Chauette

There is a mare named Chauette who last raced a Philadelphia Park on 7/27/09 in the 6th race. She was in a $10,000 claiming race but is worth much more as a breeding prospect. Her sire is Pleasant Tap a top sire who sired amongst others Tap Dance City earner of $9,958,479 including the Japan Cup etc.

What makes Chauette so valuable as a breeding prospect is her dam Quiet Fun. I would suggest going to the Thoroughbred Pedigree Query site and pull up the pedigree of Domino's 2nd dam Lizzie G. Http://www.pedigreequery.com/Lizzie G. You will find that Chauette has the same unusual inbreeding found in Lizzie G. Quiet Fun traces down her tail female line to the Princequillo's daughter Cequillo. A few more generations down the female line from Cequillo brings you to the matron Marguerite de Valois who is a full sister to Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad 3rd. When Quiet Fun's dam Fun Fun Fun was bred to Quiet American two more direct crosses of Cequillo were introduced. Quiet American traces to Cequillo through his tail female line as does his sire Fappiano.

If this were not enough Quiet fun is Inbred 3x3 to matriarch Grey Flight through the full brother and sister What a Pleasure and Bold Princess. The sire of Chauette brings in another cross of Grey Flight through her champion daughter Misty Morn who is a half sister to What a Pleasure and Bold Princess. Adding to this great concentration of this great female family is Native Dancer. He is found twice in Quiet Fun's pedigree. Native Dancer has as his third dam the matriarch La Chica who is the 2nd dam of Grey Flight.

The comparison to Lizzie G is that Lizzie G is sired War Dance a son of Reel whose dam is Fandango. Lizzie G's dam is the Lecompte mare. Her sire Lecompte is also a son of Reel providing a 2nd cross of Fandango. Then when you consider that Lizzie G's 5th dam is Fandango you have a triple cross of her direct female line. This is the same pattern as found in Quiet fun.

When you consider that Lizzie G is the dam of the mighty Domino you have reason to consider the possibilities found in Chauette. Domino only sired 20 foals, 19 of which lived, and from those 20 foals he dominated American breeding for 40 years.

Just claim Chauette and breed to a first class outcross stallion and you could get a runner of the highest class

Swaps Stakes G2

Five G2 races to be covered this week with one of particular interest, that being the

G2 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. This race won by the Candy Ride colt, Misremembered whose dam has a 31.4 racing index. The dam Beyond Perfection by Quack was the winner of the G2 Del Mar Debutante, Bay Meadows Oaks G3, and the Barretts Oaks and placed in the Oak Leaf Stakes. Her son Misremembered has a racing index of 15.85 about 50% of his dams index. One might speculate that this colt might go on and increase his index but I would say that is possible but unlikely. The field in the Swaps Stakes was a weak one, leading one to believe that this colt who earned $180,000 in the race is actually not as good as his 15.85 index would indicate. Go back to the Queen's Plate winner, Eye of the Leopard who has and index of 38.78 which was the result of his win in a $1,000,000 race restricted to Canadian Breds. He has earnings of $693,000 of which $528,600 came from the Queens Plate. In his next start the restricted Prince of Wales Stakes he was third to an Aptitude colt and a Milwaukee Brew filly. So although being by A P Indy out of a Smart Strike mare he would probably not measure up well against top flight American classic contenders. Keep in mind the index isn't everything; it's just a good guide line that over a period of time will show that the very high indexed runners come from mares in the .50 to 6.00 racing index, and that when mares have an index of 25 or higher they almost always breed down from their own indexex with a few exceptions. So let's watch Misremembered and see what happens to his index by the end of the year.



The following are this weeks major races: Featuring the winner with its index and the dam and her index



Virginia Derby
Battle of Hastings.............44.48 Subya............................3.20

Delaware Oaks
Careless Jewel..................17.93 Sweet and Careless.....Unr.

A Gleam Handicap
Evita Argentina................13.09 Jealous Wildcat............ .93

Swaps Stakes
Misremembered..............15.85 Beyond Perfection.......31.40

Delaware Handicap
Swift Temper...................16.06 Glascow's Gold...............1.56

Hollywood Gold Cup

Probably the most interesting development this week is the victory of Rail Trip in the Hollywood Gold Cup G1. Rail Trip is out of the Carson City mare Sweet Trip. During the last year daughters of Carson City have produced four high indexed runners with an average racing index of 18.79. The four Carson city mares that produced these superior runners had an average racing index of 2.66 or about 6 times lower than their foals. This is typical of what you might find in tthe dams of superior runners.

Of course all of these numbers by themselves don't give you the information to understand how much racing class is preferable in a potential broodmare. Consider this; Silver Dew the dam of Carry Back Stakes winner Not for Silver has a racing index of 3.22. She earned this index from 22 Starts, 3 wins and earnings of $158,962

Compare this to Zenyatta's dam Vertigineux who earned a 3.96 racing index with 7 Starts 2 wins and earnings of $60,480, or Gio Ponte's dam Chipeta Springs with a 3.78 index earned over 21 starts 2 wins and $93,518. She is stakes placed with a 3rd place finish in the Azalea Stakes.

Finally, we have Tap Your Feet, the dam of Diamondrella. Tap Your Feet earned a racing index of 4.72 and was a stakes winner of the minor Illinois Princess Handicap

What is important is that you have Allowance winners, Stakes placed winners and minor stakes winners in a racing index range from 3.22-4.72. This is the range in which you will find a very large percentage of the dams of High index runners.

Now for this weeks results. I'll list the race, the winner with it's index, then the dam and her index.

American Derby G2
Reb........................14.96..........Sweet Baby.........................1.95

Man O' War G1
Gio Ponte.............41.62...........Chipeta Springs.................3.78

Princess Rooney G1
Game Face..........17.36............Galleon of Gold..................unr

Carry Back G2
Not For Silver.....10.06...........Silverdew...........................3.22

Smile Sprint H. G2
Eaton's Gift.........13.45............Kit's Girl.............................1.04

Hollywood Gold Cup G1
Rail Trip..............32.96............Sweet Trip........................2.69

Royal Heroine Mile G2
Tuscan Evening..18.51...........The Faraway Tree...........4.50

Speedy Sophomore's defeat Elders

Nine G1 and G2 Races covered this week and only one winner is out of a mare with a high racing index. However, that horse, Mr. Sidney may be the goods as a sire prospect. The most interesting development is the emergence of two very talented three-year-olds who defeated their Elders in the Triple Bend Handicap G1 and the Tom Fool Handicap G2. It's a little early in the year for three-year-olds to be defeating their elders even given the weight differentials. We'll discuss them later. I'm still having trouble getting the columns to come out properly so from now on I will list the race then under it give the winner and the winners index followed by the winners ham and her index.

American Oaks G1
Gozzip Girl...................32.15...........Temperence Girl...........unraced

United Nations Handicap G1
Presious Passion.........19.07...........Princesa's Passion.........unraced

Prioress Stakes G1
Cat Moves....................25.45..........Dance Move...................unraced

Triple Bend Handicap G1
Zensational..................15.15............Joke................................ 3.88

Suburban Handicap G2
Dry Martini..................17.89...........Jon's Kimberly.............. .04

Dwyer Stakes G2
Kensei...........................11.34............Private Feeling................. .97

Firecracker Handicap G2
Mr. Sidney....................17.26...........Tomisue's Delight............31.12

American Handicap G2
Monterey Jazz..............12.98...........Reefside............................. .02

Tom Fool Handicap G2
Munnings......................17.44............Le Comete..................Unraced

As mentioned earlier only one of these high indexed runners was produced by a high index racemare that being Mr. Sidney whose dam is the very good racemare Tomisue's Delight. She won the G1 Personal Ensign and Ruffian Handicaps and ran 2nd in the Coaching Club American Oaks, Kentucky Oaks and Beldame Stakes all G1 events. As you can see Mr. Sidney has an index about 50% of his dams. Since regression has already taked place in the family and since Mr. Sidney is inbred to Secretariat 3x4 and is from the La Troienne Family he might prove to be a very interesting stallion prospect.

The two sophomore sensations Munnings and Zensational after making short work of their elders are reportedly headed for the G1 Kings Bishop at Saratoga. That should prove to be a race that we all want to see. There is little question that Zensational is the faster horse but he is green and erratic which may prove to be his undoing against the more professional Munnings.

Mother Goose Stakes G1

This week saw the two best mares in North America continuing their dominance. Rachel Alexandra demolished two outclassed runners in the Mother Goose G1 while on the west coast Zenyatta gave away weight and toyed with another outclassed field. It's interesting to note that both of these great mares are out of slow mares. Rachel Alexandra's dam, Lotta Kim by Roar has a 1.88 racing index compared to Rachel's 48.80. Actually Rachel Alexandra's index is much higher, it just hasn't been updated. It was 48.80 when she won the Kentucky Oaks and doesn't take into consideration her Preakness and Mother Goose victories. Zenyatta with an index of 82.30 is out of Vertigineux by Kris S. whose index is 3.96. Both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta are true champions and their dams are typical of what you can expect to see from mares that produce champions. They were sound enough to race and win, but they were no great shakes as racemares. On the other hand this week we also see the dam of the winner of the Cornhusker Handicap G2 is champion Mom's Command winner of the Triple Tiara with a racing index of 53.47. Her son Jonesboro who won the Cornhusker has a racing index 10.95 even though he has won $1,383,500. Mom's Command bred down 80% from her own racing index and although Jonesboro has won over $1,000,000 he is not even close to being a horse of championship caliber having won that amount during 6 racing seasons. Another salient point. Jonesboro was one of Mom's Commands last foals, produced when she was almost 20. Great racemares will often produce their best foals later in life after their bodies have recuperated from the stress of a hard racing career. We aren't going to gain great insight in a few weeks but over a longer period of time a pattern will begin to emerge.

Race...............................winner................index...........................dam.......................index
Vanity H. Zenyatta 82.30 Vertigineux 3.96
Mother Goose S. Rachel Alexandra 48.80 Lotta Kim 1.88
King Edward C. Rahy's Attorney 20.79 Rahy's Hope .65
First Flight H Porte Boneur 12.18 Sous Entendu 2.00
Beverly Hills H Black Mamba 20.81 Sneetch 10.00
Cornhusker H Jonesboro 10.95 Mom's Command 53.47
Colonial Turf C. Battle of Hastings 26.45 Subya 6.00

Another interesting point to consider is that Black Mamba's dam and Battle of Hasting's dam were grass runners which are much more likely to produce high indexed runners then their contemporaries which raced on dirt.