Although two Grade 3 Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) preps ran over the weekend, with Eclatant (Into Mischief x Downside Scenario, by Scat Daddy) taking the Fasig-Tipton Forward Gal Stakes at Gulfstream Park on February 1 and Tenma winning the Fasig-Tipton Las Virgenes Stakes on February 2, the best performance of the weekend by a 3-year-old filly didn’t take place in North America. Instead, it fell to Chile’s Valparaiso course to host the showstopper, as Lucky Red outran 15 other colts and fillies to capture the Premio El Derby (Chilean Derby, CHI-G1).
Both Lucky Red and third-place Cassis Violeta are daughters of 2008 American champion 2-year-old male Midshipman out of daughters of multiple European Group 1 winner Henrythenavigator, a cross that seems promising considering that of six Midshipman foals out of six different daughters of “Henry,” two others have won in addition to the two Group 1-winning fillies. (Prior to her third in El Derby, Cassis Violeta won the 2024 Premio Arturo Lyon Peña, CHI-G1.) Midshipman also accounted for the El Derby runner-up, the colt Ponteau, and all three placers were bred by Haras Don Alberto, which has led the Chilean breeders’ list annually since 2011.
A half sister to listed stakes winner Tommy Shelby (by Constitution), Lucky Red is out of the winner La Fortezza, half sister to Group 1-placed listed stakes winner Larco (by Ivan Denisovich). La Fortezza’s dam, the winning Dushyantor mare Lady in White, is out of unraced Lady Lopez (by the Blushing Groom horse Lord Florey), whose gelded half brother Weeping (by Worldwatch) won the 1991 Premio Francisco Astaburuaga (CHI-G3). The next dam in Lucky Red’s tail-female lineage, the winning Maribeau mare Sensitive, was imported to Chile in utero and is out of the winner Sensitiv Elizabeth (by Sensitivo), whose half sister Miss Wildcatter (by Mr. Prospector) is the dam of 1993 American champion 3-year-old filly Hollywood Wildcat.
Lucky Red was bred on Southern Hemisphere time, so she is about six months ahead of her North American counterparts, who are just getting started on their 3-year-old seasons and are still several months away from the spring Classics. Both Eclatant and Tenwa earned 20 points toward a starting spot in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1), but the former, who posted an Equibase figure of 87 in winning the Forward Gal, is well behind Tenma, whose Equibase figure of 99 for the Las Virgenes is more what you would like to see for a possible Oaks contender. However, Tenma (whose antecedents were discussed in “Mares on Monday: Tenma Continues Anne Campbell’s Success with Juveniles in Del Mar Debutante,” September 9, 2024) faced only two rivals in the Las Virgenes and had things her own way well before the turn for home, so how much she got out of her race is open to question. In any event, all three fillies will bear watching as the first half of 2025 continues.
Both Lucky Red and third-place Cassis Violeta are daughters of 2008 American champion 2-year-old male Midshipman out of daughters of multiple European Group 1 winner Henrythenavigator, a cross that seems promising considering that of six Midshipman foals out of six different daughters of “Henry,” two others have won in addition to the two Group 1-winning fillies. (Prior to her third in El Derby, Cassis Violeta won the 2024 Premio Arturo Lyon Peña, CHI-G1.) Midshipman also accounted for the El Derby runner-up, the colt Ponteau, and all three placers were bred by Haras Don Alberto, which has led the Chilean breeders’ list annually since 2011.
A half sister to listed stakes winner Tommy Shelby (by Constitution), Lucky Red is out of the winner La Fortezza, half sister to Group 1-placed listed stakes winner Larco (by Ivan Denisovich). La Fortezza’s dam, the winning Dushyantor mare Lady in White, is out of unraced Lady Lopez (by the Blushing Groom horse Lord Florey), whose gelded half brother Weeping (by Worldwatch) won the 1991 Premio Francisco Astaburuaga (CHI-G3). The next dam in Lucky Red’s tail-female lineage, the winning Maribeau mare Sensitive, was imported to Chile in utero and is out of the winner Sensitiv Elizabeth (by Sensitivo), whose half sister Miss Wildcatter (by Mr. Prospector) is the dam of 1993 American champion 3-year-old filly Hollywood Wildcat.
Lucky Red was bred on Southern Hemisphere time, so she is about six months ahead of her North American counterparts, who are just getting started on their 3-year-old seasons and are still several months away from the spring Classics. Both Eclatant and Tenwa earned 20 points toward a starting spot in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1), but the former, who posted an Equibase figure of 87 in winning the Forward Gal, is well behind Tenma, whose Equibase figure of 99 for the Las Virgenes is more what you would like to see for a possible Oaks contender. However, Tenma (whose antecedents were discussed in “Mares on Monday: Tenma Continues Anne Campbell’s Success with Juveniles in Del Mar Debutante,” September 9, 2024) faced only two rivals in the Las Virgenes and had things her own way well before the turn for home, so how much she got out of her race is open to question. In any event, all three fillies will bear watching as the first half of 2025 continues.
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