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Mares on Monday: Intricate Adds Complexity to 2024 Oaks Picture

11/27/2023

The 150th Longines Kentucky Oaks is still six months away, but several possible contenders have already emerged. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1) winner and likely American champion juvenile filly Just F Y I is one; Del Mar Debutante Stakes (USA-G1) winner Tamara, now known to have been compromised by injury when finishing up the track in the Juvenile Fillies, is another, and there are several other fillies that flashed significant talent during the 2023 racing seaosn. On November 25, Intricate joined that number with a strong victory in the Golden Rod Stakes (USA-G2) at Churchill Downs, powering home by 3½ lengths in the 8.5 furlong test. Adding to the impression made by the win, she galloped out strongly afterward, suggesting that another sixteenth of a mile should be no problem at all.

Intricate is a daughter of 2017 American Horse of the Year Gun Runner, who has led his crop of American sires for three consecutive years and is currently third on the American general sire list. Bred by LBD Stable, she is the first foal of the winning Distorted Humor mare Complex Analysis. The American champion broodmare sire of 2017, Distorted Humor currently stands ninth on the list of maternal grandsires, putting him in line for his seventh appearance among the top 10.

Complex Analysis is a full sister to Grade 3-placed listed stakes winner Abraham and a half sister to Groton Circle (by Mr. Greeley), dam of 2018 Pegasus Stakes (USA-L) winner Supreme Aura (by Candy Ride). The siblings are out of Tabarin (by 2002 American champion sire El Prado), a half sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Miss Isella (by Silver Charm), 2003 Arkansas Derby (USA-G2) winner Sir Cherokee, and multiple listed stakes winner Guam Typhoon (by Distorted Humor). Tabarin is also a half sister to multiple Grade 3-placed Lady Linda (by Torrential), dam of 2013 Preis der Diana-Deutches Stuten Derby (German Oaks, GER-G1) winner Penelopa (by Giant’s Causeway; dam of English listed stakes winner Pennymoor, by Frankel) and multiple European listed stakes winner Lajoscha (by Gleneagles).

Tabarin, in turn, is out of Irish-bred La Cucina, whose sire Last Tycoon upset the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Mile (USA-G1) and was champion sprinter in England and France that year, La Cucina is a half sister to Group 2-placed listed stakes winner Ocean Air (by Elegant Air) and is out of the stakes-placed Grey Dawn II mare Fandangerina, a half sister to stakes winner Cordial Prince (by Cornish Prince). The female family traces back to Shy Dancer, whose other descendants include 1980 American champion 2-year-old filly and 1981 Kentucky Oaks victress Heavenly Cause, 2012 Canadian champion turf male Riding the River, and 1991 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Opening Verse. Generally speaking, this has been a family whose members have shown improvement from age 2 to age 3 and beyond, so provided that Intricate can stay sound and healthy, she should be one to watch between now and next May.

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Mares on Monday: Loyalty in Legacy of Great Lady M.

11/13/2023

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On November 11, Loyalty made her case for a Sovereign Award as Canada's champion female sprinter with a solid win in Canada’s biggest race for the division, the Bessarabian Stakes (CAN-G2). Seven-wide on the turn for home, the 4-year-old Josie Carroll trainee more than made up the lost ground and powered home to a 1½-length win over a dozen rivals, stopping the clock in 1:22.27 for the 7 furlongs. Also the winner of the Hendrie Stakes (CAN-G3) in July, Loyalty owns a 4-3-0-1 record in Canada this year and a lifetime record of 11-7-0-2. She has earned $398,647 for co-owners Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck) and LNJ Foxwoods, more than winning out the US$270,000 she cost as a yearling.

Bred by Best a Luck Farm (Tommy and Lori Fackler) and Godolphin, Loyalty is by 2007 King’s Bishop Stakes (USA-G1) winner Hard Spun, who has forged a solid stud career just below the top level. A son of Danzig and the stakes-winning Turkoman mare Turkish Tryst, he has sired 100 stakes winners as of November 13, 2023, including 2012 American champion 3-year-old filly Questing and Breeder’s Cup winners Aloha West (2021 Sprint) and Spun to Run (2019 Dirt Mile).

Loyalty is 3x5 inbred to Hard Spun’s paternal grandsire, Northern Dancer, and is also 4x4 to 1990 champion American sire Alydar. Behind both these inbred ancestors is two-time American Horse of the Year Native Dancer, the maternal grandsire of Northern Dancer and the paternal grandsire of Alydar through his sire Raise a Native. As another Raise a Native son, two-time American champion sire Mr. Prospector, is the male-line great-grandsire of Loyalty’s dam, and Native Dancer’s maternal grandson Icecapade is the sire of Loyalty’s fourth dam, the “Gray Ghost” appears 5x6x6x7x6x7 in Loyalty’s pedigree, with an additional cross of Native Dancer’s sire Polynesian appearing at the sixth remove.

Turning to Loyalty's female line, she is a half sister to 2018 American champion female sprinter Shamrock Rose (by First Dude) and is out of the unraced Elusive Quality mare Slew’s Quality, whom the Facklers bought for US$35,000 at the 2007 Keeneland November mixed sale, in foal to Consolidator. An attempted resale at the 2008 Ocala Breeders’ Sales October mixed sale fell through when Slew’s Quality failed to make her reserve on a US$39,000 bid, and the Facklers have good reason now to be glad it did. Aside from Loyalty and Shamrock Rose, they have bred two stakes-placed runners and three other winners from their star broodmare, and the mare’s 2022 colt by Authentic (a US$425,000 RNA at this year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale) is said to be looking very promising; according to the Facklers, he will probably be offered at the 2024 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Slew’s Quality was barren in 2023 but may be headed for a return date with Hard Spun in 2024.

A half sister to multiple French Group 3 winner Slew the Red (by Red Ransom), Slew’s Quality is out of Great Lady Slew (by Seattle Slew). A winner on the track, Great Lady Slew is also the dam of two stakes-placed runners and of the Diesis mare Marple, the second dam of South African champion 2-year-old filly Mahbooba (by Galileo).

Great Lady Slew, in turn, is a half sister to stakes winner Baldy’s Dream (by Green Dancer) and is out of the winner Great Lady Sharon. Sired by Alydar from Great Lady M. (by Icecapade), Great Lady Sharon is a half sister to 1986 American Horse of the Year Lady’s Secret (by Secretariat); to stakes winner Missy Slew (by Seattle Slew), dam of restricted stakes winner Vow (by Rahy); and to Great Christine (by Danzig), dam of 2003 Japanese champion older female Believe (by Sunday Silence) and second dam of 2022 Sprinters Stakes (JPN-G1) winner Gendarme (by Kitten’s Joy).

Great Lady M. was not a great race mare, but she was solid, tough, and consistent, picking up seven sprint stakes wins among her 14 wins from 58 starts, and she put the lie to the notion that hard-raced mares make poor broodmares, with no less than six of her daughters figuring in the production of graded or Group stakes winners. Her family has often skipped generations when it came to producing anything with significant class, but it keeps coming up with good horses nonetheless. If Loyalty does capture a Sovereign Award, she will be the sixth national champion descended within five generations from a tough little mare whose good qualities have persisted in pedigrees for nearly forty years and show no signs of slowing down.

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Mares on Monday: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly Turf Outcome Not Hard to Justify

11/6/2023

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American racing does not have a championship category for juvenile fillies on turf, but if it did, the palm would surely belong to Hard to Justify. Already the winner of the Miss Grillo Stakes (USA-G2) at Aqueduct, the Chad Brown trainee gave her conditioner a record sixth win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1) with a gritty half-length score. She finished 2023 with a perfect three-for-three record, all over grass. Her earnings of US$687,750 represent a nice return on the US$190,000 she cost owner Wise Racing (Allen Wise) at the 2022 Keeneland September sale.

A daughter of the red-hot young sire Justify, who also begot NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1) winner Just F Y I, Hard to Justify is the second foal and first winner out of Instant Reflex, a US$300,000 acquisition for breeder Yeguada Centurion S.L. from the 2019 Keeneland November mixed sale. The mare’s only other produce to race is the 2020 Arrogate colt Quick Reflex, a winner in Spain. Instant Reflex also has a yearling colt by Uncle Mo.

Grade 3-placed on grass as a racer, Instant Reflex is by four-time Grade 1 winner and important sire Quality Road out of the winning Seeking the Gold mare Without Delay, a half sister to 2013 La Coupe (FR-G3) winner Slow Pace and 2018 Pat Day Mile Stakes (USA-G3) winner Funny Duck (both by Distorted Humor). Without Delay is also a half sister to Slow Sand (by Dixieland Band), dam of 2020 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (USA-G2) winner King Guillermo (by Uncle Mo) and second dam of 2021 July Cup (ENG-G1) winner Starman (by Dutch Art), and to Jolie Chanson (by Mount Nelson), dam of 2022 Festival Stakes (ENG-L) winner Majestic Dawn (by Dawn Approach).

Without Delay and her sisters are out of 2001 Hillsborough Handicap (USA-L) winner Slow Down (by Seattle Slew), a half sister to multiple Grade 3 winner Olmodavor (by A.P. Indy) and two-time Prairie Bayou Stakes winner Dac (by Distorted Humor). Produced from 1994 Beverly Hills Handicap (USA-G1) winner Corrazona, an El Gran Senor half sister to 1990 Wood Memorial Invitational Stakes (USA-G1) winner Thirty Six Red (by Slew o’ Gold) out of the Stage Door Johnny mare Heartbreak, Slow Down is also a half sister to stakes-placed Seeking the Heart (by Seeking the Gold), second dam of 2022 Joe Hernandez Stakes (USA-G2) winner Chewing Gum (by Candy Ride). The female family traces back to the great 20th-century matriarch Bourtai, whose other descendants include American champions Bayou, Sacahuista, Shuvee, Slew o’ Gold, and War Pass.

Hard to Justify is inbred 4x5x4 to two-time American champion sire Mr. Prospector, a common enough pattern in modern American breeding, and has two more crosses of the great sire at the sixth generation and one at the seventh. The really salient thing about her pedigree is its sheer quality; from top to bottom, it reads like a “Who’s Who” of American racing and breeding, with no names appearing in the first five generations that did not prove themselves as possessing some class either on the track or in the breeding shed—mostly both. With a genetic background like this plus her own proven racing ability, it will be a hard thing indeed if Hard to Justify does not contribute to her breed as a broodmare—but, one can hope, not until she has further displayed her talent on the race course.

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Mares on Monday: Intricate Adds Complexity to 2024 Oaks Picture

Mares on Monday: Loyalty in Legacy of Great Lady M.

Mares on Monday: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly Turf Outcome Not Hard to Justify

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