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Bred and trained by Bob Baffert, Misremembered is out Beyond Perfection, a daughter of Quack (by T.V. Lark), who won the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (gr. II), Bay Meadows Oaks (gr. III), and Barretts Debutante Stakes. Beyond Perfection, who was 18 years old when she foaled Misremembered, had never previously produced a stakes winner. Despite being the result of what looks to be a fairly obscure cross, Misremembered is rated A++ by TrueNicks, and when we dug into the background a little we did unearth a few connections worth considering.

Firstly, Candy Ride's broodmare sire, Candy Stripes, is the product of a Blushing Groom/Northern Dancer cross. Blushing Groom's sire, Red God, and T.V. Lark are Nasrullah line horses with second dams by Bull Dog. In addition, T.V. Lark's sire, Indian Hemp, is the product of a very similar Nearco/Hyperion cross to Nearctic, sire of Northern Dancer. Despite their relatively limited opportunities, Blushing Groom and T.V. Lark appear together in a surprisingly high number of stakes-winning pedigrees, more than 30 in fact, including champion sprinter Orientate, other grade I winners Body Soguero and Tates Creek, and grade II winners Capt. Candyman Can (another by Candy Ride), Kafwain, Lord Best, Rahy's Appeal, Sweet Vendetta, Two Timing, and Windsor Castle. Here, Blushing Groom (by a son of Nasrullah, and granddam Aimee) is also reinforced by Misremembered's granddam, who is by a grandson of Khaled (close relative to Aimee) out of a mare by a son of Nasrullah.

Looking at the pedigree of Candy Ride's sire Ride the Rails, we can note that he is inbred 4 x 3 to the important mare Alablue (third dam of both Cryptoclearance and Ride the Rails -- grandsire and sire of Candy Ride). She is by Blue Larkspur out of a Sir Gallahad III mare, and T. V. Lark's granddam reverses that cross, as she is by Bull Dog (brother to Sir Gallahad III) out of a Blue Larkspur mare. Somewhat surprisingly, Alablue and T.V. Lark are found together in the first five generations of the pedigrees of at least 11 stakes winners, including champion Bertrando.

Incidentally, we should note that Candy Ride has already proved that he can work well with more commonplace strains, as additional stakes winners are out of Storm Cat-line mares (Evita Argentina from a mare by Forest Wildcat, Capt. Candyman Can from a mare by Storm Creek, and Sydney's Candy out of a mare by Storm Cat himself); graded winner Chocolate Candy is out of a mare by Seattle Slew (grandsire Boldnesian, from a family that is duplicated in Candy Ride's sire); and graded winner El Brujo is out of a mare by Devil's Bag (another who brings in Khaled). Like many horses who started relatively inexpensively, Candy Ride might have to work through a quieter season or two, but he is one that breeders should keep in their notebooks for the next couple of seasons, even if that happens.

Filed under: Recent Winners, Sires