Newcomers Series: Brilliant Speed

A successful multi-surface racer that will be standing in 2013 is Brilliant Speed, a son of the late Dynaformer. Brilliant Speed won his maiden at 1 1/16 miles over turf and received his first graded stakes score in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) on Keeneland’s All Weather track. While Brilliant Speed never entered the winner's circle on the dirt, he was well placed in multiple starts on the surface, including a third in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) behind Ruler On Ice and Stay Thirsty.

Brilliant Speed (Melissa Bauer-Herzog)

In his 21 lifetime starts, the 4-year-old colt raced in 16 stakes with 14 of them graded. He won two of them, the Blue Grass and Saranac Stakes (gr.IIIT), and hit the board in 10 others. Brilliant Speed’s most impressive race may have been the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Turf (gr. IT) behind European invaders St Nicholas Abbey (IRE) and Sea Moon (GB), highlighting six Grade 1 placings during his career. Brilliant Speed attempted dirt one last time in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic, finishing 11th after over a year away from the surface.

Brilliant Speed’s sire is the multiple graded stakes winner Dynaformer, who is best known for his son Barbaro. However, Dynaformer proved to be a successful sire outside of the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner with many of his progeny showing talent on the track. Dynaformer's foals earned over $105 million on the track and he sired 25 Grade 1 winners out of 61 graded stakes winners. While the stallion didn’t reach the million dollar mark himself while racing, with $671,207 in earnings, he sired 18 millionaires (stats from the Lexington Herald-Leader. Dynaformer passed away in late April after surviving an aortic valve rupture on April 14.

Brilliant Speed’s dam Speed Succeeds (Gone West) never raced but is the dam of three foals on Equibase with a 2012 colt by Stormy Atlantic on Equineline. All three of Speed Succeed’s racing age foals have made it to the track, with her daughter Grand Cru Cruzian winning two races in Argentina and Souper Speedy, a 3-year-old colt by Indian Charlie, winning his maiden by ¾ lengths before placing second to O’Prado Again in the 2011 Remsen Stakes (gr. II). Souper Speedy was away from the track for nearly a year but returned on October 14 to finish second by ¾ length.

Speed Succeeds dam Daijin (Deputy Minister) raced nine times in her career, with four wins and two other on the board finishes for $164,044. The 1992 mare was a multiple stakes winner and graded stakes placed after finishing third in the Test Stakes (gr. I) behind Chaposa Springs and Miss Golden Circle.

Daijin proved to be a success in the shed, producing seven foals with four winners out of four to race and two stakes winners. Her most successful foal is the 2004 A.P. Indy mare Serenading. In addition to winning the Falls City Handicap (gr. II) in her last start, she also won two other ungraded stakes and finished second in the Doubledogdare Stakes (gr. III). Serenading ended her career with six wins in 18 starts for $538,754 in earnings. She retired in 2009 and had her first foal in 2011, a colt by Street Cry (IRE)  and has a 2012 colt by Smart Strike.

Daijin went to A.P. Indy twice and the cross seemed to be successful both times with Serenading’s full sister Handpainted winning multiple ungraded stakes races and placing in the Selene Stakes (gr. I), Mazarine Breeders’ Cup Stakes (gr. II) and George C. Hendrie Handicap (gr. III) for $435,406 in earnings. 

Handpainted has produced six foals with four of racing age and three to race. Her first foal, a colt by Seeking the Gold named Patena won the 2008 Display Stakes and placed second in the 2009 LeComte Stakes (gr. III) with her daughter Oil Painting (Distorted Humor) placing in the Fury Stakes and Bison City Stakes. While her 2008 full to Oil Painting has not made any stakes starts, he has won four races out of eight starts with another second and third.

Touch For Gold (Mr. Prospector) also produced a stakes runner with Touch Me Not (JPN), a colt by Dance in the Dark (JPN). Touch Me Not has placed in three graded stakes in Japan, also winning the Amethyst Stakes among others.

Stakes winners are seen even farther back in Brilliant Speed’s pedigree with his third dam Passing Mood (Buckpasser) winning the Shady Well Stakes and placing second in the My Dear Stakes. Like her daughter, she went on to outproduce herself in the shed.

From seven foals on Equibase, Passing Mood produced five stakes winners. Two such winners were With Approval, who won two Grade II events and placed in multiple other graded stakes (including the Breeders’ Cup Turf (gr. I)) and 1997 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Touch Gold who also won the Buick Haskell Invitational Handicap (gr. I) among others.

While Daijin proved to be Passing Mood’s strongest daughter, others held their own with Bar U Mood producing the multiple stakes placed horse Silver Spear (Cozzene), winner of $351,472. In addition to the stakes winners, multiple other winners have come from the line.

Dynaformer (Melissa Bauer-Herzog)

Combining Brilliant Speed’s male and female sides shows that the first linebreeding the colt has is Nashua, four generations through Roberto’s (Dynaformer) dam and five back through Mr. Prospector’s (Speed Succeeds) dam. The only other doubling up that is seen in the first five generations is in Daijin’s family with Vice Regent (Deputy Minister) and Cool Mood (Passing Mood) both being by the sire Northern Dancer in the fifth generation.

With his first five generations somewhat clean of inbreeding (and those names being pushed even farther back for the resulting foal), Brilliant Speed brings an interesting cross to the table with route families on all surfaces. He will spend his first season at Three Chimneys, the farm where his sire stood, for $10,000.