Intrepid Heart, with ties to Glennwood, can boost family
Glennwood Farm isn’t as intimately involved in the Belmont Stakes as it was last year, when Justify, whom it bred, completed his Triple Crown sweep, with Vino Rosso, also foaled at the farm, finishing fourth. But Glennwood, owned and operated by the father-daughter team of John and Tanya Gunther, still has ties to this year’s race, as Intrepid Heart could continue to boost the value of Vino Rosso’s family.
Intrepid Heart, who was bred by WinStar Farm and Winchell Thoroughbreds, races for Robert and Lawana Low. The Tapit colt is out of the Touch Gold mare Flaming Heart, whom WinStar purchased for $1.5 million from Adena Springs at the 2007 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
At the time of that purchase, Flaming Heart was in foal to Street Cry, and John Gunther purchased the resulting foal, the winning Mythical Bride, for $42,000 as a racing or broodmare prospect at the 2011 Keeneland November sale. The mare’s second foal was the Curlin colt Vino Rosso, whom Glennwood sold for $410,000 to Mike Repole and St. Elias Stable at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale. The multiple graded stakes winner recently posted his first Grade 1 score in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, and a Belmont victory by Intrepid Heart would continue to elevate the value of the family.
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Mythical Bride is also the dam of Grade 3-placed So Alive. The mare’s Pioneerof the Nile colt was a $575,000 purchase by Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier at last fall’s Keeneland September sale. The colt has since been named Ramesses the Great and sent to Ireland for training. Mythical Bride has a yearling Uncle Mo colt, delivered a Curlin colt who is a full brother to Vino Rosso on April 30, and was to be bred back to Medaglia d’Oro.
Glennwood will also be represented in the Grade 2 New York Stakes on Belmont Eve by Competitionofideas, whom the Gunthers co-bred with Tony Chedraoui and Eurowest Bloodstock Services. Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan purchased the filly for $325,000 at Keeneland September on behalf of Klaravich Stable, and the Speightstown filly won the Grade 1 American Oaks last December.
Competitionofideas is out of the Grade 3-winning Medaglia d’Oro mare Devil by Design, who was co-bred and co-campaigned by John Gunther. The mare is the dam of Church On Time, a juvenile filly from the first crop of champion Honor Code, and has a yearling colt by prominent sire War Front. She was bred to Curlin for this season’s foal, and was to be bred back to him after delivering.
Meanwhile, Justify’s dam Stage Magic continued to bring home accolades for Eclipse Award-winning breeder Glennwood, as she was named Kentucky’s Broodmare of the Year in April. The graded stakes-placed Ghostzapper mare was not only represented by her Triple Crown winner last year – she produced Grade 3 winner The Lieutenant. The Gunthers still own and planned to race the mare’s current 2-year-old colt One More City after the Will Take Charge colt failed to meet his reserve with a high bid of $1.75 million at last fall’s Keeneland September sale.
Stage Magic has a Pioneerof the Nile yearling colt, and was bred to Quality Road, currently the leading sire in North America, for this year. She was then to be bred to Curlin.