Andrew Caulfield: Pedigree Insights

Saturday, Turfway Park 
HORSESHOE CASINO CINCINNATI SPIRAL S.-GIII, $518,950, TPX, 3-22, 3yo, 1 1/8m (AWT), 1:52 1/5, ft. 
1–WE MISS ARTIE, 123, c, 3, by Artie Schiller 
     1st Dam: Athena’s Gift, by Fusaichi Pegasus 
     2nd Dam: Russian Bride, by Saratoga Six 
     3rd Dam: Aurania, by Judger 
($90,000 yrl ’12 KEESEP). O-Kenneth L & Sarah K 
Ramsey; B-Richard L Lister (ON); T-Todd A Pletcher; 
J-John R Velazquez. $282,000. Lifetime Record: 
GISW, 8-3-2-0, $609,000. Werk Nick Rating: A. 
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 
Click for the brisnet.com chart or the brisnet.com PPs. VIDEO. 
    With American racing once again wringing its hands over welfare issues, including the excessive use of medications, perhaps now is the time for everyone to remember that the pursuit of soundness in their breeding stock is far more important than fashion. And perhaps now is also the time to reignite the debate about synthetic tracks, which–though kinder–suffered a further setback with the closure of Hollywood Park. 
    These topics came neatly together last Saturday when the richly endowed Spiral S. on Turfway Park’s Polytrack was won by We Miss Artie, a colt with eight starts already under his belt. 
    We Miss Artie was bred in Ontario, something he shares with his male-line ancestor Northern Dancer. In view of the modern American Thoroughbred’s average of fewer than seven starts per year, it makes an interesting exercise to look at Northern Dancer’s pedigree in an old Stallion Register. This shows that his sire Nearctic was a veteran of 47 starts, while his broodmare sire Native Dancer raced 22 times. Native Dancer’s sire Polynesian was even busier, with 58 starts, while Nearctic’s grandsire Pharos raced 30 times. Of the 14 horses in the first three generations of Northern Dancer’s pedigree, 11 raced at least 11 times, the exceptions being the fillies Natalma (seven starts), Sister Sarah (six) and the unraced Arbitrator. 
    With a background like this, Northern Dancer could hardly fail to be sound and he wasted no time in demonstrating his durability. Despite being foaled as late as May 27, Northern Dancer was mature enough to make a winning debut on Aug. 2. Coincidentally, the career of his spectacular contemporary Raise A Native ended on the very same day, when he ruptured a tendon sheath after only four starts. That coincidence could almost be said to symbolize the future of the breed.
    While Raise A Native was prematurely heading for the breeding shed, Northern Dancer packed nine starts into a period of less than four months and was tough enough to win seven of them. Although he suffered a bowed tendon soon after he had won the Queen’s Plate Jun. 20, Northern Dancer had already added nine 3-year-old starts to his resumé. In other words, from Aug. 2, 1963 to Jun. 20, 1964–a period of less than 11 months–Northern Dancer had raced a total of 
18 times, for 14 victories including the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. 
    Surely this toughness played a huge part in the astonishing legacy left by Northern Dancer. It can be no coincidence that he sired the only British Triple Crown winner since Bahram in 1935, when Nijinsky II swept the board in 1970, and toughness was also to prove one of the main virtues of Sadler’s Wells, another of his magnificent sons. 
Under the ultra-skilled guidance of Vincent O’Brien, Sadler’s Wells raced at least once a month from Apr. 14 to Oct. 7 as a 3-year-old, making a total of nine sophomore starts which also entailed a lot of travel between Ireland, Britain and France. Timeform’s summary of his efforts read: 
    “That Sadler’s Wells proved capable of showing top-class form at a mile, a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half, and of reproducing his best form in top races run on all types of going from soft to very firm, added greatly to his value, particularly for stud purposes.” 
    Of course Sadler’s Wells has proved as legendary as his sire in Europe, thanks to an unequaled 14 sires’ championships. Despite his feat of siring the winners of six Breeders’ Cup events, American breeders were much slower to warm to his charms, no doubt perceiving him as a turf horse (but so were many of the stallions which once made the American Thoroughbred the most sought-after in the world). Fortunately, his son El Prado has almost single-handedly changed that, and he may soon receive some able support from Sadler’s Wells’s grandson Cape Blanco. This Galileo horse possessed the speed and precocity to begin his undefeated 2-year-old career as early as Jun. 10, before developing into a classic-winning 3-year-old and a champion 4-year-old. 
    With parents who won the 2,000 Guineas and 1,000 Guineas in Ireland, El Prado had every right to develop into a Group 1 winner, but I was surprised that he achieved that distinction as early as the September of his juvenile career, in the National S. El Prado’s record prior to the National S. stood at two wins and a narrow defeat by the future Irish Derby and King George winner St Jovite. By the end of the year his record stood at four wins and a narrow second from five starts in Ireland, his final victory coming in the G2 Beresford S.–a race won by Sadler’s Wells eight years earlier. Unfortunately, his disappointing effort on an earlier venture to England took some of the gloss off his Irish efforts. A sprained joint forced him to miss the Classics and he proved disappointing after his return. 
    As everyone knows, El Prado retired to stud in Kentucky, not Ireland, spending his first four years at the comparatively modest fee of $7,500. His price even dropped to $5,000 in his fifth season in 1997. However, his combination of high-class ability and durable classic bloodlines saw him emerge from the pack as a dependable sire of Graded/Group winners. 
    Now he is recognized as a sire of sires, thanks to the efforts of Medaglia d’Oro, Kitten’s Joy and, most recently, Artie Schiller, the sire of We Miss Artie. It is worth mentioning that Medaglia d’Oro raced 17 times, including a nine-race sophomore season; that Kitten’s Joy had 14 races. including eight as a 3-year-old; and that Artie Schiller started 22 times. 
    Whereas the services of Kitten’s Joy and Medaglia d’Oro are priced at $100,000 this year, Artie Schiller is plying his trade at $15,000 at WinStar. 
    Artie Schiller’s connections flirted with dirt early in his career, but his three efforts, including one in the GII Remsen S., didn’t compare with his first three outings on turf, which yielded two wins and a second at stakes level. 
    Unfortunately first-rate opportunities for a 3-year-old American turf colt are limited. Consequently Artie Schiller didn’t face Grade I company until the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Lone Star Park. Even so, his record of five wins in his last six starts was impressive enough for him to start favorite in Texas, but he finished in the rear. He made full amends a year later at Belmont, when he ended a nine-race winning streak by the favorite Leroidesanimaux. 
    It would have been fascinating to see how a mature Artie Schiller coped with dirt, but why would his connections want to risk him when his turf earnings exceeded $2 million? 
    Theoretically there was no reason why Artie Schiller shouldn’t have been as effective on the main track as Medaglia d’Oro, His dam Hidden Light gained both her GI victories on dirt, in the Santa Anita Oaks and Hollywood Oaks, but she also handled turf well enough to win the GII Del Mar Oaks. The next dam, Tallahto, was another high-class filly who handled both surfaces. Although two of her three Grade I successes were gained on turf, over a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half, Tallahto was fast enough to win a Grade II over seven furlongs and a Grade I over a mile and an eighth on dirt. 
    The situation now is that Artie Schiller has sired an Australian Group 1 winner on turf, plus the Polytrack Grade I winners My Conquestadory and We Miss Artie in the U.S. While he is still awaiting his first Grade I winner on dirt, his son Blingo won the GII San Antonio S. on the main track before taking third place in the GI Santa Anita H. 
    The big question, then, is whether We Miss Artie can reproduce his best form if he is returned to dirt. It has to be said that his first three attempts on the surface don’t yield huge encouragement, though he ran better than is suggested by his finishing position of seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Then there’s the fact that his dam, Athena’s Gift, did her winning on turf, but she is by Fusaichi Pegasus, a winner of the Kentucky Derby, and the next two dams are daughters of the dirt horses Saratoga Six and Judger. 
    As there is only one Kentucky Derby, it is understandable that the Ramseys want to give it a go, especially when We Miss Artie is likely to have the necessary stamina.