TDN Takeaways: February’s Graded Races

[Wandering Eyes]

As racing across the nation heats up with spring nearly upon us, we take a look at trends and notable items from the country's graded races in February. 

• February featured 20 graded races from coast to coast. Five tracks hosted graded events during the month: Fair Grounds (4), Gulfstream Park (3), Oaklawn Park (4), Santa Anita Park (7), and Tampa Bay Downs (2). Four were Grade II events, while 16 were Grade III. Six were contested on turf, with 14 on dirt.
• Eight of the graded contests were for sophomores, split evenly with four each for fillies and colts. Trainers Bob Baffert and Brad Cox each won two, while the feel-good story was undoubtedly trainer Lonnie Briley, who won the first graded race of his career when Coal Battle (Coal Front) took the GII Rebel Stakes. It also marked the first graded win for Louisiana stallion Coal Front, who formerly stood at Spendthrift Farm.
• Magnitude (Not This Time) notched a 108 Beyer Speed Figure in the GII Risen Star Stakes, a number believed to equal the highest ever awarded to a sophomore at Fair Grounds. The Risen Star is also the first Kentucky Derby prep race of the year at nine furlongs.
• The 20 graded races were won by the progeny of 17 unique sires, with Into Mischief, Not This Time, and the late Malibu Moon all doubling up. Into Mischief got his pair of graded winners in about 90 minutes on Feb. 1 (Citizen Bull and Eclatant) and Not This Time got his in about two hours on Feb. 15 (Magnitude and Dazzling Move).
• A dozen of the month's 17 graded sires are active in Kentucky. Of the five remaining sires, three are deceased, one has moved to Japan, and the other to Louisiana. Only one held court outside of the Bluegrass state (Florida) when his February winner was conceived.
• Of the dozen Kentucky stallions, Omaha Beach has the fewest crops to race (2), while Medaglia d'Oro has the most (17). Into Mischief ($250,000, Spendthrift) and Gun Runner ($250,000, Three Chimneys) have the highest fees, while Midnight Lute ($10,000, Hill 'n' Dale) and Temple City ($5,000, Spendthrift) stand for the least.
• Each graded winner was represented by a different breeder. Six were homebreds.
• Two sides of the yearling sales spectrum were represented, with GIII Mineshaft Stakes winner Hall of Fame (Gun Runner) bringing $1.4 million as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling and GIII Tampa Bay Stakes winner Running Bee (English Channel) bringing $19,000 as a short yearling at Fasig-Tipton February.
• The 20 winners featured 18 unique broodmare sires, with Scat Daddy and Victory Gallop doubling up. Of the four living broodmare sires that are still active in the U.S., three stand at Darley: Medaglia d'Oro, Midshipman, and Street Sense. The other is Gainesway's Tapit.
• Although he's come close several times, Silver Charm–the oldest living GI Kentucky Derby winner at 31–had his first U.S. graded winner as a broodmare sire when El Potente (Temple City) won the GIII Thunder Road Stakes.
• GII Santa Monica Stakes winner Kopion (Omaha Beach) is out of Canada's 2016 Broodmare of the Year, Galloping Ami. The latter's sire, Victory Gallop, who was exported to Turkey in 2008, was also represented as a broodmare sire by GIII Palos Verdes Stakes winner Roll On Big Joe (Prospective) in February.

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