TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2019 F-T JULY HAS MCPEEK TDN Q&A: CORMAC BREATHNACH ON UPSTART READY TO RESTOCK A multiple graded stakes winner who was Grade I placed at two, three, and four, young stallion Upstart has first-crop yearlings headed to the sales this summer. The $1.7 million- earner’s first weanlings to sell last fall brought a median of six times the stud fee. Airdrie Stud launched the highly successful rookie careers of Creative Cause and Cairo Prince in recent years. Cormac Breathnach, Airdrie’s director of stallion nominations, discusses with TDN why Upstart may also be one to watch. TDN: In a nutshell, describe Upstart. CB: Upstart was a brilliantly fast racehorse. He won [and] placed, as a 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old. Really had a lot of credentials in the racing department and his physical then puts the cherry on top. Cont. p6 Cairo Cat | Coady Photography IN TDN EUROPE TODAY by Jessica Martini Ken McPeek’s string of success with graduates of the PEDIGREE INSIGHTS: SOVEREIGN Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale continued in 2018 and This week, Andrew Caulfield takes a closer look at the victor of the G1 Irish Derby, Sovereign. Click or tap here to go 2019, with a pair of the trainer’s 2017 purchases earning graded straight to TDN Europe. stakes victories. Cairo Cat (Cairo Prince), purchased from Maureen Merkler’s Clifton Farm for $130,000 in 2017, won last year’s GIII Iroquois S., and Harvey Wallbanger (Congrats), a $50,000 acquisition, was victorious in this year’s GII Fasig-Tipton Holy Bull S. “For decades, Fasig-Tipton has done a really good job bringing athletes to this auction,” McPeek said of the July sale. “It’s not necessarily a hot pedigree sale, but it’s a great place to find runners.” Among McPeek’s most successful July purchases was multiple Grade I winner Take Charge Lady (Dehere). Acquired for $175,000 in 2000, the bay mare won the 2002 GI Ashland S. and 2002 and 2003 editions of the GI Overbrook Spinster S. and earned over $2.4 million on the racetrack. Sold for $4.2 million at the 2004 Keeneland November sale, Take Charge Lady has produced champion Will Take Charge (Unbridled’s Song) and Grade I winner Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy), as well as the dam of champion Take Charge Brandi (Giant’s Causeway) and this year’s GI Arkansas Derby winner Omaha Beach (War Front). “More than anything, the [July] focus is on physicals,” McPeek said. Cont. p3 F–T JULY - Select Horses of Racing Age PROVEN SUCCESS. In the last 6 years, WinStar's Racehorse Consignment has produced 103 winners, 11 stakes winners and 20 stakes performers, including multiple G1 winner and multi-millionaire DIVERSIFY, winner of the 2018 Whitney S. (G1) and the 2017 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1). 2018 F–T HORA WinStar Racing grad, NICODEMUS, winner of the 2019 Westchester S. (G3) [ watch race ] BARN 9 Selling Monday, July 8 CLICK HERE To View Consignment Sean Tugel: [email protected] (859) 940-0456 Erin Wismer: [email protected] (859) 537-2724 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Tuesday, July 2, 2019 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 ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Amie Morosco Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Social Media Strategist August 24, 2014. Nine days removed from a smashing two-year-old debut, Upstart Justina Severni takes his second Saratoga victory in the Funny Cide S. Upstart’s first-crop yearlings head Director of Customer Service to the sales this summer. Cormac Breathnach, Airdrie’s director of stallion nominations, Vicki Forbes discusses with the TDN why Upstart may be one to watch. Click here or on the photo [email protected] above for video. | Adam Mooshian Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of Information Technology FASIG ADDS 22 ENTRIES TO JULY HORA CATALOGUE 8 Ray Villa Fasig-Tipton has catalogued an additional 22 entries to next [email protected] week’s July Horses of Racing Age Sale, including ‘TDN Rising Star’ Bookkeeper Fierce Lady (Competitive Edge). Terry May [email protected] WORLDWIDE INFORMATION TODAY’S GRADED STAKES International Editor EST Race Click for TV Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 4:04p Dr. James Penny Memorial S.-GIII, PRX TCIS 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 8 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • JULY 2, 2019 F-T July Has McPeek Ready to Restock cont. from p1 very good 2-year-old.” “And that’s really been my niche anyway,” he continued. “The Off since his Iroquois win last September, Cairo Cat is on his sale probably leans more to the physical and the conformation way back to the races with a pair of three-furlong works at than it does to the pedigree. And a lot of those horses make Churchill in June. their own pedigree when they “He’s getting ready to run make the racetrack.” again,” McPeek said of the The new sire showcase used to sophomore. “He may very well be a staple of the July sale and, surface in the [July 26] Curlin S. at while the freshman class no Saratoga. I think that’s a good first longer has its own section, first- start for him if everything goes crop sires remain a draw of the right.” July sale. The 2019 July sale will boast a “I tend to look at the young strong bench of first-crop sires, stallions really closely,” McPeek with 25 stallions represented by said. their first yearlings at auction in The veteran horseman struck the catalogue this year: Air Force for one of those yearlings by a Blue, Ami’s Holiday, Anchor first-crop sire in 2017 and was Down, Brody’s Cause, California one of the first on the Cairo Chrome, Cinco Charlie, Prince bandwagon with a yearling Ken McPeek | Fasig-Tipton Exaggerator, Firing Line, Frosted, out of La Belle Cat (Tale of the Cat). Hit It a Bomb, Jess’s Dream, Laoban, Mosler, Mshawish, Not This “Cairo Cat went through the ring really early at that sale,” Time, Nyquist, Outwork, Runhappy, Social Inclusion, Speightster, McPeek recalled. “I think he was the first Cairo Prince to sell at Tamarkuz, Texas Red, Tourist, Upstart and Vancouver (Aus). auction. He was just a big, handsome colt and obviously was a Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 8 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • JULY 2, 2019 One of the yearlings from Outwork’s first crop, a daughter of La Belle Cat (Tale of the Cat), is a half-sister to Cairo Cat. Despite the connection to his graded stakes winner, McPeek was pragmatic about the offering. “I always look, but I do believe that it’s hard for lightning to strike twice in the same spot,” McPeek said. Clifton Farm Looks for More July Success Maureen Merkler will certainly be hoping that lightning strikes twice in the same spot when her Clifton Farm, which bred and sold Cairo Cat to Ken McPeek two years ago, offers the graded stakes winner’s half-sister by Outwork as hip 273 at next Tuesday’s Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale in Lexington. Merkler, who maintains a commercial broodmare band of eight head at her 50-acre Clifton Farm in Stamping Ground, Kentucky, purchased Cairo Cat’s dam La Belle Cat (Tale of the Cat), in foal to Archarcharch, for $22,000 at the 2014 Keeneland November sale. “I wanted a Tale of the Cat. He’s a very good broodmare sire,” Merkler said of the then 5-year-old mare’s appeal. “I saw her and I loved her. She has lots of bone and balance and a beautiful hip on her. She has a pretty head and I loved her eye. I just liked everything about her. I wasn’t crazy about who she was in foal to, but I figured she was a maiden and we could always improve on that. That probably hurt her price a bit, but that was fine by me.” Merkler sent the mare to first-year sire Cairo Cat in 2015. “I am a big fan of Pioneerof the Nile--I remember when he was at Vinery, I loved him at that time,” the New Jersey native said. “So I think it was a no-brainer going to Cairo Prince. I liked him and I had an opportunity to get to the Pioneerof the Nile line with a Tale of the Cat mare. So it was perfect.” The future graded stakes winner distinguised himself early on, according to his breeder. “He was a huge foal,” Merkler said. “He was probably the biggest foal I’ve ever had. But when he started unfolding, I thought, ‘Wow. I have something special here.’ He had lots of leg and bone, everything that you would want.” While Merkler has been represented as breeder of several stakes winners, Cairo Cat became her first graded winner when he captured last year’s GIII Iroquois S.