter-mile bullet of :20 2/5; a daughter of Classic Empire (hip 317, video) and a daughter of Cupid (hip 576, video). Twenty juveniles shared the week's fastest furlong time of :9 4/5. With 1,217 horses catalogued for the four-day auction, buyers were spread out over the entire OBS backstretch during a busy day of showing around the raindrops Sunday. 2021 Stud Fee: $175,000 LFSN CURLIN - THE CLASSIC SIRE CEZANNE (G3), A $3,650,000 2YO GRADUATE, SERVED NOTICE IN A MASTERFUL FASHION FOR HIS POWERFUL CONNECTIONS AT SANTA ANITA, DEMOLISHING THE FIELD BY 9 3/4 LENGTHS. HIS RECORD NOW STANDS AT 4 3-0-0. Congratulations to: Owners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith and St. Elias Stable, Breeders Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings, Inc. and St. Elias Stables, LLC, and Trainer Bob Baffert LGB, LLC 2021 / Photo: Benoit www.hillndalefarms.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 12 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • APRIL 20, 2021 Derby Top 20: Essential Quality cont. from p1 2) KNOWN AGENDA (c, Curlin--Byrama {GB}, by Byron {GB}) When you=re the undefeated juvenile champ coming off a O/B-St Elias Stable (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales History: gutsy win in the most demanding prep of the season, you=d $135,000 RNA Ylg '19 FTSAUG. Lifetime Record: 6-3-1-1, better expect to have a figurative target on your back in $541,700. Louisville. This Tapit-sired Godolphin homebred can be a Last Start: 1st GI Curlin Florida Derby, GP, Mar. 27 threatening pace presence while still retaining multiple gears for Accomplishments: 3rd GII Remsen S., AQU, Dec. 5 a stretch fight, as evidenced by his 97-Beyer Speed Figure win by Equineline PPs. KY Derby Points: 102 a neck in the GII Blue Grass S. after an arduous stretch battle. A bet on Known Agenda in the Derby is essentially a wager That=s a potent combination of tactics the majority of his foes that he=s put early-season greenness behind him and will be have yet to demonstrate. The final furlong of this >TDN Rising able to leverage the stamina and speed aspects of his pedigree Star=s Blue Grass was clocked in :12.53, the fastest in seven effectively enough to excel over 10 furlongs. The dam of this editions of that stakes since Keeneland switched back from athletic chestnut, Byrama, was bred in Great Britain but was synthetic to dirt. But we=re now going on 30 years since the last exported stateside to earn a Grade I win at nine furlongs over a Blue Grass winnerCStrike the Gold in 1991Calso won the Derby. synthetic surface at Hollywood Park. And Known Agenda himself In the 21st Century, Street Sense, American Pharoah and already has four lifetime attempts at 1 1/8 miles, which leaves Nyquist have been the only 2-year-old Eclipse Award winners to him positioned a bit better than many of his competitors. A $135,000 RNA at FTSAUG, this Curlin colt looked impressive win the Derby. There were no dual Eclipse/Derby winners in the gliding up the rail to cuff the field in the GI Florida Derby, his 1980s or >90s.