The Petionville Two Step

Margaux Stud recently got the proven stallion Petionville (Seeking the Gold – Vana Turns, by Wavering Monarch) from Crestwood Farm and the timing couldn’t have been better! As you probably know by now, Petionville’s 4-year-old son Two Step Salsa (click here to view pedigree) danced into the winner’s circle of the G2 Godolphin Mile at Nad Al Sheba racetrack in Dubai Saturday in very impressive fashion. With a record now of 10-6-2-1 and more than a million in earnings, Two Step Salsa led almost the entire way in the Godolphin Mile and won pretty easily from Gayego – another good horse.

Last year, if you recall, Two Step Salsa led almost the entire way in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and finished 3rd, only 1¾ lengths behind Albertus Maximus. From what I’ve read, it appears that he’s going to start next in the G1 Metropolitan Handicap, and judging by his race in Dubai he ought to have a great shot because he’s on the improve. Now a G2 and multiple G3 winner, I think he’ll his G1 before the year is out.

Petionville has sired 27 SWs through his first 9 crops (not including 2yos of 2009), including multiple G1 winner and $2 million earner Island Fashion ; G2 winners Runway Model ($725,598), Publication ($582,694) Caught in the Rain ($455,034), and Two Step Salsa; and G3 winners Voodoo ($686,194), True Passion ($442,812), and Sailors Sunset ($388,383). Very impressive considering he stands for only $10,000!

PETIONVILLE

Like Two Step Salsa, most of these, as well as other runners by Petionville, are generally fast, sprinter types, although Island Fashion won the G1 Alabama over a distance of ground, a few of his others have won stakes on turf at around a mile, and others have been good 2-year-olds. Petionville (click here to view pedigree), who is inbred 3×4 to Buckpasser, was a good 3-year-old colt who won the G2 Ohio Derby at 1 1/8 miles and the G3 Louisiana Derby at 1 1/16 miles, BUT – and this is important – he also won a G3 on the turf and a sprint stakes at Santa Anita over 6F in 1:09.16! He also broke his maiden at 2 in 1:09.09! So, you can say he was an unusually versatile runner, so his ability to get different types of runners is not necessarily notable.

But here’s a very notable part of Petionville’s success, and it’s directly related to a powerful nick that he’s enjoyed success with: Seattle Slew-line mares.

Two Step Salsa? He’s out of the Seattle Slew mare Two to Waltz. His other unrestricted SWs bred this way? Take a look: G2 winner Runway Model (Houston), G3 winner Voodoo (Slewacide), G3 winner True Passion (Capote), SW Harbor Blues (Seattle Song), and SW She Sings (Fast Play). That’s 6 unrestricted SWs. Now, throw in the restricted SW Look Deep (Seattle Slew), and that’s an incredible 7 of 27 SWs, or a whopping 26 percent of his SWs! (click here to view these 7 pedigrees)

The Petionville/Seattle Slew nick has, not surprisingly, a Werk Nick Rating of A++, and is a continuation of the Seeking the Gold/Seattle Slew nick that produced 12 SWs, including G1 winner Cape Town (Seattle Slew), G1 winner Seeking the Pearl (Seattle Slew), G2 winner Enthused (Seattle Slew), G2 winner Golden Spikes (A.P. Indy), etc.

It’s notable, too, that Seeking the Gold has had only a handful of successful sons at stud and one of them is Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm’s SW Mutakddim, who’s had success both here and in Argentina. His broodmare sire? You guessed it, Seattle Slew!

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Kafwain – The Other Half of Cherokee’s Run’s Dynamic Duo!

My last blog was on Cherokee Run’s son Yonaguska (Cherokee Run – Marital Spook, by Silver Ghost), who stands for $4,000 live foal at Elite Thoroughbreds in Folsom, LA, and is the sire of an Oaks and Derby contender in his 3-year-old crop – the Japanese-based filly Earth Living and G3, $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby winner Musket Man.

Now how’s this for a parallel? Cherokee Run’s son Kafwain (Cherokee Run – Swazi’s Moment, by Moment of Hope), who stands for the bargain price of $6,500 at Hurstland Farm in Midway, KY, also has an Oaks and Derby contender in his 3-year-old crop!

Kafwain’s 3-year-old filly Don’t Forget Gil (click here to view pedigree), a New York-bred, won the G3, $200,000 Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs, and his 3-year-old colt The Pamplemousse (click here to view pedigree) has won the G3, $100,000 San Rafael Stakes and the G3, $200,000 Sham Stakes, both at Santa Anita! And, The Pamplemousse goes next against Pioneer of the Nile in the G1 Santa Anita Derby!

KAFWAIN

This, folks, is quite a run for the Cherokee Runs! If you recall, I did a blog entry on Cherokee Run himself back in December, 2008, and this is part of what I wrote:

“I’ve always liked Cherokee Run, which is why I so often recommend him to breeders. In addition to outstanding stats overall, he seems to get a ‘big’ horse every year, and this is what breeders are looking for. . . It’s also notable that the Cherokee Runs get good results at the sales, from weanlings to 2-year-olds in training.”

These are Cherokee Run’s leading horses, and you’ll note that they all sold well. G1 winner Yonaguska sold for $1,950,000 as a 2-year-old, and G2 winner Kafwain, who earned $715K, sold for $720,000 as a 2-year-old, too.

CHILUKKI: G1 winner of $1.2 million – sold for $875,000 as 2yo, highest of 18 for sire
DURING: G2 winner of $800K – sold for $350,000 as yearling, highest of 38 for sire
DREAM ABOUT: G2 winner of $235K – sold for $270,000 as 2yo, 3rd highest of 16
DREAM RUN: G2 winner of $456K – sold for $170,000 as yearling, sixth of 30
KAFWAIN: G2 winner of $715K – sold for $720,000 as 2yo, highest of 25 for sire
RECAPTURETHEGLORY: G2 winner of $396K – sold for $215,000 as 2yo, highest of 19
WAR PASS: G1 winner of $1.5 million – sold for $180,000 as yearling, 2nd of 50 for sire
YONAGUSKA: G1 winner of $536K – sold for $1,950,000 as 2yo, highest of 9 for sire
ZANJERO: G2 winner of $1.6 million – sold for $700,000 as yearling, highest of 54 for sire

What’s happening is that Yonaguska and Kafwain are beginning to show that they, too, can get the “big horse.”

Kafwain is currently listed 15th among third crop sires on the Thoroughbred Times list (click here) by progeny earnings, but I should point out that he has 7 SWs and 3 Graded winners – incredible numbers, when you think about it, more so when you compare them to the leaders on the list.

By both SWs and GSWs, he’s ahead of #1 Proud Citizen (5 SWs, 2 GSWs, $30,000 stud fee), #4 Vindication (5, 1, dead), #6 Macho Uno (6, 3, $25,000), #7 Hold That Tiger (4, 0, exported), #8 Mineshaft (6, 2, $30,000), #9 Posse (7, 2, $20,000), #10 Milwaukee Brew (7, 0, $7,500), #11 Repent (6, 2, $7,500), #12 Yankee Gentleman (5, 0, $6,500), #13 Aldebaran (3, 1, exported), and #14 Whywhywhy (4, 2, $7,500)!

So who’s ahead of Kafwain on the third-crop list by SWs and GSWs?

#2 Harlan’s Holiday (9, 4, $30,000), #3 Sky Mesa (8, 6, $30,000), and #5 Empire Maker (8, 4, $75,000)!!

‘Nuff said!

(Footnote: One of the factors I believe benefits Kafwain is that he has a pedigree free of Mr. Prospector and Storm Cat, making him an outcross for a growing portion of the US broodmare population)

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Yonaguska – A Lousiana Star on the Rise

Yonaguska (Cherokee Run – Marital Spook, by Silver Ghost) is one of the great values at stud this year. He stands for only $4,000 live foal at Elite Thoroughbreds in Folsom, LA, but is already having a career year, with an Oaks and Derby contender in his 3-year-old crop.

Readers of this blog know that I’m a huge fan of Cherokee Run, so I’m especially pleased to see how well Yonaguska is doing, but his recent successes have been truly impressive – more so given the stud fee.

Yonaguska’s Derby contender is Musket Man (click here to view pedigree), who won the Grade 3 $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby recently against some good competition, including Hello Broadway (click here to view pedigree) – a Werk Thoroughbred Consultants recommended mating!

The media has rated the Tampa Bay Derby poorly, but I happen to know that this race is much better than it looks on paper. In fact, I tuned in to watch the Tampa Bay Derby for several reasons, and none had anything to do with Musket Man! One horse at Tampa that I had an obvious rooting interest in was Hello Broadway, who is owned and was bred by my friend Elizabeth Vallando, who also raced his half-brother Nobiz Like Shobiz (another mating we recommended). Elizabeth and trainer Barclay Tagg have been very high on this colt as a possible Derby contender, and why not? The colt was 2^nd last year in the G3 Nashua, and 2^nd this year in the G2 Hutcheson! And another horse I tuned in to watch was the Sky Mesa colt Join in the Dance (click here to view pedigree), who I offered to several of my clients last year as a racing prospect and who I absolutely loved. Unfortunately, I was the Lone Ranger in this regard!

Well, as I was watching the race, I realized that Hello Broadway wasn’t going to fire, but Join in the Dance was running a corker and looked like he was going to win it all at 35-1! Then Musket Man came on and nipped him a neck at the wire!

When I examined Musket Man’s race record – 4 for 5 after the Tampa Bay Derby – and read the race coverage, it dawned on me that he was very highly regarded by his connections and the local racetrack fraternity. He lost his only race in the G3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa one start back, and that had apparently been a shock to his connections. So the Tampa Bay Derby win put the form all back together again.

Yonaguska’s Oaks horse is the Japanese-based filly Earth Living (click here to view pedigree). Last year at 2 she won a maiden and ran 2^nd in a Japanese stakes to the colt Suni, who was considered the best dirt 2-year-old in Japan.

Earth Living then made her 3^rd lifetime start in the UAE 1000 Guineas in Dubai and ran 2^nd to the very good filly So Shiny. The start after that she ran 2^nd again in the UAE Oaks in Dubai! This is, well, world-class form!

Both Musket Man and Earth Living come from off the pace, and both get 9 furlongs, but their sire was pretty much a sprinter who struggled to stay a mile against top competition.

Yonaguska, if you remember, sold for $1,950,000 at the Fasig-Tipton February 2-year-olds-training sale in 2000. He was an instant success at the track that year, too, accounting for the G1 Hopeful S. (dead heat with City Zip, defeating Macho Uno!). He was also 3^rd in the G1 Champagne and placed in a bunch of other Graded races, too. At 3 Yonaguska won the G2 Hutcheson (defeating City Zip) over 7F, as well as the 6F G2 Fall Highweight and G3 Sport Page. He retired to Vinery in Kentucky with 6 wins from 18 starts and earnings of $536,355, and to date he has sired 8 SWs from only 3 crops.

This is a very respectable record for any young stallion these days, and when you throw in the quality of Musket Man and Earth Living versus the stud fee, that’s a lotta bang for the buck!

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HAT TRICK – THE WALMAC SLEEPER!

Now, having said that, I’ve also discussed in recent blogs that certain racing environments and bloodlines are important to the level of success for a stallion. In the case of the New Zealand Oaks winner Jungle Rocket (click here to view pedigree), I don’t believe her sire, Japanese-bred Jungle Pocket, would have been successful here as a son of Tony Bin out of a Nureyev mare. However, he does suit New Zealand, where they race on turf and over a distance. And Nureyev, you should note, is also the broodmare sire of the top New Zealand stallion Zabeel.

The filly who won the English 1000 Guineas last year, French-bred Natagora (click here to view pedigree), was sired by a Japanese-bred son of Sunday Silence named Divine Light. He wasn’t very popular in France and is now in Turkey, but he sure suited European racing. Sunday Silence was one of the best stallions in the world before he died at age 16, and his sons are now becoming top-level stallions in Japan as well. Sunday Silence sired a bunch of Japanese classic winners as well as some great 2-year-olds and milers, and he’s had stakes winners in Europe and the US, too, because they suited the environment. Divine Light is out of a mare by Linamix, one of the great stallions in France in recent years, and the fact that he got Natagora speaks well for Sunday Silence stallions outside of Japan.

This brings me to Walmac’s second-year Japanese-bred stallion Hat Trick (click here to view pedigree), one of the few sons of Sunday Silence at stud in the West. He stands for $12,500 live foal and his first-crop foals are just arriving this year. Plans are also in place for the horse to stand the Southern Hemisphere season in Argentina, which will make him the first son of Sunday Silence to stand in South America, but not the first Halo-line stallion. Halo’s son Southern Halo reshaped the breed in South America over the past 15 years, and no doubt, this was a major consideration for shuttling Hat Trick.

I think Hat Trick is a big-time sleeper and here’s why. He’s a Sunday Silence with a total American pedigree. And Sunday Silence has already proven he can get a high-class runner in the US. Remember Japanese-bred Silent Name (click here to view pedigree), who, by the way, now stands in Canada. He won the G2 Arcadia on the Santa Anita turf at a mile in 1:33.17, and he won the G2 Commonwealth Breeders’ Cup Stakes on Keeneland’s synthetic surface in 1:21.26 for 7 furlongs!

Hat Trick’s dam is Tricky Code, a daughter of Lost Code. Tricky Code was stakes winner at 2 and 3 and raced to age 6, when she was G3 placed. She won the $250,000 Miesque Stakes at 2 and was G1 placed in the Oak Leaf Stakes, and at 3 she won the G2 Santa Ynez Breeders’ Cup Stakes. She was a tough but classy mare who earned $603,981, and she was good on turf and dirt and had speed, too. The extended pedigree is made up of tough, old-fashioned American runners. This family runs in America!

Sunday Silence added his touch to Hat Trick’s pedigree, and Hat Trick won a Japanese G1 at a mile, and the G1 Hong Kong Mile. His record was 8 wins form 21 starts and more than $3 million in earnings. He had plenty of racing class, and he was a miler!

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The New A Team – eNicks and eMatings!

eMatings is simply a platform where a breeder can get pedigree advice from some of the leading pedigree authorities in the world! Having pioneered some innovations myself over the years, I knew right away when I first heard the concept (more on that later) that it was a winner and it was the way the business was heading. For one, our clients – you! – are a sophisticated group, and you’ve been relying more and more on computers, nicks, and a do-it-yourself attitude. This economy has only served to underscore this point. From my point of view at eNicks, the perfect complement to nicks is “expert advice,” or “second opinions,” but experts – including us at WTC – have never come cheap. Then eMatings arrived, and suddenly the cycle of eNicks and “expert advice” became affordable!

How you ask? Well, it’s possible only through the efforts of one man – Sid Fernando. Only he could have – well, he did! – pulled it off, because pedigree experts can be a finicky group, and they don’t usually work together. Most of them – and I’ll be frank here – don’t get along with one and other, simply put!

SID FERNANDO

Sid, however, got everyone under the same roof, AND he got them – me included!! – to work inexpensively – for $150 per expert. Call it straight talk and a belief in the idea.

Like I said, only Sid could have done this, because as the respected bloodstock editor for Daily Racing Form for years, Sid had cultivated relationships with all the leading figures in the business. All the experts chosen, Sid told me, were hand picked because he knew and respected their work and had personal relationships with most. I guarantee you this: No one else would have been able to pull everyone together for a project like this, and no one else could have gotten ALL of us to work for the same inexpensive fee!

The carrot Sid dangled to all of us was this: If you did a good job on a mare for $150, maybe the client would want to do some additional private consulting? And Sid has no problems with any of us doing work with clients outside of eMatings, so it was an easy sell.

eMatings has been up and running for 5 days, and so far the concept is being embraced from breeders around the world. Hey, I’ve already had a few customers and landed an outside gig! Sid tells me, “I’ve had several orders myself from the Middle East, and experts have received orders from regional markets in the US to orders from prominent breeders in the UK and Europe.”

The experts Sid has lined up so far include (me included!):

Dr. Steven Roman, originator of the Roman Dosage method popularized in Daily Racing Form through the columns of my late, great friend, Leon Rasmussen.

Dr. Rommy Faversham, author and weekly pedigree columnist for The Thoroughbred Times.

Jack Werk, originator of eNicks, former founding publisher of Owner-Breeder, and president of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc.

Lauren Stich, former columnist for Daily Racing Form and a pedigree analyst for more than 30 years.

Karel Miedema, the South African pedigree authority and the editor of Sporting Post, South Africa’s leading racing and breeding newspaper.

Dr. Frank Mitchell, author and weekly columnist for Daily Racing Form.

Robert Fierro, originator of Breezefigs with partner Jay Kilgore, and an active contributor to racing and breeding publications in the US.

Ed Anthony, well-known author and pedigree consultant who has been advising clients for more than 20 years.

John Sparkman, bloodstock editor of The Thoroughbred Times and an authority and historian of bloodstock who has contributed to international racing publications.

Sid Fernando, former bloodstock editor and columnist for Daily Racing Form and an international bloodstock authority.

Major Srinivas Nargolkar, former Keeper of the Indian Stud Book and member of the International Stud Book Committee from 1990 to 2007, has contributed to Indian racing publications for more than 34 years.

Robert S. Fox has been around thoroughbreds for nearly 40 years and was involved in the stud careers of such horses as Alydar, Wild Again, and Capote.

Diego Mitagstein writes about racing and breeding in South America and is the editor of Argentina’s Turf Diario.

You can see this is quite a distinguished group and there will be more to come!

You can enter the site at ematings.com. There is an explanatory guide on how to order right on the front page and everything is automated. Sid also has put together links of breeding news sites where you can get all your news from one site, and the site even features the “Stallion of the Week.”

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Horses for Courses

My last blog on the very successful South African stallion Western Winter (Gone West – Chilly Hostess, by Vice Regent) and Sid Fernando’s recent blog article about Spend a Buck’s (Buckaroo – Belle de Jour, by Speak John) amazing results in Brazil made me realize once again that a stallion’s success depends so much not only on the right types of mares he’s bred to but also on the environment where their foals will race.

One of the great recent examples of this is the stallion Zamindar (Gone West – Zaizafon, by The Minstrel). Zamindar was a G3 winner at 2 and 3 in France, and he was a full brother to the successful European stallion Zafonic, a G1 winner at 2 and 3 (classic winner of the English 2000 Guineas). After covering his first three crops at Banstead Manor Stud in England for an advertised fee of 20,000 pounds, he crossed the pond to stand at Florida’s Marablue Farm in 2001 and 2002 for $5,000. The result was a fair amount of cheap claimers in the U.S.

Now fast forward a few years later: Over the weekend the media reported that his daughter Zarkava was named Horse of the Year in France for 2008! The undefeated filly owned and bred by the Aga Khan won the Arc last year and has been compared to some of the best European fillies of all time. And Zamindar, was the leading sire in France in 2008!

ZAMINDAR

Talk about a turnaround! And How? And Wow!

The Wows followed the How after Zamindar returned to Juddmonte Farm’s Banstead Manor Farm near Newmarket. It all started after Juddmonte’s English-bred filly Zenda, a half-sister to the promising sire Oasis Dream, won the G1 French 1000 Guineas in 2002.

Since then, Zamindar has been represented by a bunch of really high-quality European runners, including:

Coquerelle (G1 in France)

Crossharbour (G3 in France)

Darjina (4 G1s in France, including the French Guineas in 2007)

Modern Look (G2 in France)

Zarkava (6 G1s in France, including French Guineas, Oaks, and Arc in 2008)

(Click here to view pedigrees of these five SWs)

Obviously for Zamindar, the right types of mares and the style of racing in France (including turf courses that have give in the ground) was the key.

Sid pointed out similar stuff with Spend a Buck, who kicked around farms in Texas and Louisiana after he left Lane’s End, and then found what he needed in Brazil – which he noted included mares by Ghadeer, a Lyphard stallion. Six of Spend a Buck’s 9 Brazilian-bred G1 winners were out of Ghadeer mares! Now, this is simply the terrific nick of Buckpasser/Northern Dancer, through a son – Ghadeer – not available in the US. The nick? It’s a Werk nick rating of A++!

Let’s go back to Western Winter. Would he have had the same success had he started his career in the US, where he raced? Probably not. But in South Africa, he’s had access to mares by Dancing Champ, Northfields, and Fort Wood – all Northern Dancer line branches not available here – and they have suited him beautifully. His best horse, Yard-Arm (Click here to view pedigree), for example was out of a Dancing Champ (by Nijinsky) mare, and this is nothing but the successful Gone West/Nijinsky nick, which we rate A++.

It’s the same nick of Zamindar’s Zarkava, too. Zarkava (click here to view pedigree) is out of a mare by Kahyasi (by Ile de Bourbon, by Nijinsky).

It all comes down to this: While some things change, others remain the same!

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The Best Son of Gone West in the So. Hemisphere!

A pedigree pundit sent in a message about my last blog on Elusive Quality and his son Quality Road that said: “Interesting post on Elusive Quality….although you missed the best son of Gone West in Western Winter!” My post was on Elusive Quality and was not a comprehensive listing of the best sons of Gone West at stud. In fact, I said “Some of Gone West’s other sons include” Grand Slam, Mr. Greeley, Proud Citizen, Speightstown, and Zamindar – all of whom were mentioned because of recent successes. Obviously it’s the reason why I kept the late Zafonic off the list, for example, and why the young Speightstown is mentioned in it (first crop 3 in 2009).

That said, is Western Winter the best son of Gone West at stud?

Western Winter, (Click here to see his pedigree) a foal of 1992 whose first crop was born in 1998, stands at Lammerskraal Stud on the Western Cape of South Africa. His fee in 2008 was R250,000. (Click here to see his stallion page from Sporting Post.)

WESTERN WINTER

Out of the Vice Regent mare Chilly Hostess, Western Winter sold for $200,000 at the 1993 Keeneland September sale and was the 2^nd-highest priced yearling for Gone West that year.

The bay horse won 5 of 21 starts and earned $312,459. At 3 he won a small restricted stakes race, at 4 he was 2^nd in a G2, and at 5 he had his best racing performances. He was 2^nd in the G1 Metropolitan Handicap and 3^rd in the G1 Carter. All his wins were in sprints, and he was good enough to last a mile against some high-class horses in a race that’s noted for making stallions.

His race record wasn’t quite good enough to stand in Kentucky, but that was just fine for the good folks of South Africa! The remarkable stallion has sired at least 15 G1 winners in South Africa! Through March 3, 2009, for the 2008/2009 season, Western Winter is ranked 5^th on the South African general sire list behind Jet Master, National Emblem, Jallad, and Kahal. In 2007/2008 he was 2^nd behind Jet Master. And again in 2006/2007 he was 2^nd behind Jet Master. But he led the list in 2005/2006 and in 2004/2005, was 2^nd in 2003/2004, and led in 2002/2003, so Western Winter is undoubtedly one of the best stallions in South Africa and the best son of Gone West in the Southern Hemisphere.

The pundit who wrote in, it should be mentioned, is from the Southern Hemisphere and understandably proud of Western Winter’s accomplishments.

But does that make Western Winter the best son of Gone West at stud?

As outstanding a stallion as he is in South Africa, I’d have to say, NO, not the world. Let’s face it, that’s asking a lot! You gotta win on the international stage to earn that, and I mean at the top. Now, there’s no question Western Winter can get international runners. On Jan. 29, his Silver Mist won a G3 in Dubai. And his best runner, the 2003 G1 South African Derby winner Yard-Arm, a multiple G1 winner in South Africa, won a G3 in Dubai in 2005, which was, by the way, during my first visit to Dubai.

But to be the best, you have to beat the best at the highest level, and that’s what Elusive Quality’s son Raven’s Pass did in the Breeders’ Cup last fall: He beat the G1 Dubai Cup winner Curlin in an international G1 field that included a dual European Guineas winner!

Throw in a Kentucky Derby winner, an American and a European Champion, as well as a bunch of 2009 SWs going for him, and I’d say that Elusive Quality is unquestionably the best son of Gone West at stud, with Mr. Greeley a close 2^nd – with apologies to Western Winter and our Southern Hemisphere pundit.

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Road to the Derby is Paved with Quality!

I made a $100 win bet on the Fountain of Youth Saturday and I won! That’s right; I loved Quality Road, a son of Elusive Quality out of the Strawberry Road mare Kobla. (Click here to see pedigree) Why? He was lightly raced, he had shown a lot in his first start, which he won at Aqueduct with an eye-catching 101 Beyer, and he was sired by Elusive Quality – one of the best values out there for $75,000 live foal at Darley – one of my favorite stallions.

The year that Elusive Quality went to stud, pedigree expert Sid Fernando and I had a small side bet: Who was the best sleeper or long shot from that crop? Sid picked Distorted Humor, standing for $12,500, a pretty astute choice at the time. I, of course, picked Elusive Quality, who also went to stud very cheap — $10,000.

As it turns out, we both picked wisely! The top two sires by progeny earnings through the first two months of 2009 are Distorted Humor and Elusive Quality, and both have sired a Kentucky Derby winner. For a while it looked like Sid’s pick was going to blow my choice away – Distorted Humor is one of the best stallions in the country and stands for $150,000 – but Elusive Quality has made a strong “stretch run” to narrow the gap, much like his son Raven’s Pass’s amazing move in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last fall.

Now, Elusive Quality has another chance to have a top 3-year-old this year in Kentucky Derby hopeful Quality Road!

One reason why I picked Elusive Quality back in 1999 was because he was a son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Gone West, a stallion who I liked as a sire and as a sire of sires. In fact, it was my mating recommendation to breeder Herman Sarkowsky that resulted in the 1992 foal by Gone West out of Long Legend that became Mr. Greeley.

The reason why I was high on Gone West as a sire and as a sire of sires was because, aside from all the obvious stuff – Mr. Prospector, race record, great female family …yaddayaddayadda – Gone West was out of a Secretariat mare. Take a look at two other stallions out of Secretariat mares: A.P. Indy and Storm Cat!!

At WTC, our internal research – much of it spearheaded by Roger Lyons – forecast that Secretariat had a high probability of becoming an excellent “broodmare sire of sires,” just as we’d forecast that Northern Dancer would not become a successful “broodmare sire of sires.” (Southern Halo is really the only top stallion out of a Northern Dancer mare, and he achieved his greatness in the Southern Hemisphere.)

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