Pedigree Insights: Girvin

After the success of tale of Ekati's son Girvin in the GII Risen Star S., I found myself wondering whether this is going to be another example of like father, like son.

When I covered Tale of Ekati's pedigree (click here) following his victory in the 2008 GI Wood Memorial S., I pointed out that his sire Tale of the Cat had once been described by his trainer John Forbes as just a little too fast for his own good.

I also mentioned that none of Tale of the Cat's best winners had–up to that point–succeeded in winning a graded race over a distance longer than 1 1/8 miles. In fact only three had managed to score over that distance prior to Tale of Ekati (though one of Tale of Ekati's predecessors, Lion Heart, had finished second in the GI Kentucky Derby.) These statements needed revision before the end of the year, with Gio Ponti taking the GII Virginia Derby over a mile and a quarter. Gio Ponti, of course, went on become champion turf male and champion older horse the following year, when his Grade I successes ranged from a mile to 1 3/8 miles.

I ventured the thought that, if any son of Tale of the Cat was going to be suited by the Kentucky Derby distance, you would have to think that it would be Tale of Ekati, even though he is inbred 4 x 3 to Mr Prospector.

This optimism was based on the fact that his first two dams were by Sunday Silence and Nijinsky II, winners of six classics between them, and Tale of Ekati is also inbred 4 x 4 to Northern Dancer and 5 x 3 to Nijinsky II. Tale of Ekati didn't perform badly in the Derby, finishing fourth of 20, but he was beaten 11 lengths by Big Brown and he then appeared to run out of stamina in the GI Belmont S.

After one more attempt to prove his stamina–a seventh place in the GI Travers S.–Tale of Ekati's connections finally took the hint. Dropped back to a mile, he proceeded to win the GII Jerome H. and the GI Cigar Mile.

Girvin comes from Tale of Ekati's third crop. None of the three is large, but the first contained Tale of Verve, a remote second to American Pharoah in the GI Preakness S., and Ekati's Phaeton, a Grade III winner over six furlongs and a Grade II scorer over a mile. The second produced Verve's Tale, successful in the GIII Comely S. over a mile and an eighth. Add Girvin into the mix and you have a respectable record for a stallion who has never stood for more than $15,000 and is currently available for $7,500.

But will Girvin stay any better than Tale of Ekati and Tale of the Cat? Although he showed no signs of stopping at the end of the Risen Star, there must be a few doubts about his ability to shine over an extra 330 yards. Hopefully the GII Louisiana Derby will tell us more.

Girvin has a very appropriate pedigree for a winner of one of the top prizes at Fair Grounds. His second dam, the Yes It's True mare Catch My Fancy, has a somewhat unusual pedigree in that she is out of a daughter of Monique Rene, a mare who also produced the dam of Yes It's True. In other words, she is inbred 3 x 2 to Monique Rene, a racemare whose record earned her entry to the Fair Grounds Hall of Fame.

This duplication to Monique Rene is perhaps understandable, as Catch My Fancy's breeder, the late John Franks, also campaigned Monique Rene in the latter part of her racing career.

In winning 29 of her 45 starts, Monique Rene earned more than $450,000–a record at the time for a Louisiana-bred. and she was named the champion Lousiana-bred older filly of 1982 and '83. This daughter of Prince of Ascot–a grandson of Princequillo–proved her toughness beyond doubt, winning 11 of her 17 starts as a 4-year-old, plus 10 of her 14 starts the following year. No wonder her trainer Frank Brothers once recalled that Monique Rene had been a “big strapping filly who trained like a colt. I never trained another horse who wanted to run as much as she did.”

Monique Rene raced mainly over sprint distances on dirt, but her best effort as a broodmare, her Mt. Livermore colt Prince of the Mt., won the GIII Ark-La-Tex H. over a mile and an eighth.

In view of Catch My Fancy's pedigree, it was hardly surprising that her stakes victories at two and three were gained at around six furlongs. Her tough sire Yes It's True made his name at distances short of a mile, with his Grade I success coming over six furlongs as a 3-year-old.

Girvin's dam Catch the Moon, an unraced daughter of Malibu Moon, was sold in January 2013 for only $30,000, in foal to Colonel John. The fact that her price rose to $240,000 when she was returned to Keeneland in November 2015 tells us that Catch the Moon had achieved something good. Her 2013 Colonel John colt was Cocked And Loaded, who showed a lot of speed early in his career, before becoming a Grade III winner in the Iroquois S. over 1 1/16 miles later in his juvenile career. Girvin boosts her record to an impressive two graded stakes winners from her first two foals. Her third is a Shanghai Bobby colt born in April 2016, after which she visited Curlin.

Even though Malibu Moon is 20 years old this year, it is still comparatively early days for this son of A.P. Indy as a broodmare sire. It mustn't be forgotten that he started out in Maryland at a fee of only $3,000 as a 3-year-old in 2000, after his racing career had been halted after only two starts. His first four crops were all sired at that lowly fee, but the emergence of graded-winning 2-year-olds from each of his first two crops, including the champion Declan's Moon, rapidly earned him a transfer to Kentucky. Even so, his fee didn't rise above $40,000 until 2011. In the circumstances, his daughters from his early crops could be forgiven if they didn't possess the depth of pedigree one normally looks for in a successful broodmare.

The signs are that Malibu Moon is going to enjoy a long and rewarding career as a broodmare sire. Girvin will hopefully soon be bidding to become the fourth Grade I winner with a dam by the Spendthrift resident.

It is worth mentioning that Girvin and his half-brother Cocked And Loaded are the exceptions among the seven graded winners produced so far by Malibu Moon mares, as all the other five are fillies. Perhaps Malibu Moon's career as a broodmare sire is going to follow a similar path to his stallion career, which has seen him sire 27 winners at Grade I or Grade II levels. No fewer than 18 of the 27 are fillies, including eight of his 11 Grade I winners.

Despite this bias towards the fillies, Malibu Moon still numbers a Kentucky Derby winner–Orb–among his colts and Girvin's connections must be hoping that he also bucks the early trend. The three Grade I winners with a dam by Malibu Moon are all fillies. First came My Conquestadory (2013 GI Alcibiades S.) and she was followed by By The Moon (2014 GI Frizette S.). Best of the three, though, is Stellar Wind, a triple Grade I winner.