Arcangelo Yet Another Graded Winner for Late Arrogate

Races named after famous performers frequently fail to reflect the aptitudes of their illustrious namesakes. Take, for example, the Man o' War Stakes (G1T) run at Belmont Park May 13, and captured by the remarkable veteran Red Knight. That race is contested over 11 furlongs on turf, a surface over which Man o' War never competed. Another race contested on the same card that bears a far more appropriate name is the Peter Pan Stakes (G3), a nine-furlong event for 3-year-olds that sits between the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1), effectively ruling out horses that contest either of the first two legs of the Triple Crown. The Peter Pan commemorates the eponymous champion 3-year-old colt of 1907, a horse who did not contest either of the first two classics, but who did take the Belmont as one of his five stakes victories that year. Because of its placing on the calendar, the Peter Pan has often served as a prep for later developers pointing toward the Belmont Stakes (G1), and seven horses have completed the double, including High Gun (1954), Gallant Man (1957), Cavan (1958), Coastal (1979), A.P. Indy (1992), and Tonalist (2014). The Peter Pan, first run in 1940, returned after a hiatus that ran from 1961 to 1975. The anomaly here is Gallant Man, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby—a race he might well have won had jockey Bill Shoemaker not mistaken the finish line—then ran in the Peter Pan, rather than the Preakness. This year the Peter Pan Stakes went to the lightly raced Arcangelo, who was making his stakes debut and running for only the fourth time in his career. Second on debut in a six-furlong Gulfstream Park maiden special weight Dec. 17, Arcangelo could only manage a fourth in a similar event over a mile just under a month later. He showed much improved form in mid-March to score by 3 1/2 lengths at the same venue. In the Peter Pan, he finished strongly from a stalking position to gain a verdict over another lightly raced runner, the favorite, Bishops Bay. Arcangelo is from the second of just three crops to represent the late, two-time world champion Arrogate. Undoubtedly one of the greatest runners of the 21st century, Arrogate's star shone briefly, but brilliantly. He made his black type in the Travers Stakes (G1), which he took by 13 1/2 lengths in track-record time, and followed up by defeating the older Horse of the Year, California Chrome, in a memorable Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). On his 4-year-old debut, Arrogate took the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) by 4 3/4 lengths in a track-record 1:46.83. In the Dubai World Cup (G1), Arrogate produced another astonishing display to score by 2 1/2 lengths from Gun Runner despite completely blowing the start and at one point trailing the leaders by 10 lengths. After that heroic effort, Arrogate's form tailed off and he failed to win in his final three starts, prior to retiring to Juddmonte Farm in Lexington for the 2018 breeding season. Last year, Arrogate posthumously became a classic sire with his first crop when Secret Oath captured the Kentucky Oaks (G1). Winner also of the Honeybee Stakes (G3) and Martha Washington Stakes last year, Secret Oath has added the Azeri Stakes (G2) this term. That crop included three other stakes winners, including a second grade 1 scorer in Fun to Dream, who captured the La Brea Stakes (G1). Arcangelo is one of four stakes winners from Arrogate's second crop, which last year was headlined by Cave Rock, who took the Del Mar Futurity (G1) and American Pharoah Stakes (G1) and ran second to Forte as favorite for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). Arrogate's other standout was And Tell Me Nolies, successful in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) and Santa Anita Chandelier Stakes (G2). Arcangelo's dam, Modeling, never ran, but she is by Tapit—who has four Belmont Stakes winners to his name and will likely be represented by Tapit Trice in this edition—and closely related to the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) scorer Greatest Honour, who is by Tapit out of a half sister to Modeling's dam, the Storm Cat mare, Teeming. Modeling is also half sister to the Starlet Stakes (G1) victress Streaming and her sister Treasuring, successful in the Star Shoot Stakes; to Cascading, winner of the Glorious Song Stakes; and to Achieving, who produced three stakes winners, including the San Carlos Stakes (G2) and Kona Gold Stakes (G3) scorer Cezanne. There are more Belmont Stakes connections under Arcangelo's third dam, Better Than Honour, heroine of the Demoiselle Stakes (G2), and Broodmare of the Year for 2007. She produced not one, but two Belmont Stakes winners, and in consecutive years—the 2006 victor, Jazil, being followed by Rags to Riches, who memorably outfought Curlin to add the Belmont to triumphs in the Las Virgenes Stakes (G1), Santa Anita Oaks (G1), and Kentucky Oaks (G1). Astonishingly, Better Than Honour might well have made it three Belmont winners in three years. Her 2005 colt, Casino Drive, shipped in from Japan to take the Peter Pan Stakes by 5 3/4 lengths, and likely would have started second favorite to Big Brown—who was pulled up—had he not been sidelined by an injury. Better Than Honour's dam and granddam, Blush With Pride and Best in Show, were both also distinguished runners and producers. Blush With Pride numbered the Santa Susana Stakes (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) among four graded stakes victories, and the Comely Stakes winner Best In Show also earned honors as Broodmare of the Year for 1982. Blush With Pride is also ancestress of Irish Oaks (G1) winner Peeping Fawn, Paris Lights, who took the CCA Oaks (G1), and Thewayyouare, successful in the Criterium International (G1). Meanwhile, Best In Show is ancestress of other such celebrities as El Gran Senor, Spinning World, Almond Eye (JPN), War of Will, Chimes of Freedom, Redoute's Choice, Aldebaran, Close Hatches, and In Italian (GB). In addition to being an exceptional racehorse, Peter Pan was also a successful and influential sire, something reflected by his more than 90 appearances in the first 14 generations of the pedigree of Arcangelo. Moving to more recent generations, Arcangelo is inbred 3x4 to Unbridled, who appears as grandsire of Arrogate, and broodmare sire of Tapit (similarly bred in that they both have second dams by In Reality) and 4x4 to Deputy Minister. This continues the notable success of Unbridled line stallions with mares by A.P. Indy, which has produced at least three other stakes winners out of Tapit mares, and at least another six, including grade 1 winners Wicked Whisper and Colonel Liam, out of mares by another, Bernardini, who like Tapit is by A.P. Indy out of a mare by a son of Fappiano.