Will I'll Have Another Be A Triple Crown Champ?
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Photo:
Eclipse Sportswire
After a colt wins the Kentucky Derby, the question on
everyone’s lips is, “Can he become the next Triple Crown Champion?” Racing is certainly overdue for a Triple
Crown hero, but first, I’ll Have Another has to endure and win the Preakness
Stakes.
Many consider the Preakness Stakes as the more speed
favoring contest of the Triple Crown Series.
Since 2000, only one horse, the super filly Rachel Alexandra, led the entire
way. Four Preakness winners pressed the
pace and one rated in third. The remaining
six winners sat between fourth and
seventh place. Further, the race isn’t
kind to pace setters. Other than Rachel Alexandra, the 2010 place horse First
Dude was the only pace setter to finish in the money since 2000. Only three horses that didn’t race in the
Kentucky Derby won the Preakness in the last eleven years.
These facts favor the Kentucky Derby Champ I’ll Have
Another. The colt often prefers to press
the pace, but proved in the Derby that he can sit mid-pack and unleash a solid stretch
run. The Preakness Stakes favors his running style over the pace forging
Bodemeister and the one run stalker Dullahan, the second and third place
finishers in the Kentucky Derby.
I’ll Have Another surprised many who discounted the colt’s
chances because no Santa Anita Derby hero has won the Kentucky Derby since
Sunday Silence in 1989. Yet, I’ll Have
Another’s race record and pedigree proclaimed him as a logical Kentucky Derby
contender.
I’ll Have Another’s (Flower Alley - Arch's Gal Edith, by Arch) sire Flower Alley was a slow maturing
colt. He raced only once as a juvenile placing
third in a maiden race in mid-December of his two year old season. A son of the top stallion Distorted Humor, Flower
Alley showed promise at three, winning the Lanes’ End Stakes and placing second
in the Arkansas Derby. In the 2005 Kentucky
Derby, Flower Alley was near the torrid pace set by Spanish Chestnut. He had to
steady and wound up finishing ninth. His connections elected to bypass the
other two Triple Crown jewels for a shot at the summer and fall contests. The chestnut colt blossomed in the summer and
fall of his three year old season, reeling off wins in the Jim Dandy and
Travers Stakes. He was fourth against
older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, then placed second in the 2005
Breeders’ Cup Classic, beaten only a length by eventual Horse Of The Year Saint Liam. Flower Alley tailed off at age four. He was
victorious in the Salvator Mile, but was winless in the handicap division,
placing seventh in both the Whitney and Woodwood Stakes and concluding his
racing career with a dismal eleventh place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Similar to his racing career, the third crop sire Flower Alley was off to a slow start at stud. His first babies to hit the track
include two graded stakes winners, but they didn’t earn their blacktype
victories until their three year old season. Like their sire, Flower Alley’s
maturing offspring are best around two turns. Flower Alley won only once at 1 ¼
miles and placed once at the distance, but his progeny have shown their
appreciation for two turns.
I’ll Have Another’s
dam won her one and only start at six furlongs over the dirt and his two half
siblings won their maidens within two starts, so I’ll Have Another’s win-early
nature is typical for his immediate distaff family. His first few distaff
generations are light on black type and he’s the first graded stakes winner in
three generations. The Grade 1 winners Into Mischief and Roanoke
are distant relatives.
Arch, the damsire of
I’ll Have Another, is a young broodmare sire.
Besides I’ll Have Another, Arch is represented at the classic distance by
a French Listed Stakes winner at 1 1/4 miles over the turf. Many of Arch’s daughters' progeny haven't
raced at classic distances. His daughter’s offspring include Champion Juvenile
Uncle Mo and Contested, recent heroine of the Eight Bells Stakes. Arch’s pedigree and record at stud indicate
that his daughters could pass along stamina influences, but it is too soon to
make a definitive factual statement that Arch will be a stamina-oriented
damsire.
So can I’ll Have
Another become the fourth Derby/Preakness champ in 11 years? What about his Triple Crown Chances? I'll Have Another is a powerfully built colt and
resembles his sire in conformation. I’ll
Have Another has already proven his fondness for 1 ¼ miles, so the shorter Preakness
Stakes is within his scope. He’s shown that he can press the pace or win from
farther back. His Brisnet speed figures aren’t as high as those of Bodemeister,
but I’ll Have Another did pop a 117 mid-race figure in the Derby and his
numbers are improving. As he was going into the Kentucky Derby, I’ll
Have Another is a logical choice to win the Preakness.
His
stamina-oriented pedigree indicates that he could handle the Belmont Stakes
grueling 1 ½ mile distance as well. From
a pedigree standpoint and running style, I’ll Have Another is a Triple Crown
Champ waiting to happen. Now it’s up to
his trainer, jockey and racing fortune to determine if we’ll have another
Triple Crown hero.
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