Classic Empire: Road to the Kentucky Derby

Classic Empire winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile

I Do not own this video, it is from the Breeders' Cup World Championships official youtube channel

             With all the amazing two year olds this year, it looks like we are going to have a very competitive field for the 2017 Kentucky Derby (g. I), but my current pick is the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (g. I) champion, Classic Empire. Being on a similar cross to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Classic Empire's name suits his Classic pedigree and his race record speaks for itself, being undefeated in every race he completed.

              The recent downgrading of grade one races has left trainers of derby hopefuls in a dilemma considering two major Kentucky Derby preps, the Toyota Blue Grass (g. II) and the Wood Memorial (g. II) have lost their grade one status. In a recent BloodHorse article, it was pointed out by trainer Mark Casse and owner John Oxley that Classic Empire will be using two prep races for the Kentucky Derby, the first being either the Holy Bull stakes (g. II) Feb. 4 or the March. 4 Fountain of Youth Stakes (g. II), although he could potentially run in both with there being a one month gap, but I don't think that's likely. The 1 1/8 mile Toyota Blue Grass stakes at Keeneland was the original choice for Classic Empire's final derby prep but with the downgrade, the April. 1 Fountain of Youth Stakes (g. I) is becoming a consideration to add another g. I to his resume. One of the only factors causing the colt's connections to stick to the Blue Grass is that, according to Casse, the son of Pioneerof The Nile like's the track at Keeneland.

             What the Classic Empire team decide to do will be seen when the time comes, as for now, the colt has not returned to the work tab after his Breeders' Cup victory. Hopefully, he comes back as a stronger three year old, because one thing that concerned me was Casse's statement saying that Classic Empire came out of his last start tired. The other horses I like for the derby are Practical Joke(Into Mischief), trained by Chad Brown, and McCraken(Ghostzapper), trained by Ian Wilkes.

Medaglia D'oro: beyond impressive

Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt

                   One stallion that has never failed to impress me is the great Medaglia D'oro. What can even be said by a stallion that has sired two Kentucky Oaks (G1) winners and would probably have sired three had Songbird ran in this year's running. Already the sire of 82 stakes winners, his stud fee of $150,000 seems like a good value, especially considering that he is almost guaranteed to give a return on the track and in the sales ring. 

                    Medaglia D'oro has a considerable presence in the sales ring with his fair share of sales toppers, especially at Saratoga. This year's total average for 47 yearlings sired by him is $325,052 with his fillies having a higher average at $332,624 for 28 sold. 

                   Medaglia D'oro doesn't only get dirt runners, but is also represented on turf and is the sire of this year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) winner New Money Honey. The filly looks to be a future star with 2 wins and 1 place from 3 starts. It should not be surprising that Medaglia D'oro produces turf horses being from the Sadler's Wells line. His own sire, El Prado, is also the sire of leading North American turf sire Kitten's Joy.

                  The most impressive quality in Medaglia D'oro is what he does for the mares he covers and for their respective owners and breeders. Among his 82 stakes winners, 75% are their dams' best foal. He boasts even better statistics in the sales ring with 92% of his $500,000 plus yearlings being their dams' highest priced foals. 

                   He is also turning out to be a good broodmare sire with a 1.26 AEI. We all know that the chances for a great race mare to become a great broodmare are low, but one of Medaglia D'oro's best offspring, the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Preakness stakes (G1) and Haskell Invitational (G1) winning horse of the year Rachel Alexandra, has defied those odds. Both her foals are winners and her second foal, the G1 winning Rachel's Valentina (Bernardini), is among Medaglia D'oro's current highest earners as a broodmare sire.

                    Medaglia D'oro has two impressive millionaire sons that will stand their first season at stud in 2017 in Mshawish, who stands at Taylor Made Farm, and Vancouver (AUS), who is at Ashford Stud and shuttles to Coolmore Australia for the southern hemisphere breeding season. Hopefully his sons continue his legacy, but his daughters are already making a mark with such mares as rachel Alexandra. Although, she won't be breeding anymore, Rachel Alexandra's full sister, Samantha Nicole, has been bred to Bernardini which means the resulting foal will be a 3/4 sibling to the G1 winning and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) runner up Rachel's Valentina.

                   

Pegasus World Championships: What's to Become?

Photo: Mark J. Terrill

            

                  The first running of the Pegasus World Cup is getting closer and although there are supposed to be 12 horses racing, the world has it's eyes on just two: The richest horse in the world, California Chrome, and his main rival , the incredibly fast three year old who defeated him in the Breeders' Cup Classic. 

   

                  California Chrome will be going into the Jan. 28 Pegasus World Cup with the $100,000 Winter Challenge at Los Alamitos Race Course on Dec. 17 which was customized as a prep race for the final start of the five year old champion. Arrogate's connections have not yet committed him to the race, but it looks very likely that he will run and he is being geared toward it "silently" by Bob Baffert. He likely won't be using a prep race to ready him, but Arrogate has proven that he doesn't need one to run his best seeing as he had a similar gap between his win in the Travers Stakes(G1) and the Breeders' Cup Classic(G1). 

 

               California Chrome breezed five furlongs, handily, earlier today at Los Alamitos in a time of 1:00.40. Arrogate's last workout was on Dec. 1 at Santa Anita where he went an easy four furlongs in 49:00.00. 

                Unfortunately, having the two champions in the starting gate is making it difficult for other owners to enter with nobody willing to pay $1,000,000 for a spot when there is no chance of beating either California Chrome or Arrogate. One other possible candidate in the hearing is Gun Runner who recently claimed grade 1 status in the Clark Handicap(G1) on Nov. 25 where he defeated previous winners of the race in Effinex and Hoppertunity.

               As the race approaches, we will see what other owners step up and buy places for their horses. One thing we can definitely expect is that only top level horses will be entered to run for a chance to win the richest race in the world against to of the best horses in the world.

            

Rags to Riches and American Pharoah: Posibilities

Photo: Barbara Livingston

Photo: Gary Jones

                          The name that stood out the most to me when I saw the elite mares in American Pharoah's first book was definitely that of Rags To Riches(A.P. Indy). She is among my favorite race mares of all time and it's overwhelming to think that she was bred to the horse that gave racing fans what they had been waiting thirty seven years for. I also believe this might be the first mating between two Belmont Stakes winners meaning the resulting foal could have incredible stamina. 

 

                          Unfortunately, there is also a chance that the resulting foal will be nothing but mediocre on the racetrack, if it even makes it to the racetrack. There are just so many cases in which legendary race mares with good families failed to produce any notable offspring with such examples as Genuine Risk, Lady's Secret and let's not forget that we're still waiting for Zenyatta's first winner. Rags To Riches' previous offspring have not made their mark at the races either. 

               There is, however, hope that this foal could be different seeing as American Pharoah is Rags To Riches' first mate with solid American dirt pedigree. The stallions that she had been bred to in the past had all run predominantly on turf in their racing careers which, in my opinion, didn't suit a dirt pedigree like hers and the resulting offspring inherited ability on neither surface, although we cannot speak for Opulence(Giant's Causeway), who didn't make it to the track, because Giant's Causeway is an exceptional dirt sire. Another positive is that American Pharoah's sire, Pioneerof The Nile, and grandsire, Empire Maker, have been successful when crossed with A.P. Indy line mares. Empire maker bred to the A.P. Indy mare, Lyphard's Delta, produced eclipse champion and Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Royal Delta and Pioneerof The Nile's stakes winning filly, Dark Nile, is out of  the Bernardini mare, Royal Society. We also mustn't ignore the fact that we are talking about the family of Better Than Honour which adds more Belmont Stakes winners to the Pedigree with Rags To Riches' half brother, Jazil(Seeking the Gold), having won it in 2006, a year before she won that classic herself.

              We as racing fans like to see our favorite racehorses continue their legacies through their offspring, but we easily forget that it isn't always possible, if it were, there wouldn't be horse racing. I suppose we will have to wait until 2019 to see if this match of two champions is a successful one.

                                              

Arrogate: Unbridled's Song's Best Son?

             

EquiSport Photos (Matt and Wendy Wooley)

            It is still early to tell whether Arrogate will continue to stun racing fans with performances like the ones he gave in the G1 Travers and the Breeders' Cup Classic, but many still consider him the best son of the late Unbridled's Song despite the fact that those two wins are his only runs in graded stakes. The smashing grey colt earned such honors and recognition in those classic starts by the way he won them: he won the Travers by 13 1/2 lengths, beating the track record against the best three year olds in the country, and in the Breeders' cup he won against older horses for the first time which included the richest horse in America, California Chrome, giving him his first defeat after six wins which include the Dubai World Cup (G1) and the TVG Pacific Classic (G1).

              Breeders, always being on the lookout for stallion prospects, are already trying to analyze whether or not Arrogate will be able to pass on his running ability, stamina and enormous stride to his offspring. The fact is, Unbridled's Song has not sired a son who has been able to duplicate or even get somewhat close to his success at stud. Could Arrogate still be a good sire? the answer is yes, There are numerous cases in which a great horse was only well represesnted by one great son. A P Indy is Seattle Slew's only son to make his mark as a sire, and now the Seattle Slew - A P Indy line is one of the best in the country and the world. Let's look at another very good and very recent example of a similar situation with Indian Charlie. Indian Charlie didn't produce a good sire-son until Uncle Mo, who has already established himself as one of the best stallions in the Country despite having only two crops of racing age.

              The female line of a horse is also key in determining his success as a stallion. A P Indy's dam was the G1 winner Weekend Surprise who also produced Summer Squall. Arrogate is the first foal out of Bubbler, a stakes winning daughter of Distorted Humor, who himself is a great broodmare sire. Arrogate's second dam, Grechelle (Deputy Minister), is a multiple stakes producer and his third dam is none other than champion filly, Meadow Star.

Z Theory:

            My theory is that Arrogate could be a good broodmare sire whether or not he succeeds as a sire. I have noticed that sons of some great broodmare sires have also made their mark through their own daughters. there are three extremely notable North American broodmare sires who currently have daughters that are still producing great runners: Storm Cat, Deputy Minister and of course Unbridled's Song. Storm Cat's son, Forestry is a moderate sire, but has been the damsire of some exceptional runners including this year's Kentucky Derby winner, Nyquist. Even American Pharoah's damsire is Storm Cat's lesser known son, Yankee Gentleman. Deputy Minister has a couple of son's that were average sires that went on to be good broodmare sires, such as French Deputy and Silver Deputy. Deputy Minister's son Dehere is the sire of 2014 Broodmare of the Year, Take Charge Lady. Take Charge Lady's daughters have been following in their dam's footsteps and her daughter Charming is responsible for producing champion two year old filly, Take Charge Brandi. The younger of the trio is Unbridled's Song himself whose sons still have time before they will be represented through their own daughters. 

              

           Unbridled's Song still has opportunities to create a powerful sire line, even if not through arrogate. His son, Will Take charge, who is out of previously mentioned Take Charge Lady, was a champion on the track with weanlings and yearlings having sold well and his first two year old runners will emmerge next year. Graydar is also due to have his first runners next year, but chances are better that their offspring will do better as three year olds considering the fact that most of Unbridled's Song's offspring matured relatively late. 

           In time we will see if Arrogate's quick turn of foot and tremendous drive will pass on to his progeny. For the time being, we can look forward to his next start which is likely to be in the 12 million dollar Pegasus World Cup at the end of January where he will take on California Chrome again. 

Please feel free to comment and share your opinion.