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Mares on Monday: Olive Says Goodnight to Ballerina Rivals

8/29/2022

Some debutantes seem to know instinctively how to make a grand entrance. So it was for Goodnight Olive, who made an ambitious stakes debut in the Ballerina Stakes (USA-G1) on August 28. Her six rivals included last year's American champion female sprinter, Ce Ce; Grade 1 winners Bella Sofia and Obligatory; and three other graded stakes winners, but it mattered not at all to the daughter of Ghostzapper, who grabbed the lead at the top of the stretch and powered home without any serious challenges from there. Stopping the timer in a sold 1:21.40 for the 7 furlongs, she lifted her lifetime race record to 6-5-1-0, added US$275,000 to her bankroll, and clinched a "Win and You're In" slot for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (USA-G1).

Like her sire, Goodnight Olive has not been the easiest horse to keep sound (she has raced only three times each at three and four), but there is no questioning her talent when she is healthy and fit. Assuming she does not start again prior to the Breeders' Cup, she will carry a five-race winning streak into the big race, having suffered her only loss in her first outing.

Goodnight Olive traces back to 1974 Kentucky Broodmare of the Yeare Cosmah through her daughter Cosmiah. Sired by the excellent speed sire Olympia, Cosmiah never got the chance to see if she might have talent comparable to her champion half sister Tosmah (by Tim Tam) or her Grade 1-winning half brother Halo (by Hail to Reason). She spent half her stud career being bred to stallions who were good runners but bad sires and did not particularly distinguish herself when she did have better opportunities, though her fourth foal, her Nearctic daughter Fancy Jet, did produce stakes winners Bird of Courage (by Great Career) and Laura's Jet (by Wajima).

Muriesk, Cosmiah's eighth and final foal, was her only stakes winner, winning a division of the Athena Stakes at River Downs and placing in five other similarly modest stakes events at Fairmount Park and Ellis Park. The daughter of Nashua had a broodmare career of similarly modest success, producing the minor stakes winner Border Cat (by Storm Cat) and stakes-placed Hurricane Cat (by Storm Cat).

Muriesk's unraced Lyphard daughter My Rainbow did not have even that much to commend her, producing six winners from nine runners but no stakes winners. She made up for that with three stakes producers among her daughters: Pacific City (by Carson City), dam of Japanese Group 3 winner Eishin Lombard (by Victory Gallop); Just One Rainbow (by Corporate Report), dam of multiple Minnesota-bred stakes winner Bella Notte (by Quick Cut); and Lake Huron, dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Salty Strike (by Smart Strike) and listed stakes winner Salty Response (by Cozzene). Salty Strike, in turn, is the dam of Goodnight Olive and the winner Smile More (by Tiznow), now a young broodmare. Unfortunately, Salty Strike died in 2019 after producing Halfmoon, a 3-year-old Malibu Moon colt who has been unplaced in three tries, but Smile More has produced the unraced 2-year-old Gun Runner filly Lexa, a 2021 colt by Mitole, and a 2022 colt by Frosted. Salty Strike also produced the unraced Medaglia d'Oro mare Katie's Keepsake, who most recently produced a 2022 colt by Tiz the Law.

Ghostzapper's progeny tend to improve with maturity, so if Goodnight Olive can stay healthy, she is if anything likely to move forward between now and Keeneland. In the meantime, she is a nice development in the female sprint division and may have injected new life into a lesser branch of a notable female family.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/26/2022

8/26/2022

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This top jockey set something of a record for frustration with 41 consecutive losses in Breeders' Cup races before he finally came through with a winner. Who was the jockey, and on what horse did he make his breakthrough?

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Mares on Monday: Spendarella Makes It to the Ball

8/22/2022

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On a weekend in which top performances by top 3-year-old fillies made the headlines, Spendarella joined the short list of North America's top sophomore distaffers with a powerful victory in the Del Mar Oaks (USA-G1). The win was her third in a graded stakes and her first at the Grade/Group 1 level, following an impressive performance at Royal Ascot. She did not win the Coronation Stakes (ENG-G1) there, running second to Inspiral, but Inspiral has since stamped herself as something very special with a good second against older fillies and mares in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes (ENG-G1) and a victory against males in the Prix du Haras de Fresnay Le Buffard Jacques Le Marois (FR-G1). That Spendarella has accomplished what she has while shipping back and forth across the Atlantic and across the North American continent says something for the Karakontie filly's adaptability and attitude as well as her speed and talent.

Spendarella's dam Spanish Bunny has established herself as a very good broodmare indeed, having previously produced 2015 American Oaks (USA-G1) winner Spanish Queen (by Tribal Rule), now a broodmare in Japan. She is also the dam of Spendarella's full sister Spanish Loveaffair, winner of last year's Pebbles Stakes (USA-L) and Grade 2-placed. Spanish Bunny's most recent foals are the unraced 2020 Destin filly Spanish Destiny and a 2022 colt by Uncle Mo.

Spanish Bunny herself won only one of her 20 starts, but her sire Unusual Heat made quite a name for himself as a regional sire in California. A multiple stakes winner in Ireland, the son of Nureyev and the Danish champion Rossard led the California state sire list six consecutive times and gained particular note for his grass runners, which include Grade 1 winners Acclamation, The Usual Q. T., and Unusual Suspect.

None of Spanish Bunny's siblings achieved anything of particular note, but she has some good bloodlines in back of her. Her dam Spanish Beam, a half sister to multiple Puerto Rican stakes winner Denuncia (by Royal Merlot; dam of 2014 Puerto Rican champion 2-year-old male Unificador, by Harbor Master), is a winning daughter of multiple English and Irish champion El Gran Senor out of the winning Majestic Light mare Solar Beam. Solar Beam, in turn, is out of the winning Roberto mare Sunerta, a half sister to four stakes winners including 1983 American champion older male Bates Motel (by Sir Ivor) and 1986 San Antonio Handicap (USA-G1) winner Hatim (by Exclusive Native). Their dam Sunday Purchase (by T. V. Lark) is out of Dame Fritchie (by Count of Honor) and, thus, a half sister to another four stakes winners including 1971 Hopeful Stakes winner Rest Your Case (by Traffic Judge).

At this point, Spendarella seems unlikely to cross swords with her fellow headline makers, as dominant Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) winner and near-certain American champion 3-year-old filly Nest appears to be headed to the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (USA-G1), with or without a tilt at older dirt fillies and mares before then, while runaway Queen's Plate winner Moira may be headed next to the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie in an attempt to take the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown; if she goes there and succeeds, the Breeders' Stakes and a sweep of the triple will be her next target. Spendarella's next move is less clear-cut; the Graham Motion trainee could challenge older turf fillies and mares in her next race, or she could point toward the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (USA-G1) Presented by Dixiana at the Keeneland fall meeting. Regardless, her glass slipper seems to be fitting well, and it can be hoped that midnight doesn't strike too soon on her racing career.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/19/2022

8/19/2022

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What American champion filly survived the death of her dam, a near-death experience of her own, resuscitation, and being raised by a nurse mare before becoming a top racehorse?

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Mares on Monday: No Drama for Lady Speightspeare in Trillium

8/15/2022

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Although primarily known as a turf runner, Lady Speightspeare is showing plenty of prowess on Woodbine's synthetic surface as well. The winner of the Bessarabian Stakes (CAN-G2) on the Woodbine main track last year, the chestnut 4-year-old added a second synthetic score and her second graded stakes of 2022 in the Trillium Stakes (CAN-G3) on August 13. Always going well in the race while tracking a slow early pace, Lady Speightspeare had no difficulty putting away her rivals down the stretch to win by a length and a quarter.

The winner of the Natalma Stakes (CAN-G1) at 2, when she was Canada's champion juvenile filly, Lady Speightspeare is a descendant of Heatherglow, an unraced daughter of The Axe II x Brilliantly, by Hill Prince. As a broodmare prospect, Heatherglow's primary attraction was her pedigree: She is a direct female-line descendant of La Troienne through the important matrons Baby League, Striking, and Glamour, and is inbred 4x5 to the great matriarch. She is also 3x5 to Blenheim II and 4x5 to another great foundation mare, Mumtaz Mahal, through the three-quarters siblings Mahmoud (sire of The Axe II) and Mumtaz Begum (dam of Glamour's sire Nasrullah).

For all of her regal heritage, Heatherglow was solid but unspectacular as a broodmare, perhaps in part because she spent half her breeding career being put to sires that were no more than second-tier. While she produced nine winners from 11 named foals, her only black-type runner was Canonization, whose sire Native Heritage (by Raise a Native) won a modest stakes as a juvenile. Third in a minor stakes at Hollywood as a 4-year-old, Canonization represented an outcross away from her dam's inbreeding, though her pedigree sports a 5x5 cross to Blue Larkspur.

After producing three undistinguished winners for her owner-breeder, Harbor View Farm, Canonization was sent to the 1985 Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale in foal to Native Royalty, changing hands for US$20,000. The foal she was carrying, Host of Royalty, was also nothing special, and her new owner, Irish Acres Farm, sent the mare to two-time Washington Park Handicap (USA-G3) winner That's a Nice to produce a foal for the Illinois-bred program.

That foal turned out to be more than anyone could have reasonably expected. Named Lady Shirl, she became an Illinois-bred restricted stakes winner at 3 in the Anita Peabody Handicap at Arlington Park and then blossomed at 4 to win six stakes events, three of them graded. Her biggest win was in the 1991 Flower Bowl Handicap (USA-G1). She won two more listed stakes as a 5-year-old and at 6 scored her last stakes win by taking her third edition of the Anita Peabody, which she had also won at 4. She retired after four starts at age 7 with 18 wins and 12 placings from 41 starts and earnings of US$951.523.

While Lady Shirl was a Grade 1 winner, she was not a picture horse and had an offbeat pedigree. She may also have been stigmatized by the myth that hard-raced mares make poor broodmares, as she was a US$190,000 RNA from the 1995 Keeneland January sale. By the time of the 1998 Keeneland November sale, her perceived value (plus that of an unborn foal by Victory Speech) had declined to US$110,000, and at the 2000 Keeneland November sale, she changed hands again for US$90,000, this while in foal to Theatrical. Five years later, she went through Keeneland November once more, again in foal to Theatrical, and went for US$485,000 in spite of the fact that she was 18 years old. The reason for her marked upswing in price was her 2001 Theatrical colt. Named Shakespeare, he won the 2005 Joe Hirsch Invitational Turf Classic Stakes (USA-G1) and Belmont Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G2) before disappointing badly in the 2005 Breeders' Cup Turf (USA-G1), the only race of his career that he did not win. He later added the 2007 Woodbine Mile Stakes (CAN-G1) to his trophy case before retiring to a disappointing stud career.

Charles Fipke, never shy about making unorthodox moves in his breeding program, was Lady Shirl's buyer on her last trip through the sale ring, and the following spring, she produced Shakespeare's full sister Lady Shakespeare. Winner of the listed Ontario Colleen Stakes at 3, she improved from 3 to 4 as her dam and brother had and won the 2010 New York Stakes (USA-G2) and Grey Goose Bewitch Stakes (USA-G3). She was succeeded by her year-younger half-sister Perfect Shirl, the result of a mating between Lady Shirl and Fipke's homebred Canadian champion turf horse, 2003 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (USA-G1) winner Perfect Soul (by Sadler's Wells). All Perfect Shirl did was win the 2010 Lake George Stakes (USA-G2) at 3 and then upset the 2011 Emirate Airlines Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (USA-G1) at 27-1 odds.

Both Perfect Shirl and Lady Shakespeare are now Grade 1 producers, with Perfect Shirl having produced 2021 Maker's Mark Mile Stakes (USA-G1) winner Shirl's Speight to a cover by Speightstown. Lady Speightspeare is very similarly bred as she is Speightstown's daughter from Lady Shakespeare, now the dam of four winners. Lady Shakespeare's most recent foals are Ready Shakespeare, an unraced 2-year-old colt by More Than Ready, and a 2021 filly by Bee Jersey. Her most recent mating was to Perfect Soul for a 2023 foal.

Young mares generally carry a premium in the sale ring, but it is worth noting that Lady Shirl produced her graded stakes-winning offspring when she was 14, 19, and 20, as well as throwing restricted stakes winner Fantastic Shirl (by Fantastic Light) when she was 16. From Canonization onward, though, this has been a family that has generally shown its best with maturity. If that pattern holds true with Lady Speightspeare, look for her to add further graded races and perhaps another Canadian championship to her record before she attempts to emulate the feats of her granddam, dam, and "aunt" in the paddocks.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/12/2022

8/12/2022

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What mare produced two daughters that each set a world record at the same track?

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Mares on Monday: Cee's Song Still Playing Through Cabo Spirit

8/8/2022

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Cabo Spirit has shown talent since being purchased for US$575,000 from the 2021 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-year-olds in training, but he has also shown that he can be his own worst enemy, leading to his becoming a gelding. The removal of hormone-induced distractions may have been just what he needed as a racehorse. The La Jolla Handicap (USA-G3) was his first outing since his surgery, and though he trailed early, he was never far out of it. When asked coming into the far turn, he quickened nicely and, though fanned four wide on the turn, had enough in the tank to win a three-way stretch duel by half a length from Perfect Flight.

Sired by the late Pioneerof the Nile, Cabo Spirit is a great-grandson of Cee's Song, a blue hen mare whose pedigree and racing performance hardly screamed "blue hen." A daughter of Seattle Song, who won the 1983 Prix de la Salamandre (FR-G1) and 1984 Washington, D. C., International (USA-G1) but was only a modest success at stud, she came from a female line that was still producing a scattering of stakes winners but had not produced a top-class horse since 1961 American co-champion 2-year-old male Crimson Satan. Cee's Song had some ability, finishing in the money in 12 of her 18 starts (including eight seconds), but she won only once, perhaps suggesting a reluctance to leave the safety of the herd.

Retired to the paddocks in California, Cee's Song was repeatedly bred to the Relaunch horse Cee's Tizzy, whose best racing performance from six starts was a third in the 1990 Super Derby (USA-G1). Those matings produced nine foals, of which four became stakes winners. The best of the group was Tiznow, the 2000 American Horse of the Year and the only two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1). His older brother Budroyale was a multiple Grade 2 winner and narrowly missed becoming half of the only full-sibling pair to win the Classic when he ran a game second to Cat Thief in the 1999 edition. A younger brother, Tizbud, was plagued by shin problems but won the 2003 California Cup Classic Handicap as a 4-year-old and was Grade 2-placed.

Tizdubai was the only filly among Cee's Song's four stakes winners by Cee's Tizzy, and while she won the 2003 Sorrento Stakes (USA-G2), her racing career was curtailed by a hock injury after only four starts. As a broodmare, she has been overshadowed by her unplaced older full sister Tizso, dam of 2012 Haskell Invitational Stakes (USA-G1) winner Paynter (by Awesome Again), 2008 Cinema Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G3) winner Tiz West (by Gone West), and listed stakes winner Tizakitty (by Distinctive Cat). Tizdubai's younger full sister Tizamazing never raced but also became a Grade 1 producer, coming up with 2013 Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) winner Oxbow and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Awesome Patriot to covers by Awesome Again. A third full sister, the winner Balboa Betty, is the second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Bettys Bambino (by Unusual Heat), and Tizdubai's Storm Cat half sister You're Beautiful is the second dam of 2021 Remington Park Oaks (USA-G3) winner Lady Mystify (by Bernardini).

In spite of being bred to a series of high-quality stallions, Tizdubai failed to come up with a stakes winner in any major racing nation, though her son Madinat Jumeirah (by Bernardini) became a champion in Bahrain. There is some hope that her disappointing broodmare career will be redeemed by her daughters, however. Her 2014 Shamardal daughter Fancy Day produced multiple stakes-placed Convention (by Constitution) before coming up with Cabo Spirit as her second foal, and her Storm Cat daughter Genisa is the dam of restricted stakes winner Five Star Rampage (by Quality Road) as well as two stakes-placed runners in Japan. Both Tizdubai and Fancy Day still have foals in the pipeline; the former has most recently produced a 2020 filly by Maclean's Music and a 2021 filly by Street Boss, while the latter is the dam of Blame Day (a 2020 filly by Blame), a 2021 filly by Yoshida, and a 2022 colt by War of Will.

Cee's Song must await the completed production records of more of her granddaughters before a feeling for her long-term importance (aside from her status as the dam of Tiznow, a successful sire) emerges, but her record does raise the question of what might have happened had she been kept to matings with Cee's Tizzy after her sale for US$2.6 million from Cecilia Straub-Rubens's estate at the 2001 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She produced three foals by Storm Cat in 2003-2005 and one by Giant's Causeway in 2006 after that, certainly a big step up in equine fashion, but the magic wasn't there and none except the aforementioned You're Beautiful has achieved any distinction. Perhaps she was just getting old---her produce record concludes with a dead foal in 2008 and barren years in 2009 and 2010---but perhaps her story may serve as a cautionary tale, too: When you have a winning formula, tinker with it at your own risk.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/5/2022

8/5/2022

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What former United States President made the trophy presentation for one of the Triple Crown races, and what horse was the recipient of this honor?

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Mares on Monday: Shahama Dances to Monmouth Oaks Win

8/1/2022

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After sweeping both of the United Arab Emirates' filly Classics at Meydan Racetrack earlier this spring, Shahama crossed the Atlantic in a bid to become the first filly to take the Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) after going through her winter and spring preparations in Dubai. She was unsuccessful, finishing sixth, but after a second-place finish behind up-and-coming Gerrymander in the Mother Goose Stakes (USA-G2) on June 25, she came through on July 31 with a professional score in the Monmouth Oaks (USA-G3). After pressing the pace of Grade 1 winner Juju's Map early, the Munnings filly quickened in a matter of strides to take the lead coming off the far turn. After that, she was never threatened and finished two and a half lengths clear of Shotgun Hottie's belated bid. Shahama completed the mile and one-sixteenth on a fast track in a brisk 1:41.54.

Shahama is a great-great-granddaughter of Sleek Dancer, an unraced Northern Dancer mare whose younger half brother Pleasant Brook (by Intentionally) was a minor stakes winner as a 7-year-old. By that time, Sleek Dancer was already well into what proved a highly successful broodmare career. Her son Northern Prospect (by Mr. Prospector) won three sprint stakes at 3 before becoming a useful sire of speed, and her daughter Sue Babe (also by Mr. Prospector) won two juvenile stakes and was second in the 1980 Sorority Stakes (USA-G1) before producing 1987 Budweiser Irish Derby (IRE-G1) winner Sir Harry Lewis (by Alleged), Grade 1-placed multiple restricted stakes winner Sir Richard Lewis (by Carr de Naskra), and Grade 2-placed restricted stakes winner Cyrano (by Seattle Slew). Sue Babe is also the second dam of Grade 1-placed Grade 3 winner Champagneforashley (by Track Barron).

Sleek Dancer's daughter Sleek Belle (by Vaguely Noble) never made it to the track but is the dam of 1984 Pucker Up Stakes (USA-G3) winner Witwatersrand (by Mr. Prospector) and stakes winners Sleek Gold (by Mr. Prospector), Chic Belle (by Mr. Prospector), and Sleek Feet (by Seattle Slew). She is also the second dam of five stakes winners including 1994 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) winner Chokai Carol (by Brian's Time) and 1994 Ark-La-Tex Handicap (USA-G3) winner Nelson (by Seattle Slew). Another daughter of Sleek Dancer, Babes Sis (by Raise a Native), is the second dam of 2000 Ramona Handicap (USA-G1) winner Caffe Latte (by Seattle Dancer).

Sharp Belle (by Native Charger) was Sleek Dancer's best performer on the track, winning the 1978 Monmouth Oaks (USA-G1) but produced no stakes winners, although her eight winners from nine foals included two stakes-placed performers. The most important of her foals is Regal Feeling (by Clever Trick), runner-up in the Bay Meadows Lassie Stakes (USA-L) at 2 and dam of 1995 Pucker Up Stakes (USA-G3) winner Grand Charmer (by Lord Avie), who in turn is the second dam of 2006 American champion 3-year-old filly Wait a While (by Maria's Mon). Regal Feeling is also the dam of the winning Belong to Me mare Private Feeling, dam of two-time American champion Lookin At Lucky (by Smart Strike), multiple Grade 2 winner Kensei (by Mr. Greeley), and Shahama. Still in production at age 23, Private Feeling produced a Catalina Cruiser colt in 2021 and was most recently bred to Tom's d'Etat.

Although Shahama has some catching up to do if she is to come anywhere close to the records of her elder brothers, her current status as a beautifully bred multiple Grade/Group 3 winner will be more than enough to grant her access to top sires when her time comes to retire to the breeding shed. In the meantime, she has now proven her ability to handle good North American competition, and one can hope that she will be seen dancing at least a few more dances in good company before she goes to the paddocks.

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