About a decade before I moved to the U.S., I made my first trip to Kentucky around the time of the 1987 Keeneland July Sale. On that trip I had the opportunity to visit a number of farms, one of which was Overbrook, where I saw Storm Cat, who had not long been taken out of training, and would begin covering mares the next year. At that point, his victory in the Young America Stakes (G1) and close second to Tasso in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) were a long way in the rearview mirror as far as breeders were concerned, and it was hard to imagine that Storm Cat would eventually become the world's most expensive stallion. I was reminded of this, and the rapid passage of time, at the weekend when a trio of major juvenile winners presented pedigrees with Storm Cat inbreeding.
Making only her second career start in the Oct. 1 Chandelier Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park, Ain't Easy cruised to victory. She's a daughter of Into Mischief , who is currently in hot-pursuit of Gun Runner as he seeks to achieve a fourth straight leading sire of 2-year-olds title (he's already well on course for a third straight leading sire crown).
Ain't Easy is out of Australian-bred Ameristralia, an Australian group-placed daughter of top sire, Fastnet Rock (by Danehill), and a sister to Fiano Romano, twice a graded winner in Japan. Her dam, the Cicada Stakes (G3) and Adena Stallions' Miss Preakness Stakes (G3) victress, Heart Ashley, was purchased by Australian interests for $500,000 from Eaton Sales, agent, at the 2010 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. A daughter of Lion Heart, she's three-quarter sister to Railbird Stakes (G3) scorer, Ashley's Kitty (by Lion Heart's sire, Tale of the Cat), and a half sister to Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1) winner Cupid .
Ain't Easy's pedigree pattern is an extremely complex one. She is inbred 4x5 to Storm Cat, and in addition has Storm Cat's close related, Royal Academy in the fourth generation (Storm Cat was by Storm Bird out of a daughter of the mare Crimson Saint; Royal Academy is by Nijinsky II, a Northern Dancer with a similar background to Storm Bird and out of Crimson Saint). Storm Cat is a Northern Dancer/Secretariat cross (he's out one of Secretariat's best daughters, Terlingua), and Ain't Easy's fourth dam, Charge d'Affaires, is by Vice Regent out of a Secretariat mare, so another Northern Dancer/Secretariat cross. Finally, in the third generation of the pedigree we have Into Mischief's broodmare sire, Tricky Creek, along with the previously mentioned Danehill. Tricky Creek is by a son of Icecapade (a three-quarters relative to Northern Dancer) out of a mare by His Majesty, and Danehill is by a son of Northern Dancer out of a mare by His Majesty. We can note that Into Mischief and Danehill also combine in the pedigree of Mandaloun , who may well end up as his sire's second straight Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner.
On the Oct. 2 Belmont Park card, Jack Christopher , like Ain't Easy making only his second lifetime outing, delivered a powerful display to take the Champagne Stakes (G1). He is the first juvenile grade 1 winner, and the fourth at the top level, for his sire, Munnings , a son of Speightstown, and a horse who has been steadily working his way towards the higher rungs of the ladder of commercial sires.
Jack Christopher's dam, Rushin No Blushin, is a daughter of the Unbridled's Song horse, Half Ours. She is half sister to the two-time grade 1-winning sprinter and successful sire, Street Boss, and three-quarters sister to the graded-placed Unbridled's Song mare, Habiboo, the dam of Comely Stakes (G3) scorer Bellera, and granddam of the Regret Stakes (G3T) winner Beyond Blame. The granddam, Blushing Ogygian, as her name suggests is by Ogygian—a brilliant but unsound dirt miler—out of a daughter of Blushing Groom, the French black-type placed Fruhlingshochzeit. The fourth dam, Fruhlingstag, was runner-up in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, G1), and was by the German stallion, Orsini II, from a Marcel Boussac family.
Here, the double of Storm Cat comes through the dams of Speightstown and Half Ours, who are both Mr. Prospector/Storm Cat crosses. The pedigree also has a considerable build-up of Tartan/Genter strains, notably Rough 'n Tumble, Intentionally, Aspidistra, and Cequillo, through Munning's broodmare sire, Holy Bull; Unbridled, the sire of Unbridled'Song; and Ogygian.
Finally, Gun Runner stretched out his lead over Into Mischief Oct. 3, when his daughter Echo Zulu put up a brilliant performance to capture Belmont's Frizette Stakes (G1) by 7 1/4 lengths. This was her third win in three starts, and she previously captured the Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.
Echo Zulu's dam, Letgomyecho (by Menifee), started just four times, but won the first three of those, including the Stonerside Forward Gal Stakes (G2). She's been a very successful producer, as she's dam of four other black-type horses, including the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1) victor Echo Town , and J Boys Echo, successful in the Gotham Stakes (G3). This is a family that has been a lively one recently, as Letgomyecho's stakes-winning half sister, Soundwave, is dam of Dean Martini, who took the Ohio Derby (G3) last year, and another half sister, Echo Harbor, produced the Sapling Stakes (G3) winner Western Smoke and the Santa Anita Derby (G1) second One Lucky Dane.
Echo Zulu's second dam, Echo Echo Echo, is a stakes-placed granddaughter of the stakes-placed Tatallah. That mare only produced only one stakes winner, the Del Mar Junior Miss scorer, Joi'ski, but she's granddam of Engine One, who took the Vosburgh Stakes (G1), and ancestress of numerous other good winners in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Japan, including other U.S. grade 1 winners Singletary, Pool Play, and Voodoo Dancer. The family goes back through Tatallah's dam, champion 2-year-old female Leallah, to the notable tap-root mare, Oval. The branch which descends from Leallah's granddam, Colosseum, has produced any number of notable performers, among them champion grass horse Manila, champion 2-year-old filly Champagne Room, Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) heroine Blue Prize, St Nicholas Abbey, who took the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T), champion french 2-year-old Targowice, Prix de Diane Hermes (French Oaks, G1) winner Lacovia, White Muzzle, successful in the Italian Derby (G1), and major sires Miswaki and Southern Halo.
Echo Zulu is inbred to Storm Cat through Giant's Causeway, the broodmare sire of Gun Runner, and through Harlan, the sire of Menifee, with both Giant's Causeway and Menifee being extended Storm Cat/Nasrullah crosses. Remarkably, all five of Gun Runner's stakes winners to date feature a double of Storm Cat, and the Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner Gunite and Kip Deville Stakes scorer, Concept, are inbred to Giant's Causeway.
