|
|
|
Having been bred to a variety of proven stallions for her first three years in the breeding shed, Kuznetsov will visit the exciting first-year sire Raging Bull for 2022.
Described by Chad Brown as “the best-looking horse I have ever trained”, Raging Bull is a son of leading Irish stallion Dark Angel, renowned as a speed and precocity influence, out of a mare by the very fast American sprinter Mr. Greeley — though he himself was a multiple G1 winner from a mile to 9 furlongs in the USA and showed his speed more as a blistering turn of foot than by rocketing from the gate.
Raging Bull’s speed and grass profile will compliment Kuznetsov’s own pedigree and talents perfectly — she broke her maiden going wire-to-wire at 5-1/2 furlongs on the Laurel turf, and she’s a half-sister to Oldies But Goodies, who was a stakes winner going wire-to-wire at 5-1/2 furlong on the turf at Laurel, too. Kuznetsov’s sire, Great Notion, is a speed influence (including with turf runners) by the wickedly fast Elusive Quality and out of a mare by European sprint champion Dayjur, and her female family is filled with sprint stakes winners like Street Magician, Never Enough Time, Strike the Moon, Walk of Stars, etc.
Kuznetsov is also a gorgeous individual, just like Raging Bull. She brought $20,000 as a yearling before Great Notion had reached the pinnacle of Maryland’s leading sires, and is a big, strapping, correct mare with tons of substance and beautiful balance. Her first two foals are both built in her image.
Her female family has also had plenty of success with Northern Dancer-line sprint sires such as Raging Bull, with the likes of Partner’s Hero, Spring At Last, Hook and Ladder, Posse and Scat Daddy all having produced black-type horses on Kuznetsov’s page. TrueNicks rates the matchup as an “A+”, with 9% stakes winners to runners on the Dark Angel/Gone West cross, and given how much a case of like-to-like this pairing is, we can’t wait to see the foal that it produces!