On the face of things, yesterday's winner of the Smarty Jones Stakes, Far Right, will need to step up his game a fair bit to be up with the best of his division. Aside from the fact that he clearly benefited from Mr. Z's failure to keep a straight course in the stretch, a final furlong run in about :13-3/5 is not very confidence-inspiring for longer trips.
Although Far Right's sire Notional was second in the 9-furlong Florida Derby (USA-G1), a mile was clearly his best trip, meaning that Far Right will have to draw stamina from the dam's side if he is to stay classic distances. The presence of 2002 American champion 2-year-old male Vindication as his broodmare sign certainly doesn't hurt there, as Vindication ran out the 9 furlongs of that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile (USA-G1) easily and has the pedigree of a horse bred to go all day. Because of injury, however, his aptitude for classic distances was never proven, and another question is how much of whatever stamina he had was passed to his daughter Zindi, who never raced.
Zindi's dam Inspired Hope scored her sole win at 8.5 furlongs and is a half sister to Westfold Vale, a Flying Paster mare who handled intermediate distances well, and Big Jag (by Kleven), a high-class sprinter. Given that Inspired Hope's sire was the miler Shadeed, her victory may well have reflected her optimum distance, especially given that her dam In Hopes (by Affirmed) scored her sole victory at a mile.
Interestingly, Far Right's family descends from Princess Ribot, also the fifth dam of California Chrome, but in his case the descent comes through 1977 American champion older female Cascapedia (by Chieftain), who stayed well enough to be beaten only a neck by the top male handicapper Crystal Water in the 1977 Hollywood Gold Cup. My guess, though, is that Far Right is not made of such stern stuff and will prefer the mile trip favored by his sire and his immediate female family.
Although Far Right's sire Notional was second in the 9-furlong Florida Derby (USA-G1), a mile was clearly his best trip, meaning that Far Right will have to draw stamina from the dam's side if he is to stay classic distances. The presence of 2002 American champion 2-year-old male Vindication as his broodmare sign certainly doesn't hurt there, as Vindication ran out the 9 furlongs of that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile (USA-G1) easily and has the pedigree of a horse bred to go all day. Because of injury, however, his aptitude for classic distances was never proven, and another question is how much of whatever stamina he had was passed to his daughter Zindi, who never raced.
Zindi's dam Inspired Hope scored her sole win at 8.5 furlongs and is a half sister to Westfold Vale, a Flying Paster mare who handled intermediate distances well, and Big Jag (by Kleven), a high-class sprinter. Given that Inspired Hope's sire was the miler Shadeed, her victory may well have reflected her optimum distance, especially given that her dam In Hopes (by Affirmed) scored her sole victory at a mile.
Interestingly, Far Right's family descends from Princess Ribot, also the fifth dam of California Chrome, but in his case the descent comes through 1977 American champion older female Cascapedia (by Chieftain), who stayed well enough to be beaten only a neck by the top male handicapper Crystal Water in the 1977 Hollywood Gold Cup. My guess, though, is that Far Right is not made of such stern stuff and will prefer the mile trip favored by his sire and his immediate female family.
RSS Feed