Monday, August 24th, 2009
By Jack Werk
On Saturday at Saratoga, Tapit’s Canadian-raced daughter Careless Jewel (click here to view pedigree) won the G1 $600,000 Alabama Stakes by 11 lengths! (Click here to view the chart) Let’s face it, not many fillies win Grade 1 races by margins like that, but another one that does these days is Rachel Alexandra, whose sire is Medaglia d’Oro. Both Tapit and Medaglia d’Oro are 2nd-crop sires, which means their first crop is 3 in 2009. On June 6th, I posted about the duel these two exceptional young guns are involved in, and the gunfight continues! (Click here to read the post from June 6th). According to the Thoroughbred Times 2nd-crop sire list as of Aug. 24, Medaglia d’Oro at No. 1 leads Tapit at No. 2 by progeny earnings of $7,011,617 to $6,530,642!
Both stallions are represented by 10 SWs with Tapit leading Medaglia by 5 Graded SWs to 4! And now with Careless Jewel’s G1 score, Tapit has 3 G1 winners to Medaglia d’Oro’s 2.
You probably know that Medaglia d’Oro still hasn’t yet sired a stakes winning colt – all 10 of his SWs are fillies. Tapit does have colt SWs, but it’s an interesting fact that his best runners are fillies, too. What’s really amazing about both stallions is that all 5 of their combined G1 winners are fillies!
Medaglia d’Oro’s 2 G1 winners are:
Rachel Alexandra
Gabby’s Golden Gal
Tapit’s 3 G1 winners are:
Careless Jewel
Stardom Bound
Laragh
(click their names to view their pedigrees)
Another interesting tidbit: Tapit’s Stardom Bound, last season’s 2-year-old filly champion, was the filly everyone was talking about as a potential Derby horse earlier this year. Then Rachel Alexandra appeared on the scene and won the Preakness, and since then she’s defeated colts again and is now considered “one for the ages.” Now throw in Careless Jewel into the mix! How will she fare against Rachel Alexandra? She’s not exactly a one-hit wonder. Before the Alabama, she won the G2 Delaware Oaks, and she’s 4 for 5 lifetime!
Remember the two best fillies of 1980? Genuine Risk won the Kentucky Derby and was 2nd in the Preakness and Belmont, but Bold ‘n Determined, who’d won a boatload of races against fillies, including the Coaching Club American Oaks, defeated Genuine Risk in the G2 Maskette. Bold ‘n Determined actually won 16 of 20 starts, and some thought she was actually the better of the two.
The ongoing battle for supremacy this year between Medaglia d’Oro and Tapit may boil down into what happens between the battles of their fillies! Stardom Bound is reportedly making a comeback, too.
One thing is for certain: The freshman sire crop of 2008 is appears to be the best we’ve seen for some time. In addition to Medaglia d’Oro and Tapit, this group also includes Birdstone, Lion Heart, Speightstown, Candy Ride, plus a slew of others showing promise.
Footnote: In addition to Careless Jewel’s G1 victory on the East Coast Saturday, another 3yo filly, Internallyflawless (click here to view pedigree), won the G1 Del Mar Oaks impressively. This Giant’s Causeway filly could be a force in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf later this year. (BTW, both Careless Jewel and Internallyflawless have Werk Nick Ratings of A+++ *Triple Plus*!)
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 14th, 2009
By Jack Werk
In case you haven’t noticed, Medaglia d’Oro, the subject of several posts here, isn’t the only young son of El Prado showing promise at stud. El Prado’s champion son Kitten’s Joy (click here to view stallion directory page), the Eclipse Award winner for best turf male in 2004, has 8 winners from his first crop of 2-year-olds, which ties him for 3rd on the first-crop list by winners (click here to view chart) with Pollard’s Vision. They are behind only Wildcat Heir (click here to read previous post), who leads the pack with 13, and Roman Ruler.
KITTEN'S JOY
Wildcat Heir, by the speedy Forest Wildcat, was a G1-winning sprinter who was also G2-placed at 2, so you can understand his fast break out of the gate! In MAJOR contrast, Kitten’s Joy broke his maiden at 9 furlongs on the turf and was a G1 winner at 12 furlongs on turf. Conventional wisdom says that a 12-furlong turf horse has no business being on a list of leading 2-year-old winners, but there he is at Number 3 as of August 13, with, I believe, his best still ahead of him. You would have to assume these 2-year-old winners can only get better with age and distance!
After the fast start at stud of Medaglia d’Oro, who like Kitten’s Joy was a route horse that won G1s at 10 furlongs and was 2nd in the G1 Belmont at 12 furlongs, Kitten’s Joy is showing early signs of becoming another successful son at stud for his excellent sire, a son of the legendary Sadler’s Wells.
When El Prado went to stud at Airdrie for $7,500, it would have been difficult to predict his future success as a stallion in North America. He was a turf horse and relatively unknown to American breeders. But, a success he has been! In 2009, his stud fee was listed as $75,000. A G1 winner at 2 at 7 furlongs and a G2 winner at a mile, El Prado won 4 of 6 at 2 and didn’t win in 3 starts at 3. He was an Irish champion 2-year-old, and as a son of Sadler’s Wells he was bound to inject stamina into pedigrees, too. What was unexpected, at the time anyway, was El Prado’s ability to sire quality dirt runners, which he has. In fact, 28 of his 58 unrestricted SWs have won on the dirt! Medaglia d’Oro is a testament to that. There are many others, too, like G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and G1 Pacific Classic winner Borrego (also at stud), G1 Spinster Stakes winner Asi Siempre, etc.
But El Prado, as a son of Sadler’s Wells, also sired superb turf horses. Kitten’s Joy is a testament to that! And there are many others, too, like G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Artie Schiller (also at stud). You can say that El Prado has broken down the barrier in North America for the Sadler’s Wells line, and Medaglia d’Oro, with 10 SWs to date and classic winner Rachel Alexandra from his first crop, has busted down the doors! Now, it appears, the chances are good that Kitten’s Joy will be another to carry the flag for this line in North America.
The Sadler’s Well’s line had its first major success in a North American classic when Not Impossible’s Not Bourbon won the 10-furlong Queen’s Plate last year. Not Impossible was an unraced son of Sadler’s Wells. His full brother, G1 winner Perfect Soul, also struck in the Canadian classics this year when his son Perfect Shower won the 12-furlong Breeders’ Stakes on turf. Throw in Rachel Alexandra’s conquest of colts in the Preakness, and that makes 3 North American classic winners for the Sadler’s Wells line in 2 years! And get this, the races were on dirt (Preakness), all weather (Queen’s Plate), and turf (Breeders’ Stakes)!
This brings me to why I’m impressed with Kitten’s Joy. He’s siring true to his pedigree and racing form. All his winners to date in North America have won on either turf or synthetics! And, more importantly, they’ve won some pretty good maiden specials over a distance of ground. Look at his prominent winners to date:
Scottkeith’skitten, a colt, won a 1 1/16-mile $51,000 MSW @Saratoga on turf
Dean’s Kitten, a colt, won a 1 1/16-mile $51,000 MSW @ Saratoga on turf
Foot Fault, a colt, won a 1-mile $25,000 MSW @Ellis on turf
William’s Kitten, a colt, won a 1-mile $25,000 MSW @Ellis on turf
Kid Canuck, a colt, won a 6-furlong $66,000 MSW @Woodbine on all weather
Maddy’s Odyssey, a filly, won a 4 ½-furlong $36,000 MSW @Presque Isle on all weather AND came back to run 3rd in a Stakes at Colonial Downs
Besides the impressive start at stud, there are other reasons why I like Kitten’s Joy, too. With all due respect to his owners and breeders, Mr. and Mrs. Ken Ramsey, Kitten’s Joy has not been bred to the strongest group of commercial mares, yet he’s putting out some nice 2-year-old winners at a fast clip. I read somewhere that Ken Ramsey, with whom I shared a water taxi in Dubai years ago when he was there with Roses in May, said he claimed a bunch of mares in the $50,000 range to breed to his stallion. Well, the Ramseys know how to breed racehorses – Dubai World Cup winner Roses in May, Kitten’s Joy, G1 winner Precious Kitten, etc. – and they are doing ok in the stallion business, too. Take a close look at their Catienus, whom they claimed too! He’s got 20 SWs from 6 crops to race. (I happen to own a daughter of Catienus from a Ramsey family, and many of her half-sisters have been bred to Kitten’s Joy, so I’ll have a rooting interest in his future success, too!)
The big question is: What can this stallion do with better mares? If he continues at his current pace, he’s bound to get them in the next year or two.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Friday, August 7th, 2009
By Jack Werk
In one of my earlier posts this year about Medaglia d’Oro’s brilliant start at stud - Medaglia d’Oro’s Fast Fillies (Click here to view article) – I said that it was only a matter of time until his colts would begin to join his fillies in the stakes winner column. Currently, Medaglia d’Oro has an amazing 10 SWs (all fillies) with only two crops running.
Today Al Zir (Medaglia d’Oro-Bayou Plans, by Bayou Hebert) made his case to become his sire’s first stakes-winning colt with a smashing victory as a first-time starter in the July Course Maiden Stakes at Newmarket. While this is not a qualifying black-type race, the way in which he won suggests black-type is just around the corner!
You can view the race by going to the Thoroughbred Daily News’ (TDN) website. It’s worth seeing.
Al Zir is owned by Godolphin and purchased for $1.6 million at the Fasig-Tipton Florida 2yo In-Training Sale this year. He’s a half to G1 winner Midas Eyes.
We’ll definitely be hearing more from Al!
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
By Jack Werk
As many of you already know, we recently unveiled a new Werk Nick Rating, the “A Triple Plus.” I firmly believe this is the most powerful pedigree rating in the business. For those of you who want to know more about it, I recommend reading Roger Lyon’s blog “eNicks launches the A+++.”
At www.enicks.com, buyers can get FREE Werk Nick Ratings for sales horses that are the progeny of stallions enrolled in the eNicks program. This includes all North American sales, most Australian sales, and some European sales.
In the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale next Monday and Tuesday, there are 24 yearlings by enrolled stallions that received an A+++ rating. Here they are with their consignors:
Hip 9 (Eaton Sales)
Hip 14 (Mt. Brilliant Farm)
Hip 19 (Denali Stud)
Hip 22 (Hill ‘n’ Dale)
Hip 30 (Hill ‘n’ Dale)
Hip 31 (Eaton Sales)
Hip 34 (Eaton Sales)
Hip 39 (Eaton Sales)
Hip 56 (Lantern Hill Farm)
Hip 66 (Lane’s End)
Hip 76 (Nursery Place)
Hip 91 (Bluegrass T’bred Services)
Hip 110 (Sam-Son Farm)
Hip 123 (Gainesway)
Hip 132 (Stephens T’breds)
Hip 145 (Bluegrass T’bred Services)
Hip 146 (Bluegrass T’bred Services)
Hip 149 (Taylor Made Sales)
Hip 177 (Taylor Made Sales)
Hip 179 (Gainesway)
Hip 184 (Lane’s End)
Hip 190 (Taylor Made)
Hip 194 (Dromoland Farm)
Hip 196 (Taylor Made)
Hip 201 (Pauls Mill)
Hip 208 (Eaton Sales)
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Jack Werk (1944-2010)
