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Mares on Monday: Snap Decision Salutes in Iroquois

6/28/2021

On June 26, Snap Decision completed his rise in the steeplechasing ranks by powering home in the Calvin Houghland Iroquois Stakes. It was his first Grade 1 win under National Steeplechase Association Rules and, coupled with a win in the Temple Gwathmey Hurdle Stakes (NSA-G2), puts him among the early leaders racing toward an Eclipse Award in the steeplechase division.

A horse of impeccable bloodlines, Snap Decision is by Hard Spun out of a daughter of the great Personal Ensign, Salute. While nowhere close to her dam as a racer and not her equal as a producer (Personal Ensign, in addition to her Hall of Fame racing credentials, was the 1996 Kentucky Broodmare if the Year), Salute is racking up a broodmare record that can stand among the best of Personal Ensign's daughters, and one embellished with two major wins in the last week.

Sired by 1990 American champion 3-year-old male Unbridled, Salute possessed enough talent to run second in the Demoiselle Stakes (USA-G2) and third in the Tempted Stakes (USA-G3) as a juvenile of 2004 but failed to move forward off that form at 3 and 4. Her first four foals were unmemorable, but her fifth was worth the wait. A son of Pulpit, Mr. Speaker won four graded stakes including the 2014 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (USA-G1). Now a third-crop sire at Lane's End, Mr. Speaker also shuttles to Haras Cordillera, Chile, where he was represented in May by Group 2 winner Media Mundo, a gelding from his second Southern Hemisphere crop. His best American-based runner thus far is 2020 Central Bank Ashland Stakes (USA-G1) winner Speech, a member of his first Northern Hemisphere crop.

Mr. Speaker was immediately followed by Fire Away, a 2012 son of War Front. The winner of the 2018 Dixie Stakes (USA-G3), he is now at stud in South Africa. Snap Decision was next, and Salute's youngest stakes winner is Vigilantes Way, a 2017 daughter of Medaglia d'Oro who won the 2020 Tropical Park Oaks and this year's Eatontown Stakes (USA-G3) on June 20. Salute's 2018 foal, the Uncle Mo colt Uncle Duke, has yet to win, and she had no foal in 2019 or 2020. She produced a filly by Flatter on January 24.

Salute has been unfortunate in her daughters thus far, as two of the three she produced prior to Vigilantes Way died young; the other, Prankster (2007, by Ghostzapper) was exported to Argentina in 2017 after producing three winners in the United States. Nonetheless, Salute has been a fine producer, and it is to be hoped that either Vigilantes Way or one of Prankster's two daughters will come through and continue a heritage worth saluting.

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Weekly Trivia Challenge for 6/25/2021

6/25/2021

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Three sets of brothers have participated in the Kentucky Derby as the trainer and jockey of the same horse. Who were they, and who were their Derby starters?

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Mares on Monday: Storming On

6/21/2021

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On June 20, Joan of Arc came home first in (appropriately) the Prix de Diane Longines (FR-G1), also known as the French Oaks. Her victory gave her dam You'resothrilling entry to two exclusive clubs: one composed of mares that have produced four or more Grade/Group 1 winners, and one composed of mares that have produced at least three foals capable of winning races recognized as 3-year-old Classics in a major racing nation.

Sired by Storm Cat and a winner of the 2007 Cherry Hinton Stakes (ENG-G2) in her own right, You'resothrilling has enjoyed a remarkable association with the great European sire Galileo. Aside from Joan of Arc, her foals by Galileo include 2014 Irish One Thousand Guineas (IRE-G1) winner Marvellous, and 2015 Two Thousand Guineas (ENG-G1) and Irish Two Thousand Guineas (IRE-G1) winner Gleneagles. Both are accounted Classic winners in Ireland (with Gleneagles having scored at the same level in England as well), and You'resothrilling has also produced 2017 Moyglare Stud Stakes (IRE-G1) winner Happily, Australian Group 2 winner Taj Mahal, and Grade 1-placed Irish Group 3 winner Coolmore to covers by Galileo. Her only foal to race that did not win a stakes is Vatican City (by Galileo), who ran second in the 2020 Irish Two Thousand Guineas.

Yet, as remarkable as the accomplishments of You'resothrilling have been, they are only one chapter in the book written by her dam Mariah's Storm. A multiple Grade 2 winner whose comeback from a severe leg injury at 2 inspired a major motion picture, Mariah's Storm has become one of the rare matriarchs of the breed who have impacted racing at the highest level in countries around the world.

As a daughter of Rahy from a Grade 3-winning half sister to 1975 American champion 2-year-old filly Dearly Precious, Mariah's Storm had both the pedigree and performance to be a top broodmare. Nonetheless, no one could have predicted what she has actually accomplished. She served notice with her very first foal, a handsome, muscular son of Storm Cat. Named Giant's Causeway, the "Iron Horse" of Europe was the continent's 2000 Horse of the Year and covered himself with additional glory in a hard-fought runner-up finish to 2000 American Horse of the Year Tiznow in the Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1). Three times the champion sire in the United States, Giant's Causeway is also an influential sire of broodmares.

You'resothrilling was the only other stakes winner for Mariah's Storm, but two of her stakes-placed sons by Storm Cat have also made major contributions. Given chances at stud in Chile and New York, respectively, based on Giant's Causeway's prowess, Tumblebrutus became a three-time champion sire in his adoptive country and is rising up the ranks of maternal grandsires there while Freud has been a remarkably good regional sire in New York, leading the state's sire list six times and getting a number of Grade/Group 1 winners.

Aside from You'resothrilling, Storm Cat got one other daughter from Mariah's Storm in the 2006 filly Pearling, and she too has contributed to the record of her dam by becoming the dam of multiple Group 1 winner Decorated Knight. Mariah's Storm finished her broodmare career with five consecutive fillies, and while only Love Me Only (by Galileo's sire Sadler's Wells) has come up with a stakes winner thus far (Group 2 winner Storm the Stars, by Galileo's champion half brother Sea the Stars) from this group, her four half sisters by Galileo are all receiving the best of opportunities, as are the daughters of You'resothrilling and Pearling. Given their circumstances, it seems only a matter of time before a mare of this family catches lightning in a bottle and comes up with another champion or Classic winner to keep the family of Mariah's Storm storming on.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 6/18/2021

6/18/2021

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What American Triple Crown race winner was enough of a temperament and behavior problem to draw his exasperated trainer to say, "He's already a gelding so we can't castrate him again"?

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Mares on Monday: Converging on Chaldee

6/14/2021

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On June 12, Converge broke through at the top level in the last Group1 race for juveniles of the 2000/2021 Australian racing year. Using a powerful turn of foot, the little gelding scored by over three lengths in the Treasury Brisbane J J Atkins Stakes and prompted hopes for a good season as a 3-year-old in 2021/2022.

While Converge undoubtedly gets much of his talent from his sire, the phenomenal Frankel, the contribution of his female family should not be overlooked. He is a great-great-grandson of Chaldee, not just a top Argentine matron but one of the greatest broodmares produced anywhere.

Sired by the winning Raise a Native horse Banner Sport out of Gaver (a daughter of the stakes-winning Honeyway horse Right of Way), Chaldee belonged to a family that had already produced Booz, Ruth, and Ezequiel II, all horses that won Group 1 races or races that were later rated as Group 1 after the Pattern race system was instituted in 1971. Her half sister Crown Golda (by the Hoist the Flag horse Crown Thy Good) carried on the family tradition on her own account, producing multiple Argentine Group 1 winner Tough Golda and becoming the maternal granddam of 2009/2010 Chilean champion sprinter Blue Shell and 2016 Gran Premio Gilberto Lerena (ARG-G1) winner Conviction. Another half sister to Chaldee, La Habrea (by Good Manners), is the second dam of 2005/2006 Argentine champion older female Magnetic Eyes, 2013 Gran Premio Polla de Potrancas (Argentine One Thousand Guineas, ARG-G1) winner Querida Rebeca, Argentine Group 2 winner My Golan, and Argentine Group 3 winner Maaleh.

As creditable as the records of her sisters were, Chaldee was still better. A minor stakes winner and Group 3-placed on the track, she kicked off her breeding career with multiple Argentine Group 3 winner Sun Banner (by Sundae). That was just the appetizer to the main course, however. Repeatedly bred to 1985/1986 Argentine Horse of the Year Potrillazo, Chaldee produced four Group 1-winning fillies in Potrichal, Potridee (the Argentine champion 2-year-old filly of 1991/1992), Potrinner, and Potrizaris. The last-named filly was the best of all, winning honors as the 1998/1999 Argentine champion 3-year-old filly and Mare of the Year after scoring a rare double in the 1998 Gran Premio Selección (Argentine Oaks, ARG-G1) and Gran Premio Nacional (Argentine Derby, ARG-G1).

Potrillazo stood his last stud season in 1997, but Chaldee wasn't done yet. Bred to his three-quarters brother Potrillon---himself an Argentine Horse of the Year----Chaldee came up with one more Group 1 winner in Potro Rex, winner of the 2005 Gran Premio General San Martín. That gave the grand broodmare a total of five Group 1 winners, a record equaled only by the great New Zealand-based matron Eight Carat and by Juddmonte's magnificent foundation mare Hasili.

While Chaldee's family has not bred on in a manner to match her own sterling record, it has not done at all badly, either. Bred to With Approval, Potrichal is the dam of multiple Grade 2 winner T. H. Approval, who has had some success as a sire in Brazil, while Potridee is is the second dam of 2015/2016 Argentine champion 2-year-old male Touareg, of two-time Mexican champion Vistoso, and of Grade 3 winners Endorsement and Kitty in a Tizzy. Potrizaris has also added to the family legacy as she is the dam of Group 1-placed Japanese Group 3 winner Dia de la Novia (by Sunday Silence) and the second dam of Japanese Group 2 winners Dia de la Madre and Dreadnoughtus.

Converge descends from Chaldee through Potrinner, who produced three stakes winners (including a stakes-winning hurdler). The best of the trio was the Pulpit filly Melhor Ainda, who captured the 2005 Sands Point Stakes (USA-G3). She has not been a great success as a broodmare, with only two winners thus far from seven named foals, but her Irish-bred Shamardal daughter Conversely, a non-winner from eight starts, produced Converge as her first foal. Conversely has since produced a 2019 colt by Churchill and a 2020 colt by Invader (both in Australia) and is reported in foal to Divine Prophet for a 2021 Southern Hemisphere foal.

Genetic jewels like Chaldee are rare diamonds indeed, and no one knows when or where the next one will emerge. Still, good families are always good places to look, and Chaldee's lineage may yet come up with another mare who will write her own chapter in the living book that is the Thoroughbred.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 6/11/2021

6/11/2021

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Unusual events and spectacles have been part of the Kentucky Derby experience for years, but one year's Derby Day came up wilder than usual when a stray cigarette caused a fire in the clubhouse near the first turn. Flames shot 10 feet into the air before the fire was extinguished, and post time for the Derby had to be put back by half an hour to allow the soaked section of the track to be gotten back into racing condition. In what year did the unscheduled fireworks take place, and who was that year's Derby winner?

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Mares on Monday: O'Connor Brings Honor to a Fertile Family

6/7/2021

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On June 5, O'Connor broke through to the Group level by taking the 2400-meter Gran Premio de Honor (CHI-G2) on the dirt at Hipodromo Chile. The field was short with only four entrants, but O'Connor's performance was not as he was passed by Group 1 winner Win Here in the stretch and fought back gamely to defeat his older rival by half a length. The verdict reversed the results of the Gran Premio Hipodromo de Chile (CHI-G1), in which the 7-year-old Win Here (the Chilean champion older male of 2019) nailed his 3-year-old rival in the shadow of the wire to win by a head.

Sired by 2006 Hollywood Turf Cup Handicap (USA-G1) winner Boboman (by Kingmambo), O'Connor comes from a family that has had success in both North and South America. Descended from the mare Sementera ("sowing" in Spanish), this primarily Chilean family has been going strong for half a century and shows no signs of slowing down.

Bred by Haras Curiche, Sementera (by the stakes-winning Sicambre horse Sertorius) won three of 14 starts before settling down to a productive broodmare career that saw her produce four stakes winners. The best was Semillero (by the Argentine-bred Proposal), who won the 1984 El Derby (CHI-G1) in his native land before coming to the United States, where he won the 1985 Louisiana Downs Handicap (USA-G3) and placed in two other graded stakes. Semillero's full brother Semillon also came to the United States after winning two stakes races in Chile and being Group 1-placed there but was not as successful in North America, turning in his best post-importation effort when third in the 1978 Henry P. Russell Handicap at Santa Anita.

Sementera's other stakes winners were both fillies. Siempre Supe (by Espy, a winning son of The Minstrel) won the Premio Carlos Campo (CHI-G2) and Premio Geoffrey Bushell (CHI-G3) but was not a successful broodmare. Her half sister Sembrada (by Argentine Group 3 winner El Oriental) was another story. Winner of the 1984 Selección de Potrancas (CHI-G3) and Group 1-placed during her own racing days, Sembrada produced the Chilean Group 1 winners Señora Bonita (by Stately Form) and Sacramentada.

Señora Bonita did well in the paddocks, producing the Group 1-placed Chilean Group 2 winner Se Vera (by seven-time Chilean champion sire Hussonet, a son of Mr. Prospector and American champion 3-year-old filly Sacahuista). Sacramentada did even better. A daughter of the winning Northern Dancer horse Northair, the Chilean champion older female of 1991 won two Group 1 events in Chile and the 1992 Hawthorne Handicap (USA-G2) in the United States before becoming the dam of 2007 Humana Distaff Stakes (USA-G1) winner Hystericalady (by Distorted Humor). Hystericalady, in turn, is the dam of 2018 Glen Falls Stakes (USA-G2) winner Lady Montdore (by Medaglia d'Oro) and is currently represented by the three-year-old Frosted filly Frosteria, second in this year's Santa Ynez Stakes (USA-G2).

Sacramentada also produced stakes producers Broad Picture (by Broad Brush) and Concern Nacca (by Concern) before returning to Chile in 2004. Her stakes-placed daughter Torrey Pines (by Woodman) also went to Chile that year and is the granddam of O'Connor through her winning daughter Torrente de Agua (by Touch Gold). Boding well for the continuation of this family at Haras Carioca, Torrente de Agua has two half sisters to O'Connor already in production. Her most recent foals are a Southern Hemisphere 2-year-old by the French Group 3-winning Danehill horse Caesarion, a colt named Totoi, and a yearling colt by the same horse.

Now nearly at the close of his 3-year-old season by Southern Hemisphere reckoning, O'Connor appears to be coming to hand strongly for a 4-year-old campaign and may be tracking the path of his great-granddam Sacramentada, who scored both her Group 1 wins in her 4-year-old season. If he can step up to the next level during his next season, he will bring that much more honor to a family that has earned plenty wherever it has gone.

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2021 Belmont Stakes Trivia Challenge

6/4/2021

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In honor of the "Test of the Champion," this week's trivia challenge consists of five questions related to the Belmont Stakes. Can you answer them all before post time for the Belmont?

1) What Belmont Stakes winner was the most recent to be campaigned by a member of the Belmont family?

2) What Belmont Stakes winner is named for a tourist destination known as the "Pink City?"

3) Only one Belmont Stakes in history has had an all-gray trifecta. Name the year and the top three finishers, in order.

4) Gallant Fox is famous as the only American Triple Crown winner to have sired an American Triple Crown winner, and only one other Belmont Stakes winner (Man o' War) has sired an American Triple Crown winner (War Admiral, 1937). One Belmont Stakes winner currently at stud has a Triple Crown winner to his credit, but not in the United States. Who is the Belmont winner/Triple Crown sire, and in what country did his Triple Crown winner complete the sweep?

5) Name a former United States President who has made a trophy presentation for the Belmont Stakes, and give the year in which he did so.

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