Lookin At Lucky

David Ingordo has undoubtedly inspected thousands of yearlings, many of whom went on to become Ingordo-purchased success stories, since he saw Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky) at the 2014 Keeneland September Sale. Nevertheless, the well-respected agent has a vivid memory of seeing Hip 1162 at the Bluewater Sales consignment, a May-foaled son of the stakes-placed Awesome Again mare Issues. "When a horse first walks out, you get an impression--at least, that's what it is for me," Ingordo said. "And he was an extremely well- balanced horse, plenty of substance to him....

Darby Dan Farm's Country House (Lookin At Lucky), winner of the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby,has had his first mare confirmed in foal, the farm announced today. He was bred to the Ghostzapper mare More Everything Feb. 10, and the half-sister to stakes winner and Grade III-placed Bishop's Pond (Curlin) and stakes-placed Black Oak (Forestry) has been scanned in foal for owner Watershed Bloodstock, LLC. Country House broke his maiden with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance at Gulfstream Park, finished a fast-closing second to eventual Classic winner War of Will (War...

So here we are at last, rounding the home turn. This series has unfolded in familiar fashion, with an initial stampede of unproven young stallions progressively thinned out by the impatience of a commercial sector operating in ever decreasing cycles. Today we finish with a selection from those admirable stallions who have survived the ruthless attrition, and created a viable niche at various levels of the market. The odds they have overcome, to get here, are such that the long-term health of the breed is clearly being treated as something...

Lookin At Lee (Lookin At Lucky--Langara Lass, by Langfuhr), a two-time stakes winner and runner-up in the 2017 GI Kentucky Derby, has been retired from racing and will stand his first season at stud in 2021 under the management of Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions LLC in Saratoga, New York. Lookin At Lee will stand his initial season for $6,500 LFSN. The $70,000 KEESEP yearling graduate, owned by L and N Racing LLC and trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, posted a record of 35-4-6-4 and career earnings...

Reigning GI Kentucky Derby winner Country House (Lookin At Lucky-Quake Lake, by War Chant) has been secured for stud duty by John Phillips's Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Country House will be participating in Darby Dan's "Share the Upside" program, and his fee for the 2021 season has been set at $7,500 S&N. "We are excited to stand Country House and to provide breeders the opportunity to breed to a Kentucky Derby winner through our "Share the Upside" program," said Ryan Norton, Darby Dan Farm's stallion director. "There is...

On the same day the GI Kentucky Derby lost top contender Maxfield (Street Sense) to a condylar fracture, another hopeful, Wells Bayou (Lookin At Lucky), was also declared from the Derby trail with bone bruising, according to trainer Brad Cox. The story was first reported by Daily Racing Form. "We sent him over to the clinic, I just wasn't happy with the way he was moving the past week," Cox told TDN. "We sent him for a bone scan and he has some bone bruising. Obviously it's a step back...

No matter what he does, Lookin At Lucky (Smart Strike) seems condemned always to be the short guy in the back row of the team photo. In the private duel that defines his stud career, moreover, he has to endure Munnings (Speightstown) moving ever closer, year by year, to front and center. These two splendid sires, who started out together at Ashford in 2011, experienced rather typical fortunes last Saturday when dividing the big sophomore tests in New Orleans between them (along with those skilled gentlemen, Brad Cox and Florent...

Given the clamor across social media through the week, one thing was certain heading into Saturday's GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby--there was absolutely no chance that Wells Bayou (Lookin At Lucky) was going to go off at anything approaching his morning line of 8-1. Those that backed him were instead forced to swallow a price in the vicinity of 3-1, but the bay did not let them down, treating his 13 rivals to a front-running, 1 1/2-length beating. Exiting the Feb. 17 GIII Southwest S. in which he laid down swift...

Right, that's enough ranting for now. In the course of this series, I've repeatedly professed bewilderment and alarm over the damage to the Thoroughbred gene pool threatened by a witless stampede towards unproven newcomers, and the no less puerile impatience with which they are promptly abandoned. But we won't revisit those complaints today. Embarking on this final instalment, dealing with those stallions talented or lucky enough to have come out the other side with a viable stud career in Kentucky, we'll just offer one simple consolation. Because if you're one...