Golden Missle

[Betsy]

His speedy son, Going Wild (out of a Strawberry Road mare!) won the San Miguel today, giving GM two stakes winners. I loved this horse (Indy is my favorite sire) but frankly, had no idea what to expect of him as a sire. His yearlings sold very well, and although GM only had 6 2 year old winners ( out of 24 starters), he wasn't supposed to sire precocious horses. He had a nice filly named Inspiring (trained by Baffert - anyone know what's happened to her) and has a nice one named In the Gold.

How do you all feel about Golden Missle? Have you heard anything about his offspring from owners, trainers, etc?

I loved Seattle Slew, and I hope Indy is able to carry on his line through his sons. I'm thrilled at Malibu Moon's success, and hope that Stephen Got Even can do well. He only had 7 winners last year, but Don't Get Mad looks nice. Has anyone heard anything about his offspring? They sold very well as two year olds......I think he also has a nice Godolphin colt named Dubai Dreamer. He was the second highest priced 2 year old last year, behind Fusaichi Samurai.

Thanks for your comments!

[ef]

The one thing that Golden Missile and Stephen Got Even have in their favor is, being by A.P. Indy, people have automatically given them the benefit of the doubt in terms of their rather blah starts as sires, because people don't think A.P. Indy's are precocious. Of the two, I like Golden Missile better so far- I thought he was a better racehorse than Stephen Got Even, who was a bit of a plodder. Going Wild and Inspiring are both graded stakes winners, though perhaps over suspect competition in SoCal. (Going Wild is lucky that race was not one jump longer today!). In the Gold, a GSP filly, might be the most promising of his three stakes horses; she looks like she could be a nice one. As you sort of alluded to, Golden Missile's overall stats are crap, with only 6 winners (8.8% of his first crop of 68) from 25 runners, and an AEI of 0.88 to a CI of 2.63. Of course, having a few big horses and a ton of crap hasn't hurt other Adena stallions with bad overall stats (Awesome Again and Touch Gold), so maybe this won't hurt him.

Stephen Got Even hasn't really excited me, though supposedly he has some promising ones lurking out there. That's what they always say about those with Indy lines- there are promising ones developing in the wings! Sometimes those individuals just don't always seem to develop... (in my rather limited opinion, with no disrespect meant to Indy fans). Presently he has zero stakes winners, with one stakes horse, Didhecheatemanhow (sp??), who I think got spanked by In the Gold in a GP allowance the other day. He now has 9 winners (15.3% from 59 first crop foals), from 27 runners. His winning and runner percentage (45%) are both very similar to High Yield's (15.5% winners/first crop foals and 42% runners/first crop foals), but he doesn't have the stakes winner and additional stakes horse High Yield has. As people have been beating up High Yield for sucking, this tells you where he presently stands! Of course, "A.P. Indy's are late developers" --there is still hope for Stephen Got Even (but not for High Yield?).

I am ambivalent on Aptitude's chances (nice looking horse, but...), but I think (and I'm really going out on a limb here, lol) that Mineshaft is really going to do it for A.P. Indy.

[henthorn]

In the flesh, I felt Golden Missile had more racehorse attitude than the rather dull Stephen Got Even, but looks can be deceiving. Time will tell.

[llbean]

Awesome Again was far ahead of Golden Missile at this point in his career; and I don't think Adena can get blood from a turnip in terms of marketing.

Golden Missile could still be okay; though that cross of Forceten is odd and I can't figure out how it's intergrated into the pedigree to make up for his more or less mediocre record as a sire. Sex balancers will probably like that Forceten's a male source of Forli (and Nuryev is the 2nd dam of Going Wild).

Still nice to see inbreeding to Bold Ruler and Hail To Reason in the same pedigree; not much surprise to me that his second SW is out of a Strawberry Road given Vindication's inbreeding to Hail To Reason.

25,000 seems steep at this point (though of course, a lot of the book is a lock to be filled given all those Stronach mares).

-llbean

[George William Smith]

In my Predictive Sire program that functions superbly in predicting long time sire success, Golden Missile ranked 4th in his crop year and Stephen ranked 61st.

No surprise to me or my program.

Now if that Hail To Reason inbreeding I put into Vindication will function as I planned it, I may yet steal his success for my fifteen minutes of fame.

[freddymo]

The most interesting element of Golden Missiles limited early success appears to be SPEED. I never thought that a son of Indy could get such flashy early speed. Inspiring(baffert/lewis) looked like a true sprinter in her maiden race. Some of that speed maybe influenced by Bafferts training methods but she is real fast. An Indy son producing early(2yo) speed?

[Bill from WA]

Washington based Matricule (AP Indy/Maximova by Green Dancer) only had 3 starters in his first crop of 2 year-olds last year. Two won at first asking and the other won in his second start.
The Conduit profile on Golden Missile indicates plenty of speed: 9-5-4-2-8 (14/10) 1.23. Inspiring has even more: 10-5-4-1-10 (15/11) 1.38. The high Professional points indicate a possibility of stretching the speed to longer distances.

Bill

[freddymo]

What did they win Mdn Spls or mdn claiming at emerald downs?

[Bill from WA]

All three in Mdn Spec Wgt. The one that won his second start (the oddly named Fuzzyheadedlizard) later ran third in the Sail On By Stakes at Turf Paradise. Not Blue Ribbon stuff, but wins (and placings) nonethless. Matricule is a big, great looking fellow, with a superb female family.

Bill

[Reviewer]

I wonder if A P Indy does throw some amount of speed into his runners. In a sample size of 165, A P Indy is throwing first time starter winners at a rate of 15%. Now I am sure some of those are making their first starts at a route. However, I would venture to guess that the majority of those are likely running in sprints. There is no doubt they will develop and run a good distance of ground, but isn't it possible that the A P indy's have enough speed to win sprinting as well?

Reviewer

[Michael D.]

i wonder if any of the conformation experts could comment on golden missile? (sorry, i'm not one of them) the horse did win his share of routes, but he was a speedy horse. when challenged in a few of the tough routes he ran in, he had nothing left in the stretch. his dam is santa catalina, a brilliant sprinter by cures the blues. all of the GM's i have seen have been speedballs. i'm sure they will stretch out when his books shift a bit towards stamina though. interesting, the three big sons of AP so far, GM, malibu moon, and pulpit, have all produced quick, early runners. when the breeders figure these guys out, WATCH OUT, i think we will see a lot more champions.

ps - for declan's moon fans, take a look at his pedigree!! princequillo shows up four times, somethingroyal directly three times. he is a really fast one paced horse. i don't see why he can't keep going, fast and far!

[EO]

Matricule is pretty well stamping his progeny. We have a 3 yer old in training who is pretty awesome. He was broke out as a 2 year old and we let him GROW over the summer. He is a very big boy, very balanced and athletic. He has gas but looks to be a miler or more. We will find out. We have two Matricule fillies here and another colt. Fillies are pretty big for fillies, with good bone. The colt is HUGE. We call him Big Mack. Even with his size and the filliies too, they are all very athletic. Very nice heads on all to boot. The 3 year old looks like something you would get out of Kentucky and when the fillies and Big Mack hit the sales I would venture a guess they will look that way too. Matricules will possibly be worth waiting for. Check back with me after Emerald starts. The 3 year old's name is A Maximum Buzz. Kathie

[freddymo]

EO when do you think thebig boy will go

[EO]

A Maximum Buzz is coming home for a couple of weeks of R&R and then will go to Emerald Downs after they open for training. He should be ready to show his stuff the opening of Emerald Downs unless he looked really sharp and we would start him in a little stakes at PM. We will probably hold out for Emerald. However, when they are ready to run they are ready to run and you have to adjust accordingly. EO

[henthorn]

Michael D., I pulled out my notes from September of my visit to Adena Springs.

Golden Missile: Big boned, short pasterns, slightly off right fore, good angles and correct.