Jammin Still
Take Charge Indy–Cat’s Garden, by Tale of the CatBred in Ontario by William D. Graham ($87,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Derek Chin)
Take Charge Indy’s son Everfast finished second in the Preakness Stakes three weeks ago and will start in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. Take Charge Indy also is the sire of Queen’s Plate hopeful Jammin Still, giving the stallion the chance to chase classic wins in both the United States and Canada this season.
The Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap has a history of being a stallion-making race because it showcases the brilliance that is so desired in the American market. Recent history has lived up to the race’s reputation, continuing to make this a coveted prize.
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.
American Pharoah and Justify’s Triple Crown victories were separated by three years on the calendar. But the two are now linked by more than history and shared trainer Bob Baffert – they are now both young stallions for the international Coolmore group, sharing a stallion barn at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.
The bloodstock industry has seen change, but as the ground has shifted under his feet, Tapit has remained strong and steady. The perennial leading sire seeks to lift the bar even higher for himself in Saturday’s renewal of the Belmont Stakes.
Curlin’s incredible streak of classic success is likely to come to an end this season. The stallion, who produced a classic winner or classic-placed runner from each of his first six crops, didn’t have a starter in this year’s Kentucky Derby or Preakness, and does not have any progeny currently under consideration for the Belmont Stakes. However, the Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm stallion is streaking through an outstanding spring, and is set to be represented on the star-studded Belmont Stakes undercard.
In March of 1989, the colt who would be known as A.P. Indy was born. The son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew lived up to his regal breeding and $2.9 million yearling price tag by winning four Grade 1 events, including the 1992 Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic to earn Horse of the Year honors. He then retired to Lane’s End Farm to begin the real work on his legacy.
Skywire
Afleet Alex–Meandering Stream, by Gone West
Bred in Ontario by William D. Graham ($47,000 Keeneland January mixed purchase by De Meric Stables, agent; $45,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile purchase by Hidden Brook, agent)
Skywire could be the latest Queen’s Plate prospect from one of Canada’s most prolific female families, which has a long record of classic success.
Although the star event of the day was California Chrome’s bid for the Triple Crown in the 2014 Belmont Stakes, perhaps that card’s biggest showdown came earlier. Multiple Grade 1 winners Beholder, Close Hatches, and Princess of Sylmar – who would eventually retire with 20 Grade 1 wins, five Eclipse Awards, and more than $10.8 million in earnings among them – faced off in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes. Five years later, they are all on to their second careers as broodmares, and one of them will have an entrant in this year’s Belmont Stakes.
Manitoba, at the longitudinal center of Canada, is often referred to as one of the country’s three “prairie provinces.” Its widely-varied landscape is not exactly an epicenter of Thoroughbred breeding.
Yet Manitoba-bred Escape Clause has emerged from the relative handful of foals produced in the province to become a graded stakes winner. Beaten a nose by multiple Grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou in the Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park last out, she is expected to meet that foe again in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes on the June 8 Belmont Stakes card.
