I will take some shots to beat Gamine and Swiss Skydiver in today’s Oaks. I think you will be getting the right price. If those to hook up and go a little too fast, maybe the stamina fillies can sneak past them. Gamine is by the hated Into Mischief, out of a sprint oriented Kawfain mare.
Donna Veloce is a well bred horse with plenty of distance pedigree on the dam side (by Montjeu). I am also a Simon Callahan fan.
Hopeful Growth is also an interesting speculation. She is by Tapiture out of a mare that is a half-sister to Wonder Again the distance loving turf filly. The owners, St. Elias Stable, have owned part of Vinno Rosso and Always Dreaming. Trainer Tony Margotta is a nice comeback story himself.
Speech is also interesting. Her sire Mr Speaker won at 1 1/4 miles at three years old and the second dam of the sire is the great Personal Ensign. Speech is owned by Eclipse Partners. She was a $190,000 purchase out of last years’s March Ocala sale.
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Swiss Skydiver deserves our attention because owner Peter Callahan spent only $35,000 to buy her as hip #2997 at the Keeneland yearling sale.
Daredevil was not a high profile sire, and he has now been shipped to Turkey. The dam was a $15,000 claimer, but her sire Johannesburg gave her some distance credentials, and she had produced two winners. The key here was the second dam. She won $350,000 in 22 Canadian starts going routes of ground. She was by distance loving Strike the Gold.
That is the yearling profile you see so often. Horses in the $20,000 to $50,000 price range where the pedigree comes from the second dam. It is just to obvious when the results come from the first dam.
Buying A Race Horse 