Gio Ponti sends out Most Inspiring winner

Triple Eclipse Award champion Gio Ponti (Tale of the Cat) registered his

first North American winner as a freshman sire Friday when Most Inspiring

dominated the

5TH

race at Woodbine. His first overall winner was Genis, an export to Russia

who won at Rostov-on-Don May 11.

The 7-2 second choice in her unveiling, the Daniel Vella pupil broke like a

shot, but eased back to stalk through fractions of :23.36 and :46.58. Most

Inspiring was full of run behind the leader entering the stretch, and jockey

Luis Contreras altered course for clear sailing on the fence. Punching through

decisively despite still appearing a tad green, Most Inspiring drew off by 3 1/4

lengths. She completed the six-furlong maiden special weight in 1:10.36 on the

firm turf.

Most Inspiring maintained the perfect record of her 20-year-old dam, Chemise

(Secret Hello), whose 13 racing-age foals are all winners. Four of them are

stakes performers -- multiple Grade 3-placed Hello Lover (Not for Love) as well

as stakes heroines Coquettish (Not for Love), Dress Grey (Lion Hearted) and Miss

Lombardi (Unbridled Jet). The mare's leading earner with $301,670 in the bank,

Miss Lombardi is herself the dam of stakes scorer Miss Bullistic (Bullsbay).

Bred by Corner Farm and John Behrendt in Virginia, Most Inspiring was

purchased by her current owner, Derek Chin, for $57,000 as a Fasig-Tipton

Kentucky October yearling.

Gio Ponti reigned as the champion turf and older male of 2009 and repeated as

turf champion in 2010, amassing $6,169,800 in earnings from a record of

29-12-10-1. Eleven of those victories came in stakes, and no fewer than seven at

the Grade 1 level, from a mile to 11 furlongs. That septet includes the

Arlington Million (G1), Manhattan (G1), Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1), and repeat

wins in both the Man o' War (G1) and the Shadwell Turf Mile (G1).

Of his 11 stakes placings, two stand out: runner-up efforts to the legendary

Zenyatta and Goldikova in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and 2010 Breeders'

Cup Mile (G1), respectively.

Gio Ponti is a half-brother to Grade 1-placed multiple stakes winner Bon Jovi

Girl (Malibu Moon), multiple Grade 3-placed stakes scorer Fisher Pond (A.P.

Indy), and current Grade 3-placed stakes victress Antonia Autumn (Bernstein).

They were all produced by the stakes-placed Alydar mare Chipeta Springs, a

daughter of Argentine Group 1 star Salt Spring (Salt Marsh), from the further

family of Hall of Famer Cigar (Palace Music).

A Castleton Lyons homebred, the 10-year-old Gio Ponti stands at the

Lexington, Kentucky, farm for $15,000, live foal.

For video of the Woodbine race and speculation about what the near future may

hold for Most Inspiring, see the TwinSpires.com

blog post.