Medaglia D'Oro Archives - Thoroughbred U

August 25, 2016August 28, 2016

Transfixed by the Travers

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This year’s Travers stakes is going to be huge! This race is literally massive in terms of both entries and talent. The 147th running of the Travers Stakes has 14 contestants. It is tied for the highest number of entries, that record was established in 1977. 6 of the 14 horses in this field were in the 2016 Kentucky Derby. Saratoga’s “Midsummer Derby” is shaping up to be one of the finest races of the season.

The Travers Stakes was inaugurated in 1864. It is held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, NY. The race has varied historically but this year the crowd capacity will be capped at 50 thousand fans to watch the $1.25 million dollar Grade 1, of 1 and 1/4 miles (10 furlongs), dirt race for 3 year-old Thoroughbreds. One of Saratoga’s finest races, the Travers, has acquired the name of the “Midsummer Derby”, traditionally held in August. The track itself has the nicknames of ” The Graveyard of Champions ” due to the frequency of major upsets that have occurred at this track and “The Spa” because of the areas historical and rich mineral springs. The Travers is named for William R. Travers. He was the owner of the 1st horse to win this race, Kentucky. Travers was also president of the Saratoga Racing Association.

In 1941 there was a Superfecta won by Whirlaway. A Superfecta is the combination of winning all of the Triple Crown legs and the Travers Stakes. One recent example of an upset at the Travers happened just last year. After American Pharoah went on an 8 race winning streak, that included sweeping the Triple Crown series, he was 2nd in the 2015 Travers, losing to Keen Ice. This win by Keen Ice gave his rider the title. Javier Castellano is the jockey with the most Travers wins, at a total of 5. American Pharoah redeemed himself in his next race, as if he needed to, winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The combo of the Triple Crown plus the BC Classic is called a Grandslam and American Pharoah is the only horse to have ever achieved the Grandslam. Whirlaway is the only Superfecta winner.

Another very special horse won the Travers in 1920, Man o’ War. In his honor, Tiffany and Co. created a trophy, a gold plated replica Man o’ War Cup is given to the winner of the Travers annually.

Please, allow me one more interesting historical fact before we get to the 2016 entries. There is a nice goose pond infield of the Saratoga track. A canoe was placed there in 1926. Since 1961, the canoe is painted in the silk colors of the Travers winner each year.

Finally, here is our enormous field by post/horse/jockey/trainer/owner:

Arrogate/Mike Smith/Bob Baffert/Juddmonte Farms, Inc.
American Freedom/Rafael Bejarano/Bob Baffert/Gary and Mary West
My Man Sam/Manuel Franco/Chad C. Brown/Sheep Pond Partners, Newport Stables, LLC. and Jay W. Bligh
Governor Malibu/Joel Rosario/Christophe Clement/Jump Sucker Stable and Oak Bull Stables
Forever d’Oro/Luis Saez/Dallas Stewart/Charles E. Fipke
Anaximandros/Leonel Reyes/Mikhail Yanakov/Mikhail Yanakov
Exaggerator/Kent Desormeaux/J. Keith Desormeaux/ Big Chief Racing, LLC., Head of Plains Partners, LLC., Rocker O Ranch, LLC, et al.
Destin/Javier Castellano/Todd A. Pletcher/Twin Creeks Racing Stables, LLC. and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners
Gift Box/Junior Alvarado/Chad C. Brown/W.S. Farish
Connect/John R. Velazquez/Chad C. Brown/Warren A. Croll, Jr
Majesto/Ricardo Santana Jr./Gustavo Delgado/Grupo Seven C Stable
Creator/Irad Ortiz Jr./Steven M. Asmusen/WinStar Farm and Bobby Flay
Laoban/Jose L. Ortiz/Eric J. Guillot/McCormick Racing, LLC. and Southern Equine Stable, LLC.
Gun Runner/Florent Geroux/Steven M. Asmussen/Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC., Three Chimneys Farm and Besilu Stables LLC.

Arrogate is the KY bred grey son of Unbridled’s Song and Bubbler. He has won the last 3 of his 4 career races. He has never been entered in a stakes race. Smith has not won the Travers since 1998 and Baffert has not won this race since 2001. Arrogate has never raced at The Spa.

American Freedom is a KY bred colt, sired by Pulpit, his dam is Gottcha Last. He has won 3 of his 5 races. He won 1 of 3 graded stakes. American Freedom has not raced at Saratoga but while he shares a trainer with Arrogate he has more East coast experience. Bejarano has not won the Travers.

Another KY bred is in post 3. My Man Sam is the offspring of Trappe Shot and Lauren Byrd. He has won once in his 6 starts and he participated in 2 graded stakes races including the KY Derby. He often runs second and he could probably do that once again. In his last race he was second and that was at Saratoga. Trappe Shot finished 9th in the 2010 Travers. Franco nor Brown have historical wins in the Travers. Brown is on a roll at Saratoga. He got his 1,000th win while racing there on Wednesday. Brown has 3 entries in the Travers.

Governor Malibu is a NY bred with NY racing experience. He was 2nd his last trip out and that was at Saratoga in the Jim Dandy Stakes. He is the son of Malibu Moon and Akilina. Governor Malibu has won 2 of his 9 starts. He has placed in 2 of 3 graded stakes. Neither Rosario or Clement have won the Travers.

Forever d’ Oro is the KY bred Colt of Medaglia d’ Oro and Lemons Forever. He recently finished 3rd at Saratoga. This was one of his 5 races. He has won once. He participated in the Belmont Stakes. His sire, Medaglia d’ Oro, won the Travers in 2002. His dam sire, Lemon Drop Kid, won the Travers in 1999. Forever d’ Oro’s jockey, Saez, won the Travers in 2013.

Anaximandros is a colt by Hard Spun and Dragon Fly. He is KY bred with a French dam. He has won 2 of 5 races. He was 4th his last race which is his only graded stakes experience. He has not raced at Saratoga. His jockey nor trainer have ever won the Travers.

Right in the middle sits the favorite, Exaggerator! Sired by Curlin he is the KY bred colt born to Dawn Raid. He has more experience then the preceding post positions with 6 wins in 13 starts. He ran all three legs of the 2015 Triple Crown finishing 2nd, 1st then a disappointing 11th respectively. He had a triumphant rebound in his very next race when he finished 1st in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational. Kent Desormeaux won the Travers in 2009.

Destin is a grey colt by Giant’s Causeway and Dream of Summer. One of my favorite farms, Taylor Made, had a part in his KY breeding. He has won 3 of 8 races. He finished 3rd at Saratoga behind Governor Malibu in his last race. He participated in the KY Derby and the Belmont Stakes. He finished 2nd to Creator in the Belmont. He is a multiple graded stakes winner. Pletcher last won the Travers in 2011. Castellano has won the Travers the most.

Gift Box is a grey ridgling. In his pedigree are Twirling Candy and Special Me. He has 2 wins of 5 races. He recently finished 2nd at Saratoga. He was 3rd in his only graded stakes race. The jockey nor the trainer has won a Travers Stakes race.

Connect is another colt by Curlin. He is a KY bred horse with Bullville Bell as his dam. He is on a streak winning his past 3 races out of a career 4 starts. He just won at Saratoga last month, besting Gift Box. He has not entered a graded stakes before. Connect’s dam sire, Holly Bull, won the Travers in 1994. Mike Smith was the jockey for Holy Bull’s win. Smith is Arrogate’s jockey this time.

Majesto is a KY bred ridgling. He was born to Tiznow and Unacloud. He has only finished first in one of his 8 races. He has two graded stakes races in his resume and one of those was the KY Derby. His last race was at Saratoga where he finished 6th. His connections have not won the Travers. Majesto’s dam sire, Unaccounted For was 4th in the 1994 Travers Stakes.

Creator is a grey colt sired by Tapit, thus another KY bred. His dam is Morena. He has finished first place in 3 of his 11 starts. It was not his day in the KY Derby but he was 1st place in the Belmont Stakes. Most recently he finished 6th at Saratoga in the Jim Dandy. He has the ability but not the consistency. His jockey and trainer haven’t won a Travers before.

In the lucky 13 post position stands Laoban. He is the son of Uncle Mo and Chattertown. He is a KY bred colt. He won one time in a career 8 races. That one time counts big for this race as it was right at Saratoga last month when he conquered the Jim Dandy Stakes. He has raced in 6 stakes races including the Preakness. He has the experience. His trainer and his jockey are looking for their first Travers wins too.

Finally, we end the field with Gun Runner. Bred in KY by Candy Ride and Quiet Giant this colt has a 5 in 8 record for wins. He was 3rd in the KY Derby but holds multiple graded stakes wins. He has not raced at Saratoga. Geroux would be happy to get his first Travers title.

Be sure to buy tickets now if you are fortunate enough to be planning to attend. It is expected to be a sell out. The card includes 13 nice races. Four BC Win and You’re In races are up for grabs. The Travers is the 11th race on Saturday 8/27/16. It will post at 5:44 P.M. EST. NBC will provide television coverage from 4:30 to 6 PM.

Thank you to our regular handicapper for allowing me use of his photos. I fully rely on my own photos and those of close friends and family. I really appreciate having access to pictures of horses and places I haven’t experienced yet. Check back regularly for new Thoroughbred posts.

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August 10, 2016August 10, 2016

Tapit On Top

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Tapit, the sire of my favorite horse, Juba, stole the show, once again, at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale. The two day sale ended last evening with 9 Tapit offspring selling. Both his average and median prices beat out the other sire’s yearlings at the sale.

Tapit is a 15 year old super sire. He is a grey horse that has sired many other greys and he is nearly white in appearance. He lives at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, KY. I visited him, at his farm, this past June. Tapit is the son of sire Pulpit and dam Tap Your Heels. Tapit was KY bred at Oldenburg Farms,LLC and owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, LLC. His trainer was Michael W. Dickinson. Tapit only had 6 starts in his racing career. 2 of his 3 wins were in graded stakes races. He won the Laurel Futurity at Laurel Park and the Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Tapit retired to stud in 2005 and by 2008 his first crop was racing. He immediately shot up to leading freshman sire that year. Tapit was the leading Champion North American sire in 2014 and 2015 and he is leading again in 2016. He holds the highest stud fee in the country at $300,000. He has a slew of successful offspring including Frosted. Frosted won the race I wrote about last week, the Whitney Handicap.

It makes sense, that with the success on the track that Tapit’s offspring have shown it seems everybody wants a Tapit yearling. Fasig-Tipton’s sale on August 8th and 9, 2016 was no different. There were 252 yearlings cataloged in the Saratoga Selected Yearling sale that was held in Saratoga Springs, NY. 11 of those were sired by Tapit. 9 of his yearlings sold with an average price of over $700,000 and a median price of over $600,000. His top seller, hip 140, sold for $1.25 million dollars. Only one horse sold for more in the two day sale. That was Medaglia d’Oro’s, $1.45 million dollar filly, hip 191. Tapit still had Medaglia d’Oro and all the other sires beat with a total of over $6.42 million dollars in sales. Medaglia d’Oro’s yearlings totaled over $3.65 million.

Overall, I wasn’t so pleased in the trend but that may just be a matter of personal opinion. The previous year, the sale sold 156 versus 145 Thoroughbreds. The sale total, despite more horses sold, dropped by more than a million dollars. The average price dropped by more than $30 thousand dollars and the median price dropped by $12.5 thousand dollars. While only 26 horses did not sell in 2015 there were 47 horses that did not get sold this year.

The same auction house will feature the Fasig-Tipton New York Bred Yearling sale on August 13th and 14, 2016. Tapit is a good ol’ Kentucky boy, thus he won’t have any yearlings in this sale. Perhaps that will give my partnership’s entry an advantage on Sunday. However, Tapit is the dam sire of hip 387, a filly by Violence. Violence has 6 yearlings in this sale and I’m expecting those to do very well. I hope the right matches get made and we all get to enjoy some fantastic racehorses in the following years. Check back next week for more info on Thoroughbred action!

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June 10, 2016June 10, 2016

Breakdown for the Belmont

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One more day to go to reach the crowning jewel! Tomorrow, Saturday, 6/11/16, is the 148th running of the Belmont Stakes. It is the third leg of the Triple Crown of U.S. Thoroughbred racing. The “Test of the Champion” will post at 6:32 P.M. EST at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

A lucky 13 horses will compete. Only 4 of these contenders did not run in at least one of the prior legs of the Triple Crown. The field is as follows, by post/horse/jockey/trainer/ owner:

Governor Malibu/Joel Rosario/Christopher Clement/Jump Sucker Stable and Oak Bluff Stable
Destin/Javier Castellano/Todd Pletcher/Twin Creeks Racing Stabel and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners
Cherry Wine/Corey Lanerie/Dale Romans/William Pacella, Frank L. Jones, Jr. and Frank Shoop
Suddenbreakingnews/Mike Smith/Donnie Von Hemel/Samuel F. Henderson
Stadivari/John Velazquez/Todd Pletcher/John Gunther, Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith
Gettysburg/Paco Lopez/Steve Asmussen/WinStar Farm
Seeking the Soul/Florent Geroux/Dallas Stewart/Charles Fipke
Forever d’ Oro/Jose Ortiz/Dallas Stewart/Charles Fipke
Trojan Nation/Aaron Gryder/Patrick Gallagher/Julie Gilbert and Dr. Aaron Sones
Lani/Yutaka Take/Matsunaga Mikio/Koji Maeda
Exaggerator/Kent Desormeaux/Keith Desormeaux/Big Chief Racing, Head of Plains Partners/ Rocker O Ranch
Brody’s Cause/Luis Saez/Dale Romans/Albaugh Family Stable
Creator/Irad Ortiz, Jr./Steve Asmussen/WinStar Farm

Notice that there are a lot of repeats on trainers and owners. If the horse’s last race out was the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness Stakes, check my old stories to limit repetition.

Derby Deciphered

Preview Pimlico’s Preakness

Governor Malibu did not run the KY Derby or the Preakness. He is a New York bred horse so he is right at home. He has raced at Belmont 3 times of 7 starts in his career. He won twice, placed on 4 occasions and showed once as well. It took him 4 races to break his maiden. Most recently he finished 2nd in the Grade II Peter Pan Stakes.

Destin finished 6th in the KY Derby. He will likely position himself near the lead.

Cherry Wine was second in the Preakness Stakes.

Suddenbreakingnews came in 5th in the KY Derby.

Stradivari was the 4th horse to finish in the Preakness. He is know to run in the lead. Post position 5 is where American Pharoah broke from last year to win.

Gettysburg has had 7 starts. He has one win, one 2nd place and 1 third place finish in his career. His sire is Pioneer of the Nile who sired last year’s Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah. Gettysburg is grey and he finished 5th in both the Sam F. Davis Stakes and the Arkansas Derby. In his last race he was 3rd at Belmont. He is a front runner. He has a fun Twitter personality.

Seeking the Soul has only raced 3 times, breaking his maiden in his last race at Churchill Downs. At the same track, he placed 5th in his prior race on KY Derby day.

Forever d’ Oro is sired by Medaglia d’ Oro who was 2nd in the 2002 Belmont Stakes. The winner of the 2002 Belmont is pictured above in my #Flashback Friday photo. That is Sarava! I met Sarava last summer at Old Friend’s Farm In Georgetown, KY. Forever d’ Oro’s maternal grandsire was Lemon Drop Kid who won the Belmont Stakes in 1999. Forever d’ Oro has a nice family history but jut like Seeking the Soul he has only raced 3 times. He also broke his maiden in the last race, however it was at Belmont Park. He got his start at my home track, Keeneland!

Trojan Nation was 16th in the KY Derby.

Lani is my favorite Twitter character in the race. He has a nice following of fun stories, memes and videos. He was 9th in the KY Derby and 5th in the Preakness. He is the 1st Japanese horse to go for all three legs of the Triple Crown.

Exaggerator is the favorite. He was 2nd in the KY Derby and he won the Preakness Stakes.

Brody’s Cause was 7th in the KY Derby.

Creator finished lucky 13 in the KY Derby. He takes post position 13 which has never had a Belmont Stakes winner.

Belmont Stakes Fun Facts:

The purse is $1.5 million dollars
The drink is The Belmont Jewel
The flower is the white carnation, thus “The Run for the Carnations” with a blanket of 700 carnations
The race is 1 and 1/2 miles (12 furlongs) on dirt
The song is “New York, New York”
The trophy is the August Belmont Memorial Cup by Tiffany and Co.
5 other Grade 1 stakes are on Saturday’s Belmont card
NBC Sports Network will televise the event from 3 to 5 P.M. EST and 7 to 7:30 P.M. EST while NBC will cover the live race from 5 to 7 P.M. EST

Unfortunately, this isn’t the year for a Triple Crown winner but it is still going to be a great day for racing. Have a super weekend everyone. I’ll find something new to bring you next week!

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February 10, 2016February 10, 2016

Jaw Droppers and Sale Toppers

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At first I was pretty disappointed that I could not attend the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale. The sale was only two days, Monday and Tuesday, February 8 – 9, 2016 and I had to work. Instead, I was able to go out for nearly four hours the day prior to the sale kickoff and spend time visiting and photographing the Thoroughbreds. It was cool and dry, that Sunday I spent at the barns, which was the last of that weather. Winter Mixed is a great name because it not only describes the variety of available bloodstock but the term fits the rain, sleet and snow that fell throughout the sale. I don’t like cold and wet so I was happy to follow along on the live feed.

The Winter Mixed had 528 Thoroughbreds cataloged. Of these 341 sold at a total price of over $8.2 million dollars. The average hip sold for more than $24 thousand dollars. The sale offered broodmares, racing or broodmare prospects and short yearlings. Day 1 of the sale featured hips 1 thru 296 and day 2 featured the remaining hips. I learned something very interesting about the cataloging from this sale. When the catalog for an auction house is produced the horses are assigned their hip order based on an alphabetical listing of either their own registered name or, if they have yet to be named, the name of their dam. A letter is drawn at random to start numbering (hip 1) and then the numbers are assigned in alphabetical order thereafter. In a select sale the groupings can be made based on quality but not in a mixed sale such as this. That explains why at a select sale one might see the highest priced horses featured on a particular day but in a mixed sale, like this, it just so happened that day 2 had more sought after horses.

This sale had 14 horses sell for 6 figure prices. The sale topper was hip 426, Flashy American for $395,000. She is a pretty 7 year old gray/roan sired by Flashy Bull, her dam is Inn Between. Flashy American is pregnant by 2013 Kentucky Derby winner, Orb. 2016 will bring Orb’s 1st crop. She was consigned by Taylor Made Sales and purchased by Blue Sky Stable. She may be bred to Tapit next. She was sold at Fasig-Tipton in the 2015 Kentucky Selected Fall Mixes Sale for $360,000 but the owner defaulted upon her offer. Funfair (hip 431) went for $350,000. Achiever’s Legacy (519) sold for $330,000 as did Stoweshoe (522, seen in the above promo poster). Maggie D’ Oro (55) was session 1’s topper at $210,000. Zundaq (296) and Dorothy’s Spirit (403, seen below on the top) each sold for $190,000. Kateri (18, seen below on the bottom) fetched $167,000. Bonnie Bear (338) and Darling Bird (389) both had a price of $150,000. Suzy Sage (228) followed at $130,000. Aunt Ellen (314) sold for $115,000. Finally Lady Zieg (28) and the yearling topper, a colt out of Bala and sired by Violence (318), each sold for $100,000.

Dorothy’s Spirit’s sire was the late and great Scat Daddy who passed away this past December of an apparent but unexpected heart attack at only 11 years old. 9 horses in this sale were Scat Daddy progeny and 7 sold. Another of his offspring is Lady Gayle (26, seen below). She sold for just $14,000. While there was quite a price range on his lineage there was a high demand for the mares pregnant with a Scat Daddy sired foal. Funfair, Maggie D’ Oro and Bonnie Bear, all toppers, are all in foal by Scat Daddy.

I was pretty impressed to see the next two Thoroughbreds. It’s Elementary (11, seen below at left) won 1st place at Gulfstream Park last Friday 2/5/16. She was not sold. Crocus Hill (383, featured below on the right) came in 2nd at Tampa Bay 2/6/16. She is sired by Medaglia D’Oro and sold for just $30,000. I’m going to keep a lookout for these two to see if they race again soon.

Finally, who doesn’t love, love, love a baby? A few broodmares had their foals pre-sale but they still go thru the auction as a package deal. Tecnica (239) and her lovely Discreetly Mine foal were a joy to watch. They sold for just $14,000. That foal was already off and running. He gave his handler some trouble keeping up! Look at this adorable baby below.

I’m sure I would have loved the auction rain or shine, or sleet and snow. One thing I am sure of, I am still really glad I was blessed to see many of the Thoroughbreds before they changed hands and futures. I’m anxious to see how these grads perform at racing and breeding. Please, share my auction story and comment with your experiences at the sales. Check back in for next week’s story too.

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October 10, 2015October 11, 2015

Royal Racing

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I hope that everyone is having an excellent weekend. I will be working today so no live racing for me but that won’t keep me from day dreaming about it. There are plenty of great races today including the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes!

Keeneland will feature the QEII today, 10/10/15. This race was inaugurated in 1984 when the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II , visited Keeneland in Lexington, KY for the stakes race. Crown Queen won the race last year. It is an invitational turf race for 3 year old fillies of 9 furlongs (1 and 1/8 miles). The Grade 1 purse is worth $500,000.

Mt tipster suggests that for race 9 at Keeneland bet on #9, Sentiero Italia. He says, “The Queen Elizabeth II, on Saturday, has several nice 3 year old fillies. Kiaran McLaughlin (trainer) is extremely high on (the) daughter of Medaglia D’Oro and he should be. She (Sentiero Italia) has 4 wins from 6 starts and has earned $621,000 including 2 recent grade 2 routes at this same 9 furlong distance. McLaughlin hopes to stay red hot as he has won 3 of his 4 starts at Keeneland this meet.”

Medaglia D’ Oro is a multiple graded stakes winner and a great sire with a 2nd place finish in the 2002 Belmont Stakes and 2nd place in both the 2002 and 2003 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Kiaran Mclaughlin is a Lexington, KY native who has won at Keeneland this meet with Robillard on October 7th, Farz on October 4th and Pin Up on October 2nd. He has had a lot of international success in his over 6 thousand starts. McLaughlin has been the trainer for multiple graded stakes wins including the Belmont Stakes in 2006 with Jazil and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2006 with Invasor. He won the QEII in 2008 with Alwajeeha.

Joel Rosario will be the jockey for Kentucky bred Sentiero Italia owned by Godolphin Racing LCC. Rosario won the QEII race with Harmonious in 2010. Godolphin has yet to win the QEII. Rosario will enter the gate at 5:30 PM EST.

Have a great time at the track and tell me something about the experience in a comment. Thank you, fellow race fans!

Update: Senteriro Italia showed in third place.

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