Andrew Caulfield on International Star

Saturday, Fair Grounds
RISEN STAR S.-GII, $400,000, FGX, 2-21, 3yo, 
1 1/16m, 1:43 4/5, ft. 
1–INTERNATIONAL STAR, 120, c, 3, by Fusaichi Pegasus 
     1st Dam: Parlez, by French Deputy 
     2nd Dam: Speak Halory, by Verbatim 
     3rd Dam: Halory, by Halo 
($85,000 yrl ’13 FTMSEP). O-Kenneth L & Sarah 
K Ramsey; B-Katharine M Voss & Robert T Manfus 
(NY); T-Michael J Maker; J-Miguel Mena. $240,000. 
Lifetime Record: 8-4-2-0, $560,979. *1/2 to Fools 
in Love (Not For Love), SW, $240,746; and D C 
Dancer (Not For Love), SW, $226,655. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
 
Do any of you remember “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” a song which was successful for such as The Hollies, Neil Diamond and Rufus Wainwright? Well, it certainly had nothing to do with horse racing but the opening verse always springs to mind about this time of year, as the build up to the first Saturday in May starts to gather pace: 

The road is long 
With many a winding turn 
That leads us to who knows where 
Who knows where? 

At this stage we have just about reached the first turn in the road, with plenty more to come, but it still surely counts as quite an achievement on International Star’s behalf that he holds a clear lead on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby. With 71 points, he is 21 points ahead of Itsaknockout (Lemon Drop Kid) and 35 ahead of the unfortunate Upstart (Flatter). International Star collected 50 points for his determined victory under co-top weight in the GII Risen Star S., to add to the 20 points gained from his earlier successes in the GIII LeComte S. and GIII Grey S. (the remaining point came from his fourth in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S.) 

The Ramsey color-bearer now has earnings close to $500,000–an achievement made all the more notable by the fact that this New York-bred cost no more than $85,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling. Also, he’s by a stallion who stood the 2011 season for $15,000 and who is currently priced at only $7,500. 

That stallion, of course, is Fusaichi Pegasus, who improved his three-year-old record to a perfect five-for-five when he surged clear of Aptitude, Impeachment and More Than Ready to take the 2000 Kentucky Derby. 

Unfortunately recent history shows that colts with a Kentucky Derby-winning father do not enjoy any advantage on Derby day. You have to go back to 1996 to find a Kentucky Derby winner sired by a Kentucky Derby winner, namely Unbridled’s son Grindstone. You then have to go back another 12 years to find the next most recent example, Seattle Slew’s son Swale, and then all the way back to 1963 to find another in the form of Swaps’ son Chateaugay. 

Fusaichi Pegasus’s current fee of $7,500 tells its own story. It’s a far cry from the amounts charged for his services when he first retired to Ashford Stud–$150,000 in 2001, $135,000 in 2002 and $125,000 in 2003. There was every reason to have sky-high hopes of this imposing stallion, who seemed to have just about everything required to develop into a leading sire. He had, after all, cost Fusao Sekiguchi a whacking $4,000,000 at Keeneland’s 1998 July Yearling Sale, with his price reflecting the fact that he was by Mr Prospector, the champion sire of 1987 and ’88. Danzig and Halo, the stallions responsible for his first two dams, had also achieved multiple sires’ championships, and the Danzig mare was Angel Fever, a talented sister to the GI Preakness S. winner Pine Bluff. 

If Fusaichi Pegasus had a flaw, it was probably his temperament. In his report on the Kentucky Derby, Steve Haskin commented that the colt had bucked, reared, leaped and finally hurtled his way into immortality. 

“Fusaichi Pegasus ….was born of royal blood, and he carried himself with all the majesty of the noblest of kings,” Haskin wrote. “At first perceived by many as possessing the madness of King George III, he quickly silenced his accusers.” 
International Star seems to be free of such quirks, with his rider Miguel Mena saying that “he’s not much to look at it, but he has a big heart.” 

Fusaichi Pegasus’s high initial stud fee also reflected the fact that Mr Prospector had already found fame as a sire of sires, thanks to the exploits of Fappiano, Seeking The Gold, Kingmambo, Forty Niner, Gone West and numerous others. Significantly it has been Mr Prospector’s sons which have provided International Star’s family with quite a lot of its success. 

His third dam is Halory, who enjoyed a first-rate innings as a broodmare despite having failed to win in 14 attempts. As you might guess of a filly bred by E.P. Taylor, Halory possessed some excellent bloodlines. In addition to being a sister to the good Canadian filly Halo Reply, she was inbred 3 x 4 to that truly remarkable mare Almahmoud. I never tire of relating that Almahmoud had only three named daughters, yet all three produced a champion sire. It was one of those champion sires, Halo, which sired Halory, and another of them, Northern Dancer, which sired her dam Cold Reply. 
Halory did so well as a broodmare that her Storm Cat yearling of 2001 realized no less than $6,400,000. Named Van Nistelrooy after the famous Dutch soccer player, he became a Group 2 juvenile winner in Ireland before siring a handful of graded/group winners. Altogether Halory produced five graded winners–a record worthy of a mare inbred to Almahmoud. Two of the five were by sons of Mr Prospector, but not the ultra-fashionable ones. Prory, a Grade III winner, was by Procida, a Grade/Group I winner in France and the U.S. who proved much less effective as a stallion, and Halory Hunter, winner of the 1998 GI Blue Grass S., was by Jade Hunter. 

International Star’s dam Parlez is another who owes her success to sons of Mr Prospector. Two of her foals by the non-stakes-winning Not For Love enjoyed stakes success in Maryland and now she has come up trumps with her son by Fusaichi Pegasus. 

International Star is the latest to make me wonder what his broodmare sire French Deputy might have achieved in America had he not been sold to Japan’s Shadai Corporation towards the end of 2000, when he had only two crops of racing age. 

French Deputy’s career had been restricted to six starts by a variety of problems, including a bruised foot which ended his Triple Crown aspirations after he had won his first three starts. However, he returned from a lengthy absence to give a hint of what might have been, taking the GII Jerome H. by four lengths from Mr Greeley. 

His five American crops produced the likes of Left Bank, Mayo On The Side, House Party, Bella Bellucci, Latour and Queue, and his American daughters have more than 20 Graded winners to their credit, including the Grade I winners Visionaire, Majestic Harbor and Danza. Perhaps International Star will also progress to that level.