Sandiva, Reynaldo Get Better with Age

Not a lot happened last week, with little action among the budding 3-year-old stars, but this at least gives me the chance to pay tribute to Reynaldothewizard and Sandiva. These two hard-working Thoroughbreds are just the type that any owner would love to own.

Reynaldothewizard, at the age of 11, took last Thursday's Dubawi S. over Meydan's six-furlong dirt track. This was the sixth stakes victory of his career and came more than eight years after the son of Speightstown earned 'TDN Rising Star' status with a debut win at Churchill Downs.

This $775,000 2-year-old purchase later finished third, as favorite, behind Run Away And Hide, in the GII Saratoga Special in 2008. To illustrate the different paths these two have taken, Run Away And Hide was ably represented last year by Heaven's Runway and Are You Kidding Me, a pair of then-6-year-old graded winners from his first crop.

In winning the Dubawi S., Reynaldothewizard got the better of Muarrab, winner of last year's G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen–a race which, in 2013, provided the highlight of Reynaldothewizard's career. That win carried a prize of $1.2 million and the gelding's earnings are now heading towards $2.2 million. In this form, Reynaldothewizard is entitled to contest his fourth Golden Shaheen on Mar. 25, having also finished fourth in 2014 and 2016.

The late-blooming nature of Reynaldothewizard's career reminded me of some quotes made by Eugene Melnyk after the 2004 Breeders' Cup victory of the gelding's sire Speightstown.

“I learned a lot with the experience with Speightstown,” Melnyk said. “And what I learned is not to push a horse when he is not ready. We really believed that he was ready as a 2-year-old and we pushed a little bit, and finally nature took its course and said, 'Forget about it, pack it in' and we did that.”

For the record, his $2 million son of Gone West made just a single start at two. Although Speightstown then rebounded to win four of his seven starts during the first eight months of his second season, further problems surfaced. Sidelined for 21 months, Speightstown returned to make two starts in May 2003, only to be out of action again until the end of March 2004. Of course, the 6-year-old then justified all the patience shown him by winning five of his six starts and by becoming a Grade I winner on his final start.

In the circumstances, perhaps it wasn't so surprising that Reynaldothewizard's transformation from debut 2-year-old winner to Group 1 winner also took a long time, with his Golden Shaheen victory coming at the age of seven.

He is by no means the only Speightstown Grade I winner who took a little time to score at the highest level. The recently retired Tamarkuz emulated his sire by becoming a Breeders' Cup winner at the age of six, but in the Dirt Mile rather than the Sprint. The 4-year-old Rock Fall had dominated the older sprint division in 2015 prior to his untimely death just weeks before the Breeders' Cup. Others to become Grade I winners at the age of four were Haynesfield (Jockey Club Gold Cup), Dance to Bristol (Ballerina S.), Mona de Momma (Humana Distaff S.) and Poseidon's Warrior (Alfred G. Vanderbilt H.). These older horses just have the edge over Speightstown's team of six Northern Hemisphere 3-year-old Grade I winners, comprising Force The Pass, Golden Ticket, Jersey Town, Lighthouse Bay, Lord Shanakill and Seek Again.

This analysis exposes one major omission from Speightstown's record–a 2-year-old Grade I winner. Indeed, with nearly 800 progeny aged three or more, the WinStar stalwart is still awaiting his first 2-year-old graded winner in the United States (there have been two in Britain, one in Italy and one in Canada).

This is a reminder that it can be dangerous to confuse speed with precocity. The two do not always go hand in hand, as is illustrated by some of Speightstown's fastest sons. In addition to Reynaldothewizard, they include Rock Fall (unraced at two, first stakes win at four), the smart British sprinter Tropics (first group success at five and second in the G1 July Cup at the ages of six and seven), Fast Bullet (first graded success at five), Country Day (unraced at two, first stakes win at four) and Essence Hit Man (a graded winner at four, five and six). Perhaps the demands of producing exceptional speed are sometimes too much for immature limbs and muscles.

Moving on to Sandiva, this Irish-bred daughter of Footstepsinthesand showed with her success in the GIII Marshua's River S. three days ago that she is as good as ever, despite a demanding career. Now six, she made a winning debut as long ago as May 10, 2013. During that time, she has enjoyed group/graded success in each of her five seasons in trainings. All of her graded/group successes have come since Sheikh Joaan's Al Shaqab Racing purchased her from Middleham Park Racing after she had won her first two starts.

Her sire Footstepsinthesand probably qualifies for the unflattering description of journeyman, which my dictionary defines as “a competent workman.” This is reflected in his 2017 fee, which stands at only €10,000 even though his tally of six individual group/graded winners in 2016 was the same as that of his sire Giant's Causeway and better than numerous stallions standing at far higher fees than Sandiva's sire.

Footstepsinthesands' image problems almost certainly date back to his abbreviated racing career. A winner of both his starts as a juvenile, he kept his unbeaten record intact when he reappeared in no less a race than the G1 2,000 Guineas, where the opposition included those top-class colts Oratorio and Dubawi. Unfortunately, he never raced again and was retired less than two months after his Classic success.

What breeders didn't know at the time was that his dam Glatisant would become the dam of a second Group 1 winner and second dam of two more, including the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Power. Power, of course, made an eye-catching start with his first runners in 2016.

Fears that Footstepsinthesand's progeny would inherit his apparently delicate constitution have proved baseless. Sandiva has now raced 23 times, while his Irish-bred Group 1 winners Shamalgan, Chachamaidee and Steinbeck/Pure Champion raced 39 times, 21 times and 50 times respectively, showing the influence of “Iron Horse” Giant's Causeway.