Woman With a Plan

I will be cheering for Rombauer in the Preakness. I became a big fan of Twirling Candy last year, and I am sticking with the TC theme. If Medina Spirit, Concert Tour, and Midnight Bourbon duel then maybe the late runners can pick up the pieces. Mike McCarthy is the type of low profile trainer I cheer for, and the owner’s had the good sense to breed their mare to TC. The mare is a unraced daughter of stamina sire Cowboy Cal. So Rombauer is clearly a plodder/plodder.

The even more interesting horse is Todd Pletcher’s Unbridled Honor. The owner here is Mandy Pope the owner of Whisper Hill Farm. She has a long history is the breeding business and her plan for the last 10 years has been to buy expensive mares and breed them to race (and sometimes sell). This is the woman who paid $10 million for Harve de Grace. That might not be rational, but it is a plan.

Unbridled Honor’s dam (Silvery Starlet) ran 7 times with a nice allowance win on the turf at one mile, but she was a $1 million dollar yearling at Keeneland in September 2011. Why? Silvery Scarlet’s mare is the dam of Roman Ruler and El Corredor, with a nice family under the 2nd dam as well. Let’s just say Silvery Scarlet is a well bred horse. Mandy Pope was smart enough to breed her expensive to my favorite sire, Honor Code.

Rational gambling would prevent any sane person from betting on Unbridled Honor off a weak 2nd in a weak Lexington Stakes. Slightly crazed gamblers who have read too many pedigree pages in the last year might just take a flier on a woman with a plan. Let’s hope we see Mandy Pope in the winner’s circle.