Pedigree Handicapping

PEDIGREE HANDICAPPING

JANUARY 26, 2008

Touch Gold -- sire of fillies and potential broodmare sire

by Tim Holland

When Touch Gold retired to stud in 1999 at the conclusion of a racing career

that saw him win two Grade 1 races, hopes were deservedly high for him in his

new role as a stallion. Breeders who put their faith in him were quickly

rewarded when he produced four Grade 1 winners from his first two crops of

foals. However, after such a promising start, it is disappointing to note that

of Touch Gold's 500 foals of racing age, to date, just 4 percent have become

stakes winners -- a figure which is reflected in his stud fee that has dropped

from $50,000 in 1999 to $20,000 this year.

Purchased for $375,000 at the Keeneland July Sales, Touch Gold started his

racing career under the care of Daniel Vella in Canada where he won his debut

and finished a closing second in his last of four starts as a two-year-old in

the Swynford S. For his three-year-old season, he was transferred to the stable

of David Hofmans, for whom he won his first two starts of the year, including an

8 1/2-length romp in the Lexington S. (G2) at Keeneland. This performance was

good enough to earn the colt a place in the Preakness S. (G1) field where he,

after stumbling badly at the start, was steadied sharply in the stretch but

still managed to finish a close fourth.

For many, this brutal trip may be their most vivid memory of Touch Gold's

racing career, but his most important victory came in his next start when he

gained compensation while thwarting Silver Charm's Triple Crown aspirations in

the Belmont S. (G1). After winning his following start, the Haskell Invitational

H. (G1), Touch Gold disappointed when he finished last of four as the heavy

favorite in the Pegasus H. (G2) and again when well beaten as the second

favorite in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Hollywood Park. After this he was

sent to Patrick Byrne for his four-year-old season and having been given plenty

of time off, Touch Gold made a winning reappearance in June in an allowance race

at Churchill Downs. This win may have hinted at the prospect of a good year, but

this proved fruitless when the colt failed to win again in three subsequent

races.

Touch Gold was retired to his owner Frank Stronach's Adena Springs, and his

first runners in 2002 proved encouraging when they earned their sire a

respectable sixth-place finish in the Leading First-Crop Sires list by earnings.

In retrospect, this achievement becomes of greater value when one considers that

the five sires to best him -- Distorted Humor, Awesome Again, Elusive Quality,

Tale of the Cat and Grand Slam -- represented one of the strongest groups of

first-season sires possible and also when it became apparent that Touch Gold's

offspring were not particularly precocious and indeed would improve with age.

The leading earner of Touch Gold's 86 first two-year-olds was the Bob Baffert-trained

filly Composure, winner of the Oak Leaf S. (G2) and second to Storm Flag Flying

in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), who became her sire's first Grade 1

winner when she won the Santa Anita Oaks the following spring. Also from Touch

Gold's first crop were Midas Eyes, winner of the Forego H. (G1) as a

four-year-old and Seek Gold, who recorded his biggest success at the age of six

when winning the Stephen Foster H. (G1). Mass Media, a foal of 2001, reinforced

the notion that his sire's offspring were better as older horses when he won the

Forego H. as a four-year-old to become Touch Gold's fourth Grade 1 winner.

While three of these four winners at the top level, as well as Dwyer S. (G2)

winner Medallist, were males, it may be noted that Touch Gold's subsequent

success has come chiefly through his fillies. Indeed, of the sire's total of 35

stakes-placed or better performers, 23, or two-thirds, are female. Furthermore,

of Touch Gold's 10 leading earners of 2007, no less than eight were fillies or

mares, including graded winners Sharp Susan and Sugar Swirl. This disparity

between the sexes is validated by the sire's SPI (Sire Production Index) of 1.58

versus 1.81 for colts and fillies, respectively.

While this difference in performance of colts and fillies may in part be

explained by the fact of his colts needing more time to mature and prove their

best, it does lead one to examine Touch Gold's pedigree. His sire, Deputy

Minister, has been hugely successful as a sire with, in addition to Touch Gold,

champions and Grade 1 winners such as Dehere, Awesome Again, Deputy Commander

and Salt Lake the best males. These five along with Silver Deputy, French

Deputy, Forest Camp, Defrere and War Deputy are the best 10 sons of Deputy

Minister to stand at stud and an interesting statistic is that of these 10

stallions, eight (all except Deputy Commander and Forest Camp) have been better

represented by their daughters according to their respective Standard Production

Indexes.

Deputy Minister has also sired his fair share of top-class fillies with Open

Mind, Go for Wand, Eloquent Minister, Hello Seattle and Diva's Debut all being

champion females. Additionally, Deputy Minister has made his mark as a broodmare

sire with daughters producing the likes of notable Grade 1 winners Halfbridled,

Jazil and Sarava, and in 2007 champions Curlin and Rags to Riches helped place

the stallion at the head of the Leading Broodmare Sire list.

A quick look at the pedigrees of many of the best broodmare sires reveals

that they are themselves closely related to top sires of broodmares. Indeed,

Deputy Minister is by Vice Regent who, while a great sire in his own right, may

be better remembered as the damsire of more than 100 stakes winners including

Grade 1 winners Marquetry, Captain Steve, Victory Gallop, Boston Harbor and last

year's Arlington Million (G1) winner Jambalaya (Langfuhr). The case for Touch

Gold's legacy as a sire of female influence is enhanced by his being out of the

stakes winner Passing Mood, a daughter of Buckpasser, perhaps the most

influential broodmare sire in history. Indeed, Buckpasser, the 1966 Horse of the

Year, is the sire of the dams of the likes of Private Account, Easy Goer,

Woodman, Seeking the Gold, Miswaki and El Gran Senor. These, as well as being

top sires themselves, have in turn passed along their influence through their

daughters producing champions such as Storm Flag Flying, Corinthian, Wando,

Daylami (Ire), Galileo (Ire), Empire Maker, Riskaverse, Aldebaran and My Flag to

name just a few.

Handicappers, as well as breeders, should be aware of stallion's traits, and

players who have noticed that Touch Gold's fillies show markedly more precocity

and speed than their male counterparts may be deservedly rewarded. While

relatively small samples of statistics should always be treated carefully, it is

worth noting that in 2007 Touch Gold had 70 runners in North America that made

their first start of which 40 were colts and 30 fillies. Of the males just two

(5 percent) returned winners while five (16 percent) of the females broke their

maidens at first asking. One of the successful debuting fillies was Keep the

Peace, who was a rare first-time out scorer from the barn of Eddie Kenneally at

Churchill Downs. Keep the Peace returned $62 that day and has since returned to

win again at Gulfstream Park and appears to have a bright future.

With his oldest daughters just eight years old, it is too early to judge

Touch Gold as a broodmare sire. To date, 17 foals out of mares by Touch Gold have

raced and 10 have become winners, including the stakes-placed Frances Cat

(Tactical Cat) and Meadow Touch (Meadowlake), who impressively broke her maiden

in her first attempt at Calder in December. The best bred of Touch Gold's

daughters' offspring to race last year may have been Unrestricted, an A.P. Indy

colt out of Composure who sadly broke down in his second start after having

shown promise in his debut. However, Unrestricted has a two-year-old full

brother to race this year who could be one of the first to send Touch Gold on

his way as a successful broodmare sire.