by Ann Ferland©

Some years ago, between my junior and senior years in college, this writer took a summer job at the CTBA offices in Arcadia. Most of the time I worked on the magazine, The Thoroughbred of California, proofreading, typing up sales yearling précis, and researching the race recap section. At the end of the summer I was presented with a certificate, complete with an embossed seal from the registrar, declaring me to be an official California-bred.

Since that time I have always kept an eye out for Cal-breds on the national scene and cheered them on in their endeavors. Oh, how close Cavonnier came to a Derby win! And Bertrando was second in a Breeders' Cup, twice! Finally, in 2000, we had a Cal-bred take home all the marbles, the Breeders' Cup Classic and the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. We had to cheer for Tiznow, even though our money was with Giant's Causeway.

Tiznow is only a first generation Californian, his parents having been bred out of state; but his ancestry includes many horses with ties to the Golden State. Going back along his male line a few generations, we come to the stallion Intent, a redoubtable son of War Relic. Only a moderate three-year-old, Intent came into his own at four at Santa Anita, when he finished first in all three of the winter meeting's big races for older horses - the Santa Anita Maturity (now the Strub S.), the Santa Anita H., and the San Juan Capistrano Handicap. Unfortunately, he had to give back the Big 'Cap, being demoted to second for interference.

Intent was back the next year to repeat in the San Juan Capistrano, ending his racing career with eight wins and 10 placings in 21 starts. Intent sired Intentionally, who sired In Reality (foaled by a champion daughter of Rough'n Tumble, winner of the 1951 Santa Anita Derby), who in 1975, was visited by a gray mare named Foggy Note.

This daughter of The Axe II did some campaigning on the West Coast, winning the Long Beach H. (now called the Gamely H) on the Hollywood Park turf course. Foggy Note turned out to be an exemplary producer, with five stakes horses from seven foals, but the best of the lot was her son by In Reality, another gray, named Relaunch.

Relaunch made his racing home on the Southern California courses, counting among his wins the Del Mar Derby and the La Jolla Mile, both then Gr. III grass races. The colt proved himself on the main track by placing in the San Antonio S., the San Fernando S., the San Carlos H., and the Native Diver Handicap. Based on his racing career, expectations for him at stud were modest - no multimillion dollar syndication here. But bit-by-bit, Relaunch has proved himself an outstanding sire of racehorses and, increasingly, a progenitor of sire sons.

At the top of his list must stand his Breeders' Cup Classic winner Skywalker, who stood in California for several years before being moved to Kentucky. Skywalker's time in the Golden State resulted in, among others, the aforementioned Bertrando. But Relaunch is also responsible for Honour and Glory, the leading freshman sire last year (2000), and Waquoit, a reliable source of winners in Maryland.

One of Relaunch's lesser-known stakes-horses was a grandson of another familiar California racer, the Chilean-bred mare Tizna. After she had won (or been edged out while conceding gobs of weight) in most of the major filly-and-mare races on the West Coast, dirt and turf, for two years running, Tizna went east and won the then-championship-level Ladies H., yet no championship was forthcoming. No California fan doubted that she had been cheated out of her Eclipse Award by Eastern prejudice against West Coast horses.

As a broodmare, Tizna visited some of the best stallions on the planet and disappointed all around; she produced seven foals, only three of which ever started and only two of which were winners, neither of any particular distinction. The mysteries of breeding the best to the best and getting "?". Tizna's daughter of 1981 by Lyphard, Tizly, was one of those winners and before she was exported to Japan, Tizly produced a son of Relaunch that would keep the family from disappearing from view - a gray that was named Cee's Tizzy.

Although his career was short, he showed his quality by running third to Home at Last and Unbridled in the Grade 1 Super Derby in only his sixth (and last) start. Retired to stud, Cee's Tizzy was not on anyone's list of probable top sires and on the whole, his is a solid record with just a few exceptions, the biggest of which are Tiznow and his brother Budroyale. Four years older than his little brother, Budroyale took a bit longer to find his best form, not winning his first stakes race until he was five. But he made up for lost time, with numerous Grade II wins and Grade I placings, including his seconds in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Santa Anita H. and Hollywood Gold Cup.

Currently, Cee's Tizzy stands on the top of the North American sire list, thanks to Tiznow's triumph in the Santa Anita H. this winter. One can safely assume that his small, 20-foal crops are a thing of the past.

Turning to the female side of the pedigree of Tiznow, we find again that while his dam, Cee's Song, was bred outside of the state, she and various of her ancestors had racing connections with California. Cee's Song herself was a decent race mare; although she only won once in her 18 starts, she was placed 11 times and earned $82,225, which is a respectable sum, even these days.

The sire of Cee's Song was Seattle Song, a son of Seattle Slew who did most of his racing in Europe. He won two of three starts at 2, including the Prix de la Salamandre (Gr.1) and was ranked fourth best colt on the Handicap Libre in France at 132 lbs. At three, Seattle Song failed to win a race in Europe, while placing in three group races, but a return to his homeland saw him triumphant in the 12 furlong Washington, D.C. International, beating the iron mare Persian Tiara and the Australian globe-trotter Strawberry Road.

Retired to stud at four, Seattle Song sired 22 SWs before his death in 1996, including group winners like Cudas (Prix Lupin-Gr1) and Lucky Song (Park Hill S-Gr2) across the pond and graded winners like Whadjathink (Arlington Classic-Gr2) and the New York-bred filly stalwart Irish Linnet (New York H-Gr2) in North America.

Seattle Song was a son of a California-bred mare named Incantation, sired by the locally-based stallion Prince Blessed (Princequillo-Dog Blessed, by Bull Dog), a winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup and American Handicap. Prince Blessed is perhaps more familiar as the sire of a Northern California stakes winner by the name of Ole Bob Bowers, who in turn sired John Henry. Incantation wasn't a stakes horse, although during a four-year career she won three of 34 starts; it was as a producer she made her mark.

Seattle Slew, the sire of Seattle Song, has no reason to think kindly of the Golden State, for it was his only journey west of the Rockies that saw him lose his unbeaten record in the 1977 10 furlong Swaps Handicap. The son of Bold Reasoning could finish no better than fourth in the contest, behind a brilliantly fast colt bred by California breeder George A. Pope, Jr., with the name of J. O. Tobin.

Incantation spent the early part of her stud career visiting such California stallions as Lucky Mel, his son Lucky Mike, and Windy Sea. These resulted in nothing but winners, seven in a row, including graded stakes winner Lucky Spell (dam of stakes winners Merlin's Charm and Goldspell; granddam of Unbridled's Song) and stakes-placed Little Big Bad. Having done so well with lesser sires, Incantation had earned a trip to 'the big time' and began hobnobbing with Kentucky stallions. But aside from Seattle Song, her Kentucky-sired produce was no better, perhaps even not as good, as her California-sired produce.

Cee's Song belongs to a female family that is not particularly well known; it doesn't throw up major stakes winners every year like the families of La Troienne or Myrtlewood. But it is a stout, blue-collar family that has produced tons of runners and winners, and every once in a while it turns up with an important horse like Tiznow. Cee's Song is a case in point; she has eight foals of racing age, including her two-year-old of 2001, seven of them have run and at this point four are winners, but don't count the young ones out yet. Several are full-siblings to Budroyale and Tiznow - may lightning strike three times?

In Part 2, we will explore the female line of Tiznow and the sires associated with it for clues to the source of Tiznow's class and ability. Click here to read Part 2 of Tiznow's story.

Copyright Ann Ferland 2001.