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by José María Pinto Oliveira © [Editor's Note: This article is an English translation, by Gustavo Mendez, of an illustrated article appearing on the ThemaTurfe site hailing the arrival of Spend A Buck as a permanent stallion for Brazil.] Part 1: Spend a Buck's Irish Lover On September 23, 2001, the Carlos Telles e Carlos Gilberto da Rocha Faría (G2), Brazilian equivalent of the French Prix Penelope, was run on turf at La Gavea (Rio de Janeiro). According to their outstanding resumes, both of the filly favorites had shown their capabilty over 2,000m (10f) in spite of their sires' pedigrees. Graded 1stakes winner of the GP Margarida Polak Lara - Taça de Prata at Cidade Jardim (Sao Paulo), Imperatriz Rafaela and stakes winner at La Gavea, Irish Lover, were the leaders of the current generation. Three other contenders, Innocent Kiss who defeated Irish Lover at Cidade Jardim in the Graded 1 Stakes GP Barão da Piracicaba [first leg of the Triple Crown at Cidade Jardim], and her runner-up a head behind, Nugget Filly, and Graded 2 Stakes winner of the GP Pres. Antonio T. Assumpção Netto [Brazilian equivalent of the British Princess Elizabeth Stakes] Free Willie, would be trying to imoprove their ranking position. In addition, Little Magic, first leader at La Gavea, Crazy Thing and Jodie, had to show their own improvement. Imperatriz Rafaela's sire, Choctaw Ridge, had only sired winners up to a mile in accordance with his own pedigree. In addition, her broodmare sire, Restless Jet, had produced only one stayer stakes winner, Meu Gaúcho. His sons and grandsons were all good sprinters or even milers. Irish Lover's sire, Spend A Buck, had sired "Champion Sprinter" and "Champion Mare 1993", Clausen Export in his first Brazilian crop. In spite of his outstanding racing record, Spend A Buck could never get the acceptance of American breeders and buyers. Despite this, he has sired not only seven Graded 3 stakes winners but two Graded 1 stakes winners: the Brazilian bred Clausen Export and the $ 1,011,954 earner Antespend, who won up to 1,800m (9f). The Argentinean-bred Elegancy lead the race in hand till the middle of the stretch. Imperatriz Rafaela pushed in front at the 400m pole, but flying on the inside came Irish Lover, who collared the leader and won by a half-length with front-runner Elegancy in third place. Marly La Ville (Blush Rambler) and Danzette (Hampstead) were placed fourth and fifth; both fillies do carry "stamina" in their pedigrees but do not have class enough. Part II: Spend a Buck's sire record in Brazil Spend A Buck has sired 34 runners
from 62 foals in racing age in Brazil. That means 54 % runners
to foals. He has produced 17 winners of 27 races including
six stakes winners, three Graded Stakes winners, two Graded
1 stakes winners, both "Champion Two-Year-Old Colt" at La
Gavea and Cidade Jardim respectively.
No other sire could get these figures in Brazil in the last 30 years, including the fantastic Ghadeer. Waldmeister, one of the most influential sires had also produced two Graded 1 Stakes Winners in his first Brazilian crop. However both were at age three: Mani and Macar. Locris, an outstanding sire, and St. Chad, Leading Juvenile Sire many times, could never get two Graded 1 stakes winners in their first crop to race. Clackson has sired many winners at two but all of them had become better at three. Executioner II improved his stud record after several crops; Henry Le Balafré' sons were all better as three-year-olds. Midnight Tiger is a good example of precocity but he has never performed like Spend A Buck. Roi Normand began his Brazilian stud career without credibility. Also Minstrel Glory, who passed away months ago, took his time to show his capability. Pedigree Analysis Spend A Buck' success in Brazil is relaunching Tom Fool's sire line in South America again. Tom Fool's sire line is in a real decline in North America and is nearly extinct in Europe, however, it has been doing well in this part of the world. In early 1970s, the American-bred Tom Poker entered stud at Haras São Luiz. He sired high quality sons with speed and precocity, however most of them also had joint fragility. Owners and breeders used to buy Tom Poker's sons because their capability to race in sprints (under 1000m/5f), but many sons were forced in their training and could not bear such an effort. In fact, many were broken. Tom Poker has sired not only precocious and brilliant sons like Vanáquia, Voiendie, Gratinée but also the fantastic mare Emabruck and the good stayer Big Poker. Tom Poker was also an influential broodmare sire. In Argentina, Tom Fool's sire line was very well represented through three sons of Buckpasser. Logical entered stud at Haras La Quebrada in 1977. He has sired more than 34 stakes winners inlcuding Champions Bosphorus, Triumphal, Destination, and Odense and become a Leading Sire. Most of the Logical matings were with daughters of Make Tracks and Solazo. His daughters were good producers so Logical has also been among the Leading Broodmare Sires at Argentina. His son Parallel has entered stud with success in Uruguay. Parallel has sired many graded stakes winners and one Triple Crown winner, most of them in middle and long distance. He's also doing well as a broodmare sire. Royal Accomplice (1974 by Buckpasser) from a strong female family (out of a daughter of Misty Morn) was sent to Argentina in 1979. He has sired 10 stakes winners. In 1984, Egg Toss (1977 by Buckpasser) entered stud at Haras La Biznaga. Leading Sire in 1993 before Southern Halo's series of titles, Egg Toss died in 1993. He has sired more than 32 stakes winners including the Champions Savage Toss, Bombazo Toss and Batte Toss. His bests matings were with daughters of Practicante (Pronto). Egg Toss has become not only an outstanding broodmare sire but also a sire of sires, through his sons Bombazo Toss, Full Toss, and Cigar Toss among others. Tom Fool's sire line success came back to Brazil in 1989 through the Argentinean sprinter Jet Seller by Logical. He has sired 16 stakes winners, most of them winners in regional stakes. However he has also produced outstanding filly, Baby Seller, winner of the GP Major Sukow (G1) at La Gavea. Jet Seller died during the 1998 season. In 1994, Coax Me Clyde, by L'Enjoleur (by Buckpasser) from the Tom Fool sire line, entered stud at Rio Grande do Sul. He is a successful sire in Southern Brazil and Leading Sire at Cristal (Porto Alegre, RS) in 2000. Spend A Buck's blood affinities Among Spend A Buck's black-type offspring, including stakes winners and stakes-placed winners, 60 % were matings with broodmares from the Northern Dancer Sire Line, through daughters of Ghadeer. According to our own database including more than 350 stakes winners, Tom Fools sire line from (grandsire) Pharamond II, has its best affinity with broodmares from Teddy's sire line. Tom Fool himself and the Kentucky Derby winner, Tim Tam, were both examples of this historical affinity since they were out of broodmares by Bull Dog, by Teddy. In addition, Haras La Quebrada in Argentina could bred many outstanding horses after mating Solazo's mares (by Beau Max by Bull Lea by Bull Dog) with Logical (by Buckpasser by Tom Fool). Graded stakes winners Limay, Congresal, Libia and Stroke among many others, were all by Logical out of Solazo mares. The second affinity of Tom Fool's sire line is with broodmares from Blenheim's sire line. Examples include Dunce, Chompion, Copelan and many others. However, the Tom Fool sire line cross with broodmares from Nasrullah's sire line and/or Bold Ruler's sire line, has produced the largest number of stakes winners: Lil E Tee, A Kis For Lucky, Tri To Watch, Family Style, Another Review. We have to mention that Tom Fool's sire line does not work that well with broodmares from Northern Dancer's sire line, from a quantitative point of view. In spite of that and regarding the success of three high-class Champions like La Prevoyante, Norcliffe and L'Enjoleur (the first out of a sister to Northern Dancer and the latter two out of Northern Dancer mares), many Brazilian breeders sent their Ghadeer broodmares to Spend A Buck. The current racing season shows that they were correct. Mating Spend A Buck with daughters of Ghadeer shows strong American bloodlines both in Spend A Buck but also in Ghadeer's sire line (through Northern Dancer), crossed with strong European bloodlines, present in Ghadeer's bottom side. Most of the second dams in the Spend A Buck matings carry strong European bloodlines, showing classic horses with high levels of stamina: Aureole, Imbroglio, Waldmeister, as well. That way breeders can get the three relevant attributes in a Thoroughbred: speed, class and a little bit of stamina. You can see this pedigree structure at Del Mar Data Base, as in the case of the top filly Irish Lover. We must pay attention to future campaigns of Brazilian Spend A Buck's offspring, especially if they are able to come up to the longer distances. If they can, Spend Buck will become, the "King o'Brazil". December 2, 2001. Copyright by Jose Maria Pinto Oliveira 2001. From an article featured on ThemaTurfe. |
