Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Old Selections
Taking a look at some noteworthy pedigrees in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton sale
The breeze show for Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic May sale begins tomorrow and runs through Thursday, and the sale itself will take place a week from today, on May 20th and 21st. As usual, I’ve taken a look through the catalog and have picked out a few horses from my shortlist to highlight here today. I am available for individual pedigree analysis on any horses in this sale, and also have my full shortlist available for purchase.
A reminder that these selections are based strictly on pedigree, and do not take conformation into account, although I have included the conformation photos or videos for horses who have them available. This exercise should not be taken as advice to buy a horse, but simply another angle to take into account when considering these prospects. The horses are not listed in order of preference. These are also not necessarily my top five from the sale, but those among my top dozen or so prospects that I felt I could write the most interesting content about (and that I have not already discussed, as one of my selections from OBS March was withdrawn from that sale and has been entered here).
With the disclaimers out of the way, let’s dive right in!
Hip 135 - c. Constitution x Lemon Gin (First Samurai)
This colt by Constitution is out of a stakes-producing daughter of the underrated stallion First Samurai, and I do find him to be one of the most exciting prospects in this sale. In addition to Washington State Legislators Stakes winner Best Of Me (Super Saver), a four-time winner in twelve career starts who earned $162,130, Lemon Gin has produced two other winners: a three-year-old by Vino Rosso named Mixer, who was a winner of a Churchill Downs maiden special weight last year but has not been seen since a troubled trip in a Fair Ground allowance on December 31st in which she was vanned off; and Ninja Warrior, a five-time winner who has seen good success in starter allowance and allowance optional claiming races at Oaklawn Park and has earned $214,807 in his career. Her only other starter, a gelding by Good Magic named Favorable Scenario, was third in his only start, a Gulfstream Park maiden special weight last February.
This colt was a $100,000 Keeneland September purchase, and figures to be a savvy pinhook. He traces to family 4c via his fifth dam Equal Change and her stakes-winning daughter Make Change. Equal Change’s tail-female descendants include 20 stakes winners, with horses such as G1 winners Stay Thirsty and Tamarkuz (along with his G1-winning half brother Without Parole) on this colt’s page under the third and second dams, respectively. More deeply, this is the branch of family 4c responsible for Man O’ War - the fifth dam of Equal Change was a stakes winning full sister to that legendary stallion. Equal Change’s second dam, a daughter of Bold Venture named Equal Venture, was a full sister to Triple Crown winner Assault, so this family has had high quality runners throughout, and the quality has continued into the modern day. Of the 30 starters since 2011 tracing tail-female to this colt’s third dam, Marozia, seven are stakes winners (16.7%), with three G1 winners (10%).
Constitution figures to match well with Lemon Gin based on the success of his sire and damsire with the sire lines involved here, and his success with this female family. The cross of stallions carrying Tapit over mares carrying Giant’s Causeway, the sire of First Samurai, has produced 5.9% stakes winners in 202 starters, while the cross of Tapit over this colt’s second damsire Lemon Drop Kid has produced 11.4% stakes winners in 44 starters. That cross creates linebreeding to Lemon Drop Kid’s granddam Lassie Dear, who is also the granddam of Tapit’s grandsire A.P. Indy.
Constitution’s damsire Distorted Humor has also seen success with both Giant’s Causeway and Lemon Drop Kid, with 8.8% stakes winners in 171 starters on the Distorted Humor/Giant’s Causeway cross and 6.8% stakes winners in 44 starters on the Distorted Humor/Lemon Drop Kid cross.
Additionally, Constitution has seen significant success with Lowe family 4c, with runners such as G3 Iroquois Stakes winner Major General, who traces to the Mine Only branch of this family. Mine Only, like Equal Change, is from a second dam who was a full sister to Assault. From more distantly related ancestors, Constitution has three stakes placed runners. The exciting young Constitution colt Mindframe also comes from Lowe family 4c, as does maiden winner Speak Easy, another three-year-old of this year. Of Constitution’s ten total starters from this family, nine are winners of at least one race; there is a single stakes winner and three additional stakes placed runners, not to mention another horse who looks destined for stakes company in the near future. I think this colt could add to the impressive success of Constitution with this family 4c, and will be looking forward to seeing how he gets over the track at Timonium.
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