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Mares on Monday: Making Her Point in the Doubledogdare

4/24/2023

When Frost Point entered the starting gate for the Baird Doubledogdare Stakes (USA-G3) on April 22, she was already quite a valuable prospective broodmare with a stellar pedigree and a black-type win to her name. She exited the race as an even more valuable property, earning her first graded victory and demonstrating an excellent turn of foot during the stretch drive, and one may be sure there will be a place for her in the Darley broodmare band when she hangs up her racing plates.

A 5-year-old, Frost Point is a daughter of two Darley products in Frosted and Balletto. The former is a son of three-time American champion sire Tapit out of 2003 Cotillion Handicap (USA-G2) winner Fast Cookie, a Deputy Minister half sister to 2008 American champion 2-year-old male and successful sire Midshipman (by Unbridled’s Song). A three-time Grade 1 winner during his racing career and a half brother to 2017 Go for Wand Handicap (USA-G3) winner Indulgent, Frosted was arguably the second-best colt of the 2012 North American crop behind Triple Crown winner American Pharoah but has been a rather disappointing sire so far given his own racing class, his pedigree, and the quality of mates that he has been afforded. Nonetheless, given his own credentials and his connections, there is no denying that he could come up with an excellent runner at any time.

Her sire’s sixth graded or Group winner, Frost Point was produced from 2005 Frizette Stakes (USA-G1) winner Balletto, a daughter of 1994 American champion 2-year-old male Timber Country whose other stakes winner is Grade 1-placed stakes winner Villanesca (by Distorted Humor). A half sister to 2001 Blandford Stakes (IRE-G3) winner Dearly (by Rahy; dam of listed stakes winner True Cause, by Storm Cat), Balletto is out of 1990 Sheepshead Bay Handicap (USA-G3) winner Destiny Dance, the first of four stakes winners produced from 1983 American champion 2-year-old filly Althea (by Alydar) and so a half sister to 1994 Japanese champion 2-year-old filly Yamanin Paradise (by Danzig).

Althea was, sadly, short-lived, dying in a paddock accident in 1995, but she has exercised considerable influence on Thoroughbred breeding through Yamanin Paradise’s full sister Aurora. The winner of the 1992 Aqueduct Breeders’ Cup Handicap (USA-L) and Grade 3-placed, Aurora produced 1998 Super Derby (USA-G1) winner Arch (by Kris S.), who became a good sire for Claiborne Farm and sired the similarly successful stallion Blame, the American champion older male of 2010. Aurora also produced 2010 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (USA-G1) winner Acoma (by Empire Maker) and 2001 UAE Horse of the Year Festival of Light (by A.P. Indy) and is the second dam of 2019 American champion female sprinter and champion 3-year-old filly Covfefe (by Into Mischief).

Althea was produced from a still better broodmare in Courtly Dee (Never Bend x Tulle, by War Admiral), who was named the Kentucky Broodmare of the Year in 1983 based on Althea’s championship season. By that time, Courtly Dee had also produced three other stakes winners, including 1976 Sapling Stakes (USA-G1) winner Ali Oop (by Al Hattab), and she would go on to produce four more, headed by 1985 Cowdin Stakes (USA-G1) winner Ketoh. Aside from her descendants through Althea, Courtly Dee is the granddam of the excellent sire Green Desert (by Danzig) and the ancestress of an ever-increasing number of graded and Group stakes winners around the world.

Few mares have the sheer depth of family behind them that Frost Point does, and with a graded win on her résumé, she has just become doubly valuable. Barring injury, she will probably race through the end of the season, but after that, look for her to retire to the paddocks, where she will attempt to add another chapter to the already-remarkable story of her family.

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Mares on Monday: Hazelbrook Continues a Speedy Legacy

4/17/2023

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On April 13, the Jockey Club of Canada announced its Sovereign Awards, honoring the best of Canadian racing. Among the champions named at the ceremony was Hazelbrook, who was crowned Canadian champion female sprinter after winning the Hendrie Stakes (CAN-G3) and the Ontario Fashion Stakes (CAN-G3) and finishing second in the Bessarabian Stakes (CAN-G2) and the Seaway Stakes (CAN-G3). Her 4-year-old season continues a tradition of speed handed down from her fifth dam, Crimson Saint, which continues to run lightning through the veins of the Thoroughbred.

A 1969 daughter of 1961 American co-champion 2-year-old male Crimson Satan, Crimson Saint could not stay even six furlongs in stakes company. She was freakishly fast, though, tying the then-extant record of :44-4/5 for a half-mile while winning the Ballerina Stakes at Oaklawn Park as a 2-year-old. At 3, she scorched the 5 furlongs of Hollywood Park’s Meteor Handicap in :56-2/5 on the turf course, and at 4, she hung up a track record of :56 for 5 furlongs while winning the Meteor a second time, this time on the dirt. She also won the 1973 Hollywood Express Handicap (USA-G3), running 5½ furlongs in 1:02-4/5, and retired having won seven of her 11 starts.

Crimson Saint proved a predominant influence for speed as a broodmare, producing four stakes winners who were all at their best at a mile or less. The best of the group was the Nijinsky II horse Royal Academy, who crowned his career by winning the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Mile (USA-G1). He sired 167 stakes winners during a globetrotting stud career.

Terlingua, Crimson Saint’s 1976 daughter by Secretariat, was little less in merit. A multiple Grade 2 winner as a juvenile at distances from 6 to 8 furlongs, she was one of the earliest top runners for D. Wayne Lukas, then just transitioning over from a highly successful career in training racing Quarter Horses. She etched her name into the annals of American Thoroughbred breeding by producing 1985 Young America Stakes (USA-G1) winner Storm Cat, a two-time leader of the general sire list in North America and a seven-time champion juvenile sire. His half brother by Mr. Prospector, Pioneering, has had a good stud career in the United States and Brazil, and Terlingua’s multiple Grade 2-winning daughter Chapel of Dreams (by Northern Dancer) has continued Terlingua’s branch of the family at the top level. Pancho Villa, Terlingua’s full brother, was also a multiple Grade 2 winner but was not as high-quality a racer as Terlingua, nor did he have nearly as much impact as a breeding animal.

The fourth and last of Crimson Saint’s stakes winners, Alydariel (by Alydar), was the least able on the racetrack, her lone stakes win coming in a restricted event. She fared better as a broodmare, producing 1992 Citation Handicap (USA-G2) winner Jeune Homme (by Nureyev), and her daughter Dariela (by Manila) is the dam of 2005 Prix Eclipse (FR-G2) winner Damoiselle (by Sky Classic).

Alydariel’s 1996 filly by A.P. Indy, Act Devoted, never raced, and she produced only four minor winners from 10 named foals. Her unraced daughter Weekend Dancer (by Fasliyev) improved only slightly on that record, coming up with six winners from nine named foals, but Weekend Dancer’s Bernstein filly Zaphia, perhaps drawing on the 4x4 cross to Crimson Saint in her pedigree, is now a multiple graded stakes producer, having come up with both Hazelbrook and 2019 Red Carpet Handicap (USA-G3) winner Zuzanna (by Wilburn). Zaphia’s most recent foals are an unraced 2021 Klimt gelding named Skipper’s Pride and a 2023 filly by Unified.

Zuzanna’s Red Carpet win was over 11 furlongs, but for the most part, Crimson Saint’s family has stayed true to type, producing runners at their best over shorter trips even when crossed to sires capable of staying longer distances. As a daughter of 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1) winner Bayern, Hazelbrook appears to exemplify the predominantly speedy nature of this family—though in fairness, Bayern probably wasn’t slowing her down any, having included the 2014 Woody Stephens Stakes (USA-G2) over 7 furlongs among his four graded victories. Regardless, Hazelbrook has earned an honored place in the annals of her family, and whether she becomes a broodmare or continues her racing career in 2023, she seems to have a good chance of continuing Crimson Saint’s legacy of speed further into the 21st century.

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Mares on Monday: Moving with Purpose into Oaks Contention

4/10/2023

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One week after Wet Paint appeared to bring some clarity to a thoroughly muddled picture with regard to the Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1), Defining Purpose threw a fresh bucket of mud in with an upset victory in the last Grade 1 prep race for the classic, the Ashland Stakes on April 7 at Keeneland. Posting a BRIS speed figure three points higher than any earned by any other filly on the Oaks leaderboard, Defining Purpose—who has been beaten twice by Wet Paint earlier in the season—pulled a 20-1 shocker by half a length at the expense of previously unbeaten Punchbowl. 2022 Demoiselle Stakes (USA-G2) winner Julia Shining, a full sister to two-time American champion Malathaat, was a neck farther back in third with 2022 American champion 2-year-old filly Wonder Wheel beaten a little less than six lengths in sixth place. Grade 1-placed Pride of the Nile, twice second to unbeaten Faiza, ran last of all.

One can well point out that this field was not nearly as strong as it looked at first glance, given that Punchbowl—a first-time stakes starter—was the favorite and that neither Julia Shining nor Wonder Wheel have succeeded in duplicating their 2-year-old form so far this year. Equally salient is the fact that Defining Purpose got an absolutely ideal pace-stalking trip. Nonetheless, she defeated the rivals she faced—all one can ask of any horse—is now a Grade 1 winner, and appears to be headed to the Kentucky Oaks, where her odds will probably be substantially shorter than 20-1.

Defining Purpose is the second Grade 1 winner sired by the Unbridled’s Song horse Cross Traffic, whose previous top-level runner in North America was 2018 American champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk. Himself the winner of the 2013 Whitney Stakes (USA-G1) and runner-up in the 2013 Metropolitan Handicap (USA-G1) in a brief six-race career, Cross Traffic is also responsible for recent Panamanian Group 1 winner Capocostello, Commonwealth Stakes (USA-G3) winner Here Mi Song, and New York restricted stakes winner Maple Leaf Mel thus far in 2023. Both Defining Purpose and Maple Leaf Mel are sired from the mares attracted to the stallion’s court in 2019, following Jaywalk’s championship season, and Cross Traffic’s 2020 crop showed enough at 2 to rank their sire ninth on the 2022 American juvenile sire list by progeny earnings and second by number of winners.

On the distaff side, Defining Purpose is the first starter and first winner produced from multiple Indiana-bred stakes winner Defining Hope, whose 2019 foal, a colt by Cupid, was never named or raced. A daughter of multiple Grade 1-placed multiple Grade 2 winner Strong Hope (by Grand Slam), Defining Hope has also produced the 2021 Runhappy filly Defining Joy and a 2023 colt by Csaba. Defining Hope, in turn, is out of the unraced Point Given mare On the Point, who sold for just US$7,500 at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling sale and is out of stakes-placed Longingtobeme (by Belong to Me).

A second-generation homebred for Colette Marie VanMatre (who races the filly in partnership with Magdalena Racing and James Ball), Defining Moment has already been a dream come true for her connections, who got together to race her after she failed to meet her reserve on a US$14,000 bid at the 2021 Keeneland January mixed sale. She has now earned US$543,688, and if her performance was not merely a once-in-a-lifetime fluke, she will have a fair shot at becoming a millionairess in the Kentucky Oaks. She will need a dry track to have much chance, having already proven that she does not care for off going, but if Mother Nature cooperates, she just might be this year’s rags-to-riches story.

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Mares on Monday: Affirmative for the Oaks, Lady

4/3/2023

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With the Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) now five weeks away and the major preps in Louisiana, Florida, and Arkansas complete, the list of prospective starters is being whittled down to more serious contenders. Barring exemplary performances in the Santa Anita Oaks (USA-G2) and Gazelle Stakes (USA-G3) next weekend, the likely favorite will be Wet Paint (see “Mares on Monday: Wet Paint Splashes into Kentucky Oaks Picture,” February 27, 2023), who concluded a sweep of Oaklawn Park’s Oaks prep series with an authoritative victory in Saturday’s Fantasy Stakes (USA-G3).

Excepting Faiza (who, as a member of Bob Baffert’s barn, is not eligible to the Kentucky Oaks due to the trainer’s ongoing suspension at Churchill Downs), no filly has been as consistent as Wet Paint this spring, and the Louisiana and Florida eligibles have both taken turns stepping into the spotlight and back out. The latest filly to take a bow at center stage is Affirmative Lady, who on Saturday took the measure of Davona Dale Stakes (USA-G2) winner Dorth Vader in the Gulfstream Park Oaks Presented by FanDuelTV (USA-G2). Two-for-two since trainer Graham Motion made the decision to put her in blinkers, the steel-gray filly earned her first graded stakes win with a strong stretch run, leading previously unheralded Sacred Wish home by two lengths with a still longer shot, Flakes, another head back in third. Dorth Vader, who struck the lead briefly at the top of the stretch, hung and ended up a neck behind Flakes in fourth, appearing to regress from her Davona Dale form.

Speed figures suggest that Affirmative Lady’s performance was not as impressive as it looked, and a final three-sixteenths of a mile in :33.32 on a fast surface is less than inspiring. Nonetheless, Affirmative Lady is moving forward at the right time of year, and as a daughter of Arrogate, who came into his own during the second half of his 3-year-old season, there is reason to believe she will continue to improve as she matures. The sire of last year’s Kentucky Oaks heroine, Secret Oath, the late Arrogate now has five graded stakes winners to his credit from his first two crops of racing age.

The distaff side of Affirmative Lady’s pedigree also suggests that the filly’s best days are yet to come. Affirmative Lady is the first winner for 2015 Monmouth Beach Stakes (USA-L) winner Stiffed, who scored her major victory as a 4-year-old and also earned two Grade 3 placings at that age. Since producing Affirmative Lady, Stiffed has foaled a 2021 filly by Nyquist and a 2023 filly by Connect.

A half sister to restricted stakes winner Speaking (by Mr Speaker), Stiffed is a daughter of 2000 Donn Handicap (USA-G1) winner Stephen Got Even (by A.P. Indy) out of the unraced Silver Deputy mare High Noon Nellie. High Noon Nellie, in turn, is out of 1998 Next Move Handicap (USA-G3) winner Full and Fancy (by 1983 Santa Anita Derby, USA-G1, winner Marfa, by Foolish Pleasure), who scored her signature win as a 5-year-old.

As the daughter of a stallion who made his mark going 10 furlongs in devastating fashion, Affirmative Lady should have no problems with the 9-furlong Kentucky Oaks trip. The competition will likely be a stiffer hurdle. On speed figures, Affirmative Lady will have to improve substantially to match Wet Paint in five weeks, but stranger things have happened than rapid improvement by a 3-year-old filly in the spring, and the daughter of Arrogate will not be the only one looking to upend the likely favorite. With one more week of important Oaks preps to come, look for more shuffling of places on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leader board as the New York and California contingents take their final shots at earning a chance at the “Lilies for the Fillies.”

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Mares on Monday: Making Her Point in the Doubledogdare

Mares on Monday: Hazelbrook Continues a Speedy Legacy

Mares on Monday: Moving with Purpose into Oaks Contention

Mares on Monday: Affirmative for the Oaks, Lady

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