Blue Collar vs. Blue Bloods

In race 4 at Aqueduct on Sunday, I’ll be sentimentally rooting for 20-1 morning line longshot Are You Dancing, an Illinois-bred three-year-old filly of obscure breeding (by Unreal Zeal, out of an unraced Wolf Power mare, Apalachee Wolf). So why am I interested about this first-time starter? She was featured in The Blue Collar Thoroughbred, a book I reviewed back in July, and had tagged in my Virtual Stable purely out of curiosity, to find out if the McDonnell family’s small-time breeding operation could produce a winning horse. Here’s wishing her connections the best!

She’s up against some impressively bred competition. First, there’s So Glitzy (by Gilded Time out of the Darn That Alarm mare So Ritzy) who is a half-sister to multiple grade 1 winner Silver Wagon, and multiple stakes winner Rehoboth. Also in this race (as an even longer shot) is Madeline’s Music who has shown nothing in five starts (on turf and dirt, from 6 furlongs to 8.5 furlongs). By Menifee out of the Pentelicus mare Piano, she is a half-sister to Awesome Gem, most recently third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. First-time starter Ambience (by Chester House out of the Known Fact mare Known Romance) is a half-sister to multiple grade 2 winner High Limit (LA Derby, Strub, San Pasqual). Golden Dawn (by Hennessy) is out of the Carson City mare Paved in Gold, a multiple stakes winner, who has produced two other offspring, both winners. Still, the toughest horse in the field looks to be Jordan’s Lane who had three straight second place finishes at Aqueduct before beginning an eight-month layoff in February. If she can fire off that break, she’ll be difficult to beat, but I think Are You Dancing has a good chance here.

On Sunday, Fasig-Tipton’s selected fall mixed sale begins at 2:00 p.m. Eastern with 184 offerings including Octave, Silver Wagon, Maryfield, Ermine, Dream Rush, Asi Siempre, Cash Included, Cotton Blossom, and so many more. I covered my horses of interest here previously. Live video of the sale is available here. I'll post a recap of the auction results later.