Andrew Caulfield on Calculator

Saturday, Santa Anita 
SHAM S.-GIII, $100,750, SAX, 1-10, 3yo, 1m, 
1:34 4/5, ft. 
1–#@CALCULATOR, 118, c, 3, by In Summation 
     1st Dam: Back to Basics, by Alphabet Soup 
     2nd Dam: Christy Love, by Unbridled 
     3rd Dam: Amo, by Hold Your Peace 
($132,000 2yo '14 OBSAPR). O-Richard C Pell; 
B-Ocala Stud (FL); T-Peter Miller; J-Elvis Trujillo. 
$60,000. Lifetime Record: MGISP, 5-1-2-1, 
$193,500. Werk Nick Rating: D+. 
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 
Click for the brisnet.com chart or the brisnet.com PPs. VIDEO. 
   Santa Anita's GIII Sham S.–named in honor of the GI Santa Anita Derby winner who chased home Secretariat in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S.–has built an impressive record since it achieved Grade III status in 2006. 
Victory in 2006 (when it was run over a mile and an eighth in early February), went to the subsequent GI Wood Memorial winner Bob and John. Two years later, it was the turn of Colonel John, future winner of the Santa Anita Derby and GI Travers S. Then in 2011, by which time it was staged over 1 1/16 miles in January, success went to Tapizar, winner of the following year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. 

By the time Goldencents won in 2013, the trip had been reduced to a mile. He, too, quickly went on to Grade I success, taking the Santa Anita Derby before adding two editions of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. 

The question now is whether the latest winner, Calculator, can become the fifth Sham S. winner in the space of 10 years to graduate to Grade I success. The answer most probably is yes, as this Florida-bred has already achieved a pair of respectable Grade I seconds behind the impressive American Pharoah, on one occasion finishing ahead of Texas Red. 

In his post-race comments winning rider Elvis Trujillo said that “stretching out will be no problem for him.” 

I'm not going to disagree with Trujillo, but I would add that any stamina that Calculator possesses must come from the bottom half of his pedigree rather than from his sire In Summation. 

Calculator is very much a product of the Sunshine State, to the extent that his only in-breeding in five generations is to In Reality and Mr. Prospector, two of the most famous stallions ever to have stood in Florida. Not only is In Summation a Florida-bred, but so too was his sire Put It Back. Indeed, In Summation was bred by the late Arthur I. Appleton, who stood Put It Back at his Bridlewood Farm. 

Put It Back arrived at Bridlewood in 2001 after compiling a record which left everyone wondering what heights he might have scaled had he not injured a shin. He had wired the field in each of his five starts as a 3-year-old, and he accounted for the accomplished Flame Thrower in the GII Riva Ridge S. Put It Back in turn was a son of Honour and Glory, a leading juvenile who developed into a very good sprinter-miler, taking the GI Metropolitan H. and GII King's Bishop S. before finishing third in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. 

The Breeders' Cup Sprint, of course, also figured in the career of In Summation's broodmare sire Dayjur. This champion son of Danzig famously threw away victory in the 1990 edition by jumping a shadow with only 50 yards left to run. 
It therefore came as no surprise that speed proved to be In Summation's trump card. Having gone extremely close to winning all six of his juvenile starts, he went on to win the GI Bing Crosby H. at four and the GII Palos Verdes H. at five. In the process of winning 12 of his 29 starts he also set one track record on turf and three on synthetics. 

In Summation didn't make a flying start when his first crop raced in 2013, finishing 13th among the freshman sires, and his book fell to 22 mares last year. The emergence of Calculator from the 51 live foals in his second crop will surely change that. 

I said earlier that Calculator has the bottom half of his pedigree to thank for any stamina he may possess. His dam Back to Basics is a daughter of Alphabet Soup, winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in 1996. The fact that Alphabet Soup will be standing the 2015 season at only $3,500 indicates that he hasn't been as effective as a stallion as he was as a racehorse, despite the best efforts of such as Alphabet Kisses and Egg Drop. It is hardly surprising, then, that the unraced Back to Basics cost Ocala Stud no more than $17,000, in foal to Exchange Rate, in 2010. 

However, she might have attracted more attention had she been offered a year or two later. Back to Basics' dam, the reliable stakes producer Christy Love, is a three-parts-sister to that excellent broodmare Oatsee (Christy Love is by Unbridled out of Amo, whereas Oatsee is by Unbridled out of a daughter of Amo). 

Oatsee made a name for herself as the dam of those big-earning fillies Baghdaria and Lady Joanne, but it wasn't until 2011 that her third graded winner Shackleford won the Preakness S. This son of Forestry went on to further Grade I success in the Metropolitan H. and Clark H. in 2012, the same year that another of Oatsee's daughters, Afleeting Lady, became her dam's fourth graded winner. I will be watching out for Oatsee's 2014 foal, a filly by the mighty Frankel. 
Although Christy Love can't match Oatsee's outstanding record, she has produced the fast Grade III winner Atticus Kristy, plus the graded-placed stakes winner Distorted Reality and the stakes-winning Fiery Dancer. She also has a 2013 filly by In Summation. 

Unbridled's sire Fappiano also shone with this female line. Mated to Calculator's fourth dam Taminette, she produced that tough Florida-bred mare Tappiano, a triple Grade I winner at two, and Tappiano's smart Japanese brother A.P. Jet. 
You probably don't need me to tell you that, as a daughter of Tamerett, Taminette had a very illustrious background. In addition to being a sister to the G1 2,000 Guineas winner Known Fact, Taminette was a half-sister to Secrettame, the dam of Gone West and Lion Cavern, and to the very successful stallion Terete. 

In other words, Calculator boasts a much more impressive female line than many a Florida-bred, so he could well have what it takes to become another Sham S. winner with a Grade I success to his credit.