On May 5, I was able to visit with La Ville Rouge and her new foal at Mill Ridge Farm near Lexington. Although I know fans of the Barbaro family already love this colt, I must say he is an outstanding individual in his own right. He is very curious, very strong, and very sure of himself for one so young.
The Dynaformer colt will be two months old May 10. He is a full brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Barbaro as well as 3-year-old Nicanor and 2-year-old Lentenor. La Ville Rouge did not have a foal last year.
Headley Bell, who is the managing partner of the farm, was kind enough to answer questions about the mare and foal. La Ville Rouge has been bred back to Dynaformer and the farm will know shortly if she is in foal.
"The Jacksons would love to have a full sister to Barbaro," said Bell. "La Ville Rouge was bred on April 26, so we are now counting days. She is an incredibly classy mare who seems to spread this personality and class throughout all of her foals. She makes an incredible mother. If she wasn't who she was, you would still say, 'My, that is a very special mare.' "
Her colt had a few issues along the way, including cracked ribs and an infected umbilicus, but is doing very well now and is in good spirits.
"Both La Ville Rouge and her baby are both doing very well," said Bell. "He's very, very strong individual with a fantastic personality. He will let you know that he exists even if you ignore him."
A photo slideshow is up on the website (link below), and a video featuring La Ville Rouge and her son will be coming soon. (I ask for your patience when it comes to the video. It is Triple Crown season, which is our busiest time of year.) As you can see from the following photo, the colt is very interested in people and his surroundings. He wanted to have his meet and greet with Alex, aka "Stable Boy," who you may have seen in other Blood-Horse videos.
Enjoy! All the photos posted in this blog are courtesy of me. Our chief photographer, Anne Eberhardt, has some wonderful photos for the slideshow.
UPDATES ON NICANOR AND LENTENOR:
For those asking about Lentenor, he left Stephens Thoroughbreds a little over a week ago to join trainer Michael Matz at his base at Fair Hill. Also, on May 6 Nicanor posted his second workout since returning to Fair Hill. He breezed five furlongs in 1:02 flat. His workout was the third fastest out of eight at that distance
