Late Night Pow Wow Retired; Imprimis Gets Late Start

For Breeze Easy, the partnership of owners Mike Hall and Sam Ross, a busy weekend at Churchill Downs with 3-year-olds Karak and Four Wheel Drive is offset by a couple of retirements and a setback to a few older horses.

Speaking this week in advance of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T) winner Four Wheel Drive's return in a May 17 allowance race at Churchill, Hall said graded/group winners Late Night Pow Wow and Shang Shang Shang have finished racing for their stable. The former was retired and bred this spring to Into Mischief , Hall said, and the latter was sold to Hugo Merry Bloodstock from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment at the December Mares Sales last year at Tattersalls for 235,000 guineas (US$319,337).

King: Four Wheel Drive, Chimney Rock Face Off at Churchill

Another of their better horses, Shakertown Stakes (G2T) winner Imprimis, is also out of action this spring, sidelined after throat surgery. He has not raced since a sixth in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Santa Anita Park for trainer Joe Orseno.

"We're waiting on that to heal up. We certainly plan on him returning, probably getting back to working in another 30 days," Hall said. "He's going to be a later in the summer or early fall type of horse."

Victorious in seven of 13 starts with earnings of $444,548, Imprimis went winless in his final four starts last year after the Shakertown at Keeneland. Among those losses was a sixth in the King's Stand Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot.

It was at Royal Ascot where Shang Shang Shang recorded her highlight victory, the Norfolk Stakes (G2), for trainer Wesley Ward as a 2-year-old in 2018.

"She probably cost us a lot of money because she made us buy more horses," quipped Hall. "She made us think this was easy, and this is not an easy game."

The daughter of Shanghai Bobby was unplaced in two starts last year at 3, running seventh at Churchill Downs in an off-the-turf allowance race on dirt and finishing fifth in an allowance race at Presque Isle Downs on synthetic.

Late Night Pow Wow also shined in 2018, capturing eight of nine races that year, including the Charles Town Oaks (G3). A West Virginia-bred daughter of Fiber Sonde, she won three stakes in 2019, including the Barbara Fritchie Stakes (G3) at Laurel Park, and was third in the Madison Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. Her final start was a sixth in the Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes for trainer Javier Contreras, leaving her with earnings of $700,400.

Buoyed by the success of a 3-for-3 campaign from Four Wheel Drive for Ward, Breeze Easy's runners made nearly $1.8 million in 2019, a good portion of which came with turf sprinters.

"We want dirt horses. So that just goes to show you that we don't know what the hell we're doing," Hall joked. "We've ended up with a lot of turf horses, for sure. I think Wesley thinks they will stay sounder, too.

"We'd like to make the switch. … So that's the plan to come up with some eight-to-10-furlong dirt horses."

Since launching the partnership in 2016, Breeze Easy has become a player in 2-year-old sales, purchasing a sales-topping $1.2 million son of Broken Vow  at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training in 2016. That ridgling, eventually named Glacier, has won two of 18 starts and $131,306.