GREAT HUNTER HAS CLASSICS WRITTEN ALL OVER HIM
From the DRF website
By FRANK MITCHELL
LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Great Hunter and Street Sense met last
year at Keeneland in the Breeders' Futurity, Great Hunter won
convincingly from Circular Quay, with Street Sense third. But
Street Sense reversed placings with Great Hunter in the Breeders'
Cup Juvenile, with Circular Quay again second, and took home the
Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old colt.
So next Saturday's Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland offers a prospect
of deja vu to bettors and racing fans as Great Hunter meets Street
Sense for the first time since the Breeders' Cup.
The distances of the races are slightly longer this year, however,
and the Blue Grass offers Great Hunter an opportunity to confirm
his ranking among the 3-year-olds as a colt who appreciates classic
distances, which will become increasingly important in the next
several weeks as the Derby and Belmont Stakes test stamina and zest
for racing.
On the evidence of his bloodlines, Great Hunter is a colt who
should improve and prosper with racing at 10 furlongs or longer.
Bred by the Ivy Dell Stud of Phil Fanning, Great Hunter is by
Kentucky Derby runner-up APTITUDE, a
son of leading sire A.P. Indy, and out of the Roy mare Zenith.
Zenith was a stakes winner and was one of the best American racers
by her sire Roy, a very large son of the important sire Fappiano.
Winner of the Metropolitan Handicap, Fappiano was sired by the
great stallion Mr. Prospector. This represents one of the best
classic branches coming from Raise a Native, the sire of Kentucky
Derby and Preakness winner Majestic Prince and a son of Preakness
and Belmont winner Native Dancer.
Fappiano's sons include the important sires Unbridled and Quiet
American. Unbridled won the Kentucky Derby and sired classic
winners Grindstone, Red Bullet, and EMPIRE
MAKER. Quiet American sired Kentucky Derby and Preakness
winner Real Quiet, whose daughter Wonder Lady Anne L won the
Coaching Club American Oaks last year.
Like members of his dam's family, the male line of Great Hunter
also has earned distinction in the classics.
Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy has proven himself the most
successful and popular stallion son of Triple Crown winner Seattle
Slew. Although he has sired some very good juveniles, A.P. Indy has
achieved these distinctions primarily on the basis of his many
outstanding 3-year-olds and older horses, such as last year's
Preakness Stakes winner Bernardini and 2003 Horse of the Year
Mineshaft.
A.P. Indy's son APTITUDE was one of
his sire's many successful performers at middle distances. A
nonwinner from two starts at 2, APTITUDE progressed swiftly during the spring of
his 3-year-old season, running well in preps for the Triple Crown
and then running second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont. The next
year, APTITUDE won both the Hollywood
Gold Cup and the Jockey Club Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles.
That distance was the optimum trip for APTITUDE, and his offspring have shown an
inclination for racing well over a distance and improving as they
reach classic age. From his first crop of 3-year-old racers last
year, APTITUDE's son Steppenwolfer ran
third in the Kentucky Derby, and the stallion also had other good
stakes horses among his 3-year-old crop.
"Good" doesn't mean much in the intense competition for broodmares,
however. A stallion needs something great. Having a Grade 1 winner
among his 2-year-olds meant as much, and perhaps more, in terms of
adding mares as having a runner who was classic-placed, and victory
in the Breeders' Futurity was the dividend that Great Hunter
delivered last season.
Garrett O'Rourke, manager of Juddmonte Farms, which bred and raced
APTITUDE said that having a top-class
juvenile greatly helped attract more mares to APTITUDE's book this year. After
APTITUDE covered 71 mares in
2006, Juddmonte "stopped his book" at 130 mares this year,
O'Rourke said.
He continued: "In the current climate for stallions, your horse can
be the flavor of the month in his first and maybe his second season
at stud. Then they dump you unless the stallion gets the big horse.
APTITUDE delivered the goods. He came
out with Steppenwolfer in his first crop and backed that up with
Great Hunter in the fall, and APTITUDE's book has been chock-a-block full for a
while."
If Great Hunter makes the grade in one of the classics this year,
he will have proven "great" for his sire, as well as an outstanding
racehorse.
Date:
6 April 2007