Archive for October, 2009
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
By Jack Werk
I’m not one to say I told you so, but ok, I’ll say it just this one time – I told you so! Check out my blog post Kitten’s Joy is on the Prowl from Aug. 14, 2009, when El Prado’s champion turf son Kitten’s Joy had ZERO Stakes Winners to his name. After this weekend, with 3 NEW SWs, he now has 5 SWs! That’s the best among all freshman sires to date, and Kitten’s Joy is 2nd on the freshman sire list by progeny earnings through Tuesday, too, with $911,061 in earnings to $994,330 for leader Roman Ruler.
In that post, I wrote, “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,” and I also wrote, “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.” It’s really for this reason that I projected Kitten’s Joy’s 2yos would come on. They were coming to hand early and racing pretty well in sprints, but they just figured to love the stretch out – especially on turf! – and they have!
All three of Kitten’s Joy’s SWs this weekend came over a distance on turf, but he also has had a SW over a distance on dirt, too. From what I’ve read, he’s going to have at least two – and maybe three – runners in the Breeders’ Cup, which would have been harder to predict than Mine That Bird winning the Derby! Let’s face it, this horse was not exactly bred to ‘blue hens,’ so he’s pretty much doing it on his own.
Actually, he’s had some help, and this is part of the reason for this post. Four of Kitten’s Joy’s 5 SWs are bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who bred, raced, and stand the sire. The Ramseys are breeders from the past, in this regard. They own the mares, the stallion, and the babies, and they race a steady stream of homebreds. It’s a great formula for making a non-commercial stallion, especially a turf horse like Kitten’s Joy.
Coolmore's Legendary Sadler's Wells
This is exactly what Frank Stronach did with El Prado, who is establishing the Sadler’s Wells line in North America with Medaglia d’Oro – and now with Kitten’s Joy. El Prado, you may remember, entered stud in 1993 while standing for just $7,500. Nine years later he had become North America’s Leading Sire by Progeny Earnings for 2002 and ranked 2nd to A.P. Indy the following year. During El Prado’s early years at stud Stronach heavily supported El Prado with his own mares.
It’s interesting to note that my client Chuck Fipke, who bred, raced and now stands the Sadler’s Wells stallion Perfect Soul, is using the same formula of Stronach and the Ramseys. He’s purchased over 50 mares at auction to breed to Perfect Soul, and he’s racing most of the progeny. Don’t forget that the first North American classic winner for the Sadler’s Wells line was Chuck’s Not Bourbon, who won the Queen’s Plate last year. Not Bourbon was a homebred sired by Chuck’s homebred Sadler’s Wells stallion Not Impossible – Perfect Soul’s full brother.
This year, the Sadler’s Wells line was represented by its 2nd North American classic winner when Medaglia d’Oro’s Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness. Then, Perfect Soul joined his full brother as a classic sire when Chuck’s Perfect Shower won the 12f Breeders’ Stakes – the last leg of the Canadian Triple Crown and the 3rd North American classic winner for the Sadler’s Wells line in two years!
I don’t believe that Kitten’s Joy or Perfect Soul – as grass horses – would have stood a chance to succeed here without the major support of their owner/breeders. Medaglia d’Oro was a little different, because he was a dirt horse, but his success is an indicator that the Sadler’s Wells line can make the transition to the American racing environment. Kitten’s Joy is following in his footsteps and figures to get even better with better mares, and I wouldn’t rule out Perfect Soul yet. He had an impressive 2-year-old winner (first-time starter) at Woodbine Sunday, and as you’d suspect, the colt was bred and is raced by Chuck! One thing I can tell you for sure is that the mares that produced Perfect Soul’s second crop are better than those who produced his first crop, and the mares that produced Perfect Soul’s third crop are better than those who produced his second crop!
(Footnote: Kitten’s Joy was named eMatings Stallion of the Week for W/E 10/25/09)
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Monday, October 26th, 2009
By Jack Werk
All of a sudden last week, on the same day in fact, Walmac Farm and Ashford Stud each announced news about a new stallion retiring to stud for 2010. What made the news fascinating for me was that both stallions were sons of Kingmambo!
KINGMAMBO
Kingmambo is one of the top stallions in the world. By Mr. Prospector out of two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Miesque, He is the sire of 21 G1 winners, most of them on the turf and in Europe. In fact, 58 of his 69 unrestricted SWs are on the turf.
The progeny of Kingmambo appear to be emulating their sire in the breeding shed. Sons of Kingmambo have sired 16 G1 winners to date and his daughters have produced 11 G1 winners, 5 of them this year!
In a lot of ways, Kingmambo is a throwback to sires such as Blushing Groom, Riverman, Caro, Sharpen Up, etc., because he’s a European-raced miler whose main appeal has been in Europe. And what’s probably not that well known to breeders here is that Kingmambo has been a tremendous sire of classic winners in Europe. (Don’t forget that he won the French 2000 Guineas himself!). Take a look at this record: Henrythenavigator (English/Irish 2000 Guineas), Bluemamba (French 1000 Guineas), Divine Proportions (French 1000 Guineas and Oaks), Russian Rhythm (English 1000 Guineas), Virginia Waters (English 1000 Guineas), King’s Best (English 2000 Guineas), Light Shift (English Oaks), Rule of Law (English St. Leger), and Lemon Drop Kid (Belmont Stakes) — the only American classic winner of the group and therefore his only classic winner on dirt. Kingmambo has also had a classic winner in Japan in Japanese-bred King Kamehameha, who won the 2400m restricted Japanese Derby in record time of 2:23.3.
Thewayyouare winning the Gr.3 Prix Thomas Bryon
This is a huge classic record and it’s no wonder that Ashford and Walmac are so high on Thewayyouare (out of Maryinsky, by Sadler’s Wells) and Boboman (out of Slewvera, by Seattle Slew), respectively. These two sons of Kingmambo will be joined in 2010 by his globe-trotting son Archipenko (out of Bound, by Nijinsky), who enters stud at Lanwades in England. ALL three are G1 winners! (Click here to view 5-cross pedigrees of all three)
Last year, two other major sons of Kingmambo entered stud in the U.S. One of them was Ashford’s Henrythenavigator, who like Thewayyouare is out of a Sadler’s Wells mare. The other was Millennium Farm’s G1 winner Student Council (out of Class Kris, by Kris S.). (Click here to view their 5-cross pedigrees).
In addition to these sons of Kingmambo, a full brother to Kingmambo, Kitalpha, is at stud in Kentucky after relocating from Zimbabwe, and he’s proven to be very popular with breeders. (Click here to read a previous post about him). I also wrote a post earlier this year about Miesque’s last foal, Judpot, entering stud in South Africa. (Click here to read).
Kingmambo’s best son at stud so far is Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid (out of Charming Lassie, by Seattle Slew). He was good enough to win the G1 Futurity Stakes at 2, as well as the G1 Travers at 3 and the G1 Whitney at 4, so his dirt-racing credentials are as good as you can get. So, his ability to sire dirt runners (21 of his 39 unrestricted SWs are on the dirt) will probably endear breeders to the other, newer, sons of Kingmambo, even if they were primarily turf horses, like Thewayyouare, Henrythenavigator, and Boboman. By looking at Lemon Drop Kid’s pedigree, it’s also easy to see why some of the other Kingmambo’s have a chance to succeed: Lemon Drop Kid was out of a Seattle Slew mare (bred like Boboman) from the family of A.P. Indy (also by Seattle Slew)!
We’ve already seen how Miesque has worked with both Mr. Prospector AND A.P. Indy (her SW Mingun is by A.P. Indy), and we know that this is a great nick, too, so it makes sense to breed Seattle Slew-line mares to these sons of Kingmambo, but the real kicker is that because Lemon Drop Kid himself is from the family of Seattle Slew’s best son, A.P. Indy, this is a no-brainer combination!
Walmac's Boboman
Considering all of this, Ashford and Walmac have good reason for their high expectations for Theywayyouare and Boboman. Will breeders see it the same way? Based on the number of mares bred to Henrythenavigator (155), Kitalpha (130), and Student Council (107) in 2009, the answer should be a resounding YES!
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
By Jack Werk
We at Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc. track sire data from around the world, and it’s one of the edges we have in being able to anticipate developing trends. For example, earlier this year, in an April 23 post, I wrote: “It’s easy to get caught up in what’s going on here in the U.S., but these days, especially, it pays to follow global trends – and there’s something huge brewing in Europe that bears watching. One of the biggest sire-line developments of recent times is the growing influence of sons of Green Desert (by Danzig), highlighted recently by the Irish National Stud’s Invincible Spirit, who had three SWs this past week in Europe and Australia!”
Well, as you know by now, Green Desert sires have been on fire in Europe all year! Besides the mentioned Invincible Spirit, this group also includes Oasis Dream, who’s had an absolutely sensational year with 19 black type winners to date (17 of them first-time SWs), and the equally amazing Cape Cross – who we all know now as the sire of the great Sea the Stars! In fact, it was only a few weeks after that post that Sea the Stars “arrived” on the scene in the 2000 Guineas, and the rest, as they say, is now history!
I mention this only because I want to lead into another important development that’s taking place in the East – Japan!
SUNDAY SILENCE
This weekend there was an international Group 1 race – although there were no foreign runners in the race, only Japanese-breds – that featured the best 3-year-old filly in Japan, Buena Vista. She had won the Japanese 1000 Guineas and Oaks. The race was the G1 Shuka Sho at Kyoto Racecourse on Sunday at 2000 meters on turf (about 10f). In an amazing finish, the filly Red Desire held off Buena Vista by a nose, but Buena Vista was DQ’d to 3rd and Broad Street was brought up to 2nd from 3rd. Now, here’s the amazing part about this race: The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd were EACH sired by different sons of Sunday Silence – arguably the greatest stallion in Japanese racing history!
Red Desire is by Manhattan Café. Broad Street is by the deceased Agnes Tachyon. Buena Vista is by Special Week! (Click here for the pedigrees of the three.)
Now, take a look at the chart below, which WTC compiles and updates each week. It lists the leading sires in Japan by black type winners (3 or more) per International Cataloguing Standards. Now, this is borderline unbelievable. Eight of the 10 sires on this list are sons of Sunday Silence (Hail to Reason sire line). And, the two non-Sunday Silence stallions, Symboli Kris S. and Tanino Gimlet, are Hail to Reason-line stallions!
Sire of 2009 Black-Type Winners – Japan (thru 10/19/09)
SW
6 –Dance in the Dark (Sunday Silence)
6 –Manhattan Café (Sunday Silence)
5 –Agnes Tachyon (Sunday Silence)
5 –Stay Gold (Sunday Silence)
5 –Symboli Kris S. (Kris S.)
4–Admire Vega (Sunday Silence)
4 –Fuji Kiseki (Sunday Silence)
3 –Gold Allure (Sunday Silence)
3 –Special Week (Sunday Silence)
3 –Tanino Gimlet (Brian’s Time)
This, to me, is absolutely mind boggling for several reasons. First, there are already so many daughters of Sunday Silence entering the breeding shed in Japan that won’t be able to go to these stallions. And second, who are the daughters of these sons of Sunday Silence going to be bred to when they enter stud, fillies like Red Desire, Buena Vista, and Broad Street, to name three?
I believe that this natural concentration of Sunday Silence blood in Japan will create a situation for Japanese breeders to once again start shopping for stallions on the international marketplace, just as they did years ago when they searched for stallions that would cross with Japan’s then leading sire Northern Taste. They struck gold with Sunday Silence!
The time has come to begin the search for new breed-shaping stallions representing different sire lines, but with an emphasis on those that cross with Halo/Hail to Reason-line mares this time. And this explains why they’ve already purchased a major stallion from the US this year in Johannesburg! Not only is the Storm Cat line a favorable cross with Sunday Silence/Halo, but Johannesburg himself has a Werk Nick Rating of A+ with Halo-line mares. I don’t think this is a coincidence. (Note: Multiple G1 winner Tale of Ekati is by a son of Storm Cat out of a Sunday Silence mare)
Japanese demand for new outcross stallions should help our stagnant markets as well as stallion farms looking for cash infusions. It’s all part of the natural cycle of bloodstock markets, and I’m sure owners of legitimate stallions and stallion prospects in the West will soon find new opportunities to sell in the East - “Land of the Rising Sun!”
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Monday, October 19th, 2009
By Jack Werk
The race to win the Freshman sire title this year is one of the most competitive I’ve seen in years, and mark my words, it’s going to go down to the wire to determine the winner. Currently sitting atop the 2010 Freshman Sire standings (Click here to view) is Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Roman Ruler, a son of Fusaichi Pegasus. Roman Ruler had a huge day – Oct. 10 — when his son Homeboykris won the G1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park and his son Roman Invasion was 3rd in the G1 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
Then, two days ago, first-time starter Connie and Michael became Roman Ruler’s 20th 2-year-old winner with a 7 ¾ length MSW victory at Keeneland. He’s doing so well, in fact, the he is not only leads all freshman sires in progeny earnings but he ranks second among ALL juvenile sires behind City Zip with a mere $1,985 separating them! It’s still early but Roman Ruler is making a case that he might be the real deal!
Hill 'n' Dale's Roman Ruler
Roman Ruler was trained by Bob Baffert, who also trained his two half-brothers, G1 winner El Corredor and $4.6 million yearling Maimonides, who will stand at Vinery Florida for 2010.
Bob was always high on Roman Ruler, when he was racing, and considered him “the fastest 2-year-old”” he ever trained! In a recent conversation, he said the best word to describe Roman Ruler, a $500,000 yearling, was “brilliance,” and he said he had it from an early age. He describes the horse as “extremely athletic, great neck and shoulder.”
Roman Ruler won 5 of 10 starts. At 2, he broke his maiden in an incredible 57.27 for 5f and he won the G2 Best Pal Stakes by 7 lengths in 1:15.93 for 6 1/2 f! He also won the G2 Norfolk Stakes at 1 1/16 miles by 4 lengths in 1:44.27. So as Bob said, he was a pretty “brilliant” racehorse at 2, so it’s not too surprising that he’s having a great run with his own 2-year-olds. Don’t forget, too, that he’s at John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale – the farm that made Medaglia d’Oro and Candy Ride with their first crops!
Roman Ruler Winning Haskell
I like the prospects for the Roman Ruler’s for next year, too, because the stallion also was a pretty good 3-year-old. Remember, he won the G1 Haskell and the G2 Dwyer at 9f, and he was 3rd in the G1 Travers at 10f – a race that was maybe just a little too far for him.
Roman Ruler’s sire, the Mr. Prospector stallion Fusaichi Pegasus, did win the G1 Kentucky Derby, but Roman Ruler’s dam, Silvery Swan, I think has exerted a major influence on him. She’s a daughter of Silver Deputy, a very good stallion who only raced at 2. And his sire, Deputy Minister, was a multiple G1 winner at 2, too!
Silver Deputy’s dam is a daughter of Mr. Prospector, so Roman Ruler has 2×4 inbreeding to one of the greatest stallions – and speed influences – of American breeding.
Silvery Swan’s first foal was El Corredor, who was a super miler. He won the G1 Cigar Mile at 3 and a total of 7 of 10 starts. Maimonides was G1-placed at 2 and was also a very fast colt who never realized his full potential, according to Bob, so this is quite a fast and precocious female family, just in the 1st dam! And the mare also produced the G3 winner Silver Tornado!
Now, there’s one other thing to consider about Roman Ruler. His half-brother El Corredor (by Mr. Greeley, who’s a Mr. Prospector-line stallion, too) is the sire of 4 G1 winners from his first three crops and is a very legitimate young sire!
With all these connections behind him, I’ve got to like Roman Ruler’s chances to stay at or near the top of the freshman sire list, and beyond!
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Monday, October 12th, 2009
By Jack Werk
The A.P. Indy sire line in North America is being carried on notably by Claiborne’s Pulpit, who stood for $80,000 last year but whose stud fee has been reduced to $60,000 for 2010. I applaud Claiborne’s decision to lower the fee on a top stallion that most farms would probably have kept the same for next year, because Pulpit’s fee, based on his offspring’s performances in 2009, didn’t really didn’t need to come down.
Spendthrift's Malibu Moon
After Pulpit, the next best son of A.P. Indy in North America is Malibu Moon, whose rise from a bargain-basement stallion in Maryland at a fee of $3,000 to standing for $40,000 at Spendthrift in 2009 is one of the great Horatio Alger stories of the breeding world.
In a blog post dated Feb. 10, 2009, I wrote the following:
“Pulpit is one of many A.P. Indy stallions at stud in North America, and so far it’s been tough going for many of them, Pulpit being the notable exception (We actually named him a WTC Quality chef-de-race last month). The reason is pretty obvious: Up to now, the stamina that they pass on has been in conflict with the speedy racing programs offered here. That’s why some lesser-raced sons of A.P. Indy have been surprisingly more successful in places like South America and South Africa, where the racing climate is friendlier for showing off classic-type stamina. For example, sons of A.P. Indy like Indygo Shiner (G3 winner, started at stud in Argentina) and Camden Park (winner, started at stud in South Africa, now dead) have been absolute phenoms in the Southern Hemisphere, and now horses like Aptitude (Argentina) and Judpot (South Africa) figure to add to A.P. Indy’s Southern Hemisphere record.
But let’s not give up on his sire-making ability up North just yet as Malibu Moon is doing extremely well and stallions like Bernardini and Majestic Warrior are waiting in the wings.”
With 11 SWs this year, I think we can all agree, eight months later, that Malibu Moon is actually doing better than “extremely well.” In my opinion, with the retirements and/or deaths of several sires and the aging status of others, including A.P. Indy, this son of A.P. Indy has “arrived” into the big time! And he showed it once again with the Oct. 10 victory of 2-year-old filly Devil May Care (Click here to view her 5-cross pedigree) in the G1 Frizette at Belmont Park to become his second G1 winner of the year! Earlier this year, also at Belmont, Malibu Moon’s 3-year-old filly Funny Moon (Click here to view her 5-cross pedigree) won the G1 Coaching Club American Oaks over 10f. Now, previous to these to G1 winners, Malibu Moon only had two previous G1 winners (Declan’s Moon and Malibu Mint), so in 2009 he has doubled his G1 total to 4 and he promises to add to that total in the future. One obvious reason is that he’s getting much better quality of mares than when he first started off at Country Life Farm in Maryland for $3,000, and his mares this year at $40,000 should yield his best crop to date!
What’s really exceptional about Malibu Moon is that he’s one of just a handful of top sires who didn’t win a stakes race! That’s right; he made only two starts at 2, and won only his maiden special, in the fast time of 57.41 for 5f at Hollywood.
What’s also interesting is that he’s bred on the same cross as Pulpit, both of them being sons of A.P. Indy out of Mr. Prospector mares. Because of the Mr. Prospector speed influence in their pedigrees, Pulpit and Malibu Moon have been able to get stakes progeny over a wide range of distances, including good 2-year-olds. This, of course, is why these two stallions have fared better here than some of the other A.P. Indys, who, like I mentioned in my post from February, may have too much stamina for their own good here.
In Malibu Moon’s case, he’s the sire of 25 unrestricted SWs (not counting at least 11 of his early SWs that were restricted Maryland-bred SWs) with just his 6th crop racing. Inncredibly 13 of 25 won stakes at 2, and two of his four G1 winners were also 2-year-olds!
Remember, Malibu Moon himself was a fast 2-year-old, and his Mr. P dam, Macoumba, was a G1 winner at 2 as well. However, the Malibu Moon’s still get their dose of stamina from A.P. Indy, which is why they can win races like the CC American Oaks at 10f.
Surprisingly, Malibu has carved a niche for himself in Russia. It all started when they purchased Moon Thistle, a daughter of Malibu Moon, for $4,000 as a 2-year-old in training in 2003 from Maryland. The next year she won the Russian Oaks. Ever since, the Russians have been buying cheap Malibu Moons at auction, and this year, in fact, the Malibu Moon colt Static Memory won the Russian Derby! The Russian races, unfortunately, do not qualify for international black type.
The Malibu Moon 2-year-olds of 2009 were conceived on a $40,000 stud fee, which is what the stallion has stood for over the last three seasons in Kentucky. Expect his stock to continue to rise as well as his position in the stallion standings. Time to get on board the Malibu Moon express!
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Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
By Jack Werk
The Arc is tomorrow, but yesterday – Friday – I believe something significant happened that could affect our world here in the US of A. At a small track in Ireland named Dundalk, a G3 race called the Diamond Stakes was contested at 10f and 150yds on the synthetic. The easy winner (by 5 lengths) of the race was none other than the Coolmore-owned Mastercraftsman – one of the best 3-year-old milers in Europe this season.
What was Mastercraftsman (click here to view 5-cross pedigree), a winner of 7 of 11 starts, including the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas at 8f (click here to view race) and the G1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at Ascot at 8f, doing in this race, you ask? Well, it was his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, where the races are on synthetic. It’s probable, like Coolmore’s Henrythenavigator last year (also a 2000 Guineas/St. James’s Palace winner!), that Mastercraftsman will run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 10f. Henry almost won the race last year, and the winner of the race, Raven’s Pass, was another top miler from Europe!
If Mastercraftsman does run in the BC Classic, he’ll face his stablemate Rip Van Winkle (click here to view 5-cross pedigree), who punched his ticket to the race with a win in the G1 QE II, and it’s possible that they could run 1-2, just like the Euros from last year.
Mastercraftsman's Sire Dancehill Dancer
Coolmore, it just so happens, owns the 3 best colts in Europe not named Sea the Stars, and each of them is by their BIG 3 sires – Galileo (Rip Van Winkle), Montjeu (Irish Derby winner Fame and Glory), and Danehill Dancer (Mastercraftsman).
It’s quite possible, depending on how they fare in the BC, that Mastercraftsman and maybe Rip Van Winkle could end up at stud here, at Coolmore’s Kentucky operation at Ashford Stud. Remember, that’s what happened to Giant’s Causeway (2nd BC Classic, 2nd 2000 Guineas, won St. James’s Palace!) and Henrythenavigator (2nd BC Classic)! Look at the success of Giant’s Causeway, now, as a sire! As of today, he’s the leading stallion in the US by progeny earnings and unrestricted SWs!
In my opinion, it would be HUGE for the US breeding industry if Mastercraftsman and/or Rip Van Winkle also went to stud here, if they ended up doing well at the BC. They, like, Giant’s Causeway and Henrythenavigator, bring top-notch sire lines with top-notch European race records to the table, and I believe we as an industry are once again at a point where we need European-raced stallions in our program.
The success of Giant’s Causeway shows this, but if you look back to the 1980s, some of our best stallions were horses that had raced in Europe. Remember Nureyev? Well, he was the DQ’s 2000 Guineas 1st! How about Blushing Groom? He won the French 2000 Guineas! Anyone remember Nijinsky? He was the last English Triple Crown winner! How about Roberto, sire if Dynaformer? All he won was the Epsom Derby! Caro, the sire of Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors? Well, he won the French Guineas!
El Prado (by Sadler’s Wells), one of my favorite stallions, was an ex-Coolmore runner that Frank Stronach took a shot with here, and look how he did! Not only did he become an excellent sire, but his son Medaglia d’Oro got the great Rachel Alexandra from his first crop! Like I’ve said in previous posts, El Prado was a “transitional sire” for Sadler’s Wells from turf to dirt, and horses like Mastercraftsman (for Danehill Dancer) and Rip Van Winkle (for Galileo – the new Sadler’s Wells!) could become the transitional sires for their sires.
This could very well be the perfect time in history for another wave of Europeans!
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Jack Werk (1944-2010)
