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Farm News
Sky Mom is More Fight Than Flash Copyright Blood-Horse Publications. Reprinted with permission of copyright owner. Aug 7, 2008 - Maria's Mon by Avalyn Hunter Solid, tough, and workmanlike is a good description of Sky Mom’s Aug. 2 victory in the Arlington Oaks (gr. III). It is also a pretty good description of her pedigree, which may be a little short on fashion but is strong on racing quality. Sky Mom is a daughter of the late Maria’s Mon, whose death last September was a sad loss to Kentucky-based Pin Oak Stud. The champion juvenile male in 1995, Maria’s Mon looked the part of a top-class colt while winning the Sanford Stakes (gr. III) and the Futurity and Moet Champagne Stakes (both gr. I), but was unable to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile due to injury. Although he returned to the track as a 3-year-old, he showed none of his earlier form in two starts before retiring to Pin Oak for the 1997 breeding season. Maria’s Mon did not particularly impress anyone when his first juveniles came to the track in 2000, as only 12 of 72 named foals won that year and only one, Lady Andromeda, won a stakes. But the stallion’s stock went up considerably in 2001 when his son Monarchos won the Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby (both gr. I) and his daughter Silver Tornado won the Reeve Schley, Jr. Stakes (gr. III). (Another member of Maria’s Mon’s first crop, Wander Mom, won the My Charmer Handicap (gr. III) as a 4-year-old.) Those results began bringing better mares to the court of Maria’s Mon in 2002, and the results were not long in coming. In 2006 champion 3-year-old filly Wait a While and Malibu Stakes (gr. I) winner Latent Heat both emerged from the first crop conceived following Monarchos’ Derby triumph, along with multiple grade II winner Strong Contender and El Camino Real Derby (gr. III) winner Cause to Believe. To date, Maria’s Mon is the sire of 385 winners (51.7%) and 38 stakes winners (5.1%) from 745 foals of racing age, and his statistics seem likely to improve as his later crops reach maturity. Maria’s Mon was much the best of the 41 stakes winners sired by Wavering Monarch, a two-time grade I winner and the best son of Majestic Light at stud. Majestic Light, a grade I winner on both dirt and turf, sired 72 stakes winners from 891 foals (8.1%) and was the best stallion sired by 1969 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Majestic Prince (by Raise a Native), whose stud career was greatly overshadowed by the similarly-sired Mr. Prospector and Alydar but was nevertheless good despite a tendency to pass along soundness problems. Also the sire of 1979 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Coastal, Majestic Prince sired 33 stakes winners from 362 foals (9.1%). The distaff-side pedigree of Maria’s Mon was also of good quality but a departure from the Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector lines that dominated American racing and breeding during the 1980s and 1990s. His dam, Carlotta Maria, never won but was by Caro (IRE), a French group I winner at 2100 meters (approximately 10.5 furlongs), out of Water Malone, a graded stakes-winning daughter of 1970 Belmont Stakes third Naskra. Like Naskra, Caro was a male-line descendant of the great sire *Nasrullah but not through the high-profile line of Bold Ruler, who was to the 1960s and early 1970s what Northern Dancer was to the late 1970s and the 1980s. Sky Mom is the third foal and third winner produced from the Sky Classic mare Swiftly Classic, a winning full sister to 2001 Natalma Stakes (Can-III) winner Sky Alliance and to listed stakes winner Classic Alliance. A multiple champion in Canada and U.S. champion turf male in 1992, Sky Classic (who is still active at Pin Oak Stud) has never gotten a lot of respect from the commercial market thanks to his proclivity for siring horses that usually need time to mature and often prefer the turf. Nonetheless, he has been a solid breed-to-race sire whose percentages of winners (60.9%) and stakes winners (7.8%) best those of a fair number of more fashionable stallions. His progeny include six champions, among them 1999 Canadian Horse of the Year Thornfield; 2006 Canadian champion turf male Sky Conqueror, a grade I winner in the United States; and Magnetic Eyes (ARG), a champion older female in Argentina.
Sky Classic was produced from the great Canadian matriarch No Class (by another quality but not very fashionable sire in Nodouble) and was sired by Nijinsky II, an excellent sire and broodmare sire but a stallion who has been historically maligned in some quarters as an indifferent sire of sires in spite of numbering Caerleon, Niniski, Royal Academy, and Baldski among his other sons. Another horse in Sky Mom’s pedigree that probably commanded less respect than he should have is the Mr. Prospector horse Afleet, sire of Swiftly Classic’s dam Swift Alliance. Horse of the Year in Canada in 1987 and a good competitor in the United States against one of the best crops of the last quarter-century, Afleet was exported to Japan after six seasons in Kentucky. The sire of 59 stakes winners, Afleet begot the grade I-winning fillies Twist Afleet and Flat Fleet Feet and multiple grade II winner Northern Afleet, sire of 2005 U.S. champion 3-year-old male Afleet Alex, prior to his departure. Sky Mom’s pedigree contains a nice touch in its pairing of Majestic Light (a grandson of Raise a Native out of a daughter of Ribot) with Swift Alliance, a Raise a Native-line mare whose broodmare sire is a good son of Ribot. Overall, however, the attraction of this pedigree is its reliance on stallions who were classy runners themselves and who were solid sires whose reputations did not depend on the whims of the commercial market. In a day when breeding fashion often seems to be the tail that wags the dog called Thoroughbred racing, that’s a nice thing to see. MARIA'S MON Juveniles Shine at Keeneland April 2008 Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale Apr 9, 2008 - Maria's Mon Two juveniles representing MARIA'S MON sold well at the Keeneland April 2008 juvenile sale, held for the first time this year in a one-preview, two-evening sale format on April 8 and 9. Hip 6, a March 5 gray filly, was the highest-priced filly in the first session, sold to Bear Stables Ltd. for $325,000 from the consignment of Robert Scanlon, who paid $125,000 for her as a yearling at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling sale. She previewed with a time of 10.1. Produced from the TWO PUNCH mare Cloud's Ambre, she is a full sister to Ilusoria, a G1SP winner from her sire's first crop and the dam of two stakes horses, and a half-sister to the dam of G1 winner MEADOW BREEZE. She was bred in Kentucky by Ironwater Farms. Hip 164, a colt named Strong Commitment, sold for $420,000 to Sequoia Racing, Reynolds Bell Thoroughbred Services acting as agent. Strong Commitment posted a work of 10 seconds flat in his preview. From the consignment of Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, the March 2 foal was bred in Kentucky by Pope McLean Sr., Pope McLean Jr., Marc McLean and William Schiffman from the CONQUISTADOR CIELO mare Sister Girl. A sample of BOB AND JOHN's '08 book . . . Thank you for your support! Mar 24, 2008 - Bob And John CAFFE LATTE (IRE) (Seattle Dancer) Mar 18, 2008 - Broken Vow Session-Topper RED VOW brings $625,000 at OBS
March Select BOB AND JOHN off to a great start in the breeding shed! Mar 12, 2008 - Bob And John BOB AND JOHN has 15 mares confirmed "in foal" from his first 20 mares to visit this spring. He has taken to his new duties very well and is well-behaved and efficient on the breeding floor. Keep up the good work, BOB AND JOHN! From The Desk of Bill Oppenheim . . . Appeared in the 2/20/08 edition of Thoroughbred Daily News Feb 20, 2008 - Broken Vow . . . Consequently, we find with the younger sire classes--in this case,
sires with first foals 2003 and 2004--it is as important to look at their
total numbers of 'A' and 'ABC' Runners as at their indexes.   Triple Crown nominees for Broken Vow Feb 3, 2008 - Broken Vow Grand Vow, colt o/o French Grand (French Deputy) Triple Crown nominees for Maria's Mon Feb 3, 2008 - Maria's Mon Dixie Mon, colt o/o Sea Jamie Win (Dixieland Band) Vows kept, not Broken Story appeared in the November 17, 2007, issue of THOROUGHBRED TIMES. Nov 20, 2007 - Broken Vow Thoroughbred Times published an article about our own Broken Vow. Writer Robert D. Fierro, a Thoroughbred racing and breeding consultant based in New York City, does an excellent job showcasing Broken Vow, from his breeding to his current career at stud. The article also highlights the 30-year breeding program and philosphy put forth by Pin Oak Stud owner, Josephine Abercrombie. Robert Fiero begins "It is a clever, if not somewhat obvious, name, Broken Vow, who is by Unbridled out of Wedding Vow, by Nijinsky II. You can read several different meanings into the name, but the one that is most obvious—a promise not kept—is hardly what one would think of applying to the racing and, thus far, stallion career of its owner." Follow the link below to read the entire article. Maria's Mon Euthanized Sep 14, 2007 - Maria's Mon MARIA’S MON, the champion two-year-old male of 1995 and sire of 2001 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner MONARCHOS, was euthanized on September 14, 2007, at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington following a weeks-long illness. He was 14. MARIA’S MON, who began his career at Pin Oak Stud in 1997, also sired MG1SW WAIT A WHILE, Champion 3-year-old filly of 2006 and Grade 1 winners SEE HOW SHE RUNS and LATENT HEAT. MARIA’S MON garnered his Eclipse Award by winning three graded stakes as a two-year-old in 1995, including the Moet Champagne S. (G1) and Futurity (G1) Stakes at Belmont Park. G1 Winner Bob And John to Pin Oak Stud Aug 22, 2007 - Bob And John Stonerside Stable’s BOB AND JOHN has been retired and will stand in 2008 at Josephine Abercrombie’s Pin Oak Stud in Versailles, Kentucky. He will stand as the property of a partnership between Stonerside Stable and Pin Oak Stud. A Grade 1 winner of $996,330, BOB AND JOHN won or placed in 11 of 14 starts, six of which were graded stakes, and was a stakes horse at 2, 3, and 4. Winner of the Wood Memorial S.-G1, BOB AND JOHN also won the Sham S.-G3, and Lone Start Park H.-G3, with placings in the Hollywood Futurity-G1, San Felipe S.-G2, Texas Mile S.-G3, etc. “This horse is the total package,” remarked trainer Bob Baffert, “he’s got everything – looks, race record, and pedigree – the kind of horse that makes it as a stallion.” Bred in Kentucky by Janice and Bob McNair’s Stonerside Stable, BOB AND JOHN is a 4-year-old son of Seeking the Gold. From the family of leading sires Broad Brush and Capote, BOB AND JOHN is out of graded stakes winner and G1-placed Minister’s Melody, by Deputy Minister, and is a half-brother to stakes winner Connie Belle. “We are thrilled to have BOB AND JOHN join the ranks at Pin Oak,” said Josephine Abercrombie. She continued, “he has all the qualities that we look for in a stallion and that have been successful for us in the past. We’re delighted to continue our partnership with Stonerside.” “We look forward to standing BOB AND JOHN at Pin Oak,” said John Adger, racing and bloodstock manager for Stonerside. “Pin Oak is an outstanding operation with a terrific staff. Mrs. Abercrombie is a top Thoroughbred breeder and, like the McNairs, she breeds to race, and will support the horse with her excellent broodmares.” |
Pin Oak Stud . P.O. Box 68 . 830 Grassy Springs Road . Versailles, KY 40383 . 859-873-1420/502-695-9090 . info@pinoakstud.com