Reagan's Wit, Crudo Primed to Make Noise This Season

While there is no doubt that the highlight of Preakness Day at Pimlico Race Course was the remarkable triumph of Journalism in the second Triple Crown classic, the card did showcase stakes-winning efforts by a pair of 3-year-olds, Reagan's Wit and Crudo, who scored in a manner suggesting that more will be heard from them as the season progresses. Horse of the Year and Kentucky Derby (G1) and Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), winner Authentic might have had a Preakness Stakes (G1) challenger in the shape of the Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) victor Rodriguez, had that colt not been removed from consideration due to the foot bruise which also kept him out of the Kentucky Derby (G1). Authentic was, however, still represented by a black-type winner on the Preakness card. Reagan's Wit emerged as clearly the best in the James W. Murphy Stakes, despite racing very greenly once clear of traffic in the stretch. The James W. Murphy was the fifth start for Reagan's Wit, all of which have come on turf. A promising second in an Ellis Park maiden special weight in August, Reagan's Wit suffered a minor injury in a van soon afterward, but was back to break his maiden by eight lengths at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in January. Second beaten a neck in the Columbia Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs when trying stakes company for the first time, he was beaten just over three lengths in the Transylvania Stakes (G3T) on his only other start. Rodriguez and Reagan's Wit are both members of the first crop of 3-year-olds by Authentic. The son of Into Mischief has already been represented by six other black-type horses, also including the Manzano Stakes winner Power Connection. Reagan's Wit is a half brother to the grade 2 and grade 3-placed Reagan's Edge. Their dam, Dayienu, is an unraced daughter of Sunday Break, a Forty Niner horse who won the Peter Pan Stakes (G2) and ran third in the Belmont Stakes (G1), and stood five years in Kentucky before moving on to France. A half sister to the graded stakes-placed pair of Bushwhacked and Call Provision, Dayienu is out of the stoutly-bred Run In, a daughter of Dynaformer out of Nijinsky II's Miss Grillo Stakes (G3T) scorer, Savina. The fourth dam, Wedding Reception, a stakes-placed Round Table mare, also produced graded scorer Lech and stakes winner Crimson Guard, both by Danzig, like Nijinsky II, a son of Northern Dancer. In addition, she's an ancestress of numerous stakes winners at home and abroad, including the U.S. graded winners Runspastum, Uncle Heavy, Devious Intent, and Magnificent Song. A half sister to another Nijinsky II graded winner, Nijana, Wedding Reception is out of Prodana Neviesta, winner of the Diana Handicap, and a half-sister to the successful sire, Mr. Leader, now best known as sire of Sweetest Chant, the granddam of Distorted Humor. Reagan's Wit is one of 22 stakes winners by Into Mischief and sons out of Forty Niner line mares, including grade 1 winners Life Is Good, Practical Joke, Citizen Bull, and Tappan Street—all out of Distorted Humor mares—and Goldencents (out of a mare by Bankers Gold). In addition, the five-cross pedigree shows that Authentic is by a Storm Cat line stallion out of a Mr. Prospector line mare, where Sunday Break is bred on the reverse cross. The Sir Barton stakes winner, Crudo, is even less exposed than Reagan's Wit. A 7 1/4-length winner of a seven-furlong maiden special weight at Keeneland in April, on his second outing, he was facing the starter for just the third time in the Sir Barton, but was in command from start to finish, drawing away for a 7 1/2-length tally. Crudo is from the third crop of Triple Crown winner, Justify, as is Ruling Court, who, one week before the Preakness Stakes, captured the first leg of the English Triple Crown, the Two Thousand Guineas (G1). Overall, Justify has already been represented by 35 stakes winners from his first three Northern Hemisphere crops, also among them City of Troy, last year's co-highweight on the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, and successful in four group 1 events, including the Epsom Derby (G1); European champion 2-year-old filly Opera Singer; champion U.S. 2-year-old filly Just F Y I; champion French 2-year-old filly Ramatuelle; and other grade 1 winners Hard to Justify, Aspen Grove, and Arabian Lion. Out of the unraced Deputy Minister mare, Blossomed, Crudo has been preceded as a stakes winner by his Japanese-raced sister, Awesome Result, winner of eight of her nine races, including the Empress Hai, Monbetsu Breeders' Gold Cup and Funabashi Queen Sho; Sippican Harbor, who took the Spinaway Stakes (G1); and Saayedd, who took the Jebel Ali Stakes in the UAE. Crudo is also a half brother to the graded stakes-placed Bodacious Babe, dam of Royal Spa, winner of the Heavenly Cause Stakes this April, and also graded stakes-placed. Blossomed is half sister to Cinemine, a winner of eight black-type races, including the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G3), and to stakes winner Flick (by Deputy Minister's son, Dehere), the dam of graded stakes winner Greengrassofyoming. The next three dams, French Flick (dam of the Racing Post Trophy (G1) winner, Peter Davies); Tres Jolie; and Leallah, the champion U.S. 2-year-old filly of 1956, are all stakes winners, with Leallah being ancestress also of champion Echo Zulu, and other grade one winners Singletary, Engine One, Voodoo Dancer, Pool Play, Next Question, and Echo Town. Crudo's sire is 12 years younger than his dam, and 36 years younger than his broodmare sire, and with those kinds of generational offsets, some interesting inbreeding patterns can sometimes occur. In this instance, Crudo's dam, Blossomed, is by Deputy Minister out of a mare by a son of Blushing Groom, and looking at the pedigree of Justify, we find his dam is by Ghostzapper, a son of Awesome Again, who is by Deputy Minister out of a Blushing Groom mare, giving Deputy Minister 5x2 and Blushing Groom 6x4 in Crudo's pedigree.