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One Hit Wonders

8/28/2016

At the moment, Arrogate is still the "buzz horse" in American racing following his spectacular Travers Stakes (USA-G1) score. Before handing him the crown of the 3-year-old division, however, it might be worth remembering a few other horses who had Pegasus-like moments but failed to sustain that level of excellence. Consider the following:

General Assembly, the horse whose stakes and track record Arrogate broke yesterday, gave a superb imitation of his sire Secretariat when he ran off with the 1979 Travers Stakes by 15 lengths (USA-G1) in 2:00 flat. Although he was a good runner, he never showed such exceptional form before or afterward and was nowhere near the class of Spectacular Bid, who defeated him easily in all four of their meetings.
Bellamy Road became the favorite for the 2005 Kentucky Derby after running off with the Wood Memorial by 17-1/2 lengths and equaling the Aqueduct track record for 9 furlongs, all while in hand. He was injured during the Run for the Roses, reinjured himself while running a game second to Flower Alley in the Travers Stakes, and was unable to make a planned comeback at 4.
Western Playboy ran away and hid from the field in the 1989 Pennsylvania Derby (USA-G2), winning by a record 17 lengths. His time of 1:47-3/5 set a stakes record that stood for 22 years, but he simply wasn't in the same class as Sunday Silence and Easy Goer and was soon forgotten outside his native Illinois even though he actually had a good race record that included an earlier win in the Blue Grass Stakes (USA-G1).
After Silky Sullivan made up 28 lengths in the final half-mile to win the Santa Anita Derby by 3-1/2 lengths with one of his come-from-the-clouds charges, he shipped to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby as one of the greatest popular favorites ever. While he was "only" the co-second choice in the wagering, more $2 win tickets were sold on Silky than on any other horse up to that time. Unfortunately, Silky spun his wheels on a muddy track and finished far back. He later fell prey to tendon trouble and never recovered his earlier form.

So...one super freaky performance from Arrogate, or a superhorse in the making? Only time will tell.

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Eclipse Watch: Arrogate Is the New Kid on the Block

8/27/2016

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The dictionary defines "arrogate" as "to take or claim something without justification." Today, Juddmonte Farms' colt Arrogate showed that he is well and truly misnamed. In a spectacular performance, he took the historic Travers Stakes (USA-G1) fair and square, simply destroying his field with sheer speed and posting the largest winning margin since General Assembly waltzed in by 15 lengths in 1979.

Adding to the impressiveness of his race, Arrogate also broke General Assembly's 37-year-old stakes and track record of 2 minutes flat, going the distance in 1:59.36---and he did it while posting an internal split of 1:10.85 for the first six furlongs. To put his feat in perspective, only two other colts have run a faster six furlongs and gone on to win the Travers. Back in 1920, the immortal Man o' War ran the legs off John P. Grier with an opening six furlongs in 1:10 flat. He finished up in 2:01-4/5, with the chart noting that he was under restraint through the stretch. (For the record, he was also carrying 129 pounds against 115 on Grier and 123 on eventual runner-up Upset.) Then in 1994, eventual Horse of the Year Holy Bull dueled rabbit Commanche Trail into defeat in 1:10-2/5 and found just enough left to stave off future Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1) winner Concern in 2:02.

It will take more than one race to stamp Arrogate as being in the same class as Holy Bull, let alone Man o' War. Talent is not enough to make a legend; it also takes consistency---which Arrogate has yet to prove against top company---and soundness, which has not been the strong suit of the progeny of Unbridled's Song. Nonetheless, if Arrogate can duplicate Holy Bull's feat of thrashing top older horses in his next outing, the rest of the 3-year-old male division had better look out: there's a new kid on the block, and he's ready to take on all comers.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/26/16

8/26/2016

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With the historic Travers Stakes (USA-G1) on tap for tomorrow, it's time for another special edition of the weekend trivia challenge. Test your knowledge and see if you can answer all five questions before post time tomorrow.

1) Who was the first horse to be awarded the Man o' War Cup as the Travers trophy?

2) What Travers Stakes winner was named for a champion Saddlebred show horse?

3) What horse holds the record as the sire of the most Travers Stakes winners, and how many did he sire?

4) This Travers Stakes winner was passed over by D. Wayne Lukas at the Keeneland July yearling sale two years earlier as being too small and plain. Ironically, he ended up in the Lukas barn anyway after being purchased by someone else and then being resold, and won the Travers for Lukas. Who was he?

5) Among the many accomplishments of this Travers Stakes winner, he was the last to set an American record for a commonly contested distance in an officially sanctioned time trial. This took place at Saratoga, at which our subject won eight stakes races all told. Who was he, and what was the record he set in his time trial?

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The One-Horse Sire

8/21/2016

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In American Thoroughbred breeding, there is Kentucky, and there is everywhere else. It is in Kentucky where the elite stallions of the breed strut their stuff in walnut-paneled stallion barns and manicured paddocks, and where the blue-blooded matriarchs of the turf come for the matings that owners hope will produce the next champion or seven-figure auction yearling.

Regional markets are something else again. Even in the largest of them---Florida, California, Louisiana and New York---US$10,000 is about as much as even the best stallions can command, and most make their names on siring state-bred winners and stakes winners. For most, this kind of blue-collar fame is as much as they will ever have; most achieve far less. Nonetheless, every time a young stallion goes to stud, owners dream that this will be the one that catches lightning in a bottle.

For Lucky Pulpit's owners, Mr. and Mrs. Larry D. Williams, the dream has come true. Its embodiment is California Chrome, who stamped himself as the best horse in the country yesterday with an effortless defeat of three-time champion Beholder. Already a dual Classic winner and the 2014 American Horse of the Year, the big chestnut now has the Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1) and a second golden Eclipse Award in his sights and is the early favorite for both. Yet how does one evaluate the career of a horse who has sired such a champion, and virtually nothing else?

Granted, "nothing else" is a relative term. Lucky Pulpit has 126 winners besides Chrome, and the vast majority of those runners are eligible for state-bred bonuses that can pad their connections' bottom lines. That is hardly "nothing" to an owner who has such a winner in his stable. Further, Lucky Pulpit has not yet had the chance to show whether he can benefit by his son's success. The foals from the 63 mares sent to his court in 2015, his first book following Chrome's first championship season, were only born this spring; they will not come to the races until 2018. Still, the fact remains that of Lucky Pulpit's 246 named foals aged 3 and up, only two besides Chrome have won a black-type stakes and neither has been remotely close to Chrome in ability.

Of course, precious few other horses sired by any other North American stallion in the last few years have been remotely close to Chrome in ability either, and most of that handful have been sired by horses getting far better opportunities than Lucky Pulpit. Perhaps the lightning will never strike for him again, but if so, getting one great horse is more than most stallions do in a lifetime, and more than enough to make him worth remembering.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/19/16

8/19/2016

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Named for a popular English movie, this champion of yesteryear in turn became the namesake for a popular board game. Name him.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/12/16

8/12/2016

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This Broodmare of the Year got off to a most inauspicious start in her breeding career, as she was so unmanageable on the farm that she could not be safely covered. She was returned to training and eventually became a stakes winner in spite of her terrible temper. The second phase of her broodmare career was not much longer than the first as she ended up producing only three foals, earning her Broodmare of the Year title on quality rather than quantity. Name her.

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Answer to Weekend Trivia Challenge of 8/5/16

8/8/2016

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Looks like a stumper this week. The correct answer is T. V. Lark, the American champion turf horse of 1961 and the first California-bred to lead the American general sire list. At the time he bred and raised T. V. Lark. Dr. Walter Lucas had only a half-acre of land for Miss Larksfly and her colt, making him a “backyard breeder” in truth. A few years later, Lucas moved his breeding operations to the much larger Land O' Lark Farm—all of 15 acres.

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Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/5/16

8/5/2016

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Backyard breeders everywhere can take heart from the tale of this champion, who was literally raised in his breeder's half-acre back lot. The colt raised in these unlikely circumstances became a champion both on the racetrack and in the stud, in the process becoming the first horse from his home state to lead the American general sire list. At the time of his retirement, he was also the top racetrack earner among former sales yearlings. Name him.

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One Hit Wonders

Eclipse Watch: Arrogate Is the New Kid on the Block

Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/26/16

The One-Horse Sire

Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/19/16

Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/12/16

Answer to Weekend Trivia Challenge of 8/5/16

Weekend Trivia Challenge for 8/5/16

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