On their courses, they flew
The well-built son of Gone West has now sired 12 track record setters; of late, Invisible Man raised the bar at Ascot for eight furlongs. His progeny, many of whom are gifted with the sire-line's innate velocity, have tallied in excess of $55.5 million and substantially, fourteen percent have ascended to merit black type.
Elusive Quality's chief earner in 2010 at $1.26 million is Edward P. Evans' homebred Quality Road out of Kobla, a daughter of the globetrotting turf champion Strawberry Road. The determined winner of a the G1 Florida Derby in record time and winning margin made an immediate impression again at four with decisive wins in the Donn Handicap, the Woodward and the Met Mile. Always in the hunt for year-end honors, Quality Road is arguably the best miler in North America. He showed a definite affinity towards a sandy loam strip and off his pedigree, he might well have taken to grass racing. Moreover, like his sire, Quality Road had the ability to race at track record speed. In the Donn, he lowered his own mark at Gulfstream to 1:47.49 for 1 1/8 miles.
Starfish Bay and West Ocean finished one-two respectively in the Ladies Turf Sprint S. at Gulfsteam Park in February forcing trainer Todd Pletcher to wisely plot the navigation of these two bullet-fast turf specialists in separate directions for the remainder of the year. In very dissimilar fashion, the highly competitive stablemates have knocked out victories at a fifty percent ratio, much to the pleasure of their connections.
Starfish Bay, a Gainesway homebred, folded the previous mark at 5 ½-furlongs over turf at Monmouth Park in the Candy Eclair S. with a 1:00.76 dash in June. The front running quickster set a five furlong record over the same course the previous summer. Inbred to Mr. Prospector 3 x 3, her dam Touch Love is a daughter of Not for Love.
West Ocean, a $400,000 yearling purchase out of multiple graded winner Ocean Drive, by Belong to Me, has only missed a placing once in two years. She shook off her meeting with Starfish Bay by setting a new course record at the Fair Grounds (1:02.73 for 5 1/2 furlongs) in her next start and a stakes record in the Giant's Causeway S. at Keeneland. West Ocean continued to improve her personal best at Monmouth and missed in a nail biter - by a neck - to eventual Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint heroine Dubai Majesty. On the year, West Ocean has gained $247,200 for brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer who also campaign Goldikova.
A treble turf winner this year Beau Choix, out of another Belong to Me mare, Belle Cherie, won twice at stakes level going a mile. The sophomore stepped up to his first Grade One test at Belmont in the Jamaica H. and finished the mile and an-eighth with good energy. Although fanned five wide, he took the show while giving weight to eventual winner Prince Will I Am - the misguided Breeders' Cup Marathon contender. Elusive Quality has a distinct propensity to cross well with Danzig-line mares. On this nick he has sired twelve Stakes winners and three Stakes placers worldwide.
A three-year-old, Barracks Road, out of Padmore (French Deputy) collected three wins, two seconds and a third in 2010. The Eugene Melnyk homebred finds her best pace on or near the lead and has turned in her best at a mile over the Woodbine lawn having won both the Ontario Colleen and the Damsel stakes.
Also at Woodbine, Roan Inish, a Canadian-bred daughter of the north country's two-time champion turf female Inish Glora (Regal Classic) prefers polytrack over the softer going of the Irish countryside, where she made her first three career starts for trainer Jim Bolger. She ran down her competition in the Woodbine Oaks in June. Trained by Bolger's former assistant Carolyn Costigan for her father, owner-breeder Robert Costigan, Roan Inish finished a gallant third in the Queen's Plate when tackling the boys in Canada's premier event.
Overseas, Australian-bred and South Africa-raced Raihana, out of the Sunday Silence mare Esubooh, made a name for herself at the Dubai International Racing Carnival over Meydan's Tapeta racecourse. Raihana tracked the field from the rear in the $250,000 UAE Oaks and made steady progress to reel in Bikini Babe about 100 yards from home. In an attempt to cap off a successful meet, the brave filly put in a brilliant performance that very nearly added the $2 million G2 UAE Derby to her accomplishments had it not been for her stablemate Musir.
Elusive Pimpernal, runner-up to undefeated and eventual two-year-old champion St Nicholas Abbey in the G1 Racing Post Trophy in 2009, turned in a four-length triumph at Newmarket in April in the one mile Cravens S. It was the second Group Three prize that he brought home to owner-breeder Cristina Patino, who races under the banner of Windflower Overseas Holdings, Inc. Elusive Pimpernal is out of dual 12 furlong winner Cara Fantasy, by Sadlers Wells.
Domestically, Elusive Quality continues to impact the sales arena as well. His yearling colts averaged $380,000 at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga. In fact, the $1.2 million sales topper was the A.P. Indy first foal for his champion daughter Maryfield. At the November breeding stock sales in Kentucky, five-year-old Elusive Sparkle, another of his black type-winning daughters and half-sister to Classic winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Street Sense, sold in-foal to champion sire Street Cry for $1.2 million; fourteen-year-old Tap Your Heels, dam of Tapit, sold for $1.8 million while pregnant to Elusive Quality; and champion two-year-old filly in Argentina Safari Queen fetched $425,000, also in-foal to Elusive Quality.
To date, Elusive Quality is represented by 64 stakes winners - 19 of which are graded caliber including champion, Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, Raven's Pass, who won the BC Classic in his first start on synthetics, and G1 Prix Morny winner Elusive City.
Elusive Quality will stand the 2011 season at $50,000, stands and nurses.
