Post by Ripley on Feb 12, 2016 14:58:53 GMT -5
Battle Brook Stable February Report
The second month of racing saw a bit of a warm up in the racing scene for all barns. The biggest barns are starting to see their maiden ranks dwindle down to ones and twos and now the real challenge starts. Will the precocious youngsters continue their early triumphs and rocket to possible glory or are the late bloomers going to make a run to steal the unguarded crowns?
February saw a slight cool down in the oldest horse ranks, but one notable Battle Brook member ascended a well-deserved grade. Lethal Dose, the only daughter of Lethal Knack, clawed her way to grade two victory in the Fusionelle Derby. She's been a consistent player on the track since she first began her journey and is showing all of the signs of getting good at the right time. Stablemates Radiation Therapy and Miss Josephine ran powerful races, but did not notch a win in February. Radiation Therapy is expected to get a March vacation after running three races in February before returning in April. Miss Josephine is expected to run at Battle Stone Downs March Week One in hopes of furthering her reputation has a top turf distaff mare.
Nocturnal Runaway has woken up over the turf this season, winning two races at a mile and finishing second at seven furlongs. Perhaps the mare is willing to have Spotlight Pride step aside and ascend her throne. It seems awfully strange that a Night Stalker daughter would do so well over shorter distances on the turf, but Noc was always a bit of an oddity. Battle Brook took in a new lease in February from Grayson Meadows Stable. My Kingdom Come ran 5th in her first start of the season for that stable, but everyone knows the gray can do better than that. Proteus Prince, another lease, signified that he too is ready to take charge when returning to turf distances and notching his 10th victory. BBS says they plan on keeping the regally bred stud at distances because he seems to love the gradual chase.
Perhaps most notable of all was Sun King's impressive victory in the Spring Dawn Treader Cup, the biggest win of the year for BBS. The champion son of Native Flame and Hall of Famer El Sol Del Mar made an emphatic statement that he will be one to reckon with at nine and ten furlongs this season. He's not just a brilliant sprinter and miler, but he has the stone cold pedigree of a horse that excels at classic distances too. One has to wonder if he might have won the Kentucky Derby last season if stablemate Saintly Touch hadn't pointed for it and finished fourth behind arch-rival Speak Easy instead.
Things got exciting for a BBS that has been pretty mute about it's three year old chances this year. Coveted Faith got the ball rolling with her fifth victory in the Battlestone Downs Turf Classic in an effort to polish up her nomination for the Turf Triple Tiara or Green Mile later in the season. She looked brilliant and much like the filly from the beginning of Year Fifteen. Firestorm added another HOTY victory to his record with a powerful win in the Hiolio Derby. Now one win from grade three, Firestorm might actually be a dark horse going into the Triple Crown. BBS has always been high on him and the distance between the half-brother to newly crowned Hall of Famer Anodyne and the rest of the pack is shrinking a little every day. Awestruck got a win in for the Touch Up descendants with her fifth victory in the Super Complicated Stakes at BSD. No one is quite certain where the late blooming filly will end up, but she could be a Red Mile or Long Distance Series candidate if she keeps on trucking forward impressively.
Notorious had the most notable win of the month for three year olds when he demolished the best turf classic field assembled yet in the West Virginia Derby. He is perhaps the second best colt behind World Dominion, but it is possibly due to the fact that he hasn't run as much. He's still sitting on the edge of grade two, but his victory served notice that he's still in the hunt. Battle Brook is keeping the handsome son of Like A Cheetah on edge and prepared for what will be a tough run in the Turf Triple Crown.
Breaking Point and Game Over were the first BBS juveniles to notch their second career wins. Breaking Point's victory came in an undercard race, but showed that he might be the most versatile of the crop. He's won an eight furlong race on the turf and a ten furlong dirt race and looks potent for wherever he shows up next. Game Over now has two HOTY victories to her name, winning her second sprint race at six furlongs. She has now won over both surfaces and has marked herself as the most precocious of the BBS crew.
February was a month of juveniles breaking their maidens. Among the horses to break their maidens were Apache Sunrise, one of the most intriguing and beautifully bred fillies of the crop, Pele's Wrath, a superb daughter of Ashes to Ashes, and Roussong, one of the few foals sired by Knight Rousseau.
