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Mares on Monday: A Fairy Tale for Red Riding Hood and Anne Campbell

8/28/2023

After some frustrations earlier in her career, Justify’s Irish-bred daughter Red Riding Hood put it together in The Curragh’s Snow Fairy Stakes (IRE-G3) on Saturday, winning her second lifetime start in nine tries and picking up her first Group stakes win. In a bit of family rivalry, the Aidan O’Brien trainee was overhauled in the stretch by American Sonja, a Tasleet filly ridden by Joseph O’Brien, but fought back bravely to take the 9-furlong contest by a neck.

Red Riding Hood is the latest stakes winner from the family of 1999 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Anne Campbell. One of four stakes winners produced from the Tatán mare Repercussion, Anne Campbell produced two high-class sons in Desert Wine (by Damascus), a three-time Grade 1 winner as a 4-year-old, and Menifee (by Harlan), who was a two-time Grade 1 winner and runner-up in both the Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) and the Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) before earning the title of the “Sunday Silence of Korea” after enjoying an exceptional stud career in that country, In between, Anne Campbell produced listed stakes winner Arsaan (by Nureyev), who produced multiple Chilean Group 2 winner Rock Star Show (by Lear Fan) and is the second dam of 2013 Majorca Stakes (SAF-G1) winner Blueridge Mountain (by Giant’s Causeway).

Anne Campbell produced six daughters all told, and two besides Arsaan numbered stakes winners among their foals. The elder, the unraced Elocutionist mare Dame Sybil, produced multiple Grade 2 winner Alannan (by Conquistador Cielo) and stakes winners Princess Sybil (by Cormorant) and Never Speaking (by Foolish Pleasure); she is also the second dam of the two-time English Group 1-winning sprinter Les Arcs (by Arch). The other is Mr. P’s Princess, likewise unraced but the dam of 1999 European champion 2-year-old male Fasliyev (by Nureyev) and 2006 Leopardstown One Thousand Guineas Trial Stakes (IRE-G3) winner Kamarinskaya (by Storm Cat).

Kamarinskaya proved disappointing as a broodmare, but her two full sisters have fared better despite showing less on the race course. One, Empress of France, won two of 10 starts and is the second dam of 2023 New York Stakes (USA-G1) winner Marketsegmentation (by American Pharoah). The other, Butterfly Cove, never raced but has done still better, producing 2010 European champion 2-year-old filly Misty for Me, 2015 Prix Marcel Boussac-Criterium des Pouliches (FR-G1) winner Ballydoyle, and 2012 Hurry Harriet Stakes (IRE-L) winner Twirl, all by Galileo. Ballydoyle, in turn, produced 2020 Ingabelle Stakes (ENG-L) winner Monday as her first foal and Red Riding Hood as her third, and Misty for Me is the dam of 2017 European champion 2-year-old male U S Navy Flag (by War Front), multiple Group 1 winner Roly Poly (by War Front), and 2016 Autumn Miss Stakes (USA-G3) winner Cover Song (by Fastnet Rock).

How much further Red Riding Hood will progress is open to question, though O’Brien has tentatively penciled in the Blandford Stakes (IRE-G2) as a possible next step for her. In the meantime, Ballydoyle has a 2021 Fastnet Rock filly, Velvet, and a unnamed filly by Dubawi waiting in the wings, so it does not seem that this branch of Anne Campbell’s family will be wanting for potential stars any time soon.

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Mares on Monday: Randomized Provides More Questions Than Answers in Alabama Stakes

8/21/2023

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Saratoga has not been kind to the leaders of the 3-year-old filly division. While Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) and Acorn Stakes (USA-G1) winner Pretty Mischievous remains the pro tem star of her class, her luster was diminished by the outcome of the Test Stakes (USA-G1), in which she inherited the win following the tragic breakdown of clear leader Maple Leaf Mel. Wet Paint, who ran fourth at Churchill Downs after sweeping through Oaklawn Park’s series of Oaks preps, regained some of her stature by winning the Coaching Club American Oaks (USA-G1), but on August 19, she missed her chance at the top spot among sophomore misses when lightly raced Randomized, previously unplaced behind Pretty Mischievous in the Acorn, went gate to wire in the Alabama Stakes Presented by Keeneland Sales (USA-G1).

Like Wet Paint, Randomized had previously won a stakes race during the Saratoga meeting, but her victory came in the restricted Winton Stakes at a flat mile on July 14. Nonetheless, the Winton was a fair warning of what Wet Paint might be facing, as Randomized used the same strategy that had gained her maiden victory at Aqueduct and went for the lead immediately. In the Alabama, Randomized was able to settle into a strong cruising speed early, forcing Wet Paint to play catch-up. Although the final quarter was run in an uninspiring :25.90, Wet Paint was unable to find the finishing kick to cut into Randomized’s margin, leaving the Klaravich Stables filly with a visually impressive win.

Whether Randomized is capable of staying a mile and a quarter when she does not get things her own way is a moot point, and one that will not be determined this year as there are no further tests in the 3-year-old filly division over that distance. As a daughter of 2016 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (USA-G1) winner Nyquist, there was certainly reason to think even before the race that she might be able to stay out the Alabama distance. Nonetheless, her female family does raise some questions as to how long a trip Randomized really wants if she cannot grab an easy lead.

Randomized is from the family of Tiy, which has made previous appearances in “Mares on Monday” via 2019 Fourstardave Stakes (USA-G1) heroine Get Stormy (“Tiy’s Family Storms to New Heights,” August 12, 2019) and 2020 Lecomte Stakes (USA-G3) winner Enforceable (“Rising Star for a Rising Family,” January 20, 2020); Tiy’s family is also responsible for 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly Turf (USA-G1) winner Sharing. This is a family that has tended toward sprinters and milers, although it has shown some flexibility when its members have been put to staying sires. As a sire, Nyquist has an average winning distance of 7.14 furlongs and an average maximum winning distance of 7.34 furlongs, indicating that his progeny are showing somewhat more staying ability than average in the American population, but most of his runners appear to be most effective at about a mile.

French Passport, the dam of Randomized, contributes to an ambiguous picture of Randomized’s true distance proclivities. She never raced but is a half sister to Ohio Derby (USA-G2) winner Smooth Air (by Smooth Jazz) and 2011 Sanford Stakes (USA-G2) winner Overdriven. Sired by Elusive Quality—himself an extremely fast miler but sire of a couple of top mile-and-a-quarter horses in Smarty Jones and Raven’s Pass—she has produced one other winner, the Shackleford filly Prarie Dress, who scored her only win over a half-mile. Randomized’s 2021 half brother by Justify, Marginal Cost, has yet to run, and French Passport has since produced a 2022 filly by Frosted and a 2023 filly by Maxfield.

French Passport was produced by the winner Air France, who was never tried beyond sprint distances; Air France’s sire, French Deputy, scored his biggest win in the one-mile Jerome Handicap (USA-G2). The next dam in the tail-female line, Twin Propeller, was sired by the miler Known Fact and scored both her stakes successes in sprints, also the metier of her Grade 2-winning half sister Penny’s Reshoot (by Turkey Shoot) and her stakes-winning half brother by Strike Gold, Daimon. Of the four stakes winners produced by Ahpo Hel (Mr. Leader x Tiy), only Hope Rises (by Mr. Greeley) took down a stakes win at more than a mile, winning the 2004 Santa Lucia Handicap over 8.5 furlongs.

Randomized is unlikely to face any longer test than the 9 furlongs of the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1) during the remainder of the season, and based on what she has shown so far, her success there may be less dependent on staying ability and more on her ability to make effective use of her preferred front-running style. Still, she is an interesting new face in the 3-year-old filly division, and the fall races are likely to tell the story as to whether she earns a championship or sees the crown go to one of the stars of the spring.

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Mares on Monday: Hot Beach Turns Up the Heat at Ellis Park

8/14/2023

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Summer is the time for first-crop juveniles to turn up the heat for their sires. While fans enjoy seeing their old favorites’ babies beginning to show their stuff, stallion managers, consignors, and pinhookers watch with increasing anxiety for those make-or-break runners that may be the difference between a stallion being “hot” next spring and being on a path to oblivion, along with the youngsters sired in the “bubble” second and third crops.

Most of the attention at this time of year gets focused on Saratoga and Del Mar, the places that have historically showcased high-end East Coast and West Coast babies, respectively. Omaha Beach, though, just established a beachhead well away from the coasts. Her name is Hot Beach, and on Sunday, she became the seventh winner and first stakes winner for her sire in the Ellis Park Debutante Stakes. Trained by Brian Lynch for Boardshorts Stable, the dark bay or brown filly scored a solid two-length victory in the 7-furlong race after finishing second in her debut over 5 furlongs at the same track.

Adding interest to her triumph, Hot Beach is a great-granddaughter of 2001 American champion 3-year-old filly Xtra Heat. An extraordinarily consistent sprinter who overcame a middling pedigree, small size, and stifle lesions to become a champion, Xtra Heat was a better racer than broodmare, with two minor stakes winners to her credit. Nonetheless, her family has persisted through her best racing daughter, Elusive Heat.

A US$750,000 purchase from the 2008 Fasig-Tipton February sale of 2-year-olds in training, Elusive Heat was stalked by a misfortune and lasted only long enough to make four starts on the racetrack. A winner in her only start at 2, a maiden race at Gulfstream, she followed up in a Gulfstream allowance in January 2009. She then disappeared for seven months, suggesting the emergence of a physical issue. Brought back out at that summer’s Saratoga meeting, she secured black type by winning the restricted Geyser Spring Stakes, racking up gaudy speed figures of 114 from Equibase and 110 from BRIS. Four months later, she made her final start, dropping a nose decision to Gemswyck Park in the Old Hat Stakes (USA-G3) at Gulfstream. Her broodmare career was equally brief as she produced only one foal, the 2011 Medaglia d’Oro filly Hot Water, who never raced.

Hot Water’s broodmare career has helped make up for the disappointments of her dam’s racing and breeding histories, as Hot Beach is her sixth winner and fourth stakes winner from seven named foals. Her previous stakes winners are the 2016 Street Sense gelding Tracksmith, who won the 2019 Frisk Me Now Stakes at Monmouth and ran third in that year’s Commonwealth Turf Stakes (USA-G3); the 2018 Nyquist colt Scalding, winner of the 2022 Ben Ali Stakes (USA-G3) and $100,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes (USA-G3); and the 2019 Speightster filly Hot and Sultry, winner of this year’s American Beauty Stakes (USA-L) and third in the Apple Blossom Handicap (USA-G1). Hot Water had no foal in 2022 and produced a Charlatan filly this spring before visiting Life Is Good.

The downside of this pedigree is that Hot Water appears to have passed along some of the issues inherited from her fragile dam; of her previous foals, only Tracksmith has managed more than eight starts, and he made only 11 in a career spanning three seasons. That does not bode well for Hot Beach’s durability. Nonetheless, she should be interesting to keep an eye on, and if she has inherited Xtra Heat’s soundness as well as a measure of her talent, she may be stepping up to bigger things as the season progresses.

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Mares on Monday: Requiem

8/7/2023

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Sometimes fairy tales don’t come true. Ten strides away from the finish line in the Test Stakes (USA-G1) at Saratoga, unbeaten Maple Leaf Mel was Cinderella at the ball, waltzing toward her first top-level win with pro tem leading 3-year-old filly Pretty Mischievous in her wake. Seconds later, the clock struck midnight. A broken right foreleg sent Maple Leaf Mel spilling to the track in the shadow of the finish line, and Pretty Mischievous sped by to claim a hollow win. Moments later, a veterinarian’s merciful needle ended a story turned nightmare.

The human story goes on. Trainer Melanie Giddings, the namesake for the filly, still gets up in the morning; she has seven other horses to train. The empty stall where her beloved Mel was is marked by the blanket of white carnations intended for the Test Stakes winner, which in a happier ending would have been draped across the filly’s withers in triumph. Instead, it became a final tribute, offered by Pretty Mischievous’s trainer, Brendan Walsh, in honor of both the victory that should have been and the grief of his fellow trainer.

Unfortunately, the bloodlines Maple Leaf Mel embodied will not go on. Had tragedy not intervened, the filly would have become the third Grade 1 winner for her sire, the Unbridled’s Song horse Cross Traffic, who earlier this year was represented by Ashland Stakes winner Defining Purpose. The winner of the 2013 Whitney Stakes (USA-G1) at Saratoga, he begot Maple Leaf Mel from one of the mares presented to him in the spring following the championship season of his first Grade 1 winner, 2018 American champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk. The mare in question, City Gift (owned by Joe Fafone), had produced two previous winners, including restricted stakes-placed Eddie’s Gift (by El Corredor). Following the birth of Maple Leaf Mel, City Gift was sold on for US$4,000 through the 2021 Keeneland January mixed sale and has no further issue recorded since producing the Brody’s Cause colt she was carrying at the time of her sale.

A winner of two of her five starts, City Gift was sired by City Place, an unraced son of Storm Cat and 1997 Ashland Stakes (USA-G1) winner Glitter Woman, and was one of eight winners produced from For My Wife, a winning daughter of perennial leading Maryland sire Not for Love (by Mr. Prospector). A closely inbred mare, For My Wife was produced from unraced Heavens to Betsy, whose sire Miswaki (by Mr. Prospector) was a Group 1 winner as a juvenile in France before becoming a good sire and broodmare sire.

Produced from Group 3-placed Irish listed stakes winner Heaven’s Nook (by Great Above), Heavens to Betsy is a half sister to 1997 Gulfstream Park Breeders’ Cup Sprint Championship Handicap (USA-G3) winner Frisco (by Mt. Livermore) and to stakes winner Cherokee Heaven (by Cherokee Run). She is also a half sister to Please Me Please (by Hazaam), dam of 2009 Venezuelan champion 2-year-old male Rio Matiyure (by Chayim). Nonetheless, this female line has not come up with a horse of the apparent class of Maple Leaf Mel since the filly’s seventh dam, Dotted Line, a five-time stakes winner who had the temerity to take the first division of the 1959 Man o’ War Stakes from the likes of Bald Eagle (the following year’s American champion handicap male), Amerigo, Promised Land, and Inside Tract, all horses equivalent to modern Grade 1 winners. It may be long before it does so again, if ever.

No doubt the evidence will be combed over repeatedly as various experts attempt to discover why a seemingly happy, healthy filly cruising to an easy win broke down so horrifically on the biggest day of her life, and this after successfully passing strict safety protocols. Some will blame genetics. Some will blame conformation, or too much racing, or too infrequent racing. Some—many less expert than loud—will blame the sport itself. In the meantime, both grief and life go on for those who loved and cared for Maple Leaf Mel, now gone too soon.

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Mares on Monday: Abundancia Takes Flight in Peru

8/1/2023

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Saturday’s Premio Independencia (PER-G2) at Lima’s Hipódromo de Monterrico ended a frustrating streak for California Chrome’s Kentucky-bred daughter Abundancia. It was the 3-year-old filly’s sixth attempt to win a stakes race after five stakes placings (two of them at Group 1 level), and she was tackling open company over 2400 meters (approximately 1½ miles). She was equal to the task. Leading gate to wire, she had enough left to score by a length over 7-year-old Esidio, a Peruvian champion. Third-place Gluck, a 4-year-old colt, had previously won two Peruvian Group 2 races and run second in three Group 1 races, among them last year’s Derby Nacional.

Bred by KatieRich Farms, Abundancia sold for US$16,000 through the 2021 Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale and now races for Dona Licha Stables. While her purchase price suggests that she was not exactly an outstanding physical specimen as a yearling, her pedigree was probably enough to make her quite attractive to her South American buyers. Her female line traces back to Square Angel, a daughter of 1964 Belmont Stakes winner Quadrangle who had enough ability to win the 1973 Canadian Oaks and top Canada’s 3-year-old filly division. More importantly, Square Angel proved a first-rate broodmare with four stakes-winning daughters, all stakes producers, to her credit.

While the main line of Square Angel’s family descends through 1990 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Kamar (by 1972 American champion 3-year-old male Key to the Mint), who duplicated her dam’s accomplishments as a Canadian Classic winner and champion in 1979, Square Angel’s other daughters are worthy of some attention. The best of them, 1986 Apple Blossom Handicap (USA-G1) winner Love Smitten (by Nijinsky II) produced multiple Group 1 winner Swain (by Nashwan), French Group 3 winner Thief of Hearts (by In the Wings), and multiple French listed stakes winner Water Poet (by Sadler’s Wells) and is the second dam of 1997 Lafayette Stakes (USA-G3) winner Trafalger (by Storm Bird). Love Smitten’s full sister Dancing on a Cloud won the 1987 Beverly D. Stakes, then a listed race, and produced Grade-3 placed stakes winner Antitrust (by Affirmed) and is the third dam of Grade 3 winners City of Weston, Rich in Spirit, and Shadowless.

Stellarette, Square Angel’s 1978 daughter by multiple Grade 1 winner Tentam, was in between Love Smitten and Dancing on a Cloud in ability, winning the 1983 Barbara Fritchie Handicap (USA-G3). As a broodmare, she can lay claim to being second best among Kamar’s daughters. The dam of 1990 Hollywood Starlet Stakes (USA-G1) winner Cuddles (by Mr. Prospector), she is the second dam of 1998 Gazelle Handicap (USA-G1) winner Tap to Music (by Pleasant Tap; dam of 2005 Summer Stakes, CAN-G2, winner Bear’s Kid, by Lemon Drop Kid) and her multiple Grade 2-winning half brother Northern Afleet (by Afleet). The last-named horse was a useful sire in the United States and Brazil whose best runner was 2005 American champion 3-year-old male Afleet.

Cuddles contributed to her family’s record by producing 2001 Genuine Risk Handicap (USA-G2) winner Katz Me If You Can (by Storm Cat) and 2003 Victory Ride Stakes (USA-L) winner Country Romance (by Saint Ballado). She also produced Imaginary Cat, a full sister to Katz Me If You Can who never raced but produced 2006 El Camino Real Derby (USA-G3) winner Cause to Believe (by Maria’s Mon) and stakes winner Imaginary Sailor (by Mizzen Mast).

That was two more stakes winners than Katz Me If You Can was able to produce, but Katz Me With You Can has shown more staying power over the long haul with two stakes-producing daughters. One, the 2010 Indian Charlie mare Diamond Dazzle, is the dam of 2022 Venezuelan Horse of the Year Lyndacarter (by the Dynaformer horse Vacation) and multiple Venezuelan stakes winner Srta. Chenoma (by the Storm Cat horse Documentary). The other is Unkatzable. A 2003 daughter of 1992 American Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, Unkatzable won three of her 14 starts before producing multiple stakes winner and 2016 Whitney Stakes (USA-G1) runner-up Comfort (by Indian Charlie) and 2018 Mexican champion older male Igor (by Tiznow). She is also the dam of four-time winner Cry to Kat’s Me (by Street Cry), who produced Abundancia as her fifth foal.

Abundancia is inbred 4x3 to A.P. Indy, whose sire Seattle Slew traces tail-female to Myrtlewood—also the direct ancestress of the great sire Mr. Prospector, who appears 5x4x4x5 in Abundancia’s pedigree. This is something of a could-be-anything pedigree, but it has resulted in a filly whose best weapon appears to be her ability to carry a high cruising speed over a distance. One can hope that her connections will look for other suitable opportunities for her to take flight on the track before she is retired to breeding.

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Mares on Monday: A Fairy Tale for Red Riding Hood and Anne Campbell

Mares on Monday: Randomized Provides More Questions Than Answers in Alabama Stakes

Mares on Monday: Hot Beach Turns Up the Heat at Ellis Park

Mares on Monday: Requiem

Mares on Monday: Abundancia Takes Flight in Peru

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