Cross Traffic Shines at Saratoga

Cross Traffic earns his Grade I credentials in the Whitney
Credit: Courtney Heeney, Courtesy NYRA/Coglianese

A week after the untimely death of super sire Unbridled's Song, his son, Cross Traffic, emerged as a shining star today, capturing the prestigious Whitney Handicap-G1 at Saratoga over a stellar field of older handicap horses.  It was the first stakes victory for the four-year-old steely gray colt, and in addition to his trophy and purse monies, Cross Traffic earned an automatic berth in November's Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

Cross Traffic grabbed the lead from multimillionaire Mucho Macho Man soon after the start, and seemed to just cruise along in first position until the far turn of the mile-and-an-eighth contest, when he was challenged in earnest by both Mucho Macho Man and last year's Whitney and Breeders' Cup Classic winner, Fort Larned.  Though Fort Larned couldn't sustain his bid, both Successful Dan and Mucho Macho Man appeared to be getting to Cross Traffic in the stretch.  Jockey Johnny Velasquez roused him, and he quickened, then swerved slightly, but it didn't matter.  There was no catching Cross Traffic today.

It wasn't that way in the colt's last two races, when he was narrowly bested after setting the pace in the one mile Westchester-G3 and Metropolitan-G1 at Belmont, grudgingly settling for second both times.  In spite of stretching out today, Cross Traffic didn't appear to be spent at the wire, galloping out with strength and confidence and the admiration of race fans hungry for a new hero.

Unraced at two and three, Cross Traffic broke his maiden in his initial outing at Gulfstream last January, then captured an allowance race at the same track before graduating to stakes company in New York.  Cross Traffic has now won or placed in all of his five starts, while amassing earnings of $681,300.

He was born to be great.  Cross Traffic is at least the 101st stakes winner and 16th grade I stakes winner by sire standout Unbridled's Song, a son of Brilliant-Intermediate Chef-de-Race Unbridled. His dam, the consistent and classy Cure the Blues mare, Stop Traffic, notched Grade I stakes on both coasts, including Saratoga's seven-furlong Ballerina, which she captured by seven widening lengths over Alabama victress Runup the Colors (by A. P. Indy), dam of this year's Louisiana Derby winner Revolutionary (by War Pass).

The sixth foal out of Stop Traffic, Cross Traffic was purchased for $300,000 by his current connections, GoldMark Farm, at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.  He is a full brother to the stakes-placed filly, Bianco Tartufo, and a half-brother to three other winners, including stakes-placed Into My Soul (by Pleasantly Perfect).  Cross Traffic's victory in the Whitney is sure to fuel interest in his yearling half-brother by Medaglia D'Oro, who is slated to be sold as Hip #134 on Tuesday night at Fasig-Tipton's Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion, across the street from the storied racetrack.

State of Play fits the pattern of success

State of Play wins the With Anticipation-G2 at Saratoga
Photo: Adam Mooshian, Courtesy of NYRA

As he did last year, War Front sired the winner of the grassy With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga again today, and with the victory, his two-year-old son State of Play earned a berth in the upcoming Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

When Soldat won the race in 2010, the mile-and-a-sixteenth With Anticipation was a Grade III, but this year, it earned Grade II and "win and you're in" Breeders' Cup status.  State of Play has done little to suggest that he doesn't belong with his crop's top turfers:  he's perfect in two career starts, and has banked $90,000.  Among the colts he beat today were Mine That Bird's maiden half-brother, Dullahan (by Even the Score) and two promising juveniles--Captain Webb and Optimizer--from the first crop of Champion Turf Horse English Channel.

The Team Valor colorbearer was plucked out of last year's Keeneland September sale by Steven Long for a mere $13,000; it's not known how much Barry Irwin's group subsequently paid to acquire him last spring.  But according to Team Valor's website, trainer Graham Motion's confidence in State of Play soared as the summer days lengthened.  Originally planning to send him to Presque Isle to make his first start, Motion thought enough of the colt that he he entered him in the first juvenile turf race of the Saratoga meet:  a five-and-a-half furlong maiden special weight test over good ground, on July 27th.  State of Play proved a handy winner, and in doing so, became the first of War Front's two-year-old runners to win at first asking.  That feat alone marked him as something special.

Parenthetically, State of Play isn't the only reason that Team Valor is high on War Front.  The group purchased his three-year-old daughter, Summer Soiree, around the same time as State of Play joined Motion's barn, and she soon returned big dividends, capturing the Grade III Boiling Springs at Monmouth and the Grade I Del Mar Oaks in her last two starts, while adding $240,000 to her a career bankroll that now totals $331,400.

State of Play is the sixth foal out of the winning Procida mare, Valeta, who has also produced stakes-placed Knoxville (by Septieme Ciel).  He was bred on the same cross (War Front on a Mr. Prospector-line mare) that produced three of War Front's best sons to-date:  Grade I winner The Factor (out of Greyciousness by Miswaki); Grade II winner Soldat (out of Le Relais, by Coronado's Quest), and Warning Flag (out of Good Vibes, by Unbridled's Song), a listed stakes winner in Ireland.

Of course, War Front himself is a product of the successful Danzig/Mr. Prospector cross, which also produced Grade I winner Brahms (out of Champion Queena, by Mr. Prospector) and English Horse of the Year Dayjur (out of Champion Sprinter Gold Beauty, by Mr. Prospector).

On his dam's side, State of Play hails from one of the most distinguished female families in the Stud Book.  His fourth dam is the Champion Hill Prince mare, Bayou, whose descendants include Champion Slew o' Gold, Belmont winner Coastal, and more recently, Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, Aptitude.  With the abundant stamina flowing through the distaff side of his pedigree, State of Play should be well equipped, as he matures, to carry his speed beyond the eight-and-a-half furlong distance of the With Anticipation.  If he stays sound, he has the makings of a very nice turf horse, indeed.

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.  

How much more can Indian Tale take?

Indian Tale wins a $75,000 claimer at Saratoga on August 11th
Photo:  Tod Marks
www.photoshelter.com/c/todmarks

I'm praying that it doesn't rain tomorrow.

If it does, and the Grade II Woodford Reserve Lake Placid Stakes is taken off the turf at Saratoga, trainer Richard Dutrow will send his recently claimed three-year-old filly, Indian Tale, to the starting gate for what will be her fifth race in 14 days.  What in the world is he thinking?

The controversial conditioner must not have been in the room at the Gideon Putnam last Sunday when the University of Glasgow's Tim Parkin delivered his compelling presentation on The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database (EID), highlighting what are now becoming predictable causative factors leading to race-related catastrophic breakdowns.

Based on an analysis of 1.5 million starts between November, 2008 and October, 2010, EID researchers have been able to identify certain variables that put thoroughbred racehorses at greatest risk of fatal lower limb injuries.  Among these is the number of starts within one and six months prior to a particular race, with a positive correlation between a higher number of starts and a higher risk of injury.  Having made four starts within an 11-day period this month alone, Indian Tale seems to be moving rapidly into a high-risk category, and that's a shame.

Purchased for $65,000 by Flying Zee Stables at the 2010 Midlantic Two-Year-Old-In-Training Sale, Indian Tale had been slowly and carefully nurtured by her original trainer, Carlos Martin, who had her perfectly primed to win her debut:  a five-and-a-half furlong maiden special weight contest at Aqueduct last November.  She didn't race again until April of this year, when she finished a tiring seventh against $50,000 claiming foes at Gulfstream.

After that lackluster effort, Martin worked with the filly for three months before entering her again at Saratoga, in a five-and-a-half-furlong Allowance/Optional Claiming race on August 7th.  Indian Tale rewarded the trainer's patience with a sharp second place finish, but when she got back to the unsaddling area, she was led to Dutrow's barn, rather than to Martin's, having been haltered for $35,000.

Dutrow wheeled Indian Tale right back four days later in a $75,000 claimer at seven furlongs, and her new owner, J. W. Singer LLC (Jose Singer) collected the $33,000 winner's share of the purse after the filly demonstrated a strong closing kick and got up to win by more than three lengths.

Far from being content to have virtually broken even on Indian Tale's purchase price in a matter of days, the Singer/Dutrow team apparently figured that they could keep squeezing the lemon until the game filly ran dry.  So Dutrow waited only two days before he entered her again, this time in a one-mile contest originally carded for the turf.  And on August 15th, just four days after her second career victory, Indian Tale entered the starting gate again, in a seven-furlong allowance race that was switched to the dirt when the rains intervened.  Once again, she ran her heart out, and in spite of having been bumped at the break, she finished a willing second while contributing another $12,720 to the coffers of her connections.  But they wanted more.

As racing fans watched in disbelief, Indian Tale was led to the starting gate yet again just two days ago, on August 18th, in a one-mile grassy starter handicap.  This time, though, the filly had finally had enough.  After colliding with another horse soon after the start, she never got into the fray and was eased in the stretch, crossing the finish line some 40 lengths behind the winner.  The lemon had finally been squeezed dry, or so it appeared to everyone but the Singer/Dutrow camp.

Undeterred by the exhausted filly's performance, they've entered Indian Tale to run in tomorrow's Lake Placid, but she's listed as "main track only," and will only go if wet weather forces the race off the turf.

By Storm Cat's high-class son, Tale of the Cat, out of the A. P. Indy mare, Indy Power, Indian Tale was bred to be a good one.  Her third dam is a half-sister to influential sire, Clever Trick, and her fourth dam, Kankakee Miss, is the ancestress of Queen's Plate-G1 winner, Alydeed.

Though she may not have quite lived up to her lofty genetic heritage, Indian Tale has shown courage and heart and a modicum of talent, giving and giving until she had nothing more to offer.  She deserves better than to be run into the ground.

Union Rags impresses in the Saratoga Special

Union Rags splashes to victory in the Saratoga Special
Photo: Adam Coglianese, Courtesy of NYRA

As Union Rags drew off in the sloppy stretch to defeat five two-year-old rivals in the 106th running of the Saratoga Special, announcer Tom Durkin exclaimed, "Just a two-year-old frolicking in the mud!"  And indeed, that's how easily Union Rags won the Grade II contest, even though he veered out awkwardly as he approached the wire.  It didn't matter, because the colt was much the best.

The handsome bay son of Dixie Union, conditioned by Barbaro's trainer, Michael Matz, was winning his second race in as many starts, after a successful debut in a five-furlong maiden special weight contest at Delaware last month.  Union Rags has now banked $318,800, and is on his way to repaying the $390,000 that his breeder Phyllis Wyeth (aka "Chadds Ford Stable") paid to buy him back at the Fasig-Tipton Florida Two-Year-Old Sale in March.

The colt had been pinhooked to the two-year-old venue by IEAH, which had plucked him out of the 2010 Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale, where Wyeth had sold him for $145,000.  With his victory in the Saratoga Special, Union Rags earned a $200,000 bonus for Ms. Wyeth, because he was the first member of the crop sold at last year's Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Sale to win a graded stakes at Saratoga.

Union Rags is from one of the last crops sired by Dixie Union, a multiple graded stakes-winning son of Dixieland Band who won seven of his 12 starts at two and three, including the Grade II Norfolk at a mile, the Grade I Malibu at seven furlongs, and the Grade I Haskell at a mile and an eighth.  The rangy, long-striding colt gives every indication that like his sire, he'll have no problem going a greater distance than the six-and-a-half furlongs he conquered today.

Union Rags has a strong infusion of stamina from the family of his dam, the winning Gone West mare, Tempo, who has produced six other winners, including Union Rags' full brother, the stakes-placed Geefour.  His second dam, the superior turf mare, Terpsichorist (by Nijinsky II) is herself a multiple stakes producer, out of the influential Glad Rags (GB), a Champion Two-Year-Old Filly in Ireland.  She is the ancestress of many good horses, including Belmont and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Colonial Affair.

While Union Rags represents Dixie Union's first stakes winner from a Gone West mare, he is but one of several stakes winners produced by the stallion when he was bred to mares by Mr. Prospector and his sons.  Other successful examples of this nick include last year's Demoiselle-G2 winner, Dixie City (from City Sister, by Brilliant/Intermediate Chef-de-Race Carson City), multiple graded stakes winner, Gone Astray (from Illicit, by Mr. Prospector), and Astarita-G3 winner Sensation (from Ryn, by Mr. Prospector).

As for what lies ahead for Union Rags, trainer Matz is considering his options.  "Obviously, our main goal is for next year," he said, "but we'll just have to see how he is and look for something in about a month or five weeks."  After the way he ran today, it's hard not to believe that the best of Union Rags is yet to come.

Winter Memories lives up to her lofty heritage in the Lake George

Winter Memories blew by the field to capture the Lake George
Photo:  Adam Coglianese, Courtesy NYRA

Anyone who is trying to figure out who might be the best turf filly or mare in the country right now need look no further than the phenomenal Winter Memories, who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the mile-and-a-sixteenth Lake George-G3 at Saratoga today in truly spectacular fashion.  She deserves all of the superlatives that will be used to describe her scintillating performance.

It wasn't only that she trounced some very nice fillies--including last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner, More Than Real--it was the way she did it, after jockey Jose Lezcano had to slam on the brakes as he attempted to guide the gray El Prado filly around the far turn from the back of the pack because another horse suddenly swung out in front of him.

But then Lezcano simply pushed an invisible button and Winter Memories effortlessly turned on the afterburners and overtook the leaders in what seemed to be only a handful of strides, crossing the finish line some four lengths ahead of her stunned rivals, while being geared down.  She stopped the timer in 1:41.57 as track announcer Tom Durkin exclaimed, "What a Filly!  A dazzling performance at the Spa today!"  Yes, indeed.

When people talk about great racehorses, they often mention heart.  What they usually mean is that intangible character of courage and determination that is difficult to measure.  But it's the other kind of heart that comes to mind when you watch Winter Memories accelerate.  Only a horse with a finely tuned internal combustion engine, in the guise of a superior cardiovascular system, coupled with biomechanical finesse, could do what Winter Memories did in the Lake George.  With her victory today, the Phillips Racing Partnership homebred remains perfect in her three starts at three different tracks this year.  She has compiled an enviable career record of 5-1-0 in six starts, with earnings of $540,000.

Winter Memories is just the latest in a long line of high-class turf performers descended from the revered Darby Dan mare, Golden Trail, ancestress of Champion Turf Mare Ryafan, Champion Turf Male Sunshine Forever, and Winter Memories' own dam, the distinguished Silver Hawk mare, Memories of Silver.  A tough and talented multiple grade I stakes winner who earned over $1.4 million during three seasons of racing, Memories of Silver notched her initial graded stakes score in the second running of the Lake George, and went on to capture the Queen Elizabeth-G1 at Keeneland in course-record time, as well as the Beverly D.-G1 and the Diana-G2.

Winter Memories is the eighth, and by far the most successful of Memories of Silver's foals.  She is bred on the same stamina-strengthening cross as the graded stakes-winning turf stars Kitten's Joy, Senor Swinger, and Paddy O'Prado, all of whom are by El Prado out of Roberto-line mares.

Assuming that Winter Memories comes out of the Lake George in good shape, her trainer, Jimmy Toner, expects her to make her next start in the mile-and-an-eighth grassy Lake Placid-G2 at Saratoga on August 21st.  Like the thousands of racing fans who were awed by the filly's exploits today, I can't wait.