The juvenile graded stakes program tends to see distance increase with prestige as potential classic prospects begin to emerge. The Bob Hope Stakes (G3) is something of an exception to that trend. Although it comes after several longer graded stakes, it's contested over seven furlongs. So it can serve either as a stepping-stone for graded competition without having to face a two-turn test, or for those who seem likely to prefer a shorter course to flash their credentials as potential sprint stars.
This year the race went to Havnameltdown, who had already been tested in graded stakes and appears most likely to make his mark as a speedster rather than a classic hopeful. The Bob Hope was the fourth start for the bay.
On his debut at Del Mar in July he went wire-to-wire over five furlongs to score by 2 1/4 lengths. He flashed similar early speed in the Best Pal Stakes (G3) over six furlongs, where he was again in front at every call before hitting the wire 2 1/2 lengths to the good.
On his third start, the seven-furlong Runhappy Breeders' Futurity (G1), Havnameltdown found himself out-footed and outstayed by stable companion Cave Rock, the subsequent FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1) runner-up. Cave Rock shot through fractions of :21.56 and :43.65, hotly pursued by Havnameltdown, before drawing off in a track-record 1:20.99, with Havnameltdown holding second, albeit more than five lengths in arrears.
With nothing of Cave Rock's stature in the Bob Hope, Havnameltdown was the odds-on favorite at Del Mar, and after dueling with a headstrong Hard to Figure and stablemate Newgate early, he took command at the half and pulled away to defeat Newgate by 1 1/4 lengths.
Havnameltdown is from the fifth crop of his sire, Uncaptured, a male-line descendant of Storm Cat via Tale of the Cat and Lion Heart. A precocious juvenile, Uncaptured was Champion 2-Year-Old and Horse of the Year in Canada after a first season that saw him win six of seven starts, five of those victories in black-type events, including the Iroquois Stakes (G3), which he took by 5 1/2 lengths, and the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2).
He found the going harder at 3, when his sole victory in eight outings came in the Prince of Wales Stakes, and at 4 his best effort was a close third to Palace Malice and Golden Ticket in the Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2).
Retired to Ocala Stud in Florida for 2015, Uncaptured was exported to South Korea in 2020. He's sired 11 stakes winners, including other graded scorers Two Sixty, Catherinethegreat, Yes I Am Free, Willy Boi, and Lightening Larry, the last three scoring at that level in 2022.
Havnameltdown is the first winner from five foals of racing age out his dam, Ashley's Babe. A daughter of the Relaunch stallion Put It Back, Ashley's Babe achieved her sole victory in the last of her 25 starts, a maiden claiming event at Hollywood Casino At Charles Town Races, where she ran for a $4,500 tag.
Despite her distinctly modest career as a runner, Ashley's Babe did have some qualifications as a broodmare prospect. She was a half sister to the 2018 Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes scorer Jay's Way and to Who What Win, a two-time stakes winner in New York-bred company.
More significantly as far as Havnameltdown is concerned, she was also a sister to Jim's Lonesa, who had paid a visit to Uncaptured three years before Ashley's Babe, a union that produced Two Sixty, winner of the 2019 FTBOA Florida Sire My Dear Girl Stakes at 2, and the Gasparilla Stakes and Selene Stakes (G3) at 3. Two Sixty also owns the distinction of being the only one of Uncaptured's stakes winners to score beyond a mile, a feat she achieved twice.
Ashley's Babe and Jim's Lonesa are out of the Salt Lake mare Charms Way, a half sister to Nishino Moonlight, the granddam of Japanese multiple graded stakes winner Tatsu Gogeki. Ashley's Babe's third dam, Golden Bowl, raced in the colors of one famous Virginia breeder, Paul Mellon, and through most of her stud career was owned by another, Bertram R. Firestone.
Racing in England, Golden Bowl won the Lupe Stakes, a trial for the English Oaks (G1), and took second in the Cheshire Oaks (G3). At stud she produced French group winner Nero Zilzal and Golden Mintage, an Italian listed winner who took second in the Premio Parioli-Italian Two Thousand Guineas (G1), while three of her daughters also went on to produce stakes winners.
Golden Bowl was exceptionally well-bred, as she was by Vaguely Noble—an all-time great European racehorse and very successful sire—out of Rose Bowl, heroine of the Champion Stakes (G1), back-to-back runnings of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G2), and the Nell Gwyn Stakes (G3).
In addition to Golden Bowl, Rose Bowl produced two other stakes winners and appears as ancestress of several other notables, among them Champion English Older Sprinter Iktamal and Champion Canadian 3-Year-Old Colt Strait of Dover. Rose Bowl herself was half sister to Ile de Bourbon, Highweight at 3 and 4 in England, and was a daughter of the Prix de Diane-French Oaks victress Roseliere.
There seems to be something of an affinity for sons of Lion Heart with mares by Put It Back, as in addition to Havnameltdown and Two Sixty, the cross produced graded stakes winner Jackson and stakes winner Best Kept Secret, from only eight starters (and by three different stallions).
