Shrewd and her 10x winning full sister

We purchased our new broodmare, SHREWD, at the Keeneland November sale.  At the time of purchase, she was 6 months in foal to first-year sire RANSOM THE MOON.  It was the first time we purchased any animal at an auction, let alone an equine auction as prestigious as the Keeneland sale.  We recently transported Shrewd to Faith Farm and Foaling in Paducah, Kentucky, to deliver her first foal.  She is due April 28th (though we all know how accurate equine due dates are!), and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival. 

But this article is about Shrewd's full sister, SIERRA LEONA.  Shrewd is a 4-year old by Point Given, out of Clever (Smarty Jones).  Sierra Leona is a 5-year old mare by Point Given, out of Clever.  Shrewd never made it to the starting gate.  She was shipped to Florida to be trained by Todd Pletcher, but a bone chip ended her racing career before it started.  Calumet Farm decided to breed her instead of pushing her forward on the track.  But oh, what might have been for Shrewd . . .

Sierra Leona, on the other hand, has had a tremendous racing career.  Just a 5-year old, she has already won 10 races and earned $136, 235 (as of April 2020).  Her race record is 27, 10-4-2.  In 2020 alone, Sierra Leona is 4-for-4 ($39.330), all at Laurel Park in Maryland.  That success has led her to be claimed many times throughout her career, and was most recently claimed from Lacey Gaudet's barn.  She has now had 3 different owner/trainers in 2020 alone.  Her on-track success has come with a unique racing style.  Making a point to watch Sierra Leona ever since we purchased her full sister, Sierra's style is one I've hardly ever seen.  Sierra Leona has the propensity to show early speed, only to fall back along the backstretch.  While this usually spells doom for most horses, not for Sierra.  On multiple occasssions, she has revved it back up down the stretch, making one big run at the end to win races at the wire.  Quite a unique, but also stressfull (for her connections), running style.  I'd be interested to know how many other thoroughbreds out there run with her same technique.  Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 and the resulting quarantines, we don't know when we'll see Sierra Leona run again.  But you can bet we'll be watching when she does.

Sierra Leona's success on the track makes us excited for Shrewd's upcoming foal.  Ransom the Moon was a G1SW sprinter in California, and our small, family owned operation is looking forward to see what Shrewd's first foal will become.  We hope you keep following our posts for updates.

Take care and stay healthy!

Is the Stop the Music/Cure the Blues sire line now defunct?

When we started Big Six Stables two years ago, we also started a blog.  Well, life happens and after just two early blog posts nothing more was blogged about our journey.  Two years and a national COVID-19 quarantine later, it's time to fire up the old blogspot.

For my first blog in almost two years, I figured I'd try my hand writing about a bit of pedigree research that I've done.  I was inspired by the pedigree of our first broodmare, Queen of Rocknroll, a New York-bred mare that eventually found a home with us in the Midwest.

Queen of Rocknroll was bred by William Niarakis and sired by Rock and Roll, an earner of over $700,000 and runner in the 1998 Kentucky Derby.  Rock and Roll won 10 times and was "in the money" in 27 of 38 races.  Rock and Roll, bred by Pin Oak Stud, was out of Cure the Blues, a successful New York sire in the 80s and 90s.  His sire, Stop the Music, was also successful in the breeding shed, having sired 45 stakes winners (including Temperance Hill).  Stop the Music was ultra-successful on the racetrack, winning 11 times while "in the money" in 25 of 30 starts.  He would probably be more well known had he not been from the same crop as Secretariat, though Stop the Music did win the 1972 Champagne Stakes after Secretariat was disqualified.

So hearin lies the question: is my mare's sire line now dead?  Stop the Music and Cure the Blues were successful on the track and in the breeding shed, but are there any progeny left currently siring foals?  Their sire line stems from Hail to Reason, whose line is doing just fine through the Halo (More Than Ready, Yoshida, etc.) and Roberto (Temple City, Blame, etc.) branches of his lineage.  But I cannot find any current sires from the Stop the Music/Cure the Blues branch of Hail to Reason.  Rock and Roll passed away in the late 00's, and American Chance, one of Cure the Blues' most successful stallions, has passed as well.  Take Me Out, Tethra, and Incurable Optimist are other stallions from the branch, but I cannot find their lineage living on through stallions anywhere else.

So my research has come to a point where I must assume Hail to Reason's Stop the Music/Cure the Blues branch is now defunct.  It is sad in that a branch of a great thoroughbred sire line is no longer in operation, but also unique in that we potentially have one of the last members of that lineage currently still used for breeding purposes.  What did I get right, is there anything I got wrong?  Don't hesitate to let me know.  I am just an old football coach trying my hand at another passion of mine.

Thanks for reading,

Erik 

Illinois Bound

Queen of Rocknroll made it across the Mississippi River this afternoon.  This is a major step in developing our thoroughbred breeding program.  If purchasing our two broodmares was the first major step, this may be the second.


It's funny how emotions work.  As excited as I was all day, knowing today was the day she was bound for Illinois, that excitement quickly turned to nervousness as she trailered away from the Rusty Spur.  Despite the fact that Queen was transported many times during her racing and (previous) breeding career, and that she loaded like a champ, I still get very nervous anytime our mares are transported away from home.  There was a big relief when we received the call stating she arrived safe and sound.


Now the breeding process begins.  Queen of Rocknroll delivered foals in 2012 and 2013, and both experienced success on tracks out East.  It is now time to see if that success can be duplicated in the Midwest.  Stay tuned as we post updates throughout the breeding process.

It is Friday night and we are trying to figure out how this blogging thing works . . . or at least I am.  My wife is better than I at the world of blogs.  Tonight we confirmed that Queen of Rocknroll will cross the river and enter the breeding shed.  Because the thoroughbred breeding industry in Missouri is non-existent, our first foal will be a registered Illinois-bred Thoroughbred.  Having been born and raised in Chicago, that feels alright.  We understand there are a lot of twists and turns in the thoroughbred industry; here's hoping our first attempt at breeding will be a successful one.