Tiznow runners score on turf, dirt at Calder

Calder

Tiznow had two winners Nov. 3 when Classic Lake won a 7o1/2-furlong maiden race on the turf, and Tiz Beautiful won a six-furlong maiden race on dirt. Classic Lake is a 2-year-old filly out of the Regal Classic mare Georgiana Lake, a three-quarter sister to stakes winner Lake George. Tiz Beautiful is a 3-year-old filly out of the Lyphard's Ridge mare Beauty's Sake. What really makes Tiz Wonderful's pedigree so appealing is that she is an RF (Rasmussen Factor) because both her sire, Tiznow, and her dam, Beauty's Sake, descend from the same influential broodmare, Sulenan.

Aqueduct

Music Note won a one-mile maiden race Nov. 1, and the 2-year-old filly by A.P. Indy is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Musical Chimes (by In Excess). Music Note is out of the Sadler's Wells mare Note Musicale. Music Note's second dam is It's In the Air, the 1978 co-2-year-old champion and first champion by Mr. Prospector.

Churchill

During the first half of the year, the first crop of babies by Empire Maker were notably absent, but that has changed with the calendar. First, Country Star won the Alcibiades Stakes in just her second start and first on Polytrack. Since that victory, impressive victories by Empire Maker's 2-year-olds seem to arrive weekly. On Oct. 31, Jedi Code, a 2-year-old out of the Secretariat mare Listen Well, scored a facile victory by 3 1/2 lengths, coming from 12th and last to win at seven furlongs and paying $21.20. Jedi Code is a half-brother to multiple Grade 1 winner Listening, stakes winner Beautiful Noise, and Listen Now (the dam of stakes winners Indy Bird and Listen Here). Jedi Code is also a half-brother to Solar Echo, who was second in the Del Mar Oaks.

On Nov. 3, Silent Street, yet another half-sister to Jedi Code, won a maiden race at 6-1 at Churchill Downs. Silent Street is a 3-year-old filly by Street Cry.

Watch for all of Empire Maker's first crop next year at 3, when they should catch up and surpass their contemporaries who were more precocious at 2. It would be no surprise to see runners by Empire Maker in next year's 3-year-old classics.

* Seaspeak, a 2-year-old first-time starter by Mizzen Mast and out of a half-sister to multiple-stakes-winning turf runner Cetewayo, won a one-mile maiden race on the grass at 5-1 on Nov. 3. He is an example of what pedigree handicapping is all about.

Mizzen Mast is a son of grass champion Cozzene, and Seaspeak's dam is by another strong source of turf, Gone West.

The exacta, with favorite Go Swiftly running second, returned $34.60. Go Swiftly is by Gone West and is out of Dance Swiftly, a full sister to the late Dance Smartly, who was a Canadian Horse of the Year, a U.S. 3-year-old filly champion, and an extraordinary broodmare.

* War Pass, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Champagne Stakes and a shoo-in as this year's 2-year-old champion colt, may now be next year's early-book favorite to win the Kentucky Derby, but his trainer, Nick Zito, has a colt much better-bred to succeed at 3, especially at 1 1/4 miles.

Cool Coal Man won a 1 1/16-mile allowance on Nov. 3, showing tactical speed to win by 2 1/2 lengths while getting an important race over the Kentucky Derby surface. From the first crop of Horse of the Year Mineshaft, Cool Coal Man has been improving with each start. His dam is a three-quarter sister to stakes winner Signal Tap. Of more significance is the fact that his second dam, South Sea Dasncer, is a full sister to European champion Storm Bird (best known as the sire of Storm Cat) and stakes winner Northernette.

Delaware

Larry Jones keeps coming up with good runners. The trainer of Hard Spun and Proud Spell had another good-looking winner Oct. 30 when Eight Belles, a 2-year-old filly by Unbridled's Song out of the Dixieland Band mare Away, captured a mile and 70-yard maiden race by 10 lengths after finishing third in her previous start. Her second dam is a half-sister to Belong to Me, and her fourth dam, champion Straight Deal, was an iron racehorse for owner Ethel D. Jacobs. This female family descends from racing's greatest broodmare La Troienne.

* Acclaimed, a 2-year-old colt who won his maiden debut by five lengths on Nov. 4 in a six-furlong maiden race, has a whole lot of pedigree. From the first crop of the promising young stallion Vindication (also the sire of More Happy, Maimonides, and Sargent Seattle), Acclaimed is a three-quarter brother to Irish 2-year-old champion Tomahawk (Seattle Slew) and is out of the stakes-winning Pancho Villa mare Statuette, herself a three-quarter sister to stakes winner Academy Award and stakes-producer Chosen Lady.

Hawthorne

Why would a well-bred 2-year-old filly be dismissed at 30-1 in her career debut? On Nov. 2, Unfolding Wish, by 2-year-old champion Gilded Time, won a six-furlong maiden race by 8 1/2 lengths, paying $62. Unfolding Wish is out of the Gulch mare Four Pennies, and her second dam, Midnight Polka, is a half-sister to Preakness Stakes winner Tank's Prospect.

Oak Tree at Santa Anita

Bold Chieftain, who won the Cal Cup Classic on Nov. 3, is another example of the RF, as he is inbred 3x3 to the influential broodmare My Charmer through her two sons Seattle Slew (Bold Reasoning) and Seattle Dancer (Nijinsky II). Bold Chieftain is by Chief Seattle (Seattle Slew), who never won a stakes but finished second to Anees in the 1999 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and second to Greenwood Lake in the Champagne Stakes. His female family had not produced anything of significance until Bold Chieftain, and is testimony that inbreeding to superior females, such as My Charmer, can help jump-start a pedigree.