The Keystone State Strikes Again

What is it with Pennsylvania-breds racing in Europe? Yeah, we’ve enjoyed Smarty Jones (Someday Farm), Fabulous Strike (Tea Party Stable) and Hard Spun (Brushwood Stable) this side of the pond in recent years, but it never fails to amaze me when PA-breds make it big abroad.

I wrote previously about 7-year-old Lord Admiral (Derry Meeting Farm) who followed up his disappointing tenth (of 16) place finish in the G1 Dubai Duty Free (to Jay Peg, Darjina, Archipenko, Vodka and Finsceal Beo, among others) with a second-place finish in the G3 Amethyst Stakes in May.

Now it’s Lucarno (Augustin Stable). After finishing sixth to Youmzain in the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud last out, Lucarno (Dynaformer-Vignette, by Diesis) came back to score a win in the G2 Princess of Wales’ Stakes at Newmarket last Thursday. His 3-year-old campaign in 2007 included a fourth-place finish behind Authorized in the G1 Vodafone Epsom Derby, a second-place finish to Boscobel in the G2 King Edward VII Stakes, and back-to-back victories, in the G2 Great Voltigeur Stakes and G1 St Leger Stakes.

According to his trainer John Gosden, “He is a horse who thrives on racing and he did very well through the winter. He is a huge bull of a horse and has taken a while to get back into the groove and he is just finding his way back…There are good races later in the year and I wouldn’t be frightened of an Arc.”

Not too shabby for a state on the fringes of the horse racing industry.

Then again, there was this PA-bred horse once that made quite an impact in the breeding shed—ever hear of Danzig (Derry Meeting Farm)?

Let’s see, he only produced—among many others—the Canadian Triple Crown winner Dance Smartly (who’s been an outstanding producer as a broodmare), two-time G1 BC Mile champion Lure, G1 Preakness winner Pine Bluff, G1 BC Juvenile winner Chief’s Crown, G1 BC Mile champion War Chant, G1 Belmont winner Danzig Connection, multiple-G1 winner Langfuhr, and one of the most dominant Australian and European sires of this century: Danehill, who sired such noteworthies as Dylan Thomas, Peeping Fawn, Redoute’s Choice, Intercontinental, George Washington, Caciques, Danzero, Desert King, Nothin Leica Dane, King of Danes, Rock of Gibraltar, Danasinga, Duke of Marmalade…