Coal Front result of sharp eye

Horseman and pedigree guru Leon Blusiewicz arrived at the 1997 Keeneland September yearling sale armed with $120,000 for himself and two partners. He took a fancy to a Kingmambo colt out of a Seattle Slew mare, a cross he was fond of. But the bidding reached beyond his price range, and he had to drop out well before the hammer fell at $200,000.

The Kingmambo colt, Lemon Drop Kid, went on to win the Belmont, Travers, Whitney, and Woodward, and earned an Eclipse Award.

But the day after losing out on the colt, Blusiewicz was flipping through his catalog when he spotted a Kingmambo filly out of a Seattle Slew mare, from the family that had already produced horses like Grade 1 winner Twilight Agenda.

“I’m looking through the book, and I see this filly,” Blusiewicz said. “I knew the family. I said, ‘Oh, my god. She’s crooked, but I’ve got to buy her.’”

The crooked filly, Madam Lagonza, never raced, but has more than repaid Blusiewicz’s investment. She produced multiple Grade 3 winner Woodlander and stakes winner Admiral Alex, both bred in the name of client Mike Connelly, for whom Blusiewicz, 86, is a longtime bloodstock adviser. Two of her daughters have now produced graded stakes winners, with Miss Ocean City delivering Azar and Miner’s Secret delivering unbeaten Coal Front. Coal Front is expected to be among the favorites for the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on the Travers undercard this Saturday at Saratoga.

Connelly sold Miner’s Secret, from the first crop of Mineshaft, for $250,000 as a yearling in 2006. The filly never raced – although Blusiewicz said she showed ability – and Connelly purchased her back for just $55,000 at the 2009 Keeneland November breeding stock sale, carrying her first foal. After she delivered that War Pass filly in 2010, the duo bred her back to Birdstone, and she promptly produced Grade 2-placed stakes winner Conquest Titan. The mare’s third foal, a Scat Daddy filly, died as a weanling in 2013. The following year, she delivered Coal Front, from the first crop of Stay Thirsty. Connelly sold the colt for $575,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s April sale of 2-year-olds in training to Robert LaPenta, and Head of Plains Partners has since bought in.

“It was a perfect cross,” Blusiewicz said. “The horse couldn’t miss. It’s a Tesio-line breeding. The family is so strong. Someday, I’ll be gone and you’ll see some kinda freak come out of that family.”

Coal Front, unraced as a juvenile, won his first two starts by a combined 9 1/4 lengths. He then wired the field in the Grade 2 Amsterdam, the local prep for the Jerkens, winning by 1 1/2 lengths.

“He’s a big, solid, very powerful horse,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We’ve always been impressed by the horse. He’s always trained very well. His first two starts we thought were pretty impressive, so we were happy to see his performance, but I can’t say we were surprised by it.”

While Coal Front is climbing the charts, Blusiewicz has no plans to retire. He currently trains Spartiatis, winner of the Grade 3 Tom Fool this year, and an unraced Orb juvenile who cost $525,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale earlier this year, and he has been active at this summer’s yearling sales. Meanwhile, Miner’s Secret is in foal to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and delivered a filly by his sire, Pioneerof the Nile, earlier this year.

“What am I gonna slow down for?” Blusiewicz said, laughing. “I’m supposed to give up?”

BARBARA D. LIVINGSTON Coal Front, winning the Amsterdam at Saratoga, was bought for $575,000 last year at age 2.