Cherry Lodge has the breeding to be a good one

Entered off only a maiden win, which came in her career debut, Cherry Lodge will be giving away experience to most in the field in Saturday’s Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga. Considering that she beat a disqualified track record holder in that maiden, you could say that the Todd Pletcher trained miss was at least tested in her first go-round. She passed the exam with flying colors, the way you would hope a filly of her pedigree would. The $450,000 yearling purchase of Gainseway Stable is one filly, bred to the nines.

You are no doubt familiar with her sire Bernardini. The 3yo Champion of 2006 won the Preakness, Travers, and Jockey Club Gold Cup, among a few other stakes in his short career. He, too, was bred to be a good one. A son of the champion, and sire or sires, A.P. Indy, Bernardini also had a fair amount of quality on his female side. His dam, Cara Rafaela, was a Grade 1 winner of nearly a million dollars. As solid as Bernardini is, he might be the lesser half of the equation.

It is the other side of Cherry Lodge’s pedigree that is even more interesting. Bred by Mrs. William L. Currin, her dam, Wilshewed, a daughter of Carson City was not much on the racetrack. In fact, she never broke her maiden in ten tries. Her second career has been a horse of a different color, though.

Stormello, by Stormy Atlantic, was the mare’s first foal. Although his racing career, and ultimately his life, was cut short by colic, the chestnut son of Wilshewed was a runner. At two, Stormello won three times, including the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity and Grade 2 Norfolk. The Kentucky Derby became his penultimate career start, before the colic problems began to arise.

Wilshewed was bred back to Stormy Atlantic, and one of those foals was My Best Brother. He would become the mare’s second graded stakes winner, sweeping two turf stakes at Del Mar in his three-year-old season, including the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby. Wilshewed also produced two other foals by Stormy Atlantic, and they were both winners.

Speaking of full siblings, Cherry Lodge is a full sister Gala Award. The son of Bernardini and Wilshewed won a pair of turf stakes at Gulfstream Park and Belmont in the spring of his three-year-old season in 2014.

It remains to be seen whether Cherry Lodge will become a Grade 1 winner in her second career on Saturday, but judging from her morning buzz, an impressive maiden win, and a pedigree to die for, it would seem the future of this filly is nothing but bright.