Lido Palace brings Grade 1 credentials
Lambholm South in Reddick welcomed its new stallion this week. Lido Palace, the multimillionaire who raced for Amerman Racing Stable and trainer Bobby Frankel, will enter stud in 2004 for a fee of $8,500 live foal.
A champion racehorse in his native Chile, Lido Palace raced 11 times in North America - 10 times in graded stakes - and never finished worse than fourth. Highlights of his career include winning the Grade 1 Whitney and Grade 1 Woodward in 2001, and repeating in the Woodward in 2002.
Lido Palace, a foal of 1997, is a chestnut horse by the Forty Niner stallion Rich Man's Gold, who was graded stakes placed in North America in the early '90s. Rich Man's Gold has 60 percent winners from his foals, 23 percent stakes winners from starters, and is the sire of two Chilean champions from five crops to race.
Family Calling early leader
Of the approximately 30 Florida freshman stallions who have had a starter, seven of them have had at least one winner.
Hidden Point Farm's syndicated Family Calling (Mr. Prospector-Sense of Unity, by Northern Dancer) is far out in front of his closest Sunshine State freshman rivals in winners. Family Calling, with 73 registered 2-year-olds, has 24 starters and 10 of them have won.
The Wild Again stallions Wild Event and Wild Wonder are competing with Franks Farms' Precocity, by Aferd, for the runner-up spot. Wild Event has had eight starters and three of them have won. Wild Wonder has had three starters and two winners. Precocity has had four starters, two winners, and one stakes-placed juvenile.
The other Florida sires who are represented by at least one winner from their first crop are Cloud Cover (Storm Cat), Limit Out (Northern Flagship), My Favorite Grub (Grub), and Cimmaron Secret (Tejano).
Outrunning their pedigrees
Ocala Stud's syndicated Notebook is well known for being a source of sprinter-milers. His ability to get a runner to win beyond nine furlongs in graded company was, however, suspect. No more.
Notebook's 3-year-old daughter Spoken Fur answered the question with an easy victory in the 12-furlong Coaching Club American Oaks.
Ocala Stud's Montbrook has been the chief rival of Notebook for Florida leading sires honors for the past five years. For the most part the get of Montbrook also prefer the sprint and mile distances. An exception to this is the syndicated stallion Outofthebox, by Montbrook, who entered stud earlier this year at Sez Who Thoroughbreds.
Outofthebox won the Grade 1 Super Derby at 1 1/4 miles in 2001 and showed on several occasions that 9 or 10 furlongs was well within his capabilities. Outofthebox is out of Cricket Box, a daughter of Notebook. Both Montbrook and Notebook have the champion and leading sire Tom Fool three generations back in their pedigrees.
* Starting this weekend, conformation photos of yearlings entered in the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Aug. 18 selected yearling sale will be on the Internet. Go to the OBS home page (www.obssales.com) and follow the link. The yearlings have been cross-indexed by hip number, sire, and consignor.