Caulfield Looks at Moreno

Saturday, Saratoga 
WHITNEY H.-GI, $1,500,000, SAR, 8-2, 3yo/up, 
1 1/8m, 1:48, ft. 
1–MORENO, 117, g, 4, by Ghostzapper 
     1st Dam: Danceinthesunlight, by A.P. Indy 
     2nd Dam: Dancethruthedawn, by Mr. Prospector 
     3rd Dam: Dance Smartly, by Danzig 
O/B-Southern Equine Stable LLC (KY); T-Eric J Guillot; 
J-Junior Alvarado. $800,000. Lifetime Record: 
20-3-6-3, $1,709,940. Werk Nick Rating: A+. 
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 
Click for the brisnet.com chart, brisnet.com PPs or the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO. 
 
During its long and distinguished history the Whitney H. has fallen to numerous colts which went on to enrich the breed as stallions, good recent examples being Awesome Again and Medaglia d’Oro. Unfortunately, the latest winner, Moreno, won’t be joining them, as he was gelded as a youngster. And who could blame his connections for taking this drastic step? 
I’m not sure exactly when the colt was cut but his early record would have exasperated most owners. He didn’t manage to find the winner’s enclosure until his tenth appearance, by which time he had been tried on all-weather, turf and dirt, and over most distance from five and a half furlongs to 1 3/16 miles. Moreno had also been hard to settle on a couple of occasions. 
Even so, his connections must have thought twice before taking that irreversible step, as Moreno comes from an exceptional female line developed by Sam-Son Farms. His breeders, Southern Equine, had to go to $675,000 to acquire the gelding’s dam, Danceinthesunlight, as a 3-year-old in 2008, even though this daughter of A.P. Indy had never raced. 
The mare’s price then soared to $1,750,000 last year, when, carrying a colt foal by Giant’s Causeway, the mare was knocked down to Denali Stud at Fasig-Tipton. Ironically, it was the once-disappointing Moreno who was largely responsible for that hike in Danceinthesunlight’s price. Having seemingly enjoyed the experience of an easy victory in a Belmont maiden special weight on his 10th start , Moreno was again impressive in taking the GII Dwyer S. a month later. His finishing effort when third behind Palace Malice and Will Take Charge in the Jim Dandy drew the description of “erratic” but the gelding has since confirmed how talented he is when losing on the bob to Will Take Charge in the Travers and when he defeated some of his old foes in the Whitney. 
Speaking on behalf of his client Bryant H. Prentice III, Craig Bandoroff commented that Danceinthesunlight “had it all. She had the physical. She has unbelievable pedigree and family. That man, he wants it all. They have to have family and they have to look the part and she did. Moreno is a real horse who has already done it.” 
Interestingly, Danceinthesunlight’s 2-year-old son by Street Sense, named Moreno Street, has also already been gelded. 
Although Moreno’s dam never raced, she represents the A.P. Indy-Mr. Prospector cross which has such an outstanding record. The bare facts are that 71 daughters of Mr. Prospector have 127 foals by A.P. Indy, of which 66% have become winners and 17% have become black-type winners. An indication of the class this cross is capable of imparting is that no fewer than 16 of the 22 black-type winners were graded stakes winners. These 16 comprised five winners at Grade I level, five at Grade II and six at Grade III. 
Of course not even these impressive figures tell the whole story. One which didn’t last long enough to win a stakes race was Malibu Moon, who has a Kentucky Derby winner among his best progeny. Then there’s Horse of the Year Mineshaft and the highly successful Pulpit, whose son Tapit is well clear on this year’s sires’ table. Add in Flatter and his brother Congrats and you have five stallions from the A.P. Indy-Mr. Prospector cross which collectively have sired nearly 30 Grade I winners. 
There was every reason to have similarly high expectations of these stallions’ female counterparts. After all, fillies outnumbered the males among A.P. Indy’s numerous Grade I winners and Mr. Prospector had an outstanding record as a broodmare sire, taking title after title during the 1990s and the noughties. 
Sure enough, at least 12 of these A.P. Indy mares with dams by Mr. Prospector have so far produced Graded winners. Danceinthesunlight is the fifth to produce a Grade I winner. In addition to Moreno these Grade I winners have won the Man O’ War S. (ImaGrade Ining, in 2014), the Maker’s Mark Mile (Mr Sidney), the Haskell Invitational (Bluegrass Cat) and the Kentucky Derby (Super Saver, whose first 2-year-olds are already making an impact). Another representative of the cross is Glia, second dam of the multiple Grade I winner Emollient. 
Clearly the cross responsible for Moreno’s dam has proved highly dependable and the same can be said of the gelding’s female line. His third dam is the Canadian star Dance Smartly. As a 3-year-old this daughter of Danzig marched triumphantly through a tough series of eight races, becoming the first filly to win Canada’s Triple Crown before going on to take the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. A measure of her accomplishments is that she finished second in the voting for America’s Horse of the Year title. 
By the time she retired Dance Smartly had won 12 of her 17 starts over three seasons. Needless to say, not every outstanding racemare develops into an outstanding broodmare, but there were strong grounds for thinking that Dance Smartly would shine in her new role. 
Her dam Classy ’n Smart had also been a champion in Canada, where she won the Oaks, and her second dam, No Class, had been represented by three colts–Sky Classic, Regal Classic and Grey Classic–which took the title of champion 2-year-old colt in Canada. No Class’s final record stood at six stakes winners from seven foals, one of the others being Always A Classic, winner of the 1997 Turf Classic. 
Dance Smartly became a frequent visitor to Mr. Prospector during the first five years of her broodmare career. She produced Dance Brightly, who showed enough promise during a two-race career to be given his chance at stud, and he sired a Grade I winner. Next came Scatter the Gold, who emulated his dam’s successes in the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales S. Then it was the turn of Moreno’s second dam Dancethruthedawn, who became the champion 3-year-old filly in Canada in 2001. She owed that award partly to her victory over the males in the Queen’s Plate and she later added the Grade I Go For Wand H.  Dance Smartly later visited A.P. Indy to produce Dance With Ravens, who took the Grade II Grey Breeders’ Cup S. Dance Smartly’s achievements with Mr. Prospector mirrored those of her dam Classy ’n Smart with the same stallion. Classy ’n Smart’s three graded-winning sons by Mr. Prospector were headed by Smart Strike, a Grade I winner who has 15 Grade I winners to his credit. 
Moreno’s sire Ghostzapper still has some way to go before he reaches that sort of figure, Moreno being his sixth winner at the top level. It is going to be fascinating to watch the progress of this Horse of the Year, whose fee was still as high as $125,000 in his fourth season, when Moreno was conceived. Unfortunately, disillusionment quickly set in, with Ghostzapper’s fee falling to $30,000 and then to $20,000 for two years, but he eventually answered his doubters in magnificent style, amassing a total of 19 Graded winners from his first four crops. Consequently, Ghostzapper stood at $40,000 in 2013 and $50,000 this year, but it remains to be seen whether he can maintain this upsurge with his cheaper crops, foaled between 2011 and 2013.