Another Champion From the Folks That Brought Us Moni Maker

One of the oldest axioms in breeding is that one of the best ways for a breeder to produce a good horse, is to sell his dam! For some reason, it is very often the case that a breeder will dispose of a mare, only to see one of her offspring perform at a very high level in the very near future.

Everyone in trotting horse circles is familiar with the great mare, Moni Maker, destined to take her place in history as one of our most distinguished trotting mares. Moni Maker was bred in Kentucky by Cane Run Farm, the operating entity of David and Fredericka Caldwell. The Caldwell’s have an attractive, but also functional farm that sits immediately opposite Kentuckiana Farms on the road leading north out of Lexington toward Georgetown, Kentucky. With only a handful of mares, the Caldwell’s have produced some of the most noteworthy horses of the past decade. This list also includes Moni Maker’s dam, Nan’s Catch, herself winner of the Hambletonian Oaks. In this current racing season, it is entirely possible that two horses bred by the Caldwell’s may just be the best aged trotters in the world.

Moni Maker is the first one, of course, the second is a largely unheralded, but talented, trotting gelding by the name of Magician. His latest triumph was a commanding gate-to-wire performance this past Friday at the Meadowlands in the $50,000 first leg of the Trotting Classic series. Setting all the fractions, the son of Royal Prestige trotted the 1 1/16-mile in 2:02 2-5, a new North American record for the distance.

CANE RUN FARM BRED AND SOLD MAGICIAN

The Caldwell’s also bred and sold Magician as a yearling, as he was one of only seven yearlings marketed by the farm that year. He was a small horse, with lots of action, and a pedigree page which carried way too much white space for the most discriminating buyers. He was the fourth foal of his dam, Incredible Charm, and none of her early foals made a single start. After selling this colt for only $11,000 and seeing her subsequent foal die, the Caldwell’s decided to dispose of the mare. They sold her.

And, of course, here came Magician. As a two-year-old, he was his dam’s first starter, winning two races and a little over $13,000. At three, in 1998, Magician was one of the top money-winning colts of the year, winning just shy of $275,000 while amassing ten wins in just 18 starts. His major victory was the $150,000 New York Sire Stakes final at Yonkers last September, and he was also second in the Matron at Dover Downs in November. He took a mark of 1:56 at Syracuse in a New York Sires Stake.

MAGICIAN HAS BECOME ONE OF THE TOP AGED TROTTERS IN NORTH AMERICA

This year, at four, Magician has continued his class climb. His victory in the Trotting Classic at the Meadowlands was his third win of the year, and his second in succession at the Open level. His mark is now 4,1:53 4-5, and he has earned more than $350,000 lifetime. These races serve notice that Magician will be a force in the summer trotting classics for the older set, that begin this week with the Titan Cup eliminations at the Meadowlands, then continue with the Cutler Memorial, Breeders Crown and Nat Ray.

Magician is not related at all to Moni Maker, since his dam is the Incredible Nevele mare, Incredible Charm, who had no record, and her dam, Charming Gesture, who is by Noble Gesture, also did not earn a race mark. Neither did his third dam, Charmed Speed, by Speedy Scot. However, this is where we find the first hint of class in this pedigree. Charmed Speed is the dam of the good, Nevele Pride filly, Dash Alone 3,1:56 4-5; $199,296, winner of a heat of the Hambletonian Oaks at three. The fourth dam is the Florican mare, Floral Charm 3,2:06 4-5f. The remarkable thing about this immediate pedigree is that Magician is the only horse on virtually the entire page. He is the only record foal of his dam’s five, racing age offspring. The second dam has only one performer (in 2:09) from five foals, and the third dam, which produced Dash Alone, did not have another stakes winner among her five foals. The fourth dam, Floral Charm, had one in 2:02 4-5 from four foals. Magician’s prowess on the track is, at first, unexplainable, since there is so little production on the page. However, an important lesson in pedigrees, often preached from this pulpit, is the value of good, maternal breeding.

THE PEDIGREE OF THIS LATEST STAR

Now, I know you want to ask, how could a horse with so little performance from the other members of his family have a good maternal bloodline? The first glimmer of quality is that Floral Charm, Magician’s fourth dam, is a full sister to Pompanette 3,2:05h, one of the best known trotting matrons of the modern era. Pompanette was a foal of 1965, and was a half-sister to First Love, the grandam of Hambletonian winner, Speed Bowl. First Love also produced the brilliant colt trotter, Netted 3,1:56 2-5, whom I consider the best of Bonefish’s racing sons. Another half-sister to Floral Charm was Brief Romance, a Victory Song matron who was the dam of the world champion two-year-old, Brisco Hanover 2,1:57.

Pompanette would achieve fame on several fronts. First off, she produced two of the 1980’s best trotting fillies, the full sisters, Crevette and Filet Of Sole. Crevette 2,1:58 1-5, was a world champion, and was voted champion 2-year-old filly of her year. Crevette has also gone on to fulfill her promise in the breeding shed, producing five winners, including the likes of Biba Bi 3,1:58 2-4; $554,002 to the cover of Speedy Crown, as well as the good, Prakas filly, Eternal Goddess 3,1:59 3-5; $145,347. Filet of Sole 3,1:57 3-5; $187,075, won the Kentucky Futurity for breeder, Norman Woolworth. Another of Pompanette’s daughters was the Nevele Pride mare, La Soubrette, whose daughter, Duenna, won the Hambletonian, also for Woolworth. This is the Minnehaha maternal family, one of the true fountains of racing class in the breed.

The fact that Magician sprang from a heretofore unproductive branch of a superb family is yet another case in point of how a pedigree may appear innocent at first examination, but carries apparently dormant ingredients that flourish once the right combination is found.

MAGICIAN IS INBRED, IN A FAMILIAR PATTERN

One of the first things notable about Magician’s pedigree is that he is inbred to Nevele Pride, since his sire, Royal Prestige, is a son of the brilliant Nevele Pride mare, Rosemary 3,1:57 2-5, and his dam, Incredible Charm, is by Incredible Nevele, Nevele Pride’s fastest racing son. A few weeks back in this space I wrote at length about 3x3 generation, inbred crosses, and made the point that the most successful inbred crosses often occurred when the blood of a stallion’s dam was returned to him in the male line of the mare. The example I used was Mack Lobell, who is by Mystic Park, who has a Speedster dam. Mack Lobell’s mother, Matina Hanover, is by Speedy Count, a son of Speedster. This is, therefore, yet another example of one of the most productive inbreeding patterns. The very same pattern of inbreeding has produced Magician, quite possibly the best aged trotter in all of North America, at present.

ROYAL PRESTIGE HAD A RIGHT TO BE A SIRE

Additionally, Magician is by Royal Prestige, a Speedy Crown stallion bred by Kentuckiana Farms’ Tom Crouch, who mated his wonderful filly, Rosemary, to Speedy Crown. Royal Prestige was the result, and he was a beautiful, black trotter who took after his dam’s Nevele Pride heritage much more so than that of his sire, Speedy Crown. I don’t know how many black trotters that Speedy Crown ever sired, but there were not many. In his physical appearance and gait, Royal Prestige was much more in the mold of his dam’s male line, that of Nevele Pride and grandsire, Star’s Pride, than he was a typical Speedy Crown.

As a racehorse, Royal Prestige was trained and raced by the powerful Continental Stable, and driven by Berndt Lindstedt in all his major engagements at three. He was a $225,000 yearling and wound up winning more than $1.2 million, with a mark at three of 1:55 1-5. At three, he won a heat of the 1986 Hambletonian, and was second overall to Nuclear Kosmos in the big stake, dropping the final heat by less than a neck. He won 20 of 33 lifetime starts and was voted Three Year Old Trotter of the Year even though he lost the Hambletonia. He did win the World Trotting Derby, (where he earned his lifetime mark) the American-National, the Review, the Founders Gold Cup, the MacFarlane Memorial, an elimination of the Kentucky Futurity and the Bluegrass (Transylvania) at Lexington.

ROYAL PRESTIGE STOOD AT CASLTETON FARM BEFORE EXPORT

Royal Prestige went into stud duty at Castleton Farm in 1987, and his pedigree bespoke trotting royalty. His dam was the wonderful race filly, Rosemary, herself the champion filly of her year, and winner of a heat of the Hambletonian Oaks. Rosemary also is the dam of Spellcaster, a son of Florida Pro, who is the sire of the dam of the brilliant, world champion colt, CR Commando 2,1:53 2-5z. Royal Prestige’s grandam is the well-known, Lovester 3,2:01 1-5, in a maternal family that includes the world champion filly, Imperfection 4,1:54 1-5. Seldom has any trotting stallion entered the stud with such royal credentials.

Royal Prestige stood at Castleton Farm for eight seasons before being sold and exported to Italy prior to the 1995 breeding season. His best performer to date is the two-time Breeders Crown winner, Wesgate Crown 1:52 3-5; $2.5 million. Next in line would have to be the French stallion, Buvetier d’Aunou 4,1:59 4-5, who is the sire of the splendid Defi d’Aunou, well known in all international trotting circles. Royal Prestige also produced the good trotters Royal Ballad 1:57f; $538,598 and Royal Strength 2,1:57; $409,298, both of whom now stand in Canada.

Royal Prestige’s top female credit is probably Real Diamond 3,1:55 3-5, but he also produced the good filly, Santa Royal 3,1:57 4-5, Ouiser 3,1:58 3-5, Collier St. Kathy 3,1:58 4-5 and Royal Jewel 3,1:57 3-5. Another aged star was the New Zealand bred mare, Royal Petite 1:58 1-5, a daughter of the well-known Petite Evander. Royal Prestige’s best broodmare credit to date is that he sired the dam of Goldsmith Maid winner, True Blue Victory 3,1:57 3-5.

MORE ABOUT MAGICIAN'S MATERNAL SIRES

As for the maternal side of the pedigree, Magician’s dam is by Incredible Nevele 2,1:58; 3,1:56, a horse who has the distinction of being his sire, Nevele Pride’s, fastest racing offspring. Incredible Nevele was a very handsome colt trotter, campaigned by the late Glen Garnsey. He was a powerful looking colt, with a great gait and attitude. After a successful two-year-old season, Incredible Nevele did not complete transition to the top of the 3-year-old ranks the following year, as had been expected of him. Still, his appearance in the pedigree of Magician is not a shock, since he was such an accomplished, appealing horse in his own right. We have known for years that we could successfully inbreed to Star’s Pride, the sire of Nevele Pride, and so, it is a natural to assume that we can inbreed to one of Star's Pride's most famous sons.

Magician is also linebred to Speedster and Star’s Pride, of course, the sire of Nevele Pride. There is another interesting cross in this pedigree, since Incredible Nevele’s dam, Rodney’s Prize, is by Speedy Rodney, a full brother to Speedster.

Having said all that, it should be acknowledged again that this pedigree had produced absolutely nothing in four generations before Magician’s emergence as a force among the FFA trotting set. All it took for him to make an appearance was for the Cane Run Farm folks to cull his dam.