|
|
|
You’ll recall from this past spring how hot the first crop of the Maryland stallion Blofeld got, with his first 14 foals to reach the races all having won a race, giving him an outrageous 100% strike-rate from just 24 first-crop foals (just in time to attract a book of almost 100 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 28 winners from 36 runners (78%) 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. That’s good for 4% stakes winners to foals, and with four more black-type placed offspring to his credit, that means he’s siring black-type runners at 12% to foals — an excellent number. And his AEI of 1.35 compares very favorably with his 1.18 CI, meaning he’s moving his mares up.
Blofeld makes a fascinating match for the black-type placed, $300k earner Wowwhatabrat for some additional reasons, as well. Blofeld’s 2nd dam Colonial Minstrel has Rasmussen Factor inbreeding 5×4 (sex-balanced) to the Blue Hen Wheatley Stable mare Grey Flight via that one’s champion and Broodmare of the Year daughter Misty Morn (whose son Sunrise Flight is the broodmare sire of Pleasant Colony), and Misty Morn’s full-brother Misty Flight (the broodmare sire of G1W and champion 2YO Minstrella).
Meanwhile, Wowwhatabrat’s sire Louis Quatorze is inbred 2×3 to the 3/4-siblings Bold Princess (dam of his sire Sovereign Dancer) and champion Bold Lad (sire of his broodmare sire On to Glory), the former by Bold Ruler out of Grey Flight, and the latter by Bold Ruler out of Misty Morn — so Louis Quatorze has Rasmussen Factor inbreeding to Grey Flight 3×5.
This means that the foal from this match will have Misty Morn 7×6, and Grey Flight 8x7x5x7, and in light of the fact that several of Blofeld’s winners already have additional crosses of Grey Flight, we think this will be quite significant.
TrueNicks gives this cross an “A” (it looks very broadly at Quality Road/Northern Dancer), and Wowwhatabrat’s less-accomplished full-sister Missy Kim has already produced two winners by Blofeld in Royal Spy and Bonded, plus there is a first-out 2YO winner of 2022 by Blofeld out of a Louis Quatorze mare, too.
Physically this is an excellent match as well, with Blofeld and Wowwhatabrat being very similar specimens: both are tall, long-bodied and leggy horses with long necks and the same shoulder angle, and we think that bodes very well for their chances of producing a top class runner together!