Bobina's short life ends tragically

Bobina (outside) broke down right after the finish line of the Senorita
Photo: Benoit, Betfair Hollywood Park

It was not an outcome that anyone could have foreseen.  Bobina, a three-year-old Malibu Moon filly, won the Grade III grassy Senorita at Betfair Hollywood Park today, narrowly prevailing after a brave stretch duel with My Gi Gi , but then, just a second after she crossed the wire, her right front ankle shattered and she fell heavily to the ground.

Her rider, Victor Espinoza, got up in short order, but Bobina never did.  In a display of misplaced zeal, Kevin Krigger, the rider of My Gi Gi, claimed foul against Bobina as she awaited the veterinarian’s needle.  The stewards disallowed the claim, but no one could save Bobina.

When track vets determined that her injuries were catastrophic, they euthanized Bobina as she lay, even as the tote board flashed her number on top and bettors cashed their winning tickets.  The trophy that was meant to honor Bobina’s crowning achievement as a graded stakes winner became her memorial, instead.   It’s small consolation to the people who bred and owned her, Haras Santa Maria de Araras, or to her trainer, A. C. Avila.  They had painstakingly brought Bobina this far, only to lose her, just like that.  Horse racing can be cruel.

Bobina didn’t know how to do anything but win.  Unraced at two, she didn’t make her first start until the last day of March, when she outclassed a field of maiden special weight fillies at Santa Anita, rallying to finish more than two lengths the good of her nearest rival at a mile on the grass, the same conditions she faced in the Senorita today.

She came right back two weeks later and did it again, this time over a sloppy mile in an allowance test that had been taken off the turf.  It was that victory that inspired her connections to take a shot in the Senorita, which seemed to be the perfect spot for this up-and-coming filly who had such a bright future. 

Bobina didn’t disappoint them.  Her courage carried her over the finish line today, even as her ankle failed her.  It’s not known when Bobina sustained the injury that felled her; there was nothing to suggest she’d gone wrong until she suddenly went down. 

Bobina was the fourth foal out of the durable Dynaformer mare, Maliziosa, a multiple stakes winner who won or placed in 12 of her 22 starts, while earning $327,581. In an eerie coincidence, Bobina’s stakes-placed half-brother, Tutti Buona Gente (by Aldebaran), broke down and was vanned off just three days ago in a $10,000 claiming race at Churchill Downs.  It’s not known whether, unlike Bobina, he has survived.

Georgie's Angel wins the Schuylerville and breaks the mold

Georgie's Angel runs away with the Schuylerville-G3
Photo:  Courtesy of NYRA, Adam Coglianese

With her convincing victory in yesterday's six-furlong Schuylerville, two-year-old Georgie's Angel became not only the first graded stakes winner at Saratoga's 143rd summer meet, but a rising star for her second-crop sire, Bellamy Road.

The diminutive bay filly looks like she's all business, having banked $95,820 in her two perfect starts.  "She's always been a pretty straightforward, professional filly," said her trainer, Todd Pletcher, in an article in The Saratoga Special.  "She's a kind of filly that wants to please everybody."  If all goes well, we'll get to see her at Saratoga again at the end of the meet, in the marquee two-year-old filly contest, the seven-furlong Spinaway-G1.

Georgie's Angel is the second two-year-old graded stakes winner for Bellamy Road, a Kinsman Stud colorbearer who was himself a precocious juvenile, capturing two of his three starts in his debut season, including the Grade III Cradle Stakes at River Downs, under the tutelage of Michael Dickinson.  

Sent to Nick Zito for his three-year-old season, the son of Concerto triumphed in the Wood Memorial in spectacular fashion, equaling the track record for a mile and an eighth and besting his rivals by more than 17 lengths.  He suffered a splint injury while finishing unplaced in the 2005 Derby, but earned runner-up honors in Flower Alley's Travers, which would turn out to be his final start.  A comeback attempt at four was quashed by a recurrence of his old injuries, and Bellamy Road entered stud at Ben Walden's Hurricane Hall (now Pauls Mill) in Lexington, where he stands for $10,000.

Bellamy Road's first foals arrived in 2008, and they came out running.  At last summer's Saratoga meet, his undefeated daughter, Position Limit, won the Grade II Adirondack at six-and-a-half furlongs.  And earlier this year, Bellamy Road's son, Toby's Corner, emulated his sire's exploits by winning the Wood Memorial, and was considered a top Derby contender before an injury cut his campaign short.

Named for Bellamy Road's charismatic owner, George Steinbrenner, Georgie's Angel is the fifth foal from the Dynaformer mare, Lalka, who has produced three other winners, all by sprint specialist Richter Scale.  Her female family is chock full of distinguished Canadian stakes winners, including Lalka's half-sisters, Buffalo Jump and Gumboots.  Her third dam is the Canadian Two-Year-Old Champion, Ada Prospect, and she descends from the influential mare, Ormonda, granddam of Champion, Triple Crown Winner, and Horse of the Year Whirlaway, and ancestress of Roman Ruler.

When it comes to genetics, there are indications that Georgie's Angel is breaking the mold.  As Sean Clancy observed in his piece in The Saratoga Special, "By Bellamy Road, out of the Dynaformer mare, Lalka, Georgie's Angel should be big and should go long.  Instead, she's small and goes six furlongs on Opening Day at Saratoga faster than any of her rivals."  

And not only that.  Georgie's Angel is actually the second Bellamy Road filly produced by Lalka.  There were high hopes for the first one, a current three-year-old named Electric Boots, who sold for $125,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Sale in 2009.  But Electric Boots has failed to live up to expectations, or to her lofty price tag.  She has been unplaced in two starts, and finished a well-beaten ninth in a $20,000 maiden claimer last out at Churchill, on May 28th.  Notwithstanding the elder sister's lackluster record, though, it's clear that because of Georgie Angel's talent, the family's fortunes are on the rise.

Derby hopefuls Archarcharch and Brilliant Speed vault Roberto's line into renewed prominence

Brilliant Speed on his way to capturing the 2011 Toyota Bluegrass.

Photo: Keeneland/Coady Photography

When longshots Archarcharch and Brilliant Speed unexpectedly blew out of the clouds to capture two of the last Derby preps, they signalled that Roberto's line may be on the rise.

Only once before has a descendant of this influential stallion ever captured America's Derby, so the emergence of this pair of newly minted Grade I contenders is a significant development.

Dynaformer's promising son, Brilliant Speed, whose best races until now had been on the turf, made a determined come-from-behind run from last place in the Toyota Bluegrass Stakes-G1 at Keeneland, to just nip Twinspired at the wire in the mile and an eighth polytrack contest.  With his winner's prize of $450,000, he banked enough earnings to ensure him a place in the starting gate on Saturday, where he'll be looking to win for only the third time in his career.  Commenting this morning, after Brilliant Speed worked five eighths over a sloppy Churchill surface in 1:00.98, trainer Tom Albertrani admitted to The Blood-Horse that "we really don't know" whether the colt will run as well on dirt as he did at Keeneland.  "But we're hoping, trying to be optimistic, that he does."

Brilliant Speed works at Churchill Downs on Monday, May 2
Photo: Reed Palmer Photography, Churchill Downs

A dark bay who runs in the colors of his breeder, Live Oak Plantation, Brilliant Speed certainly has the genetic credentials to compete in the classics.  His sire, Dynaformer, an imposing son of Epsom Derby winner and Classic Chef-de-Race Roberto, rocketed into prominence in 2006 when his son, Barbaro, won the Kentucky Derby but then suffered injuries in the Preakness that ultimately led to his demise.

Notwithstanding Barbaro's freak accident, Dynaformer has been a reliable source not only of class, but of soundness and stamina, regardless of racing surface, territory, or terrain.  He has sired five champions, including top steeplechaser McDynamo, a five-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Steeplechase-G1.  In addition to Barbaro, he's responsible for more than 20 Grade or Group I winners, including the durable Perfect Drift, who retired sound at age 9 after having won or placed in 32 of 50 starts, and earned over $4.7 million.

And just yesterday, Dynaformer's Kentucky-bred daughter, Blue Bunting, surged to post an upset victory in the QIPCO One Thousand Guineas-G1 at Newmarket.

Like Brilliant Speed, many of Dynaformer's elite performers--including Barbaro (Carson City)--have been produced by Mr. Prospector-line mares.  They include European Champions Wiener Walzer and Ocean Silk (both out of mares by Kingmambo), Film Maker (Mr. Prospector), Riskaverse (Seeking the Gold), and Gozzip Girl (Kingmambo).

What they all have in common, as do all foals produced from the Roberto-Mr. Prospector cross, is that they are inbred to Intermediate/Classic Chef-de-Race Nashua, sire of Roberto's dam, Bramalea, and Mr. Prospector's dam, Gold Digger.

Brilliant Speed is out of the Gone West mare, Speed Succeeds, who sold for $1.45 million at the 2002 Keeneland September sale, but never made it to the races.  Her dam, the Canadian stakes-winning mare, Daijin, who died after foaling a Zensational colt in February, is a full sister to Belmont-G1 winner and sire Touch Gold, and a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year and sire, With Approval.  Daijin is also the dam of the A. P. Indy-sired stakes-winning full sisters Serenading and Handpainted.

Brilliant Speed is Speed Succeeds' first foal to race; she also has a two-year-old colt by Indian Charlie.  The mare was purchased for $42,000 by Hill 'n' Dale Farm, which owned Daijin, at the 2010 Keeneland January sale, but was not carrying a foal at that time.

With a powerful Dosage Profile of 7-3-23-0-1, heavily weighted with classic influences, and a Dosage Index of 1.72, Brilliant Speed should have no trouble getting a mile and a quarter, if he can just get a hold of the track.

Archarcharch (outside) works 5/8ths at Churchill on April 29th
Photo: Reed Palmer Photography, Churchill Downs

Another scion of the Roberto line, Archarcharch (by Kris S.'s son, Arch), made a dramatic off-the-pace run to capture the Grade I Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park just a few hours after Brilliant Speed's victory in the Bluegrass.  Dismissed by bettors at 25-1, Archarcharch rallied bravely to hold off the late-charging Nehro in the mile and an eighth test, earning $600,000 and securing his place in Saturday's Derby.  Not a bad return on the $60,000 that owner Bob Yagos paid for him less than two years ago, at Keeneland September.

Archarcharch's sire, Arch, who stands for a fee of $30,000, was vaulted into the spotlight last year as a result of the exploits of his son, Blame, who narrowly defeated mythical mare Zenyatta in the mile and a quarter Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill.  Arch is also the sire of Canadian Champion Filly and Horse of the Year Arravale, and of Les Arcs, Champion Older Male in Europe, and Overarching, a three-time Champion Sprinter in South Africa.

Like Blame, and Arch's ill-fated multiple Grade I winning filly, Pine Island, Archarcharch hails from a Mr. Prospector-line mare.  His dam, Woodman's Dancer (by Woodman), a graded stakes-placed winner of $298,486, has also produced stakes winner Run Sully Run (by Cherokee Run).  The mare's 2009 foal, a full sister to Archarcharch, sold at last September's Keeneland sale for $30,000, which looks like a bargain now.

The Kris S.-Mr. Prospector cross has produced many other high-class runners, including Champion Hollywood Wildcat and classic hopeful Rock Hard Ten, a multiple Grade I stakes winner who placed to Smarty Jones in the Preakness.  If Archarcharch can win the Derby, he'll be his sire's first classic winner, and perhaps more important, he'll further the thriving Roberto line as a force in American racing.