Caulfield on Creator

When I reviewed Cupid's pedigree following his victory in the GII Rebel S., I concluded that “perhaps, like Frosted, Cupid will stay well enough to acquit himself with credit on Kentucky Derby day, but at this stage it is impossible to be confident that he will. Let's hope the GI Arkansas Derby will provide more information…”

Well, the Oaklawn Park Grade I certainly did that. As Cupid faded back to 10th in the stretch, victory went to another Tapit colt, Creator, who had finished three lengths behind Cupid in the Rebel. Creator's surge from last to first was certainly more encouraging from a Triple Crown viewpoint and it is well worth remembering that the Arkansas Derby's roll of honor features American Pharoah, Curlin, Afleet Alex, Smarty Jones and Victory Gallop, as well as the Derby and Preakness runner-up Bodemeister.

The 100 points earned by Creator at Oaklawn mean that he now ranks sixth in the Derby standings and his total of 110 points makes him the highest ranked of the four Tapit colts which feature among the top 13. The others are Lani (100), Mohaymen (80) and Cupid (50).

We know plenty about the broodmare sires of these last three Tapit colts–Sunday Silence, Dixie Union and Beau Genius–but what about Privately Held, the stallion responsible for Creator's Peruvian-bred dam, Morena?

Privately Held was a very well-related individual but his only black-type came when second in the Meadowlands Endurance S. While that race doesn't quite live up to the image it conjures in my European mind, it was over 1 3/8 miles. The durable son of Private Account did most of his winning in dirt routes, so Privately Held doesn't represent a weak link in Creator's potential stamina–even though Privately Held's sister, the high-class British filly Chimes of Freedom, excelled at up to a mile, becoming a Group 1 winner at both two and three. This is a versatile family and Privately Held was also a half-brother to MGISW Denon, a Pleasant Colony colt who shone on the turf in the U.S., where his wins included the GI Turf Classic Invitational S. over a mile and a half at Belmont Park.

Fortunately, there is also encouragement to be gleaned from the record of Creator's dam Morena. It is never easy to gauge the precise merit of South American champions, which is what Morena was, both at two and three. Racing on dirt, she stayed well–well enough to win the G2 Clasico La Copa over 1 3/8 miles and the G2 Clasico Hipodromo de Monterrico over a mile and a half.

Morena's stamina was again in evidence after her transfer to the U.S., where she was trained by Michael Matz. She carried the colors of Mount Brilliant Stable when she put up arguably her best American effort, when a neck second in the GIII Obeah S. over 1 1/8 miles at Delaware Park. She was also second in the GII Falls City H.

Morena's owners have given her every chance, her first five mates being Smart Strike, Tapit, Lemon Drop Kid, Street Cry and Tiznow. Tapit's fee at the time was $125,000, so Creator provided a useful profit for Mt Brilliant when he sold for $440,000 at Keeneland. The Lemon Drop Kid colt fared less well, selling for $100,000, but there is now sure to be keen interest in Morena's yearling colt if he too heads for the sales–especially as he is a member of the last crop sired by Street Cry.

Whenever we talk about South American horses, the chances are that their pedigrees will feature quite a lot of imported stallions and mares or stallions which were shuttled from the U.S. or Europe. Sure enough, Creator has a second dam, Charytin, who was sired by the Jonabell Farm resident Summing before being imported in utero to Peru.

Summing adds to the belief that Creator is not going to fail for want of stamina as the distances lengthen (although Tapit's only previous graded winner from a Private Account line mare is Trappe Shot, who did most of his winning at under a mile). A tough son of Verbatim, Summing turned in a career best when he triumphed in the 1981 GI Belmont S., during a 15-race sophomore season.

Summing's best effort as a stallion was Epitome, a champion 2-year-old filly who won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies back in 1987, but Charytin also earned acclaim as Peru's Broodmare of the Year. Perhaps Charytin owed some of her success to being inbred 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 to Nasrullah, a five-time champion American stallion.

Charytin's sire King of Macedon was one of those intriguing animals who was a product of two extremes. His sire Diatome had shone from a mile and a quarter to nearly two miles, whereas his dam was a sprint winner by Grey Sovereign, a noted influence for speed. In this instance it was the speed which proved dominant, with King of Macedon shining over sprint distances in France at the ages of two, four and five.

King of Macedon's speed is probably irrelevant in a pedigree in which the four stallions in the third generation all won over at least a mile and a quarter. They include a GI Kentucky Derby winner in Unbridled and two Belmont S. winners in A.P. Indy and Summing, which suggests that Creator will again be running on strongly at the end of the Kentucky Derby, when many of the others are crying enough.