With Catalina Cruiser, Lane's End continues to invest in sireline

Union Rags was an obvious young stallion prospect for Lane’s End Farm to invest in. Phyllis Wyeth’s homebred is a son of former farm stallion Dixie Union, and going another generation back, his grandsire, Dixieland Band, was one of the original three stallions at Lane’s End Farm when it was established.

Union Rags scored one of his signature triumphs in the 2012 Belmont Stakes, a race Lane’s End has always prized as a demonstration of stamina and sire power. The farm has stood several winners of the oldest and longest American classic, most famously A.P. Indy.

Union Rags produced two Grade 1 winners from his first crop to the races in 2016 and has continued to blossom for Lane’s End – prompting the farm to invest further in the promising young sire’s line. His son Catalina Cruiser, part of a strong hand for Union Rags at the upcoming Breeders’ Cup, will enter stud alongside his sire next year.

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Catalina Cruiser, who has won 7 of his 8 starts, is among the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Union Rags also will be represented in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff by multiple Grade 1 winner Paradise Woods, who comes off a victory in the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes, and by Grade 1-placed Comical in the Juvenile Fillies.

“I am a Union Rags man,” said bloodstock agent David Ingordo, who works with Lane’s End and with several prominent owners, including Hronis Racing, which campaigns Catalina Cruiser. “He is a horse who could be the next Quality Road. He has really good books in front of him, and he has top horses on the track. He is a good value right now.”

Catalina Cruiser seeks to add more value to his sire’s résumé before returning home. Catalina Cruiser was bred and raised at Lane’s End, with Ingordo saying he was “always a standout” as a young horse. He is out of a mare by the farm’s homebred champion Mineshaft, by A.P. Indy.

Catalina Cruiser’s only loss came when sixth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. This year, he has won the Grade 2 True North Stakes, Grade 2 San Diego Handicap, and Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes, giving him five graded stakes triumphs.

“Catalina Cruiser is the quintessential American dirt horse,” said Bill Farish of Lane’s End. “He’s exactly what we’re looking for. Tough, with speed and the ability to carry that speed. He reminds me of stallions like [Lane’s End sires] Quality Road, Twirling Candy, and Liam’s Map. They all had tremendous speed and were classy enough to win graded stakes going two turns.”

Union Rags is enjoying a solid year commercially, recording a pair of seven-figure lots at the Keeneland September yearling sale to finish as the auction’s 10th-leading sire by gross. The stallion has a chance for several catalog updates at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Among his mares offered in foal are graded stakes performer Purely Hot, who is the dam of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile candidate Eight Rings.

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