Hot New Sires of 2013 - Square Eddie
{{monthName}} {{day}}, {{year}} {{hour12}}:{{minuteTwoDigit}}{{dayPeriod}}
Photo:
Eclipse Sportswire
The Freshman Sire Square Eddie
is the latest son of Smart Strike to make make headlines as a sire.
The large flashy Chestnut is the leading first crop sire by earnings
($215.380) and has two winners, one stakes winner and one stakes
placed runner from four starters.
Career:
Bred by Kinghaven Farms
Limited in Canada, Square Eddie sold for $200K at the 2007 Keeneland
September Yearling Sale to Kern/Lillingston Association for D.
Gorden. He started his career in May of the following year in
England and racked up a win and two places from four starts,
including a runner-up position in the Sirenia Stakes over Polytrack.
After his stakes placing,
Square Eddie was purchased by J.
Paul Reddam and given to trainer Doug O'Neil for conditioning.
The promising colt rewarded his connections with a win in the 1 1/16
mile Lane's End Breeders' Futurity (G-1) at Keeneland. Square Eddie
was made the favorite for the 2008 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G-1) over
the Santa Anita Pro-Ride. He battled on the rail and finished second
to Midshipman, beaten 1 ¼ lengths.
The following year, Square
Eddie placed in the San Rafael and Coolmore Lexington Stakes during
his Triple Crown journey. However, the colt was withdrawn from
Kentucky Derby contention due to sore shins. After taking the summer
off, Square Eddie made four starts, failing to hit the board. Doug
O'Neil brought the colt back to races in the fall of 2009, but
he failed to hit the board. Square Eddie was retired for the 2010
breeding season.
Square Eddie's owner Paul
Reddam supported the stallion with 32 mares in the stallion's first
season at stud. Failing to attract outside interest, Square Eddie
was sent back to the races in 2011. After setting a new track record
of 1:13/11 for 6 ½ furlongs over the Santa Anita dirt in an
allowance race, the stallion failed to hit the board in five
subsequent starts. Square Eddie was retired for good at the end of
2011 to Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall, California. He currently
stands for $5,000.
SQUARE
EDDIE (Smart Strike – Forty Gran,
by El Gran Senor)
Career Highlights:
1st - Lane's End
Breeders' Futurity (G-1) 1 1/16 miles
2nd – Breeders'
Cup Juvenile (G-1) 1 1/16 miles
2nd - San Rafael
Stakes (G-2) 1 1/16 miles
2nd - Sirenia Stakes
(Eng) 6F
3rd - Coolmore
Lexington S. (G-3) 1 1/16 miles
Square Eddie is a
large, flashy Chestnut who physically resembles two other sons of
Smart Strike, Champions Curlin and English Channel.
Pedigree:
The Canadian-bred
Smart
Strike (Mr. Prospector – Classy n' Smart, by Smarten) won six
of eight starts, including victories in the Salvador Mile (G-3) and
Philip H. Iselin Handicap (G-1). He retied with an 8-6-1-0 ($337,376)
record and was voted into Canada's Racing Hall of Fame in 2008. The
son of Mr. Prospector counts three blue hens, Classy n' Smart, No
Class and Classy Quillo as his first through third dams.
Smart Strike himself has been
among the leading twenty of sire lists since his offspring started
racing in the early 2000's. To date, the phenomenal stallion has
produced 12 champions, 50 graded stakes winners and 93 stakes winners
from 14 crops of racing age. He's been designated as an
Intermediate/Classic Chef-de-Race.
Square Eddie has a
deceptively nice female family. His first four dams are blacktype
runners and he is a half brother to three earners of blacktype. His
dam Forty Gran (El Gran Senor – Forty Weight, by Quadratic) carved
out a career as a turf horse in allowance and minor stakes races. She
won half of her 16 starts, including a second in the Audubon Oaks at
Turfway and third in Edgewood Stakes at Churchill. As a
broodmare, Forty Gran bore nine foals of racing age. All except her
unnamed 2011 foal by Candy Ride have raced and seven have visited the
winner's circle. Forty Gran's daughters Reverently (by Pulpit), Dubai
Media (by Songandaprayer) and Hoi An (by Successful Appeal) are
stakes placed. The broodmare has an unnamed 2012 Unbridled's Song
yearling filly and a 2013 Smart Strike filly, a full sister to Square
Eddie, by her side.
Square Eddie's damsire El
Gran Senor was a Champion Two Year Old in England and Ireland,
Three Year Old Champion in England, and Champion Miler. He won from
six furlongs to 1 1/2 miles, beating the best of his generation,
including the great Sadler's Wells and Rainbow Quest, another top
group winner.
A son of Northern Dancer,
El Gran Senor carries the large heart factor received from his dam,
the blue hen Sex Appeal. Given the race and produce record of
Square Eddie's dam Forty Gran, it's entirely possible that El Gran
Senor passed along the large heart gene to his daughter. Square
Eddie is her most accomplished foal, and she may have passed the gene
along to him.
Smart Eddie has Rasmussen
Factor inbreeding (inbred to a blue hen within five generations) to
Smartaire, the dam of Smarten (Smart Strike's damsire) and Quadratic
(the second damsire of Smart Eddie).
Square Eddie had only 32
foals in his first crop. Only four of Smart Eddie's offspring
(three yearlings, one two year old) went through the sales ring,
bringing between $1,000 and $32,000. So far, four of his offspring,
all fillies, have raced. All have competed over either Cushion Track
or Polytrack. This is no surprise, since Square Eddie was a superior
competitor over the Polytrack. His sire Smart Strike is a leading
sire of synthetic track runners. When Square Eddie's offspring show
up in the entries at Del Mar and later this year at Keeneland, or
even Arlington, Turfway and Woodbine, they should be an automatic
include in your bets.
Square Eddie won once over dirt. He
carries dirt attributes through his sire Smart Strike and second
damsire Quadratic. Smart Strike is a superior off track sire. His son
Curlin is above average, while the turf oriented English Channel is a
poor mud sire. Square Eddie may be an average mud sire, but a wait
and see approach would be prudent, as each individual baby may be
different in this aspect.
Keep an eye on the Square Eddie progeny
on the lawn. He won over turf and has strong turf breeding through
his damsire, the Champion El Gran Senor. Additionally, his dam is
stakes placed over the lawn. Bet his babies with confidence over the
green.
Outlook:
Smart Eddie's offspring are superior
synthetic runners and should also do well over the turf. He dirt
progeny may do well if the individual's distaff line is primarily
dirt. Take them on a one-on-one basis for mud. Smart Eddie won up to
8.5 furlongs, but his offspring should handle 1 1/8 miles and many
may want to go farther, depending on the particulars of the
individual distaff lines. His offspring hit the track running in
mid-May and should improve with age.
Read More
I'm dubious that we'll actually get the 20-1 price the morning line suggests on Quatrocento in the Grade...
The one-mile Dwyer Stakes for 3-year-olds scraped together a small field of six for its 49th renewal. Grade...
Trainer Kenny McPeek announced Friday that Kentucky Derby 150 winner Mystik Dan officially has been retired, but fans...
Wolfie’s Dynaghost , a 12-time winner for owner-breeder Woodslane Farm, is set to make his first start with trainer...
Skippylongstocking worked Friday for the first time since his eighth-place finish in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic...