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Saturday, Belmont Park PETER PAN S.-GII, $200,000, BEL, 5-22, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:47 4/5, ft. 1--@#PURGE, 115, c, 3, by Pulpit 1st Dam: Copelan's Bid Gal (SW), by Copelan 2nd Dam: Bid Gal, by Bold Bidder 3rd Dam: Nowmepache, by Hangover ($180,000 yrl '02 KEESEP). O-Starlight Stables, Paul H Saylor & John S Martin; B-Glory Days Breeding, Inc (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-J R Velazquez; $120,000. Lifetime Record: 5-3-1-0, $237,400. The GII Peter Pan S. has traditionally been a stepping stone to a Belmont S. challenge for horses which have skipped one or both previous legs of the Triple Crown. This year, however, the race appears to have tightened Smarty Jones's grip on the Belmont trophy as several potential rivals were conclusively put in their place by Purge, a horse who had been beaten by Smarty Jones in his two most recent starts. Purge looked very impressive when winning first time out as a two-year-old at Saratoga. He didn't return to the races until this February, when he took a six-furlong allowance race at Gulfstream Park in a very sharp 1:09. 2/5. Purge lost his unbeaten record next time out when he couldn't hold off Smarty Jones in the Rebel S., eventually going down by 3 1/2 lengths, and he then finished fifth behind that horse in the GII Arkansas Derby. The Peter Pan was his first outing since that defeat, and he underlined the quality of the Classic form with an easy 6 3/4-length triumph. Purge is from the third crop sired by Pulpit. A member of the first crop of champion A.P. Indy, out of the Grade I-winning Mr. Prospector mare Preach, Pulpit earned rave reviews when winning four of his first five starts, including the GII Blue Grass S. and GII Fountain of Youth S. He started favorite for the 1997 GI Kentucky Derby, and after contending until midway through the stretch, he finished fourth to Silver Charm. He came out of the race with an injury and was retired to his birthplace at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. Although he sired high-class performers in each of his first two crops, Pulpit's early stud career has been a little up and down: he stood at $75,000 last year, but was advertised for $35,000 for the 2004 season. With the roll he is currently on, that number will almost certainly be due for upward revision for 2005.
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When reviewing Pulpit's career, it is important to note that he has had much smaller books of mares than many contemporary stallions (a result of farm policy, not popularity). In fact, Pulpit's total of 162 foals in his first three crops isn't far shy of the number the most prolific stallions are getting in a single year. This season has been Pulpit's best year to date, and he's taken his total of stakes winners to 10 with Purge joining the GI Wood Memorial S. victor Tapit (who is expected to challenge for the Belmont); Stroll, winner of the GI Woodford Reserve Turf Classic; and the GIII Aegon Turf Sprint winner Lydgate as graded stakes scorers. He's also got Essence of Dubai, a multiple graded stakes winner of over $2 million, in his first crop, and Grade I victor Sky Mesa in his second, this pair both being in their first seasons as sires in 2004. Incidentally, with Pulpit, the prematurely deceased Old Trieste (sire of three stakes winners and the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Minister Eric in his first crop) and Malibu Moon (sire of graded stakes winner Perfect Moon with his first crop two-year-olds last year), A.P. Indy is showing plenty of promise as a sire of sires. He's got some more bright prospects to come too, with 2004 seeing first two-year-olds by Golden Missile and Stephen Got Even as well as first yearlings by Aptitude. Purge is the first live foal produced by his dam Copelan's Bid Gal, a stakes winning daughter of Copelan, one of the top two-year-olds of 1982. Copelan's Bid Girl is half-sister to the multiple graded stakes winning sprinter/miler Valid Wager, himself sire of last year's GI King's Bishop S. winner Valid Video. She is also half-sister to Miss Bold Appeal, the dam of Jersey Girl--winner of nine of 11 starts, including the GI Mother Goose, GI Test and GI Acorn S.--and the Australian-raced Group 3 winner St. Petersburg. Purge's granddam Bid Gal (by Bold Bidder) is out of a half-sister to champion two-year-old and Kentucky Derby hero Foolish Pleasure, who was by What a Pleasure, like Bold Bidder a son of Bold Ruler. Foolish Pleasure was a product of the Bold Ruler/Tom Fool cross. Another version of that cross produced Weekend Surprise, the dam of A.P. Indy. As we have mentioned in previous columns, the combination of Bold Ruler and Tom Fool was an extremely interesting one on pedigree, as the two horses owned very similar backgrounds. Unfortunately in real life, close encounters between the two tended to create unsoundness. However, we're now frequently finding multiple crosses of the pairing further back in the pedigrees of numerous good horses, the most recent star being Smarty Jones, who has his distaff Bold Ruler/Tom Fool through Foolish Pleasure, the close relative to Purge's granddam. Purge takes things a step further as he has three crosses of both Bold Ruler and Tom Fool. |