Classic Bloodstock’ Graduates are Derby-bound

By Michael Illiano 
   Danzel Brendemuehl estimates 25-40 horses pass through her sales and training operation, Classic Bloodstock, each year. Yet, from that limited sample, Classic Bloodstock will see two of its graduates start in the GI Kentucky Derby whenUncle Sigh (Indian Charlie) and Wildcat Red (D’wildcat go postward at Churchill Downs Saturday. 
   “Every year we’re lucky and have at least a graded stakes horse,” Brendemuehl said. “This year we just happened to be linked to two Derby starters; it’s a weird coincidence for an operation this small.” 
Chip McEwen of Wounded Warrior Stables and trainer Gary Contessa purchased Uncle Sigh privately after last year’s Fasig-Tipton Florida Sale and sent him, along with the other juveniles they bought, to Brendemuehl to assess his readiness and get his training started. 
   “When we got him he needed some sorting out,” Brendemeuhl recalled. “But he was such a nice horse.” 
   Brendemuehl noted that Uncle Sigh’s temperament made him easy to develop. 
   “Gary saw something in him that I didn’t see until we started training him,” Brendemuehl said. “But he was never a showboat. And the further we got along with him, the more it became evident that he was a really good horse. After he really started breezing I wanted to get him out of here before we messed him up.” 
Brendemuehl mentioned that she expects Uncle Sigh’s poise to benefit him in the Derby. 
   “His demeanor is what is going to make him something to contend with in the Derby,” Brendenmuehl said. “Nothing rattles his cage. I saw him after the [GII Gotham S.], when he was sandwiched between two horses, and he was absolutely unruffled.” 
   Because she has worked closely with McEwan and Wounded Warrior stables for years, Brendemuehl said that the success of Uncle Sigh is especially gratifying. “I’m so excited for Chip because he does so much to give back in his racing business,” Brendemuehl said. 
   Wildcat Red was sent to Classic Bloodstock by breeder Xavier Moreau, who had bred the colt through a partnership between his Moreau Bloodstock International and Winter Racing Enterprise, only 27 days before last year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sale Company’s June Sale. 
   “We had to teach him to breeze because he had only been galloping,” Brendemuehl said. “He fell right into the routine and figured it out quickly.” 
   The colt went on to breeze in :10.2, which, while not a showy figure, Brendemuehl was happy with. 
   “I thought the time was spectacular for a horse that was just putting it together,” Brendemuehl said. 
Brendemuehl was high on Wildcat Red heading into the sale, but buyers were scared off by his conformation. 
   “He toes out significantly in both fronts,” Brendemuehl said. “Conformation isn’t always everything. But I talked to a lot of agents at the sale and no one was interested.” 
   Trainer Jose Garroffalo ended up buying Wildcat Red for $30,000. Brendemuehl said she believes that Garrofalo’s barn was the perfect place for the colt to develop. 
   “On the one hand I wanted the horse to bring more for Xavier, but there are a lot of barns where he would have been spit up and chewed out,” Brendemuehl said. “[Garroffalo] treated him like gold, and he’s rewarding him.”