Stardom Bound: 2 Year Old Review (Week 12)

Original article written by The Steward posted 13 years 2 weeks ago

Week 12 was not as intense as the past few weeks, which is typical. Only a handful of the great horses start this late, and some of the horses who struggled at 1 1/16 miles are now awaiting the Week 15 1 1/8 mile races instead.

**What?**

There sure have been some nice babies claimed out of races they won impressively, for example, the first juvenile race of Week 12 went to a son of Literature named Lovely Story who scored with a 78 speed figure. Literature is doing surprisingly (in my opinion) well as a sire, siring 12 winners already. He was a surprise juvenile himself, so I should be less surprised I suppose.

Mike Eaton had a doozy Week 13, but that's for next week's edition of this article.

Rob Kilbourn is breathing a sigh of relief as Burning Beast finally broke his maiden. The son of Fire Added Starter, whose dam Tumult won $600k+, had blazing fast works but finished second in his first two tries. I'm proud of Kilbourn for keeping him in maiden company when it must have been tempting to shove him into a stakes and tell him to deal with it. With the win, Burning Beast has his feet under him and is sure to be a force.

Jon Xett has a son of Best Use Of Time out of Mrs. Steward named Action News. The colt, who broke his maiden at Futurity, should have been named "Napping" or "Counting Socks," etc.

**Excellent Bands and TV Shows**

The first foal out of Filly and Mare Turf winner Funny De Way It Is broke her maiden first out for owner/breeder Jon Xett. The daughter of Greatness is named Listening Closely. If you've never listened closely to the lyrics of Dave Matthew's Bands' Funny The Way It Is, I recommend it.

Ronnie Dee's Tangerine Dream is now 2 for 2 after a NW2 win. He's by Paoli and out of a Ghostzapper mare, but successfully stretched out to 1 1/16 miles.

I wasn't blown away by Merlottes victory in a mile maiden race at Futurity, but the Amy Schmidt-bred and Patrick O'Malley-trained filly reminded me that True Blood is only a few months away. Just a few races later (but in Ireland), Michelle Calderoni's Alcide scored by 4 3/4 in the rain.

**Turf**

Ladonna King's Over My Dead Body (Feat x Over the Hill) won by 3 with a 77 in Japan. King seems to have a good crop of youngsters - but you would, too, if you stood Feat, who happens to have 17 juvenile winners already.

I predicted that Cool Waters, who is trained by Steph Lonhro, would win next out. I was correct. The daughter of Streamer made it look easy at Adolescent Acres, scoring by over two lengths.

The foals out of $2 million earner Bara have never had the best names. Some of her offspring have included Baraca (by Acapulco) and Saria (by Sagamix), and now Wada, by Fish. Wada, get it? Wada broke her maiden by just under two lengths and managed to defeat King's Velvet Angel, a Feat daughter of SC winner Velvet Nights. Lots of female family power in that finish!

Laura Ferguson had two standout turf mares running around the same time, Born Wild and Black Sands. Black Sands was the "bum" of the two, only earning $1 million and not $2 million like Born Wild. Their two-year-olds won three races apart at Adolescent Acres, with Bedevil (July x Born Wild) scoring first, followed by Sea Faring (Trafalgar x Black Sands). Both colts will enjoy time and distance.

**Derby Colts**

As predicted, All Star Sport won his second out, and it's crazy to think that this half brother to recent Midsummer Classic winner Pirate is a second-stringer in Ronnie Dee's current juvenile barn.

Atlatl (heaven forbid I ever have to say that), from the Luis Polar barn, is also a second stringer now after breaking his maiden in the slop at Florence Park. It stinks to be by Awake As I Am and out of the $315k earning mare Beware the Danger (a sister to Heed the Warning, Steam Engine, and Just As I Am) and share a barn with Maelstrom.

Eric Nalbone's Thunderous was thunderous, running from 8th to 1st in a half mile to score by 4 1/2. The son of Caldron is out of Terrific, a royally-bred mare who was frustrating on the track but can make up for it in the shed.

Brianna McKenzie's Hunky broke his maiden after losing to a pair of milers Week 10. The son of Something Better is out of the $750k+ earning mare Bomb Shell.

**Oaks Fillies**

Chutai won at 1 1/16 miles on Monday, and it will be interesting to see if she can ever score at a distance that short again. The freakish 5 1/4 length win earned her an 89 speed figure, but the daughter of Boise x Sentai is bred for a heck of a lot more distance (although the Boise sharpened her up a bunch).

Believe the Hype's 3/4 sister, Surface Illuminati, won by 3 1/2 with an 81. She is by Looking for Light, who is by Throne, the sire of Believe the Hype. They are both out of the mare Haley Road, who was useless until she hit the shed and now she's extremely valuable.

**The One Where Alysse Jacobs Tries To Be Susie Raisher**

It's possible Alysse Jacobs was a little frustrated when her dear friend Raisher won all of the two-year-old races offered a few days back. In fact, 13 of Jacobs' 37 two-year-olds have won, including six of them during Week 12. Castevet, a daughter of East, scored a nice front-running victory at Oceanside Racetrack, and Jeweled (Radee x Coronet) looks like an even better filly with a 78 win in Florida. In that race, she defeated Ali LaDuke's Ruthless, a half-sister to Kamikaze and Wow.

Jacobs has yet another front-runner on her hands with Society, a daughter of Literature. Jacobs has often joked that she owns the only front-running offspring of the plodding Kiddo that the SIM has ever known.

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