Hall of Fame - Guitar

Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 13 years 2 weeks ago

When Guitar first set foot on the track as a two year old, questions were raised about the kind of music he would strum when his hoof beats resounded on the track. Whether what he produced would be a string of raw notes that didn’t quite flow together or a rhapsody in music that would live on. His future remained unwritten while people watched and waited for his debut along with the rest of the members of his class.

But as it turned out, they wouldn’t wait for very long.

Guitar put any such concerns or fears to rest very quickly and looking at his bloodlines, that shouldn’t have come as any surprise. Being born out of the most successful family line that permeates through the blood of many a successful turf sprinter, he appeared destined for great things when his parents met for the first time in a matter of speaking inside a breeding shed.

His sire, A Bus has made a huge name for himself as a sire of successful offspring who duplicate his success on and off the racetrack. By Storm Cat, this foundation sire enjoyed a tremendously successful racing career as a top sprinter, winning multiple championship titles including South American horse of the year and Australian champion three year old colt. When he retired to stud, he made an immediate impact siring top race horses including Knightsbridge Road, Donizetti, Buster, Automobile and Guitar’s own full brother, Chord. All of these horses became stallions who have contributed greatly to the familial lines which dominated turf sprinting today. It’s not easy to find a successful turf sprinting horse that doesn’t trace back to A Bus in one way or another and his name has become synonymous with turf sprinting.

Still A Bus appears most remembered as one of the most famous broodmares sires in the sport. His female progeny are so heavily coveted by breeders that the owners lucky enough to have them hold tightly onto these prizes or they sell them for top dollars on the auction block. And it’s true that with many prominent turf sprinters, A Bus plays a significant role in their heritage on the female side. But as mentioned earlier, he’s been prominent in the male family line as well and that’s been amply shown through this outstanding recent inductee into the sport’s Hall of Fame.

But behind every great horse, stands a formidable broodmare, either a consistent producer of talent or one who catches lightning in a bottle at the right time. Guitar’s own mother was a mare named Duet, her name a reference to the importance of combining two different voices into an even stronger melody Something Duet’s accomplished throughout her life until her death while foaling Aria.

While she lived, this petite bay mare had been a powerful force mostly in the breeding shed rather than the racetrack and she boasted some influential players in her family tree as well that provided her with the genetic tools to create a formidable army of turf sprinting racers.

Her sire Tulloch (whose mares crossed quite successfully with A Bus) had been a very successful turf runner at a variety of distances and he earned the title of champion male turf horse and included among his seven wins, the Irish 2000 Guineas and the Steward’s Cup Turf Mile. At stud, he sired some very important stakes winners and future turf influences in Hall of Famer Crystal Night who sired 72 winners including some major broodmares in Fiji Nights and Altibiir among his successful progeny. His son, Tears of Triumph won multiple championship titles during his career and sired 157 winners by the time he pensioned out. Through some of his offspring, Tulloch stretched his sire influence into turf milers and turf routers as well including later descendents like Inhuman, Savage Empire and the awesome Night Shade.

Duet herself had hit the race track during a career which spanned three years but only seven races. However, she finished on the board in all of her starts winning her first two and placing second in the Excellence Stakes and the Yellow Ribbon behind another mare from a famous family, Kizzer. After her retirement, she produced 11 foals before her untimely death. Interestingly enough, two of them were full brothers by A Bus, Guitar and his younger brother, Chord. Full-blooded siblings that prove to be successes on the track and in the stud are in rare supply but although they didn’t look much alike, they both proved to be highly successful. Whether or not they harbor any sibling rivalry between them, is something only they would know.

A more recent family addition, Aria by former sprinting champion and African Horse of the Year Just is making her mark winning stakes races during her juvenile season and placing second in the Steward’s Cup Filly Turf Dash.

Guitar was born a strapping bay colt who soon loomed large in stature in the barn. He sold for $100,000 at the yearling sale to Dave Shields which appears to have been very much of a bargain looking back now. He never trained on the racetrack before his career began but it started off with a bang because once the starting gates opened in his first race, Guitar never looked back. He won that race by a mere nose over Dream Big on the South African Racecourse but the starter noted that he took command when ready to make his move. He did that each time he hit the track and attracted a huge following, winning the Trevor Denham Stakes and then moving on to Australia where he won three stakes in a row, capping off his juvenile year with an authoritative win in the Los Campeones Junior Sprint in Argentina.

It turned out to be his swan song as a racehorse as well. Guitar never set foot on a racetrack again.

Shields who campaigned the sterling juvenile who won dual titles including Australian Horse of the Year believed that there wasn’t enough competitive opportunities for his star which left him with a decision to make about the star’s future.

"I retired Guitar because there just weren't any enough prestigious grade 1 races for him to compete in as an older horse,” he said, “and I wanted him to go out on top."

Controversy brewed over whether Guitar was retiring too young while on the cusp of greatness similar to what had happened when another undefeated star, Awake As I Am stepped into retirement after capturing the American Triple Crown. But Awake As I Am quickly became influential in siring the next generation of classic dirt routers and so Guitar would do like when it came to impacting the future stars to follow him in turf sprinting.

Looking back, some said that it made sense financially speaking as well to enter him into stud where he would attract many mares at a steady price rather than to race him for another or two with all the risks that racing entails. Even as airplane crashes and barn fires appear to be tragedies relegated to the past, horse racing still remains as a sport filled with surprises both good and bad. And it’s impossible to deny that Guitar has made his own mark as a stud horse in the unforgivable arena of churning out top-class turf sprinters. Turf sprinters often seemed to be placed on a lower rung of the ladder than their routing cousins but Guitar brought some glamor to his class of runners.

Before his fertility ran dry, he sired 77% winners among his pool of runners and stakes winners scored 17%. His progeny have included successful racers and championship title winners galore, and many went to the breeding shed in hopes of making an impact on the sport.

He contributed more strapping sons who made their marks on the track and then went off to stud to pass along the family lines. At least three of them became champions in the Southern Pacific racing circuit. Trumpet captured numerous stakes wins over three seasons before placing third in his final race, the Steward’s Cup Turf Sprint behind two other stellar horses in Boogie Shoes and Patience. So far the former South Pacific champion two year old colt has yet to make his mark at stud because although he sired several horses who have won and placed in stakes, he hasn’t yet produced that elusive champion or super star that often creates a turning point in a stallion’s career. One interesting colt still racing is four year old Bus Pass who’s got A Bus lineage on both sides of his family tree and has won or placed in stakes races earning just under $120,000.

South Pacific Champion Sprinter Beat placed on the board in all but two of his 20 starts, winning 14of them. Though he won many stakes races, success at stud has eluded him so far, but he’s sired eight winners including stake winner Love Snucks.

Guitar Nation (by Chrismatic) won the South Pacific two year old colt title while winning and placing in numerous stakes during his career. At stud, he’s sired over 80 winners and is still awaiting his own champion son or daughter.

Jam didn’t win any championship titles but he’s out of successful broodmare Hug (by Star Studded) who also produced South African Champion Three Year Old Filly Lovesongsafterdark, stakes winner This Day Forward (by Ben Franklin) and Squeeze who also loved winning stakes and placed second in two different Steward’s Cup female turf sprints. Her first foal, Woobie who’s by South Pacific Champion Sprinter Sockie is eagerly anticipated at a future sale.

Guitar’s daughters included the outstanding Roxette who won 14 out of 17 races including many stakes races in the South Pacific yet never won a championship title. At three, she capped her undefeated season with a stirring win in the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Turf Sprint. The former $1.5 million purchase went to the breeding shed and birthed a filly, Haumea by the champion sprinter Ease who is now a yearling.

Air Guitar (out of Chrismatic mare, Imaginary) won championship titles in both Asia and the South Pacific and never missed the board in any of her 14 lifetime starts. She’s produced seven foals including Roadie who’s by the recently deceased Right Hand Man and won and placed in stakes races.

Strum, a full sister to Beat, sold for $380,000 as a yearling and won some stakes races on the track then headed off to the breeding shed where she became best known for producing the stakes winning and multi-titled champion Adjust the Sound (out of pensioned multi-surface sire Adjust the Lens) and Smooth, a mare by dual-titled champion sprinter, Ease who is already producing steady money earners in the shed.

Guitar’s been pensioned so he doesn’t have to worry about producing anymore sons and daughters to add to his legacy. His life, now remains one of leisure spent watching his progeny pick up where he left off, in creating their own music.

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