A. P. Indian boosts Massons homebred program

Heading into 2016, A. P. Indian was a useful minor stakes winner but certainly nothing approaching a national standout. In his 6-year-old season, however, the gelding has blossomed for trainer Arnaud Delacour, winning six straight stakes races, including a pair of Grade 1 events.

The most recent victory in the streak came in the Grade 2 Phoenix Stakes on opening day at Keeneland, and the gelding will head out to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita as one of the favorites.

For Richard and Sue Ann Masson, who race under the nom de course of Green Lantern Stables, the second-generation homebred was worth waiting for.

“It’s really cool,” Richard Masson said as he walked through Keeneland following the Phoenix. “Our good homebreds have all done well later in life. We’re all just very pleased about this one.”

The Massons, who founded Green Lantern in 1995 and maintain their broodmare band at their Golden Age Farm in Kentucky, purchased A. P. Indian’s grandam, Gold Rush Queen, from Ashford Stud as part of a package deal in the late 1990s. The mare is the dam of seven winners from nine foals, led by stakes winners Ender’s Shadow and Ender’s Sister, both by A.P. Indy. Ender’s Sister banked more than $500,000 for the Massons and trainer Rusty Arnold.

“She was a very good racehorse,” Masson said.

Ender’s Sister is now the dam of five winners from as many starters, led by A. P. Indian, by Indian Charlie. The mare is also the dam of Grade 2 Indiana Derby winner Tiz Shea D and Grade 2-placed Its All Relevant. Both of her other winners, Ender’s Universe and Ender Knievel, are six-figure earners.

Dragon Army, A. P. Indian’s juvenile half-sister by Giant’s Causeway, is still unraced. Ender’s Sister has a yearling Distorted Humor filly and a weanling Noble Mission colt and was bred to Pioneerof the Nile for 2017.

“We still have the mare,” Masson said. “She’s got a lot of horses on the track. She’s been very productive.”