TDN RISING STARS

May 4, 2018 - Churchill Downs, Race 3, Msw, USD $66,000, 6F, .0000

Bugle Notes, c, 3, 2015 by Ghostzapper

1st Dam: Pension, by Seeking the Gold
2nd Dam: Furlough, by Easy Goer
3rd Dam: Blitey, by Riva Ridge

Owner: St. Elias Stable & West Point Thoroughbreds
Breeder: Gainesway Thoroughbreds Ltd. (KY)
Trainer: Todd A. Pletcher

St Elias and West Point Thoroughbreds representative Bugle Notes (Ghostzapper) had to do it tough following a tardy dispatch, but just kept on coming and edged clear late to score by 2 1/4 lengths to become a ‘TDN Rising Star’ during the early portion of the Oaks undercard Friday at Churchill. As an $825,000 KEESEP grad, the bay colt was the most expensive of 38 of his sire’s yearlings to sell in 2016 and he was duly sent off the 9-10 chalk to get his career off on a winning note. One of the last away from the gates, Bugle Notes jumped into the bridle, but had no choice but to race four and five deep on the track in the run to the turn. Able to sustain his momentum despite the considerable ground loss on the bend, he swept up to lead while drifting in a bit on second-time starter Bueno Bueno Bueno (Majesticperfection) at the furlong grounds, but stuck to his task to take it by about two lengths. A half-brother to Annual Report (Harlan’s Holiday), GSW, $186,587; and Giant Payday (Giant’s Causeway), SW, $271,930, Bugle Notes is out of a daughter of GISW Furlough (Easy Goer), the dam of GSW Happy Hunting (Seeking the Gold) and SW Pardon (Elusive Quality). The third dam includes Furlough’s Grade I-winning half-sister Finder’s Fee (Storm Cat) and GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint hero Dancing Spree (Ninjinsky II). Bugle Notes’s 2-year-old half-brother by Hard Spun was a $125,000 KEESEP yearling who brought $400,000 from John Oxley at the recently concluded OBS April sale after a :21 1/5 breeze. Pension aborted in foal to Tapit last year but produced a filly by that leading sire Mar. 14.