Colonel John's Army

A few days ago, I was very excited to get an e-mail telling me that Cash Conversion was entered in a race at Presque Isle Downs.  "Who is Cash Conversion?" you all say.  Well, he's a two year-old colt by Colonel John, and he just happens to be the freshman sire's first starter, or so I believe.

After all, following the yearling sales of last year, I proceeded to keep tabs on all of Colonel John's first crop.  They're all watched closely in my Equibase virtual stable.

Colonel John is not new to me.  He was actually my pick to win the 2008 Kentucky Derby, a race that Big Brown went on to dominate.  The big bay colt had won the Sham Stakes en route to a victory in the Santa Anita Derby, and he looked pretty good to me.  Later in the year, he ended up winning a head-bobbing Travers Stakes over Mambo In Seattle, and the year after that, he zipped over the turf to win the Wickerr Stakes.  A versatile racehorse, he impressed racegoers with both his good looks and his speed.

This bay stallion has the bloodlines of a champion.  His sire is champion Tiznow, who remains the only horse to win the Breeders' Cup Classic twice.  Tiznow has blossomed into an enormously successful sire; among his progeny is Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Folklore, as well as many other graded stakes winners.

Tiznow was out of a mare named Cee's Song, who had already produced a graded stakes winning full brother to her future champion son.  His sire, Cee's Tizzy, became a moderately successful sire (with the help of Cee's Song's many offspring by him); he himself, as a racehorse, had finished third in the Grade 1 Super Derby.  Tiznow is one of the few successful sires out there today that boast a direct tail-male line back to champion Man O' War, whose lines, in turn, trace back to the Godolphin Arabian, one of the three foundation sires of the Thoroughbred breed.  (Most modern Thoroughbreds trace their male lines back to the Darley Arabian instead.)

Colonel John is out of the Turkoman mare Sweet Damsel.  She has crossed exceptionally well with Tiznow - out of ten foals, six are by the tall bay sire. Two of those are stakes contenders Mr. Hot Stuff and Kayce Ace, both of which are as good-looking as their full brother.  There is a smattering of stakes winners in his female family; most significantly, probably, is Imperialism, who is out of a half-sister to his second-dam, stakes winner Grand Dame.  It is a solid, consistent female family, one that props up a stallion well.  Colonel John is also inbred three times in his fifth generation to the famous sire Northern Dancer.

When his foals began to drop, good things started happening for the young sire.  His first crop of yearlings sold for just under an average $85,000 - more than five times his stud fee of $15,000.  Boy, were those yearlings lookers.  I can't remember a Colonel John I saw in the ring that looked bad. 

WinStar Farm, the place that stands Colonel John, boasts twenty-two stallions, including Tiznow himself and another son of the Breeders' Cup champion as well, Gemologist.  They also boast commercially successful stallions like Distorted Humor, More Than Ready, Speightstown, and Harlan's Holiday.  However, if his offspring run the way they look, Colonel John could be well on his way to joining their ranks as top-notch sires. 

Cash Conversion ended up finishing second in his maiden race at even money behind a seven and a half length winner.  He just happened to run into a buzzsaw named Choctaw Chuck, a colt by Bwana Charlie, whose offspring tend to run early and quick.  By virtue of his pedigree, Cash Conversion should do better with more distance.

Ironically, as I finish up this piece on Colonel John, I just opened up my e-mail to find that another one of his progeny has been entered!  Tomorrow, at Hollywood Park, Colonel Joan races under Nakatani for her first start as a racehorse.  Cash Conversion and Colonel Joan are just two of the many offspring of his that will find their way to the racetrack in the coming months.  I'm so excited to see what these good-looking two year-olds can do for their handsome sire as an up-and-coming stallion.