Caulfield on Sunset Glow
Saturday, Del Mar
DEL MAR DEBUTANTE S.-GI, $301,000, DMR, 8-30, 2yo, f, 7f (AWT), 1:23, ft.
1–sSUNSET GLOW, 122, f, 2, by Exchange Rate
1st Dam: Perfectforthepart (SP), by Dynaformer
2nd Dam: Capote Ann, by Capote
3rd Dam: Andestine, by Native Prospector
($60,000 wlng ’12 KEENOV; $140,000 yrl ’13
KEESEP). O-Ten Broeck Farm Inc; B-Gayla Rankin/GLR
Ranch (KY); T-Wesley A Ward; J-Victor Espinoza.
$180,000. Lifetime Record: GSP-Eng, 5-3-2-0,
$377,640. Werk Nick Rating: A++. 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.
There are many statistics about Danzig’s stallion career which sound extraordinary in the context of today’s industry, not least his figure of 18% stakes winners (198 from 1099 foals). But even that 18% looks less amazing in comparison with some of Danzig’s figures with particular broodmare sires.
There was his stunning 36% stakes winners with Buckpasser mares, with three Grade I winners among a total of nine stakes winners from 25 foals. Or what about his 44% stakes winners among his 18 foals out of His Majesty mares? Admittedly four of this nick’s eight stakes winners were supplied by Danehill’s dam Razyana.
And then there’s the pairing which concerns me today–that of Danzig with Roberto mares. There were only 17 foals bred this way, but no fewer than six of them–35%–became stakes winners, with two of them enjoying Grade I success. Danzig also enjoyed significant success with mares from other branches of the Hail To Reason line, notably siring the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile winner War Chant from a Kris S. mare and the GI Preakness winner Pine Bluff from a Halo mare. For good measure, four different sons of Danzig also sired Grade I winners from Roberto’s daughters.
The scale of this success means that, for owners of Roberto line mares, the Danzig male line continues to be one of the go-to options. For example, the most popular combination for Danzig’s fast son Exchange Rate has been Dynaformer mares. This partnership already has 17 foals of racing age (admittedly the fact that Exchange Rate is based at Three Chimneys, the former home of Dynaformer, may also have something to do with the popularity of this cross).
Twelve of these 17 foals have raced so far (five of them are 2-year-olds of 2014) and nine have won. More to the point, three of them–18%–have enjoyed stakes success. They are the listed-winning fillies Golden Production and Zee Zee and the precocious Sunset Glow. The much-travelled Sunset Glow improved her record to three wins and two seconds from five starts when she gamely gave weight and a beating to her eight opponents in the GI Del Mar Debutante.
Exchange Rate has also sired the Grade III 2-year-old winner Exfactor from a mare by Roberto’s grandson Prized and this year’s very useful French filly Ball Dancing has a dam by Silver Hawk. Keep an eye out too for Bragging, a big Exchange Rate filly with a dam by Kris S. This very progressive 3-year-old won a valuable seven-furlong York handicap in such good style that the Racing Post now rates her 113. That’s good enough to win at stakes level.
In Sunset Glow’s case, the Danzig-Roberto affinity can certainly take plenty of the credit for the filly’s talent, as she is the first graded winner produced by any of her first three dams. Her third dam Andestine won the GI Milady H. over 1 1/16 miles, but she had only one runner among her five named foals. The best of the three winners produced by second dam Capote Ann is Sunset Glow’s dam Perfectforthepart, who was a stakes-placed turf performer.
Incidentally, Perfectforthepart has a yearling brother to Sunset Glow which is scheduled to appear as hip number 2052 in two weeks’ time at Keeneland. Capote Ann’s owners have been trying to replicate Perfectforthepart’s success, as the last two matings for this daughter of Capote have been to Dynaformer’s son Temple City. The mare’s 2013 filly, which wasn’t foaled until June 18, is also in the Keeneland catalogue, as hip number 4097.
For a long time I have been thinking that Dynaformer’s long-term legacy is likely to come via his broodmare daughters, rather than his stallion sons. After all, 14 of Dynaformer’s 23 Grade I winners were fillies. Of the nine male Grade I winners, two–Perfect Drift and Vergennes–were geldings and another, the much-mourned Barbaro, didn’t live long enough to pass on his excellence. Yet another, Purim, died in January 2012, having sired just over 200 foals, headed by the graded winners Twilight Eclipse, Two Months Rent and Undrafted and this year’s GI Secretariat S. runner-up Sheldon.
There is light on the horizon, though. Three of Dynaformer’s youngest Grade I-winning sons are now available to American breeders. His GI Blue Grass S. winner Brilliant Speed is standing for $5,000 at his sire’s old home, Three Chimneys Farm, while the G1 Melbourne Cup winner Americain was priced at $15,000 at Calumet this year.
The one which really interests me is Point of Entry, who made his debut this year at Adena Springs at a fee of $25,000. As a May 10 foal, it took this very well-related horse a little time to reach his prime, but he then proceeded to win seven of his last 10 starts. He landed five of America’s top turf races, once defeating Animal Kingdom over a mile and an eighth in the GI Gulfstream Park Turf H. Point of Entry also represents a potent combination, as Dynaformer sired six black-type winners (15%) from 39 foals out of Seeking the Gold mares. Three of the 39 became Grade I winners.
The other source of optimism for Dynaformer’s stallion sons is Temple City, who narrowly missed out on becoming yet another Grade I winner for Dynaformer when second in the 2010 Hollywood Turf Cup. Although only a Grade III winner, Temple City had the added appeal of being out of a half-sister to Malibu Moon and he also represented the potent Roberto-Danzig combination, as his dam is Danzig’s daughter Curriculum.
With the backing of Spendthrift, Temple City got off to a good start, covering 137 mares in his first season (followed by 104 in his second and 86 in his third). His first crop enjoyed a memorable time at Saratoga last week, with his son Startup Nation keeping his record perfect with a dominant display in the GII With Anticipation S. Three days later Temple City struck again, this time with the Machmer Hall-bred Saratoga Heater on the main track.
Startup Nation clearly has no stamina problems, which is hardly surprising. Temple City’s Grade III victory came over a mile and a half and the youngster’s broodmare sire is Wagon Limit, whose finest moment came when he defeated Gentlemen and Skip Away to provide a shock in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup over a mile and a quarter. Even Startup Nation’s third dam, the Chilean import Infinidad, was a Grade I winner over a mile and a quarter in the Vanity H.
What is more surprising is that Startup Nation has matured so early. Temple City made only one appearance before the age of four, when he won over 6 1/2 furlongs as a 3-year-old, and the strapping Dynaformer also took some time to show his best. Wagon Limit and Harlan, the sires of the colt’s first two dams, were both unraced as juveniles and Wagon Limit didn’t race at two. He must owe his precocity to his dam Pennyrile, a winner from two starts as a 2-year-old who gained most of her substantial earnings in sprint races on dirt.
It is going to be interesting to see whether Startup Nation is eventually given the chance to try the main track. He is out of a dirt performer and it shouldn’t be forgotten that Dynaformer sired a Kentucky Derby winner, plus two other sons who finished third.