To the best of my knowledge, when
writing about potential Kentucky Derby horses, all of my blogs have been about
graded-stakes prep races on the Triple Crown Trail. But, I thought I’d make an
exception today as Danaus, a 2-year-old colt I wrote
about in my July 18 blog, is making his maiden debut in
the seventh race at Saratoga today.
I’m
very interested to see how well Danaus (15-1) will perform in his first start. Here’s
what I had to say about Danaus in my July blog:
I was recently looking at the pedigrees of 2-year-old
Thoroughbreds and came upon Danaus (Ambassador-Dulcet Tone
by Empire Maker) who is currently in training at Belmont Park. I like his
pedigree and look forward to see how he fares during his juvenile racing
season.
The Ancestral Herd of Danaus descends from Dark Ronald – the
previously mentioned stallion that was purchased by Burchard Von Oettingen for
the Royal German Stud. Dark Ronald was a foundation stallion and his sire line
was one of the most successful lines in the history of the German turf.
The Dark Ronald Ancestral Herd produced 25 German Derby winners
compared to Mr. Prospector's 11 Kentucky Derby winners. So, in the pedigree of
Danaus you have two powerful Ancestral Herds in the sire line and damsire line
- Dark Ronald and Fappiano, Mr. Prospector.
Acatenango, the
grandsire of Danaus, was also the broodmare sire of Animal Kingdom.
Time will tell if Danaus lives up to his breeding.
Owned
by John M. B. O’Connor, Danaus is trained by Thomas Albertrani who also trains Souper
Lucky (4-1)
for Live Oak Plantation. Danaus is the only colt in the field of eight that
will be racing free of Lasix – and I like that.
His
pedigree shows me that he has the potential to be competitive in classic
competition. However, one never knows if these young colts will live up to
their breeding and whether Danaus has the potential to be competitive on the
Triple Crown Trail remains to be seen.
Practically
all of the colts in the race are also making their first start. I didn’t have
time to do an in-depth analysis of each horse. But upon a quick glance of the
pedigrees, Bird Now (5-1) and King
Cyrus (3-1)
also look interesting.
