Making the Grade, which will run through the 2015 Belmont Stakes, focuses on the winners of the big races, usually from the previous weekend, who could impact the Triple Crown. We'll be taking a close look at impressive winners and evaluating their chances to win important races based upon ability, running style, connections (owner, trainer, jockey) and pedigree.
This week we take a closer look at Texas Red, winner of the Grade 1 Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile Stakes on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park.
Texas Red's stakes debut in the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes on Sept. 27 was promising, but his follow-up performance in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Stakes took expectations to a whole new level. He closed from last to first and dominated the opposition in the stretch en route to a 6½-length runaway win at 13.90-to-1 odds. The Breeders' Cup Juvenile victory placed Texas Red in the conversation for the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male and also stamped him a colt to watch on the Triple Crown trail in 2015.
Ability: A $17,000 purchase at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale, Texas Red was one of three yearlings that trainer Keith Desormeaux plucked out of that auction for Erich Brehm and his family. Needless to say, he has turned out to be quite the bargain. Texas Red finished second and fourth in his first two starts at Arlington Park and Del Mar, respectively. He then posted a breakthrough victory when stretching out to a mile at Del Mar on Aug. 20, earning a then-career-best 88 Equibase Speed Figure. Texas Red's first three races came on synthetic surfaces before his dirt debut in the FrontRunner. Although he was beaten by 4¾ lengths by American Pharoah when third in the FrontRunner, Texas Red showed that perhaps dirt was his preferred surface by improving his speed figure by 11 points to a 99. Given a swift pace to close into in the Juvenile, Texas Red drew away to a dominant victory. The 106 Equibase Speed Figure he earned in the Juvenile is tied for second-best by a 2-year-old male in a stakes race in 2014, trailing only Daredevil's 110 in the Champagne Stakes. Texas Red beat Daredevil soundly in the Juvenile in their lone head-to-head matchup.
Texas Red looks like an improving 2-year-old with the explosive burst that his sire, Afleet Alex, utilized to win the 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes. The switch to dirt and stretching out to longer races also clearly helped.
American Pharoah, who missed a planned start in the Juvenile because of a minor injury, has twice posted 106 Equibase Speed Figures. Texas Red's Juvenile win flattered Pharoah.
Running style: Deep closers like Texas Red often find traffic trouble on the path from the back of the field to the front. Traffic can lead to loss of momentum and wide trips, especially in a 20-horse field that is unique in U.S. racing to the Kentucky Derby. Closers are reliant upon the trip. A good trip often leads to a victory or a quality effort and a troubled trip can lead to frustrating results that don't match the ability of the horse. Such is life as a closer in horse racing, but it is nice to have a Derby runner who is just finding his best stride in the stretch of the 1¼-mile race rather than one who is running on empty and trying to coax out an extra sixteenth of a mile on fumes.
Connections: Texas Red is in the hands of the trainer-jockey tandem of brothers Keith and Kent Desormeaux. The latter is a Hall of Fame rider with more than 5,600 career victories as well as a three-time Eclipse Award winner with six wins to his credit in U.S. Triple Crown races. Kent Desormeaux won the Derby with Real Quiet (1998), Fusaichi Pegasus (2000) and Big Brown (2008), the Preakness with Real Quiet and Big Brown, and the Belmont Stakes with Summer Bird (2009).
The Juvenile was the first career Grade 1 win for Keith Desormeaux, who does not have the extensive track record of his brother, but eight of his 25 career stakes wins have come in the last two years. He won the 2013 Risen Star Stakes with 135.20-to-1 longshot Ive Struck a Nerve, who missed that year's Triple Crown with an ankle injury. Keith Desormeaux has never had a starter in a Triple Crown race.
Erich Brehm acquired his love of racing from his father, Erich Brehm Sr., who got his start in the racing industry in the 1990s when he purchased the Seattle Slew mare Seattle Queen in foal to Malinowski. Seattle Queen's second foal was a Citidancer colt named Fat Wally, who set a track record at Retama Park while winning by 13 lengths.
Brehm Sr. met Keith Desormeaux in 2009 and soon after Desormeaux began training horses for the family and friend/partner Gene Voss.
Erich Brehm Jr. explained the Texas Red partnership: "Keith is one of the partners along with Erich Sr.'s regular horse partner, Dr. Gene Voss. Family friends Wayne Detmar and Lee Michaels also own equal shares in Texas Red. Lee's husband, Paul, bought the share for her as a present, and it's also worth mentioning that this is the first Thoroughbred the Detmars or the Michaels have ever raced."
Pedigree: Texas Red is from the sixth crop of Afleet Alex, who I would argue was one of the most underrated horses of the last 20 years. He had push-button acceleration, an explosive burst of speed and elite athleticism, plus he brought it every race. Afleet Alex won eight of 12 career starts and finished in the top three 11 times with his only unplaced finish the result of a lung infection in the 2005 Rebel Stakes. I've always believe Afleet Alex would have gone on to be a dominant force had he not been injured and retired after winning the Belmont Stakes. His Preakness Stakes win was one of the most memorable classic races in recent memory when he incredibly recovered from clipping heels with Scrappy T and went on to win for fun, but the burst of speed he showed in the Belmont Stakes was what I remembered when I saw this year's Juvenile win from Texas Red.
Afleet Alex has emerged as a good sire with 301 winners from 423 starters and 28 stakes winners through Nov. 7. His runners average winning distance is 7.48 furlongs, which is quite solid for U.S. sires in an era when speed dominates and stamina is at a premium. Afleet Alex is responsible for a couple of champions in Puerto Rico but his elite runners include 2010 Travers Stakes winner Afleet Express, Breeders' Cup Marathon winner Afleet Again and multiple Grade 1 winner Iotapa. All three excel in two-turn races on dirt. Texas Red served as a reminder that Afleet Alex is very capable of siring an elite runner with stamina on the main track.
Looking at the other half of Texas Red's pedigree, we find Chilean and Argentine bloodlines through the first four generations. Texas Red's dam (mother), Ramatuelle, was a stakes winner at about 1 1/16 miles in her native Chile and Grade 3-placed sprinting in the U.S. Ramatuelle's lone U.S. win came at a mile on the main track. Texas Red is Ramatuelle's fifth winner from five starters and her first stakes winner. She is a half-sister to Chilean Group 2 winner Vitra.
Texas Red's grandam (maternal grandmother), Villa Torlonia, was a winner in Chile and a full-sister to Chilean champion and star Via Sixtina.
While the bottom half of Texas Red's pedigree probably is unfamiliar to most, there is plenty of reason for optimism. Given his sire's ability to excel at 1½ miles, expect Texas Red to be formidable as the distances get longer this year and next. The hunch here is that this is no one-hit wonder.
