Author: DerbyMateo

The Sunland Derby (G3) has produced one Kentucky Derby winner in it’s brief history and that horse, Mine That Bird, didn’t even hit the board in the race (he ran 4th). The racing gods still have yet to explain Mine That Bird’s subsequent victory on that soggy first Saturday in May, 2009. However, if Saturday’s Sunland Derby winner Chitu finds his way to the roses it would be well within the realm of logic.

Under Martin Garcia, Chitu stumbled slightly at the start of the Sunland Derby but recovered well to be forwardly placed. He then rated willingly in second behind early leader Garen through reasonable fractions. Stablemate Midnight Hawk applied some pressure to both runners on the backstetch and turning for home it was a Bob Baffert-trained showdown between Midnight Hawk and Chitu. The former appeared to gain a narrow advantage in early stretch but Chitu re-broke and got to the wire first. The Sunland Derby was a near carbon copy of the Robert B. Lewis Stakes on February 8, the only exception is that there was a quality closer in the field, Candy Boy, who was along to get past Chitu at the wire. 

Watching the Sunland Derby live it wasn’t hard to dismiss Chitu as a speedy horse with distance limitations. But upon further review (which is easy to do on our 3YO Stakes Archive page) it may be a premature to pigeonhole Chitu as simply a middle distance specialist at this point in his career. The Sunland Derby was only his fourth lifetime start after a pair of winning sprints as a juvenile and his runner-up finish in the Lewis. He’s taken each successive step up in distance well and further improvement and development can be expected. If that does indeed happen this is a horse that can be dangerous even at the longer Classic distances. 

It’s true that the components of Chitu’s pedigree also slant more toward speed. His sire, Henny Hughes was certainly a fast one and never won beyond 7 furlongs. He was a graded winner at two going 6 furlongs and was runner-up in both the one-mile Champagne Stakes and the 8 1/2-furlong Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). Kept to sprinting as a three-year-old, the son of Hennessy rolled through a trio of graded stakes by a combined 18 lengths, including an easy win over older horses in the Vosburgh Stakes (G1). His sire career has been a mixed bag but he is also the sire of dual champion Beholder, coasting winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at 9 furlongs. Chitu’s dam, Sea Gift, brings the promise of some distance aptitude as she’s a daughter of Belmont Stakes/Breeders’ Cup Classic winner A. P. Indy. However, she was but a maiden winner in Europe and Chitu is her first blacktype runner. Sea Gift’s dam set a new course record in a victory over males in the grassy Bay Meadows Derby (G3) going 9 furlongs at the now-defunct Bay Meadows. 

With recent defections of top-class closers like Honor Code and Top Billing, the complexion of this year’s Classics change almost daily. Assuming Chitu makes it to Churchill Downs for Kentucky Derby week, he’s one we’ll be anxious to see in person. If it looks like he’s is blossoming and ready to take another step forward, it could be time to head for the windows.

Owner Mike Pegram is no stranger to Spring Classics success. He’s won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Real Quiet in 1998 and added another Preakness trophy in 2010 with Lookin at Lucky. That son of Smart Strike was owned in partnership with Karl Watson and Paul Weitman and that trio is also in on Hoppertunity, winner of the roller derby down the strech in Saturday’s Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Hoppertunity is a son of the Distorted Humor stallion Any Given Saturday, this writer’s choice to take home the2007 Kentucky Derby ultimately won by Street Sense. Those two runners both retired to the Darley America stallion barn but Street Sense is also getting the better of his rival in their second careers. Any Given Saturday was demoted from the ‘majors’ of Central Kentucky to Pennsylvania where he now stands for a $5,000 service fee. Street Sense, on the other hoof, still resides in Kentucky (after spending 2013 in Japan) and commands a $40,000 fee. Hoppertunity is a member of Any Given Saturday’s fourth crop and is his very first graded stakes winner in North America, explanation enough for his exile to Pennsylvania.

Any Given Saturday’s sire career was already teetering when trainer Bob Baffert went to $300,000 to secure Hoppertunity at the 2012 Keeneland September Yearling sale. That’s the highest price paid for an Any Given Saturday yearling. One of the best judges of young horses on the planet regardless of pedigree, Baffert was also no doubt drawn to the female side of Hoppertunity’s catalog page. He’s a half-brother to Executivepriviliege, who had captured the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante for Baffert and the Pegram/Watson/Weitman partnership a couple of weeks before Hoppertunity went through the ring at Keeneland.

Executivepriviliege added another Grade 1 in the fall of 2012 and was runner-up to dual champion Beholder in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She never came close to that form as a sophomore, a bit of a concern when projecting Hoppertunity’s onward development. However, their dam, Refugee, was graded-placed at 12 furlongs at age four and is by Unaccounted For, a top quality two-turn runner by Private Account. A little further back in this pedigree we find Filly Triple Crown winner (yes, there used to be one in New York) Davona Dale. Among her progeny is Le Voyageur, third behind Easy Goer and Sunday Silence in the1989 Belmont Stakes.

Hoppertunity was a little wider than he needed to be going through the first turn in the Rebel, but Mike Smith had the colt in a good rhythm on the backstretch and they found a perfect stalking spot behind early leaders Strong Mandate and Ride on Curlin. One could argue that Southwest Stakes winner Tapiture was best in the Rebel after being caught behind Strong Mandate and Ride on Curlin turning for home with Smith and Hoppertunity holding the ground to his outside. There was certainly a good amount of contact between all four of those horses down the straight with the majority of it caused by Ride on Curlin, who drifted out into Strong Mandate, who in turn pushed Tapiture out to brush with Hoppertunity.

Mike Smith described Hoppertunity’s reaction to all the bumping this way:

“When it happened, boy, he really jumped into the bridle. The best part of the race was his last three jumps. He was really starting to reach at that point. These young horses, when they go a route of ground, you really pay attention to how they gallop out and pull up. After a hard race like that, man, it didn’t take him long to collect himself.”

It’s been well documented that no horse since the Cretaceous period has won the Kentucky Derby without having started as a juvenile. Hoppertunity is on track to be the latest to try and end that streak and a tough race like the Rebel should only benefit him in terms of experience.

Hoppertunity’s win also flatters Intense Holiday who defeated him by 7 lengths in the Risen Star Stakes on February 22. Those two aren’t scheduled to meet again until Derby Day, should all go right for both camps. We’ll find out after the Louisiana and Arkansas Derbies who moves on and who falls out.

Snow Chief, winner of the 1986 Preakness Stakes is the last California-bred horse to win an American Classic and you have to go back another 24 years to Decidedly to find the last Cal-bred Kentucky Derby champ. Will that streak end in 2014? Maybe so ifSan Felipe S. (G2) winner California Chrome has anything to say about it.

The son of the California-based sire Lucky Pulpit ran like a silver bullet in the March 8 San Felipe, speeding to a nearly 7-length victory and earning a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, highest among the 2014 sophomore set so far. The San Felipe is California Chrome’s third straight romp after running away with the California Cup Derby & King Glorious Stakes. While those two events are resticted to fellow Cal-breds, he did defeat the classy Tamarando in the former. Tamarando won a Grade 1 as a juvenile last year, won the El Camino Real Derby (G3) in his last start and is among the favorites for the March 22 Spiral Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park. 

While California Chrome has answered the ‘class question’, his distance capabilities may still be open to debate. He was quick enough to win first out last May going 4 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood Park and earned his first Stakes win going 6 furlongs at Del Mar. The San Felipe was just his second start around two turns in his nine-race career, but his speed has been a decided asset in these longer contests.

He sat a wide third for the first 3/4 of the Cal Cup Derby before striking the front and accelerating nicely, leaving the late-running Tamarando with far too much to do. In the San Felipe, he broke like a rocket, went to the lead, shrugged off a backstretch challenge from graded winner Midnight Hawk and again quickened well down the lane to discourage his rivals.

California Chrome’s sire Lucky Pulpit finished 2nd in the 2004 Santa Catalina S. (since renamed the Robert Lewis S.) but his Derby aspirations were crushed with a 7th-place run in the Santa Anita Derby. His lone stakes win came in a listed turf sprint at Arlington Park in 2005. He has along way to go achieve the level of another son of Pupit, Tapit, but he’s done well with the limited opportunity he’s been given at stud. From around 100 foals of racing age he’s sired eight other stakes runners, including Rousing Sermon who made it to the Kentucky Derby field in 2012, finishing 8th. 

California Chrome is the only blacktype runner under his first two dams. He is out of the mare Love the Chase, by the former Maryland stalwart stallion Not For Love, a son of Mr. Prospector. Love the Chase is out of a mare by Polish Numbers, a son of the Buckpasser mare Numbered Account, who is also Not For Love’s second dam. There are two other stakes winners out of mares inbred to Numbered Account, both stakes-winning sprinters with 2013 Princess Rooney S. (G1) Starship Truffles among them.

Watching California Chrome run, one is reminded a little of Bodemeister, the flashy, speedy and gallant runner-up in that 2012 Derby (and Preakness) to I’ll Have Another. Older racing fans may also see a little of the speedy, over-acheving Snow Chief in the colt as well. If he can go on to match the accomplishments of either, owners Martin Perry and Steve Coburn, along with trainer Art Sherman, are in for a very exciting spring.

Honor Code was supposed to be trainer Shug McGaughey’s best chance for a return trip to the Kentucky Derby winner’s cirlce in 2014. But with that colt having missed a month of training, another McGaughey pupil, Top Billing, is emerging as a serious Spring Classics threat.

One has to wonder what kind of hopes McGaughey had for Top Billing in his early training. He began his racing career not in New York or South Florida, McGaughey’s prime racing grounds. Instead, he was unveiled in a six-furlong Maiden Special at Laurel Park on December 6. He made up 14 lengths over a sloppy track and an outclassed field to win by 5 1/4 lengths. His second start did come at Gulfstream Park on January 3, where he was narrowly defeated by the highly regarded Commissioner in a nine-furlong Allowance heat. He improved again in his third outing with a handy 2 3/4-length tally in another two-turn Allowance at Gulfstream. 

Top Billing’s late-running style hasn’t necessarily been conducive to the way the Gulfstream Park surface has been playing this winter. That certainly seemed to be in evidence on Fountain of Youth Day. His big move around the far turn is even more impressive if one believes the track that afternoon was slanted extremely toward speed. He was the only horse to gain any ground on Wildcat Red and General a Rod, the two dueling front runners, and he continued running on willingly to the wire. 

If the talent is there, the longer trips at Churchill Downs, Pimlico and Belmont Park won’t be a hinderance. In fact, this colt’s pedigree screams ‘Classic distance’. Top Billing is a son of Curlin, winner of the Preakness Stakes andBreeders’ Cup Classic, etc. en route to Horse of the Year honors in 2007. He’s had a somewhat shaky start to his stallion career as his first crop didn’t perform to expectations as juveniles in 2012. But since then his first crop has emerged with runners like last year’s Belmont Stakes champion Palace Malice. Top Billing is from Curlin’s second crop (that also includes Classics contender Ride on Curlin) and is out of the mare Parade Queen. She’s a stakes-winning/multiple graded-placed daughter of Belmont Stakes winner A. P. Indy, one of North America’s true stamina influences. Parade Queen is the dam of two previous stakes winners, Untouched Talent and King Gulch. The former is the dam of 2012 Arkansas Derby winner andDerby/Preakness runner-up Bodemeister. 

Bob Baffert was the last trainer to win back-to-back Kentucky Derbys and he did it in 1998 with Real Quiet, considered a second stringer to barnmate Indian Charlie right up until he was draped with the garland of roses. If McGaughey is able to match that feat in 2014, it just might be with Top Billing moving up from second billing.

Winchell Thoroughbreds is no stranger to the Kentucky Derby trail. Over the years the breeding operation founded by the late Verne Winchell has bred and/or raced the likes of Pyro, Valiant Nature, Classic Go Go and Sea Cadet, all of whom carried the familiar maroon and white colors in the Run for the Roses. In fact, Mr. Winchell’s very first horse, Donut King, was a serious contender for the 1954 Kentucky Derby only to succumb to injury the week of the race. Mr. Winchell earned the moniker of ‘Donut King’ when establishing Winchell’s Donuts chain throughout the western U. S. of A. in the 1950’s.

2014 finds the Winchell family back on the Classics trail with a homebred named Tapiture, who earned his second graded stakes victory in Monday’s $300,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park. The Steve Asmussen-trained colt sat the inside trip from his rail post position but that’s not to say it was an easy race. He was part of a sensible early pace under rider Ricardo Santana, Jr. who had his charge on a long rein down the backstretch. It speaks well of Tapiture’s maturity that he handled several horses racing on his outside without gettting ‘rank’ or expending too much energy fighting his rider. Trip handicappers will rightly argue that Tapiture saved all the ground, especially compared to runner up Strong Mandate (who also bobbled slightly at the start). However, Tapiture’s willingness to follow Santana’s cues should serve him well should adversity strike in future contests.

Strong Mandate and Tapiture had met once previously with the former getting the better of Tapiture in a Maiden Special at Saratoga back in mid-August. Tapiture then split for Kentucky where he ran third in the Iroquois Stakes (G3) and another Maiden Special before breaking through for his first victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs. Super Saver was the last horse win both the Kentucky Jockey Club and the Kentucky Derby, a feat he completed in 2010. Cannonade, winner of the 100th Derby in 1974, was the last previous horse to pull off this double under the Twin Spires.

Tapiture is by one of America’s great sires in Tapit, who commands a $150,000 stud fee this year. He’s the sire of recent Derby contenders Hansen and Flashback, who were/are best known for their early foot. Tapit is grandson of Belmont Stakes winner A. P. Indy out of a mare by Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled (and is inbred to England’s last Triple Crown winner Nijinsky II) so it is a little surprising that Hansen and Flashback are more typical of the Tapits. They can run on any surface but are speedy and typically best up to 9 furlongs.

Tapiture is out of the mare Free Spin, a winning daughter of Olympio, another top runner bred and raced by the Winchell’s. That son of Naskra won the 1991 Arkansas Derby (G2) and later proved adept on turf with wins in the American Derby (G2) (at 10 furlongs on the turf) and the grassy Grade 1 Hollywood Derby. Free Spin has produced two stakes-winning full siblings to Tapiture – Remit and Retap. Remit was a stakes winner at a mile, the limit of her distance capabilites. Retap’s crowning acheivement was a victory in the 7 furlong Riley Allison Futurity as a juvenile. Although there are certainly some distance components to Tapiture’s lineage, there is more pedigree evidence to suggest that 9 furlongs will be his distance ceiling.

The first round of major Kentucky Derby prep races yielded impressive performances by not only Tapiture but also Cairo Prince (Holy Bull Stakes), Candy Boy (Robert B. Lewis Stakes) and Vicar’s in Trouble (LeComte Stakes). Are these four flashes-in-the pan? Stay tuned….

Candy Boy’s steady rise to upper echelon of the California 3yo class continued with animpressive score in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2) on February 8. The John Sadler-trained colt sat off a good early pace under Hall of Fame rider Gary Stevens before pouncing on the leaders turning for home. He then surged to the lead and cruised home in the final yards to get the victory.

Candy Boy had been flying under the radar in the Maiden ranks last summer and fall but hindsight let’s us observe he’d been facing Stakes company in nearly all of his races. He placed 4th in his debut going 5.5 furlongs against the Stakes winner/Grade 1-placed sprinter Can the Man. Sadler stretched Candy Boy out to a mile for his next start where he again ran 4th behind eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) champion New Year’s Day and subsequent Frontrunner Stakes (G1) winner Bond Holder. In start #3 Candy Boy ran into another buzzsaw, finishing second to the Bob Baffert-trained Tap It Rich in a one-mile Maiden Special at Santa Anita on October 12. There was no keeping Candy Boy out of the winner’s circle in his 4th start, though, and he rolled by 6 1/4-lengths going 8.5 furlongs at Hollywood Park in late November. 

Candy Boy made his Stakes debut in his next outing, the CashCall Futurity (G1), where he ran a strong 2nd (at 26-1) to the unbeaten Eclipse Champion Shared Belief. Without the benefit of hindsight, we don’t know the exact quality of the runners Candy Boy defeated in his recent Lewis triumph, but he does have the look of a strong Classics contender who will get better the longer he runs.

Gary Stevens was duly impressed by the colt’s effort and by his vanquished rivals.

“He’s the No. 1 draft choice for me,” Stevens said after the race. “That was quite a performance he just put on against some pretty nice 3-year-old colts.”

Looking at Candy Boy’s female family, one wouldn’t neccesarily think ‘Kentucky Derby winner’. His dam, the In Excess mare She’s An Eleven, was an impressive middle distance Stakes winner against Cal-bred company but failed to hit the board in open company Stakes. Her dam, She’s a Sensation, earned some minor blacktype, also against Cal-breds, but is a sister to the star of the family – Leave Me Alone. That filly by Bold Badgett didn’t bother much with Cal-bred company. She was good enough to win a pair of imporant sprint Stakes, the Azalea Stakes (G3) and the Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga during her 3yo season. 

Like Shared Belief, Candy Boy is a son of the brilliant and undefeated Candy Ride, who defeated Medaglia d’Oro in the 10-furlong Pacific Classic (G1) in the last start of his career. They’re both now top flight stallions although Candy Ride’s offspring have tended to be best up to 9 furlongs. He’s the sire of such male runners as 2010 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Sidney’s Candy and Misremembered, who did win the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) at 10 furlongs. For fellow pedigree geeks it’s interesting to note that Candy Boy is bred on the Fappiano/Caro sire-line cross that has produced over 20 Stakes winners, including Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) victor Unbridled’s Song and Preakness Stakes (G1) hero Red Bullet.

Time will tell whether the steady rise of Candy Boy will continue through the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and beyond, but it would be no surprise if he carries his Hall of Fame jockey into the hallowed Derby winner’s cirlcle. 

 

With Shared Belief and Honor Code dealing with various ailments Cairo Prince is emerging as perhaps the three-year-old to beat as the Triple Crown trails shifts into high gear. The colt’s resume is certainly strong on its own merits and was burnished even further with an emphatic score in the Holy Bull S. (G2) on January 25.

Cairo Prince is a son of Pioneerof The Nile, who many (including this writer) thought would win the 2009 Kentucky Derby right up until some horse named Mine That Bird stormed through on the inside en route to a 6 3/4-length win. As Mine That Bird is a gelding there are no little birdies flying around racetrack now. He is, however, the subject of the movie 50-1. Pioneerof The Nile has maintained his fame in a more conventional manner – as a stallion. Winner of the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and a son of the hot sire Empire Maker, he was well-received when he retired to Vinery Stud in 2010 (he’s now at WinStar Farm). Cairo Prince is among his 94 first-crop three-year-olds and he’s by far his best runner to date.

Cairo Prince appeared on the Classics radar last fall with a nice 2 1/2-length score in the Nashua S. (G2) on November 3. Twenty seven days later he ran hoof-to-hoof with Honor Code in the Remsen S. (G2) failing by just a nose. 

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has always shown a quiet, yet steady confidence in Cairo Prince and he had this to say after his charge ran away and hid from a solid Holy Bull field.

“We felt we had the best horse, and we’re marching on,” McLaughlin told Daily Racing Form. “He trains exceptionally well, and he’s got a great mind. A lot of times, you don’t get those two things in the same package.”

Cairo Prince’s pedigree is a tale of two sides. His male-line indicates he should run as long as races are carded. His grandsire, Empire Maker, won the 2003 Belmont Stakes and his grandsire, Unbridled, was victorious in the 1990 Kentucky Derby (and Breeders’ Cup Classic). His dam, though, has produced two other blacktype runners both precious sprinters who were better as juveniles. His full sister, Nonna Mia, placed in the Frizzette S. (G1) at two but won only an Allowance heat and placed in a minor Stake at three. Their half-brother, Holdin Bullets (by Ghostzapper, known for siring late developers) placed in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint but is currently competing against claiming company. 

If his Holy Bull performance is any indication, Cairo Prince looks like he’s taking after his male lineage. And he’s being brought along by the most skilled of horsemen in McLaughlin. It would be no suprise if he were to avenge his sire and get the garland of roses draped over his withers on the first Saturday in May.