Pedigree Consultants : Thoroughbred Pedigree Analysts and Consultants

A STORM CAT KIND OF WEEKEND

Alan Porter

There were 12 graded stakes run in North America at the weekend, and as the results came in, there were times when it seemed as if you didn’t have a Storm Cat line horse, you were out of luck, as runners from that line mopped up seven of those contests.Those wins included one of the weekend’s biggest prizes, the $500,000 Man o’War Stakes (gr. I), which fell to Gio Ponti, who held off the German-bred Acatengano sons Musketier and Quijano. One wouldn’t have necessarily expected his sire, Tale of the Cat, to get a top-class staying turf horse, but Gio Ponti – who has now won three straight grade ones, from a mile to 11 furlongs – seems to have benefitted from the stamina elements in the pedigree of his dam, Chipeta Springs, who is by Alydar, out of a graded stakes winning daughterof the Argentine stallion, Salt Marsh (by Tom Rolfe), and from the same family as Cigar. The cross with Chipeta Springs (who is also dam of stakes winners Fisher Pond and Bon Jovi Girl, one by A.P. Indy and the other by Malibu Moon), combines Tale of the Cat’s broodmare sire, Mr. Prospector, with his genetic relative, Alydar. The victory of Gio Ponti gave Tale of the Cat his second straight weekend grade one winner, following the success of Cat Moves in the Prioress Stakes (gr. I).

Tale of the Cat’s close relative, Johannesburg (by Storm Cat’s son, Hennessy, out of a half-sister to Tale of the Cat), also tallied in graded company at the weekend, his four-year-old son, Eaton’s Gift (TrueNicks B) taking the Smile Sprint (gr. II) at Calder’s Summit of Speed. Eaton’s Gift is out of a Carson City mare, a combination we’ve always liked with Storm Cat is it gives the Storm Bird/Nijinsky II combination. On the same card, the Princess Rooney Stakes (gr. I), provided a first win at the highest level for Game Face, while First Passage (by Giant’s Causeway), took the Azalea Stakes (gr. III). Game Face is by Storm Cat’s grandson, Menifee, who is now in Korea, but who also sired other graded stakes winning fillies Legomyecho, Taittinger Rose, Wow Me Free, and Burnish. Game Face is out of Galleon of Gold, a daughter of Gone West, and the stakes winning and grade one placed Danzig mare, Harbour Club.

Menifee is a son of of the short-lived Storm Cat horse, Harlan, and on Sunday, another Harlan son, Harlan’s Holiday, was represented by Necessary Evil, who turned over the colts in the Hollywood Juvenile Championship (gr. III). Necessary Evil is a member of the third crop of her sire, who had six first crop stakes winners, including grade one winner Into Mischief, and graded scorers Denis of Cork (also second in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), and third in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I)), and Tasha’s Miracle, and graded winner Saratoga Sinner in his second crop. Rated A++ by TrueNicks, Necessary Evil, is out of a mare by Unbridled’s Song (so bred similarly to Denis of Cork, whose dam is by Unbridled). Another Storm Cat son, Bernstein had the third here with the colt, Classical Slew.

Stormy Atlantic had a weekend stakes double. In the American Derby (gr. II) his son, Reb (TrueNicks B), gained a first stakes triumph. The lightly-raced Reb was running for only the fifth time in his life, and was winning his third straight. Reb is out of a Kingmambo mare whose dam is a half-sister to Jolie’s Halo, and this is also the family of grade one winner Southern Halo, and Icy Atlantic, another Stormy Atlantic, and a graded winner of almost $1,000,000. The Storm Cat line also got the third her, with Bernstein’s son, Proceed Bee. Stormy Atlantic also scored with the runaway Shady Well Stakes winning two-year-old filly, Maritime Passion. Rated A++ by TrueNicks, she is out of Dehere mare (as is the previously mentioned First Passage), and is the fifth stakes winner bred on the cross (the key: both Storm Cat and Dehere are Northern Dancer/Secretariat crosses).

Finally, as far as graded stakes are concern, last year’s American Oaks (gr. I) heroine, Pure Clan (by Pure Prize) added the Modesty Handicap (gr. III) to her resume. TrueNicks rated A++, she is out of Gather the Clan, a graded winning daughter of General Assembly and Champion Sprinter What a Summer.

Even though he wasn’t in the male line, there was also no keeping Storm Cat out of the pedigree of the winner of the richest of the weekend’s races, as Rail Trip (by Jump Start, who is by A.P. Indy out of a Storm Cat mare) tallied by three lengths in the grade one Hollywood Futurity (G1). Rail Trip out of a Carson City mare and inbred to Mr. Prospector, and of course is another good winner combining Carson City and Storm Cat. He’s TrueNicks rated B.

The A.P. Indy line also took another major race, the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. Here, Gallant, a son of Aptitude, narrowly prevailed over Canadian Oaks heroine Milwaukee Appeal (by Milwaukee Brew), with Queen’s Plate victor Eye of the Leopard (by A.P. Indy) third. Gallant, who is rated A by TrueNicks, is out of a mare by Touch Gold, and has reverse parallel Northern Dancer/Buckpasser crosses through the dam of Aptitude and through Touch Gold.