LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thorpedo Anna dominated last Friday’s Kentucky Oaks as the second betting choice, leading all the way and splashing clear to a 4 3/4-length victory. But in some ways, the filly was the biggest of longshots. Her mere existence is a credit to breeder and co-owner Judy Hicks, as Thorpedo Anna’s dam, Sataves, had a premature and troubled start to life and required painstaking care.
It would be virtually impossible for a broodmare to have two Kentucky Derby starters in the same year; the race is, of course, only for 3-year-olds, and surviving, thriving twins are rare in horses. But the pensioned broodmare Darling My Darling has found a way to get her name into this year’s lineup twice. Two of the mare’s daughters have foals in the race, represented by Sierra Leone and Forever Young.
Gun Runner and Justify were both brilliant on the track, earning Horse of the Year honors. For those accomplishments, they will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame this summer. First, though, they’ll try to add another accomplishment to the brilliant start to their respective stud careers, as both have Kentucky Derby entrants this weekend.
The influence of the late, great Storm Cat can’t be overstated. Five of this year’s Kentucky Derby entrants carry his blood via direct male line. One of those is Resilience, by leading sire Into Mischief, a great-grandson of Storm Cat.
The other Storm Cat line Derby horses are Domestic Product, Mystik Dan, Just a Touch, and Just Steel.
Puca is looking to make Kentucky Derby history when her son Dornoch starts in next Saturday’s spring classic. In a century and a half, no broodmare has ever produced multiple winners of the race. Puca, the dam of 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, makes the attempt with that colt’s full brother.
“We’re talking against the odds here,” said Robert Clay, who bred both Mage and Dornoch in the name of Grandview Equine before selling Puca to John Stewart’s Resolute Farm last fall. “It would just be unbelievable. It would be incredible. It would be a great thrill for us.”
Breeding can be a mysterious game, and while there were high hopes for the now-retired Olivier, the full brother to 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline, he didn’t deliver, finishing unplaced in three starts.
“It became obvious, once he was in training, that he wasn’t his brother,” said Jane Lyon, who bred the 4-year-old Tapit gelding in the name of her Summer Wind Equine, and who raced him with partners WinStar Farm and Siena Farm.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mandy Pope, clad in her hot pink stable colors that Irad Ortiz Jr. had just worn while piloting Leslie’s Rose to a Grade 1 Ashland Stakes victory at Keeneland, couldn’t keep her eyes off her filly as the replay rolled on a nearby screen.
“The way she came through there, and was brave,” Pope narrated as Leslie’s Rose made her move between horses. “The way she just charged through there, oh my gosh, just watching it again sends chills up you. I just – look at her go! She’s just awesome.”
Australian champion Lonhro, a leading sire for Darley’s Southern Hemisphere operations who also shuttled to the United States for three seasons, has died at the age of 25, his ownership reported on Friday.
Lonhro, by Octagonal, was foaled in December 1998, during the Southern Hemisphere season, at Darley’s Woodlands Stud. According to the operation, he was described on his foaling sheet as “tiny but perfect.”
Encino
Colt by Nyquist – Glittering Jewel, by Bernardini
Bred in Kentucky by Godolphin
The big question for Encino coming into last Saturday’s Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland was how he might handle dirt after making his first three starts on Turfway Park’s Tapeta. But the colt, who won gamely to move himself into the Kentucky Derby field based on points, has a classic-type dirt pedigree.
