Amarish - Pedigree Profile

Saturday June 16 was the start of the juvenile stakes races at major tracks. Hollywood Park traditionally a showcase for young talent, kicked off the first tentative steps on next year’s Triple Crown trail.  I know, we just finished this year’s, but it’s a long, long road and some like to get a head start.
Amarish was sent to post as the favorite of the Willard L. Proctor Memorial and he didn’t disappoint. The Jeff Bonde trainee was rank in the beginning stages of the race as his jockey Edwin Maldonado tried to rate him off of the flank of pace setter Run To Ground.  Clearly, Amarish didn’t enjoy this tactic, as he pulled strongly until given his head at the top of the stretch.  Once let loose, the bay gelding wasn’t challenged by the field and coasted home a 4 ½ length winner over Moreno’s Mine.  Typical of a very inexperienced horse, Amarish drifted slightly from the left handed whip.  His final time for the 5 ½ furlong contest was a swift 1:04.55. 
AMARISH (Scat Daddy - Issues, by Awesome Again) is now undefeated in two starts.  A May foal, Amarish zipped a furlong in :10.00 at the OBS March Two Year Old In Training Sale. He was purchased for $200,000 by Jerry Durant. Amarish won his maiden impressively by over seven lengths against Moreno’s Mine, getting 4 ½ furlongs in a sharp :50.98. 
By the sensational young sire Scat Daddy, Amarish has the pedigree to improve with distance. His sire won his maiden, Sanford Stakes (G-2) and Champagne Stakes, but was a distant fourth behind the spectacular Street Sense in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.  At three, Scat Daddy made his presence known on the Derby trail with victories in the Fountain of Youth (G-2) and Florida Derby (G-1).  However, Scat Daddy could do no better than 18 in the Kentucky Derby. He sustained a tendon injury during his rough Derby trip and retired with a 9-5-1-1 ($1,334,300) racing record.
Scat Daddy is the leading second crop sire and dominated the first crop sire list last year.  The son of World Champ Johannesburg is producing tough runners who like to win. Scat Daddy had his first two Classic representatives this year. His son Sunland Park Derby champ Daddy Nose Best finished an even tenth while European import Daddy Long Legs didn’t handle the dirt and was last.  We don't know how far the Scat Daddy babies will run, but his progeny have been victorious up to 1 1/8 miles over dirt, 1 3/16 miles over synthetic and 1 1/4 miles over turf.   
Amarish has a classy female family. His dam Issues didn’t make it to the races until she was three, but it was worth the wait. Starting out in the maiden claiming ranks, Issues won her debut and a claiming race before tackling stakes horses. Issues placed third in a listed stakes at Calder and spent the rest of her career in the allowance/optional claimer ranks. She won up to a mile over dirt and placed going longer. Issues retied with a nice 8-4-1-2 ($68,525) record. Amarish is her first foal to race.  His older sister hasn’t made it to the track.  Issues is a half sister to a stakes placed runner and Amarish’s second dam Darlin Echo (by Eastern Echo) placed in the Cinderella Stakes. Darlin Echo is a half sister to Jockey Club Gold Cup (G-1) hero Wagon Limit.  Amarish’s fifth dam is 1979 Broodmare of the Year Smartaire, dam of Champion Juvenile Filly Smart Angle, and the G-2 stakes winners Quadratic and Smarten, sire of the top sire Smart Strike.
 
The Canadian bred Awesome Again, the damsire of Amarish, was a top competitor on the racetrack. A late maturing type, he earned victories in the Queen’s Plate and Whitney Handicap.  As a four year old, despite a perfect season cumulating in a victory over Champions Silver Charm and Skip Away in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Awesome Again was denied an Eclipse Award. 
 
As a broodmare sire, Awesome Again has consistently been one of the top 100 broodmare sires in the country.  He’s a fairly young broodmare sire and his daughters have yet to produce a stakes winner at classic distances. Since Awesome Again is represented by six winners at classic distances, including Champions Ghostzapper and Ginger Punch, there is no reason to think that his stamina won’t transfer to his daughters’ progeny.
 
Amarish’s second damsire Eastern Echo adds win early speed to the pedigree. Eastern Echo, a son of the great Damascus, is best known as the sire of the top California stallion Swiss Yodeler and another son, Buddy Gil, was a long-shot winner of the Santa Anita Derby (G-1). Eastern Echo was a middling sire and broodmare sire, but one of his daughters did produce a colt by Amarish’s sire, Scat Daddy. That colt, Swag Daddy, won two New York State-bred races at a mile.
 
Winners of the Willard L. Proctor Memorial are generally flash in the pan sprinters who don’t progress much past their two year old season. Only three colts in the last 17 years have continued on to become graded stakes winners; Swiss Yodler, Champion Sprinter Squirtle Squirt, and 2011 Triple Crown hopeful J P’s Gusto.  That being said, Amarish has the pedigree to stretch out to at least a mile to 1 1 /16 miles. He could possibly handle 1 1/8 miles in the right company, depending on how his running style evolves. Currently, he’s winning on just raw talent and should improve once he figures it all out.  Amarish is a colt to keep an eye on for the upcoming Del Mar Meet. 
 
By Laurie Ross, Horse Racing Nation Pedigree Expert 

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