Local freshmen put 1st runners on the track

Two-year-old races are beginning to fill at Woodbine, and for the first time in several years, fans and horsemen can look forward to runners from a competitive group of high-profile Ontario freshman sires.

Two stallions have already had local starters - Perigee Moon, who stands at Michael Byrne's Park Stud in Orangeville, Ontario, and Trajectory, a resident at Gardiner Farms in Caledon East.

A son of Grade 1 juvenile winner Hennessy, Perigee Moon was undefeated in two starts as a 2-year-old, winning the Group 3 Killavullen Stakes at Leopardstown in 2000.

The 7-year-old stallion's dam is Grade 1 winner Lovlier Linda, the dam of graded stakes winner and promising young sire Old Trieste.

At major Canadian auctions in 2004, Perigee Moon had 14 yearlings sell for $313,500, an average of $22,393.

Among his highest-priced yearlings were Moon Worship, a colt out of stakes producer Studio Affair, who sold for $72,000 to Morgan Firestone, and Madmacmaeg, a $55,000 filly in training with Mike Keogh.

While Perigee Moon's first starter, Gee Pari, finished seventh in her debut last weekend, reports from around Woodbine suggest that the sire's runners will be ones to watch for this fall.

Trajectory, a flashy dark bay son of sire-of-sires Gone West, invaded Woodbine in 2001 when he won the Seagram Cup Stakes for Pin Oak Stud. Gardiner Farms later bought into Trajectory, a half-brother to stakes winners Wouldn't We All and Western Dreamer.

The sire had 17 yearlings go through Canadian auctions last year, grossing $270,500 for an average of $15,912.

The sire's highest-priced yearling, Be Sincere ($70,000), finished third in his career debut and then raced greenly in a fifth-place finish last weekend.

Another freshman sire to watch out for is multiple champion One Way Love, one of Ontario's most durable racehorses for four seasons.

A 10-year-old son of Regal Classic, One Way Love won 15 of 41 starts and more than $962,000 while winning stakes from ages 2 through 5, and at distances ranging from 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles.

Thirteen yearlings by the sire averaged just over $15,000 at Canadian sales last year, including Love the Grey, a $42,000 purchase by CEC Farms, and Aoife, a half-sister to stakes winner Twisted Wit who sold for $40,000 to Mike Doyle.

Speedy and gritty Parisianprospector, a son of Geiger Counter who stands at T.C. Westmeath Stud in Shelburne, Ontario, won 11 of 63 starts and was a top juvenile at Woodbine in 1995. A grandson of Great Gladiator, Parisianprospector should get quick and precocious offspring.

Two other Ontario freshmen sires who were good 2-year-olds in their day are Brite Adam, a son of High Brite, and Catahoula Parish, by Katahaula County.

Pedigree Farms in Nobleton stands Brite Adam, a stakes winner as a juvenile who also won the Plate Trial and was second in the Queen's Plate to Archers Bay as a 3-year-old.

Catahoula Parish, owned by Display Farms, won the Vandal Stakes as a juvenile in 1998 and, like Brite Adam, went on to win the Plate Trial as a 3-year-old.

Katahaula County, one of last year's leading 2-year-old sires in Canada, is a son of Bold Ruckus, a longtime leading Canadian sire and a top sire-of-sires in this country.

The three juvenile races run at Woodbine so far in 2005 (through Friday) were won by offspring of young Ontario sires Compadre and Elajuud and American stud Exploit.