MORE PROOF TOUSSAUD STOCK AGE WELL
Taken from the Daily Racing Forum
By Frank Mitchell
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Victory in the Metropolitan Handicap brings more than just prize money, it brings an immediate elevation in a colt's prospects as a potential stallion.
This is especially important for a colt such as this year's Met Mile winner Divine Park, a winner in 6 of 8 starts but also a horse who missed the Triple Crown last year, with its immense prestige and high-level of publicity.
At this point a year ago, Divine Park was the unbeaten winner of three races, including the Withers, but he was laid off from the Withers in April until the end of the year, when he ran ninth in the Malibu at Santa Anita.
Divine Park began 2008 with a seventh in the General George Handicap at Laurel Park but has been unbeaten since.
His accomplishments make Divine Park the most successful racer yet for the deceased Mr. Prospector stallion Chester House, who was bred and raced by Juddmonte Farms before going to stud at the operation's Lexington nursery.
Out of Broodmare of the Year Toussaud, Chester House was one of his dam's four Grade 1 winners and is a half-brother to Belmont Stakes winner EMPIRE MAKER and to Honest Lady. Honest Lady won the Santa Monica, ran second in the Metropolitan Handicap and Breeders' Cup Sprint, and is the dam of First Defence, who pushed Commentator through the first six furlongs of the Met Mile this year.
Garrett O'Rourke, manager of Juddmonte Farms in Kentucky, said that "Chester House had three crops, and this colt is out of the last.
"He would have been a beauty to have around, but he is just proving the soundness of the Toussaud stock. They improve with age, and some are even better as 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds. The things that usually make horses lose form are aches and discomforts. The Toussauds are not heavy horses, although plenty big enough, have good bone without being heavy boned, and are extremely clean limbed."
Chester House won the Arlington Million at 5, and his son Divine Park is following the family tradition by maturing well….
Date:
02 June 2008