Officer has his Boy

By Sid Fernando

Officer stands at Taylor Made Stallions for $10,000 and was entering that stage of his career when he needed a nice runner to keep enough interest in him at a level to justify standing at one of the premier farms in Kentucky. Enter stage right: 2-year-old Boys at Tosconova, winner of the Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga yesterday.

Truth be told, Boys at Tosconova was not a well-kept secret but a “talking horse” from the moment he made his debut in the Grade 3 Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks day for trainer Bob Hess Jr. Read about that here in the blog of North American Trainer editor and writer Frances J. Karon. After a majority interest in the colt was sold after his second-place debut in a Graded stakes race, he was transferred to trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. in New York, where word of his talent continued to grow. The colt made his debut for Dutrow a smashing one on July 2 at Belmont, destroying a maiden special field by open lengths. See that race here: Boys at Tosconova wins maiden at Belmont.

Thoroughbred Times writer Jeff Lowe wrote a piece on Aug.17 that included a huge reference to Boys at Tosconova that fueled the buzz around the colt even more after one subject of that story, undefeated 3-year-old colt Trickmeister, destroyed a field in the Pleasant Colony Stakes at Saratoga Aug.27. Click here to read the story, which said “the three-year-old stakes winner was no match for a two-year-old stablemate as they worked six furlongs in company on Tuesday at Saratoga Race Course.” See Trickmeister’s race here: Trickmeister wins the Pleasant Colony Stakes at Saratoga. Now extrapolate!

By the time Boys at Tosconova entered the starting gates for the Hopeful against two other very impressive maiden special winners, Stay Thirsty (from the streaking Bernardini’s first crop) and Wine Police, he’d pretty much inherited the mantle of leading 2-year-old colt in the country, especially after the retirement of pro-tem divisional leader Kantharos. Here’s the chart of the Hopeful, and here’s the video: Boys at Tosconova wins Hopeful at Saratoga. The colt won in a hand ride without feeling the whip, and he handled rather easily two colts that are sure to win stakes races in the future. His main competition in upcoming stakes races figures to come from the impressive Saratoga maiden special winner Uncle Mo, a son of Indian Charlie. Click here to read about Uncle Mo.

Indian Charlie, like Officer, was a Californian trained by Bob Baffert who went to stud in Kentucky. For Officer, not as accomplished as Indian Charlie, Boys at Tosconova is the Grade 1 winner that he really needed.

Officer, like his son, was a precocious 2-year-old colt who won 5 of 8 starts at 2, including the Grade 1 Champagne over 1 1/16 miles. He’d started off in California, where, among other races, he won the Grade 2 Del Mar Futurity over 7 furlongs. He won his lone start at 3 in a sprint, got hurt, and was retired, so he wasn’t a proven classic colt.

His sire, Bertrando, is a stalwart in California who’ll stand the 2011 season at Ballena Vista Farm in Ramona, California, for $8,000. The champion older horse in 1993, as a 4-year-old, Bertrando also was a precocious 2-year-old like Boys at Tosconova and Officer. He won 3 of 4 starts at 2, including the Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes over 1 1/16 miles by 9 lengths, and his lone loss that season was a second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs—the target for Boys at Tosconova at the same track. Like Officer, he didn’t do much at 3, winning the Grade 2 San Felipe early in the year. After a second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, he, too, was done, but he was brought back late in the year and ran third in the Grade 2 Malibu. At 4, he won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic over 10 furlongs and the Grade 1 Woodward, so it’s possible that Officer may have stayed on had he remained sound.

This is, after all, In Reality’s staying line, through Relaunch (also the line of Tiznow) and his son, Skywalker, who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 4 in 1986. Relaunch also sired the staying Waquoit, who earned $2.2 million like Skywalker and won over 12 furlongs. Tiznow, a dual Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, is by the Relaunch horse Cee’s Tizzy, a stakes-placed colt who was third in the Grade 1 Super Derby over 10 furlongs.

To date, Officer has sired 15 unrestricted stakes winners and 17 stakes winners total. Eight of the 15 are fillies, and five are Graded stakes winners. Boys at Tosconova is his first Grade 1 winner. Click here to see his page from the Thoroughbred Times “Stallion Directory.”

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Boys at Tosconova was a Werk Thoroughbred Consultants “Best of Sale” recommendation. Out of the Coronado’s Quest mare Little Bonnet, he sold for only $35,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. Click here to see his Werk Nick Rating. Click here to read Roger Lyon’s latest post about the pedigree of Boys at Tosconova.