Cat finally 'Claws' her way to victory

When Cat Has Claws missed second by a neck in her debut at age 2, about four lengths back from victory among special weights at Arlington, I figured it was only a matter of time before she broke her maiden. And I suppose I was right.

The Illinois-bred filly who I tipped on this blog as a 2-year-old prospect at the sales didn't start again until she was 3. A fourth-place finish among special weights in June sent her into maiden-claiming company. In her second start for a tag, Cat Has Claws finished third again, this time beaten a neck and a nose by Hawk's Girl and Lindseytothemax. She also finished fourth in her most recent start, behind another sales selection of mine, Sea Why.

On Saturday, the filly who likes to get her photo snapped for the placing judges, finally had her picture taken in the winner's circle. Again, after a photo-finish was sorted out for the order of finish.

Sent off (to my great surprise) as the 4/5 favorite, Cat Has Claws was the only filly able to close into the glacial pace set by 34-1 long-shot Bob's Hilda, who got away to a six-length lead despite meandering around the Arlington Park Polytrack in 23.45 and 47.58. Cat Has Claws got up by a nose after a long and determined drive under Jesus Castanon. Lindseytothemax was another three-quarters back in third.

Cat Has Claws is owned by Joseph W. and Betty Woit, and trained by Roger Brueggemann. The bay filly by Harlan's Holiday-Summertime Blues, by Chimes Band, was bred in Illinois by Carson Springs Farm and Scott Goldsher. With a win and two shows from six starts, she has now earned $14,523.

I selected Cat Has Claws as Hip 517 from the 2010 Ocala April sale of 2-year-olds in training. The filly breezed 10.1 and two of her three elder siblings were solid performers: Chillin Villian (Good and Tough) has now won seven of 57 and was stakes-placed among IL-breds at 2 for $172,231; Jitterburg Blues has five wins and 10 seconds from 24 lifetime starts and hit the board in IL-bred stakes company last year at age 5, for $212,741. Though only a modest winner of two races from nine starts, Summertime Blues was a half-sister to nine-time stakes-winner TIC N TIN ($771,570) and two-time Illinois-bred champion PRETTY JENNY ($534,262).

Cat Has Claws failed to sell at OBSAPR when the top bid of $37,000 failed to meet the reserve price set by consignor Wavertree Stables.

With her win Saturday, Cat Has Claws became the 107th prospect to break maiden worldwide from my 187-horse list of sales tips. That's 57.2 percent of all selections, a figure that shortly after would rise.

Click here and scroll down the list to view the records of all 187 selections.

Sea Why wins her first, has much more to do

When the hammer fell on Hip 632 at last year's Ocala April sale of 2-year-olds in training, I gasped.

I liked the fleet-breezing chestnut filly by Whywhywhy-Vermilion Sea, by Boundary. I didn't quite like her $150,000 worth.

The Illinois-bred filly opened eyes with a 32 4/5 breeze at the under-tack show prior to OBS April, and I knew that she wouldn't be among the cheapest of my mostly bargain-minded selections out of that sale. It certainly didn't hurt her, either, to be out of a stakes-placed mare and already half-sister to a multiple stakes-placer named Big Lou, who eventually retired late last year with six wins from 32 starts for more than $200,000.

Before she sold, I conceded that speed "might just crush among IL-breds."

But $150K seemed awfully much for the offspring of a stallion who now stands for $3,500 and whose average 2-year-old filly sells for about $22,000. And after all, blistering breezes at under tack shows can be deceptive.

Subsequently (and cleverly) named Sea Why, she finished third once from three starts as a juvenile.

Coming off the shelf on Saturday at Arlington Park, and in for a $10,000 tag among maidens, Sea Why went to the front under E.T. Baird and stayed there, winning by three lengths as the roughly 5/2 favorite in a field of 11. Her fellow sales-tip of mine Cat Has Claws was sixth after stumbling at the gate or breaking awkwardly (not reported on the Equibase chart) and then being used up chasing the pace.

Bred in Illinois by T/C Stable, Sea Why remains the property of Silverton Hill LLC. She is trained by Larry Rivelli.

She's now banked $10,970 on the long road to recouping $150,000 plus the associated costs of training. Though her time for 6.5 furlongs on Polytrack Saturday was a pedestrian 1:21.10, maybe this first-off-the-layoff effort is one she can build from, and we we'll eventually Sea Why" I liked her, and why Silverton Hill loved her enough to pay her Ocala ransom.

Sea Why also becomes the 102nd of my 187 sales selections to break maiden; that's 54.6 percent.

Click here to see all 187 horses, plus nine whose high prices caused me to pan their purchases.

Evangelical answers prayer for maiden-breaker

With my sales selections perhaps in need of a little divine intervention, a third-out filly named Evangelical stepped to the altar of the racing Gods on Sunday at Belmont and passed muster, collecting her first lifetime victory in gate-to-wire fashion.

My 2010 juvenile sales picks were averaging about three maiden-breakers per week in recent running. So to have reached Sunday winless in the maiden ranks for the week, with only three remaining shots at getting one over the hurdle, left me nervous.

First to take a shot on Sunday -- actually late Saturday night Stateside -- was Kidari Joe, a debuting son of Tiznow running at Busan in Korea. He came home fourth of 14, in all probably not a bad learning experience.

But the best shot, I believed, was at Belmont, with Evangelical. She hadn't raced since July 14, there at Belmont, skipping the meeting at Saratoga. Perhaps that caused bettors to forget that she'd never finished worse than second in two prior efforts, because she went off at 6/1, then won like she was even-money.

Evangelical (Speightstown-Evangelizer, by Saint Ballado) bolted to the lead straight out of the gate in the field of eight, chased by Amusing (a first-out filly by Distorted Humor and a half-sister of the legendary and ill-fated Lost in the Fog), and by the roughly 3/2 favorite Cadazzle (Malibu Moon). That remained the order all the way through six furlongs in 1:11.80 as Evangelical, who actually bobbled at the break and still made the lead, widened her advantage under Mike Luzzi to three and a quarter lengths on the wire.

She becomes the 28th of my 187 juvenile sales tips of 2010 to win her first lifetime race; that's 14.97 percent.

Bred in Florida by Town & Country Farms Corp., Evangelical has now earned $47,000 in three starts for owners North Shore Racing. She was trained for the win by Barclay Tagg.

I tabbed the filly as a "possible second-chance deal" when she failed to sell for a bid of $100,000 as Hip 9 at Keeneland's April sale of 2-year-olds in training.

I was unsurprised that the consigning agent, Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, set a higher reserve than $100,000 on this filly. She was co-fastest at the under-tack show, breezing a 10-flat eighth.

I admitted: "You want to see a horse who is running fast even when he looks like he isn't, and from the video, this filly doesn't exactly fit that bill. From the instant I saw the clip, I thought, 'Wow, it looks like she's running fast.' Thankfully, the time agreed that she was."

I also believed that the filly appeared compact and muscular. Most important, I knew that the filly's female family suggested that "she should run (although soundness could be an issue)."

Her dam was a winner, but only made three starts. Evangelical has a 3-year-old half-sister named Worship the Moon (Malibu Moon) who was G2-placed in the Matron Stakes at Belmont at 2, stakes-placed at Philly again this year, and has earned $163,8000. Second dam RELIGIOSITY was a G3 winner at 3, but only raced 10 times. She produced several accomplished fillies, ill-fated Canadian champion juvenile KNIGHTS TEMPLAR (Exploit), who died of lymphoma at 3; FOR ALL SEASONS (Crafty Prospector), who was G1-placed, and DIAL A SONG (Mining). Another daughter of Religiosity produced multiple G2-winning sprinter EATON'S GIFT (Johannesburg).

This family runs, especially the girls.

In other action Sunday, sales-tip Cat Has Claws (Harlan's Holiday), debuted at Arlington, but ran out of gas in the stretch. The $37,000 Ocala April RNA finished third.

Through the weekend's worldwide action -- and still not including the earnings of Hold Still, an allowance-placer at Hipodromo Camarero in Puerto Rico -- the sales tips have won 35 of 203 starts (17.2 percent), placed another 56 times (44.8 percent in the money), and earned $1,192,098 for $5,901 per start.

Track all 187 of my sales selections -- plus a few horses whose prices I deemed too steep for their credentials (all of whom are yet to race) -- with the list at the bottom of this former post.