By Chris McGrath
Back on the hamster wheel, everybody. You know the drill. Usual freshman hype, please. Just remember to change the names–and not to dwell too unhelpfully on how things played out for those being talked up four or five years ago.
But the legitimate, perennial challenge of the yearling circuit also abides, and likewise much of its color and character. Just not quite all. Not enough time has elapsed, certainly, to heal one aching void. For many of his compatriots, in particular, every barn we enter we still half-expect to hear the unmistakable tones of James Delahooke surveying the scene with a candor and comedy nowadays all too rare.
He had been able to nourish both, of course, during decades of relative neglect dividing his own professional heyday from his sudden death in 2022. But while he was only at Juddmonte between 1979 and 1985, in that brief window he seeded one of the most accomplished breed-to-race programs of all time. The families built upon those foundations by the late Prince Khaled (with a team, naturally, that maintained seamless excellence) have over the past month especially showcased their continued vigor through a series of sophomore colts.
With Scylla's brother Batten Down (Tapit) and Pure Force (Constitution) having lately drawn our attention, now GIII Indian Derby winner Dragoon Guard (Arrogate) has emerged as another candidate to clarify the confused sophomore picture through the second half of the season. All three trace to foundation mares brought to Juddmonte on the recommendation of Delahooke.
Mizzen Mast | Asuncion Pineyrua Juddmonte
Pure Force's fifth dam Mofida (GB) (Right Tack {GB}) was bought in 1981 carrying her fourth, Zaizafon (The Minstrel), subsequently also dam of the Gone West brothers Zafonic and Zamindar. Batten Down's fourth dam Monroe (by Sir Ivor out of the great Best In Show) was bought the previous year, also from Robert Sangster, his third dam being her daughter by none other than Zafonic. And Dragoon Guard's fourth dam is Media Luna (GB) (Star Appeal {Ire}), acquired after finishing second in the 1984 Oaks at Epsom.
The other side of Dragoon Guard's pedigree reflects a different phase in Juddmonte's evolution, belonging as he does to the final crop of the auction recruit Arrogate. Dragoon Guard's accelerating curve of development is evocative of his sire, whose stock has generally needed time as he did. Tragically, that was the one commodity Arrogate would not be granted in his second career. But the three crops he managed before his abrupt loss in 2020 have famously contained a Classic winner apiece and, two being male, at least Arrogate has some opportunity of a lasting impact through a son. And that will surely be in the back of people's minds if Dragoon Guard can consolidate his breakout defeat of the GI Santa Anita Derby winner.
For some of us, however, he would also be preserving a less celebrated Juddmonte brand, damsire Mizzen Mast having long served as a stakes-producing nugget for the discerning breeder. By Cozzene out of a Graustark mare: what a package to have had within reach until only a couple of years ago!
Cozzene, remember, was by Caro–who also gave us the dam of Arrogate's sire Unbridled's Song. Overall both Cozzene and Mizzen Mast were wholesomely flexible influences and Dragoon Guard's dam Filimbi was one of the line's high achievers on turf, as a Grade II winner whose multiple Grade I placings included a narrow failure to run down Tepin (Bernstein) in the Just a Game Stakes.
Filimbi had produced only minor talent from good opportunity, but now Dragoon Guard is offering fresh value to sisters she has lately delivered by Into Mischief and Constitution.
Filimbi | Horsephotos
Filimbi's own dam, GI Kentucky Oaks winner Flute (Seattle Slew), did not quite match her racetrack caliber in her second career, albeit three daughters have become stakes producers. She was out of a Listed-winning half-sister by Blushing Groom (Fr) to Eva Luna (Alleged), the most fertile of Media Luna's daughters. Herself laden with stamina, as a Group winner over 14 furlongs, Eva Luna produced Brian Boru (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) to win the GI St Leger over that trip, as well as Sea Moon (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}) to run third in the same Classic (after winning the Group 2 trial by eight lengths).
With that bedrock, Dragoon Guard is going to keep running–and, as he does so, he has the chance to conflate three legacies: those of Prince Khaled himself, who died just a few weeks before he was foaled; Arrogate, gone the previous summer; and Delahooke, whose friends then still hoped to benefit from his vivacious insights for many years yet.
As heartbroken as we were, to have been deceived in that assumption, every fresh toast prompted by Dragoon Guard–or any of his thriving peers–will be made with equal gratitude for the memories and wisdom shared, while he could, by a most remarkable man.
WHATEVER NEXT ALONG THE CAUSEWAY?
Arrogate has not been alone in the putting some finishing touches to his legacy. Shamardal, who died only a few weeks previously in 2020, had obviously capitalised on far lengthier opportunity. But his genetic potency was clearly undiminished, at 18, judging from the deeds of his final crop: Inisherin looks the fastest sophomore in Europe, while Shamardal also left one of the top fillies in Cinderella's Dream, winner last weekend of the GI Belmont Oaks.
Cinderella's Dream | Chelsea Durand
I have never bought into the self-fulfilling prejudice against ageing sires, who must compete with sons typically aided by lower fees and higher marketing budgets. When you consider the exhausting output of modern sires, however, maybe the careful in-house management of Shamardal's later books (part of a most unusual health history overall) contained some latent dividend. Mind you, he was hardly hindered by the quality of his home herd: the dam of Cinderella's Dream is by Dubawi (Ire) out of an Epsom Oaks third.
While Shamardal was himself from the very first crop of Giant's Causeway, the Iron Horse had to wait much longer for his principal American heir. We remarked recently how Not This Time, in turn, remains indebted to his first two crops for six elite winners to date, and now yet another of his mature talents is helping him to mark time, until his much classier mares start to cycle through.
Obviously the 6-year-old gelding Next operates in a pretty arcane and underpopulated discipline, the dirt marathon, but it still takes something pretty freakish to win a graded stakes by 25 lengths, as he did last September. He had to settle for a margin of barely nine when retaining the GII Brooklyn Stakes last weekend. It would be fun to see this big fish move out of his small pond. In the meantime, for the same stallion to come up with Next and Cogburn puts even the versatility of Giant's Causeway in the shade. But then look who gave us Next's second dam: Alphabet Soup, a son of none other than…. Cozzene!
VIOLENCE LANDING HIS PUNCHES
Violence has had his ups and downs, the latter including an 11th hour fee reduction for the last covering season, but there's no doubting his ability to produce a fast horse and that's just what he has done over consecutive weekends.
First Politicallycorrect threw down the gauntlet, ahead of the next wave at Saratoga, when swamping the precocious juveniles that typically convene for the Bashford Manor Stakes. And now success in the GII John A. Nerud Stakes places the 4-year-old Mullikin front and center among the older sprinters.
Politically Correct | Coady Media
Mullikin, from the same crop as Violence's champion Forte, cost $500,000 as deep into the Keeneland September as Hip 1717, corroborating the physical glamor associated with Medaglia d'Oro line. In contrast Politicallycorrect was pinhooked by New Hope AB after being found for just $9,500 in the dregs of last year's sale, before elevating himself to $195,000 at OBS in March.
Having a second dam by Storm Cat gives Politicallycorrect something conspicuously in common with his own sire. Unfortunately for his breeders, his dam Heron Watch (Candy Ride {Arg}) was discarded–in foal to Tom's d'Etat–for only $14,000 to Eligio Ocana/Wake Forest at Keeneland last November, sent there as the 10-year-old dam of two minor winners from two starters.
She represents a cross of some resonance, as a daughter of Candy Ride out of a Storm Cat mare (like Shared Belief and Sidney's Candy; while Gun Runner's dam is by Storm Cat's son Giant's Causeway), and now has the potential to prove a real bargain. After all, her granddam is GI Kentucky Oaks winner Lite Light (Majestic Light).
As for Mullikin, his family probably helped to keep him where he was in the September Sale. This week is admittedly the anniversary of dam Tulira's Star (Congrats) making the podium in the GIII Schuylerville Stakes, but the trouble with catalogued black type is that nobody mentions that she was beaten over nine lengths in a field of just five. On the other hand, it's never a hardship if your broodmare is by Congrats: witness those that produced Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil), Johannes (Nyquist) and Caravel–albeit, in this Cozzene-flavored week, we must emphasize that this latter is by Mizzen Mast.
Not that even Violence qualifies as sire of the week at Hill 'n' Dale, or anywhere else. That distinction instead goes to Maclean's Music, who sent out three daughters to win stakes on the same Prairie Meadows card on Saturday.
A LONG ROAD TO SEE THE LIGHT
When that “hamster wheel” finally comes to a rest, the best way to judge an agent will not be the automobile he or she drives from the final yearling sale. No, you want to pick up a shoe like a farrier, and see if the sole is nearly worn through.
War Like Goddess | Sarah Andrew
Of course, the best agents might well afford not just a flash car but an occasional new pair of shoes. But the point is that the guy I would trust with my business would be one who'll still be going strong when the Amish arrive for the final session of the September Sale. That's why Donato Lanni owes the string of champions he has bought with Bob Baffert to the same eye and diligence that unearthed War Like Goddess (English Channel).
She famously changed hands for $1,200 as a weanling, couldn't raise a bid as a yearling, and as a 2-year-old Lanni signed a $30,000 docket to bring her into the program of George Krikorian–his very first client, 25 years ago, when Lanni was too diffident even to fill out a card but just watched from a polite distance when others had a Dynaformer filly brought out. He nervously gave $35,000 for that one, and she turned into dual Grade I winner Starrer.
War Like Goddess is still going strong at seven, looking as good as ever in taking her bank past $2.75 million in the GIII Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes at Delaware last weekend. We know how her late sire gradually earned due regard, but War Like Goddess is out of a mare by North Light (Ire) (Danehill), for now the last nail in the coffin for Epsom Derby winners standing in North America. North Light was out of a mare whose Group 1 success came at 20 furlongs, while the dam of War Like Goddess has otherwise produced only a Red Rocks (Ire) gelding to win under a tag round Presque Isle Downs.
Like so many of the best agents, including David Ingordo, Lanni started out on the racetrack. These guys have never been suckered into mistaking the sales ring for the winner's circle. And that's why they get as much of a kick from finding a needle in the Book 6 haystack as Lanni did from the horse we started with, Arrogate himself.
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