WHAT a timely boost for next week’s Keeneland September Sale, and for one of the first lots in that marathon auction. Forte, a son of Violence (Medaglia D’Oro), won for the second time in three starts on Monday when landing the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, and his yearling half-brother by Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) is Lot (or Hip) 11 this coming Monday.

I imagine that he will bring a great deal more than Forte did himself. The latter actually sold twice, for $80,000 as a foal and for a small profit back at Keeneland last September when he was purchased by Repole Stables and St Elias for $110,000. Coincidentally, Repole bred and raced Outwork, sire of Saratoga’s other Grade 1 winning juvenile this week, Leave No Trace.

Forte is the first foal out of Queen Caroline (Blame), and four of her six wins were in minor stakes races at Indiana Downs and Laurel. She amassed winnings of more than $400,000, a nice return on her yearling purchase investment of $170,000. Queen Caroline comes from a smart enough female line, her grandam, Queens Plaza (Forestry), being a stakes-winning juvenile.

Skip back another generation to Forte’s fourth dam and she is Jeano (Fappiano). A sound and successful runner, her 10 victories including Grade 3 wins at Keeneland and Gulfstream Park.

While none of her seven winners were much above average, one of Jeano’s unraced daughters might provide a clue as to where the recent talent in the family stems from.

Sales mare

Contrive (Storm Cat) may not have faced a starter, but she was a success both as a producer and as a sales mare.

She traded in 2004 for $140,000, but thanks to the emergence the following year of her daughter Folklore (Tiznow) as the champion juvenile filly she was resold that November for $3 million to John Ferguson. Folklore went on to add the Grade 1 Matron Stakes to her win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile fillies, and she later became the grandam of the recent three-time Japanese champion Contrail (Deep Impact).

Should Forte go on to be a champion this year, he would be the third in the family in the last two decades.

Folklore’s stakes-placed half-sister Delightful Quality is the dam of Essential Quality (Tapit), and he was the best of his generation at two and three in 2020 and last year. The first Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner to capture the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, he also won the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, and has just completed his first season at Darley America.

From the sixth crop of the Grade 1 juvenile winner Violence, Forte is his sire’s sixth Grade 1 winner. Violence stands at Hill ‘N’ Dale for $25,000.

Turkish delight for Kurt after Tiamat’s debut

MEHMET Kurt was born in 1947 in Ceyhan, southern Turkey. His father was an industrialist who had a passion for horses, and Mehmet inherited this love from his father.

An ambitious young man, his intention has always been to create something that would make a difference, and leave its footprint on the world. He has been an entrepreneur in his own country, pioneering new innovations and businesses and enjoying success in the food, textile and packaging industries.

He entered the world of publishing with Channel 6, one of Turkey’s first television stations and later also established Six News that broadcast in six languages. Kurt was pivotal in international projects in many different countries including the USA, Russia and Switzerland, while all the times breeding on his farms which were located in both Istanbul and Ceyhan. He enjoyed many successes with horses that he had bred himself, including the Turkish Derby.

Kurt was concerned about the injuries that young horses faced during their first year of training, leading to the development in 2000 of the Kurtsystems. In 2010 he decided to continue these trials in Britain, and he purchased Kingwood Stud in Lambourn.

Relocated

Kurt bred, and now races, the debut winner Tiamat, a two-year-old daughter of the soon to be relocated Aclaim (Acclamation) out of Tenerife Song, a daughter of Fastnet Rock (Danehill). Tenerife Song was the champion three-year-old filly six years ago for Kurt, but if you don’t recognise her name, fear not. She won the Turkish Oaks, a listed race for international cataloguing standards, as well as the Listed Dolmabahce Stakes, both run at Veliefendi.

Tiamat is the mare’s second foal and first winner, and Tenerife Song is out of Dancingintheclouds (Rainbow Quest), bought by Kurt for 210,000gns in 2008. Her high value was because she is an own-sister to a pair of group winners, notably the Group 1 St Leger winner Millenary (Rainbow Quest).

Leave No Trace does the opposite

WITH big weekends of racing happening in Europe now and in coming weeks, this column has featured more than its fair share of US pedigrees in recent times.

This extends to a winner there who occupies the bargain of the week slot, and what great value she is proving to be. Leave No Trace is a two-year-old filly from the third crop of racing age by Outwork, whose promotional literature from WinStar, where he stood for $10,000 this year, describes him as the best bred son of Uncle Mo at stud.

Whatever about the merits of that claim, there is no doubting that he was a talented runner, if not among the very best of his generation.

He won his only start as a two-year-old at Keeneland, and at three he was in the money on three of just four runs, his two victories being headlined by success in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes, albeit in a slow time.

Given the success his sire, Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie), was enjoying, it was inevitable that Outwork would find a place at stud. He is from the first crop of that champion juvenile who stands at Ashford Stud. Uncle Mo’s first crop not only included Outwork, it also contained three other Grade 1 winners, Nyquist, Unbridled Mo and Gomo.

Explosive start

Outwork has not made the same sort of explosive start however, and his first crop includes five blacktype winners, none at graded level, though his son Outadore was placed at Grade 1 level.

His second crop has two blacktype winners, while Leave No Trace is the sole stakes winner from his third crop, his first graded stakes winner, and his first Grade 1 winner.

Sold for a lossmaking $8,000 as a foal, Leave No Trace was a profitable pinhook when she realised $40,000 some 10 months later. She is now winner of both her starts, landing Sunday’s Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga. She is, by a long way, the best runner in the family for nearly 30 years.

The second foal and winner for her dam, four-time winner Tanquerray (Good Journey), Leave No Trace is the first stakes winner of any kind in the family since Oncefortheroad (Falstaff) won the Pomona Derby in 1995. He is out of Leave No Trace’s fourth dam, Lei Of Stars (Hawaii).