With the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) less than two weeks away, things are now quiet on the 3-year-old front, but the weekend did see significant action among the older horses, with ex-classic performers Kingsbarns and Skippylongstocking staking their claims to higher rungs on the divisional ladder.
Kingsbarns arrived in last year's Kentucky Derby (G1) having made just three previous starts, all at 3. He won all three, taking a Gulfstream Park maiden special weight, an allowance event at Tampa Bay Downs, and the Louisiana Derby (G2), where he went wire-to-wire to score by 3 1/2 lengths. In the Derby he chased swift fractions through the first mile before fading to finish 14th. Five weeks later, Kingsbarns—in what would turn out to be his last race of the year—missed by a neck after battling through fast early fractions in the Pegasus Stakes. He reappeared this March in a seven-furlong allowance/optional claiming event at Gulfstream and defied the long layoff, closing to score by half a length. This past weekend, Kingsbarns was sent forth for the 1 3/16-mile Ben Ali Stakes (G3) at Keeneland. After adopting a stalking role he took over turning for home and powered clear to score by 3 1/4 lengths, earning a career-high 108 Equibase Speed Figure.
Kingsbarns is one of four stakes winners this year, and 100 lifetime, for the sire Uncle Mo , whose record we discussed in detail last week following the victory of his daughter Adare Manor in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1).
Kingsbarns is out of the graded stakes placed Tapit mare Lady Tapit. She is a half sister to American Oaks Invitational (G1T) victress Gozzip Girl, subsequently dam of Japanese graded scorer Chuck Nate, and to the Galileo mare Galileo Figaro, the dam of Argentinian graded winners Galileo's Town and Gianella.
Kingsbarn's third dam, Shapiro's Mistress, was half sister to Brocco, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and the Santa Anita Derby (G1). If not at the level of Brocco, Shapiro's Mistress was a pretty smart 2-year-old in her own right, winning the Bay Meadows Lassie Stakes and Very Subtle Sales Stakes at that age. Dam of stakes winners Kodema and Mistress S., Shapiro's Mistress is the ancestress of 15 stakes winners, including other graded scorers My Gi Gi and Lotus Land.
A Florida-bred daughter of Unpredictable, Shapiro's Mistress had an unusual pedigree, with the stallion Eight Thirty (himself inbred 3x4 to Rock Sand and Fairy Gold, two of the four grandparents of Man o' War) 5x4x5, including appearing 2x3 in the granddam of Shapiro's Mistress. With this in mind, it's worth noting that Kingsbarns' sire, Uncle Mo, has 12 crosses of Man o' War. It's also interesting that Uncle Mo is out of a mare by Arch, a son of Kris S., and Kris S. sired Brocco and stakes winner Mistress S. from this immediate family. Kris S. is by Roberto, and he appears in the sire line of grade 1 winner Gozzip Girl, graded winner Lotus Land, and stakes winner Emro, all also descending from Shapiro's Mistress.
Born a year earlier than Kingsbarns, Skippylongstocking didn't make the Kentucky Derby—his only stakes start prior to that event saw him finish third in the Wood Memorial Stakes (G2)—but he did run in the final two legs of the Triple Crown, finishing fifth in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and third in the Belmont Stakes (G1).
Skippylongstocking started three more times in his classic season, adding wins in the West Virginia Derby (G3) and Harlan's Holiday Stakes (G3). Last year, the bay made six starts, winning the Challenger Stakes (G3) and the Charles Town Classic (G2), which he took by five lengths, and gaining another top-level placing with a third in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). This year's campaign made a faltering start after Skippylongstocking was pulled up in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1), but a 2 1/2-length score in the Challenger Stakes (G3) March 9 demonstrated nothing major had been amiss. On Saturday, he had two lengths in hand at the wire in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2), which he took while establishing a personal-best Equibase Speed Figure of 114.
Skippylongstocking is from the second North American crop sired by Curlin 's 2016 Preakness winner, Exaggerator. Retired to WinStar Farm, Versailles, Ky., and now at Elite Thoroughbreds, Folsom, La., Exaggerator is represented by 10 stakes winners from his first four North American crops, Skippylongstocking being joined as a graded winner by last year's Iroquois Stakes (G3) scorer West Saratoga.
Skippylongstocking's dam, the War Chant (by Danzig) mare Twinkling, could do no better than a second and a third in five starts, but it's been a very different story as a producer. Her first foal, Moonlight Strike, a son of Liam's Map , won the Roar Stakes and took third in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3); Skippylongstocking is her second foal; and her third is the Mshawish filly Olivia Twist, who took the Trapeze Stakes at 2 and ran third in the Fantasy Stakes (G3) last year at 3.
Skippylongstocking's second dam, the minor stakes-placed Out of Place daughter Unhurried, is half sister to stakes winner Libor Lady (dam of Australian grade two winner Allibor) and to the dam of the prolific Thrillin Discovery. Unhurried is a granddaughter of the minor stakes winning Dr. Fager mare Cricket Club, the dam of four stakes winners, and ancestress of more than 30 stakes winners, including the grade 1 winners Collect the Cash, Musical Romance, Stately Victor, Patternrecognition, Rigoletta, and Rigoletta's son Battle of Midway (who is by Exaggerator's grandsire, Smart Strike, out of a Danzig line mare, so bred similarly to Skippylongstocking).
Cricket Club's dam, the Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes heroine Grass Shack, is half sister to the granddam of Deputy Minister. This is a branch of a family descending from the notable mare Good Example, an important broodmare, particularly through her daughter Exclusive, dam of two-time Leading Sire Exclusive Native. This female line is notable for its strong inbreeding and linebreeding to its deep tail-female ancestress, Queen Mary, one of the most important mares of the 19th century.
This plays a significant part in the pedigree of Skippylongstocking. His second dam is by Out of Place, who also goes tail-female to Exclusive. In addition, his dam is by War Chant, whose broodmare sire, Kris S. also goes tail-female to Queen Mary. The broodmare sire of Curlin, Exaggerator's sire, is Deputy Minister, who is not only from the Queen Mary family but from the same branch as Skippylongstocking and Out of Place. What's more, Deputy Minister's sire, Vice Regent, goes tail-female to Queen Mary, and Exaggerator's third dam, Vevila, is bred very similarly to Vice Regent (all four of Vice Regent's grandparents appear also appear in her pedigree), and is 4x4 to Victoria Park, a half brother to the dam of Vice Regent and again going back to Queen Mary.
