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After getting a try with proven Kentucky value sire Jimmy Creed for her first breeding, That’sthewaytodoit will stay local in 2023 and visit our favorite Mid-Atlantic stallion Blofeld for her next cover.
By now you’re sick of hearing us recite Blofeld’s impressive accomplishments with his first two crops, like the fact that his first 14 foals to reach the races all won a race, giving him an outrageous 100% strike-rate from just 24 first-crop foals (just in time to attract a book of 84 mares in 2022 — the most in Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic more broadly). And while he hasn’t been able to (quite) maintain that pace, Blofeld’s stats still make him the most exciting young stallion in the region: he now has 30 winners from 38 runners (79%) out of just 50 foals in his first two crops, including both the colt and filly division winners of the Maryland Million 2YO races in 2022, plus a new stakes winner already in 2023. That’s good for 6% stakes winners to foals, and with four more black-type placed offspring to his credit, that means he’s siring black-type runners at 14% to foals — an excellent number. And his AEI of 1.47 compares very favorably with his 1.21 CI, meaning he’s moving his mares way up to achieve the results that he’s getting.
As strong as Blofeld’s stats are in general, he makes even more sense for That’sthewaytodoit specifically given that he is a grandson of Elusive Quality, and That’sthewaytodoit’s female family has already had repeated success with Elusive Quality’s sons Great Notion and Quality Road (Blofeld’s sire): That’sthewaytodoit is a half-sister to the multiple stakes winner Doing Great (by Great Notion), to the six-figure earner Kelly Tough (by Quality Road), and to the winner Baffle ‘Em (by Quality Road) who was a $180,000 yearling. Additionally, That’sthewaytodoit’s half-sister What Am I Gonna Do is the dam of two stakes winners by Great Notion in Great Soul and Valued Notion.
So we think that bodes very well for the chances of the foal from this mating, even with a “No Rating” from TrueNicks, especially since of the 16 foals to race by Quality Road or one of his sons, and out of a mare by Tiznow or one of his sons, 10 are winners and one of them is the G2W Road To Victory.
Physically this is a mating that we like a lot, too. That’sthewaytodoit is a well-balanced, strongly-made mare with plenty of leg, and hopefully she can “tidy up” the slightly long-bodied Blofeld. Meanwhile, her sprinting ability on turf and all-weather will complement the dirt speed that Blofeld brings to the equation, and we can’t wait to see what their Maryland-bred foal can do at Laurel and Pimlico in the years to come!