Oxbow (USA)
March 26, 2010 – Living
Awesome Again (CAN) x Tizamazing (USA), by Cee’s Tizzy (USA)
Family 26
March 26, 2010 – Living
Awesome Again (CAN) x Tizamazing (USA), by Cee’s Tizzy (USA)
Family 26
After winning the Lecomte Stakes (USA-G3) by an eye-catching 11½ lengths, Oxbow lost four straight, concluding that skein with a respectable sixth in the 2013 Kentucky Derby—Presented by Yum! Brands (USA-G1). He then went wire-to-wire in the Preakness Stakes (USA-G1), defeating Kentucky Derby winner Orb, eventual American champion 3-year-old male Will Take Charge, and future two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (USA-G1) winner Goldencents, Oxbow wheeled back to run second in the Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) but suffered an ankle injury next out while running fourth in the William Hill Haskell Invitational Handicap (USA-G1) and was retired. His stud performance thus far has been disappointing.
Race record
13 starts, 3 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third, US$1,243,500
2013:
Assessments
Rated at 118 pounds for his Preakness win on the 2013 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 12 pounds below overall highweights Black Caviar (an unbeaten champion in Australia) and Treve (the 2013 European Horse of the Year) and 5 pounds below the top 3-year-old male on dirt, Will Take Charge.
As an individual
An athletic, well-balanced, short-coupled bay whose best weapon was his high cruising speed, Oxbow stands 16.1 hands. Jockey Gary Stevens described him as being very intelligent, but he had the reputation of being difficult to rate. He has a roaned appearance as his coat has a heavy scattering of white hairs.
As a stallion
As of February 17, 2024, Oxbow has sired 15 stakes winners according to data compiled by The Jockey Club.
Notable progeny
Hot Rod Charlie (USA), Tuz (USA)
Connections
Bred in Kentucky by Richard Santulli’s Colt’s Neck Stables, Oxbow was a US$250,000 yearling at the 2011 Keeneland September sale. He raced for Calumet Farm, but bore the black-and-yellow colors of the farms’ current lessee, Brad Kelley, rather than the historic devil’s red with blue cap and hoops used when Calumet belonged to the Wright family. He was trained by D. Wayne Lukas and was ridden to his Preakness win by Gary Stevens. Oxbow entered stud in Kentucky at Taylor Made Farm in 2014 and moved to Calumet Farm the following year.
Pedigree notes
Oxbow is inbred 4x5x5 to the great international sire Northern Dancer. He is a full brother to Grade 3-placed stakes winner Awesome Patriot. His dam, the unraced Cee’s Tizzy mare Tizamazing, is a full sister to two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1) winner and 2000 American Horse of the Year Tiznow; to Grade 1-placed multiple Grade 2 winner Budroyale, to Grade 2 winner Tizdubai (dam of 2016 Bahranian champion 3-year-old male Madinat Jumeirah, by Bernardini, and second dam of Grade 2 winner Tarifa and Grade 3 winner Cabo Spirit), and to Grade 2-placed stakes winner Tizbud. She is also a full sister to Tizso, dam of 2012 Haskell Invitational Stakes (USA-G1) winner Paynter (by Awesome Again), Grade 3 winner Tiz West (by Gone West), and listed stakes winner Tizakitty (by Discreet Cat). In addition, Tizamazing is a full sister to Balboa Betty, second dam of Grade 3 winner Bettys Bambino, and to Tizsweet, third dam of 2024 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile Stakes (USA-G1) winner Sweet Azteca.
Tizamazing's dam Cee's Song is a half sister to stakes winners Ceetoit (by Cee’s Tizzy) and Leery Baba (by Well Decorated; second dam of Grade 3 winner Bridge Game). She is out of Lonely Dancer (by Nice Dancer), a full sister to stakes winner Mr. Kapacity and a half sister to Canadian Grade 2 winner Quantra (by Quadrangle). The next dam in the tail-female lineage is Sleep Lonely (by the top handicap horse Pia Star), whose dam Sulenan (by 1960 Travers Stakes winner Tompion) is a half sister to multiple stakes winner Swinging Lizzie (by The Axe II), dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Swing Till Dawn (by Grey Dawn II) and 1988 Swaps Stakes (USA-G1) winner Lively One (by Halo). Another half sister to Sulenan, Snow Bower (by Nearctic), is the second dam of 1989 English champion 2-year-old male Digression.
Books and media
A brief promotional video of Oxbow can be accessed at his page on the Calumet Farm website (https://www.calumetfarm.com/stallions/oxbow/).
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photo taken by Jessica Morgan in 2013 at Churchill Downs. Used by permission.
Last updated: March 30, 2024
Race record
13 starts, 3 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third, US$1,243,500
2013:
- Won Preakness Stakes (USA-G1, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won Lecomte Stakes (USA-G3, 8F+70yD, Fair Grounds)
- 2nd Belmont Stakes (USA-G1, 12FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Rebel Stakes (USA-G2, Oaklawn Park)
Assessments
Rated at 118 pounds for his Preakness win on the 2013 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 12 pounds below overall highweights Black Caviar (an unbeaten champion in Australia) and Treve (the 2013 European Horse of the Year) and 5 pounds below the top 3-year-old male on dirt, Will Take Charge.
As an individual
An athletic, well-balanced, short-coupled bay whose best weapon was his high cruising speed, Oxbow stands 16.1 hands. Jockey Gary Stevens described him as being very intelligent, but he had the reputation of being difficult to rate. He has a roaned appearance as his coat has a heavy scattering of white hairs.
As a stallion
As of February 17, 2024, Oxbow has sired 15 stakes winners according to data compiled by The Jockey Club.
Notable progeny
Hot Rod Charlie (USA), Tuz (USA)
Connections
Bred in Kentucky by Richard Santulli’s Colt’s Neck Stables, Oxbow was a US$250,000 yearling at the 2011 Keeneland September sale. He raced for Calumet Farm, but bore the black-and-yellow colors of the farms’ current lessee, Brad Kelley, rather than the historic devil’s red with blue cap and hoops used when Calumet belonged to the Wright family. He was trained by D. Wayne Lukas and was ridden to his Preakness win by Gary Stevens. Oxbow entered stud in Kentucky at Taylor Made Farm in 2014 and moved to Calumet Farm the following year.
Pedigree notes
Oxbow is inbred 4x5x5 to the great international sire Northern Dancer. He is a full brother to Grade 3-placed stakes winner Awesome Patriot. His dam, the unraced Cee’s Tizzy mare Tizamazing, is a full sister to two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1) winner and 2000 American Horse of the Year Tiznow; to Grade 1-placed multiple Grade 2 winner Budroyale, to Grade 2 winner Tizdubai (dam of 2016 Bahranian champion 3-year-old male Madinat Jumeirah, by Bernardini, and second dam of Grade 2 winner Tarifa and Grade 3 winner Cabo Spirit), and to Grade 2-placed stakes winner Tizbud. She is also a full sister to Tizso, dam of 2012 Haskell Invitational Stakes (USA-G1) winner Paynter (by Awesome Again), Grade 3 winner Tiz West (by Gone West), and listed stakes winner Tizakitty (by Discreet Cat). In addition, Tizamazing is a full sister to Balboa Betty, second dam of Grade 3 winner Bettys Bambino, and to Tizsweet, third dam of 2024 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile Stakes (USA-G1) winner Sweet Azteca.
Tizamazing's dam Cee's Song is a half sister to stakes winners Ceetoit (by Cee’s Tizzy) and Leery Baba (by Well Decorated; second dam of Grade 3 winner Bridge Game). She is out of Lonely Dancer (by Nice Dancer), a full sister to stakes winner Mr. Kapacity and a half sister to Canadian Grade 2 winner Quantra (by Quadrangle). The next dam in the tail-female lineage is Sleep Lonely (by the top handicap horse Pia Star), whose dam Sulenan (by 1960 Travers Stakes winner Tompion) is a half sister to multiple stakes winner Swinging Lizzie (by The Axe II), dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Swing Till Dawn (by Grey Dawn II) and 1988 Swaps Stakes (USA-G1) winner Lively One (by Halo). Another half sister to Sulenan, Snow Bower (by Nearctic), is the second dam of 1989 English champion 2-year-old male Digression.
Books and media
A brief promotional video of Oxbow can be accessed at his page on the Calumet Farm website (https://www.calumetfarm.com/stallions/oxbow/).
Fun facts
- An oxbow can refer to the u-shaped piece that holds a yoke onto the neck of an ox or to a looping meander in a river. Eventually, the river usually cuts a straighter channel for itself across the narrowest part of the loop, and the former channel, with its access to the main stream of the river cut off by silt deposits, becomes an oxbow lake (also known as a billabong in Australian English).
- Oxbow could hardly have had a less auspicious start to his career than his first race. Sent off at 22-1 in a maiden special weight at Saratoga, he failed to finish the course and was vanned off. Fortunately, whatever troubled the colt was apparently not serious.
- Oxbow was the eighth Preakness winner for Calumet Farm. The others were Whirlaway (1941), Pensive (1944), Faultless (1947), Citation (1948), Fabius (1956), Tim Tam (1958), and Forward Pass (1968), all of which raced as homebreds while the farm was still owned by the Wright family.
- Oxbow’s Preakness victory made 50-year-old Gary Stevens the oldest jockey to have won the middle jewel of the American Triple Crown up to that time. (Stevens’ record was passed by Mike Smith in 2018 when the 52-year-old Smith won the Preakness aboard American Triple Crown winner Justify.)
- Oxbow was D. Wayne Lukas’ 14th winner of an American Triple Crown race, surpassing the record of 13 such winners set by James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons when he saddled Bold Ruler to win the 1957 Preakness.
Photo credit
Photo taken by Jessica Morgan in 2013 at Churchill Downs. Used by permission.
Last updated: March 30, 2024