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100 SW for Distorted Humor, Giant's Causeway

Written by Alan Porter | May 24, 2011 | 16 Comments

Last week was a major one for America's top sires Distorted Humor (TrueNicks,SRO) and Giant's Causeway (TrueNicks,SRO). The elite pair joined the list of stallions to sire 100 stakes winners, a select group that includes only four other active stallions: Zabeel, Danehill Dancer, Dynaformer (TrueNicks,SRO), and Montjeu.

The victory of Savvy Supreme (TrueNicks A++) in the Classy Mirage Stakes at Belmont Park gave Distorted Humor his 100th stakes winner. The win makes Savvy Supreme – a 3-year-old filly – a very valuable broodmare prospect as she is a sister to the sometimes brilliant son Commentator. Out of the Storm Bird mare Outsource, Savvy Supreme has a second dam by Woodman, and so her dam is a reverse Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer cross to Distorted Humor.

The weekend had also been a good one for Distorted Humor. On Saturday, his 3-year-old son Alternation (A++) out fought Adios Charlie to win the Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II, video below). The Pin Oak Stud homebred is out of Alternate, a daughter of Seattle Slew, so is bred on a cross that has produced six stakes winners from only 18 starters. Of course, Distorted Humor also has nine stakes winners from 62 starters out of mares by sons and grandsons of Seattle Slew, including Funny Cide and Any Given Saturday (TrueNicks,SRO). Then on Sunday, his Belmont Stakes winner Drosselmeyer (A++) returned to form to win the One Count Stakes at Belmont.

As tremendous as the Distorted Humor/Seattle Slew nick has been, it can’t boast a 100% record, but one that can is the Unbridled’s Song/Bold Ruckus cross, with two foals of racing age by Unbridled's Song (TrueNicks,SRO) out of Bold Ruckus line mares producing stakes winner Thefull Circle and Embur’s Song, who at the weekend took the Hendrie Stakes (gr. III) at Woodbine.

Also getting his 100th stakes winner was two-time leading sire Giant's Causeway. His daughter Excited (A++) ran away in the stretch to win the Hilltop Stakes (video below) at Pimlico. Excited is out of the stakes-winning Thunder Gulch (TrueNicks,SRO) mare Path of Thunder, a full sister to Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) winner and $3.5-million earner Spain. Giant's Causeway is the only stallion Path of Thunder has visited in her career, and she has 2-year-old and yearling fillies and a colt foal by the sire. Path of Thunder's sister Spain had already produced a stakes winner to Giant's Causeway in Dreamtheimpossible, who was also group I-placed in the Meon Valley Stud Fillies' Mile. On the same cross, Spain produced Plan (TrueNicks,SRO) to Giant's Causeway's sire Storm Cat. Plan was a group III winner in Ireland before running second to Winchester in the Secretariat Stakes (gr. I).

Unusual Heat may never reach the 100 stakes winners total, but the California-based son of Nureyev has certainly been an over-achiever. At the weekend, his grade I-winning son Acclamation took his second Jim Murray Handicap (gr. II), scoring by seven lengths. Another West Coast stallion to make the best of his opportunities has been Benchmark (TrueNicks,SRO), who pound-for-pound has probably been the best stallion son of Alydar. He added a new graded stakes winner when his son Bench Points (A++) took the Lazaro Barrera Memorial Stakes (gr. III) by a nose from Runflatout (by another over-achiever, Flatter (TrueNicks,SRO)). Bench Points is out of a Free House mare, and Benchmark has three stakes winners from 12 starters out of mares by Free House and his grandsire, Never Tabled. It’s Benchmark who could be the channel through which the Alydar line survives if his Kentucky-based son Brother Derek (TrueNicks,SRO) makes the grade.

Still with regional stallions, have a look at Mass Media (TrueNicks,SRO) in Florida. The fast son of Touch Gold (TrueNicks,SRO) is represented by his first crop of 3-year-olds this year. So far he’s had 32 runners, 18 winners, three stakes winners, and had a weekend stakes double at Calder with Manicero (A++), now a five-time stakes winner, taking the In Summation Stakes, and Beso Grande (A++), who took the French Village Stakes. Manicero is out of a mare by Kris S., and Beso Grande out of mare by Kris S.’s son Kissin Kris (TrueNicks), the duo being the only starters by Touch Gold out of Kris S. line mares.

Filed under: Recent Winners, Sires

16 Comments:

Glad you mentioned Unusual Heat--- who I believe is now up to $15K fee or so. When a horse like him moves up his mares so much why doesn't a "breed to own/race farm give him a shot with a big time mare who either won graded stakes or through some nice stakes winning foals? I understand the logic if you are going to sell sending to Giant's Causeway or the like but if you are keeping the foal why not see the result with a successful stud who is not as fashionable?

I have also liked Northern Afleet who jockeys as low as $5K to a high of $15K and has sent out many a nice horse considering the mares seen---I do not have his figures and my figures on UH have not been updated for a couple years on how he moves up mares.

As mentioned on another post it is a little strange to see the get of Northern Afleet do quite well at routes from time to time. I have no figures backing me, (I am presently out of the owning and racing business) but as a gambler looking from the outside I have noticed it doesn't seem to stop them going long.

sniper1 24 May 2011 12:18 PM

I would be interested to know the average winning distance of Distorted Humor and compare it to Giant's Causeway Zabeel, Danehill Dancer, Dynaformer and Montjeu. I have a feeling it is 1 mile or less where as the other stallions are over 1 mile. Sprinting sire lines tend to not last very long and Distored Humor and his line probably won't have that big an impact on the breed when it comes to putting much need stamina back into the breed. Time will tell. I know D.H. has a Derby winner in Funny Cide and he has a sprinkling of horses that have won at 1 1/8 miles. Just interested in the average.

Robert 24 May 2011 12:43 PM

Robert,

AWD:

Distorted Humor - 7.10 f

Giant's Causeway - 8.59 f

Zabeel - 9.03 f

Dynaformer - 8.81 f

Danehill Dancer - 7.54 f

Montjeu - 11.00 f

I would not call Distorted Humor a sprinting line. Don't forget horses like Flower Alley, Hystericalady, Drosselmeyer, and Fourty Niners Son who ran forever. He gets sprinters, milers, and routers. From a North American perspective, 7.10 f is solid. As far as impact goes, he's already got 100 SW, he has some promising sons at stud, and just imagine how good of a broodmare sire he'll be...

Ian Tapp 24 May 2011 1:00 PM

Ian......anything less than a mile is a sprint. Even a mile is a glorified sprint race. The problem is the North American perspective. You have to put some stamina in the pedigree and breed those horses and not the sprinters. Last time I checked, I could only find 1 horse by Distorted Humor that won at 1 1/2 miles, and that was a slow time (Drosselmeyer). You are correct in that he has had an impact with his 100 stakes winners, but the quality of those stakes winners is not on par with those of say Montjeu. Montjeu sires horses that go a distance with tremendous regularity. He already has sons who are siring top quality horses at more than a 10% clip. With the number of mares Distored Humor has bred over the last 6 or 7 years, he should have 100 stakes winners. My thing is, his offspring won't be continuing the line with as much regularity as the fore mentioned Montjeu. As for a broodmare sire, I have even more doubt there as his female line is not as top notch as other top broodmare sires....such as A.P. Indy, Private Account, Mr Prospector, etc.. I won't be so bold as to say he won't have some stakes winners on the bottom side, but the Quality of those winners and how many times they win is another story. All you have to do is look at his 2 top Triple Crown prospects for this year.....Brethern and Cal Nation. Neither of these horses is consistant past 1 mile, and they are out of stamina bred A.P. Indy mares (full sisters). He physically puts to much muscle on his offspring which keeps them from getting our classic distances consistently. Things could change for him, but I doubt it.

Robert 25 May 2011 1:07 PM

Sniper, Northern Afleet was a G2 winner at beyond a mile; his dam was by Nureyev (sire of 12f turf winners) out of a mare by U. N. Handicap winner Tentam. (Tentam had the foot to win a Met Mile, but the stamina to place in the Travers and Man o' War along with his UN win. We used to have these sorts in the olden days.)

I would be more impressed if I could see the percentages for each of these stallions. Big Book stallions may accrue a large number of winners and graded winners, but the wastage can be large as well. I'd rather use a stallion with 8 graded SWs from 80 foals than one with 80 graded SWs from 1200 foals.

Pedigree Ann 25 May 2011 1:17 PM

Robert,

Well yes, 7f is a sprint, but it's an average. The reason I qualify "North American perspective" is because we don't have the amount of long distance racing here. Even our preeminent distance sire A.P. Indy has an AWD of only 8.23 f.

Why would you want a stallion with AWD of 11.0 f in North America? You wouldn't, because there aren't enough of those races for his offspring to compete in. Montjeu has a high AWD because he has many National Hunt (jumping) runners.

As far as quality goes, Montjeu is no more a source of quality than Distorted Humor simply because he gets more distance-oriented runners. 'Distance' and 'quality' are completely different things-it's like comparing apples and oranges.

Distorted Humor has 101 SW from 659 starters (15.3%)

Montjeu has 101 SW from 664 starters (15.2%)

Distorted Humor initial stud fee - $12,500

Montjeu initial stud fee - €35,000

Ian Tapp 25 May 2011 2:15 PM

I gave Distorted Humor little to no chance when he retired to stud. Neither his pedigree, nor his physical type appealed particularly, and his form wasn't all that special. Boy, was I dead wrong about him. It's funny, now when I visit him I'm quite impressed with his physical makeup, just as I grew to be impressed with Northern Dancer's look, and the way he was put together (not suggesting that DH and ND were similar physically-but, now as I think of it, they did share much in common). Anyway, I'll just bet that those close to Distorted Humor as a racehorse saw in him much more racing ability than was evidenced on his form sheet.-just wish trainers were more open about such things during the racing career (not said for wagering intent). My take on Distorted Humor is that he's a rather versatile sire, and can give you a classic distance type horse when mated to the appropriate mare of that persuasion. A horse not mentioned by these bloggers is the current classy runner, Alternation-certainly one that appears more than capable of competing against the best at classic and classic + distances.

sceptre 25 May 2011 8:48 PM

A question: When did Giant's Causeway exactly registered his 100th stakes winner or has he not reached the mark yet?

The 100th Stakes Winner for GC was announced by The Blood-Horse in April.

Still, in Coolmore's website there is a news piece about Excited's victory and they say 93 stakes winners worldwide.

Mercedes 25 May 2011 10:30 PM

Mercedes,

You're right, GC got to 100 in April, that's when Blood-Horse reported it, but then The Jockey Club negated one of the SW because it was in Saudi Arabia, sending his total back to 99. Excited then became SW #100 last Friday.

As far as the Coolmore website, perhaps their stats just haven't been updated yet?

Ian Tapp 26 May 2011 9:59 AM

Sceptre: I am in the same boat as you were with D.H. The problem he has is that he puts too much bulk on his offspring and their necks are not long enough to get classic distances with any regularity. Now I am not talking about the 3 or 4 horse every year out of crops of 160+ foals that show some distance ability. Any stallion can do that. The thing is he was not able to win past 1 1/16th miles, and he is built like a sprinter. No doubt he puts a engine on his foals, but he also puts short necks and short backs. These are not characteristics of distance horses, and when I say distance, I mean 1 1/8 or longer. Normally I say 1 1/4 miles, but I am cutting him some slack. Heavily muscled horses very rarely go 1 1/4 miles, then come back and get 1 3/16ths miles, and then come back and get 1 1/2 miles (Read Triple Crown). He had a shot with Funny Cide, but even that nice horse could not get the final distance test. We have to be hard on our stallions or else the breed suffers. Case in point....Storm Cat.....but thats another story. D.H. will go down as a top stallion, but he is not a source of Classic stamina but rather a miler who every now and then gets a horse to stretch out. Our racing public is crying out for another Triple Crown Winner. The odds that D.H. will be the sire of the next Triple Crown winner are stacked against him, and as he gets older, those odds are getting higher as his sons come on the market at cheaper fees.

Robert 26 May 2011 12:53 PM

Thanks Ann

I went in to a long wordy talk about my association with Afleet and the characters involved but I guess I posted it incorrectly.

The rest was lamenting on why sometimes less fashionable sires that improve their mares don't get great producing mares. I am not a novice and can see one bred to sell goes to a big name stud---economics---and if I got a Barbaro and a stakes placed horse with the same stud I would go back too. Here is the rub--why send a mare that has produced or was a stakes winner to a first year stud with a high fee instead of a proven sire that has done wonders with cheap poor mares? If you are racing?

If someone here can fill me in on the two sires records mentioned on their record VS other sires with the same mare it would be appreciated---I DO KNOW when I had the time in the past I kept track of those things and Unusual Heat was off the charts with those sires that had seen at least a 100 mares---the highest I had ever seen.

sniper1 26 May 2011 2:53 PM

Congrats on Giant's Causeway and Distorted Humor with their 100 stakes winners respectively. I'm a HUGE Giant's Causeway fan. With the Pensions of Storm Cat and AP Indy, Giant's Causeway and Bernardini have become my top number one sons of those stallions. I also like Giant's Causeway's one year younger brother Freud. He is a very good NY stallion as witnessed by his outstanding daughter Franny Freud, grade 1 winner, who had to be retired recently. It will be interesting to see how DH and GC go on in their careers as they are 18 (DH) and 14 (GC) in age. I wish them both the best and many more stakes winners to come.

Kristen 26 May 2011 8:22 PM

Shumoos, who is a daughter of Distorted Humor cost 375,000 Dollars as a yearling and looked very impressive winning her 2 year old debut at Haydock Park on May 28th. It looks like her next race will be the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.

John T 28 May 2011 2:45 PM

The very promising Distored Humor filly Shumoos started a hot favourite for the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot and just lost by a short head to the Richard Hannon filly Best Terms who was winning for the third time in as many starts. There was still a lot to like about Shumoos and more should be heard from her.

John T 15 Jun 2011 9:46 PM

Shumoos has been somewhat disapointing since her promising

maiden win at Haydock Park so she was given a race on the polytrack at Kempton were she looked beaten at the furlong

pole but ran on gamely to win.She looks like a filly that is still learning and we should know more about her after she runs back on turf in the group 1

John T 03 Sep 2011 10:03 PM

Shumoos ran a blinder in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Sprint

at Churchill Downs eating up the ground in the final furlong

at long odds to finish a good second.She will now be sent to

trainer Ben Cecil for a 3 year old campaign in North America

in which I am very much looking forward to.

John T 04 Nov 2011 10:03 PM

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100 SW for Distorted Humor, Giant's Causeway

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