Flashy and Fragile: The Unbridled Line

     With the recent retirement of Battle Plan and the re injured Winslow Homer, I thought it would be a good time to talk about Unbridled and passing down unsoundness to future generations. Battle Plan and Winslow Homer have two things in common: they both won a graded stakes this year, and they both had their career/season shortened by injury. Actually make that three things in common, they are both by sons of Unbridled who may hold the key as to why they are unsound. Unbridled, the 1990 Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner has sired some great horses. This includes the very talented Unbridled's Song, 2003 Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker and 2005 Pimlico Special winner Eddington. However, all three of these wonderful Grade 1 winners have something in common: soundness issues.

     Out of the Caro (IRE) mare Trolley Song, Unbridled's Song won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile as a 2yo, and the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial as a 3yo. As a stallion he has sired the likes of Unbridled Elaine, a BC Distaff winner, Midshipman, a BC Juvi winner like his father and Eight Belles who finished second in the Kentucky Derby. He's known for his flashy foals, a perfect example of this is Rockport Harbor who was a graded stakes winner at 2 and 4. Sadly, the four horses I just named as well as Winslow Homer who I mentioned before had their careers/seasons due to injury (I'm not going to get into EB's death, however as UBS' highest finisher in the Derby, I had to mention her). Midshipman was forced to skip the Derby last year after injuring himself in Dubai, he is out again with the same injury I believe. Winslow Homer who just came back from a fracture, is now out for the season with a different fracture in a different leg. Rocky's injury was not his fault, in the Remsen Stakes which he won, he was stepped on at the break. While he did win that race and finished in front of Afleet Alex at 3, he never fully recovered from the injury. Last, but not least is Dunkirk. Second in the Florida Derby and the Belmont Stakes last year, he was injured soon afterward and retired.

     Fans of horse racing like to put blame squarely on Unbridled's Song since he is the most known. He's also known for well selling foals. For example, at the recently concluded Fasig Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings auction, six of his foals went through the ring (with one scratched out of the sale). All six sold for an average of $230,833. This is off a 2009 stud fee of $150,000. However, UBS is far from the only Unbridled stallion who is passing along soundness issues.

     Out of the El Gran Senor mare Toussaud, Empire Maker was a highly regarded 3yo in 2003. As one of the favorites to win the Derby, he won the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial much like Unbridled's Song did in 1995. After the Wood though, he came out with a foot bruise. Nevertheless he went to the Derby as the morning line and post time favorite. He finished second behind Funny Cide who he had previously defeated in the Wood. After skipping the Preakness, he denied Funny Cide the Triple Crown when he won the Belmont on a sloppy race track. After that race, he would race only once more in the Jim Dandy where he finished second. As a sire, he has had G1 winners such as Country Star, Icon Project and Pioneerof the Nile. Much like Unbridled's Song however, he is starting to pass on unsoundness. Icon Project, Pioneerof the Nile and Battle Plan all had their careers shortened due to injury. Battle Plan, this year's Stephen Foster Handicap runner up retired of a suspensory ligament, while Icon Project and Pioneerof the Nile had soft tissue problems. Also thorough his dam Toussaud, Empire Maker passes along temperamental issues.

      Then there is Eddington who is out of Chief's Crown mare Fashion Star. He finished third to Smarty Jones in the 2004 Preakness before finishing uptrack in the Belmont to Birdstone (who is by an Unbridled son himself in Grindstone who won the Derby in 1996.). Eddington won the Calder Derby on grass the same year and in 2005 he won the Pimlico Special. Sadly the Pimlico Special would be his final race as he was injured with a soft tissue injury soon afterward and was retired. While it's too early in his stud career to see where he stands when it comes to injuries (his oldest foals are 3), he could brake the jinx and sire some sturdy horses.

     Despite the problems with Unbridled foals, not all of his sons pass down unsoundness. One of the most underrated stallions in Kentucky (and one of my personal favorites), is Broken Vow. He happens to be a son of Unbridled. Among his foals include Grade 1 winners Unbridled Belle and Cotton Blossom, along with Grade G3 winner Interactif who just participated in the Belmont this year. Broken Vow foals seem to be a bit sturdier side, especially Unbridled Belle who won once, finished second once and finished third three times at a mile and a quarter 3 years in a row (Won the Delaware Handicap once, and finished third twice, finished second in the Personal Ensign once and finished third once).

     No stallion line will be perfect, and of course the female family plays a part into how sound a horse is. However, it seems that more often then not, the Unbridled line tends to be more fragile then others. Lets hope that I'm proven wrong in future generations and that we see more sturdier horses from this line.

And it came down with a thud

The Unbridled's Song curse strikes again! Winslow Homer is off the Triple Crown Trail with a fractured cannonbone. So everybody moves up a spot and the new #10 is: American Lion (Tiznow)- The third member of what is now the WinStar fourheaded monster to land on the top ten list. Unlike the other three (Rule, Super Saver and Drosselmeyer), he has yet to run on a dirt surface. And since American Lion is now #10, I need to replace him on the next time inclusion list: And I'm going to do it with a horse who more then likely will skip the TC trail, but I won't be suprised if he makes his stakes debut in the Fountain of Youth OR the Florida Derby. The horse I'm talking about is Lentenor (Dynaformer). Also out is Laus Deo who had surgery, so Rick Porter for the first time since Hard Spun in 2007 will not be repasented in the Run for the Roses.

However, the next few weeks will be quite exciting as the true contenders start making their first starts of the year (including the horse who I think will be a very good horse this year in the Sam F. Davis or Risen Star). Quality Road goes in the Donn, Blind Luck (#4 on my Derby list, #1 on my Oaks list) goes against a filly who might be a good one in Crisp at SA. All of the Weekend preview stuff will be on Friday.

Meanwhile if you haven't signed up for the WinStar Fanstasy Stable contest and want to, you can find all of the information at WinStar's Fantasy Page. If you type in thoroughbredchat at yahoo dot com (did it this way to avoid spam), in the referral box, then I think I get money to help my stable earnings. You have until Feb. 13 at noon to sign up if you want to make changes.

Paint that Greek!

Winslow Homer, and Ron the Greek won the Holy Bull and Lacomte respectivly. However I was wrong about a few things, 1. Jackson Bend surprised me with his 2nd place finish in the Holy Bull, 2. Citrus Kid is a nice horse, but not Derby material (in my opinon), maybe Belmont if he gets that chance.

Winslow Homer will now face Buddy's Saint, who is #2 on the TC board in the Fountain of Youth. I place Winslow Homer around #7 (Rule is the defacto #6), and Jackson Bend is around #12, with 3rd place finisher William's Kitten around #10 (I'll explain my reasoning next week when the new rankings come out with a top 15 this time around). Ron the Greek has the Silky Sullivian look to him, but I need to see how he does in the Risen Star against what is expected to be better company (maybe Laus Deo and/or Rule will be involved? Niether Tony Dutrow nor Todd Pletcher have strings there, but they could ship in). I will say that there has been some shuffling around, a horse who had been on the bubble will be removed, and horse who I haven't talked about yet will be added to the top five.

Oaks movement, will Quiet Temper will move down on the list after her bomb in the Fair Grounds (hopefully she rebounds in the Silverbulletday), and her stablemate who I think will end up not being as good as her Sassy Image will move into the top five, but not to replace her.

I appologize for not having a post yesterday, if you read my regular blog Yarn Talk then you know why. Just to let you all know that the Weekend Preview post will be going up on Thursday with a very special aniversary post at the same time. The reason being is that Friday is a very important day in the history of horse racing for me personally, it's a certin Horse of the Year's offical fourth birthday and it's the third aniversary of one of horse racing's equine hero's death.