Home

ticker
ticker

WinStar Adds Enhanced Report

The latest farm to make their stallions available for complimentary TrueNicks Enhanced reports is WinStar Farm, an outfit that is currently riding on the crest of a wave, coming off a pair of 2010 classic wins.

Leader of the WinStar stallion division, Distorted Humor (TrueNicks,SRO), is a horse that made an extremely rapid rise through the ranks, from somewhere not too distant from the bargain basement to the top echelon. He’s continued to maintain his position near the top of the tree for several seasons, and last year was only narrowly run out of his first sire’s crown.

Distorted Humor’s current hot horse is Brethren, undefeated winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes (gr. III), and seeking to emulate his half brother, Super Saver, in his quest for a Kentucky Derby (gr. I) victory. Earlier stars for the son of Forty Niner include Kentucky Derby winning Champion Funny Cide, Flower Alley, Hystericalady, Commentator, Any Given Saturday, Awesome Humor, Drosselmeyer, Fourty Niners Son, Bit of Whimsy, and Regal Ransom.

Distorted Humor is seconded at WinStar by his son Sharp Humor (TrueNicks,SRO), winner of three black type events, including the a particularly contentious edition of the Swale Stakes (gr. II), and only narrowly defeated by Barbaro in the Florida Derby (gr. I). Sharp Humor’s first crop were two-year-olds of 2010, and he tied as leading sire by individual winners, with 25, and he already has four stakes winners, and six stakes-placed horses to his name.

The other proven classic sire at WinStar is Tiznow (TrueNicks,SRO), who is still the only two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I). Among the best of his 35 stakes winners are the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) and Travers Stakes (gr. I) captor, Colonel John (TrueNicks,SRO) – now standing at WinStar, and in his second season in 2011 – Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Folklore; Champion Canadian Older Mare Bear Now; Dubai World Cup (gr. I) hero Well Armed; Belmont Stakes (gr. I) victor Da Tara; and other grade I winners Bullsbay and Tough Tiz’s Sis.

If Distorted Humor and Tiznow are primarily associated with classic distance performers, Champion Sprinter Speightstown (TrueNicks,SRO) is a speed influence who can also get a horse who can carry that speed. The prime example is Haynesfield, who led from wire-to-wire to defeat Blame in last year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I). Among the other notables from Speightstown’s first three crops are the group I-winning European miler Lord Shanakill; Humana Distaff Stakes (gr. I) victress Mona De Momma; Cigar Mile (gr. I) captor Jersey Town; and graded scorers Munnings, Bridgetown, Gemswick Park, and Despite the Odds.

Speightstown is out of a mare by Storm Cat, and that stallion’s male line is represented at WinStar by a son, Bluegrass Cat (TrueNicks,SRO), and two grandsons, Harlan's Holiday, and Hold Me Back. Bluegrass Cat won the Nashua Stakes (gr. III) and Remsen Stakes (gr. II) at 2, and at 3, his exploits including a win in the Haskell Invitational (gr. I), and seconds in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Belmont Stakes (gr. I). Bluegrass Cat’s first runners were two-year-olds of 2010, and he ended the year as second leading freshman sire. He’s already sire of ten stakes horses, including juvenile graded scorers Kathmanblu (a stakes winner again in 2011) and Blue Laser.

Harlan's Holiday (TrueNicks,SRO), who joins the WinStar line-up for 2011, has 21 stakes winners, nine graded, with his fourth crop only three-year-olds this year, and his most expensively conceived crops are still in the pipeline. He already has five stakes winners this year, and earlier celebraties include grade I-winning juvenile Into Mischief; the blazingly-quick Majesticperfection; and twice classic-placed Denis of Cork.

Hold Me Back (TrueNicks,SRO) is by two-time Leading Sire Giant’s Causeway, a horse who is off to a very promising start as a sire of sires, out of a mare by Unbridled’s Song. He won two of three starts at two, and trained on to win the Lane’s End Stakes (gr. II) at three, and the Dominion Day Handicap (gr. II) at four, also running second in the Travers (gr. I) and Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I).

Bluegrass Cat’s immediate female line has done yeoman service for WInStar. Not only has it produced Bluegrass Cat, but out of Supercharger (a sister to the dam of Bluegrass Cat) has come not only the previously mentioned 2011 classic hopeful, Brethren, but also his Kentucky Derby-winning half brother Super Saver (TrueNicks,SRO). Generally regarded as one of the most physically impressive first year sires of 2011, Super Saver is a son of the much-missed Champion Two-Year-Old Maria’s Mon. In addition to capturing the Run For the Roses, Super Saver also impressed as a juvenile, winning the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) by five lengths in a new stakes record.

The WinStar line-up is completed by third year Spring At Last (TrueNicks,SRO). By Silver Deputy out of a Dynaformer mare, Spring At Last was a talented miler who could stretch his speed, his record boasting wins in the Donn Handicap (gr. I) and Godolphin Mile (gr. II), and seconds in the Malibu Stakes (gr. I) and Strub Stakes (gr. II).

Filed under:

comments powered by Disqus