Pedigree Insights: Jaywalk

[Wandering Eyes]

From a stallion viewpoint, the results at the recent Breeders’ Cup were remarkably even-handed, with the 14 Breeders’ Cup contests falling to the progeny of 14 different stallions. Several of these stallions have built enviably good records at the Breeders’ Cup contests, none better than the evergreen More Than Ready. His son Roy H’s repeat victory in the GI Sprint was the stallion’s sixth success, the other four all having come on turf.

More Than Ready is one win ahead of Galileo (Ire), who had been responsible for four winners of the GI Turf–Red Rocks (Ire), Magician (Ire), Found (Ire) and Highland Reel (Ire)–before Line of Duty (Ire) broke new ground in landing this year’s GI Juvenile Turf.

City Zip may no longer be around, but he made sure he isn’t going to be forgotten in a hurry, with his son Bulletin following Dayatthespa, Work All Week, Catch A Glimpse and Finest City as his fifth Breeders’ Cup winner. We also saw Quality Road justify the increase in his fee from $70,000 to $150,000 when City of Light followed Hootenanny and Caledonia Road as his third Breeders’ Cup winner from only five crops of racing age. Then there’s Game Winner’s sire Candy Ride (Arg), who had previously taken the 2017 GI Classic with Gun Runner. Also on the two-winner mark is the 24-year-old Stormy Atlantic, thanks to Stormy Liberal’s repeat success in the Turf Sprint.

The remaining eight stallions–Acclamation (GB), Cross Traffic, First Dude, Lookin At Lucky, Lope de Vega (Ire), Myboycharlie (Ire), Nathaniel (Ire) and Tapizar–were all achieving their maiden Breeders’ Cup victory, with some of them underlining the fact that a huge budget isn’t always essential for Breeders’ Cup success.

Shamrock Rose, the Pennsylvania-bred winner of the GI Filly & Mare Sprint, was conceived in Florida, where her sire First Dude was priced at $7,500. Sistercharlie (Ire), the ex-French winner of the GI Filly & Mare Turf, is by the well-travelled Myboycharlie, who stood the 2013 season at only €6,500. Even Tapizar’s rarely defeated daughter Monomoy Girl, whose earnings fall little short of $3 million, is the product of a $15,000 service fee.

The one I am singling out, though, is Jaywalk, who inflicted a 5 1/2-length defeat on the ‘TDN Rising Star’ Restless Rider (Distorted Humor) to take the GI Juvenile Fillies. In doing so, she turned the spotlight onto her first-crop sire Cross Traffic, who began his stallion career at Spendthrift at $12,500 but was soon down to $7,500. Needless to say, the fact that he now holds a clear lead on the first-crop sires’ table has earned him a sizeable increase, up to $25,000.

Five of Cross Traffic’s 37 starters have become black-type winners. Although some of these black-type successes have been gained in Canada, Minnesota and Puerto Rico, there is nothing provincial about Jaywalk’s recent achievements, which also include a decisive win in the GI Frizette S. In winning the Juvenile Fillies, she followed in the footsteps of such stars as Songbird, Beholder, Silverbulletday, Go For Wand and Open Mind, all of whom went on to add the Eclipse Award for 3-year-old filly to their 2-year-old award.

There is nothing in Jaywalk’s pedigree to suggest that this progressive filly won’t also develop into a leading contender for the top fillies’ prizes at three, apart from the issues which kept Cross Traffic from racing at the ages of two, three and five.

I delved into the TDN archive to remind myself of the Unbridled’s Song colt’s 4-year-old campaign, which began with a pair of stylish successes at Gulfstream. These were followed by impressive Beyer figures of 116 and 110 when Cross Traffic suffered narrow defeats in the GIII Westchester S. and GI Metropolitan H. The GoldMark Farm colt was then rewarded with victory in the GI Whitney H. when upped to a mile and an eighth.

After the Whitney, GoldMark’s Todd Quast explained to the TDN that “He was just a big, strapping colt, but I just thought he was a bit immature at two. We got him to the track at three and he was close to running–he worked a bullet at Belmont in May [5f in :59.41]–but came up with a shin problem. We just gave him the time and that was it. Knowing that sire and the family, we just decided to take our time.

“It’s really kind of phenomenal the progress he’s made. It’s a testament to taking time with him, because we always thought he was a quality colt.”

The 4-year-old stumbled badly at the start when only seventh of eight in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. A shin injury was diagnosed and he didn’t make it back to the races as a 5-year-old.

Jaywalk could be said to have been bred for Breeders’ Cup success, as her grandsires are Unbridled’s Song, who landed the 1995 Juvenile at Belmont Park; and Orientate, who sealed the title of 2002’s champion sprinter when he landed the Sprint at Arlington Park.

Unbridled’s Song has played a sizeable part in the success of Jaywalk’s family. It was another of his sons, Dunkirk, who sired the Grade III-placed Danzatrice from her once-raced dam Lady Pewitt. Unbridled’s Song was directly responsible for Mission Impazible, a half-brother to Jaywalk’s unraced second dam Spin Room. Mission Impazible shone at the Fair Grounds, where he landed the GII Louisiana Derby at three and the GII New Orleans H. at four, in the process becoming the third graded stakes winner produced by La Paz. Lady Pewitt’s 2018 filly is by Empire Maker, another son of Unbridled, and she was bred back to him.

Cross Traffic is the seventh son of Unbridled’s Song to sire a Grade I winner, following Old Fashioned, Dunkirk, Value Plus, First Defence, Even the Score and Rockport Harbor, with each of the last three siring a pair of Grade I winners.

To my mind, this doesn’t make Unbridled’s Song a successful sire of sires–yet–as several of these stallions failed to cement their place in Kentucky. There were also several Grade I-winning sons, such as Zensational, Buddha, Midshipman and Songandaprayer, which so far haven’t enjoyed Grade I success as stallions.

Don’t despair, though, as there is still time for Unbridled’s Song to come up with a top-class stallion. According to Racing Post ratings, the top five sons of Unbridled’s Song include Arrogate (136), Will Take Charge (126), Cross Traffic (125) and Liam’s Map (124). Will Take Charge, like Cross Traffic, will have his first 3-year-olds racing in 2019, when Liam’s Map’s first 2-year-olds reach the races (they averaged more than $160,000, off a $25,000 fee). And Arrogate, who was head and shoulders above these other sons on the track, is well placed to prove that Unbridled’s Song has been saving the best till last.

 

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