In 2008, Street Cry's first-crop son Street Boss strode to elite status with wins in the G1 Triple Bend Invitational and G1 Bing Crosby handicaps. He blazed a trail of five consecutive wins in a brilliant season; all tolled, he won six races with two close seconds and a third from nine starts. His lifetime earnings total $831,800.
Street Boss’ veteran conditioner Bruce Headley calls him “the perfect horse.” He says: “He is so smart, so bright and so relaxed. I was stepping up to the mile with him - he was going to be a mile champion next.”
Nonetheless, the trainer could not be more thrilled to have his former pupil move on to a new career alongside his sire and paternal half-brother Street Sense. Street Boss is the latest in a long list of sale graduates that Headley has developed into graded winners. Among his finest were Champion Sprinter Kona Gold, Silveyville, Kalookan Queen and Got Koko.
Headley admits he was in the right place at the right time when he spotted Street Boss at the Keeneland September Sale. “He was so, so into the way I like a horse to look. This great head and eye and this top line with all this power and correctness, the great bone, straight legs, flat knee, good sturdy bone, good feet. Everything that I think is good that is what I saw in him and the top line for brilliance.”
He purchased the colt and like a good many of Headley’s stock, he and his wife, Aase retained a large share when he formed a racing partnership with Marsha Naify and later to include Simon Yu. In his Del Mar debut at three, track announcer Trevor Denman compared Street Boss to an express train. He made up a twelve-length deficit in the last four panels of a six-furlong maiden race, all the while circling the field five-wide and then drawing away by daylight. In his next outing, Street Boss took aim at G1 Malibu S. winner Johnny Eves, only to finish up a fast-closing second; just one and a-half lengths off the the1:08 final. The following season, the tables were turned and he powered past Johnny Eves and Grade One winner In Summation in a scintillating performance in the Bing Crosby H.
Street Boss’ flair for accelerating from the half-mile marker to overtake his rivals in the outside lane regularly transformed into a slingshot effect, sending him five, six or even seven lanes wide before the stretch drive. He had a relentless passion for wearing down his opponents.
In an amazing feat,Street Boss broke from the three-hole for the G3 Los Angeles H., only to clip heels and bobble before leaving the chute. The instantaneous mishap only reinforced the determination of the come-from-behind sprinter and he responded to jockey David Flores with fractions that now sets the mark at Hollywood Park. Streaking through eleven-second splits, he scored by a length, covering six furlongs in 1:07.55. As a four-year-old, he dashed to two track records and equaled a third at each of the three major southern California racecourses.
”He has a tremendous constitution of confidence,” remarked Headley. “After he got into his game, he became consistent, he became a pro. He never changed. He never picked up the bit in the morning. He never fretted in the afternoon. “
Coming off a good second-place tightener in the G1 Ancient Title, Street Boss was named as the Sentient Flight Group Breeders’ Cup Sprint favorite with a daunting task against the best sprinters in the country. He was their target breaking from the one-hole. Crafty race riding by jockey Garrett Gomez - to keep Street Boss delayed from his usual swoop - worked to the winner’s advantage. Street Boss fought hard late with a signature rally for a respectable third placing.
Street Boss’ pedigree is three generations removed from Mr. Prospector and is an outcross to Northern Dancer himself. However, his paternal grandsire Machiavellian provides an opportunity to line-breed to Northern Dancer’s dam Natalma. Street Cry’s Grade One winners Street Sense, Whobegotyou, Majestic Roi and Tomcito all carry this cross.
He is out of Blushing Ogygian, who placed third in the Jersey Jumper Stakes as a two-year-old and has already previously produced Grade Two-placed Habiboo. Blushing Ogygian is sired by the very last foal born to Horse of the Year Damascus. One of the best of his generation, Ogygian won all three of his starts at two defeating eventual sprint champion Groovy in the G1 Belmont Futurity. An unfortunate kick while in the farm shed row extended his winter hiatus, though he made a comeback to win the Riva Ridge S., G1 Dwyer Stakes and G1 Jerome H. Ogygian is also the broodmare sire of Grade One winners Gygistar and juvenile champion Johannesburg.
Street Boss has been yet another feather in the cap for leading sire Street Cry. In an amazing year for the ten-year-old stallion, he also been represented by the matchless Zenyatta, the undefeated queen of the distaffers who presents a strong case for Horse of the Year, and two rising stars in Caulfield Guineas winner Whogegotyou in Australia and the impressive juvenile Street Hero, winner of the Norfolk S.
Street Boss, a 16hh chestnut, enters stud for 2009 at an introductory fee of $25,000 (Stands & Nurses).
