Although it has been temporarily moved from its “Old Kentucky Home” in Churchill Downs ARRIVE Ellis . ParkStephen Foster Stakes’ 42nd run (G1) still attracts a school with a high percentage of the nation’s top two-time exponents.
The eight-horse school has three horses that have scored in level 1 competition and four other graded bet winners bidding to join that club. At the end of the day, a race that ran in near-record time yielded new winners at the top level, like Western Willpower bet a stalking trip into a half-length win over one of the 1st, late-ending stars Rattle N Roll .
Now 6 and seemingly better than ever, West Will Power is a slow-growing kid. He didn’t start until September of the 3-year-old season when he made his winning one-mile debut at Monmouth Park. He didn’t make it to a blacks event until next summer, when he finished fourth in the Salvator Mile Stakes (G3), and his first win at that level was with a billion number 6 3/4 in Fayette Stakes (G2) last October. This term, West Will Power has performed consistently at a high level, with three winning starts in the New Orleans Classic Stakes (G2), the second in the Razorback Handicap (G3) and the third in the Alysheba Stakes (G2) .
West Will Power is from the 10th Northern Hemisphere crop bred by the late Bernardini. 3-year-old champion of his season, Bernardini has won six of his eight starts, including consecutive wins in Withers Stakes (G3), Preakness Stakes (G1), Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), Travers Stakes (G1) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1). He was widely expected to win Horse of the Year in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), but the coronation was derailed by invader who knocked out Bernardini in the final round to dominate the lead.
Bernardini wins 2006 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga . Racecourse
Despite his defeat at the Breeders’ Cup, Bernardini was seen by many as a potential heir — along with Horse of the Year four years older. mines —to Mr. AP Indy. That expectation seems to be being confirmed as Bernardini is represented by consecutive Travers Stakes winners Thirsty And alpha from his first two crops in North America. While he remains a solid source of class, Bernardini was never able to truly build on that promising start and maintain his commercial lead.
However, he is represented by 13 Northern Hemisphere crops so far, producing 71 stake winners, 44 ranked winners and 15 1st place winners, including such people Cavalry , Art collector (from the same plant as West Will Power), and To honor and serve . Bernardini also bred 15 stake winners from Australian crops conceived at the time in the Southern Hemisphere, including Ruud awakens—two year old fat champion in Australia—and other 1st grade winners, Pearl And Go Indy Go. None of Bernardini’s sons can claim to be the highest-ranking sire, but he has become one of the most sought-after males in North America with his daughters having given birth. out 77 bet winners, including 15 1st graders. Among them are Claire , Colonel Liam , catholic boy , Maxfield , Queen Serengeti , Dunbar Road And speaker corner .
West Will Power’s dam, wild promise , won 13 of 20 races, seven black events, including My Charmer Handicap (G3T), making her the only North American classified bet winner for males. his, Wild Events (who became a very successful male in Brazil). Wild Promises is the younger half sister of Frozen Atlantic Ocean who has spent part of his career as a pacemaker for the English Channel turf horse champion but also who has won three classified bets on the field, including Arcadia Stakes ( G2T) and Red Bank Stakes (G3T), which he won running a mile on a 1:32.42 track record.
Wild Promises won the 2008 My Charmer Handicap at Calder Racecourse
Both West Will Power’s grandmother, Frosty Promise (of Frosty Snowman), as well as his third dam, Has Promise (by Skip Trial), succeeded in winning a race, but Has Promise is a half-sister to four bet winners, including Jolie’s Halo, which succeeds in Philip H. Iselin Handicap (G1) in record time, Donn Handicap (G1) and Handicap (G1) Gulfstream Park (G1).
West Will Power’s fifth dam, the Who’s to Know bet winner, was bred to be very similar to the Gold Digger, Mr. Prospector. Both are sons of Nasrullah. This is a branch of the Frizette family. Frizette is also represented in this genealogy through Bernardini’s paternal grandfather Seattle Slew (his paternal grandmother was Frizette’s cross, once through Myrtlewood), Mr. Prospector and Bailjumper (children of the Skip Trial). For good measure, Bernardini was made out of a mare by Quiet America, who was inbreeding with Dr. Fager, a mare turned back into a mare by Frizzle, Frizette’s son. The Frizette family derives from the mtDNA haplotype ‘I’, which also happens to be the Bernardini line of mtDNA.
A cross between an AP Indy stallion and a Wild Event mare was very successful in Brazil, with AP Indy Adriano taking seven bet winners from Wild Event mares, two tier 1. Overall, the broader AP Indy/Wild Again skirmish has yielded at least 37 stake winners, including other US tier 1 scorers. honor AP, power broker , Dreaming of Julia , Emma’s performance , The Joy of Victory And fire .
