2006 Maryland-bred
champions
Horse of the year •Older male •Sprinter •Turf
runner
Les Arcs
Dk.b./br.g., 2000, by Arch—La Sarto, by Cormorant; bred by Elk Manor
Farm; owned by
Willie McKay; trained by Tim Pitt. Foaled at Elk Manor Farm, North East.
Never before has a horse dominated the Maryland-bred championship
voting to the extent that Les Arcs did in 2006. The dark bay
son of Arch captured titles in three divisions—older
male, sprinter and turf runner—and was a near-unanimous
choice as Horse of the Year. Even more remarkably, Les Arcs
had done little to distinguish himself before his superlative
campaign in England last year. And his exploits are still unfamiliar
to many racing followers on this side of the ocean.
Foaled and raised at Elk Manor Farm, the Cecil County establishment
of his breeder, Jim Moran, Les Arcs was consigned by Moran
to the 2001 Keeneland September Yearling sale, where John Ferguson
bought him for $140,000 on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed’s
Godolphin Stable. Unraced at 2, Les Arcs broke his maiden in
his second start as a 3-year-old, but disappointed in his next
effort, in September 2003. He was offered shortly thereafter
at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training sale, and his
current owner, British soccer agent Willie McKay, acquired
him at that time for the U.S. equivalent of approximately $63,000.
Les Arcs labored unimpressively at middle distances—and
even made one start over hurdles as a 4-year-old—until
being transferred to the barn of trainer Tim Pitt in the fall
of 2005. After that, he finally found his groove.
He began his 2006 season in January with a victory in a six-furlong
handicap at Wolverhampton, and then reeled off two consecutive
five-furlong triumphs on the all-weather surface at Lingfield
in February and March. Wheeled back just one week after his
second win at Lingfield, he recorded his first career stakes
victory in the Cammidge Trophy at Redcar, his first turf outing
of the season.
In his next start, the Abernant Stakes at Newmarket in April,
Paradise Isle bested him, but only by a nose. After a five-week
break, Les Arcs made his first attempt in group stakes company—the
Temple Stakes-G2 at Sandown Park—in which he led briefly
but weakened and was eased.
But the best was soon to come. And his true quality emerged
on a majestic stage—at Britain’s Royal Ascot meet.
In the King’s Stand Stakes-G2 at Ascot on June 20, he finished 11th,
but in a field so tightly bunched that he actually reached the wire a mere
length and a quarter behind the winner, Australia’s champion sprinter
and multiple Group 1 winner, Takeover Target.
Only four days later, Les Arcs made his Group 1 debut in
Ascot’s $636,405 Golden Jubilee Stakes at six furlongs.
After battling Takeover Target in the final furlong, he overtook
Balthazaar’s Gift by a neck to finish as the longshot
winner in the accomplished field of 18 turf sprinters.
Proving that the Golden Jubilee was no fluke, he headed postward
20 days later in another Group 1 test at the same distance,
the July Cup at Newmarket, considered England’s most
prestigious sprint race and boasting a total purse of $663,624.
Again stealing the lead from rival Takeover Target in the final
furlong, he and jockey John Egan held a rapidly closing Iffraaj
at bay and finished on top at 10-1 odds over 14 competitors.
Pitt continued to be amazed at his charge’s staying
power and durability, telling the Racing Post that Les Arcs
had “confirmed himself a genuine Group 1 horse at six
furlongs.”
Les Arcs’s final start of 2006 was in the Sprinters
Stakes-G1, the sixth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge held
in October at Nakayama in Japan. He finished seventh, three
and three-quarters lengths behind victorious Takeover Target,
who was arguably the best sprinter in the world in 2006. However,
with six wins from 10 starts on the year, Les Arcs cemented
his reputation as a European superstar. Of his total career
earnings ($959,662), the vast majority—$855,075—came
last year.
Les Arcs is one of only two runners to earn the Maryland-bred
Horse of the Year title in races outside of this country. The
other was El Gran Senor, Europe’s champion 3-year-old
colt in 1984.
Les Arcs is the second Maryland-bred champion to represent his breeder, who
also is credited with 2003 champion 2-year-old filly Richetta. Moran bred
Les Arcs from the Cormorant mare La Sarto, whom he claimed for $25,000 at
Saratoga in 1994. La Sarto is also the dam of Maryland-bred stakes winner
White Mountain Boy ($167,470). Still owned by Moran, La Sarto has a yearling
colt by Action This Day, and is due to foal this season to Two Punch.
Two-year-old filly
Spectacular Malibu
Gr./ro.f., 2004, by Malibu Moon—Spectacular You, by Spectacular Bid;
bred by Charles H. Hadry and Constance H. Hadry; owned by Country Life Farm;
trained by Michael J. Trombetta.
Foaled at Green Willow Farms, Westminster.
Spectacular Malibu rose to local prominence with a victory in the Maryland
Million Lassie, and then affirmed her class and consistency with runner-up
performances in the Grade 3 Tempted and Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship
Stakes.
Owned by a Country Life Partnership of seven investors, and
trained by red-hot Laurel Park-based conditioner Mike Trombetta
(whose stable star Sweetnorthernsaint posted as the favorite
in last year’s Kentucky Derby and finished second in
the Preakness), the imposing gray filly served notice of her
talent while breaking her maiden at first asking, a stirring
two and a half-length score in a five and a half-furlong maiden
special weight on September 27 at Laurel.
Making only her second career start on Maryland Million Day
(October 14), she powered down the stretch to finish three
and three-quarters lengths ahead of her closest rival in the
seven-furlong contest.
Country Life Farm’s business manager, Mike Pons, spoke
for all of her connections when he expressed hope that the
Maryland Million would be Spectacular Malibu’s launching
pad: “She’s got the right pedigree and the right
look. She could be special.”
Put to the test in Aqueduct’s one-mile Tempted Stakes
on November 3, Spectacular Malibu ”stayed on
stubbornly”to finish second, a length and a half behind
the victorious Successful Outlook.
That effort appeared to set her up perfectly for the one-mile Maryland Juvenile
Filly Championship at Laurel on December 30.
Dispatched as the odds-on favorite, Spectacular Malibu looked
the sure winner heading into the stretch. But the tenacious
and hard-trying Welcome Inn hooked up with her near the sixteenth
pole, and the two battled to the wire. Welcome Inn got the
best of Spectacular Malibu that day, but only by a neck.
Spectacular Malibu’s record of four starts, two wins
and two seconds and earnings of $122,490 were enough to secure
the championship title.
Spectacular Malibu carries on the remarkable legacy of the
late Maryland trainer Charlie Hadry, who died in February 2003
at the age of 72. Hadry trained dozens of stakes winners, including
Private Terms, who was undefeated when he went to the post
as favorite in the 1988 Kentucky Derby. He and his wife, Constance,
also maintained a small breeding farm near Westminster.
One of Hadry’s last breeding decisions involved the
mating of their mare Spectacular You (by Spectacular Bid) with
the young sire Malibu Moon, who was just then rocketing to
stardom at the Pons family’s Country Life Farm. Malibu
Moon was relocated to Kentucky following the 2003 breeding
season; Spectacular Malibu is from his last Maryland-sired
crop. Country Life purchased Spectacular Malibu from the Hadry
estate.
Two-year-old male
Clifton Park
Dk.b./br.c., 2004, by Allen’s Prospect—Cat
Nap, by Storm Cat; bred by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr.
Laura Schrock and Allen’s Prospect Syndicate; owned by
Trade Winds Farm; trained by Bruce C. Jackson. Foaled at Dance
Forth Farm, Chestertown.
Allen’s Prospect, Maryland’s all-time leading
sire, was represented by his final crop of 2-year-olds last
season. And from that group came his fourth Maryland-bred juvenile
champion. Clifton Park clinched his title with two stakes victories
in only three starts—the Oliver’s Twist Stakes
(in which he broke his maiden) on September 16, followed by
the Maryland Million Nursery.
Bred by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Laura Schrock and
the Allen’s Prospect Syndicate, Clifton Park was purchased
as a weanling for $34,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December
Mixed sale in 2004 by Tom and Connie D’Ambra, who make
their home in Clifton Park, N.Y.
Tom D’Ambra is the founder and CEO of Albany Molecular
Research Inc. Although he and his wife had participated in
a racing partnership for several years before that, Clifton
Park was one of the first horses they bought under the banner
of their own Trade Winds Farm.
Developed by Fair Hill based-trainer Bruce Jackson, Clifton
Park was unveiled in a five and a half-furlong maiden special
weight at Saratoga on August 16, and showed the way to the
rest of the field before being caught at the wire and finishing
third.
“He ran a tremendous race, although he didn’t
win,”said Jackson.
Jackson pegged the colt’s next start as the inaugural running of the
Oliver’s Twist Stakes for Maryland-breds at Laurel on September 16.
Clifton Park went off as the 2-5 favorite in the five-horse field. He led
the way through fractions of :22.38 and :46.24 and won by three-quarters
of a length in the final time of :59.
In the Maryland Million Nursery, Clifton Park employed his
natural speed to dominate seven rivals and triumphed by two
and a quarter lengths. His season’s earnings were $103,450.
Clifton Park was the ninth Maryland Million juvenile winner
for Allen’s Prospect.
Tom D’Ambra’s only regret is that Clifton Park
was their first and only 2-year-old by Allen’s Prospect,
who stood 17 seasons at the Pons family’s Country Life
Farm in Bel Air, until his death in September 2003.
Allen’s Prospect has been previously represented by Maryland-bred 2-year-old
champions Secret Prospect (1995), Gin Talking (1999) and Your Out (2000),
all fillies.
Clifton Park’s dam, Cat Nap, a daughter of Storm Cat,
joined the Bowmans’broodmare band in December 2000 when
Schrock, a longtime Pennsylvania horsewoman, was scaling down
her operation.
Cat Nap had a spotty produce record over nine years, as she has but four
named foals. Her two other foals to sell at public auction each were six-figure
sales horses bred by Schrock—a Skip Away colt named Skip Return who
sold for $100,000 at Keeneland’s 2002 April 2-year-olds in training
sale, and her 2002 Grand Slam colt, who brought $135,000 at the Fasig-Tipton
Kentucky July yearling sale.
Clifton Park is his dam’s second starter, and her first
stakes horse.
A half-sister to graded stakes winner Blue Buckaroo, Cat Nap
went out on a high note as a producer, for Clifton Park was
her final foal. She died in September 2005 while in foal to
Great Notion.
Three-year-old male
Ah Day
B.g., 2003, by Malibu Moon—Endette, by Thirty Eight Paces; bred by
K.T. Leatherbury Assoc., Inc.; owned by
The Jim Stable; trained by King T. Leatherbury. Foaled at Northview Stallion
Station, Chesapeake City.
The legendary Maryland trainer King T. Leatherbury operates solo, but through
several different entities. K.T. Leatherbury Associates—which sounds
like a partnership—is strictly his own, as is The Jim Stable. (“The
Jim”is what Leatherbury’s twin sons, Taylor and Todd, called
themselves as young children.)
In each of those names, Leatherbury found success with Ah
Day, a gelded bay son of former Maryland sire Malibu Moon who
raced frequently and scored six stakes wins and placed in four
additional added-money races last year.
Not since Maryland-bred champion mare Weather Vane in 1998 had a Maryland-bred
won as many stakes in a single season.
Ah Day’s 2006 record consisted of 15 starts—from
January 1 to November 18—with seven wins, four seconds
and one third and earnings of $455,560.
In three of his wins he posted Beyer speed figures of more
than 100—the Japan Racing Association Stakes (105), Federico
Tesio Stakes (103) and Sonny Hine Stakes (103).
Ah Day rose to local prominence with his impressive five and
a half-length victory in the mile and an eighth Tesio on April
22 at Pimlico (his second stakes win of the season, following
Laurel’s six-furlong Horatius Stakes on March 4) and
was considered a serious candidate for the Preakness Stakes.
But he had not been nominated to the Triple Crown, and a starting
berth in the classic would have required a supplementary nomination,
costing $100,000.
Leatherbury elected to run Ah Day in the Sir Barton Stakes
on the Preakness undercard instead. In one of his few disappointments,
Ah Day finished a well-beaten fifth before the Preakness day
crowd.
Undaunted, Ah Day came back to win the Red Legend Stakes at
Charles Town on June 24, and then earned graded-placed status
with a second in Delaware Park’s Leonard Richards Stakes-G3.
He furthered his record in late summer and early fall at Laurel
by winning the Deputed Testamony Stakes and just missing (by
a head to Irish Osprey) in the Humphrey S. Finney Stakes, his
only start on the turf.
While admittedly aggressive in managing Ah Day’s dance
card, Leatherbury was of the mind set that “You’re
only a 3-year-old for so long. I was trying to make the best
of it.”Clearly, his stable star was up to the challenge.
Ah Day (the name has its origins in a native American language, and was chosen
by Leatherbury’s wife, Linda) comes from a family that has accounted
for numerous other highlights in Leatherbury’s career.
Ah Day’s dam, Endette, is a daughter of Thirty Eight
Paces, a multiple stakes winner whom Leatherbury co-owned and
trained, and who had a long career at stud in Maryland.
Leatherbury bred Endette from the mare Dronette (by Drone),
whom he purchased in partnership with Hermen Greenberg for
$57,000, in foal to Seclusive, at a Timonium auction in 1982.
Dronette produced two Maryland-bred champions: Thirty Eight
Go Go (by Thirty Eight Paces), who took 2-year-old filly honors
in 1987 and the older female title two years later, and Notches
Trace, the champion older mare in 1988.
Endette—whose birth marked the end of Dronette’s
breeding career—retired as a maiden after 14 starts.
But as a broodmare she was represented by two of Maryland’s
best performers in 2006. Her son Due (by Rinka Das) won last
year’s Maryland Million Classic.
Three-year-old filly
Livermore Valley
Dk.b./br.f., 2003, by Mt. Livermore—Secret Prospect, by Allen’s
Prospect; bred by Robert Hahn; owned by Conover Stable; trained by James
T. Ryerson. Foaled at Country Life Farm, Bel Air.
Robert Hahn, a pension consultant who makes his home in Red
Bank, N.J., has looked to Maryland for much of his racing stock,
and his investments have been well rewarded.
Hahn was new to the business when he paid $27,000 for Secret
Prospect, a daughter of longtime leading Maryland sire Allen’s
Prospect, at the 1994 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling
sale.
Secret Prospect, bred by Alan Kline, won or placed in 19 stakes
from 30 starts, earning $520,270, and gaining recognition as
champion Maryland-bred 2-year-old filly of 1995.
After four seasons at the track, Secret Prospect became the
nucleus of a small broodmare band that Hahn boards at two locations,
including Country Life Farm in Maryland.
Last year, Secret Prospect’s speedy daughter Livermore
Valley achieved another coup—making Hahn the first owner
ever to campaign a mother/daughter duo of Maryland-bred champions.
Livermore Valley, trained by New Jersey-based conditioner
Jim Ryerson, won three six-furlong stakes at Monmouth Park
and the Meadowlands in 2006: the Dearly Precious (June 17),
Mongo Queen (September 24) and Seton Hall (November 11).
In addition, Livermore Valley had close-up seconds in two
Aqueduct stakes: the Ruthless (won by Silvestris) and Road
Princess (captured by eventual Grade 1 winner Swap Fliparoo).
She was a highly creditable third in the Grade 1 Prioress Breeders’Cup
Stakes at Belmont Park, headed by Wildcat Bettie B and Wild
Gams, and finished a close fourth behind that pair in the Safely
Kept Breeders’Cup Stakes-G3 at Laurel Park.
Livermore Valley’s season’s record—nine
starts, four wins, two seconds and one third and earnings of
$197,410—brought her career total to $269,755.
Secret Prospect is the dam of two earlier stakes horses: Tangier
Sound (1999, Rahy), a multiple stakes winner of $265,970, and
stakes-placed Charleston Springs (2000, Capote). Her offspring
have won stakes for Hahn at the highly competitive Monmouth
meet for five years running: Tangier Sound from 2002 to 2004,
and Livermore Valley in 2005 and 2006.
Boarded year-round at Country Life, Secret Prospect foaled
a Hennessy filly in 2006 and slipped to the cover of
Dixie Union for 2007.
Older female
Promenade Girl
B.m., 2002, by Carson City—Promenade Colony, by Pleasant Colony; bred
by Sondra and Howard M. Bender; owned by Sondra D. Bender; trained by Lawrence
E. Murray. Foaled at Glade Valley Farms, Frederick.
Prominent Maryland breeder/owners Howard and Sondra Bender
celebrated their richest victory to date when their homebred
Promenade Girl outmuscled future Breeders’Cup Distaff-G1
winner Round Pond to capture Monmouth Park’s Molly Pitcher
Breeders’Cup Stakes-G2 last August.
Trainer Larry Murray noted that Promenade Girl was “really
game in the stretch”when Round Pond stuck her head in
front and seemed poised to draw clear. Under strong urging
from jockey Jeremy Rose, Promenade Girl dug in to score by
a head, earning her first graded stakes victory as well
as a check for $180,000.
The Molly Pitcher was the highlight of a 4-year-old campaign
in which Promenade Girl made eight starts at five different
tracks, annexing three stakes and placing in two additional
added-money races, including an impressive third (beaten only
two and a half lengths by the winner, Asi Siempre) in Keeneland’s
Grade 1 Spinster.
Promenade Girl began the season with a win in the $75,000
Nellie Morse at Laurel in January, and remained in stakes company
throughout the season. Her victory in the Molly Pitcher was
preceded by an authoritative triumph in the Gold Sylvia Handicap
at Mountaineer on June 20.
Amassing $344,300 for her efforts in 2006, Promenade Girl
boosted her career total to $512,790. She and Les Arcs, in
the turf category, were the only 2006 Maryland-bred champions
to take their titles by unanimous vote.
Promenade Girl’s career has been especially rewarding for Murray, who
not only serves as the Benders’private trainer, based at Laurel Park,
but also manages their Glade Valley Farms in Frederick.
Upon Murray’s advice, the Benders paid $460,000 for
Promenade Girl’s dam, Promenade Colony, in foal to Woodman,
at the 1998 Keeneland November sale. She was by far their most
expensive broodmare purchase in more than 20 years in the business.
Promenade Colony, a daughter of Pleasant Colony, boasted superb
credentials—as a full sister to multiple graded winner
and stakes producer Dance Colony, and a half-sister to Grade
1 winners Another Review and No Review, from the family of
champion and major sire Lyphard.
“[Promenade Colony] is a big, rangy mare who is relatively
correct,”noted Murray. “We went looking for a high-class
mare, and she had all the attributes.”
However—the first three foals Promenade Girl produced
for the Benders (fillies by Woodman, Wild Again and Capote)
were disappointments.
Murray was hoping to add some speed to Promenade Colony’s
distance-oriented pedigree when he selected the late Carson
City (a Grade 2-winning sprinter by Mr. Prospector) for her
2001 mating. Promenade Girl was the result.
Promenade Colony remains a star of the 20-member broodmare
band at Glade Valley. The Benders sold her Awesome Again filly,
Dattts Awesome, for $250,000 at the 2005 Keeneland September
Yearling sale, but they intend to race her 2-year-old Grand
Slam colt, Colonel Grand. The mare has a yearling filly by
Tale of the Cat and is in foal for 2007 to Smart Strike.
Steeplechaser
Good Night Shirt
Ch.g., 2001, by Concern—Hot Story, by Two Punch; bred by Dr. and Mrs.
Thomas Bowman; owned by Sonny and Ann Via; trained by Jack Fisher. Foaled
at Dance Forth Farm, Chestertown..
At 3, he won two flat races. At 4, he won two jump races. At 5, he won a
jump stakes. The career of Good Night Shirt continued its climb in 2006 with
a victory in the David L. “Zeke”Ferguson Memorial-NSA3 at Colonial
Downs and a solid position among steeplechasing’s stakes division.
Owned by Virginians Sonny and Ann Via and trained in Maryland
by Jack Fisher, the 5-year-old started 2006 with a third in
the Carolina Cup-NSA2 for novice hurdlers on April 1. The rangy
chestnut led throughout before being caught at the last fence
as Top of the Bill and The Next Man sped past in the first
leg of the Steeplechase Triple Crown.
Three weeks later, Good Night Shirt finished third (placed
second) in the series’second stage, the Temple Gwathmey-NSA2,
at Middleburg, Va. Then he was a dull fifth in the finale at
Radnor on Preakness Day, never getting into the race on the
right-handed and hilly course.
Shelved until summer, he returned at Colonial Downs, thumping
10 rivals in the $50,000 Ferguson on July 16. Good Night Shirt
rallied from sixth leaving the backstretch and pulled away
late under regular jockey Xavier Aizpuru. The Maryland-bred
led a Mid-Atlantic sweep as Virginia-breds Class Vantage and
Mark the Shark completed the trifecta.
Good Night Shirt seems to thrive at race track steeplechases,
with victories at Colonial in 2006 and Saratoga in 2005. Straightaways
and uniform turns fit the long-striding gelding.
“He’s not going to go from second gear to fourth
gear in one stride, you know?”said Aizpuru after the
Colonial win. “Other horses can pick up and go, where
it takes him three or four strides to get going. Once he gets
rolling though, man there’s no stopping him.”
Good Night Shirt made one more start in 2006, finishing second
to 2004 Eclipse Award winner Hirapour (Ire) in Saratoga’s
A.P. Smithwick Memorial-NSA2 in August. Now 3-for-11 with $134,810
earned in his jump career, Good Night Shirt aims for a 2007
campaign—and perhaps another step forward—as a
6-year-old.
Bred by Tom and Chris Bowman, Good Night Shirt was destined
for steeplechasing—even if it wasn’t the plan.
“He was a big, gawky horse from the beginning,”said Tom Bowman. “He
had splints as a weanling, so I thought nobody would really want him as far as
going in the sale; we turned him and another chestnut horse out together and
let him grow up.”
Broken as a 2-year-old, Good Night Shirt went to trainer Vince
Moscarelli Jr. and was spotted by Sean Clancy and Lizzie Merryman
at Fair Hill Training Center in early 2004. Sold to them as
an unraced 3-year-old, Good Night Shirt won twice going long
on the turf at Pimlico under Merryman’s training and
was sold to the Vias and Fisher in early 2005 as a steeplechase
prospect.
Bowman, whose breeding program has also produced two-time
Maryland Hunt Cup winner Bug River, has since given away Good
Night Shirt’s dam, Hot Story (a daughter of Two Punch
with a habit of producing large, late-developing foals).
“The idea that the horse was successful for any purpose
justifies having bred him in the first place. It’s just
not my purpose,”he said. “You have to be happy
for the horse. He was a pretty nondescript horse until someone
asked him to go long.”And jump.
