Sons and Daughters

On Wednesday, race 3 at Keeneland features some famous siblings trying to break their maiden. Barclay Tagg sends out Ya Gotta Have Soul, a half-brother to Tale of Ekati who, despite a promising win in the Wood Memorial, crushed my 2008 Derby hopes. Thus far, his half-brother doesn’t look like much with two distant finishes in dirt races at Gulfstream going shorter. He should be able to stretch out to 1-1/8 mile, but the question is, can he? Another here is Indianapolis, who’s finished in the money in three of five starts, but not this year; he’s the half-brother of Einstein. I’m not sure exactly how to describe their relationship, but Indianapolis is related to another entrant in this race, Tahoe Lake whose dam Tutto Charm is Einstein’s half-sister. Julien Leparoux rides Ambergris Caye, a full-brother of Perfect Drift, and Shug McGaughey sends out Spanish Art—his mother wasn’t much, but she’s a three-quarter sister to G1 Haskell and Travers winner Coronado’s Quest, and his third dam was a half-sister to the incomparable Ruffian. Still, with all those prestigious bloodlines, the favorite looks to be Elusive Beat.

Race 8 is the G2 Beaumont, and Garrett Gomez is in from California to ride Franny Freud, a narrow second-place finisher to Amen Hallelujah in the G2 Santa Ynez. Still, it begs the question, can she get 7 furlongs? I really like Diva Delite who goes out for her new connections after running her entire career in Florida—but what a career, with 8 wins and 6 placings in 15 starts, including the G3 Florida Oaks last out. No synthetic races, but two turf races with second-place finishes in each. She’s gutsy! The other intriguing entry is Michael Matz-trained Kawiye who’s raced twice in Peru (oh god, shades of Tomcito!)

In baby news, sad to hear that Pepper’s Pride lost her Tiznow foal, but has now been bred to Distorted Humor. Proud Spell recently produced an Indian Charlie filly, and has been bred to Medaglia d’Oro, while (appropriately) on St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, Rags to Riches birthed a Henrythenavigator colt; she's been bred to Galileo this year. Being born on such a momentous day, this colt needs a special name. How about Palladius, who brought Christianity to Ireland before the legendary St. Patrick? I love Horatio Alger too. In a previous post, Amateurcapper suggested Finn MacCool, while Dana from Green But Game went with Road to Riches, although that was for the Giant’s Causeway foal which ended up being a filly. Maybe with Henrythenavigator we change that to Voyage to Riches? Mymombeatcurlin would be undignified, but I’d love to see her bred to Curlin—Mymombeatmydad.