In 2007, the
place of Cherokee Run and his sons in Kentucky’s
breeding industry seemed stable, if not secure.
A Breeder’s Cup Sprint champion in 1994, Cherokee Run was 17 in 2007 and
had compiled a solid record at stud.
From eight crops to race he had five percent stakes winners from all
starters (25 out of 397) and sixty percent winners from all starters (289 out
of 397). By 2007 some of these sons had
joined Cherokee Run at stud in Kentucky. Cherokee Run and his Grade II-winning and
Grade I-placed son Kafwain were at Darley for $40,000 and $10,000,
respectively. During was entering his
third year at Claiborne Farm with a stud fee of $7,500 while Yonaguska was beginning
his fifth year at Vinery for a $10,000 fee.
Just down Spurr Road,
Sir Cherokee was starting his third year at stud at Crestwood Farm for a $7,500
fee.
At the end of 2007, Cherokee Run’s
son War Pass had romped in the Grade I Champagne
and Breeders Cup Juvenile and was awarded the Eclipse Award for Two Year Old
Male. Looking ahead to 2008, while War Pass
was not certain to win a Triple Crown race, his speed seemed certain to have a
say in those races barring an injury.
Also in 2007, two other sons of Cherokee Run – Zanjero, and Chelokee –
had performed well as three year olds and would race as four year olds in 2008. In particular, Zanjero’s victories at a eight
and a half furlongs in the Indiana Derby (GII), nine furlongs in the West
Virginia Derby (GIII), and third place finish in the nine furlong Blue Grass
Stakes (GI) suggested that he might be able to blend his sire’s speed with
stamina from his damsire, A.P. Indy. These
three sons of Cherokee Run seemed likely to improve their race records in 2008
and then join their sire at stud for 2009.
Given the on-track success of
Cherokee Run in 2007, stallion farms held stud fees constant for Cherokee Run,
Kafwain, Yonaguska, and Sir Cherokee in 2008 with only During’s fee dropping to
$5,000. It seemed that a renaissance of
Runaway Groom through Cherokee Run and his sons was underway in Central Kentucky with four to seven Cherokee Run line
stallions likely to stand at stud in 2009.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the breeding shed as age,
injury, bad luck, and the general economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 conspired
to end this sire line in Kentucky. So
what happened to Cherokee Run and his sons in Central
Kentucky in four years to go from ascendant to absent?
Beginning with those stallions that were
already at stud in 2007, Darley pensioned Cherokee Run at the end of the 2009
breeding season where he only covered 46 mares.
During was sent to West Virginia in
2010, and Sir Cherokee was sold to a farm in the Philippines at the Keeneland
November Sale. Kafwain was first moved
from Darley to Hurstland Farm in Midway, Kentucky
before the 2009 breeding season. Kafwain
was then moved again to Tommy Town Thoroughbreds in California in 2010 where he remains. The Pamplemousse, a roan son of Kafwain,
provided a flicker of hope for his sire in 2009 when he won the Sham (GIII) and
San Rafael Stakes (GIII) with ease, but he was injured prior to the Santa Anita
Derby where he was a morning line favorite and never raced again. The Pamplemousse entered stud in 2011 at
Rancho San Miguel in California
for $3,500 stud fee. Similar to Kafwain,
Yonaguska’s best son, Musket Man made a splash on the Triple Crown Trail only
after his sire was sent to Louisiana
for the 2009 breeding season. In 2009, Musket
Man won the Illinois Derby (GII) and Tampa Bay Derby (GIII) and hit the board
in both the Kentucky Derby (GI) and Preakness Stakes (GI). However, Musket
Man’s success was not enough to keep Yonaguska in America as he was sold to the
Jockey Club of Turkey in early 2010. Having
only finished out of the money twice in sixteen lifetime starts with twelve of
those starts coming in graded stakes, Musket Man was retired to Vinery in Florida in 2010. Emulating his sire, Musket Man was then moved
from Florida to Elite Thoroughbreds in Louisiana for the 2011
breeding season.
As for Chelokee, Zanjero, and War Pass,
their 2007 success on the track did not repeat itself in 2008 due to a mix of
injuries, increased distances, and tougher competition. Champion
War Pass
began his three year campaign with a victory in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park only to finish last in the Grade
III Tampa Bay Derby. War Pass
recovered to finish second in the Wood Memorial (GI) to Tale of Ekati after setting
brutal early fractions of 22.46 for the first quarter mile and 46.07 for the
first half mile. After the Wood
Memorial, War Pass was declared out of the Kentucky
Derby due to a fractured foreleg. He was
unable to return to racing and retired to stud at Lane’s End Farm for the 2009
breeding season at an advertised stud fee of $30,000. However, bad luck would strike again as War Pass
died in his paddock after returning to Kentucky
from Australia
in December 2010. War
Pass was only six years old when he
died, and in his two years at stud, War
Pass covered 90 mares with
61 live foals reported to the Jockey Club in 2010 and 83 mares with 61 live
foals reported to the Jockey Club in 2011.
His first crop will race later this year, and hopefully his
offspring will inherit his ability and talent and not his bad luck.
As
for Chelokee, he started his year with a victory in an allowance/optional
claiming race at Gulfstream, but then broke down running in the Alysheba Stakes
at Churchill Downs in May of 2008.
Chelokee survived his injury and stood the 2009 season at Vinery in Kentucky for an
advertised fee of $7,500; however, Chelokee only covered 24 mares in 2009 and
only 12 of those mares produced live foals in 2010 according to the Jockey
Club. In 2010, Chelokee’s owner,
Centennial Farms, donated him to the University of Arizona Equine Center. In Arizona,
Chelokee covered 19 mares which produced 16 live foals reported to the Jockey
Club in 2011. Zanjero completed the 2008
racing year in good health, but was unable to build on his three year old
success. As a four year old, Zanjero won
the Kentucky Cup Classic (GII) and the ungraded West Virginia Governor’s
Stakes; finished second in the Lone Star Park Handicap (GIII) and the Texas
Mile (GIII); and finished fourth in the Cornhusker Handicap (GII). Zanjero entered stud at Millennium Farms in Kentucky in 2009 with an
advertised stud fee of $10,000. Zanjero covered
107 mares in 2010 and 67 mares in 2011.
He enters the 2012 breeding season as the only son of Cherokee Run at
stud in Kentucky
with a listed stud fee of $7,500.
Because of the disappearance of
Cherokee Run and his sons from Central Kentucky,
there is one less sire line available for outcrosses. This decline occurred while the number of tail-male
Mr. Prospector, Northern Dancer, and A.P. Indy stallions has continued to
increase. Some stallions now entering
stud already have one or more crosses of Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer
within their pedigrees. While this may
seem a worrisome trend, Cherokee Run and his sons show just how quickly a trend
or budding sire line can vanish in a few years despite the fact that it can
take years to determine whether or not a stallion is a success or failure. So
maybe today’s tidal waves of inbreeding are just tomorrow’s bloodstock back
waters. After all, five years ago who
could have predicted that Candy Stripes, another Blushing Groom line stallion,
would be the grand-sire of a Kentucky Derby winner through a Brazilian bred
turf miler? But Animal Kingdom won the
Kentucky Derby in his first start on dirt, and it is that unpredictability that
makes breeding so interesting and so unpredictable.
