Preakness Stakes (G1) are contested in Maryland, but this year’s winner, Vote early there is a male and the dam has deep roots in the vicinity of Virginia.
King, Gunman the trail of the famous Gallorette, was once voted by readers of The BloodHorse as the greatest racehorse of the first half of the 20th century. The Gallorette was a pony from Maryland but spent her breeding career as a breeder. was a resident of Virginia, and it was there that Native Dancer’s daughter, Courbette, won her share.
One branch of the family moved back to Virginia in the 1990s when Edward P. “Ned” Evans purchased Courbette’s niece Quiet Dance. The $75,000 that the Quiet American’s daughter cost at the 1994 Keeneland September Sale proved to be an exceptionally well-spent sum. Quiet Dance is a smart runner who won the 1997 Lil Stakes Gala — appropriate enough at Pimlico racetrack—And second in Demoiselle Stakes (G2), but an even better incubator. In addition to Gun Runner’s 2nd rank successful smash, Quiet Giant she made four other stake winners, headed by Horse of the Year Saint Liam and 2018 United Nations Stakes (G1T) scorer Funtastic and she is the grandmother of another winner at the highest level in Buster’s Ready success in Mother Goose Stakes (G1) 2011. Both Quiet Dance and Quiet Giant were purchased by Besilu Stables – the makers of Gun Runner – from Edward P. Evans’ Dispersal of the Estate at the November 2011 Sale in Keeneland .
Gunman at the three chimney farm
If not yet “the greatest male the world has ever seen”, as described by Steve Asmussen, who trained both this year’s Gun Runner and this year’s Preakness Stakes runner-up, Epicenter , Gun Runner got off to a really special start in his academic career. Third place in the 2016 Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (G1) in his only attempt at the Triple Crown event, Gun Runner removed the bridesmaid card of the grand slam to win the Clark Handicap (G1) over the older horses at the end of the season. 3 years old, then returned as the dominating Horse of the Year at age 4 (adding a Pegasus World Cup (G1) Bet on his only start in 5th place).
Retired at Three Chimneys Ranch in Lexington, Ky., In 2018, he had an initial fee of $70,000. Gun Runner selected 11 individual stake winners from its first round, seven ranked, including, in addition to Early Voting, the 2-year-old champion of 2021 Echo Zulu ; Top scorer Hopeful Stakes (G1) last season, Gunite ; Cyberknife , successful in this year’s Arkansas Derby (G1); and Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Taiba .
The victory of the Early Vote in Hybrid meant that the first two legs of the Clover and the Kentucky Bull were both in the hands of the first bull’s offspring (the others were Keen Ice and Interrogation ). The success of freshman studs is often attributed to attracting, for commercial reasons, books of disproportionate quality. We have at times believed that there was something special about the first (or very early) crop of a brood beyond that, and we frequently observed that even very good but Starting at a modest fee usually doesn’t improve their first crop significantly, even with much better mare books.
His Majesty the Gun Runner, Candy Ride , is a prime example. After retiring to a $10,000 fee – the lowest he’s ever had – he was represented by four first-time, tier-1 crop winners and although there were subsequent runners from the crop pictured above. completed for a fee of up to $80,000, has never produced more than two first-place winners in a single crop since. Three Chimneys is a prime example in Slew o’ Gold, who picked seven out of 12 graded winners in his lifetime in the first two of his 17 Northern Hemisphere crops.
Moving on to the female line, Early Voting follows the trail of one of the most remarkable mares from one of Virginia’s most celebrated nurseries, Christopher T. Chenery’s Meadow Ranch. Although most celebrated as the birthplace of the Secretariat in 1970, Meadow Ranch was established much earlier, in 1936, and Early Voting’s ancestor, Hildene, was one of the first mares. of the farm. Set only at the track, Hildene became an exceptionally successful model. Her five sons have won the bets, and they include Hill Prince, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place champion, 1951 Horse of the Year, and 1950 Preakness Stakes winner; 1958 champion, 2-year-old dark horse First Landing (her son, Riva Ridge won two Triple Crown trophies in 1972, but only managed to finish fourth on the wet track in Preakness). A daughter of Hildene, Satsuma, produced another good runner in the Cicada, a 2-year-old junior champion in 1961, a 3-year-old champion in 1962 and an older mare champion in 1963.
One of Hildene’s other daughters, First Flush, failed to win in three starts, but she’s also made her mark as a model, and she comes out as the ancestor of more than 100 stake winners, 11 of whom are level 1 (or race winners at the same level before the classification scheme was introduced). The branch that Early Voting derives from First Flush’s daughter, Copper Canyon (by Bryan G., also the sire of Cicada, making Copper Canyon a three-quarter sister to that mare). None of Copper Canyon’s children have won black contests, but her three daughters have been first in elementary school. Copernica’s layered 1 appeared as a dam of the Hopeful Stakes winner. (G1) 1987, Crusader Sword; Cherokee Phoenix is the dam of the 1988 Cherokee Colony winner Flamingo Stakes (G1); and the unranked mare Insilca Buckpasser was the smash of the 1995 Turf Classic Invitational Stakes (G1T) scorer, Turkpasser.
Irap like a pony with his damn Silken cat
Insilca also appeared as the dam of the Silken Doll, and it was the Silken Doll’s daughter Silken Cat, the 2-year-old Canadian child champion in 1995, who was the second dam of the Early Voting. Silken Cat made a significant impact prior to the appearance of Early Voting, as her offspring included the 2004 champion sprinter and highly successful males. Sightstown ; crap , winner of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2), Ohio Derby (G3), and Indiana Derby (G3) all in 2017, and also three-time ranked in tier 1 events; and for Cableknit, his son Capezzano participated in Round 3 of Al Maktoum Challenge 2019 sponsored by Emirates Airlines (G1). The dam of the Early Vote, Amour d’Ete, never ran, but as the daughter of Tiznow, she was the full sister of Irap.
Early voting is the only kick-off for Gun Runner from a Tiznow mare, but his male, Candy Ride, is represented by a stake winner. Lovely ride on the cross. The Inverted Cross, by Tiznow on a Candy Ride mare, goes to 2017’s Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner Sports opportunities . We will also note that Early Voting is one of six Gun Runner stake winners, three graded, who inbreeded with Storm Cat, son of Gun Runner’s biological mother, Giant’s Causeway.
