TEARS flowed following the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at Saratoga at the weekend, and no wonder. The winner was the four-year-old Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) colt Deterministic, and his victory brought into focus two sad losses suffered by the worlds of bloodstock and racing.

Carrying the colours of Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St Elias Stable who race him in partnership with others, Deterministic’s win came just two weeks after the passing of his trainer Christophe Clement, and was crediting his son Miguel with just his third winner, and first at stakes level, since he took over the stable from his late father.

The win also came in the immediate aftermath of the untimely death of Michael Wallace who spent €625,000 on behalf of St Elias Stable for the colt as a yearling at the Keeneland September Sale in 2022 from his breeders, Hinckle Farms in Kentucky. That farm was responsible last November for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner More Than Looks, who commenced stud duties this spring at Lane’s End for a fee of $15,000. Only a few weeks ago Michael tweeted that Christophe Clement had given the agent his first Grade 1 win, Yellow Agate in the Frizette Stakes.

Deterministic is just the second Grade 1 winner to appear in four generations of his female family, but that is not to suggest that this side of the pedigree is in any way weak or deficient when it comes to producing talented runners. He is the only colt from five foals bred by his dam Giulio’s Jewel, and she was a three-time winning daughter of Speightstown (Gone West). A $150,000 yearling, Giulio’s Jewel started her winning streak at Belmont in a six-furlong maiden claimer on the turf, but her claiming price of $25,000 didn’t entice anyone.

Won handily

A few months later, Giulio’s Jewel dropped back to five furlongs at Delaware Park and won very handily, and then, on what was to be her penultimate start, she won an optional claiming allowance race over five and a half furlongs at Laurel Park, but did not attract a claim. Giulio’s Jewel died in 2022 after producing her fifth foal, the unraced three-year-old filly Morana (Frosted). Her three runners are winners, but of varying quality.

Giulio’s Jewel’s first produce, Frills (Candy Ride), won 10 of her 29 starts, and placed on a similar number of occasions. She didn’t manage any placing at stakes level. Her half-sister Nu Pi Lambda (City Zip) raced almost as often, 28 times to be exact, but she managed a single success during that time. The only other offspring of Giulio’s Jewel was the unraced Seeking Mo Jewel (Uncle Mo), and her first produce is a yearling colt.

The dam of Giulio’s Jewel was the placed Acadiana (Tiznow), and she had two winners, the other being the Grade 2 runner-up Duff One (Harlan’s Holiday), a dual juvenile winner and now a successful broodmare. One remove back in the family and we find no shortage of stakes winners.

He’s Had Enough

Amelia (Dixieland Ban) is the third dam of Deterministic, and she won a listed race at Calder as a three-year-old. Five of her seven winners won stakes races, and another, He’s Had Enough (Tapit), was beaten a head by Shanghai Bobby in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on dirt at Santa Anita. Amelia’s other winners included dual Grade 2 winner and Grade 1 Diana Stakes third Rainha Da Beteria (Broken Vow), Japanese Group 2 winner Rabbit Run (Tapit), and Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Kindergarden Kid (Dynaformer).

A name that is familiar on this side of the Atlantic crops up under Deterministic’s fourth dam, the Grade 2 winner Aquilegia (Alydar). The better of her three stakes winners was Group 3 July Stakes winner and smart sprinter Bertolini (Danzig), and he was three times runner-up in Group 1 races, notably denied the Haydock Sprint Cup by Diktat, beaten a neck. He went to stud at Overbury Stud where he was based for his first four seasons.

A three-parts brother to leading sire Green Desert (Danzig), Bertolini’s first crop to hit the track was a revelation, headed by the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Donna Blini. This led to his move to Kildangan Stud where he stood two years, followed by one season at Dalham Hall Stud before going back to Gloucestershire. Bertolini died during his first season in France at Haras des Faunes. Donna Blini was bought by Katsumi Yoshida for 500,000gns at Tattersalls, and she will forever be remembered as the dam of Japan’s 2012 Horse of the Year Gentildonna (Deep Impact).

Lane’s End

Liam’s Map stands at Lane’s End, where he has been since retiring to stud in 2016. He went to stud at a fee of $25,000, and for four years now has commanded $40,000. He may not have ever been the height of fashion, but he has consistently been getting stakes performers, and is most famous for being the sire of Colonel Liam, twice winner of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational.

Deterministic is the sixth Grade 1 winner for Liam’s Map, and the second in 2025 after Burnham Square. Sixth in the Kentucky Derby, Burnham Square prepped for that classic with a win in the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Liam’s Map’s first six crops, including this year’s three-year-olds, contain 29 stakes winners, and 12 of these gained their biggest win in a graded stakes race.

Among the current crop of three-year-olds by Liam’s Map is Santa Anita’s Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes winner Firenze Flavor, a steadily improving filly, and with some 40 of his yearlings last year selling for $150,000 or more, there is lots to look forward to in the coming years.