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We are not typically interested in attempting to reinvent the wheel with our mating recommendations, so when something has already worked with a broodmare or her family, we prefer to duplicate that success as closely as possible. In the case of our own broodmare Faze the Nation, a black-type placed winner of 7 races and $226k during her own racetrack career, her first foal, Flamingo Faze, was a 2YO debut winner and black-type earner in her second start, and was sired by a grandson of Danzig (via that one’s leading sire son War Front). As such, we are excited that Faze the Nation will be a member of the first book of mares to visit another grandson of Danzig in 2024, the extremely talented Two Phil’s.
A fast and precocious runner herself, Faze the Nation is also a half-sister to the unbeaten Maryland-bred Champion 2YO filly Malibu Moonshine, and to another black-type placed 2YO filly in Maxine’s Tap Room. So the class and precocity of her first foal to reach the races was not altogether surprising.
In Two Phil’s, Faze the Nation gets a mate who is not only from a sire-line with which she has already clicked, but one who also brings plenty of speed and precocity of his own to the table. A maiden winner at 6 furlongs in July of his juvenile season, he 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 before a 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.
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.
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.
In addition to the status of Two Phil’s as a grandson of Danzig and his similarities to Faze the Nation in his speed and precocity, TrueNicks calls this match a “B+” with a pair of G3 winners and another stakes winner having been sired by Hard Spun out of Distorted Humor-line mares.
Also worth noting is that Faze the Nation’s female family has had additional success with Danzig-line stallions: G2 winner Greek Sun (by Danzig), G3 winner Fiscally Speaking (by Danzig’s son Belong To Me), the G3-placed pair of Bondurant (by War Front) and With Dignity (by War Front’s son Declaration of War), plus stakes-placed Bear’s Furr (by Danzig’s son Langfuhr), all appear under her 3rd dam Sunday Evening, and give us further confidence in this pairing.
So we can’t wait to see the fast, flashy chestnut foal that this breeding is bound to produce in 2025!