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Breeding Digest: Three Milestones In One

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Even though his young challenger banked its biggest prize, so extending his lead in the general sires’ table, it was still Into Mischief who posted the headline achievement of the weekend with a triple landmark. For Deep Flame in the GIII Maxfield Stakes became not just the Spendthrift phenomenon’s 200th stakes winner but also his 100th at graded level, in the process making him the first American sire to break $250 million in progeny earnings.

True, Into Mischief’s reigning Horse of the Year was only third in the GI Stephen Foster Stakes, making Magnitude’s success a double-edged thrust by Not This Time. Certainly if the pretender is to break Into Mischief’s seven-year monopoly, he will owe much to this horse: Magnitude’s desert earnings have now been topped up to nearly $8.5 million for the year, representing 45 percent of his sire’s current tally.

Incredibly, as we keep having to remind ourselves, Not This Time‘s current sophomores were still only conceived at $45,000. Into Mischief followed a steep fee trajectory of his own, of course, and has maximized his mare upgrade with formidably resilient fertility and libido. (His latest published book, assembled last year at 20, remained as high as 176 mares.) He has reached this latest milestone with 1,593 starters; Curlin, who entered stud the same year, has fielded no more than 1,126.

Auspiciously for those eyeing the crown, Gun Runner has only just sent out his 500th starter; while Not This Time has deployed 538. Yet they are already up to $93 million and $87 million respectively, with a sixth and seventh crop in play. As things stand, indeed, Gun Runner‘s yield per starter stands barely cents shy of Into Mischief.

Gun Runner has admittedly always had quality behind him, having dipped only briefly even as low as $50,000. The key question on the horizon is whether Not This Time will emulate Into Mischief by producing stock that reflects his access to Classic-type mares. Really his ratios from lesser partners are already commensurate with his fee, so it’s more a case of ensuring that he’s not punished commercially for his versatility in terms of surface. He’s again indebted to Magnitude, in this regard, not least after a weekend when he had another 1-2-3 in a turf stakes.

Maxfield-G3-06-28-26-R09-Churchill-Downs-Finish-02-Cady-Coulardot_PRINT25.jpg” alt=”” width=”566″ height=”404″ /> Deep Flame | Coady Media

In tracing to one of Juddmonte’s foundation mares, Deep Flame is himself an apt measure of the quality earned by Into Mischief through the sheer prowess he demonstrated with inferior mates.

Deep Flame’s third dam Nijinsky Star (Nijinsky) was acquired for $700,0000 at the Keeneland November Sale of 1987. Though unraced, and fitted with a tube to drain fluid from her lung, she had an imposing physique and a page decorated by her first foal, Hometown Queen (Pleasant Colony), runner-up in the GI Kentucky Oaks earlier that year. That suggested her a reliable conduit for the genes of her champion dam, Chris Evert (Swoon’s Son).

The latter’s second career had by that stage been derailed by reproductive issues, confining her to five named foals. All were female, however, two making particularly notable contributions to her dynasty. One became the dam of Chief’s Crown; the other, Nijinsky Star, divided her principal impact through two daughters by Nureyev. French stakes winner Viviana later gave Juddmonte Sightseek (Distant View) and Tates Creek (Rahy), between them winners of nine Grade Is; a dual Classic-winning granddaughter, Special Duty (Hennessy); and the latter’s grandson, crack miler Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}). Viviana’s sister Willstar meanwhile produced G1 Prix de la Foret winner Etoile Montante (Miswaki) (herself dam of four-time graded stakes scorer Starformer (Dynaformer)) besides becoming granddam of Grade II winner/three-time Grade I runner-up Bonny South (Munnings) and GI Derby City Distaff Stakes winner Obligatory (Curlin).

Willstar’s daughter by Speightstown, Barbadia, showed only a glimpse of the family talent in a light career and has hitherto produced a handful of average winners from seven named foals, despite covers appropriate to her regal genes. But she has a breakout talent in Deep Flame, who took three attempts to break his maiden but has now won consecutive races by a total 12 3/4 lengths.

Juddmonte was among the first major programs to elevate the company kept by Into Mischief, being rewarded with winners of the GI Kentucky Derby and G1 Dubai World Cup from $75,000 covers in 2017. With those maternal genes behind him, it would be surprising if Deep Flame were to remain no more than a milestone in the epic journey of his sire.

PRAISING A MIRROR IMAGE
So many removed their gloves there–Damascus, Buckpasser and Dr. Fager in a single race–that it almost feels a condition of greatness in the American Thoroughbred to have disclosed some blue-collar brawn round Aqueduct. Among the specters duly haunting its final weekend was the aforementioned Chris Evert, winner of the GIII Demoiselle Stakes in 1973.

Another to have made a big statement at the Big A was Bernardini, in the GIII Withers Stakes. He consolidated his prodigious posthumous record as a broodmare sire last weekend, not only with Magnitude but also with Immersive (Nyquist), who won her biggest prize since her juvenile championship in the GII Fleur de Lis Stakes.

But it was another son of A.P. Indy, Pulpit, who gave us a mare, Praising, central to the most elegantly crafted pedigree of the week. Praising had to be dropped to a maiden claimer to muster her only placing in a light career but has already produced a stakes winner on turf and a G2 Saudi Derby runner-up. Her latest foal onto the track is Debutante Stakes winner Pierette, whose sire Girvin introduced striking balance across her pedigree. For his grandsire Tale of the Cat is out of the top producer Yarn, famously sister to Pulpit’s dam, Preach. (Both, remember, are by Mr. P. out of the Claiborne matriarch Narrate, with all that entails.) This duplication is neatly complemented, moreover, by that of A.P. Indy: responsible not only for Pulpit, as noted, but also for Girvin‘s damsire Malibu Moon.

I love to see a pedigree pegged down by mirroring of elite mares and/or very well-bred stallions, which often amounts to much the same thing. (A.P. Indy’s dam Weekend Surprise, for instance, carries Somethingroyal 2×4.)

But Pierette additionally represents a significant signpost for her sire, as a member of his first crop sired on the farm that raised her. Sire of two Grade I winners off a debut fee of $7,500 back in Florida, Girvin‘s career path is aptly charted by the $475,000 this filly realized as a yearling. Plainly he’s a far more proven proposition than the freshmen whose huge books typically dominate the early juvenile calendar.

Golden Pal | Sara Gordon

SOME FRESHMAN SKIRMISHES
Conspicuous among the latter is Golden Pal, who started with a staggering 293 mares. He has already launched 20 graduates of that debut book, including six winners, albeit the rookies nowadays trading in crazy volume obviously cannot expect to be judged by mere aggregates.

Hitherto the only one to have posted a stakes winner remains Life Is Good, who additionally includes a ‘TDN Rising Star’ among four winners from 10 starters. Early Voting, as noted recently, already has three of those among his five from 10.

Golden Pal, for his part, fielded second and third in the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes at Gulfstream, and sent no fewer than three to try their luck at Royal Ascot. Two made no impact, but Ez Tina ran sixth of 21 against colts in the G2 Norfolk Stakes–a place behind another filly from the same barn, Fanshell Beach, a ‘TDN Rising Star’ debut winner for Corniche. The latter, very attractively priced this spring, currently bats three-for-nine.

So far Golden Pal‘s action has all been in his own meter, on grass (or synthetic). Who knows? Maybe his popularity implies that commercial breeders are finally growing up about turf horses–or very fast ones, at least. While his page remains undeniably brief, he has a half-sister doing her part in Essential Lady (Essential Quality), who took four attempts to break her maiden but then won well (again on turf) at Canterbury Park last weekend.

Flightline‘s second winner from four starters was meanwhile anointed a ‘TDN Rising Star’ at Aqueduct. Flight Command’s dam Stonetonic (Candy Ride {Arg}) sadly lost his sibling this year but remains only eight and looks a shrewd recruit by Machmer Hall, for $400,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November Sale. True, rolling the dice at Flightline‘s debut fee achieved a limited immediate dividend ($275,000 March OBS 2-year-old). But the mare is out of Stonetastic, winner of the GII Prioress Stakes etc. and half-sister (by the underrated Mizzen Mast) to three other graded stakes winners, two at the highest level in Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) and Gift Box (Twirling Candy).

Which shows that a stallion preceded by such expectations can only ever hold the line. However successful Flightline may prove, it would be hard to earn an upgrade!

The post Breeding Digest: Three Milestones In One appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Charles Town To Lower Pick Three And Double Takeouts To 15%

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Charles Town Races will lower takeout rates on all pick threes and daily doubles on its programs to 15% while increasing the minimum wagers for only the late-card versions of those bets after receiving unanimous approval at Tuesday’s West Virginia Racing Commission meeting.

The current takeouts are 22% for pick threes and 19% for doubles.

The existing minimum wager amount for pick threes has been a base bet of $1 for a straight ticket, with 50-cent increments allowed for multiple combinations. The double minimum has been $2, with $1 wheeling allowed for multiple combinations.

Now those minimums will increase to $3 for the late pick three and $5 for the late double.

So why are customers getting the benefit of lower takeout on all versions of those wagers while the higher minimums apply only to the late-card versions?

Paul Espinosa Jr., who is the track’s announcer, oddsmaker and racing media administrator, explained to commissioners there were concerns that the tote system might not be able to properly handle different takeout rates for the same wagers within a single card.

“This is just to be able to allow for no confusion for our tote companies,” Espinosa said. “They did run into some issues at Monmouth Park where they tried to keep the takeout [at the higher level] for the early doubles and pick threes, but then change it for the late [bets].

“So it just makes it easier to just make it across the board 15%,” Espinosa said. “And in general, lowering takeout is supposed to be something that appeals, obviously, to our horseplayers. I’m confident that it will be well-received by horseplayers and think that it will increase handle enough to be able to offset any sort of loss in takeout revenue received.”

Espinosa said Charles Town would be following the lead of other North American tracks in making this switch.

“This is an idea that has been making its rounds around the horse racing industry. A number of tracks have rolled out these changes where they will increase the minimum wager for the late pick three to $3, and the late double to $5. From a wagering format standpoint, it kind of slots in nicely behind our pick six, our pick five, and our pick four in terms of giving horseplayers an extra reason to look forward to playing the final three races on our cards,” Espinosa said.

“In my research, [at] the tracks that have implemented these changes, [it] has been effective in increasing handle for those late pools,” Espinosa said.

The post Charles Town To Lower Pick Three And Double Takeouts To 15% appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Breeding Digest: Three Milestones In One

---

Even though his young challenger banked its biggest prize, so extending his lead in the general sires’ table, it was still Into Mischief who posted the headline achievement of the weekend with a triple landmark. For Deep Flame in the GIII Maxfield Stakes became not just the Spendthrift phenomenon’s 200th stakes winner but also his 100th at graded level, in the process making him the first American sire to break $250 million in progeny earnings.

True, Into Mischief’s reigning Horse of the Year was only third in the GI Stephen Foster Stakes, making Magnitude’s success a double-edged thrust by Not This Time. Certainly if the pretender is to break Into Mischief’s seven-year monopoly, he will owe much to this horse: Magnitude’s desert earnings have now been topped up to nearly $8.5 million for the year, representing 45 percent of his sire’s current tally.

Incredibly, as we keep having to remind ourselves, Not This Time‘s current sophomores were still only conceived at $45,000. Into Mischief followed a steep fee trajectory of his own, of course, and has maximized his mare upgrade with formidably resilient fertility and libido. (His latest published book, assembled last year at 20, remained as high as 176 mares.) He has reached this latest milestone with 1,593 starters; Curlin, who entered stud the same year, has fielded no more than 1,126.

Auspiciously for those eyeing the crown, Gun Runner has only just sent out his 500th starter; while Not This Time has deployed 538. Yet they are already up to $93 million and $87 million respectively, with a sixth and seventh crop in play. As things stand, indeed, Gun Runner‘s yield per starter stands barely cents shy of Into Mischief.

Gun Runner has admittedly always had quality behind him, having dipped only briefly even as low as $50,000. The key question on the horizon is whether Not This Time will emulate Into Mischief by producing stock that reflects his access to Classic-type mares. Really his ratios from lesser partners are already commensurate with his fee, so it’s more a case of ensuring that he’s not punished commercially for his versatility in terms of surface. He’s again indebted to Magnitude, in this regard, not least after a weekend when he had another 1-2-3 in a turf stakes.

Maxfield-G3-06-28-26-R09-Churchill-Downs-Finish-02-Cady-Coulardot_PRINT25.jpg” alt=”” width=”566″ height=”404″ /> Deep Flame | Coady Media

In tracing to one of Juddmonte’s foundation mares, Deep Flame is himself an apt measure of the quality earned by Into Mischief through the sheer prowess he demonstrated with inferior mates.

Deep Flame’s third dam Nijinsky Star (Nijinsky) was acquired for $700,0000 at the Keeneland November Sale of 1987. Though unraced, and fitted with a tube to drain fluid from her lung, she had an imposing physique and a page decorated by her first foal, Hometown Queen (Pleasant Colony), runner-up in the GI Kentucky Oaks earlier that year. That suggested her a reliable conduit for the genes of her champion dam, Chris Evert (Swoon’s Son).

The latter’s second career had by that stage been derailed by reproductive issues, confining her to five named foals. All were female, however, two making particularly notable contributions to her dynasty. One became the dam of Chief’s Crown; the other, Nijinsky Star, divided her principal impact through two daughters by Nureyev. French stakes winner Viviana later gave Juddmonte Sightseek (Distant View) and Tates Creek (Rahy), between them winners of nine Grade Is; a dual Classic-winning granddaughter, Special Duty (Hennessy); and the latter’s grandson, crack miler Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}). Viviana’s sister Willstar meanwhile produced G1 Prix de la Foret winner Etoile Montante (Miswaki) (herself dam of four-time graded stakes scorer Starformer (Dynaformer)) besides becoming granddam of Grade II winner/three-time Grade I runner-up Bonny South (Munnings) and GI Derby City Distaff Stakes winner Obligatory (Curlin).

Willstar’s daughter by Speightstown, Barbadia, showed only a glimpse of the family talent in a light career and has hitherto produced a handful of average winners from seven named foals, despite covers appropriate to her regal genes. But she has a breakout talent in Deep Flame, who took three attempts to break his maiden but has now won consecutive races by a total 12 3/4 lengths.

Juddmonte was among the first major programs to elevate the company kept by Into Mischief, being rewarded with winners of the GI Kentucky Derby and G1 Dubai World Cup from $75,000 covers in 2017. With those maternal genes behind him, it would be surprising if Deep Flame were to remain no more than a milestone in the epic journey of his sire.

PRAISING A MIRROR IMAGE
So many removed their gloves there–Damascus, Buckpasser and Dr. Fager in a single race–that it almost feels a condition of greatness in the American Thoroughbred to have disclosed some blue-collar brawn round Aqueduct. Among the specters duly haunting its final weekend was the aforementioned Chris Evert, winner of the GIII Demoiselle Stakes in 1973.

Another to have made a big statement at the Big A was Bernardini, in the GIII Withers Stakes. He consolidated his prodigious posthumous record as a broodmare sire last weekend, not only with Magnitude but also with Immersive (Nyquist), who won her biggest prize since her juvenile championship in the GII Fleur de Lis Stakes.

But it was another son of A.P. Indy, Pulpit, who gave us a mare, Praising, central to the most elegantly crafted pedigree of the week. Praising had to be dropped to a maiden claimer to muster her only placing in a light career but has already produced a stakes winner on turf and a G2 Saudi Derby runner-up. Her latest foal onto the track is Debutante Stakes winner Pierette, whose sire Girvin introduced striking balance across her pedigree. For his grandsire Tale of the Cat is out of the top producer Yarn, famously sister to Pulpit’s dam, Preach. (Both, remember, are by Mr. P. out of the Claiborne matriarch Narrate, with all that entails.) This duplication is neatly complemented, moreover, by that of A.P. Indy: responsible not only for Pulpit, as noted, but also for Girvin‘s damsire Malibu Moon.

I love to see a pedigree pegged down by mirroring of elite mares and/or very well-bred stallions, which often amounts to much the same thing. (A.P. Indy’s dam Weekend Surprise, for instance, carries Somethingroyal 2×4.)

But Pierette additionally represents a significant signpost for her sire, as a member of his first crop sired on the farm that raised her. Sire of two Grade I winners off a debut fee of $7,500 back in Florida, Girvin‘s career path is aptly charted by the $475,000 this filly realized as a yearling. Plainly he’s a far more proven proposition than the freshmen whose huge books typically dominate the early juvenile calendar.

Golden Pal | Sara Gordon

SOME FRESHMAN SKIRMISHES
Conspicuous among the latter is Golden Pal, who started with a staggering 293 mares. He has already launched 20 graduates of that debut book, including six winners, albeit the rookies nowadays trading in crazy volume obviously cannot expect to be judged by mere aggregates.

Hitherto the only one to have posted a stakes winner remains Life Is Good, who additionally includes a ‘TDN Rising Star’ among four winners from 10 starters. Early Voting, as noted recently, already has three of those among his five from 10.

Golden Pal, for his part, fielded second and third in the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes at Gulfstream, and sent no fewer than three to try their luck at Royal Ascot. Two made no impact, but Ez Tina ran sixth of 21 against colts in the G2 Norfolk Stakes–a place behind another filly from the same barn, Fanshell Beach, a ‘TDN Rising Star’ debut winner for Corniche. The latter, very attractively priced this spring, currently bats three-for-nine.

So far Golden Pal‘s action has all been in his own meter, on grass (or synthetic). Who knows? Maybe his popularity implies that commercial breeders are finally growing up about turf horses–or very fast ones, at least. While his page remains undeniably brief, he has a half-sister doing her part in Essential Lady (Essential Quality), who took four attempts to break her maiden but then won well (again on turf) at Canterbury Park last weekend.

Flightline‘s second winner from four starters was meanwhile anointed a ‘TDN Rising Star’ at Aqueduct. Flight Command’s dam Stonetonic (Candy Ride {Arg}) sadly lost his sibling this year but remains only eight and looks a shrewd recruit by Machmer Hall, for $400,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November Sale. True, rolling the dice at Flightline‘s debut fee achieved a limited immediate dividend ($275,000 March OBS 2-year-old). But the mare is out of Stonetastic, winner of the GII Prioress Stakes etc. and half-sister (by the underrated Mizzen Mast) to three other graded stakes winners, two at the highest level in Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) and Gift Box (Twirling Candy).

Which shows that a stallion preceded by such expectations can only ever hold the line. However successful Flightline may prove, it would be hard to earn an upgrade!

The post Breeding Digest: Three Milestones In One appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Charles Town To Lower Pick Three And Double Takeouts To 15%

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Charles Town Races will lower takeout rates on all pick threes and daily doubles on its programs to 15% while increasing the minimum wagers for only the late-card versions of those bets after receiving unanimous approval at Tuesday’s West Virginia Racing Commission meeting.

The current takeouts are 22% for pick threes and 19% for doubles.

The existing minimum wager amount for pick threes has been a base bet of $1 for a straight ticket, with 50-cent increments allowed for multiple combinations. The double minimum has been $2, with $1 wheeling allowed for multiple combinations.

Now those minimums will increase to $3 for the late pick three and $5 for the late double.

So why are customers getting the benefit of lower takeout on all versions of those wagers while the higher minimums apply only to the late-card versions?

Paul Espinosa Jr., who is the track’s announcer, oddsmaker and racing media administrator, explained to commissioners there were concerns that the tote system might not be able to properly handle different takeout rates for the same wagers within a single card.

“This is just to be able to allow for no confusion for our tote companies,” Espinosa said. “They did run into some issues at Monmouth Park where they tried to keep the takeout [at the higher level] for the early doubles and pick threes, but then change it for the late [bets].

“So it just makes it easier to just make it across the board 15%,” Espinosa said. “And in general, lowering takeout is supposed to be something that appeals, obviously, to our horseplayers. I’m confident that it will be well-received by horseplayers and think that it will increase handle enough to be able to offset any sort of loss in takeout revenue received.”

Espinosa said Charles Town would be following the lead of other North American tracks in making this switch.

“This is an idea that has been making its rounds around the horse racing industry. A number of tracks have rolled out these changes where they will increase the minimum wager for the late pick three to $3, and the late double to $5. From a wagering format standpoint, it kind of slots in nicely behind our pick six, our pick five, and our pick four in terms of giving horseplayers an extra reason to look forward to playing the final three races on our cards,” Espinosa said.

“In my research, [at] the tracks that have implemented these changes, [it] has been effective in increasing handle for those late pools,” Espinosa said.

The post Charles Town To Lower Pick Three And Double Takeouts To 15% appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.