By Alan Porter
On Friday it’s a case of “the animals came in two by two,” at least as far as short yearlings are concerned, with Smoke Glacken, Roman Ruler, and Medallist (who had a top-rated horse yesterday) all having a pair in the Top 10.
Smoke Glacken has turned into one of our most reliable sires of speed and precocity, and he has a pair coming just four hips apart. Hip 1633 is a colt out of Avalon Bay, a half sister to ace turf miler Artie Schiller. With a dam by Broad Brush, this earns an A++ on the strength of the Two Punch/Ack Ack cross which has produced four stakes winners, including graded winner K. O. Punch (by Two Punch) and Smoke Glacken’s stakes winner Gazillion – bred on an identical cross to this one. Hip 1637, the first foal of the stakes-placed Saint Ballado mare Ballado’s Baby, is a product of the successful Smoke Glacken/Hail to Reason cross. Another notable from this cross is graded winner Carthage, who is out of a mare by Saint Ballado’s sire, Halo. Incidentally, Smoke Glacken brings in Grey Dawn II, who is the product of a Herbager/Mahmoud cross, like Saint Ballado’s dam, Ballade.
The second highest rated yearling for the day is a colt from the first crop of Mingun (an A.P. Indy half brother to Kingmambo). Hip 1648 is out of the stakes winning Skywalker mare Blue Sky Baby, and is bred on the successful A.P. Indy/Skywalker cross, which gives linebreeding to Boldnesian, in the male line of Seattle Slew and as the broodmare sire of Skywalker.
The third highest rated short yearling is hip 1516, by D’wildcat out of Pelicus Affair, a half sister to American Derby (gr. II) winner Pine Dance. This filly is bred on the Forest Wildcat/Pentelicus cross, which has already produced three stakes winners including grade I scorer Wildcat Heir. The pedigree also features a double of In Reality combined with Dr. Fager (by In Reality’s broodmare sire, Rough’n Tumble) and the potent combination of Storm Bird and Nijinsky II.
Among the in-foal mare contingent, A. P. Indy sons fill four of the top six covering sire spots, with three carried foals by Golden Missile – who looks a major addition for the New York program for 2008 – and one by Stephen Got Even. Heading the field is hip 1791, Just Gin’n, a daughter of Go For Gin out of stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed Eloquent Silver. The in utero foal is bred on a version of the A.P. Indy/Cormorant cross, a nick most noted for Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) hero Silver Train. Second on the list is hip 1797, Kissin You, a daughter of You and I, who is in foal to Canadian Horse of the Year Wando. That stallion is by Langfuhr , a son of Danzig, and there is already a pair of stakes winners by Danzig sons out of mares by You and I. The A.P. Indy/Skywalker cross already earned a mention through one of today’s short yearlings, and the same cross is responsible for the A++ rating of the carried foal for hip 1562, Something Sinful, a Skywalker daughter in foal to Stephen Got Even.
