Jockey Club Gold Cup G1

The running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup G1 last week highlighted the achievement of the young stallion Birdstone who has sired two Classic winners in his first crop. Summer Bird won the Belmont Stakes G1 before adding the Travers Stakes G1 and the recent Jockey Club Gold CupG1. This is in addition to Kentucky Derby G1 winner Mine That Bird. the only question now will be id he can replicate this success when he is mated with higher quality mares. We should know next year.



Here are last weeks major stakes winners with their racing indexes and their dams racing indexes. I keep a record of all of the dams of G1 and G2 winners and their respective dams and broodmare sires anyone interested in receiving this list can e-mail me at floydoliver@sbcglobal.net and I will email you a copy.

One last thought. Remember in my blog on 9/13/09 entitled Summer Bird Takes Travers Stakes I said it would be very unlikely that Mi Sueno would win the Breeders cup Juvenile Fillies becuase her dam has such a high racing index. Mi Sueno was injured and retired. However, she is out of a daughter of Hennessy as is Careless Jewel winner of the Cotillion. Hennessy is proving his daughters can produce very high indexed runners in the championship class. Also note both of these runners, Careless jewel and Mi Sueno were produced when their dams were crossed with the Pulpit male line



Jockey Club Gold Cup G1
Summer Bird 79.03 Hong Kong Squall .57



Kentucky Cup Classic G2
Furthest Land 8.44 Flagrant Unr



Gallant Bloom Breeders Cup Handicap G2
Indian Blessing 52.06 Shameful 7.94



Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational G1
Interpatation 7.36 Idealistic 5.19



Beldame Stakes G1
Music Note 44.68 Note Musicale Unr



Vosburgh Stakes G1
Kodiak Kowboy 22.28 Kokadrie Unr



Flower Bowl Invitational G1
Pure Clan 36.34 Gather The Clan 9.05



Hawthorne Gold Cup G2
Awesome Gem 22.74 Piano Unr



Indiana Derby G2
Misremembered 24.87 Beyond Perfection 31.40



Cotillion Stakes G2
Careless Jewel 55.96 Sweet and Careless Unr



Ohio Derby G2
Gone Astray 21.91 Illicit Unr

Connemara

In the 10th race at Turfway Park on Sunday Oct. 4th 2009 we might have seen a future star emerge. The horse in question is Connemara by Giant's Causeway-Satin Sunrise by Mr. Leader.
You would have to have seen the race to realise how impressive it was. He had the TVG commentators singing his praise considering how many races they watch. The colt was left at the post, raced wide around the first turn and down the backstretch, continued five wide around the far turn and won by 5 lengths. Since his sire is currently the Leading sire in North America this colt could well develop into a classic contender.

He has some interesting pedigree traits. 1st he traces in tail female to one of the great matriarch's of the breed Queen Mary. If you've never heard of her she was owned my a trainer named William I'Anson back in 1850. After producing her first foal she was sold to a farmer in Scotland to produce work horses. I'Anson kept her foal and used her as a hack. One day while riding her across the gallops to the post office he decided to let her run. By the time he reached the post office he was desperate to find her dam, Queen Mary. He finally located her in Scotland and had to pay a premium to get her back because she was in-foal to a Clydesdale stallion. The foal, later to be named Haricot was a mulitiple stakes winner and an even better producer. Her daughter Caller Ou won the St. leger Stakes and her son Sir Bevys won the Epsom Derby. She is also the granddam of leading sire Hampton. I'Anson was lucky beyond belief to reacquire his cull because for him she produced 10 Stakes winners including Blink Bonny who won the Derby and the Oaks and produced Derby winner Blair Athol who won the Derby and St. leger and was leading sire in England 4 times. If that wasn't enough Queen Mary is also the dam of Leading sire in North America, Bonnie Scotland.

If you remember my last post I showed that Urban Sea's breeding ability may be the result of reinforcing a strong female family with a male line tracing to it. This happened over and over again with the descendants of Queen Mary. Black Toney, who was a surprisingly good stallion dispite being a mediocre racehorse was out of a mare bred along the lines of Urban Sea. His dam Belgravia was a great granddaughter of Queen Mary while Belgravia's sire was a grandson of Queen Mary's Son, Bonnie Scotland. Black Toney sired two Kentucky Derby winners in Black Gold and Brokers Tip as well as Bimelech who was unbeaten at two and a champion at three. Check out Belgravia's pedigree Http://www.pedigreequery.com/belgravia

Another thing I like about Connemara's pedigree is the fact that he is linebred 3x5 to Djeddah. Take a look at Djeddah's pedigree and compare it to Belgravia's and Urban Sea's Http://www.pedigreequery.com/Djeddah

Hope that gives you alot to think about

Urban Sea

In my first post entitled The Rachel Alexandra Dilemma I mentioned that Urban Sea was one of those rare mares that inspite of being a champion racemare was still as good as a produced as one could imagine. In that post I postulated that one of the reasons for her success as a broodmare was that she ran on grass. Mares that run on turf are much more likely to be good producers then their counterparts that compete on dirt. What is the resaon for this abnormality? It could be the difference in training Methods. Federico Tesio believed that hard racing depleted a horse of a certain vitality that it did not have to pass on to the next generation. He felt that a generation of rest was necessary to restore this vitality. The 2nd horse I bred was a colt by Go Marching. He was sent to France where he was trained by Miguel Clement who had trained two winners of the Prix Du Jockey Club (French Derby). He told me that we Americans breed 20 Sea-Birds every year, but only one survives our training methods. It could be that horses that run on dirt are subjected to training methods much more likely to drain a horse of the vitality of which Tesio spoke. It can't be proven ,but it's a rational explanation. I know that Champion racemares who compete on dirt are very unlikely to produce horses of championship caliber whereas their counterparts who race on turf are much more likely to produce horses of classic ability.



Urban Sea is one of those exceptional broodmares. There could be another explanation for her extraordinary ability. I would suggest that you look back at the post on Chauette posted 7/28/09. Take a look a Chauette's 2nd dam Quiet fun. If you don't have a program to do this go online site http://www.pedigreequery.com/quiet fun. You will find that both her sire and dam both trace to the same mare, Cequillo by Princequillo. Her grandsire Fappiano also traces to Cequillo. Then pull up a mare named Lizzie G who happens to be the 2nd dam of the great Domino. You will see the same pattern represented by three crosses of Fandango. One come from the direct female line and two more from War Dance and LeCompte.

Essentially, you could describe this as a stallion being used to reinforce his own maternal line. This happens much more in thoroughbred breeding then you might realize and the results are often profound. Some horses you might know with this pattern are Numbered Account, Relaxing, dam of Easy Goer, Mint Copy, Dam of Deputy Minister, Mother Siegel, dam of Minoru, Giantess, 2nd and 3rd dam of 7 classic winners, Blue Larkspur, Black Toney, etc. There are hundreds more, one of which is Urban Sea's dam Allegretta.

There is an important distiction that has to be made here. A very important one. When I speak of the male line being used to reinforce the female line.........I don't mean just the sire. It could be the sire, grandsire or great grandsire in the direct male line that is used to reinforce the female line.

With that in mind pull up the pedigree of Urban Sea's dam http://www.pedigreequery.com/Allegretta. You will see that her grandsire Agio traces to a mare called Aster while Allegretta also traces to Aster.

If you look at Agio's dam Aralia you will find the exact same pattern. Alchimist her sire traces to Alveole and so does Aralia.

I believe that Urban Sea's incredible breeding ability come from the fact that her dam is very reinforced when it comes to her tail female line. She is linebred to Aster and inbred to Alchimist and both these horses trace to the same mare. Check it out. Then you'll understand why I think Chauette, in the right hands could be an exceptional broodmare

Ventura takes Woodbine Mile G1

Ventura soldified her position as best female turf miler in North America with a victory in the $1,000,000 Woodbine mile over colts. She has a 73.96 while her dam Estala by Be My Guest has an estimated racing index of 3.50. Estala placed 2nd in the ungraded Prix Isola Bella and 3rd in the ungraded Prix Finlande and Prix Rose De Mai. She is typical of the sort of race mare that produces very high indexed horses. See Arlington Million Post





Latest G1 and G2 winners





Woodbine Mile G1

Ventura 73.96 Estala 3.50



Northern Dancer Breeders Cup G1

Just As Well 15.25 No Matter What 15.25



Canadian Stakes G2

Princess Haya 8.68 Sally Slew 1.25

Futurity Stakes G2
D'Funnybone 19.31 Elbow 2.25

Matron Stakes G2
Awesome Maria 18.35 Discreetly Awesome Unr

Super Derby G2
Regal Ransom 37.50 Kelli's Ransom 2.60

Ruffian Handicap G1
Swift Temper 18.81 Glascow's Gold 1.56

Palomar Handicap G2
Gotta Have Her 11.37 Winnowing Unr

Rachel Alexandra Defeats Older Males

What can you say about this great filly. She has beaten the three-year-old colts in the Preakness Stakes and Haskell Invitational and has just become the first filly ever to win the Woodward Stakes at the same time beating older males. There is no doubt who is the Horse of the Year for 2009.

Often high indexed mares will produce their best runners late in their breeding careers (after their bodies have had time to recuperate from their hard racing careers) This years Hopeful Stakes winner Dublin is out of Classy Mirage who has a 21.93 index. I've been watching her for years due to the fact that she traces to a Matriarch.

Latest G1 & G2 winners

Woodward Stakes G1
Rachel Alexandra 69.01 Lotta Kim 12.71

Pacific Classic G1
Richard's Kid 15.71 Tough Broad 5.30

Pat O'Brien Stakes G1
Zensational 27.05 Joke 3.88

Del Mar Derby G2
Rendezvous 7.90 Halo Babe unr

Spinaway Stakes G1
Hot Dixie Chick 20.32 Above Perfection 14.54

Del Mar Futurity G1
Lookin At Lucky 27.42 Private Feeling .97

Pennsylvania Derby G2
Gone Astray 21.14 Illicit unr

Hopeful Stakes G1
Dublin 19.50 Classy Mirage 21.93

Summer Bird takes Travers Stakes G1

Summer Bird gave his sire another G1 win to add to the fact that he has sired 2 classic winners in his first crop. This group of Sophmore Stallions is exceptional including Birdstone, Medaglia D'Oro, Tapit, Sprightstown, and Candy Ride. It appears that the most important up and coming stallion in North America is Pulpit. This stallion has the unique ability, only possessed by leading stallions such as Bold Ruler, Bull Lea, Hail to Reason, etc, to breed fast mares up. Only a few elite stallions possess this characteristic. During the past two weeks Pulpit has sired two superior runners, Del Mar Debutante G1 winner Mi Sueno whose dam Madcap Escapade has a 44.94 index, and Forego Stakes G1 winner Pyro whose dam has an index of 12.50. If you look at Pulpit's son Sky Mesa his dam has an index of 10.60. Even if you breed a high indexed mare to Pulpit and she breeds down from her own index, you might still get a very valuable stallion. I'd like to make a prediction here; Mi Sueno will not win the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies. If she does her index will be above that of her dam Madcap Escapade and that is unlikely to happen. We will see!



Latest Major winners



Bernard Baruch Handicap G2
Justenuffhumor 18.35 Justenuffheart 6.50

Del Mar Breeders Cup Mile G2
Ferneley 9.35 Ambertide .20

Ballerina Stakes G1
Music Note 35.51 Note Musicale unr

King's Bishop Stakes G1
Capt. Candyman Can 18.67 Stormy Way 3.67

Travers Stakes G1
Summer Bird 70.25 Hong Kong Squall .57

Del Mar Handicap G2
Spring House 8.76 Spring Star 10.00

Molly Pitcher Stakes G2
Luna Vega 6.05 Donnavega 3.68

Personal Ensign Stakes G1
Icon Project 39.77 La Gueriere 14.31

Del Mar Debutante G1
Mi Sueno 20.72 Madcap Escapade 44.94

Forego Stakes G1
Pyro 34.21 Wild Vision 12.50

Alabama Stakes

Tapit further solidified his status as a rising star in the ranks of the powerful group of 2nd crop stallions which include Medaglia D' Oro, Birdstone, Speightstown, Candy Ride, etc. with the victory of Careless Jewel in the G1 Alabama Stakes.

An interesting horse to watch is the Sword Dancer Invitational winner Telling who is by A P Indy-Well Chosen by Deputy Minister. Well Chosen has a racing index of 26.22 which puts her up near the championship index. Currently, Telling has a racing index of 11.83 less then 50% of his dams, but lets see if his index goes up. It is my contention that with but a few exceptions mares like Well Chosen breed down from their own indexes and therefore almost never breed champions. Let's see what happens to Telling during the remainder of the racing year. Another such mare is Tranquility Lake by Rahy who is the dam of Courageous Cat whose index is 1/3 of her own. Should be mentioned though that Tranquility Lake is also the dam of After Market whose index is 25.02

Alabama Stakes G1
Careless Jewel 38.22 Sweet and Careless Unr

Del Mar Oaks G1
Internallyflawless 14.30 Tapatina .24

Sword Dancer Invitational G1
Telling 11.83 Well Chosen 26.22

John C. Mabee Stakes G1
Magical Fantasy 28.15 Kissing Gate .20

Honorable Miss Handicap G2
Game Face 18.61 Galleon of Gold Unr

National Musecum Hall of Fame Stakes G2
Courageous Cat 9.32 Tranquility Lake 29.95

LaJolla Handicap G2
Meteore 5.63 Meteor Miracle 4.64

Adirondack Stakes G2
Worstcasescenario 20.00 Stacie's Halo 3.56

Lake Placid Stakes G2
Shared Interest 7.78 Silk n' Sapphire 4.34

Saratoga Special G2
D'Funnybone 12.15 Elbow 2.25