If one was studying "Blue Hens," one would not instantly pick out Cee's Song as a prospect that would found a dynasty. Her sole victory in 18 starts came in a maiden claiming race at Hollywood Park, and although she also ran second eight times in maiden special weight and allowance company, that statistic suggests a potential lack of desire to separate herself from the pack.
Her sire, Seattle Song, a relative rare turf standout for Seattle Slew, had won the Prix de la Salamandre (G1) at 2, and the Washington DC International (G1) at 3, but was not one of Seattle Slew's more distinguished sire-sons, with just one grade 1 winner in his 11 crops.
Cee's Song's dam, the Canadian-bred Lonely Dancer (by Northern Dancer's son Nice Dancer) recorded her only victory at Northlands Park. Lonely Dancer was a sister to the tough Mr. Kapacity, a winner of 22 races, including several minor stakes in Canada, but one doesn't come across real class until one reaches Cee's Song's third dam, Sulenan, whose stakes-winning daughter Swinging Lizzie produced Swaps Stakes (G1) winner Lively One and Swing Till Dawn, successful in the Charles H. Strub Stakes (G1) and Widener Handicap (G1). Sulenan also appears as third dam of Digression, a Seattle Slew son who was high-weighted colt at 2 in England. Further back, Cee's Song's fourth dam, Blue Canary, was a half sister to, and from the same sire line as, Crimson Satan, the 2-year-old co-champion of 1961.
Cee's Song had been purchased for $50,000 at the 1987 Keeneland September Yearling Sale by a partnership that included California breeder Cecilia Straub-Rubens, and it was Straub-Rubens who chose to preserve her as a broodmare.
Straub-Rubens had also campaigned the Relaunch colt Cee's Tizzy, who—although not a stakes winner—had flashed brilliance in a career cut short by injury. Successful in three of six starts, Cee's Tizzy captured back-to-back Del Mar allowance races while running 1:07 4/5 for six furlongs and 1:33 2/5 for a mile. Pointed to the Super Derby Invitational (G1) he set the pace there before finishing third to Home At Last and Unbridled, but was found to have suffered a carpal fracture during the race. He was retired to Harris Farms near Coalinga, Calif., which was to be his home for the next 24 years.
It was Cee's Tizzy who was to be the sire of nine of Cee's Song's first 10 foals, and it proved to be a marriage made in heaven. Four of the Cee's Tizzy—Cee's Song offspring won black-type events: Tiznow, 2000 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt and 2001 champion older horse, and the only two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1); Budroyale, a five-time graded stakes winner with earnings of more than $2.8 million; Tizdubai, heroine of the Sorrento Stakes (G2); and Tizbud, a stakes winner in Cal-bred company and graded placed.
In addition to Tizdubai, who appears as granddam of graded winners Tarifa and Cabo Spirit, there were four other non-black-type fillies from the Cee's Tizzy—Cee's Song mating, and remarkably, all four are ancestresses of black-type winners. Tizso, who was unplaced in two starts, produced a trio of stakes winners, headed by Paynter, who was successful in the 2012 Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) and narrowly beaten in the Belmont Stakes (G1); the unraced Tizamazing is the dam of 2013 Preakness Stakes (G1) victor Oxbow and his stakes-winning brother Awesome Patriot (both, like Paynter, by Awesome Again); and the once-raced Tizsweet, who is ancestress of the most recent star from the family, Sweet Azteca.
We'll also note here that while Cee's Tizzy also sired 2001 champion older mare Gourmet Girl and the grade 1-winning sprinter Cost of Freedom, from other mares, Cee's Song's success as a broodmare ended after her last foal by Cee's Tizzy. Having been sold for $2.6 million carrying Tizamazing, she produced four subsequent foals, three by Storm Cat, and one by his son Giant's Causeway, and produced nothing better than the minor stakes-placed winner C'Mon Tiger, although another of that quartet, the minor winner You're Beautiful, does appear as granddam of the Remington Park Oaks (G3) winner Lady Mystify.
Sweet Azteca—bred and owned by Straub-Rubens' daughter, Pamela C. Ziebarth—made her debut in May 2023 in a six-furlong Churchill Downs maiden special event. She won it by 2 1/4 lengths after blazing through an opening quarter of :20.92, but all her other starts have come in 2024 and on the West Coast. Off an eight-month layoff, she faded to third after setting the pace in the Jan. 1 Las Flores Stakes (G3), but this was to prove her only loss to date. A 6 1/2-furlong allowance/optional claiming test in February saw her cruise home 12 lengths to the good. Exactly one month later, Sweet Azteca went wire-to-wire in the Beholder Mile Stakes (G1), holding off the formidable Adare Manor to score by three-quarters of a length. In the Great Lady M Stakes (G2), Sweet Azteca drew off by five lengths while setting a track record of 1:14.33 for 6 1/2 furlongs at Los Alamitos Race Course. Over the last weekend, the Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3) provided what proved to be little more than a paid workout, as Sweet Azteca prevailed by seven lengths over her Las Flores Handicap conqueror Chismosa.
Sweet Azteca is one of five stakes winners from the first crop of Sharp Azteca. Now at Shizunai Stallion Station in Hokkaido, Japan, where he's just completed his first season, Sharp Azteca is by the Storm Cat son Freud, a full brother to Giant's Causeway. Winner of five black-type events in 17 starts, most notably the 2017 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1), Sharp Azteca was the leading freshman sire of 2022 by individual winners with 36. The best of his first crop other than Sweet Azteca was the four-time stakes winner Tyler's Tribe. He also has stakes winner Sharp Lorenzo from his second crop.
Notable background similarities exist between Sharp Azteca's grandsire Storm Cat and Lonely Dancer, the fifth dam of Sweet Azteca. Both are by sons of Northern Dancer, and Storm Cat's second dam is by Crimson Satan out of a daughter of First Rose, whereas Lonely Dancer's second dam is by a son of Tom Fool out of a half sister to Crimson Satan. We'll note that Storm Cat combines with Tiznow—a full brother to the third dam of Sweet Azteca, Tizsweet—in nearly 80 stakes winners, seven of them grade 1, including champion 2-year-old fillies Folklore and 2022 Preakness Stakes (G1) victor Early Voting . In addition, Saturday's H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1) winner Domestic Product is by Practical Joke , a Storm Cat line stallion out of a mare by Paynter, whose dam, as mentioned, is another full sister to Sweet Azteca's third dam.
