Distorted Humor impacting Breeders’ Cup as granddad

There are a few parallels between Arrogate, the defending winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Elate, a prominent contender in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Both horses were later-developing horses who required patient handling from their Hall of Fame trainers. Arrogate posted his first Grade 1 victory in scintillating fashion in the Travers Stakes in August of his 3-year-old season at Saratoga. Elate broke through at a similar point of the season, romping to her first Grade 1 win in the Alabama Stakes at the historic track.

Both runners are out of daughters of Distorted Humor, who has emerged as a force in the broodmare sire ranks, not only in North America but worldwide. Thanks to champion Arrogate’s bankroll as North America’s leading earner, the WinStar Farm stallion currently leads the broodmare sire list, outpacing the late Sunday Silence, who has the majority of his runners in Japan, where purses are inflated. Distorted Humor is also poised for a massive Breeders’ Cup weekend to further pad his status.

Elate, by Medaglia d’Oro and out of stakes winner Cheery, was a 12 1/2-length debut winner last November, but trainer Bill Mott handled the eye-catching filly with patience through a spring that included some fits and starts. Elate won a minor stakes at Delaware Park in June and was a close second in the Coaching Club American Oaks before bursting to a 5 1/2-length Alabama victory, followed by an 8 1/4-length romp over older mares in the Grade 1 Beldame Stakes.

“We gave her a little bit of time after she broke her maiden, and we started cranking her up and getting her ready for the races, and it was just kind of like she really hadn’t come alive yet,” Mott said. “She was doing fine; her works were good without being spectacular, and you could tell she was probably a filly that was going through a little bit of a growing stage, a development stage. We said then that she probably wouldn’t be on her game for the Kentucky Oaks, that she was more of an Alabama filly, and that’s exactly how it worked out.”

Distorted Humor has another developing 3-year-old out of one of his daughters in Takaful. The Bernardini colt was unplaced in a pair of Kentucky Derby preps this year before being given a freshening and cutting back to sprint distances. Takaful scored his first Grade 1 victory while facing older horses in the Vosburgh Stakes, catapulting himself into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“[Owner Shadwell Stable has] been patient,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “We tried to go the Derby route, and it didn’t work, and they let us just get him right.”

Distorted Humor’s other preentrants were multiple Grade 1 winner Practical Joke in the Dirt Mile, Bahamian in the Juvenile, and Gato Del Oro in the Dirt Mile.

Clearsky takes BC fast track

After watching its breeding program graduate Arrogate defeat California Chrome in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Classic, this year, Clearsky Farm will be in the middle of the action as the event comes to Del Mar.

In addition to the defending Classic winner, Clearsky, a finalist for last year’s Eclipse Award for outstanding breeder, bred two prominent contenders for this year’s Breeders’ Cup: Distaff contender Abel Tasman and Juvenile Turf hopeful Untamed Domain. Clearsky also co-owns Abel Tasman, who won this year’s Kentucky Oaks, Acorn Stakes, and Coaching Club American Oaks, with another rising entity, China Horse Club.

Clearsky was established in 2009 by the late Eamon Cleary and is run by his sons Bernard and Eamonn, along with farm manager Barry Robinette. Despite maintaining a smaller band of broodmares than many other major enterprises, the farm has reached the pinnacle in less than a decade.

Clearsky bred and sold 2013 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner New Year’s Day, whose halfbrother Mohaymen co-topped the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale at $2.2 million and went on to be a four-time Grade 2 winner. At the same sale, Clearsky consigned the yearling Arrogate, with Juddmonte Farms purchasing him for $560,000. That looks like a bargain now that Arrogate has banked $17,302,600, thanks to victories in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes, $6 million Classic, $12 million Pegasus World Cup, and $10 million Dubai World Cup.

Other standouts bred by Clearsky have included Grade 1 winner and Eclipse finalist Lord Nelson and graded stakes winner Firing Line, second in the 2015 Kentucky Derby to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

Singspiel well represented

The Breeders’ Cup was a victory that eluded the globetrotting Singspiel. He finished second in the 1996 Turf at Woodbine in his Eclipse Award championship campaign and was training toward a second attempt in 1997 at Hollywood Park when he sustained a career-ending fracture.

But Singspiel, a homebred who stood in Europe for Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s Darley operation, has made his mark on the Breeders’ Cup. He is the sire of 2007 Filly and Mare Turf winner and Eclipse champion Lahudood and multiple Group 1 winner Dar Re Mi, third in the 2009 Turf. This year, the late stallion is represented as the broodmare sire of three prominent contenders. Shadwell Turf Mile victor Suedois is headed for the Mile; Natalma heroine Capla Temptress is well regarded ahead of the Juvenile Fillies Turf; and the well-traveled French Group 1 winner Wuheida starts in the Filly and Mare Turf.

The Irish-born Singspiel won 9 of 20 starts and finished worse than second only three times, banking $5.9 million. He captured the 1997 Dubai World Cup and was a Grade/Group 1 winner in England, Japan, and Canada and Group 1-placed in France. As a stallion, Singspiel was represented by 107 stakes winners worldwide, including 2003 Dubai World Cup winner Moon Ballad, five-time Group 1 winner Solow, French Oaks winner Confidential Lady, and Group 1 winners Asakusa Den’en, Eastern Anthem, Folk Opera, Hibaayeb, Lateral, and Papineau. Hibaayeb is the dam of Wuheida.

Singspiel was euthanized at age 18 in 2010 after developing laminitis following a long illness. He has carried on as the broodmare sire of Japanese champions Robe Tissage and Sinhalite, Australian Group 1 winners Epaulette and Helmet, July Cup winner Limato, and Arlington Million winner Debussy, among others.