Andrew Caulfield on Sam’s Sister

LA BREA S.-GI, $301,000, SAX, 12-26, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:22 2/5, ft. 
1–#@SAM’S SISTER, 118, f, 3, by Brother Derek 
     1st Dam: Kittery Point (SP), by Include 
     2nd Dam: Lucy Sims, by Northjet (Ire) 
     3rd Dam: Join the Waves, by Sailor 
($125,000 yrl ’12 KEESEP). O-Mark Dedomenico 
LLC, Jerry Hollendorfer & George Todaro; B-Brereton 
C Jones (KY); T-Jerry Hollendorfer; J-Elvis Trujillo. 
$180,000. Lifetime Record: 5-4-0-0, $307,450. 
*First GSW (first Grade I winner) for sire (by 
Benchmark). Werk Nick Rating: D+. Click for the 
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 
Click for the brisnet.com chart, the brisnet.com PPs or the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO. 

    Over the years Airdrie Stud has helped develop several very successful stallions, prime examples being Silver Hawk, Harlan’s Holiday and Indian Charlie. But even a stallion station of Airdrie’s proven track record can find it hard to establish a young stallion whose resume is a little light–either on the score of fashionable bloodlines or performance at the highest level. 

    Of course it is very difficult in today’s industry to make a sizeable impact without having the necessary numbers on one’s side, but Airdrie has made a few valiant attempts at doing so during the 2014 season. 
 
    For example, Istan was something of an unknown package when he retired at the end of 2007. Out of a European-bred daughter of Bluebird, Istan had also started his racing career in Europe, without hitting the headlines. Although he eventually made his mark as a 5-year-old in the U.S., winning five of his 11 starts, Grade III level was as high as he climbed. The end result is that Istan currently has only 76 named foals in his first four crops of racing age. 

    It now looks as though any perceived shortcomings in Istan’s credentials were more than compensated for by his being by Gone West, a recognised sire of sires thanks to the likes of Speightstown, Mr. Greeley and Elusive Quality. Istan also boasted some excellent Beyer figures, plus a female line which traced to Memory Lane, a sister to the great racehorse and sire Mill Reef. 

    Although Istan’s current crop of 3-year-olds numbers a mere 11 foals, they include the smart turf filly Istanford (GII San Clemente H. and GIII Arlington Classic) and the Grade III winner Albano (who chased home Bayern in the GI Haskell Invitational). As he also sired the Grade III winner Mr. Bowling in his first crop, Istan has an impressive proportion of graded winners among his 60 starters. Unfortunately he will have to battle lack of numbers for several more years. 
Divine Park, another member of the Airdrie team, has also been battling for strong numerical support, despite achieving career figures of 9-6-0-0. Divine Park enjoyed his finest moment in winning the GI Metropolitan H., a race often considered a stepping stone to stallion success, but his $20,000 price tag as a yearling suggested some short-comings on the pedigree front (perhaps the fact that his first two dams were non-black-type daughters of Ascot Knight and Czaravich). 

    However Divine Park’s royally bred sire Chester House was undoubtedly a major loss to the Kentucky industry, as his Average Earnings Index of 2.14 was considerably higher than his mares’ Comparable Index. 
And now Divine Park is showing similar flashes of promise, despite his comparative lack of numbers (127 named foals in his first three crops). His undefeated daughter Lady Eli displayed impressive acceleration on the way to victories in the GIII Miss Grillo S. and the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. 

    Airdrie now appears to have given up the battle with Brother Derek, as this sire of last week’s GI La Brea S. winner Sam’s Sister was leased to Naylee Farm in West Virginia for the 2014 season and will again stand in West Virginia in 2015. This move makes sense, as Brother Derek covered 57 mares in his new base, compared to a mere five mares in 2013 at Airdrie. 
 
    So what went wrong? 

    Well, for a start, Brother Derek is a California-bred, with Benchmark as his sire and a Siyah Kalem mare as his dam. That, of course, proved no hindrance to Brother Derek during his time on the track. As a juvenile he won the GII Norfolk S. and GI Hollywood Futurity, with these efforts being good enough to earn him fourth place on the Experimental Free H., behind Stevie Wonderboy, First Samurai and Henny Hughes. 

    Brother Derek maintained his momentum in the run-up to the GI Kentucky Derby, posting clear-cut victories in the GII San Rafael S., GII Santa Catalina S. and GI Santa Anita Derby. Unfortunately he was drawn 18 of 20 at Churchill Downs and never threatened in finishing fourth behind Barbaro. 

    Brother Derek’s prospects as a stallion weren’t helped by a disappointing second half to his racing career. Having won six of his first eight starts, he failed to win any of his final nine, between the ages of three and five. He was therefore something of a forgotten name by the time he covered his first mares as a 6-year-old. Although he covered 68 mares in his first year, his book fell to 43 mares in 2010 and 39 in 2011, which explains why he has only 102 foals of racing age. In addition to Sam’s Sister he has also enjoyed stakes success with Miss Derek and Zee Bros. 

    Brother Derek hasn’t been a total failure for Airdrie supremo Brereton C. Jones, as the former governor of Kentucky bred Sam’s Sister, who is unbeaten in four starts on all-weather and dirt. Jones’s pleasure at adding another Grade I winner to his C.V. as a breeder must have been intensified by the fact that he also bred Sam’s Sister’s dam Kittery Point and second dam Lucy Sims, with each of these mares being by an Airdrie stallion. 

     The family came into Jones’s ownership with the purchase of third dam Join The Waves in the late 1970s and Jones has had no reason to regret buying her, thanks largely to Lucy Sims. This daughter of the top European miler Northjet has numerous stakes- winning descendants and is also the second dam of three other Grade I winners bred by Jones. 
The first two, the Grade I turf winners Sweet Talker and Check the Label, were both by the former Airdrie resident Stormin Fever and both had dams sired by Airdrie stallions (Stalwart and Mazel Trick, respectively). The Mazel Trick mare, Don’t Trick Her, visited another Airdrie stallion, Include, to produce Include Me Out, a Grade I winner on dirt and all-weather in California in 2012. As Sam’s Sister’s dam Kittery Point is also by Include, she is a three-parts-sister to Include Me Out. 

    I notice that Don’t Trick Her has a 2014 filly by Creative Cause. Could this accomplished son of Giant’s Causeway be the next important stallion for the Airdrie team?