At the weekend, Del Mar hosted a pair of grade 1 juvenile events in the Sept. 7 Del Mar Futurity (G1) and Sept. 6 Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1). In a neat piece of symmetry, both fell to the offspring of young Eclipse Award-winning champions who capped their careers with victories in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Despite that parallel, however, the duo comes from very different ends of the commercial spectrum.
The Futurity went to the odds-on favorite, the much-hyped Brant. A debut winner with a Beyer Speed Figure of 101 and Equibase Speed Figure of 102, the son of Gun Runner —a stallion who stood for $250,000 in 2025—blossomed from a $200,000 yearling into a $3 million sale-topper at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. In contrast, the Debutante heroine Bottle of Rouge was sent off as the outsider of the three Bob Baffert-trained runners in the seven-horse field and is by Vino Rosso —who stood for $12,500 in the most recent season—and was a $60,000 weanling and $100,000 yearling.
Neither Gun Runner nor Vino Rosso were stakes winners as juveniles, but both showed promise. Gun Runner won two races in three starts, and was fourth in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), and Vino Rosso went 2-for-2, winning a seven-furlong maiden special weight at Aqueduct Racetrack by 2 3/4 lengths and an allowance optional claiming test over a mile and 40 yards at Tampa Bay Downs by 2 1/2 lengths.
At 3, Vino Rosso scored once in seven starts, capturing the 2018 Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) by three lengths. Black-type placings came with thirds in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) and Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), and also tackled two legs of the Triple Crown, finishing ninth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and fourth, beaten just a neck for third in the Belmont Stakes (G1).
Winner of the 2019 Stymie Stakes on his 4-year-old debut, the son of Curlin showed true top-class form for the first time when defeating Gift Box by a half-length for the Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes (G1). Third to McKinzie and Yoshida in the Whitney Stakes (G1), Vino Rosso led to from start to finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1), but lost the race to Code of Honor, who finished just a nose in arrears, in the stewards' room having come out and bumped that rival three times in the final furlong. His only other start saw Vino Rosso take the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) by 4 1/4 lengths from McKinzie, with Code of Honor back in seventh.
Despite his modest stud fee, Vino Rosso finished 2024 as the fifth-leading second-crop sire, and he occupies the same position on the third-crop sires' table this year. Bottle of Rouge is his first graded stakes winner, but he's also sire of The Wine Steward, a three-time stakes winner who took second in the 2023 Breeders' Futurity (G1), and other stakes winners Cap Classique, Tuscan Sky, Sol Tan Bonita, and Pali Kitten.
Relatively modest as the amounts paid for her on her trips through the sales ring were, Bottle of Rouge was actually the joint-most-expensive Vino Rosso yearling of his third crop, and the most expensive of his fillies. She ran second in her debut by six lengths to her stablemate Himika—successful in the Sorrento Stakes (G3) next time out—in a five-furlong Santa Anita Park maiden special weight in June. She then returned to get off the mark at Del Mar in August, scoring by 6 3/4 lengths over 6 1/2 furlongs. In the Del Mar Debutante, Bottle of Rouge was always close at hand and ran down the long-time leader, stablemate Explora, inside the last furlong before drawing off to tally a length win, with her debut conqueror Himika back in fourth.
Bottle of Rouge is out of Blues Corner, a Bluegrass Cat mare whose best effort in five outings was a third in a maiden claiming event at Churchill Downs. Blues Corner is a half sister to San Pablo, winner of seven black-type events, including the 2012 Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3), and to graded-placed Slider. The second dam, the winning Hunt's Corner, is half sister to the minor stakes-placed Twist the Facts, the dam of stakes winner Spin Zone. The third dam, Torsion mare Treacherous Twist, won three races.
Treacherous Twist's dam, Treacherous Turn, was a winning daughter of Turn-to, out of Treachery, winner of 11 races, and five times runner-up in black-type events, including the 1965 Santa Margarita Handicap and 1966 Delaware Handicap. Treachery also produced Cold Trick, who was the dam of Real Prize, also by Torsion, winner of the 1981 Level Best Stakes and runner-up in the 1981 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1).
Treachery's dam, the 1951 Acorn Stakes victress, Nothirdchance, also visited Turn-to, the result being Hail to Reason. Trained by Hirsch Jacobs, who stated that he "thought it better to let him wear out than rust away," Hail to Reason started 18 times at 2 before fracturing his left fore sesamoids in a workout in September. He won nine of those 18 races, including the 1960 Hopeful Stakes (by 10 lengths in a new track record), World's Playground Stakes, Sapling Stakes, Sanford Stakes, Great American Stakes, Tremont Stakes, and Youthful Stakes. Named champion 2-year-old colt of 1960, Hail to Reason was the leading sire in North America in 1970, and became an influential sire of sires, notably of Halo and Roberto.
It's probably significant given this female line that Bottle of Rouge's pedigree features four crosses of Hail to Reason, one through Roberto, and two through Halo. The two crosses of Halo are interesting as they are through Machiavellian (grandsire of the dam of Vino Rosso) and Silver Ghost (sire of the second dam of Bottle of Rouge), and they are both by Mr. Prospector out of Halo mares. We can also note that Vino Rosso has sired three of his seven stakes winners out of Storm Cat-line mares, the cross that produced Bottle of Rouge.
