Value Route Stallions: Vol 3

Value Route Stallions: Vol 3

Original article written by Three Crowns Racing posted 11 years 3 weeks ago

As someone of, shall we say lesser means in the SIM, and a sickness for breeding; I find myself constantly looking for the less expensive stallions with the most upside. I’m not able to throw mares Feat, Trafalgar, Just Victory, Maelstrom, and Messiah’s way each SIM year, nor do I have the highest quality mares to warrant the highest stud fees. As a result, I’m ‘forced’ to look at more prudent, less expensive, options and rely on the overwhelming generosity of those owners who have some of the better known stallions out to stud (thank you Eric and LaDonna). I don’t view it as a hindrance though, it allows me to try and dive into the deep end of the SIM gene pool and try and figure out what makes a good broodmare, a good stallion, and a nice match. I’ll admit, I’m not the best at it just yet, but I do love trying. So I thought, why not put out my findings/thoughts in writing on the Feature Race? I could help other newer breeders out there learn from my musings and mistakes, and give some of the less expensive, lesser known stallions some love (and hopefully the owners don’t hike up their prices too high on us, lol). I’ll take a look at 2 dirt and 1 turf horse in each installment, with a planned 9 different articles.

In Volume 3 of this series, I will take a look at dirt route sires Desert Soldier and Famous, and the amazing young turf route sire Blood Red Sun

Desert Soldier - $10,000

The half brother of recently profiled Desert Kingdom, Desert Soldier was sold at the Y29 TBS 2 year old sale for over $2 million to then sophomore trainer Chris Reed. Desert Soldier started with some fast workouts right after joining his new stable, then broke his maiden first out later in the year. Chris jumped the bay colt up into top competition to close out his juvenile campaign, finishing 4th behind Have a Happy Day, High Esteem, and Burn Card in the G3 Persevere Stakes, then getting outclassed in the Steward’s Cup Juvenile, finishing more than 6 lengths off the pace in 8th. Chris kept Desert Soldier in graded stakes competition in his 3 year old campaign with mixed results. Desert started with a close 2nd in the Sun Devil Derby, then bouncing in the Suburbia finishing a dismal 6th. Desert Soldier was able to come back from his poor performance, collecting his first stakes win in the G3 Mustang Park Derby by a length over Hunky. Next out, he finished 2nd behind Open At The Close in the G1 El Rival Decade Stakes, then besting Millionaire’s Son in the G2 Pennsylvania Derby. The strong three race stretch was enough for Chris to take a shot on Desert Soldier in the Steward’s Cup again, but it was a Classic to forget for Desert Soldier, as he would be dead last wire-to-wire. Desert Soldier was kept in graded stakes level competition once again, but he just was not up to the task, finishing Y31 0-1-1 in 4 graded stakes with a victory in the restricted Ontario Classic and a disappointing 3rd place finish in an allowance to finish out the year. He was allowed to keep running as a 5 year old and after another poor outing in a Kentucky allowance, Desert Soldier was shipped off to Japan. The old guy responded well, winning two consecutive listed stakes to finish out his career.

Desert Soldier is out of Desert Wind and a half to the recently profiled Desert Kingdom, along with stakes winning mares Desert Firestorm, Desert Sorrow, Desert Wild, and millionaire Safety in Numbers. His 2nd dam, Desert Heat, has a wonderful record in the shed with five different millionaires, including Long Island Classic and Juvenile champion Desert Nomad. His female line isn’t stunning, but it is very solid with plenty of stakes wins sprinkled throughout. Desert Soldier’s sire, Fighter Jet, was one of the top sires of his time with 72.6% winners (300 winners, 54 stakes), a total of 14 millionaires, and six figure average earnings. Fighter Jet is the sire of a little horse named East, who himself sired 91 stakes winners! Fighter Jet is also the sire of other good stallions like Desert Nomad (who was out of Desert Soldier’s 2nd dam), Promise Not to Cry, Sahara Sport, Fang, and the young sire Saharan Ace.

Desert Soldier is not yet Steward approved, but he does have two known stakes/wow gallops from his small first crop. He also has a few youngsters with pretty good works: Desert Potions (58.08), La Francessa (58.25), Past Soldiers (58.30), Sun Soldier (58.30), Star Soldier (58.34), Soldier Memoirs (58.34), and Palazzio (58.34). Desert Soldier’s pedigree is built for speed and most of his foals will probably top out around 9 furlongs, but with Jet Ski as his Grand Sire, I think you may be able to get some 12 furlong babies with the right crosses as Fighter Jet did have a number of strong stamina progeny (Desert Nomad, Crime Fighter, Clearly the Best, Saharan Ace, and others). Desert Soldier’s fee is a little more than his half brother’s, but I feel the two are very similar in sire ability. It all comes down to what you are looking for; I would probably go with DK for pure speed and DS if you have a more stamina-type mare.

Famous - $10,000

This bay colt was a $7M purchase for Amy Schmidt at the Y29 Select Yearling sale. After putting up some solid workouts, Amy sold Famous to Larry Burndorf for the auction purchase price. The speedy colt ran well for Larry in his juvenile season, capturing a win in his first race with a surprising 86 speed figure at 8 furlongs. LB then tried the bay in an 8 furlong stakes, but a poor final turn resulted in a distant 3rd place finish in the G3 People’s Champion. Next up for Famous was the Persevere Stakes, where he had a very nice run, opening up a solid 3 furlong lead, but he just didn’t have the stamina to hold on, finishing 4th with an 88 SF behind Hero’s Resolve, Wide Awake Still, and Apollo Seventeen. To close out his 2yo season, he flashed his speed again in the SC Juvenile, but he was pushed too hard early by the great front-running speedster Spartan. He had no kick down the stretch and Sword and Spartan ran away with the race with Famous finishing 4th. Despite not winning a stakes, and not even finishing on the board in a race over 8 furlongs, Famous was still considered a strong contender for the first two legs of the Triple Crown because of his strong runs in his two 4th place finishes. In his lone prep race, he ran into Sword once again. He broke wonderfully and jumped out to a large early lead over the closer, but his jockey was unable to keep the rank speedster in hand and Famous opened up a ridiculous 10.5 length lead by the halfway point and Sword breezed past the quickly tiring Famous for the easy win. After yet another disappointing stretch run, Larry decided to avoid the 10 furlong Derby and Famous responded by winning his first stakes race and first route in the G3 Lexington Stakes. Two weeks later he stepped into the gate in the Baltimore Crown and ran about as well as can be expected, finishing 3rd behind the great duo of Spartan and Sword. His stretch run woes continued in Y31 with back-to-back seconds in the El Rival Decade and Kentucky Crown before closing out his 3yo campaign with a disappointing 9th in the Seek Thrills. Larry stepped down the level of competition for Famous in his 4yo season and he responded well, finishing 2nd in a G2 before reeling off 3 consecutive wins (allowance, listed, G3), closing out the year with a less than impressive 4th in the G3 Wasteland Cup. LB brought the frontrunner back as a 5yo but after a 2nd in a G2, he had a terrible run in an allowance and was retired to stud.

Famous is from a fantastic female line. He is out of Sensation, the Five Circles mare out of the great broodmare Now. Sensation is a half to other great broodmares like Wonder (dam of Who I Am, Awake As I Am, Asleep As I Am, Sleep to Dream, More, Sound Asleep, Awakeandwonderful, Stay Inside, and Most), Baby (Forward, West, East, Center, Midwest, Gold Cup, and Adventure), and Minuit (Chretiens, Astonishing, and Annihilating). Sensation is a very good broodmare herself, with $5.4M in progeny earnings and counting, and 9 of her 13 babies earning six figures (and her two youngest looking well on their way as well). Sensation was great on the track as well, winning multiple graded stakes between 8 and 10 furlongs and earning over $1.4M. Famous was a member of his sire’s first crop and he is currently his highest earning standing stallion. Redwood was a speed horse that won the SC Juvenile on his way to a SIMMY for North American 2yo colt. Redwood is out of the Hall of Fame mare Temple, who is the sole infusion of stamina in Famous’ pedigree. So far Redwood has 52.1% winners with $39,422 winnings and 7 stakes winners.

Famous will certainly be an infusion of speed into any mare, but because of his struggles at anything over 8.5 furlongs, the stamina of his offspring will always be questioned and he may have trouble throwing enough stamina to ever compete at the classic distances and he may even become one of those speedy routers that turns out to be more of a miler stallion. With such a good female family and a low stud fee, owners have been throwing just about everything at Famous and trying to see what sticks. Despite the low number of quality mares he saw in his first crop, he does have some yearlings with promising works, most notably Famous Shine (58.30), Singing About Fame (58.34), Black Wood (58.38), and Devil’s Den (58.42). Despite throwing some solid foals last year, he is yet to see the quality of mares coming his way improve, with the two best he’s seen so far (stakes winners Dramatic and The Arms of Love) coming from his current owner Phil Hoeflich. He has yet to see a Steward-owned mare, but I think Emily will be sending a mare his way at some point. With his world class speed, I really believe he will be able to throw babies capable of winning at 8, 9, and possibly 10 furlongs (with the right mare and some luck).

Blood Red Sun - $19,000

A $900,000 pickup for Emma Lochran in the Trial By Summer 2 year olds in Training sale, Blood Red Sun was quickly shipped off to Hope Bentley for the purchase price. Blood Red Sun had some good, but not outstanding works as a yearling and he proved to be an endlessly frustrating runner for Hope. In his juvenile season, he finished a disappointing 5th in his first race, and then broke his maiden in week 14 with a less than stellar 67 speed figure. Blood started out his 3yo campaign with a whimper, finishing off-the-board in his first two starts, the second being a NW2. Hope then decided to stretch out Blood and he responded in kind, taking a NW2 and G3 in back-to-back races with SFs of 69 and 68 respectively (not impressive, but his best to date). However, after the back-to-back wins, Blood Red Sun closed out the year with a 4th and 6th (dead last) in his final two stakes races). It looked like more distance was the answer as Blood opened up his 4yo season with a 3rd in a G3 at 16 furlongs, but he then went out and tanked his next race at 16 furlongs, finishing 7th. After finishing 4th in a restricted stakes created by Hope specifically for him, he went out and ran the best race of his career, winning the 20 furlong G2 Platinum Cup with the best SF of his career, a 75. Blood then finished off-the-board in three consecutive races, including the opening race of his 5yo season. In his 2nd race of his 5yo season, Blood Red Sun won another 20 furlong stakes, the listed Arabian Nights Cup. Blood Red Sun closed out the year finishing off-the-board in 3 of 4 races, with his only on-the-board finish being an improbable listed stakes win at 10 furlongs. Hope decided to give him one more season to try and find his groove, but it was not meant to be. Blood finished off-the-board in back-to-back allowances and finally closing out his horribly inconsistent racing career with a dismal 10th in a G2.

Blood Red Sun is out of a nice female family, being out of the unraced Black Condor mare, Ink Black Sky. Blood Red Sun is a half to 3-time SIMMY winner Elysian Park, multiple graded stakes winning Dark Stare, 2-time SIMMY winner Stealth in Black, and SIMMY winner Signed in Ink. Blood Red Sun’s sire side is fantastic as well. He is by Hall of Fame 4-time SIMMY winner Everest. Everest is the sire of sires like Imposing, Acme, Northern Hero, Scream in the Wind, The Demon, Peaked, and future stallion Monster.

It is interesting to me that Hope was told multiple times to geld Blood Red Sun due to his lack of production and in the poll she held before his 6yo season, 2 people even voted that they didn’t think he would be worth using as a sire. This feeling was emphasized in his first crop as he saw just 1 outside mare but was able to produce 4 Wow/Stakes gallops out of 20 foals. His 2nd crop was even better, with at least 11 Wow/Stakes gallopers and even though his most recent crop to work only had 1 known Wow/Stakes, he still has some promising workouts in the crop. He is a little more expensive than I had planned on including in these articles, but I felt the slightly higher fee was worth a mention because of the volume of quality thrown by Blood Red Sun so far. In three crops he has 16 known Wow/Stakes gallopers with a host of impressive sub-59s workouts: Black Streamer (58.76), The Flying W (58.80), Split Skies (58.84), Inky (58.88), Blood Ray Fantasy (58.88), Cool Reception (58.88), and Sun Strikes (58.92. The Steward has also used Blood Red Sun once so far, creating Ranadon, who will likely be sold in next year’s 2yo sale. With a cross of Everest over Black Condor, Blood Red Sun has stamina to burn and he may even be considered a plodder. The scary thing about all of the positive works/gallops is that with the high stamina pedigree, his progeny should get even better with age and at longer distances. He has produced well with Feat, Streamer, Magician, and Frayed line mares, but I bet he would cross well with others as well. He also seems to be able to improve the quality of the mares he sees, with some of his fast foals coming out of average to below average mares. I hope she doesn’t, but Hope could definitely increase the price of this guy and he could still be considered a bargain; get him while he’s under $20,000!

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