Cabo Spirit has shown talent since being purchased for US$575,000 from the 2021 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-year-olds in training, but he has also shown that he can be his own worst enemy, leading to his becoming a gelding. The removal of hormone-induced distractions may have been just what he needed as a racehorse. The La Jolla Handicap (USA-G3) was his first outing since his surgery, and though he trailed early, he was never far out of it. When asked coming into the far turn, he quickened nicely and, though fanned four wide on the turn, had enough in the tank to win a three-way stretch duel by half a length from Perfect Flight.
Sired by the late Pioneerof the Nile, Cabo Spirit is a great-grandson of Cee's Song, a blue hen mare whose pedigree and racing performance hardly screamed "blue hen." A daughter of Seattle Song, who won the 1983 Prix de la Salamandre (FR-G1) and 1984 Washington, D. C., International (USA-G1) but was only a modest success at stud, she came from a female line that was still producing a scattering of stakes winners but had not produced a top-class horse since 1961 American co-champion 2-year-old male Crimson Satan. Cee's Song had some ability, finishing in the money in 12 of her 18 starts (including eight seconds), but she won only once, perhaps suggesting a reluctance to leave the safety of the herd.
Retired to the paddocks in California, Cee's Song was repeatedly bred to the Relaunch horse Cee's Tizzy, whose best racing performance from six starts was a third in the 1990 Super Derby (USA-G1). Those matings produced nine foals, of which four became stakes winners. The best of the group was Tiznow, the 2000 American Horse of the Year and the only two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1). His older brother Budroyale was a multiple Grade 2 winner and narrowly missed becoming half of the only full-sibling pair to win the Classic when he ran a game second to Cat Thief in the 1999 edition. A younger brother, Tizbud, was plagued by shin problems but won the 2003 California Cup Classic Handicap as a 4-year-old and was Grade 2-placed.
Tizdubai was the only filly among Cee's Song's four stakes winners by Cee's Tizzy, and while she won the 2003 Sorrento Stakes (USA-G2), her racing career was curtailed by a hock injury after only four starts. As a broodmare, she has been overshadowed by her unplaced older full sister Tizso, dam of 2012 Haskell Invitational Stakes (USA-G1) winner Paynter (by Awesome Again), 2008 Cinema Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G3) winner Tiz West (by Gone West), and listed stakes winner Tizakitty (by Distinctive Cat). Tizdubai's younger full sister Tizamazing never raced but also became a Grade 1 producer, coming up with 2013 Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) winner Oxbow and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Awesome Patriot to covers by Awesome Again. A third full sister, the winner Balboa Betty, is the second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Bettys Bambino (by Unusual Heat), and Tizdubai's Storm Cat half sister You're Beautiful is the second dam of 2021 Remington Park Oaks (USA-G3) winner Lady Mystify (by Bernardini).
In spite of being bred to a series of high-quality stallions, Tizdubai failed to come up with a stakes winner in any major racing nation, though her son Madinat Jumeirah (by Bernardini) became a champion in Bahrain. There is some hope that her disappointing broodmare career will be redeemed by her daughters, however. Her 2014 Shamardal daughter Fancy Day produced multiple stakes-placed Convention (by Constitution) before coming up with Cabo Spirit as her second foal, and her Storm Cat daughter Genisa is the dam of restricted stakes winner Five Star Rampage (by Quality Road) as well as two stakes-placed runners in Japan. Both Tizdubai and Fancy Day still have foals in the pipeline; the former has most recently produced a 2020 filly by Maclean's Music and a 2021 filly by Street Boss, while the latter is the dam of Blame Day (a 2020 filly by Blame), a 2021 filly by Yoshida, and a 2022 colt by War of Will.
Cee's Song must await the completed production records of more of her granddaughters before a feeling for her long-term importance (aside from her status as the dam of Tiznow, a successful sire) emerges, but her record does raise the question of what might have happened had she been kept to matings with Cee's Tizzy after her sale for US$2.6 million from Cecilia Straub-Rubens's estate at the 2001 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She produced three foals by Storm Cat in 2003-2005 and one by Giant's Causeway in 2006 after that, certainly a big step up in equine fashion, but the magic wasn't there and none except the aforementioned You're Beautiful has achieved any distinction. Perhaps she was just getting old---her produce record concludes with a dead foal in 2008 and barren years in 2009 and 2010---but perhaps her story may serve as a cautionary tale, too: When you have a winning formula, tinker with it at your own risk.
Sired by the late Pioneerof the Nile, Cabo Spirit is a great-grandson of Cee's Song, a blue hen mare whose pedigree and racing performance hardly screamed "blue hen." A daughter of Seattle Song, who won the 1983 Prix de la Salamandre (FR-G1) and 1984 Washington, D. C., International (USA-G1) but was only a modest success at stud, she came from a female line that was still producing a scattering of stakes winners but had not produced a top-class horse since 1961 American co-champion 2-year-old male Crimson Satan. Cee's Song had some ability, finishing in the money in 12 of her 18 starts (including eight seconds), but she won only once, perhaps suggesting a reluctance to leave the safety of the herd.
Retired to the paddocks in California, Cee's Song was repeatedly bred to the Relaunch horse Cee's Tizzy, whose best racing performance from six starts was a third in the 1990 Super Derby (USA-G1). Those matings produced nine foals, of which four became stakes winners. The best of the group was Tiznow, the 2000 American Horse of the Year and the only two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1). His older brother Budroyale was a multiple Grade 2 winner and narrowly missed becoming half of the only full-sibling pair to win the Classic when he ran a game second to Cat Thief in the 1999 edition. A younger brother, Tizbud, was plagued by shin problems but won the 2003 California Cup Classic Handicap as a 4-year-old and was Grade 2-placed.
Tizdubai was the only filly among Cee's Song's four stakes winners by Cee's Tizzy, and while she won the 2003 Sorrento Stakes (USA-G2), her racing career was curtailed by a hock injury after only four starts. As a broodmare, she has been overshadowed by her unplaced older full sister Tizso, dam of 2012 Haskell Invitational Stakes (USA-G1) winner Paynter (by Awesome Again), 2008 Cinema Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G3) winner Tiz West (by Gone West), and listed stakes winner Tizakitty (by Distinctive Cat). Tizdubai's younger full sister Tizamazing never raced but also became a Grade 1 producer, coming up with 2013 Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) winner Oxbow and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Awesome Patriot to covers by Awesome Again. A third full sister, the winner Balboa Betty, is the second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Bettys Bambino (by Unusual Heat), and Tizdubai's Storm Cat half sister You're Beautiful is the second dam of 2021 Remington Park Oaks (USA-G3) winner Lady Mystify (by Bernardini).
In spite of being bred to a series of high-quality stallions, Tizdubai failed to come up with a stakes winner in any major racing nation, though her son Madinat Jumeirah (by Bernardini) became a champion in Bahrain. There is some hope that her disappointing broodmare career will be redeemed by her daughters, however. Her 2014 Shamardal daughter Fancy Day produced multiple stakes-placed Convention (by Constitution) before coming up with Cabo Spirit as her second foal, and her Storm Cat daughter Genisa is the dam of restricted stakes winner Five Star Rampage (by Quality Road) as well as two stakes-placed runners in Japan. Both Tizdubai and Fancy Day still have foals in the pipeline; the former has most recently produced a 2020 filly by Maclean's Music and a 2021 filly by Street Boss, while the latter is the dam of Blame Day (a 2020 filly by Blame), a 2021 filly by Yoshida, and a 2022 colt by War of Will.
Cee's Song must await the completed production records of more of her granddaughters before a feeling for her long-term importance (aside from her status as the dam of Tiznow, a successful sire) emerges, but her record does raise the question of what might have happened had she been kept to matings with Cee's Tizzy after her sale for US$2.6 million from Cecilia Straub-Rubens's estate at the 2001 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She produced three foals by Storm Cat in 2003-2005 and one by Giant's Causeway in 2006 after that, certainly a big step up in equine fashion, but the magic wasn't there and none except the aforementioned You're Beautiful has achieved any distinction. Perhaps she was just getting old---her produce record concludes with a dead foal in 2008 and barren years in 2009 and 2010---but perhaps her story may serve as a cautionary tale, too: When you have a winning formula, tinker with it at your own risk.
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