By Katie Petrunyak
Foaling season is already underway at Springhouse Farm, where breeder Gabriel “Spider” Duignan says they are expecting to see around 50 new foals on the ground this year.
On Saturday, Duignan enjoyed a brief respite from his work on the farm to celebrate a successful day on the racetrack.
Forbidden Kingdom, a son of American Pharoah bred by Springhouse Farm, stamped himself as one to watch on the Triple Crown trail after he upset a trio of Bob Baffert runners in the GII San Vicente S. at Santa Anita. Trained by Richard Mandella and campaigned by MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm, the chestnut colt broke his maiden at Del Mar last summer and placed in the Speakeasy S. and the GIII Bob Hope S. in the fall before his winning sophomore debut in the San Vicente, where he showed the way down the stretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths and earn a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
Duignan purchased Forbidden Kingdom's dam, Just Louise (Five Star Day), at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton November Sale for $150,000. The mare had been a precocious 2-year-old in 2010, breaking her maiden on debut and then taking the GIII Debutante S., while her half-sister Sara Louise (Malibu Moon) was a three-time graded stakes winner.
“She was a beautiful-looking mare,” Duignan recalled. “She was barren, which made the price better. When we inquired about her, it sounded like she had no fertility problems; it was just something that commonly happens with young mares. She was a very fast 2-year and it was a great family, a very good-looking family.”
While her first foal fetched $300,000 as a weanling and won on debut, the mare's first three foals did not make any major headlines.
When Just Louise was next bred to Malibu Moon, the mare produced a promising filly in 2018, so Duignan decided to send her to American Pharoah.
“American Pharoah speaks for himself,” he said of his reasoning behind the mating. “He's a fantastic horse and I'm a big believer. I thought that the fact that there was so much speed in her family would suite him well. Physically, I thought they would match up.”
Forbidden Kingdom as a yearling at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Sale | Photos by Z
The resulting colt, Duignan said, was everything he had hoped for and more.
“Forbidden Kingdom was always a beautiful colt, beautiful-bodied and fast-looking. He was very straightforward with a lot of quality. He was one of those that never had a bad stage. He was just born nice and he stayed that way.”
Duignan thought the colt was impressive enough to send to the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Sale, which was held in Lexington in 2020. Despite an uncertain market due to the pandemic, Forbidden Kingdom brought $300,000, selling to Spendthrift and MyRacehorse as one of the top three highest-priced American Pharoah yearlings of the sale.
Just Louise's Malibu Moon filly, who brought $310,000 as a yearling in 2019 and was named Sianara, broke her maiden at Churchill Downs last year and remains in training with Steve Asmussen. The mare also produced a Bolt d'Oro colt who brought $275,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. She now has a Not This Time yearling filly in the pipeline who Duignan said is one to watch.
When the Not This Time filly was foaled in April, Just Louise was bred once to Tiz the Law, but did not catch. Duignan said mating plans are not yet set for her this year.
Forbidden Kingdom is not Duignan's first potential Kentucky Derby starter. He was represented by GI Blue Grass S. winner Brody's Cause (Giant's Causeway), who he bred in partnership with William Arvin, Jr. and Charlie O'Connor's Petaluma Bloodstock, in the 2016 GI Kentucky Derby.
“It's what you're trying to achieve as a breeder, so it's lovely when it happens,” Duignan said of the experience of having a potential Kentucky Derby starter. “It's really fun and hopefully he stays on the right track. You can never know which ones will be special, but he was definitely one that you could hope for because he was a beautiful horse.”
Duignan is also a founding partner in Paramount Sales. In addition to what was an exciting Saturday for Springhouse Farm, Paramount Sales enjoyed a big day with their sales graduate Life is Good (Into Mischief) in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. The gifted 4-year-old was part of Paramount's 2019 Keeneland September Sale consignment and sold to China Horse Club and Maverick Racing for $525,000.
Asked if he remembers the impressive colt from the Keeneland grounds, Duignan responded quickly. “I sure do. He was a beautiful Into Mischief with maybe a little bit more leg than some of them. He was very popular at the sales and brought a good amount of money.”
How does Life is Good compare with the rest of the long list of top-performing Paramount sales graduates?
“He ranks well no matter what company you put him in,” Duignan said, chuckling. “He's a monster.”
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