Destino d'Oro Brings Hail to Reason Cross to the Fore

Hail to Reason—the champion 2-year-old male of 1960 and leading sire in 1970—had just three foals out of mares by the imported French stallion Djeddah. The first of those, Proud Clarion, was an upset winner of the 1967 Kentucky Derby, with short-price favorite and eventual Horse of the Year Damascus back in third. At stud, Proud Clarion was only a moderately successful stallion, with 31 stakes winners from 13 crops, although he was represented by a pair of grade 1 winners in 1981 Frizette Stakes (G1) scorer Proud Lou, and Proud Birdie, successful in the 1977 Marlboro Cup Handicap (G1). The other two foals on the Hail to Reason/Djeddah cross were also colts, and although neither joined Proud Clarion on the roster of classic winners, both were accomplished runners, and both appear prominently in the pedigrees of leading sires. The first, Mr. Leader, was foaled two years after Proud Clarion. Racing in an era prior to the graded stakes program, the durable Mr. Leader won 10 of 25 races, including the 1969 Jerome Handicap, 1970 Stars and Stripes Handicap, 1970 Tidal Handicap, and 1970 Oceanport Handicap. Although never the most commercial of stallions, Mr. Leader proved an extremely effective racehorse sire, and in a long career was represented by 80 stakes winners, five grade 1, headed by Wise Times, successful in the 1986 Travers Stakes (G1), and 1990 Santa Anita Handicap (G1) captor Ruhlmann. In addition, through his multiple graded stakes-winning daughter, Sweetest Chant, he also appears in the third generation of the pedigree of leading sire Distorted Humor. The third of the trio was the 1968 foal, Bold Reason. Third in the 1971 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, that year he also captured the Lexington Handicap, Hollywood Derby, American Derby Handicap, and Travers Stakes, and was co-highweight with the official divisional champion, Canonero II, on the Daily Racing Form Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1971. In view of his racing class and pedigree, Bold Reason was a little disappointing as a sire, with 20 stakes winners, headed by Castilla, successful in the 1982 Yellow Ribbon Invitational Stakes (G1), and The Liberal Member, who took the 1979 Brooklyn Handicap (G1). He did, however, become a fixture in modern classic pedigrees through his daughter, Fairy Bridge. Winner of her only two starts, both as a juvenile, Fairy Bridge was the top-weight 2-year-old filly in Ireland in 1977, despite never competing in a black-type event. At stud, the offspring of the half sister to Nureyev included Sadler's Wells—14 times leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland—and his once-raced brother Fairy King, leading sire in France. Each pairing of the close relatives is found in grade 1-winning pedigrees, with Distorted Humor—whose dam is Northern Dancer/Hail to Reason/Djeddah—combining particularly well with Sadler's Wells, the product of the same formula. Mr. Leader and Bold Reason are found together in 19 grade 1 winners, including 2005 Travers Stakes victor Flower Alley and the great Hong Kong runner Golden Sixty (AUS); Bold Reason/Proud Clarion combine in the pedigree of Capital Gain, successful in the 2017 J.J. Atkins Stakes (G1) in Australia; and Mr. Leader and Proud Clarion are found together in 2022 Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) victress And Tell Me Nolies. All told, a combination of two of three Hail to Reason/Djeddah crosses appear together in the pedigrees of 125 stakes winners, and the most recent of these is Destino d'Oro, 15-1 winner of the Jan. 24 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T). Despite her generous odds in that event, the 4-year-old did previously have some very smart form to her credit. At 2, she won a Kentucky Downs maiden special weight on her debut, and returned to miss by just a pair of noses in the 2024 Jessamine Stakes (G2T) on her only other juvenile outing. Destino d'Oro didn't start again until June last year, at 3, but on her return, she captured a Churchill Downs allowance event, then annexed the Pucker Up Stakes (G3T) by 3 3/4 lengths. She may have found the distance a stretch when unplaced as an odds-on favorite for the $1.97 million Dueling Grounds Oaks Invitational Stakes (G3T) over 1 5/16 miles, and then faded to eighth and last after a wide trip in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1T). Dropping to 1 1/16 miles for the Tropical Park Oaks in December, Destino d'Oro returned to form, powering from near last to gain the day by a head over And One More Time. She once again employed waiting tactics in the Pegasus, trailing at the back of the 11-horse field in the early stages, and turning home in ninth, although less than 4 lengths from the lead, before unleashing a run that carried her to the line a half-length to the good. Destino d'Oro is from the third of the four crops to represent Bolt d'Oro, winner of the 2017 Del Mar Futurity (G1), 2017 FrontRunner Stakes (G1), and 2018 San Felipe Stakes (G2). He's been represented by 20 other stakes winners, including Tamara, successful in the 2023 Del Mar Debutante Stakes, grade 2 winners Major Dude, Ruby Nell, Instant Coffee, and Look Forward, and grade 3 scorers Boppy O, Bold Discovery, and Incredibolt. Destino d'Oro is the best of the five winners out of her dam, Heart of Destiny, a daughter of Lion Heart who gained a grade 1 placing with a second in the 2011 Alcibiades Stakes (G1). The second dam, Doc's Destiny, won four races, took second in the 2001 Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap, and is half sister to the dam of Rosalind, winner of the 2014 Ashland Stakes (G1) and 2015 Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T). Doc's Destiny is out of Ventured, a winning half sister to the top handicap horse, Life's Hope, whose wins included the 1978 Amory L. Haskell Handicap (G1) and 1976 Jersey Derby (G1). Bolt d'Oro has Bold Reason through Sadler's Wells in his sire line, but the Hail to Reason/Djeddah cross is more notably intensified through the pedigree of Destino d'Oro's dam, Heart of Destiny. She has Mr. Leader 3x3, and also carries Bold Reason as sire of the third dam of Lion Heart (whose own dam has Mr. Leader/Bold Reason 1x3). When we look at the background of the Hail to Reason/Djeddah cross, we can note that Hail to Reason is from the Bruce Lowe No. 4 family. There is strong linebreeding to this family in his immediate female line, with his dam being 3x4 to Man o' War who is not only from the No. 4 family, but is out of a mare by English Triple Crown winner Rock Sand, while Hail to Reason goes back to a close relative to Rock Sand. Djeddah is from the Bruce Lowe No. 13 family, as is his paternal grandsire Tourbillon (out of a sister to the second dam of Djeddah). What ties this together is that both family No. 4 and family No. 13 are from the I2a1 mitochondrial haplotype. Remarkably, when one looks at the deeper female line of Destino d'Oro, she goes tail-female to a half sister of the dam of Rock Sand, so is the same family as Hail to Reason, and the same mtDNA line as both Hail to Reason and Djeddah.