THE 2015 Breeders’ Cup meeting at Keeneland hosted 13 Grade 1 events, and although its brightest star has now moved into his new home, and both of the other Timeform 130+ rated horses in action have also completed their racing careers, there were also several younger winners whose performances spoke of huge potential for the future.
American Pharoah, now rated the equal of past great Cigar on a Timeform figure of 138, will start his stallion career at Ashford Stud in the spring. Golden Horn (133) will be at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, and Liam’s Map (130) arrived at Lane’s End Farm earlier in the week.
We can look forward to the arrival of their future progeny with a sense of eager anticipation, but in the meanwhile we have some potentially exciting young stars to look forward to for next season’s classics.
Nyquist (by Uncle Mo), who represents the first crop of his sire, is unbeaten in five starts and the triple Grade 1 scorer, whom Timeform have rated 119, is a leading Kentucky Derby candidate, if he stays the trip.
Songbird (by Medaglia d’Oro), now unbeaten in four, has been rated 125p after her wide-margin victory, and it would be fascinating to see her Run For The Roses at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.
The other juvenile to come away from the meeting with an unbeaten record intact is the Aidan O’Brien-trained Hit It A Bomb whose strong late surge saw him emerge on top in a three-way finish for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf over a mile on the Friday.
Birchwood was two necks back in third and both colts look like bright prospects for the top mile events of 2016.
Hit It A Bomb, who is owned and bred by Evie Stockwell, easily won a seven-furlong listed contest at Dundalk on his previous outing, and if he does reach the top as a three-year-old then perhaps we might see him line up for the Breeders’ Cup Classic or Dirt Mile rather than one of the turf events.
Photo call
Stockwell also bred the Graham Motion-trained four-year-old Photo Call who, although only fifth behind Stephanie’s Kitten on Saturday, won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita in September.
Hit It A Bomb is a son of Claiborne Farm stallion War Front (by Danzig), the rising star whose top-level winners also include Europe’s juvenile champion elect Air Force Blue (Timeform 128p), 2013’s Dewhurst Stakes scorer War Command, and also Declaration Of War.
That Juddmonte International Stakes and Queen Anne Stakes scorer is at Ashford Stud and had his first foals in the spring, whereas Coolmore resident War Command has finished his first season.
Just how far Hit It A Bomb’s stamina will stretch remains to be seen, and although he holds a Derby entry, and his fifth dam won the Group 2 Grand Prix d’Evry, there is no guarantee that he will stay beyond 10 and a half furlongs, if even that far.
It is true that his dam is by the phenomenally influential Sadler’s Wells (by Northern Dancer), but she is unique among his 294 stakes winners in that she was his only successful sprinter.
Others showed plenty of speed and ace miler Barathea was not beaten by far in the July Cup, but Liscanna was unplaced over eight and nine furlongs and showed all of her best form over shorter.
Indeed, the only times that she made the frame in an 11-race career were when winning the Birdcatcher Nursery at two and the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes at three, both over six furlongs.
We know that Sadler’s Wells horses from sprinters or speed-bred mares often did not stay beyond 10 furlongs, and some were milers, but Liscanna’s pace was a little surprising.
In racing talent she was her mother’s daughter, and if she has transmitted her speed to her son then anything beyond a mile carries doubt.
She is out of Lahinch (by Danehill Dancer) who was seventh behind Kazzia in the Group 1 1000 Guineas on her only attempt beyond seven furlongs.
A listed scorer over that shorter trip at Leopardstown on her previous start and beaten a head in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at two, her final run was an unplaced effort in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. Both her juvenile wins were over five furlongs and one of those was a four-length score in the Listed Entrepreneur Stakes at Tipperary.
Lahinch, whom Stockwell bought for £200,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale in 2000, is a half-sister to the stakes-placed juvenile sprinter and Group 3 Greenham Stakes third Perugino Bay (by Perugino).
It looks as though she gave Liscanna her speed but some of the comparative stamina in the family to her other two blacktype offspring, which is interesting without suggesting that this pair boost the prospects of Hit It A Bomb staying.
Lahinch Classics (by Galileo) was short-headed in the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes over nine furlongs at the Curragh two months after a neck defeat in a 10-furlong listed contest at Newbury, and her only win came when beating the aforementioned Photo Call by a length over 10 and a half furlongs at Dundalk. She has since been placed a couple of times in the USA.
Hawk Wing’s (by Woodman) stamina ran out at Epsom and one might have expected that his son out of Lahinch would, like him, be a miler.
But The Bogberry won the Group 3 Kilternan Stakes over 10 furlongs at Leopardstown, was placed in the Group 2 Prix Dollar and in the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt over that same trip at Leopardstown, and was only beaten by a length when fourth to Doctor Dino in the Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase over 12 furlongs at Sha Tin.
That stamina was more akin to what one might have expected of a closer relation to his fourth dam Paint The Town (by Vaguely Noble), the Group 2 Prix d’Evry scorer whose descendants also include the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Passion For Gold (by Medaglia d’Oro), and yet they are too distantly related to provide any reliable explanation.
Hit It A Bomb is by a top young stallion whose best tend to be effective in the seven to 10 furlong range, and his first two dams were speed horses, one of whom was the only Sadler’s Wells sprinter.
He may possess other attributes that will help him to stay beyond a mile, but the pedigree of this Guineas candidate makes that doubtful.