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Mares on Monday: No Secret Any More

2/28/2022

After Secret Oath's romp in the Honeybee Stakes (USA-G3) on the Rebel Stakes (USA-G2) undercard, followed by a flop by favored Newgrange and a shocking upset by 75-1 longshot Un Ojo in the Rebel, speculation is now widespread that the Briland Farm homebred may take a shot against the boys in the Arkansas Derby (USA-G1) on April 2. This is not an unprecedented position for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who sent out 1983 American champion 2-year-old filly Althea to clobber males in the 1984 Arkansas Derby, and he is in an enviable position with his current star. Since the rapidly improving filly probably has enough points already to secure a starting berth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1), why not take a shot to see if she is good enough to be Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) material?

Granted, Secret Oath has not proved herself another Althea yet, let alone another Winning Colors, whom Lukas trained to a Kentucky Derby win in 1988 after the daughter of Caro blitzed a field of hapless colts in the Santa Anita Derby (USA-G1). Nonetheless, if she continues her improvement, one may see in her the stamp of her late sire, Arrogate, whose meteoric rise in 2016 was one of the most exciting developments of that year.

Arrogate, of course, had no difficulty at all with getting 10 furlongs in the best of company, and that is as well for any Classic hopes for Secret Oath, whose distaff-side pedigree leans more toward speed. The filly is the fourth foal of Absinthe Minded, another Briland homebred who won three listed stakes at Oaklawn Park and placed twice in the Apple Blossom Handicap (USA-G1) among five graded stakes placings.

The best of nine winners produced by her dam Rockford Peach, Absinthe Minded's best distance was right about 8.5 furlongs, which is not surprising for a daughter of 1990 NYRA Mile Handicap (USA-G1) winner Quiet American. While Quiet American stretched out well enough to run second in the 1990 Charles H. Strub Stakes (USA-G1) over 10 furlongs, most of his progeny preferred 8 or 9 furlongs, and his Kentucky Derby-winning son Real Quiet (who missed the American Triple Crown by about four inches in the Belmont Stakes, USA-G1) was from a classically oriented female line. Absinthe Minded does not have that kind of stamina buttressing whatever she inherited from Quiet American, as Rockford Peach was sired by the sprinter Great Above (by Minnesota Mac), whose dam Ta Wee raced to American sprint championships in 1969 and 1970. A half sister to Puerto Rican champion El Ordenador, Rockford Peach, in turn, is out of Strawberry Skyline, a winning daughter of 1976 Widener Handicap (USA-G1) and Amory L. Haskell Handicap (USA-G1) winner Hatchet Man.

Secret Oath's pedigree bears the stamp of John Nerud and Tartan Farms both top and bottom, for Arrogate's paternal grandsire Unbridled was the last champion bred by Tartan and his great-grandsire Fappiano was bred by Nerud, who planned Tartan's matings as well as becoming a notable breeder in his own name. A winner of the Metropolitan Handicap (USA-G1) and one of the most influential sire sons of Mr. Prospector, Fappiano is a maternal grandson of the great Dr. Fager (who, like Minnesota Mac, was sired by Rough'n Tumble) and of Tartan Farm foundation mare Cequillo, and these lines were both duplicated in Fappiano's son Quiet American (who was out of Demure, by Dr. Fager x Cequillo). Great Above adds further to the pileup of Tartan lines, as both Minnesota Mac and Ta Wee (a half sister to Dr. Fager by 1959 American champion sprinter Intentionally, a horse purchased for Tartan by Nerud) were Tartan-bred, and another link between the sire's and dam's sides of Secret Oath's pedigree is Aspidistra, another Tartan foundation mare who was the dam of Dr. Fager and Ta Wee and the fourth dam of Unbridled.

At the moment, Lukas is still keeping his options open, and he seems to be enjoying keeping the press guessing. Secret Oath is eligible for the Fantasy Stakes (USA-G3) on the Arkansas Derby undercard, another points race for the Oaks, and Lukas has another Arkansas Derby candidate in Ethereal Road, second in the Rebel. Regardless of the direction the filly takes, she has a chance to make history; as a Kentucky Derby candidate, she could become only the fourth filly to win the Derby as well as making Lukas the only trainer to develop two Derby-winning fillies, and as an Oaks candidate, she could put Lukas into a position to tie Woody Stephens' record with five Oaks winners. At any rate, there is no secret regarding Secret Oath's talent any more; the only remaining secret is her destination.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 2/25/2022

2/25/2022

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In what year did full brothers train the one-two finishers in the Kentucky Oaks, and who were the trainers and fillies involved?

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Mares on Monday: With Luv from an American Abroad

2/21/2022

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On February 20, the Japanese-bred Combustion entered the Kentucky Derby picture with a solid win in the Hyacinth Stakes over 1600 meters in Japan. The Discreet Cat colt is not currently nominated to the American Triple Crown series, but should his connections elect to make him eligible, he will be at the top of the points standings in the Japan Road to the Derby series with one race to go. That would be the Fukuryu Stakes over 1800 meters at Nakayama on March 26, but the Darley Japan homebred also has the option of going to the UAE Derby (UAE-G2) in Dubai, a race won by his sire and one that offers 100 points to its winner in the main Road to the Kentucky Derby standings, enough to guarantee its winner a Kentucky Derby berth.

Combustion hails from an international family descended from the Raise a Native mare Luv Luvin'. A muscular sprinter who was stakes-placed twice as a 3-year-old, she was the only black-type runner produced by her dam, the Bold Lad mare Ringing Bells, who was from a notable family developed by Greentree Stud and was a half sister to 1969 American champion 2-year-old male Silent Screen.

By an American 2-year-old champion out of a mare sired by an American 2-year-old champion and with an "uncle" who was a similar champion, Luv Luvin' came by a proclivity for speed honestly, though she did not inherit the talent of her top male relatives. Nonetheless, her deep pedigree was good enough for the broodmare band of Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, and she made good use of her access to stallions who were high-end racehorses and sires, producing three stakes-winning fillies as well as three more daughters that produced stakes winners.

Luv Luvin' produced listed stakes winners Nijinsky's Lover and Dixie Fine to covers by English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky II and French champion miler L'Emigrant, respectively, and Nijinsky's Lover went on to produce 1999 Bashford Manor Stakes (USA-G2) winner Dance Master (by Gone West) and 1999 San Simeon Handicap (USA-G3) winner Naninja (by Alysheba). Dixie Fine also had some importance as a broodmare, becoming the second dam of 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (USA-G1) winner Stormy Liberal and multiple Grade 2 winner Leinster. Even so, it was Luv Luvin's matings to multiple French champion Irish River that created the best part of her legacy.

Luv Luvin produced four foals by Irish River, all fillies, and the first was the best on the race course. This was the 1983 filly Or Vision, winner of listed stakes in France at ages 2 and 3. In true international style, she produced Grade or Group 1 winners in three different countries: Dolphin Street (by Bluebird) won the 1993 Prix de la Forêt (FR-G1), Insight (by Sadler's Wells) won the 1999 E. P. Taylor Stakes (CAN-G1), and Saffron Walden (by Sadler's Wells) won the 1999 Irish Two Thousand Guineas (IRE-G1). Or Vision is also the second dam of multiple German Group 3 winner Matchwinner.

Listed juvenile stakes winner Litani River, a foal of 1986, was the next of Luv Luvin's foals by Irish River, and she also proved a good broodmare, producing 2008 Concorde Stakes (IRE-G3) winner Psalm (by Sadler's Wells) and listed stakes winner Queen Titi (by Sadler's Wells), dam of 2009 Dewhurst Stakes (ENG-G1) winner Beethoven (by Oratorio). Litani River was followed by Mud Wrestling (1989), a winner twice from 13 starts.

Mud Wrestling did nothing further to burnish the family reputation, but her full sister Brigid (1991) made up for her lacks. A winner once in five tries, Brigid produced listed stakes winner Oyster Catcher (by Bluebird) as her first foal. Lady Windermere (by Lake Coniston), dam of listed stakes winner Absolutelyfabulous (by Mozart), came next, and she is the second dam of 2013 Irish Two Thousand Guineas (IRE-G1) and Breeders' Cup Turf (USA-G1) winner Magician (by Galileo) and his Grade 3-winning full sister Apple Betty; she is also the third dam of 2021 San Marcos Stakes (USA-G2) winner Masteroffoxhounds.

Brigid went on to produce 2000 Moyglare Stud Stakes (IRE-G1) winner Sequoyah and 2007 Fillies' Mile Stakes (ENG-G1) winner Listen, both by Sadler's Wells. The former is the dam of Henrythenavigator (by Kingmambo), whose four Group 1 wins include the 2008 Two Thousand Guineas and Irish Two Thousand Guineas, and of Irish Group 3 winner Queen Cleopatra (by Kingmambo), dam of multiple Australian Group 3 winner Francis of Assisi (by Danehill Dancer); Listen is the dam of Japanese Group 2 winner Touching Speech (by Deep Impact) and Group 1-placed Japanese listed winner Satono Lux (by Deep Impact). Brigid is also the dam of stakes producers Nazym (by Galileo; dam of 2019 Musidora Stakes, ENG-G3 winner Nausha, by Kingman), Height of Elegance (by Galileo; dam of 2021 Marshua's River Stakes, USA-G3, winner Zoffelle, by Zoffany, and Irish listed stakes winner Queenship, by Excelebration), and Brigids Cross (by Sadler's Wells; dam of English listed stakes winner We Are Ninety).

Oyster Catcher failed to match her sisters' achievements in the breeding shed but did produce Aquarista (by Coronado's Quest), dam of multiple Japanese listed stakes winner Fashionista (by Street Sense). Aquarista is also the dam of Smoldering (by 2009 Forego Stakes, USA-G1, winner Pyro), a winner who produced Combustion as her second foal.

Even if he makes it to Churchill Downs, Combustion will likely be a considerable longshot. No horse that has prepped for the Kentucky Derby in Japan or Dubai has hit the board yet in the Run for the Roses, and Combustion does not seem a likely bet to outdo those who have gone before him; this has been a family more inclined to produce milers and good juveniles than horses that can stay classic distances, and Discreet Cat---himself a brilliant miler---is unlikely to have contributed enough stamina to stretch the speed of Luv Luvin's family out to 10 furlongs. Nonetheless, he may be an interesting colt to watch this spring. In the meantime, if history is any indication, look for this family to continue spreading more "luv" around the world.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 2/18/2022

2/18/2022

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Since the Presidents' Day weekend is upon us, here's a trivia question with a tie-in. What American-bred champion racehorse was given as a gift by his owner-breeder to a president then in office?

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Mares on Monday: Letruska Makes Her Own Pedigree

2/14/2022

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It has been said that outstanding horses make their own pedigrees, and such seems to be the case with 2021 American champion older dirt female Letrushka. While she was well bred---by 2010 Kentucky Derby (USA-1) winner Super Saver out of a stakes-placed full sister to a Grade 1 winner---her lineage was not particularly fashionable, considering that her sire ended up being sent to Turkey. In addition, Letruska had her share of hard knocks even before she was born; her dam was seriously ill during much of the pregnancy, and it was a relief to everyone at Montesacro Farm when a fine, strong filly was born on May 9, 2016.

Letruska's unlikely start in life was matched by an unlikely opening to her racing career. Bred and owned by German Larrea Mota-Velasco (who campaigns St. George Stable in the United States), Letruska began her racing career in Mexico, not exactly what one would expect for a future Eclipse Award winner. What would be expected is that a filly with that kind of inherent talent would be head and shoulders above her contemporaries on that circuit, and indeed she was. She won six straight races in 2018-2019 including the Clasico Esmeralda and Clasico Diamante---both accounted Grade 1 races in Mexico---and then went to represent Mexico at the 2019 Copa Internacional del Caribe Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Running against males, she won that race as well and was named the Mexican champion 3-year-old filly of 2019.

Even top-class Mexican form does not necessarily translate to championship form or anything close to it in the United States, but trainer Fausto Gutierrez (who was Mexico's champion trainer for 10 consecutive years) was confident that Letruska could make the transition. Continuing to race at Gulfstream, she won the 2020 Added Elegance Stakes and the Rampart Stakes (USA-G3). Later in the year, she went to the Saratoga meeting and was successful there as well, capturing the Shuvee Stakes (USA-G3).

Letruska continued at the same level in January 2021, scoring an easy victory in the Houston Ladies Classic (USA-G3). Then Gutierrez decided it was time to send her against the best of the older female division and took her to Oaklawn Park. 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winner Shedaresthedevil, who would win two more Grade 1 stakes in 2021, beat Letruska a head in the Azeri Stakes (USA-G2). The narrow defeat appeared to whet Letruska's zest for combat, for she stepped up in her next race, the Apple Blossom Handicap (USA-G1), to outduel two-time American champion Monomoy Girl by a nose, with 2020 American champion 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver (herself a Grade 1 winner in 2021) further back.

For the rest of the year, Letruska made it plain that the torch had been passed to her as the queen of American racing. A painful loss in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (USA-G1) as the result of a pace meltdown was certainly a disappointment, but it did nothing to diminish the luster of a year in which the mare had won six graded stakes, four of them at the Grade 1 level. She defeated every major contender in the division; she won her Grade 1 races at four different tracks (Oaklawn, Saratoga, Belmont, and Keeneland); and the only thing she did not do that might have burnished her name still brighter was to take on top males. That last does not appear to be in the cards for 2022, as Gutierrez has already stated that Letruska will not compete outside her division, but the fact that she will be back at all to defend her crown is a blessing in a game in which too many stars are gone too soon. She is expected to make her first start of 2022 on February 26 in the Royal Delta Stakes (USA-G3) at Gulfstream Park.

Letruska is the fifth foal of Grade 2-placed Magic Appeal, whose full brother J P's Gusto won the 2010 Del Mar Futurity (USA-G1) and two other graded stakes during his juvenile season. Previous to Letruska, Magic Appeal had produced Grade 1-placed listed stakes winner Trigger Warning (by Candy Ride) and listed stakes-placed American Doll (by Tiznow). Three foals of racing age following the champion have done nothing to distinguish themselves, but Magic Appeal has a 2020 colt by Arrogate and a 2021 filly by Malibu Moon waiting in the wings and was bred to Curlin for 2022.

Magic Appeal is out of listed stakes winner Call Me Magic (by multiple juvenile Grade 2 winner Caller I.D.), whose broodmare credits also include stakes-placed Kid Majic (by Lemon Drop Lid), dam of 2015 Bessarabian Stakes (CAN-G2) winner Miss Mischief (by Into Mischief), and Magical Mist (by Congaree), dam of multiple stakes winner Swagger Jagger (by Crown of Thorns). Produced from Malibu Magic, an Encino half sister to 1989 Santa Anita Oaks (USA-G1) winner Imaginary Lady (by Marfa), Call Me Magic traces back to the 1936 mare Duplication (Diavolo x Double Time, by Sir Gallahad III), whose stakes-winning half sister Alablue (by Blue Larkspur) is the ancestress of a great American family that includes American champions Revidere and Classic Empire as well as the important stallions Boldnesian and Harlan's Holiday.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 2/11/2022

2/11/2022

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Portraits of champion Thoroughbreds have been painted for centuries, and in most cases, the object has been to produce a flattering but identifiable image according to the artistic conventions of the time. Some horses have been more challenging to paint than others, however, What Canadian champion earned the description from a famous 20th-century artist as being "the ugliest horse, stallion or mare, that I have ever painted"?

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Mares on Monday: A Gleam from Sam-Son's Past

2/7/2022

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Ontario's Sam-Son Farm may be the house that the great Canadian matron No Class built, but her family was not the only one that helped create a Canadian dynasty. On February 6, another Sam-Son matron stepped into the spotlight through one of her descendants as Messier, a fifth-generation descendant of the Gleaming mare Gleaming Stone, blew away his rivals by 15 lengths in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (USA-G3) and stamped himself as a top Classic prospect.

Bred in Kentucky by the Nuckols Brothers, Gleaming Stone was stakes-placed twice at 3 while racing in Canada and the American Midwest. She then joined the Sam-Son broodmare band, where she opened her producing career in unpromising fashion with three unmemorable foals by Grey Dawn II. Her one distinction during this period was in managing to produce live twins in 1982, but neither ever managed to win a race.

After the twin birth, Gleaming Stone had no foal in 1983 but was mated to Halo that spring. The result was a substantial improvement on her previous produce. Named Devilish Gleam (which perhaps says something for his temperament), the 1984 Halo colt won only twice from 23 starts but managed to score one of his wins in the 1986 Cup and Saucer Stakes. That was good enough to earn him a rating of 118 pounds on the Canadian Free Handicap for juvenile males. 8 pounds below his champion stablemate Blue Finn but tied for sixth in the division.

Devilish Gleam's full sister Radiant Ring was likewise born after her dam had failed to produce a live foal the preceding year (1987), and she was the last of Gleaming Stone's produce. She was also much the best. The winner of nine stakes races including the 1992 Matchmaker Stakes (USA-G2), she earned US$775,478 for Sam-Son while racing primarily on turf. She then proceeded to produce seven foals for Sam-Son, five of them fillies, before selling for US$1.1 million at the 2003 Keeneland November mixed sale with stakes winner Diamond Fever (by Seeking the Gold) in utero.

Radiant Ring's high price tag owed much to her two previous foals by Seeking the Gold. The lesser, the 2000 filly Seeking the Ring, raced only as a 3-year-old and won two stakes restricted to Canadian-breds; she was also second in the Labatt Woodbine Oaks. Retained as a broodmare by Sam-Son, she produced multiple Grade 3 winner Southern Ring (by Speightstown), who sold to Determined Stud for US$875,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January sale, in foal to Into Mischief.

Catch the Ring, Radiant Ring's 1997 filly by Seeking the Gold, was her best runner, winning the 2000 Canadian Oaks on her way to honors as that year's Canadian champion 3-year-old filly. She trained on at 4 to win the Maple Leaf Stakes (CAN-G3) and retired with seven wins and 10 placings from 25 starts. She then proceeded to throw 2006 Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Catch the Thrill (by A.P. Indy) as her first foal, providing Sam-Son with another homebred Sovereign Award winner. Catch the Thrill, in turn, is the dam of Curlin's Catch (by Curlin), who won the listed Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in 2021 before selling for US$500,000 as a horse of racing age at the Keeneland November sale.

Catch the Ring did not produce any more stakes winners, and her unraced A.P. Indy daughter Catch the Flag likewise produced the stakes winner Checkered Past as her first foal and nothing else that has achieved any distinction. Checkered Past, nonetheless, may be enough to secure Catch the Flag's place in breeding annals. Her name is rather tongue-in-cheek as her pedigree is Sam-Son through and through, bringing in the family of No Class through her sire Smart Strike. A grandson of Sam-Son's foundation mare, Smart Strike (by Mr. Prospector) was a Grade 1 winner for Sam-Son on the track and a two-time American champion sire in the breeding shed. And if Checkered Past has not reached such exalted heights, she is not off to a bad start either. A two-time winner of the listed Trillium Stakes at Woodbine, she produced Messier as her third foal to a cover by Empire Maker. Barren in 2020, Checkered Past produced a 2021 filly by Candy Ride for Dr. Hartmut H. Malluche and Silesia Farm (which bought Checkered Past for US$290,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January sale) and was then bred to Authentic.

Messier will not bring any further glory to Sam-Son as a racing operation, as the historic farm dispersed the bulk of its stock in 2020-2021 and so is in the process of passing from the Canadian racing scene to which it contributed so much. As a result, Messier races for SF/Starlight/Madaket, which purchased him for US$470,000 from the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. Where they will race him this spring and summer remains to be seen, because Messier is in the barn of Bob Baffert and so is ineligible for points toward a starting berth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (USA-G1) due to Baffert's ongoing suspension by Churchill Downs. It would be something of an irony if the suspension pushes the Ontario-foaled colt into contending for the Canadian Triple Crown rather than the American Triple Crown, but perhaps not unfitting given Messier's deep roots in a heritage created by one of Canada's most legendary farms.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 2/4/2022

2/4/2022

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Only one edition of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (USA-G1) ran at 9 furlongs rather than the now-standard 8.5 furlongs. The winner of this race was, naturally, considered a hot prospect for the next season's Triple Crown series but never made it to the Kentucky Derby starting gate. In what year and at what track did the longest Juvenile run, and who was its rather unlucky winner?

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