Epicenter a Standout in Not This Time's Second Crop

Last week I reviewed the pedigree of the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) winner, Classic Causeway, a member of the three-horse final crop sired by Giant's Causeway. This week it's the turn of Epicenter, who is from the the second crop of Giant's Causeway's fast-rising young son Not This Time. Epicenter stamped himself as a major classic contender in the Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2), parlaying an uncontested lead into a stylish victory. His 2 3/4-length triumph gained added significance as it came at the expense of Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winter-book favorite, Smile Happy, whom one should note was running for the first time since last November and did not have the cleanest of trips. The Risen Star was the third win in five starts for Epicenter. He took a one-mile Churchill Downs maiden special weight on his second outing last year, then completed his campaign with a 6 1/2-length romp in the Gun Runner Stakes. He opened 2022 in the Lecomte Stakes (G3), where he caught late by Call Me Midnight after early fractions that were a little faster than he was asked for in the Risen Star. Not This Time himself had appeared to be a major classic candidate until a soft tissue injury caused his retirement, just two weeks after he'd run a very close second in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). He came into that race as favorite, following a runaway 8 3/4-length score in the Iroquois Stakes (G3), and from a wide draw missed by just a neck to Classic Empire in the race that decided the destination of the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old colt. Retired to stand at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Ky., Not This Time was represented by a first crop—foaled in 2018—that has so far produced 10 individual stakes winners, among them the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) and Chandelier Stakes (G2) heroine, Princess Noor, and other graded scorers Just One Time, Yes This Time, and Easy Time. He's already been represented by seven stakes winners from his second crop, and in addition to Epicenter, they include another who has advanced along the Triple Crown trail in 2022, the Mucho Macho Man Stakes winner and Holy Bull Stakes (G3) second, Simplification. Remarkably, Not This Time is one of three Giant's Causeway sons who retired to stud in 2017, and who have sired grade 1 winners, Protonico being represented by the late Medina Spirit, and Brody's Cause by Kalypso, who took the La Brea Stakes (G1) in December. In the case of Not This Time, however, one suspects a lot of credit should also be given to his dam, Miss Macy Sue. She was a very accomplished sprinter, winning 11 of 25 starts, all at up to six furlongs. Six of these wins came in stakes events, including the Winning Colors Stakes (G3), and she was also seven times stakes placed, including a second in the Winning Colors Stakes and a third in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. In addition to Not This Time, she is dam of three other stakes winners, including Liam's Map, successful in the Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and Woodward Stakes (G1), and now an extremely successful young sire. The pedigree of Miss Macy Sue shows 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 2x3 to twice champion sprinter, Ta Wee, a daughter of Intentionally, and a half sister to Dr. Fager. Silent Candy, the dam of Epicenter, was a smart turf runner taking the Hatoof Stakes at Arlington International Race Course, and earning a graded placing in the Pucker Up Stakes (G3T). By Candy Ride (ARG), she is a half sister to the graded stakes-placed Quite a Handful, who broke time records on both dirt and turf at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Behind this, the pedigree is very much a European turf one. Epicenter's second dam, Silent Queen, is a daughter of Sagitta Two Thousand Guineas (G1) captor, King of Kings (by Sadler's Wells). A half sister to Test Boy, a prolific black-type winner at Northlands Park, she is out of the imported Ela-Mana-Mou mare, Soundproof, a half sister to Italian black-type winner Record Sound, and to the dam of Taiki Herakles, winner of the Derby Grand Prix in Japan. The fifth dam, Tanella, by Habitat, is three-quarters sister to a distinguished pair in Nanticious and Repetitious, both by Habitat's Northern Dancer half brother, Northfields. Nanticious won the Ribblesdale Stakes (G2) over 12 furlongs at Royal Ascot, and Repetitious, a stakes-winning sprinter, produced four stakes winners, including Indian Lodge, successful in the Emirates Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (G1) and Prix de La Foret (G1), and is ancestress of several other notable performers. The family goes back to Lost Soul, a foundation mare for Major Lionel Holliday (best known as the breeder of Vaguely Noble) and has produced a horde of standout performers, among them Investec Derby (G1) and Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby (G1) winner Harzand (IRE), Irish Derby and Secretariat Stakes (G1T) winner Treasure Beach (GB), Vodafone Epsom Oaks (G1) and Darley Irish Oaks (G1) winner Alexandrova, Epsom Oaks winner Neasham Belle, Two Thousand Guineas winner Doyoun, IDEE German Derby (G1) winner Wiener Walzer, and a pair of Washington D.C. International Stakes scorers in Droll Role and Providential. Epicenter and his fellow classic hopeful, Simplification, are two of the five foals for Not This Time out of Candy Ride mares, a mating that reverses the Candy Ride/Giant's Causeway cross that produced Gun Runner. Giant's Causeway and Candy Stripes, the broodmare sire of Candy Ride, are reverse Northern Dancer/Blushing Groom crosses. In view of the previously mentioned Tartan/Genter background, we should also note that Candy Ride is from the Fappiano sire line, that horse appearing in five of Not This Time's stakes winners, also including Princess Noor.