Breeding Watch, February 4, 2015

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DerbyMateo's avatarONE Thoroughbred Place

The first North American Grade 1 was contested of the year on an otherwise light weekend of stakes action and the Southern California fixture was dominated by daughters of champion and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.

Spendthrift Farm’s Street Sense filly Callback took the early initiative and never looked back in Saturday’s Grade 1 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita Park. Callback held off another daughter of Street Sense, Light the City, to score by a half-length in the 1-mile event.

Street Sense, who stands at Darley in Lexington, has had limited success with the A.P. Indy influence until now, but both fillies feature the 1992 Horse of the Year and Belmont Stakes winner prominently in their pedigrees.

Callback is out of the Forest Wildcat mare Quickest and her dam is the A.P. Indy daughter Supercharger, who is also the dam of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner and emerging second-crop sire Super…

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Horse of the Week: Personal Ensign

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We usually pick a horse from the previous weekend to highlight as our Horse of the Week. We went back a little further this week, to 1988 to be exact. Long before Zenyatta came to the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs in search of perfection, it was unbeaten Personal Ensign who provided as dramatic a finish to a horse race as you’ll ever see. And her impact on the Breeders’ Cup didn’t end there.

A product of the famed Ogden Phipps breeding program, Personal Ensign was dominant in a Maiden Special and the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park in the fall of 1986. She would have gone favored in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies but a fracture to her left hind pastern put those plans on ice and threatened to end her career.

The brave filly’s return to the races in September of 1987 helped put renowned equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage on the map. She won her comeback, an allowance, along with the Rare Perfume Stakes (G2) and the Beldame Stakes (G1) over older mares. She didn’t even notice those five metal screws Dr. Bramlage had put in her pastern. With another Grade 1 secured, trainer Shug McGaughey elected to bypass a cross country trip to the 1987 Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park.

McGaughey’s patience was rewarded with a longer and more sensational 1988 campaign. She made her first start on May 15 in the Shuvee H. (G1) and won with her typical ease. Two more graded wins against females followed before a tilt against males in the Whitney H. (G1) at Saratoga. Only two dared face Personal Ensign that day, the tough gelding King’s Swan and the top sprinter/miler Gulch. An early afternoon monsoon turned the Saratoga strip into a lake and Personal Ensign seemed to struggle early on, a portent of things to come on Breeders’ Cup day. But she simply had more class than her male rivals and got to the wire first. Her record was now a perfect 10 for 10.

A filly named Winning Colors won the Kentucky Derby in 1988 and it was only a matter of time until she crossed paths with Personal Ensign. The showdown came in the one-mile Maskette Stakes (G1), now called the Go For Wand S. on September 10, 1988. In one of the greatest races nobody saw (attendance that day was under 10,000, no national TV) Personal Ensign and rider Randy Romero reeled in a loose-on-the-lead Winning Colors.

Personal Ensign added another Beldame win to her resume and brought a pristine 12 for 12 record into her final start, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Winning Colors was there again too, along with Kentucky Oaks/Mother Goose/Coaching Club American Oaks winner Goodbye Halo.

The rains also came that Breeders’ Cup Saturday and Personal Ensign would have to conquer a sloppy track again to retire with a perfect record. I was at Saratoga the day Personal Ensign won the Whitney over that water-logged surface and I was half a country a way watching the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on TV. About half way through both races I said out loud:

“Uh oh.”

In both contests Personal Ensign just didn’t seem comfortable running over those soggy surfaces. But she was a champion and, watching the replays over a quarter of a century later, I almost get the sense she was using each stride early on to figure out how to navigate the slop. Each time her legs hit the soggy ground they gave her just a little more comfort and confidence. Or maybe she just couldn’t stand to see other horses in front of her. All I know is that it looked pretty hopeless at the top of the stretch in the Distaff. Winning Colors was rolling, Personal Ensign had put herself in the race but still had too much to do, still five lengths away. A gallant second or third on a track she hated would be her final salvo.

But no. She would dig deeper, stretch her stride to the limit, even if she felt like she was running on taffy. That that big gray Derby-winning filly is in front of me. And that’s not acceptable.

Personal Ensign got there first. I don’t know how. I still can’t tell who won when I watch that race but the photo tells the story: “Personal Ensign, you’re the first major runner to retire undefeated in 80 years.”

Personal Ensign was just as incredible in her second career and produced, among others, 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner My Flag, who in turn is the dam of 2002 Juvenile Fillies heroine Storm Flag Flying. Not many other horses, male of female, have had a greater impact on racing’s Championship weekend. Or the thoroughbred breed for that matter.

Horse of the Week: Trade Storm

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Trainer Charlie LoPresti gave someone else a chance to win this year’s Woodbine Mile (G1) when he opted to point 2012 & 2013 winner Wise Dan to Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland. Trainer David Simcock and the well-traveled Trade Storm were the beneficiaries.

Rider Jamie Spencer deserves a good deal of the credit for Trade Storm’s breakthrough victory too. He exhibited perfect patience while the three-year-old Bobby’s Kitten set strong fractions on the front end. Saving all the ground into the stretch, Spencer tipped Trade Storm out to the two path at just the right moment to surge past the tiring Bobby’s Kitten with enough left to hold off another late-charger in Kaigun.

The six-year-old Trade Storm finished third to Wise Dan last year and hadn’t had his picture taken since the Zabeel Mile (G2) in Dubai in early March of 2013. Primarily based in England, the son of Trade Fair now has five wins from his 34 globe-trotting starts and earnings over $1.4 million.

Trade Storm’s triumph capped off a spectacular day for trainer David Simcock who also took the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Stakes with Sheikhzayeroad.

“They are two good old boys aren’t they?” Simcock said after his second trip to the Woodbine winner’s circle. “Trade Storm has been frustrating, but even when he gets beaten, he is one of those horses you don’t get disappointed with – he is just a lovely horse to be around.”

Simcock also indicated that owner Sheikh Fahad will make the final determination on Trade Storm’s next start with the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) or a trip down under for the rich Australian fixture the Cox Plate (G1) the options. Stay tuned to see where this ‘good old boy’ shows up next.

-originally published on http://www.myfantasystable.com

Breeding Watch, July 9

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Smart Strike owns two North American general sire titles and is the sire of more than 100 stakes winners, but the 22-year-old Mr. Prospector stallion isn’t done yet.

Smart Strike’s 3-year-old daughter Minorette (out of a dam by Sadler’s Wells) won the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational July 5, becoming her sire’s 14th Grade 1 winner. The newly reconfigured Oaks, formerly the Garden City Stakes, is a 10-furlong event on the grass and looking at Smart Strike’s pool of Grade 1 winners we find a remarkably diverse group.

The group features high-level juveniles like champions Lookin At Lucky and My Miss Aurelia, distance turf runners like champion English Channel, and sprinters and milers on dirt and turf like Fabulous Strike and Soaring Free. And of course Curlin, Horse of the Year at 3 and 4 and soon-to-be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Daughters of Smart Strike, who stands at the Farish family’s Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, are also doing well and produced two more stakes winners over the holiday weekend. The 3-year-old Stacked Deck won the Charlie Barley Stakes July 5 at Woodbine and the following afternoon, the 4-year-old Legacy was best in the Cypress Stakes at the inaugural Los Alamitos Thoroughbred meeting. Smart Strike now has 43 stakes winners as a broodmare sire, an impressive 8 percent from starters.

Stacked Deck helped keep his sire First Samurai one of the hottest sires in North America. He is one of two stakes winners in the first week of July for the Claiborne Farm-based son of Giant’s Causeway. The other, Grade 3 winner Northern Passion, annexed her fourth stakes victory in the Sweet Briar Too Stakes during the Canada Day program at Woodbine. Combined with a pair of new graded winners June 28, that’s four stakes winners now in seven days for First Samurai, three of them first-time stakes winners. He now has a total of eight stakes winners for 2014.

The late Pulpit stood alongside First Samurai at Claiborne and he also sired a pair of stakes winners on the Independence Day weekend here in the U.S., both bred on a familiar cross.

Mr Speaker is a member of Pulpit’s penultimate crop and added to his sire’s career Grade 1 tally by upsetting the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational July 5. The Phipps-bred colt is out of a daughter of Unbridled, and the great Personal Ensign, and is the same cross that produced Grade 1 winner and super sire Tapit. Mr. Speaker is Pulpit’s 11th Grade 1 winner.

Pulpit’s Tea Time is out of a mare by the Unbridled son Empire Maker and she got her picture taken after the Beautiful Day Stakes July 3 at Delaware Park, her second straight stakes triumph. Pulpit has also sired the Grade 3 winner Super Ninety Nine out a mare by Unbridled’s Song and Pulpit’s son Sky Mesa has sired Grade 1 winners out of mares by both Unbridled (Sky Diva) and Unbridled’s Song (General Quarters).

Tea Time is the first stakes winner from 51 starters so far out of daughters of the excellent sire Empire Maker. Like Empire Maker, Henny Hughes now stands in Japan but his first stakes winner as a broodmare sire emerged over the weekend.

Highway Boss is the very first starter out a Henny Hughes mare and he took the Everett Nevin Stakes at the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meeting July 6. The 2-year-old gelding is the second juvenile stakes winner already this year by the Darley USA stallion Street Boss.

Distorted Humor is the broodmare sire of 30 black-type winners and two of them, both by Gone West-line stallions, added stakes victories July 5.

Heart Stealer, a graded stakes winner in 2013 and 2014, found the competition a little easier in the $75,000 Pasaena Stakes at Gulfstream Park. She’s by the top Gone West stallion Speightstown, a barnmate of Distorted Humor at WinStar Farm. That same afternoon in South Florida, C. Zee took the $90,000 Cherokee Run Stakes. The 3-year-old colt is the only stakes winner so far by the Louisiana-based Elusive Bluff, a son of the top Gone West stallion Elusive Quality.

Daughters of Arch have already produced important runners like 2012 champion and dual classic winner I’ll Have Another (by Flower Alley), champion Uncle Mo (by Indian Charlie) and Canadian Horse of the Year Uncaptured (by Lion Heart). Clearly Now might be next in line. The 4-year-old colt is now a three-time graded stakes winner after his scintillating score in the Grade 3 Belmont Sprint Championship July 5.

A lot of good runners have raced 7 furlongs at Belmont Park over the years but the track record for the distance now belongs to Clearly Now. He zipped in 1:19.96 and proved his is clearly the best runner so far by Claiborne Farm’s third-crop stallion Horse Greeley, a Grade 2-winning and Grade 1-placed son of Mr. Greeley. Overall, Arch is the broodmare sire of 17 stakes winners, a sterling 8 percent from starters.

(originally published on http://www.thisishorseracing.com)

The Mid-Year Awards

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We’re halfway through 2014 so it’s time for the Mid-Year Awards:

Older Male

Two-time defending Eclipse Award Horse of the Year Wise Dan earned a pair of Grade 1 victories in Kentucky this spring before his scary bout with colic. However, we’ll give this one to Palace Malice who has four graded wins this year by a combined 16 1/2 lengths. He overcome some trouble to conquer a stellar field in the Met Mile on Belmont Stakes Day and that win puts him over the top.

Older Female

The Belmont Stakes undercard had a very Breeders’ Cup feel to it and the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) essentially decided the Mid-Year Award in this division. Close Hatches fended off Princess of Sylmar with Eclipse Champion Beholder back in fourth. The First Defence filly is unbeaten in three starts this year, including another Grade 1 tally in the Apple Blossom Stakes (G1) at Oaklawn Park.

3YO Male

Three Grade 1 wins, including the Derby and Preakness make California Chrome a no-brainer here. But…we’ve always thought Shared Belief was a superstar and these two could meet twice later this year in California. It’s been over 40 years since a dual Classic winner didn’t get the Eclipse Award for champion 3YO male, but…

3YO Female

Untapable, no other filly is close. No other filly is a threat to her the second half of the year.

Sprinter

This division is very much up in the air. 2014 Grade 1-winning sprinters like Dads Caps (Carter S.) and Declassify (Triple Bend S.) don’t have an additional graded win to back up their claims. Dads Caps was in the field when Clearly Now dominated the Belmont Sprint Championship (G2) on July 5. There have been an awful lot of good horses who have run 7 furlongs at Belmont Park over the years but the track record for the distance now belongs to Clearly Now. Let’s give nod to him. Honorable mention goes to the three-year-old Bayern who posted perhaps the most impressive sprint performance of the year in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G2) on Belmont Day.

Turf

Two Grade 1’s for champ Wise Dan in 2014 keeps him on top of this division.

Filly & Mare Turf

A slight nod to the much-improved Coffee Clique here. Although both at a mile, she does have Grade 2 and Grade 1 wins over strong fields this year.

Horse of the Year

Califorina Chrome’s three important Grade 1 wins are certainly formidable but it’s hard to go with him when I think Palace Malice is simply a better horse. Palace Malice is the pick while for Mid-Year Horse of the Year while we look ahead to an exciting second half of 2014!

(originally published on http://www.myfantasystable.com)

On Racing: Tales of Belmont Stakes Agony (Part 1)

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I started following thoroughbred horse racing a little over 30 years. Across those three decades I’ve seen ten horses win both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. And ten times my soul was later crushed at some point during the Belmont Stakes. Is the 11th time the charm? Is California Chrome the one? I figured it couldn’t hurt to try to exorcise the demons of past Triple Crown heartbreak.

1987 – Alysheba This was my second time attending the Belmont Stakes and Alysheba was my first favorite horse. Out of money at my local Off Track-Betting Parlor before the 1987 Kentucky Derby, I cancelled my Dad’s ticket on the race and put the stolen money on Alysheba. He very nearly fell down during in the stretch run at Churchill when Bet Twice drifted into his path but he and Chris McCarron persevered to win me my first Kentucky Derby. Another gritty win over archrival Bet Twice in the Preakness set the stage for the son of Alydar to avenge his sire and capture the Triple Crown. Those were the days when New York didn’t allow the anti-bleeding medication Lasix and much was made of the fact that Alysheba would go without it for the mile and one half test. There wasn’t much drama that sunny June afternoon as Bet Twice spurted away rounding the far turn and was never challenged. Alysheba settled for fourth.

1989 – Sunday Silence I was there for this one too but have to admit some mixed emotions. This was racing’s last great East Coast/West Coast rivalry and, as a yankee, I was all about Easy Goer. Like most of the Easy Goer-ers I blamed his Derby loss to Santa Anita Derby winner Sunday Silence on the slick racetrack at Churchill Downs. After Sunday Silence out-gutted him in the Preakness by a nose I could say nothing and be nothing but heartbroken. Like two years before, the Belmont Stakes was over at the top of the stretch with Easy Goer operating like a Secretariat-like machine. He ran away from Sunday Silence by x lengths stopping the clock in 2:26, a time bettered only by Secretariat himself. Easy Goer may have been the last truly brilliant distance horse we’ve seen in North America. It was also NYRA race caller Marshal Cassidy’s last Belmont Stakes call and, like me, he didn’t try to hide his rooting interest screaming:  “It’s New York’s Eaasssy Goer, in front!”

1997 – Silver Charm I had skipped the 1995 and 1996 Belmont Stakes but had to come back with a big shot at witnessing history. Silver Charm proved to be an incredibly courageous and game animal with close victories over Captain Bodgit in the Kentucky Derby and again in the Preakness (with Free House and Touch Gold in close proximity too). If Touch Gold hadn’t stumbled badly at the start of the Baltimore race and then been shut off a few times maybe there would haven’t have been a Triple Crown on the line at all that year. But with Silver Charm you never knew. If Touch Gold had gotten through on the inside of the Pimlico stretch and come up alongside Silver Charm, Silver Charm likely would have battled back. Actually Chris McCarron did know and he kept Touch Gold to the far outside down the lane in the Belmont. He never let Gary Stevens and Silver Charm see him until it was too late. When Silver Charm passed me at about the 1/8th pole I thought he had the race won and it was hard to see if anyone actually did get by him from our angle up on the third floor. By the crowd reaction I assumed someone had beaten him but I sprinted up the stairs to the nearest TV to see what had actually happened. Silver Charm would not let Free House pass him but I watched in agony as Touch Gold surged by both from the far outside. Silver Charm, literally, never saw him coming.

1998 – Real Quiet I didn’t make the trip to New York for this one for some reason, instead, I was planted firmly on my couch in Louisville, Kentucky as Real Quiet ran for history. I had bet him in the Derby but was a little skeptical about his overall quality. The Derby was only his third lifetime win, afterall. But when Kent Desormeaux let him loose at the top of that long Belmont stretch and Real Quiet responded and bounded away. I lept up and thought “Holy @#$!@#, he’s going to do it!” It felt like he had already won. And then Victory Gallop, Gary Stevens up, appeared. And then he started getting closer. And then Real Quiet started staggering. And then they hit the wire together and Tom Durkin gave one of his greatest calls. “It’s too close to call! Was it Real Quiet!? Or was it Victory Gallop!? A picture is worth a thousand words. This one is worth five million dollars!” (At the time there was a $5 million bonus for whoever earned the Triple Crown). I couldn’t tell who won either but after watching the replays I was almost hoping that Victory Gallop had gotten his nose down first. After all that staggering and drifting by Real Quiet, there would be a claim of foul for sure if Real Quiet had crossed the wire first. How would you like to be the stewards with that much history in the balance? When the photo came back it showed Victory Gallop had won the 130th Belmont Stakes. Despite the bitter loss I got to feel what it was like to watch a Triple Crown winner. If only for a few fake seconds.

1999 – Charismatic I had an even harder time taking Charismatic seriously the following year. A former claimer he had exploded on the racing scene by taking the Lexington Stakes then the Derby and then Preakness. He was owned by racing’s first couple, the affable Robert & Beverly Lewis, who had been so gracious in 1997 with their Silver Charm (and Serena’s Song and so on). Charismatic ran his heart out trying to hold off Lemon Drop Kid and Vision and Verse down the stretch under Chris Antley. His try turned out to be more than his body could sustain. The lasting image of this Belmont Stakes was Chris Antley supporting the left front leg of Charismatic after the finish line, waiting for the vets to arrive on the scene. There’s perhaps no better image to represent the past decades of Triple Crown futility and frustration.

Image

Next week: Part 2

(originally published on www.myfantasystable.com)

Classics Contender Profile: Social Inclusion

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If you go strictly by speed figures, the fastest healthy three-year-old colt in North America wasn’t included in the Kentucky Derby field. With a 110 Beyer Speed Figure and a 4 on the Ragozin Sheets, the lightly-raced Social Inclusion missed a Derby berth by the bob of a head. Come Preakness time, however, he’ll break from starting stall #8.

Social Inclusion was a runaway winner of his debut on Feburary 22 at Gulfstream Park. That afternoon he went right to the lead from his rail position and rocketed to a 7 1/2-length score, covering six furlongs in an impressive 1:09.35. His next start was a mile an one-sixteenth Allowance heat in South Florida, designed as a first test of his distance capability. That race also happened to be the 2014 starting point for Derby favorite Honor Code, an impresive graded winner last year at two. The betting public made Honor Code the odds-on favorite but Social Inclusion made everyone take notice with another dominant performace. He ran away from Honor Code by over 10 lengths, earning the aforementioned speed figures.

The Wood Memorial was up next for the speedy colt and another big effort was needed to secure enough points to make the Churchill Downs starting gate on the first Saturday in May. Under jockey Luis Contreras, Social Inclusion ceded the early lead to Schivarelli in the Wood but was right at that one’s throatlatch after a quarter mile. He was traveling easily on the outside down the backstretch and entering the home stretch the colt looked well in command. It wasn’t until the 3/16ths pole that he appeared a little weary and from there he weakened more noticably. Wicked Strong was running best late and surged by him in the final yards from the far outside. The previously unbeaten Samraat was also along to grab second place, and crucial Derby points from Social Inclusion.

Without those points, Social Inclusion stayed in South Florida and was to prep for the Preakness Stakes in the Sir Bear Stakes. A minor foot bruise kept him out of that event but he appears to have recovered fully and has worked spectacuarly since.

The question for Social Inclusion going into Saturday’s Preakness Stakes is his ability to handle a Classic distance. His Wood Memorial left plenty of doubts, but supporters can point to the fact that it was only his third career start. His pedigree is also mixed bag. His sire, Pioneerof the Nile, ran second in the Kentucky Derby and is the the son of a Belmont Stakes winner (Empire Maker) and grandson of a Kentucky Derby winner (Unbridled). His dam, however, the graded-placed Saint Bernadette, was a two-time winner, both at sprint distances.

Social Inclusion’s gaudy speed figures and workouts will certainly attract a lot of wagering dollars. In fact, he’s the second choice on the morning line at 5-1. Based on his running style his supporters will most likely have something to root for at the top of the stretch. That’s when it will get interesting for Social Inclusion.

(originally published on www.myfantasystable.com)

Derby is a Changin’

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I experienced of couple of moments this spring when I watched everything change. The first was at the Coachella music festivalin early April, the second at Churchill Downs on opening night, April 26.

At Churchill, I was sitting in a section of brand new grandstand at the top of the stretch as the sun began to set. The enormous new 4D ‘Big Board’ television on the backstretch had just been unveiled (watch here). From my vantage, I could see the whole infield, now lined with light poles and the newish Jockey Club suites towered above my right shoulder. Over the past decade the Churchill Downs property has undergone a steady metamorphosis (including a new Clubhouse section) and I had seen the changes at every stage. But once the virtual red curtain opened on that ridiculously big and crystal-clear new TV, that’s when it all clicked. Almost like watching a favorite video online that gets temporarily stuck and then fast forwards, my whole twenty-plus history at the storied track flashed before me. In that instant, I watched the Churchill Downs of the future be born.

Earlier in the month at Coachella, I stood in a somewhat sparse crowd of folks swaying to and fro as Arcade Fire closed out the festival on the main stage. I was wondering where the rest of the crowd was as just a few hours earlier a DJ named Calvin Harris had that same field packed with kids frantically dancing around. ‘Wow,’ I thought to myself “Arcade Fire (and bands like them) are over with the next generation.’

It’s not like these changes actually happened in the moments when they finally hit home to me. I never saw the ‘decadent and depraved’ Derby that Hunter S. Thompson wrote about in the 1970’s, but I used to see more than a few fights in the infield. In the ’90’s I used to see a bunch of girls throughout Derby Day get on guys shoulders and, after loud pleadings from the other men in the crowd, pull up or push down their shirts. I can’t remember the last time I saw a boob in the Kentucky Derby infield, much less two. That’s not to say that I condone brawling or boob-baring, but these actions were born of an attitude of reckless freedom and drunken abandon that isn’t acceptable in the real world. Derby became an escape from daily conformity for me and was exactly what I needed in my life in the early 1990’s. At the time Kentucky Derby was my only source.

Nowadays I have Derby and whatever music fests I attend. I haven’t seen many fights or much nudity at music festivals over the past decade but the freedom and happiness vibe and crowd energy is certainly there in spades. I guess I have to thank Derby for opening the door to this world. I’m not only accustomed to large crowds but crave and feed off the energy of tens of thousands of people who have left the outside world behind for a few hours or days of uninhibited fun.

Like I said, it’s been awhile since the Derby infield has been truly depraved but this year it seemed its gentrification became complete. I spent my 23rd Derby in the Churchill Downs infield last Saturday and can’t recall an infield scene so lacking in crazed energy. The giant frat party on the third turn was nowhere to be found. You could actually walk on the grass in that area, where in the past it was a major effort just to take a few steps. Only a year before, in the pouring rain, a throng danced at a nearby DJ stage and mud wrestled and acted like proper infielders. It was a shock to see the 2014 attendance figure announced as the second-hightest in Derby history. The infield certainly didn’t pull it’s weight. Only the middle of the infield, with the best view of the new TV seemed even remotely crowded this year.

Maybe, hopefully, 2014 is an anomaly. Maybe I just happened to be in the wrong parts of the infield at the wrong times. Or maybe this was the year that Derby really did change. Maybe that moment on opening night hit home because you can’t have the same Derby experience in a physical environment that has changed so radically.

Time will tell, just like time will tell if there will more than a handful of bands that play actual instruments at music festivals in 10 years time. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Classics Contender Profile: Danza

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The cleverly-named Danza burst into Triple Crown contention by bossing around a quality field in the Arkansas Derby  April 12. It was only his fourth career start and his very first around two turns, leaving MyFantasyStable.com players to wonder if he’s a one-hit wonder or if he has lasting star power.

The Todd Pletcher-trained colt couldn’t have had an easier trip in the Oaklawn Park fixture. He sat fourth while along the inside for much of the race and did not have to deviate course when the real running began. Jockey Joe Bravo hustled Danza up the rail turning for home and he drew off down the lane leaving Ride on Curlin, pace-setter Bayern and the graded winner Tapiture to fight it out for the minor awards.

Despite the ease of Danza’s journey, his race earned a very good speed figure from both the Beyer folks and the Ragozin Sheets makers, who incorporate ground loss into their numbers. Danza’s 102 Beyer and 6 on The Sheets (lower the better on those) puts him right there with the remaining Derby contenders and any further improvement makes him a very serious player.

In addition, we just don’t know how good this horse is. He ran well in his stakes debut last summer, closing stoutly to gain third in the Saratoga Special going 6 1/2 furlongs before a knee issue sent him to the sidelines. His first race of this season was a closing fourth-place effort in a 7 furlong sprint over a notoriously speed favoring Gulfstream Park strip on March 1.

Danza’s pedigree provides some clues to his potential at Classic distances. His sire, Street Boss was at his best around one turn and on synthetic surfaces, winning a pair of Grade 1 sprints in California during the polytrack era (tha’s now coming to a close). Street Boss hasn’t set the world on fire as a sire but Danza is his second Grade 1 winner from his first two crops. His first, Capo Bastone, won last year’s 7 furlong King’s Bishop S. (G1) after flirting with the Classics in the spring. However, the rest of Danza’s pedigree has some Classic influences. His paternal grandsire, Street Cry, won the 10-furlong Dubai World Cup and has sired the likes of 2007 Kentucky Derby hero Street Sense and the incomparable Zenyatta (Breeders’ Cup Classic, etc. etc.). Danza’s second dam is by Tank’s Prospect, winner of the 1985 Preakness Stakes and his half-bother brother, Midnight Harbor, won the 12-furlong Tokyo City H. (G3) earlier this year.

A certain former Defense Secretary is famous for pontificating on ‘knowns’ and ‘unknows’ stating in part: “We also know there are known unknowns…”. He could very well be talking about Danza. We know we have a promising Grade 1 winner before us, but just how good he really is remains, well, uknown.