Impressive Noble Tune First Foals As Unbridled’s Song Gets Two Gr1’s

Impressive Noble Tune First Foals As Unbridled’s Song Gets Two Gr1’s

As Noble Tune’s first impressive foals arrive this season, his grey sire Unbridled’s Song collected another two Gr1’s in a week after Unbridled Forever won her second start of the season in the Gr1 $500,000 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga, and Liam’s Map winning the Gr1 $600,000 Woodward on Saturday.

Not only did the four year old Unbridled Forever get her first Gr1 win, but also qualified for a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Gr1 Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland in October. Liam’s Map qualified for the Breeders Cup Classic in the process, which is looking to be the American race of the season with contenders including American Pharoah, Honor Code, Beholder and Tonalist.

Unbridled Forever ran a sprint within a sprint, as her Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez sat patiently in the back of the eight-horse field through much of the seven-furlong event. Longshot Sarah Sis led the field and looked to hold on turning for home, but an eighth of a mile from the wire, Unbridled Forever put in a dazzling kick and flew past.

“We broke the way we thought and we were behind the pack, worked our way through on the inside until we got to the quarter pole, and then I pulled her out and she responded,” Velazquez said. “That’s what she did the last time, and she did it back again today.”

The winner hit the winning post a length in front of Kiss to Remember, the final time on a fast track was 1:22.54.

One race after being caught late in the Gr1 Whitney Stakes by Noble Tune’s half-brother Honor Code, Liam’s Map led at every call in the Gr1 Woodward Stakes on 5 September at Saratoga, drawing off to earn his first Gr1 victory by five lengths as the favorite and putting his name forward for the Breeders Cup Classic in October.

“The Whitney was as tough a loss as you’ll experience. He ran an unbelievable race that day and everything he indicated to us from that time until today was that he was ready to come back over and put forth another big effort,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I’m just happy to see him get that Gr1 that he deserves so much.”

The connections and backers of Liam’s Map certainly were taking nothing for granted after watching Honor Code rally in the stretch and edge them by a neck in the Whitney, but they had to be feeling good when the 4-year-old colt and jockey Javier Castellano enjoyed a clear lead through.

Racing well within himself early certainly didn’t hurt Saturday, as Liam’s Map opened up turning for home and cruised to victory, completing the race in 1:47.44 on a fast track.

Noble Tune’s book for the 2015 season was announced full before the start on 1 September, and he has attracted an outstanding book of mares from the Western and Northern Cape, as well as locally.

His half-brother, dual Gr1 winning Honor Code looks set to race American Pharoah at the Breeders Cup towards the end of this year in what is deemed to almost be an epic dual of a two-horse race between the top rated colts and breeding prospects in the United States.

The first son of Unbridled’s Song to stand at stud in South Africa, Noble Tune won the Gr2 American Turf Stakes, Gr3 Pilgrim Stakes and finished second in the Gr1 Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf.

Noble Tune stands for a fee of R25 000 this season (R5000 nom + R20 000 live foal).

Pictured below are a few of Noble Tune’s first foals born this season in early August as newborns.

– extract bloodhorse.com