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Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
By Sid Fernando
Officer stands at Taylor Made Stallions for $10,000 and was entering that stage of his career when he needed a nice runner to keep enough interest in him at a level to justify standing at one of the premier farms in Kentucky. Enter stage right: 2-year-old Boys at Tosconova, winner of the Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga yesterday.
Truth be told, Boys at Tosconova was not a well-kept secret but a “talking horse” from the moment he made his debut in the Grade 3 Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks day for trainer Bob Hess Jr. Read about that here in the blog of North American Trainer editor and writer Frances J. Karon. After a majority interest in the colt was sold after his second-place debut in a Graded stakes race, he was transferred to trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. in New York, where word of his talent continued to grow. The colt made his debut for Dutrow a smashing one on July 2 at Belmont, destroying a maiden special field by open lengths. See that race here: Boys at Tosconova wins maiden at Belmont.
Thoroughbred Times writer Jeff Lowe wrote a piece on Aug.17 that included a huge reference to Boys at Tosconova that fueled the buzz around the colt even more after one subject of that story, undefeated 3-year-old colt Trickmeister, destroyed a field in the Pleasant Colony Stakes at Saratoga Aug.27. Click here to read the story, which said “the three-year-old stakes winner was no match for a two-year-old stablemate as they worked six furlongs in company on Tuesday at Saratoga Race Course.” See Trickmeister’s race here: Trickmeister wins the Pleasant Colony Stakes at Saratoga. Now extrapolate!
By the time Boys at Tosconova entered the starting gates for the Hopeful against two other very impressive maiden special winners, Stay Thirsty (from the streaking Bernardini’s first crop) and Wine Police, he’d pretty much inherited the mantle of leading 2-year-old colt in the country, especially after the retirement of pro-tem divisional leader Kantharos. Here’s the chart of the Hopeful, and here’s the video: Boys at Tosconova wins Hopeful at Saratoga. The colt won in a hand ride without feeling the whip, and he handled rather easily two colts that are sure to win stakes races in the future. His main competition in upcoming stakes races figures to come from the impressive Saratoga maiden special winner Uncle Mo, a son of Indian Charlie. Click here to read about Uncle Mo.
Indian Charlie, like Officer, was a Californian trained by Bob Baffert who went to stud in Kentucky. For Officer, not as accomplished as Indian Charlie, Boys at Tosconova is the Grade 1 winner that he really needed.
Officer, like his son, was a precocious 2-year-old colt who won 5 of 8 starts at 2, including the Grade 1 Champagne over 1 1/16 miles. He’d started off in California, where, among other races, he won the Grade 2 Del Mar Futurity over 7 furlongs. He won his lone start at 3 in a sprint, got hurt, and was retired, so he wasn’t a proven classic colt.
His sire, Bertrando, is a stalwart in California who’ll stand the 2011 season at Ballena Vista Farm in Ramona, California, for $8,000. The champion older horse in 1993, as a 4-year-old, Bertrando also was a precocious 2-year-old like Boys at Tosconova and Officer. He won 3 of 4 starts at 2, including the Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes over 1 1/16 miles by 9 lengths, and his lone loss that season was a second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs—the target for Boys at Tosconova at the same track. Like Officer, he didn’t do much at 3, winning the Grade 2 San Felipe early in the year. After a second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, he, too, was done, but he was brought back late in the year and ran third in the Grade 2 Malibu. At 4, he won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic over 10 furlongs and the Grade 1 Woodward, so it’s possible that Officer may have stayed on had he remained sound.
This is, after all, In Reality’s staying line, through Relaunch (also the line of Tiznow) and his son, Skywalker, who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 4 in 1986. Relaunch also sired the staying Waquoit, who earned $2.2 million like Skywalker and won over 12 furlongs. Tiznow, a dual Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, is by the Relaunch horse Cee’s Tizzy, a stakes-placed colt who was third in the Grade 1 Super Derby over 10 furlongs.
To date, Officer has sired 15 unrestricted stakes winners and 17 stakes winners total. Eight of the 15 are fillies, and five are Graded stakes winners. Boys at Tosconova is his first Grade 1 winner. Click here to see his page from the Thoroughbred Times “Stallion Directory.”
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Boys at Tosconova was a Werk Thoroughbred Consultants “Best of Sale” recommendation. Out of the Coronado’s Quest mare Little Bonnet, he sold for only $35,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. Click here to see his Werk Nick Rating. Click here to read Roger Lyon’s latest post about the pedigree of Boys at Tosconova.
Boys at Tosconova at Churchill Downs. (Frances J. Karon Photo)
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Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
By Sid Fernando
It’s been almost eight months since Werk Thoroughbred Consultants (WTC) founder and my friend Jack Werk passed away, but this blog—which Jack took great pleasure in writing—remains alive in his memory, with Elaine Belval, senior pedigree analyst at WTC, doing most of the heavy lifting these days.
Jack was very careful in this space to devote it to the accomplishments of horses and people, instead of using it as a place to bang his and the company’s drum, and we have followed the example he’s set. However, I’d like to acknowledge Jack and WTC and introduce the company to an international audience through a piece published recently at the Australian site www.stallions.com.au that backgrounds the rise of WTC and explains how it succeeded and why the company remains relevant today, because more than ever WTC is committed to servicing a growing international clientele in addition to it strong domestic base.
The article begins like this:
Established practices in any field can almost always be traced back to small, innovative enterprises that took on a big job and executed it well. Werk Thoroughbred consultants, based in Fremont, California, a quiet, East Bay suburb of silicon valley, certainly fits that profile.
“Jack Werk, who passed away early this year, founded the company in the late 1980s, initially running the operation in an office he rented in the rear of a Fremont hairdresser’s salon. The company quickly outgrew that modest beginning, however, and it did so by breaking the mold that had been cast for thoroughbred pedigree consulting services.
“Rather than seeking patronage for his services among the major commercial operations, Werk tailored his consulting to the small breeding operation and to new entrants to the game. Werk’s offer of an independent perspective caught on among clients wary of established practices of the time, and, with the introduction of the Werk Nick Rating, which provided an objective measure of the effectiveness of sire-line crosses, the business really took off.”
Please click here to read the entire story, which also explains new company features, such as MareMatch.
Part and parcel of international presence is having respected representatives in foreign countries, such as Andrew Reichard of Bluebloods in Australia. Australian breeders will remember Jack and Andrew traipsing through the countryside visiting farms Down Under last year, for example.
Before Jack passed, he was contacted by young Clive Webb-Carter, of Clive Webb-Carter Bloodstock Services, with an offer to represent WTC in Europe. Jack did his due diligence and was tremendously impressed by Clive, whose website information can be viewed here. Clive, like Jack, was also a blogger, a fact that Jack liked. Read Clive’s blog here.
I’m pleased to announce—and did just that in a press release this week—that Clive will represent the company in Europe, starting immediately. Clive can be contacted by phone at 44-07860158645 or by email at cwc@wcbloodstock.co.uk.
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Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
By Elaine Belval
Smoke Glacken had a career weekend. First, Persistently knocks off the reigning Horse of the Year in the 10-furlong G1 Personal Ensign S. and then Smokey Fire wins the 7-furlong Play the King S. (putting himself in the mix for a Canadian Sovereign Award as champion sprinter). To top of the weekend, Smoke Glacken’s son Read the Footnotes sired Rightly So, winner of the G1 Ballerina S.
Smoke Glacken won the G1 Hopeful S. at 2 and for a brief period was on the Triple Crown Trail at 3. However, Smoke Glacken proved to be a superior sprinter, capping off a year of six victories from eight starts with a win in the G2 De Francis Dash. Smoke Glacken was arguably the best racehorse produced by the great Maryland-based sire Two Punch. A veteran stallion and long a favorite of the Mid-Atlantic region, Two Punch did not have a reputation as a “sire of sires,” but Gainesway took a chance on the colt and they have been rewarded. (Gainesway, by the way, owns the G1 Travers winner this weekend, too, a son of resident sire Afleet Alex, so the farm, along with its owner, Antony Beck, recently elected to The Jockey Club, was on a roll!)
Smoke Glacken was well-received at $10,000 and had a healthy (for 1999) 66 named foals in his first crop. An impressive seven of them (11%) won stakes. And Smoke Glacken hasn’t slowed down in the 10 years since then. Including 2-year-olds of 2010, Smoke Glacken has sired 80% starters, 61% winners, and 22% 2-year-old winners. And a solid 7% of his foals win black type. To top this off, his average earnings per starter is over $70,000. Smoke Glacken is very good at what he does. Almost 50% of his stakes winners are 2-year-old SWs (led by G1 winner Irish Smoke). And until Persistently won the 10-furlong Personal Ensign, with all of his progeny’s stakes wins, only three came at nine furlongs. Persistently placed in the G1 Frizette and G2 Matron at two, clearly the influence of Smoke Glacken. The stamina to handle 10 furlongs clearly came from her female family. Persistently is a homebred for the Phipps family and her fourth dam is the Phipps’s foundation mare Blitey.
Smokey Fire, winner of seven-furlong G2 Play the King S. at Woodbine, is also a bit of an anomaly. Bred by Mel Lawson and raced by the Jim Dandy Stables, Smokey Fire is one of a handful of Smoke Glacken SWs to win on the turf. Smoke Glacken’s best turf performer is also a Canadian SW, Bachelor Blues, winner of the prestigious 2-year-old Summer S. Smoke Glacken continues to stand at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky and his 2010 stud fee was $12,500.
As a final note, Smoke Glacken’s son Read the Footnotes sired the winner of the G1, seven-furlong Ballerina S. Read the Footnotes was a fairly typical Smoke Glacken, with two stakes victories at 2 (and a win in the Fountain of Youth at 3). His first crop raced in 2008, and he was the leading freshman sire in New York. He has six lifetime SWs from his first two crops, three of them earning victories at 2. Read the Footnotes is off to a bright start to replace his grandsire Two Punch in the Mid-Atlantic region. Rightly So was bred by Sequel Stallions (who stand Read the Footnotes) and is raced by Zayat Stables LLC. Read the Footnotes stood at Sequel in 2010 for a $5,000 fee.
(Elaine Belval is senior pedigree analyst at WTC.)
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
By Elaine Belval
Carson City died unexpectedly in 2004, at the age of 17. At the time, it seemed the end of the line for this branch of Mr. Prospector. Carson City was a well-priced, incredibly prepotent sire. A breeder knew what he was getting with this well-bred Mr. Prospector, an early-maturing, sound, durable, dirt sprinter. Carson City sired well over 20 percent 2-year-old winners, and almost 40 percent of his stakes winners were 2-year-old SWs.
But, it turns out, Carson City, quite possibly, saved the best for last. City Zip had his first runners in 2005, the year after Carson City’s death, and since then, this son of Carson City has not slowed down.
City Zip was a typical Carson City racehorse. He won a maiden race at the Churchill Downs spring meet and won another four stakes races at 2, including the G1 Hopeful S. In total, he made 11 starts at 2. He returned at 3 to make another 11 starts, including four victories (one against future champion Speightstown in the G2 Amsterdam S.).
City Zip retired to stud in New York for a modest $7,500 fee. However,City Zip moved to Kentucky for the 2006 season, perhaps because of his Horse of the Year half-brother Ghostzapper. But, more likely, because of his third-place finish on the 2005 Freshman Sire List (behind Tiznow and El Corredor). City Zip sired 20 winners from that crop (the most of any freshman sire in 2005), including two SWs (his six stakes wins were tops among the 2005 freshman sires).
City Zip had five SWs in that first crop, including GSW With a City. He added another four in his next two crops, including G1 winner Bustin Stones.
City Zip has been enjoying a wonderful year in 2010 to date and is third on the list of unrestricted SWs with 11, behind only Distorted Humor with 14 and Speightstown with 12. Recently, his daughter Canadian Ballet won the five-furlong Jenny Wade H and a son won the 8.5 furlong, G2 American Derby. Another daughter also won the six furlong, G3 Royal North S. Perhaps what is most surprising, all three were turf stakes.
Yes, City Zip is following in his father’s footsteps in that 40 percent of his SWs are 2-year-old SWs. However, what is markedly different is that 50 percent of his SWs are turf SWs. And while Carson City sired primarily sprinters, City Zip’s progeny are also showing more versatility there. He has SWs from five to 10 furlongs (the majority in the eight-to-nine furlong range). And like Carson City, the City Zip progeny are sound and durable runners. Get Serious is 6 and has won 12 of 29 lifetime starts. Canadian Ballet is a 5-year-old with 20 starts and eight wins. Unzip Me is the youngster, only 4 with 14 lifetime starts and eight wins.
City Zip had over $4 million in progeny earnings in 2008 and 2009. This year, City Zip already has over $4 million in progeny earnings is currently ranked in the Top 10 on the General Sire List. City Zip sires an outstanding 79 percent starters, 65 percent winners and an excellent 7 percent SWs (not counting 2YOs of 2010). And he also has an excellent 20 percent 2-year-old winners. His average earnings per starter is almost $70,000. Add to this, an average earnings index of 1.87 and a Comparable Index of 1.37. These are excellent stats.
City Zip sired over 100 foals in his first crop of Kentucky-breds, now 3-year-olds of 2010. Based on past performance, many of these progeny will be racing successfully for many years to come. One of them, Workin for Hops, the G2 American Derby winner, just ran third this weekend in the G1 Secretariat S. against rival Paddy O’Prado–the best 3-year-old turf horse in the country.
City Zip stands at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky and his 2010 fee was a bargain $10,000.
(Elaine Belval is senior pedigree analyst at WTC.)
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Thursday, August 19th, 2010
By Elaine Belval
When Dubai Millennium died after only one season at stud, it seemed the end of the line for this amazing racehorse and his potential as a sireline.
However, it seems Dubawi and his son Makfi refused to get that message. Makfi upset favorite Goldikova in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on Sunday, winning for the fourth time in five starts. Earlier in the year Makfi had won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. The same weekend, Dubase won the Grand Handicap de Deauville for her first stakes win of the year.
Dubawi was bred by Darley Stud. He won all three of his starts at two, including the G1 National Stakes at the Curragh. At three he won the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas and finished a solid third in the 12-furlong G1 English Derby to Motivator. Dubawi’s dam was the Champion Zomaradah, winner of the G1 Italian Oaks and third in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Dubawi proved very popular, with over 100 foals in his first crop, foals of 2007. He was a leading European first crop sire in 2009, his best runners including Poet’s Voice, winner of the prestigious Champagne S. at Doncaster, and Sand Vixen, winner of the five-furlong G2 Flying Childers S.
However, 2010 has proven a breakout year for Dubawi, with only his first crop 3yos. He has nine SWs this year, seven are first-time SWs. They include two classic winners (Makfi and Worthadd, winner of the Derby Italiano). He has sired SWs from five to 12 furlongs. In fact, with only two crops of racing age, Dubawi is ranked in the top 10 on the European sires list (ranking ahead of such stallions as Pivotal, Invincible Spirit, and Rock of Gibraltar). He is also a top 10 sire of 2-year-olds, with two 2010 2-year-old SWs including GSW Irish Field.
With this early success, Dubawi seems destined for a long and fruitful stallion career, doing his sire proud.
Dubawi stood for £20,000 at Dalham Hall Stud in England in 2010.
As a final note, Makfi makes an interesting future stallion prospect. Very well-bred, Makfi was an amazing find at the 2009 Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training sale as an unraced two-year-old, bought for approximately $40,000. He is from the same female family as sires Green Dancer and Soviet Lad, and he was a Shadwell Farm cull.
Click here for video of Makfi’s win the the Jacques le Marois
Click here to read more about Dubawi.
(Elaine Belval is senior pedigree analyst at WTC.)
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Friday, August 13th, 2010
By Elaine Belval
The 2-year-old California-based filly Wickedly Perfect won the G3 Sorrento S. for owner Peter Moehrike, Rafter JR Ranch and STD Racing this past weekend and signalled the arrival of her well-bred, first-crop sire, Congrats. The filly had won a 5-furlong maiden by almost five lengths in her last start. The filly is now one of four repeat winners (and one of two SWs) for her freshman sire.
Congrats is a well-bred son of A.P. Indy out of a daughter of Mr. Prospector who traces to La Troienne through Admiring and third dam Glowing Tribute. Congrats was bred in Kentucky by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider (the same breeders of this weekend’s G1 Whitney winner Blame). Congrats won a maiden race at Saratoga at two. He finished third in the G2 Jim Dandy S. At 5, he won the G2 San Pasqual H. and placed in the G1 Santa Anita H. and Hollywood Gold Cup.
Congrats was retired to stud in Florida, to Cloverleaf Farms II, in a deal brokered by bloodstock writer Frank Mitchell, and proved very popular with breeders. He has more than 100 foals in his freshman crop of 2010. His 2-year-olds proved popular at the sales, too, with 33 selling for an average of almost $50,000.
His sire, A.P. Indy, is not known as being the patriarch of a precocious sireline, so it is somewhat surprising to see Congrats currently ranked second on the 2010 Freshman Sire List. But, Congrats has had two SWs already in August. Check My Cheeks won a stakes race in Puerto Rico (a G3 race in a Part II country). And now Wickedly Perfect has added the G3 Sorrento S., making her one of the top 2-year-old fillies in the US.
What is most impressive for Congrats is that he has four repeat winners (the next best is Giacomo with two!). And his two SWs are tops in that category also.
Congrats is a full brother to the well-priced stallion Flatter standing at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. Congrats is quickly establishing himself as one of the most promising young sires in the US. He stands at Vinery Florida and his 2010 fee was $4,500.
(Elaine Belval is senior pedigree analyst at WTC.)
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Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
By Elaine Belval
Very few stallions are successful in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In fact, many of the best sires in the Northern Hemisphere have been disappointing, if not downright failures, in their shuttle attempts.
So, what do you call a stallion that has been successful everywhere he goes? Bernstein.
Bernstein was bred in Kentucky by Brushwood Stables. A well-bred son of leading sire Storm Cat, he was a full brother to GSWs Caress and Country Cat when he went through the sales ring at Keeneland November in 1997. He sold for $925,000, the highest-priced Storm Cat weanling that year.
Bernstein was purchased by H. Tabor and raced for the “Coolmore connections” in Europe. He broke his maiden in his first start at 2, winning a 6-furlong maiden in late May. He came back in late June to win the G3 Railway S. He finished fifth in the G1 National S. that fall, failing in the last furlong of the mile race to make all the running.
Thrown in deep in his first start as a 3yo, he clearly was not fit to take on the challenges in the 2000 Guineas. He rebounded quite nicely and that fall and took the Concorde S. back in Ireland. He was brought to the US for his final start, but found the nine furlong River City H. too far for him.
Bernstein clearly preferred distances under a mile. As a multiple GSW by Storm Cat from an outstanding family, he made an attractive stallion prospect. He retired to stud in the US for an attractive $10,000 fee. After his season at Castleton Lyons in the US, Bernstein went down to Haras La Biznaga in Argentina.
Bernstein had a solid first crop in the US, with five SWs from 37 foals (a marvelous 14%), led by GSWs Toll Taker and Berbatim. From his 60 foals in Argentina, Bernstein sired 11 SWs (an outstanding 18%), led by Horse of the Year Storm Mayor – winner of the prestigious Carlos Pellegrini, the premier race of South America – and champion Storm Military. Another G1 winner from that crop, Stormy Miss, came to the US and won the G3 Honorable Miss H.
Bernstein has not slowed down since. In 2009, Bernstein sired the G1 winners Dream Empress (Alcibiades S. and second in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies) and Miss World (G1 Garden City S.).
Recently, Bernstein’s Proceed Bee won the 10-furlong Prairie Meadows H. Proceed Bee has won stakes at 2, three and 4 and has more than $500,000 in earnings. Also recently, Bernie the Maestro won the American Dreamer S. at Calder over eight furlongs. This is the 3yo gelding’s second stakes victory of the Calder meet.
Bernstein was a precocious runner himself and almost half of his SWs win stakes at 2. Over 50% of his progeny win on turf. Slightly half of his SWs are GSWs and his SWs are evenly split between fillies and colts. And while Bernstein has had winners at over 12 furlongs, especially in Argentina, the majority of his runners compete in the eight-and nine- furlong range.
Bernstein has made his mark, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Bernstein stood the 2010 Northern Hemisphere season at Castleton Lyons for $25,000. He will not be returning to Haras La Biznaga in Argentina for the Southern Hemisphere season in 2010.
(Elaine Belval is senior pedigree analyst at WTC.)
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Monday, July 12th, 2010
By Elaine Belval
Trappe Shot won the Long Branch Stakes for owner Mill House and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin very easily on Saturday. Ridden by jockey Alan Garcia, this colt won by two lengths and is one target for the G1 Haskell Invitational S. Trappe Shot made a lot of noise after an impressive allowance victory on the Belmont Stakes undercard. The Long Branch was Trappe Shot’s first stakes start and he stepped up very nicely. Trappe Shot is by Tapit out of the mare Shopping by Private Account, making him a half to three SWs including G1 winner Miss Shop. He has bred by Mill House and sold for $850,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midatlantic 2-year-old in training sale (he was the top selling Tapit 2YO in 2009).
Tapit won the G3 Laurel Futurity at 2 and the G1 Wood Memorial at 3. He retired as one of the first sons of Pulpit (along with Sky Mesa and Stroll) at stud. With champion Stardom Bound in his first crop, Tapit has quickly established Pulpit’s reputation as a burgeoning “sire of sires.” Tapit had a healthy 94 foals in his first crop, but what is remarkable in that is 12 of those 94 foals won black type events (an excellent 13% SWs to foals). Along with champion Stardom Bound, Tapit sired champion As de Trebol (Spain), and G1 winners Careless Jewel (Alabama S.) and Laragh (Hollywood Starlet). From his second crop (3-year-olds of 2010), Tapit has already sired Breeders’ Cup winner Tapitsfly and GSWs Concord Point and Touching Beauty. Tapit has four SWs in 2010, and all are new SWs from his crop of 2007. In fact, with 136 foals in his first two crops, Tapit has sired 79% starters, 60% winners and 10% SWs. Few stallions can match those lifetime statistics, and Tapit has done it with two crops of racing age! Add to this, an Average Earnings Index of 2.67 and a Comparable Index of a modest 1.53, indicating he is improving his mares by over 50%.
And early indicators are Tapit is capable of siring all sorts of runners. From his 17 SWs, he has four 2-year-old SWs including two champions and two Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winners. Three of 17 SWs won on turf and three of his SWs won on artificial surfaces. And, to top it off, his progeny have won stakes from five to 10 furlongs. Tapit is quickly becoming one of the most successful and versatile stallions in the US. He stands at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky and stood for $50,000 in 2010.
As a final note, another son of Pulpit is off to a promising start. Lucky Pulpit sired the SW Luckarack, winner of the Alameda County S. for 2-year-olds. Owned and bred by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Williams and trained by Steven Specht, this colt is undefeated in two starts. Lucky Pulpit has his first crop racing in 2010. A SW from the family of Seattle Song, Lucky Pulpit stands at Harris Farms in California and stood for $2,500 in 2010.
(Elaine Belval is senior pedigree analyst at WTC.)
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Jack Werk (1944-2010)
