My assumptions about the horse racing conversance of my audience probably vary widely. In the last post, for instance, I was expecting you to know Bayou's Lassie (in truth, I vaguely remember her), and in this one, I'm telling you that the very fine Ultra Blend is one of the horses in the...ummm...Ladies' Classic.
She is by Richly Blended, who was a good horse, but of the brilliant variety, and of an even shorter preferring sire, Rizzi. So I wondered where she got her stamina and targeted the (to me) anonymous broodmare sire, Desert Classic.
After looking up Desert Classic, I quickly lost interest in the stamina question for Ultra Blend. I don't think stamina counts for much when the horse just can't run, and Desert Classic couldn't. Running from 1986-89, he started 28 times, won 5 races, and earned just $87,000. He tried one stake, the Harvest Handicap at Fresno in 1988, and ran 3rd. While a half brother to Derby 4th Classic Go Go, he hardly had the record of a sire, let alone a likely presence in the pedigree of a Breeders' Cup starter.
His daughter, the 1996 filly Ankha, is Ultra Blend's dam. She placed but never made it to the winner's circle in 7 starts. Her first race was for maiden claiming 12.5 at Golden Gate, and her last for state-bred $8,000 at Stockton. She ran 10th in the early stages in both before finishing mid-pack, so she had something of the style of Ultra Blend.
Ankha did get a shot as a broodmare, or at least a career, and some of her mates were even more obscure than Desert Classic. The 2002 filly Lil Nugget was by Mining for Money, a Mining who looked good as an early 2-year-old, but ended his career with just one win, one small stakes 2nd, and $22,000 in earnings. Lil Nugget was a pleasant surprise on the track, at least, winning four claimers in Southern California, and eaning $66,000 in 14 starts.
Lil Nugget was followed by Free Throw, by the stallion From Down Town. From Down Town's stud career is really hard to figure: he made $15,000 in his career in 10 starts. A Cal-bred, he won one time, by a nose, in the final race of his career, for maiden claiming $8,000. He was 5 years old and running at Sacramento. We can have honest disagreement about the extent to which mares should be held accountable for their results when bred to "bad" stallions; I would say bad is a relative term, and most stallions give their mares a chance. But I would not hold Free Throw's winless record against Ankha.
Ultra Blend herself started for maiden claiming $25,000 at Stockton, running 2nd, and then rattled off four wins in a row. Anyone looking at her pedigree had to be scared off of claiming her from that debut.
No comments:
Post a Comment