LEXINGTON, Ky. - The dark horse in the Preakness is almost pure black. His dark hide polished like obsidian, Rock Hard Ten glints blue, green, and gold as he goes across the track in the morning sun.
Unraced at 2 and one of two horses bumped from a position in the Kentucky Derby because of a lack of graded stakes earnings, Rock Hard Ten comes into the Preakness Stakes with much to prove but has the potential to be a tremendous racer.
The Barretts Sales Company set records for highest average and highest median at Tuesday's one-day sale of 2-year-olds in training in Pomona, Calif. The average reached $37,371, a gain of 22.5 percent over 2003, while the median was $27,000, a gain of 58.8 percent.
With fewer horses selling this year and a one-day format rather than the two-day sale in 2003, the gross of $7,053,000 fell 1.8 percent. There were 189 horses sold on Tuesday compared with 236 last year. Tuesday, 11 horses sold for $100,000 or more.
The Barretts May 2-year-old sale got under way Tuesday in California with an early six-figure horse, thanks to J. Paul Reddam. Reddam paid $110,000 for Hip No. 22, Golden Reservoir, a Formal Gold colt offered by consignor Becky Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock agency.
As of 4:30 p.m., that was the highest price of the session, but there were still several hours of selling left at the Fairplex sale pavilion in Pomona, Calif.
LAS VEGAS - While Smarty Jones and Lion Heart renew their rivalry in the Preakness Stakes this Saturday, two new and highly regarded players add intrigue to the middle jewel of the Triple Crown - that is, if the track is fast.
Rock Hard Ten (by Kris S.) and Eddington (Unbridled) were excluded from the Kentucky Derby because they did not have enough earnings in graded stakes. But it may have been a blessing in disguise for both colts.
The 2-year-old sale market has been strong throughout the nation in recent months, which may lead to higher prices at Tuesday's Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training in Pomona, Calif.
While the Barretts March sale and other major events in Florida and Kentucky attracted buyers from throughout the world, Tuesday's one-day sale caters more to regional buyers. Without that international impact, predicting whether it will be a buyer's or seller's market is more difficult, according to Barretts president Gerald McMahon.
Smarty Jones is a Pennsylvania-bred with strong family ties to Florida. His great granddam, Stolen Base, by Herbager, joined the Francis A. Genter Stable broodmare band at Tartan Farms in Florida in the fall of 1978. She was in foal to Buckpasser. Stolen Base, a broodmare with the bluest of Phipps family bloodlines, subsequently produced four stakes winners for the Genters.
Go back a few more generations and you come to La Troienne, one of the most important ancestral influences on the modern American racehorse
Name the 3-year-old colt who was bred by a small operation, born and raised on a farm in the suburbs of a major East Coast city, won his maiden impressively at a mid-Atlantic track in his first start, and won a stakes race on the first Saturday in May. If you guessed Frisky Spider, you are correct.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Let's hear no more heartfelt epics about Smarty Jones as the classic winner from the wrong side of the tracks. Good horses rarely have truly bad pedigrees, and if a horse doesn't do something to make his pedigree look better, a quick look around will usually turn up a distinguished ancestor or three.
In the case of Smarty Jones, there is no need to look far.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Brent Fernung looks over the broodmare band at CloverLeaf Farms in Reddick, Fla., he sees a lot of potential. That's especially true of one mare, I'll Get Along, who became the dam of a Derby winner last Saturday. Smarty Jones's victory has given I'll Get Along's reputation a big boost, as evidenced by the offers that have poured in to buy the mare since Derby Day.