PEDIGREE INSIGHT - COUNTRY STAR
Article taken from the TDN
By Andrew Caulfield
HOLLYWOOD STARLET S.-GI, $425,500, HOL, 12-15,
2yo, f, 1 1/16m (AWT), 1:40 2/5 (NTR), ft.
1--COUNTRY STAR, 120, f, 2, by EMPIRE
MAKER
1st Dam: Rings a Chime (GISW, $606,315), by Metfield
2nd Dam: Outofthebluebell, by Red Ryder
3rd Dam: Natchez Bluebell, by Star Envoy
O/B-Stonerside Stable (KY); T-Robert J Frankel;
J-Rafael Bejarano; $255,300. Lifetime Record:
3-2-1-0, $575,900.
In a week when we received confirmation that Toussaud, one of
the greatest broodmares of the modern era, has been pensioned at
the age of 18, there was surely no more appropriate winner of the
GI Hollywood Starlet S. than Country Star. The Stonerside homebred
is one of several highly promising youngsters from the first crop
by Toussaud’s best son, EMPIRE
MAKER, one of four Grade I winners out of the charismatic
daughter of El Gran Senor.
There was a certain synchronicity about the post-race comments
made by Rafael Bejarano after Country Star’s dominant display in
the Starlet. ‘Oaks? She’s going to be the next Kentucky Derby
winner,’ Bejarano quipped after the EMPIRE
MAKER filly had won by nearly three lengths.
Back in 1999, there had been similar speculation following
another eye-catching victory by a filly trained by Bobby Frankel.
This filly--EMPIRE MAKER's half-sister Honest Lady--was
racing for only the second time when she contested the GII Santa
Ynez S. but lack of experience didn’t hold her back, as The
Blood-Horse reporthighlighted:
‘All you needed to see were the wide grins on Desormeaux and
trainer Bobby Frankel to assess just how dazzling Honest Lady was
in the Santa Ynez, as she covered seven of the most effortless
furlongs you can ever imagine. Even Frankel couldn’t help entertain
the thought of roses. That’s right—he’s talking Derby.
‘But Frankel’s been high on this girl from the get-go, and who
can blame him if he gets a bit enthused? Honest Lady is the first
foal of the temperamental Toussaud, a dynamite turfer Frankel
trained just a few years back. Toussaud required deft handling--she
wouldn’t work unless they broke her from the gate, for
instance--but when she was on, not too many could keep up.
Desormeaux was aboard Toussaud for some of her greatest victories,
including the ‘93 [GI] Gamely H. [on turf], where she blazed nine
furlongs in 1:45.’
Of course Honest Lady never made it to the Derby. Time was to
show that she possessed much more speed than stamina, but she did
prove she was more than a match for most of the males, finding only
one too good for her in both the GI Metropolitan H. and GI
Breeders’ Cup Sprint. She has passed on a good measure of her speed
to her Unbridled’s Song colt First Defence, who is bred along
similar lines to EMPIRE MAKER.
Honest Lady, who became a Grade I winner in the Santa Monica H.
over seven furlongs, no doubt provided some of the inspiration
behind the mating which resulted in Country Star. As she was one of
the many talented fillies by the 1977 Triple Crown hero Seattle
Slew, quite a few breeders sent Empire Maker mares with Seattle
Slew blood when 2003’s winner of the Florida Derby, Wood Memorial
and Belmont S. retired to Juddmonte.
In the intervening years we have seen EMPIRE
MAKER's short-lived half-brother Chester House do well with
Seattle Slew blood. He sired a stakes winner, Kalyrra, from only
six foals from daughters of the mighty Slew, and his stakes winners
Exceptional Ride and Houseofroyalhearts have Seattle Slew mares as
their second dams. Then there’s the stakes winners Pressed and
Gentleman Chester, who are out of daughters of A.P. Indy
The signs are that EMPIRE MAKER's name is also going to become
inextricably linked with Seattle Slew’s. Not only is Country Star
out of a grand-daughter of Seattle Slew, but his imposing daughter
Mushka--a stunning winner of the GII Demoiselle S.--has Seattle
Slew’s excellent daughter Lakeway as her second dam. Also,
Juddmonte has a couple of two-year-old fillies out of Seattle Slew
mares which have shown a lot of potential for next year.
One of the interesting aspects of Country Star’s pedigree is
that her broodmare sire, Metfield, also fills the same position in
the pedigrees of Lang Field, another recent Grade I winner, and
Sunday Holiday, third in the GI Frizette S. in October. Metfield
didn’t seem particularly well qualified to have a lasting effect on
the breed. This big son of Seattle Slew won nothing better than the
GIII Sheridan S. over a mile in a 12-race career and started out at
a fee of only $3,500 at Vinery in 1992. There was no questioning
the quality of his pedigree, though. In addition to being inbred
4x2 to the influential Hail to Reason, Metfield was one of three
stakes winners produced by Inca Queen, herself a stakes-winning
daughter of the champion filly Silver Spoon, conqueror of the colts
in the Santa Anita Derby. This is also the family of Silver
Buck, sire of the outstanding Silver Charm.
Metfield moved on to Florida after eight years at Vinery, but
his time in Kentucky resulted in a couple of notable daughters.
Typically, winner of the Oak Leaf S. in 1995, was his first Grade I
winner and the second was Country Star’s dam, Rings A Chime, winner
of the Ashland S.
With other very good efforts to her credit in the Kentucky Oaks
and Santa Ysabel S. to her credit, Rings A Chime was clearly a very
good filly--much better than might have been expected of a filly of
her background. Bred in Washington State, where she was sold for
only $26,000 as a yearling, Rings A Chime is out of a mare who
changed hands for only $17,000 at Keeneland’s 1993 November Sales.
That mare, Outofthebluebell, amassed earnings of nearly $200,000
during a 36-race career, but she won only one stakes race--a minor
one at that.
Outofthebluebell’s sire Red Ryder never raced, receiving his
chance at stud on the strength of his being a brother to Mr.
Prospector. Although Rings A Chime wasn’t fashionably bred, with a
son of Seattle Slew as her sire and a brother to Mr. Prospector as
her broodmare sire, she is bred along similar lines to many good
winners. Among them are Mineshaft, Tempera, Pulpit and that very
good broodmare True Flare (who has a well-regarded yearling colt by
EMPIRE MAKER).
Also, if you trace Rings A Chime’s female line back several
generations, you come to Iaway, a half-sister to Iaround, who ranks
as the second dam of Juddmonte’s exceptional broodmare Sookera.
This Sookera family produced Banks Hill, Heat Haze and
Intercontinental, all of whom have youngsters by EMPIRE
MAKER.
Date:
18 December 2007