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Although she herself was a two-time winner at a mile on dirt (and on the board in six of nine lifetime starts), Lime Squash is a half-sister to a pair of dual-surface stakes winners and is sired by an all-weather multiple stakes-winning grandson of the great turf stallion Sadler’s Wells. As such, we are interested in leaning into those more versatile influences in her pedigree, and so she’ll be visiting the exciting first-year stallion Two Phil’s at WinStar in 2024 for her second foal.
A maiden winner at 6 furlongs in July of his juvenile season, Two Phil’s romped by almost 10 in a stakes next time out again at 6 furlongs, then closed out his 2YO campaign with a win by more than 5 in the G3 Street Sense at Churchill Downs going 1-1/16 miles. Put on the Triple Crown trail at 3, he was 2nd in the G3 Lecomte and 3rd in the G2 Risen Star.
To that point, all his races had come on dirt, but he then switched to Turfway’s all-weather for his breakthrough victory in the G2 Jeff Ruby Stakes by more than 5 lengths over Major Dude — an effort that was good for a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.
Off of that win, Two Phil’s went to the Kentucky Derby as a wiseguy horse and ran arguably the best race of anyone in the field by being on the engine throughout and holding off everyone save the winner Mage late. Two Phil’s was assigned a 105 Beyer for his Derby effort, and he repeated that figure when romping again in the G3 Ohio Derby in his next (and what turned out to be last) start (back on the dirt).
Generally acclaimed as a fast and tough campaigner, and perhaps the most talented member of his crop, Two Phil’s can point right to his own sire as the likely source of those qualities. Hard Spun, one of the last sons of Danzig — and one of the most successful at stud in North America along with War Front — had a shockingly similar profile to his son Two Phil’s as a dual (but not graded) stakes winner at 2 who won Turfway’s all-weather Derby prep (when it was known as the Lane’s End before it became the Jeff Ruby) prior to a front-running 2nd-place finish in the Derby itself. Hard Spun went on after the Derby to add victories in the G1 King’s Bishop (now the Allen Jerkens) and G2 Kentucky Cup Classic, and has put together an excellent career at stud, in which he has sired top-class runners on all surfaces and at a variety of distances, from 2YOs through older horses.
So there is plenty of reason for excitement about Two Phil’s chances at WinStar, where we believe he is priced attractively and should garner plenty of support. He makes an especially interesting match for Lime Squash given that she is a half-sister to the multiple stakes-winning and course record-equalling filly Hogans Holiday, by The Factor; and The Factor is also a grandson of Danzig who has demonstrated plenty of surface versatility, just like Two Phil’s.
Among the horses bred on the Hard Spun/Sadler’s Wells cross are Grade 2 winner (dirt) Brooklyn Strong and Group 3 winner (turf) Khusoosy, as well as black-type winner Sister Seagull and another four black-type placed runners. Then Lime Squash is out of a Harlan’s Holiday dam, and that broodmare sire-line has done well when put under the Danzig sire-line to the tune of a “B+” rating from TrueNicks.
Physically, Two Phil’s is a strongly-made, correct, medium-sized stallion who will fit a huge range of mares, including Lime Squash, and we can’t wait to see the foal that their pairing produces in 2025!