Ransom Received In Super Derby

We may not be looking at the next Tiznow in Super Derby winner Regal Ransom, but I like the scenerary none-the-less. True, the Super Derby was not loaded with Mine That Birds, Summer Birds and Rachel Alexandras, but it wasn't a bunch of allowance horses either as someone suggested last night in a Facebook post. It was a credible grade 2 stake with graded stakes-placed runners and winners. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Second place finisher Blame had just won the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga. Third place finisher Massone was also third in the grade 1 Bluegrass Stakes in April and grade 2 West Virginia Derby winner Soul Warrior was fourth in the Super Derby.

I'm not here to tell you that Regal Ransom (photo) is going to win the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita in November, but if he runs, I'm not leaving him out of the bottom of my trifectas either. I doubt he'll be on the top line of my trifecta, but he'll be in the bottom line for third. Maybe second.

What I saw in the Super Derby was the winner of the grade 2 UAE Derby seemingly strolling around the Bossier City oval at Louisiana Downs with apparently more concern for infield alligators than his competition. I saw a Regal Ransom break on top, go right to lead and in complete control of the pace and eventually the race. Jockey Richard Migliore probably requested his gumbo in the jock's room kitchen more aggresively than he asked Regal Ransom to run down the stretch in the Super Derby.

What I also saw was a horse making his first start since the first Saturday in May when he was eighth in the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum. That is a long vacation for a race horse and few at any level return with a win in their first start - much less return to dominate in a graded stake.

What I also see in Regal Ransom is a very nice looking, well bred, bay colt who sold for $675,000 at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training sale. He is a son of Distorted Humor, who stood for $150,000 per breeding in 2009 and has been among North America's leading sires while producing the likes of Funny Cide, Flower Alley, Hysterical Lady and Commentator.

I also see a horse from the internationally powerful Godolphin Stable of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum and under the care of trainer Saeed bin Suroor and North American assistant Rick Mettee. According to their web site, they've won 151 group 1 and grade 1 races in 12 countries.

I don't see the next Tiznow or Alysheba just yet, but I think Regal Ransom gives us plenty to enjoy.

First Round Features Million Dollar Draft Picks

The athletes are young and unproven. The owners have researched them on paper for months and put the candidates through rigourous physical examinations for days on end from early in the morning until twilight. Their are potential multi-million dollar contracts involved. There will be diamonds like Peyton Manning and busts like Drew Bledsoe. Such are the similarities of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale going on Monday and Tuesday.

There too will be a Joe Montana, the 82nd player selected in the 1979 NFL draft who went on to win four Super Bowls. Perhaps the best parallel to Montana is 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, who earned $1.2 million on the tracks and countless more millions as a sire. In July of 1975, he was purchased by Karen and Mickey Taylor for $17,500 at a Fasig-Tipton auction in Lexington, Kentucky.

With apologies to football television analyst and former coach Mike Dikta, I present my Ricky Williams of the thoroughbred world. As the coach of the struggling New Orleans Saints, Dikta traded his entire draft board for the rights to select the Heisman Trophy winning Williams in the first round of the 1999 draft. Williams NFL career is best remembered for his early retirement after repeatedly violating the league's drug policy.

At the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Florida select sale of 2-year-olds in training at Calder Race Course, Irish agent Demi O’Byrne held off Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock manager, John Ferguson, in an intense bidding battle and took home The Green Monkey for $16 million. Two years later The Green Monkey had his early retirement after only three races with a third and two fourth place finishes.

The most expensive yearling ever sold was Seattle Dancer (photo) who sold for $13.1 million at 1985 Keenelend July select yearling sale to the British Bloodstock Agency of England. Although the half-brother to Seattle Slew went on to become a multiple group 2 stakes winner in Europe, his career as a stallion resembled Bledsoe's NFL multiple-stop stint. Seattle Dancer had stallion duties in Kentucky, Ireland, Japan and finally in Germany.

The top draft pick so far at Saratoga is a filly by Medaglia d'Oro who sold for $1.5 million Monday night. John Ferguson, who was the underbidder on The Green Monkey in three years ago, won the bidding for the filly acting as the agent for Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum of Dubai. Like the San Diego Charges drafting Eli Manning in the first round, bloodlines were a major consideration for Ferguson in considering the purchase. Medaglia d'Oro is also the sire of Rachel Alexandra.

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, known for spending big money on big NFL talent, has little on Ferguson and the Shiekh in that category after Monday night in Saratoga. Ferguson signed the ticket on the other two million dollars babies as well. Both are by Preakness winner and champion Bernardini who stands at Mohammed's Darley Stud in Kentucky.

A colt out of Bird Town, the winner of the grade 1 Ketuncky Oaks on the track and a half-sister to Mine That Bird sire and Belmont winner Birdstone, sold for $1.3 million. They purchased another Bernardini colt out of Storm Beauty for $1.2 million and a colt by Belmont winner A.P. Indy for $900,000.

Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Results for Monday, Aug. 10