Home

The very promising start made by the first crop of Harlan's Holiday gained further momentum on Monday, when the undefeated Denis of Cork took the Southwest Stakes (gr. III). Denis of Cork is the sixth stakes winner for Harlan's Holiday, and he follows Hollywood Park's Cashcall Futurity (gr. I) victor Into Mischief, and Sorrento Stakes (gr. III) winner Tasha's Miracle, as Harlan's Holiday's third graded winner.

Following P. S. U. Grad as the second Harlan's Holiday stakes winner out of a Mr. Prospector-line mare, Denis of Cork is an A+TrueNicks horse. Tracking the evolution of the nick is an interesting exercise in noting how nicks can develop and alter over time, and also the value in the TrueNicks program being able to update its ratings and listing of Best Horses Bred on This Cross in a matter of hours after the event.

Harlan's Holiday's sire, the short-lived Harlan, had very limited opportunities with Mr. Prospector-line mares. In fact, we can only find five starters by Harlan out of mares by Mr. Prospector and his sons, none of which won stakes, although one was graded-placed. Surprisingly enough, Harlan actually only appears to have had 13 starters on the next extension of the cross (Harlan over Raise a Native-line mares). From these 13 starters, he was represented by three stakes winners - Harlan's Holiday (out of a mare by Affirmed, from the Exclusive Native branch), Curious Conundrum (out of a mare by Red Attack, from the Alydar branch), and Karly's Harley (out a mare by Majestic Prince).

Harlan's only significant sire son prior to Harlan's Holiday was Menifee. That sire proved to be a relative disappointment with Mr. Prospector-line mares, getting only two stakes winners, the best of which is this year's grade II winner Game Face. So until there was some evidence to base conclusions upon - "opportunity" - it was hard to tell whether or not Harlan's Holiday was likely to work well with Mr. Prospector-line mares. Now with Denis of Cork (whose dam is by Unbridled) and P. S. U. Grad (who is out of a Native Prospector mare), Harlan's Holiday has two stakes winners out of only 13 starts with Mr. Prospector-line dams.

Incidentally, a look at the TrueNicks Best Horses Bred on This Cross also tells us that Harlan's Holiday has the very promising filly J Z Warrior out of a mare by the Mr. Prospector son Carson City, and the impressive first-time-out maiden special weight scorer Holiday Romance, out of a mare by Mr. Prospector's son Kingmambo. Couple this with the fact that Harlan's Holiday's two time stakes winner Bear Holiday has a second dam by Fappiano, and the omens are beginning to look good for Harlan's Holiday with Mr. Prospector.

Filed under: Sire Lines, Recent Winners