$1.5 million colt rewards faith

Mark Casse has been high on Curlin’s Honor for a long time – even before he purchased him in May for a sale-record $1.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training at Timonium for John Oxley and Breeze Easy LLC.

The high-ticket colt rewarded his trainer’s faith, and began earning back that price tag, by battling on for a neck victory in his debut going six furlongs on Saturday at Keeneland.

“I feel good – a little relief,” Casse said. “It’s kind of a different thing when you train those expensive horses. They’re fun to buy, but there’s a little added pressure on them. We train for great people and they understand. I think this colt’s going to end up being good. He’s not a sprinter.”

Bred in Florida by Miller Racing, Curlin’s Honor is by Curlin and out of the winning Stormin Fever mare Franscat, whose seven foals to race are all winners, including stakes winners Swinger’s Party and Hubba Shake, and Grade 3placed Powhatan County. It is the family of Grade 1 winners Ogygian and Honour and Glory.

Curlin’s Honor was originally purchased for $475,000 as a yearling by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale. Casse was the underbidder that day, and continued to keep tabs on the colt’s development as he waited for the noted pinhookers to send him back through an auction ring.

Curlin’s Honor breezed a furlong in 10 seconds at the Midlantic sale’s under-tack preview, turning heads by tying for the fastest time. As a result, Casse had to stretch to $1.5 million, the highest price ever paid at that auction. But the trainer felt the colt had only showed the beginnings of his talent.

“The funny thing about the Curlins, the ones that I’ve trained, I’ve found that they’re decent work horses, but they’re actually better racehorses,” Casse said. “They actually run better than they train.”

Disco Rico key for Generazios

Frank and Patricia Generazio were longtime supporters of the late Mid-Atlantic stallion Disco Rico, and have a chance to enjoy the dividends of that commitment with a pair of high-profile runners in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Disco Partner, who won the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational Stakes on Saturday and holds the world-record time for six furlongs over the turf, is a homebred son of Disco Rico.

Pure Sensation, who enters the Breeders’ Cup off a win in the Grade 3 Turf Monster Handicap, is out of a homebred stakes-winning Disco Rico mare, Pure Disco. Disco Partner and Pure Sensation are both trained by Christophe Clement.

Disco Rico began his stud career at Murmur Farm in Maryland, then relocated to Keane Stud in New York. He died in December 2014 at age 17, following a years-long battle with laminitis. He was owned by Joseph DiRico, a friend of the Generazios.

“I knew he could run and I liked his breeding, and we went overboard breeding to him,” Frank Generazio said. “Then I bred so many, I said, ‘If these things can’t run, we’re in trouble.’

“He’s been a great sire for us. We did very well with Disco Rico, and I think they’re going to make great broodmares.”

Disco Rico, a son of Citidancer, sired 13 crops, with 163 winners and combined progeny earnings in excess of $16.7 million. Disco Partner is his highest earner and only graded stakes winner.