Rethinking Hard Spun

The focus of this blog is learning, so in that spirit let’s rethink the sire Hard Spun.

To me Hard Spun’s tend to precocious sprinters. His offspring’s Average Winning Distance is a below average 7.3 furlongs. Hard Spun’s big win was the 7f King’s Bishop (now Allen Jerkins). Hard Spun is a son of the sprinter Danzig. For a stud fee of $35,000, he was an easy “toss out”. At best he is a Cox/Crow miler who you hope can go further.

Let’s rethink that:

1. Hard Spun was 2nd in the Kentucky Derby to Street Sense, 2nd in the BC Classic to Curlin
2. Hard Spun’s dam was by stamina influence Turkoman (a son of Alydar)
3. Hard Spun has produced some distance running horses (especially in Australia)
4. Hard Spun is the sire of Wicked Strong
5. Caddo River

Caddo River

What really made me rethink Hard Spun was the new TDN “Rising Star” named Caddo River.

CR is a son of Hard Spun, trained by Brad Cox, and owned by Shortleaf Stable. Shortleaf is owned by John Ed Anthony, a Arkansas based timber executive. Mr. Anthony used to own Loblolly Stable which campaigned Temperance Hill, Pine Bluff, and Prairie Bayou.

CR won a very impressive flat mile MSW race at Churchill. He is my new favorite to win the Arkansas Derby. CR’s mom was a granddaughter of AP Indy (through his son Congrats). She won a small stake at 1 1/16 mile at Laurel, and was a $130,000 yearling.

Adding Some Hard Spun’s

Let’s add some offspring of Hard Spun to our mythical yearling collection:

1. Wave the Flag by Empire Maker, $140,000, Donegal, B+ nick
2. Curry Cat by Tale of the Cat, $80,000, Crow, B nick
3. Joh Jah by Street Sense, $80,000, Steve Young agent for ???, A+ nick
4. Veela by Bartok, $30,000, Hoppel’s Horse, A++ nick
5. Coal and Ice by Tapit, $18,000, Mile Cleere, A+ nick