Point Given

Point Given

by Anne Peters ©

Point Given, winner of the Preakness and Belmont

Point Given went into the Kentucky Derby as favorite, but chose that unfortunate moment to run the worst race of his career, finishing a dull fifth behind a memorable exhibition by Monarchos. The Thunder Gulch colt redeemed himself with a convincing win the Preakness Stakes that left us nodding. Yes, this was the kind of race we knew the fiery red colt could run.

But nothing could prepare us, much less his competitors, for Point Given's performance in the Belmont Stakes, a victory so facile it was hard to believe that he left two very good colts in A P Valentine and Monarchos floundering in his wake. Prince Ahmed's colt out of Turko's Turn had just flown to a higher altitude in the stratosphere. This is a very, very good racehorse, and one who clearly thrives at the classic distance of a mile and a half, which makes him a rare commodity in the United States.

What is so ironic about Point Given's classicity is that he's inbred to one of the most noted sources of limited speed in the world, being 4x4 to Raise a Native. It's apparent that other forces are at work in his pedigree, overriding the Raise a Native speed, or enhancing that brilliance with staying power. His immediate parentage clears up the question right away.

His sire was Thunder Gulch, the champion three-year-old of 1995 with wins in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. And, while his dam, Turko's Turn, was a stakes winner over five and a half furlongs at two, she was sired by Turkoman, a top middle distance performer and champion older male in 1986. The pedigree itself is full of middle distance ability.

While history will mark Gulch as the champion sprinter at four in 1988, he had previously won the Wood Memorial (G1, 9f.) and placed third in the Belmont Stakes (G1, 12f.), besides scoring back-to-back wins in the Metropolitan H. (G1, 8f.). Gulch was one of the more versatile sons of Mr. Prospector, a sire who tended to get sprinter/milers, but who also proved capable of the occasional classic winner with the help of his mates, particularly tough, middle distance-loving race mares of quality. In Gulch's case, it was his dam, Jameela, one of the great Maryland-bred mares of the Twentieth Century and a top middle distance performer, with victories in the Ladies, Delaware and Maskette Handicaps among her grade one wins.

Thunder Gulch's dam, Line of Thunder, was stakes-placed over a mile in England. Her sire, Storm Bird, was a champion two-year-old who did not train on, but has sired a wide range of types, from sprinters to middle distance performers like Indian Skimmer, tending to rely on his mates to dictate the result. Line of Thunder was produced by a real classic-level performer, Irish Oaks winner Shoot a Line.

Turko's Turn was, as we mentioned, a daughter of Turkoman, whose sire Alydar has proven more of a middle distance influence than most, including among his offspring the Kentucky Derby winners Alysheba and Strike the Gold as well as Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer. Turkoman himself was produced from an Argentine classic winner, the mare Taba, a full sister to the champion Telescopico by Table Play (by Round Table, and a three-quarter brother to the good grass stayer, Go Marching).

Turko's Turn was produced from Turbo Launch, winner of the Canterbury Debutante Stakes-L at two, and stakes-placed at four. Turbo Launch was also a half-sister to the good stakes mare Explosive Girl (by Explodent). Turbo Launch was a daughter of Relaunch, a versatile sort of racehorse who won grade three stakes at a mile and nine furlongs, but placed second in the San Luis Rey Stakes (G1) over a mile and a half. Stamina wasn't the forte of Relaunch's sire, In Reality, but he got a few good ones over the middle distance including Desert Vixen. A surer source of stamina came via Relaunch's dam's sire, The Axe II, a top grass horse and sire of good middle distance runners on dirt and turf alike.

Turbo Launch's dam, David's Tobin was a five-time winner of over $50,000, and a sister to the useful stakes winner Magnificent Don, both being sired by the Australian import Tobin Bronze. Tobin Bronze was a rugged, middle-distance loving sort who had won the Victoria Derby and placed in the Australian St. Leger as well as the Washington D.C. International in the States.

So we find versatility and middle distance ability through out Point Given's pedigree, on the male and female side. But what about that Raise a Native double? Shouldn't inbreeding to such a prepotent ancestor have some influence on a horse's pedigree? Indeed it does! Point Given's feisty attitude and morning antics underline his double relationship to the fiery Raise a Native. His red-bronze coat and massive muscular frame also echo Raise a Native to some degree, although this one is engineered on more classic lines than his ancestor, who was built more like a steam locomotive, long and low to the ground.

The interesting thing about Point Given's two crosses of Raise a Native are that they occur through two very closely related individuals, Mr. Prospector and Alydar. Both were sons of Raise a Native and both were out of mares from the Nasrullah male line. Mr. Prospector's dam, Gold Digger was by Nashua, by Nasrullah, while Alydar's dam, Sweet Tooth, was by On-and-On, a lesser son of Nasrullah. But the similarities don't end there.

Gold Digger's dam was Sequence by Count Fleet out of Miss Dogwood by Bull Dog out of the great racemare Myrtlewood, by Blue Larkspur. Sweet Tooth's was an inbred mare, 3x3 to Bull Lea, the best son of Bull Dog. Bull Lea was the dam's sire of both On-and-On and of Sweet Tooth's second dam, Real Delight. Real Delight was out of a mare by Blue Larkspur, so was bred on the same Bull Dog/Blue Larkspur cross as Miss Dogwood, the second dam of Gold Digger.

While Mr. Prospector was from a female line noted for precociousness and speed (Myrtlewood herself was a champion sprinter), Alydar's family was noted more for it's later maturing classic ability. Mr. Prospector threw to his Myrtlewood family, as Alydar threw to his own. This is why, when they meet in pedigrees, the linebreeding to Raise a Native, Nasrullah, Bull Dog, and Blue Larkspur, a combination which would otherwise spell brilliant, precocious speed, becomes translated into something more versatile.

In the case of Point Given, having Raise a Native 4x4 in his pedigree via these two sons has done little to short circuit the staying elements found in other areas of his pedigree, such as through Jameela, Shoot a Line, Taba, The Axe II, and Tobin Bronze. Since most of the middle distance and classic ability appears closer than the fourth generation, it's very likely that, due to his distance from the subject, Raise a Native's limitations have been compensated for, and his donation to the formula may be simply Point Given's awesome turn of foot and his ability to switch gears with ridiculous ease.