Lady Shirl's descendants may be factors in Breeders' Cup turf contests

Shkspeare Shaliyah capturing the Pilgrim-G3
Photo: Adam Coglianese, NYRA

The influence of top turf mare Lady Shirl, a tough competitor who notched 18 races, including the 1991 running of the mile-and-a-quarter Flower Bowl at Belmont, will be felt again this weekend when three of her descendants contest the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and the Filly and Mare Turf over the Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn course.

Lady Shirl is the dam of up-and-coming young sire, Shakespeare, a Grade I winning son of Theatrical (Ire) whose first foals raced this year.  Shakespeare won seven of his eight lifetime starts from three to six, including the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at 12 furlongs, in which he defeated eventual Champion Turf Horse English Channel, and the Woodbine Mile, in which he bested the ill-fated ace turf miler Kip Deville.

Shakespeare’s son, Shkspeare Shaliyah, is by far the most accomplished member of the stallion’s initial crop to-date, having won or placed in two of his three starts—all on turf-- including the mile-and-a-sixteenth Pilgrim-G3 over soft going at Belmont.  In light of the fact that Shakespeare never even raced at two, Shkspeare Shaliyah’s precocity is a promising sign of good things to come, and he could certainly grab a share of the purse in the Juvenile Turf.

And so could outlier Fantastic Song, a son of high-class grass sire Lemon Drop Kid out of Lady Shirl’s daughter Fantastic Shirl (by Fantastic Light), who won the grassy De La Rose at Saratoga.   A morning line longshot at odds of 20-1, Fantastic Song hasn’t been an object of Breeders’ Cup buzz, but perhaps that’s an oversight.  He won his first start in dramatic rallying fashion, capturing a photo finish over future Bourbon-G3 winner Animal Spirits at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf, and was only a length shy of Shkspeare Shaliyah in the Pilgrim.

Fantastic Song is one of three talented Breeders' Cup turf juveniles by Champion Older Male Lemon Drop Kid, who never even raced on the sod.  The others are Juvenile Fillies' Turf runners Somali Lemonade (out of Chic Corine, by Nureyev) and Customer Base (out of Little Cat Feet, by Tale of the Cat), who will be making her first start on the grass.

Perfect Shirl winning the Lake George-G2 at Saratoga
Photo: Adam Coglianese, NYRA

Lady Shirl’s daughter, Perfect Shirl by Champion Turf Horse Perfect Soul (Ire) will go postward in today’s mile-and-three-eighths Filly and Mare Turf over what looks to be a yielding course.  Though winless in 2011, the late-running four-year-old bay filly has placed in four of her six starts this year, but is unproven at this distance and on less-than-firm turf.  Her main claim to fame was as the heroine of last year’s Lake George-G2 at Saratoga at a mile and a sixteenth, in which she “closed in relentlessly during the run through the furlong grounds.”  She seems to have taken on a large task in this race, but could get up to get a piece of it.

What makes Hot Summer so good?

Hot Summer bests Maple Forest in the Victory Ride
Photo:  Adam Coglianese, Courtesy of NYRA

With her victory in yesterday's six-furlong Victory Ride Stakes-G3 at Saratoga, Hot Summer proved that her previous triumph over eventual Grade I winner Her Smile in last spring's Comely was no fluke.  

The three-year-old Malibu Moon filly is fast cementing her credentials as a specialist at distances up to a mile, and a peak at her pedigree suggests why she was cut out to be a good one.  She has now won or placed in six of her seven career starts, and earned $245,700.

Purchased for $180,000 by current owner Harold Queen at the 2009 Keeneland September sale, Hot Summer is the third foal from the stakes-placed Quiet American mare, Summer Delight, who has also produced stakes-placed Southwest (by Cozzene).  The mare's yearling colt by Hard Spun will be offered for sale next month at Keeneland, and her two-year-old Lemon Drop Kid colt, Stirred Up, who brought $420,000 at last year's venue, is in training at Del Mar.

Hot Summer is the latest in a line of top-class fillies from A. P. Indy's son, Malibu Moon, who has established quite a reputation as a sire of good distaff runners, including Grade I winners Life At Ten, Devil May Care, Malibu Mint, Malibu Prayer, and Funny Moon.

Shortly after Hot Summer entered the winner's circle at Saratoga, Pedigree Consultants tweeted:  "Crazy good nick for Hot Summer--son of A. P. Indy over a Quiet American mare."   And indeed, the cross has produced Champion Bernardini (by A. P. Indy out of Quiet American's graded stakes-winning daughter, Cara Rafaela), Grade II winners A P Warrior and Astrology, and this year's Busanda winner, Dance Quietly.

A. P. Indy and his sons have actually done well not only with daughters of Quiet American, but also with mares by other sons of Fappiano, too.  This pattern has produced Wood Memorial winners Tapit (Pulpit/Unbridled) and I Want Revenge (Stephen Got Even/Roy), Grade I winner A. P. Adventure (A. P. Indy/Fappiano), Grade II winner Apart (Flatter/Unbridled), and the current graded stakes-placed two-year-old colt, Brigand (Flatter/Quiet American).

But in my opinion, it's not just this nick that makes Hot Summer's pedigree so noteworthy.  Rather, it's the fact that Hot Summer descends from the great foundation mare, Missy Baba, who is her fifth dam as well as the fourth dam of her grandsire, A. P. Indy.  To make it even more intriguing, Hot Summer carries two more crosses of this superior female family by virtue of the fact that she is inbred to Broodmare of the Year Weekend Surprise, the dam of both A. P. Indy and Summer Squall (sire of her second dam).  She beautifully embodies the "Rasmussen Factor," a pattern of female family inbreeding through different individuals that has consistently produced a higher-than-average percentage of graded stakes winners.

Interestingly, Hot Summer's breeders, Lazy Lane Farms, sought to replicate this pattern when they bred her dam, Summer Delight, to A. P. Indy's close relative, Lemon Drop Kid, a mating that produced the aforementioned two-year-old colt, Stirred Up.  By Kingmambo, Lemon Drop Kid is out of Weekend Surprise's half-sister, Charming Lassie (by Seattle Slew).  

Stirred Up is therefore inbred to Lassie Dear (dam of both Weekend Surprise and Charming Lassie), 3 x 5.  And as a result, Missy Baba appears as the fifth dam of both Lemon Drop Kid and Stirred Up, who seems to have the birthright to be as good as or better than his Victory Ride-winning half-sister.