Breeding Digest: Sovereignty Extends Damsire’s Dominion

[Wandering Eyes]

Though one of his daughters lost the services of Magnitude (Not This Time) straight after his GII Risen Star romp, and another must send Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie) in from the cold this weekend, once again last Saturday the extraordinary distaff influence of Bernardini loomed behind the big Derby rehearsals on either coast.

True, the winners of both the GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes and GII San Felipe Stakes were first and foremost repaying a seven-figure investment in their respective dams–each clearly having much else going for them.

But the fact remains that Sovereignty (Into Mischief) was homebred by Godolphin from Bernardini's unraced daughter Crowned; while the granddam of Journalism (Curlin) similarly came good in her second career, after doing nothing for Bernardini's reputation in her first.

Her name is Peppy Rafaela. A half-sister to triple graded stakes scorer Songster (Songandaprayer), she did manage three starts, but only one suggested she might aspire even to mediocrity. Her flowering as a broodmare, however, was immediate. Her first foal Mopotism (Uncle Mo) placed in four Grade I races and had her day in the sun when winning a three-way photo for the GII La Canada Stakes.

On retirement Mopotism joined the Don Alberto broodmare band for $1.05 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in 2019, and Journalism retrieved most of that outlay as her first yearling, raising $825,000 from Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners at Saratoga. Mopotism's next foal, a Tapit colt, did better still in the same ring last summer, selling to Flying Dutchmen for $1.5 million. Given that Journalism then featured on the page only as an unraced 2-year-old, you can imagine what kind of prince this mare must be throwing.

In the meantime, however, her mother has not yet come up with another Mopotism, though full-sister Ruth made a sufficient impression on debut at Gulfstream in December to be tried in the Busanda Stakes next time (proved a non-event after stumbling early).

Ruth races in the silks of her breeder Frank Batten, who had bought Peppy Rafaela with a maiden cover by Uncle Mo for $100,000 at the Keeneland January Sale in 2014. That cost was immediately retrieved by her weanling in the same ring that November, at $135,000. Yes, Mopotism would eventually turn out to be worth a lot more. But their breeder was able to show up at the September sale, 10 months after Mopotism realized seven figures at the end of her track career, with a full-brother who duly raised $775,000. And now, of course, he has Ruth eligible to profit from every step forward taken by Journalism.

Journalism | Benoit

Patience is also being rewarded by the dam of Sovereignty, Crowned having never made the starting gate after Sheikh Mohammed bought her for $1.2 million at the 2014 Keeneland September sale. That was some reward for breeder Brushwood Stable's decision to send Grade I winner Mushka (Empire Maker) to Bernardini, then at the peak of his reputation as a $150,000 cover.

Mushka had herself cost Zayat Stable even more as a yearling, at $1.6 million, being out of a stakes-placed daughter of Seeking the Gold and four-time Grade I winner Lakeway (Seattle Slew). She was sold on to Brushwood for $2.4 million at the 2008 Keeneland November sale, after not really building on her GII Demoiselle Stakes success. Kept with Bill Mott by her new owners, she matured to be awarded the GI Spinster Stakes and also finished second in the GI Ladies' Classic.

Muskha initially proved a lucrative producer. Her first yearling, a Distorted Humor colt, made $1.65 million from Shadwell and then came Crowned, another seven-figure sale to the Maktoums. But she evidently had her troubles, at one point producing just two registered foals across five seasons, neither of which ever made the track, and was duly culled at the 2016 November sale for $650,000 to SF Bloodstock & Newgate Farm. While a Tapit filly in utero cleared that investment as a $675,000 yearling, Mushka would produce only one more foal, a $370,000 Ghostzapper filly who went on to be stakes-placed at Canterbury Park.

Mushka's granddam and fellow Grade I winner Lakeway stands directly opposite her own sire in the pedigree of Crowned, since Seattle Slew also gave us Bernardini's sire A.P. Indy. There's also a duplication of Fappiano: one son, Quiet American, is Bernardini's damsire; another, Unbridled, provides Mushka's sire Empire Maker. These Classic brands have obviously told in Sovereignty, potentially another case of Into Mischief speed being drawn out for the Derby by the kind of upgraded mares that have already given the Spendthrift champion Authentic and Mandaloun.

Sentimental Reunion Unlocks Lucrative Yield

Whatever Bernardini may have contributed to their blood, Sovereignty and Journalism have a far more blatant bond. Both, incredibly, received their education at Bridlewood–whose team saw enough in Journalism to buy into the partnership (along with breeders Don Alberto) after his sale to Eclipse Thoroughbreds. Congratulations to Bridlewood trainer Joan “Meda” Murphy, whose resume already features a horse called Gun Runner.

The latter's 10th Grade I winner, Locked, was also bought as a yearling by Eclipse Thoroughbreds, in this case in partnership with Walmac Farm for $425,000 at the 2022 September sale.

If the prize is no longer commensurate with its wonderful history, Locked's performance in the Big 'Cap certainly was. He is the second elite scorer from Gun Runner's third crop, alongside Sierra Leone, and similarly out of a Malibu Moon mare.

This one, Luna Rosa, is half-sister to two very smart performers: dual Grade I winner Gabby's Golden Gal (Medaglia d'Oro) and triple Grade II winner Always a Princess (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}). But that pair had yet to make the track when their dam Gabriellina Giof (GB) (Ashkalani {Ire}), a stakes winner in both Italy and California, was bought by Rosa Colasanti for $75,000, through Federico Barberini, at the 2008 Keeneland January sale.

Locked | Benoit

This, touchingly, was actually a homecoming for the mare, who had raced for Colasanti in Italy (in partnership with breeder Antonio Gioffredi of Scuderia Super King) before being imported to the U.S. by Arnold Zetcher. Colasanti, whose family has run the iconic Rome restaurant Il Matriciano for over a century, was essentially pursuing a sentimental dream in retrieving her favorite horse. But her timing proved to be inspired. Gabriellina Giof resurfaced for sale just as Always a Princess and Gabby's Golden Gal had formally become yearling and 2-year-old, respectively.

Locked's dam Luna Rosa, a turf maiden winner in a light career, was the last foal out of Gabriellina Giof. Mating her with a son of Candy Ride (Arg) complemented the long South American ancestry of her maternal family. Locked's fifth dam, who came to the U.S. from Peru, traces through 10 generations of Argentinian breeding to Delicia (GB), imported from Britain in 1889.

Incidentally, Colasanti has again followed the career of a cherished female in Luna Rosa's half-sister Crossing the Tape (Johannesburg). Having made $245,000 as a yearling, she did win a maiden, but was eventually retrieved for just $8,000 through Swynford Management at the 2017 November sale. Owned in partnership by Signora Colasanti, Dr. Naoya Yoshida and Kara McDermott, she's now grazing alongside Luna Rosa (who's again due to Gun Runner) at Winchester Farm.

Vintage Names All Round Liguria

To those of us who fear that the commercial breeding industry has been relentlessly sowing the seeds of its own destruction, perhaps the most comforting pedigree of the weekend was that of GII Buena Vista Stakes winner Liguria (War Front).

While her venerable sire is now in the evening of his career, at 23, by the same token he compresses our access to his own, breed-shaping sire Danzig, who was older yet when conceiving War Front. (Nor was Danzig done, of course, going on to cover the dam of Hard Spun at 26). But the glorious thing about Liguria is that much the same phenomenon can be observed in her maternal family.

Her dam Lerici was foaled in 2004, when her sire Woodman was 21. Granddam Balinese arrived in 1987, when her sire Nijinsky was 20. Third dam Homespun was delivered when her sire Round Table was a relative adolescent at 15 in 1969. It was not until four years later, indeed, that Round Table also sired the third dam of War Front himself.

Liguria | Benoit

This wonderful genetic time capsule was well bought out of Book 1 at the 2021 September sale, where a $275,000 docket was signed by Steven W. Young for Alpha Delta Stables. With a page like hers, it barely mattered whether Liguria made the racetrack. Her three graded stakes siblings include dual GI Rodeo Drive Stakes winner Avenge, also by War Front; Lerici's half-sisters produced runners-up in the GI Travers and GI Santa Anita Derby; and Balinese is sister to two Grade I winners, not to mention half-sister to the third dam of Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d'Oro). Ultimately the line traces to the Belair foundation mare Flambette (Fr).

As it is, Liguria has now won a second graded stakes. No doubt commercial breeders will someday hold her turf aptitude against her foals. In the end, however, the same abiding faith in quality that shaped her talent will survive all the witless fads today shifting mere quantity around from one new sire to the next.

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