NewsBits
THIS MONTH IN
HISTORY
BREEDERS’ CUP EDITION
SIRES OF STAKES WINNERS NAMED FOALS OF RACING AGE
SWs
In ExcEss [IrE] (1987)†
1046
63
BErtrando (1989)†
1136
60
UnUsUal HEat (1990)
676
45
BEncHmark (1991) †
742
41
trIBal rUlE (1996) †
590
38
stormIn FEvEr (1994)
757
31
olympIo (1988) †
547
30
swIss yodElEr (1994)
760
29
GamE plan (1993)
437
24
old toppEr (1995)
527
23
kaFwaIn (2000)
530
22
sEa oF sEcrEts (1995)
476
21
rocky Bar (1998)
125
17
mInIstErs wIld cat (2000)
284
15
STALLION
† Indicates stallions who have died or have been retired from the stud. ●Indicates stallions who haved moved out of state but have California-bred two-year-olds of this year. All sires will remain on the list until the year after their last foals are two-year-olds
First Winner For elusive Warning Elusive Warning, a multiple stakes winner standing at Cal Fischer’s Madera Thoroughbreds near Madera, Calif., got his first winner Aug. 31. Favored Swiss Cocoa won the sixth race on the card at Golden Gate Fields. As the 19-10 favorite, the 2-year-old filly scored by a length under jockey Juan Sanchez in the $12,500 maiden claiming race. Antonio Diaz saddled Swiss Cocoa for the Diaz Racing Stable Inc. and Andreas Psarras. Sheila McLeod bred Swiss Cocoa out of the stakes-placed Swiss Yodeler mare Swiss Please. Elusive Warning is a 10-yearold son of Elusive Quality—Valid Warning, by Valid Appeal. He stood for $2,000 in 2014.
QUALIFYING CLAIMING LEVELS The following claiming levels for California owners premiums and stallion awards are currently in effect: FRESNO COUNTY FAIR/$20,000 GOLDEN GATE FIELDS/$20,000 SANTA ANITA/$40,000
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CALIFORNIA THOROUGHBRED
❙ October 2014 ❙ www.ctba.com
5 YEARS AGO California breeders celebrated a double Breeders’ Cup victory, as DaNCINg IN SIlkS won the $2 million Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) and California Flag won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in 2009. First, California Flag represented his home state well by leading almost throughout Santa Anita’s hillside turf course of about 61⁄2 furlongs to capture the Turf Sprint by 13⁄4 lengths. Joe Talamo rode for trainer Brian Koriner. One race later, Dancing in Silks eked out a narrow nose victory in the six-furlong Sprint, Dancing in Silks with Joel Rosario aboard for trainer Carla Gaines. Keith and Barbara Card’s Hi Card Ranch bred and owned California Flag (Avenue of Flags—Ultrafleet, by Afleet). Ken Kinakin raced Dancing in Silks (Black Minnaloushe—Lemhi Love, by Royal and Regal), who was bred by Ron Jex. anne m. eberhardt
CURRENT CALIFORNIA
25 YEARS AGO SUNDay SIlENCE, the son of the California-bred mare Wishing Well, gave Californians the opportunity to lord it over their New York counterparts when he defeated Easy Goer in the 1989 Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) at Gulfstream Park. To this day that race is cited as one of the most popular in Breeders’ Cup history. Sunday Silence had defeated Easy Goer in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Preakness Stakes (gr. I), but Easy Goer had thwarted his Triple Crown bid in the
IN
Sunday Silence (right) and Easy goer dueled in what is still considered one of the most popular BC Classic races Belmont Stakes (gr. I). Sunday Silence exacted sweet revenge in the Classic—for trainer Charlie Whittingham, who owned him with Arthur Hancock III and Dr. Ernest Gaillard, and for Californians, who championed the California-based son of Halo as their very own, even though he was bred in Kentucky.
30 YEARS AGO HOllywOOD PaRk hosted the very first Breeders’ Cup in 1984 in such star-studded fashion that it set the bar high for a series that has developed into the World Thoroughbred Championships. Traffic to the racetrack was jammed, as 64,254 people arrived for the event. Marje Everett, head of Hollywood Park, built the Pavilion of the Stars and extended the track to 11⁄8 miles especially for the first Breeders’ Cup. She saw to it that celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, and Gregory Peck were on hand. California almost had its first homebred Breeders’ Cup winner in the Juvenile Fillies (gr. I). Cal-bred Fran’s Valentine, who would win the next year’s Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), finished first, but she had interfered with another Cal-bred, Pirate’s Glow, and was disqualified, leaving Outstandingly as the winner.
Memoriam
Lil Tyler Dies at Age 31 Longtime California sire Lil Tyler, who was pensioned about five years ago, died Sept. 10 at age 31. He spent his entire stallion career at Cal Fischer’s Madera Thoroughbreds near Madera, Calif. Lil Tyler sired stakes winners Awesome Daze, Mateo, Lil Sneeker, I’m A Lil Princess, Super Strut, and Jack’s Wild among his 114 winners. His runners earned $8,852,342. Berkeley J. Bayne bred the son of Halo—Mitzi, by T.V. Lark, in Maryland. On the track, Lil Tyler won seven of 35 starts, including four stakes, for earnings of $218,353.