Big Swag gives The Pamplemousse first winner as sire

Jeff Hayes et al's Big Swag lived up to his name in Friday evening's

2ND race at Santa Anita Park, recording a 3 1/4-length victory in his career

debut for trainer Dan Hendricks and giving sire, The Pamplemousse, his first

winning offspring.

The gray juvenile gelding took the lead soon after the start in the 4

1/2-furlong affair against five rivals and drew off at each call to stop the

clock in :52 1/5 under jockey Elvis Trujillo. Big Swag, out of the Boundary mare

Border Fire, is a half-brother stakes scorer Takin' the Bullet and comes from

the same female family as Kentucky Derby and Preakness victor Majestic Prince as

well as Epsom Derby hero Secreto.

The Pamplemousse seemed destined for a start in the 2009 Kentucky Derby

following romping wins in his only two stakes tries. Conditioned by Julio Canani,

the gray son of Kafwain dropped his initial two starts at Hollywood Park in the

fall of 2008 before breaking through with a first win in mid-December over the

synthetic Cushion Track.

He made his three-year-old, and stakes, bow in the San Rafael at Santa Anita

and wired the field by two lengths. The Pamplemousse showed up for the

nine-furlong Sham and once again schooled his rivals with a six-length,

front-running triumph. Next up for the colt was the Santa Anita Derby, but he

was forced to miss that contest after a state veterinarian check the morning of

the race revealed a problem which was later revealed to be a soft-tissue issue

in a tendon.

The Pamplemousse was still on track for the Kentucky Derby for all of a day

when his connections announced their charge was out of the Run for the Roses.

Co-owner Alex Solis II explained the colt had a small lesion on the tendon of

his left front leg, and after surgery The Pamplemousse was on an extended period

of rehabilitation.

Purchased for $150,000 as an OBS March two-year-old and campaigned by Chuck

Winner, David Bienstock, William and Jeffrey Strauss, Tom Lenner, Jeff

Davenport, Tom Murray, Jess Ravich and Solis II, The Pamplemousse was named for

the Strauss' Pamplemousse Grill next to Del Mar. That's the track over which he

returned to training in August 2010, but three months later he was retired and

sent to stud at Rancho San Miguel near San Miguel, California.

In his short time on track, The Pamplemousse racked up $209,280 in earnings

to go along with a 5-3-0-1 career mark. The eight-year-old stallion is out of

the Rubiano mare Comfort Zone, making him a half-brother to stakes winner

American Lady. His dam is herself a half-sibling to the dam of Grade 1 hero

Stormello, Grade 2 victor My Best Brother and Gala Award, who has captured the

Palm Beach and Pennine Ridge thus far this season.

Also of note in The Pamplemousse's female family is multiple Grade 1-winning

millionaire and fellow sire Marlin.

The Pamplemousse still stands at Rancho San Miguel, with a 2014 live foal fee

of $2,500.

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