First-Crop Sires Flattered by Princess Noor, Vequist

This weekend's Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) presented a belated climax to the 3-year-old season. Unusually, however, the two premier sophomore classics coincided with a first serious glimpse of the future, with the first juvenile grade 1 events of the year, of which there were four. For the colts we had the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1), which fell to Dr. Schivel, and the Runhappy Hopeful Stakes (G1), which was annexed in spectacular style by Jackie's Warrior, who set a new stakes record of 1:21.29 for the seven furlongs. Dr. Schivel is by Violence, for whom he is the third winner at the highest level this year, following Volatile and No Parole, and is out of Lil Nugget, a Mining for Money (by the Mr. Prospector horse, Mining) half sister to the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) victor Ultra Blend. Jackie's Warrior is from the fifth crop of Maclean's Music, and out of Unicorn girl, a mare who managed to amass earnings of close to $500,000 without ever gaining black-type success. Unicorn Girl is a daughter A. P. Five Hundred, meaning that Jackie's Warrior is bred on a version of the same Maclean's Music/A.P. Indy cross that supplied his first-crop Preakness Stakes (G1) winner, Cloud Computing. The weekend's two juvenile filly races, the Spinaway Stakes (G1) and Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1), were taken by the offspring of freshman sires. The Spinaway went to Vequist, a member of the first crop of Nyquist (by Uncle Mo, whose sons Outwork and Laoban also have first-crop 2-year-old stakes winners in 2020). Nyquist himself was a brilliant juvenile, going 5-for-5, with four graded stakes victories, including the Del Mar Futurity (G1), FrontRunner Stakes (G1), and a championship-sealing win in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). Nyquist went on to win his first three starts at 3, taking the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) to follow Street Sense as only the second horse to complete the Breeders' Cup Juvenile/Kentucky Derby double. In addition to Vequist, he has an earlier first-crop stakes winner in Gretzky the Great, successful in the Aug. 23 Soaring Free Stakes at Woodbine. Although she dominated by 9 1/2 lengths in the Spinaway, it was the first win of her career for Vequist, who missed by a nose in a July 29 maiden special weight at Parx Racing in her debut. She is out of the Mineshaft mare Vero Amore, whose most notable effort came when beaten just a neck by Stopchargingmaria in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2). Vero Amore represents the only previous black type under Vequist's first four dams. The fifth dam, Minstress (by The Minstrel) was a black-type winner and graded stakes placed, and bred an English group winner in the Red Ransom filly, Cassis. Minstress is also second dam of Storm Song, the champion 2-year-old filly of 1996 and later the second dam of Order of St George (IRE), twice named the top long-distance horse on the World Thoroughbred Rankings. Storm Song was by Summer Squall, who is also the sire of Vequist's third dam, Miss Summer Reign, making Storm Song and Miss Summer Reign three-quarters sisters. Minstress was out of the good staying turf mare Fleet Victress, winner of the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T) and New York Handicap (G3T), and later ancestress of champion Japanese dirt horse Copano Rickey. Through the Vanity Handicap victress Countess Fleet, the family goes back to Anchors Ahead, a sister to one of Man o' War's most important sons, War Relic. The Del Mar Debutante Stakes resulted in the easiest of tallies for Princess Noor, who has now won both of her starts, following her $1.35 million purchase at a delayed version of what would have normally been the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. The record shows that Princess Noor's sire, Not This Time, only achieved a grade 3 win from four starts, all at 2. That, however, isn't really true reflection of Not This Time's ability. A closer look shows that in his final three starts, he broke his maiden by 10 lengths, took the Iroquois Stakes (G3) by 8 3/4 lengths, and missed by a scant neck to Classic Empire in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile where a win would have almost certainly garnered him an Eclipse Award. Not This Time is a half brother to Liam's Map, the sire of two grade 1 winners, Basin and Wicked Whisper, from his first crop of 2-year-olds in 2019. Not This Time's sire Giant's Causeway had another son with a freshman graded stakes winner this past weekend when Sittin On Go captured the Iroquois Stakes Presented by Ford (G3) for first-crop stallion Brody's Cause. Princess Noor's dam, Sheza Smoke Show—by the upset 2005 Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile scorer Wilko—was a winner of the Senorita Stakes (G3T) over a mile on turf. Princess Noor's second dam, Avery Hall, captured the Open Mind Handicap, an event restricted to New Jersey-breds, and her third dam, the Dynaformer mare Royal Form, supplies Princess Noor with a third successive black-type winning direct female ancestress, having taken the Roamin Rachel Stakes at Philadelphia Park. Not This Time is out of the mare Miss Macy Sue, who has a notable accumulation of Tartan Farm/Genter strains. Her sire, Trippi, carries In Reality (by Intentionally, out of champion My Dear Girl, a daughter of Rough'n Tumble). Her dam, Yada Yada, is by a grandson of Rough'n Tumble, and is inbred 3x3 to twice champion sprinter, Ta Wee, a daughter of Intentionally. It was mating between Miss Macy Sue and Unbridled's Song—Unbridled, whose sire Fappiano was out of a mare by Horse of the Year Dr. Fager (by Rough'n Tumble, and half brother to Ta Wee), and whose granddam was by In Reality out of a half sister to Ta Wee and Dr. Fager. With that in mind, it's interesting that Princess Noor's granddam is by A. P Jet, a son of Fappiano and out of an In Reality mare.