For First Captain, Carter Holds Added Significance

The risks involved in purchasing a seven-figure yearling are fairly obvious.

Spending a considerable amount of cash for an unraced horse does not guarantee any kind of success. The infamous lesson of The Green Monkey, who sold for $16 million in 2006 only to lose all three of his career starts and earn a mere $10,440, is the poster child for that.

Yet paying $1 million or more at a sale for a young Thoroughbred also has a distinct advantage in creating a higher ceiling for that horse since the price tag often reflects a regal pedigree.

That principle will be on display April 9 in the $300,000 Carter Handicap Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack when First Captain  will try to become a grade 1 winner.

A 4-year-old son of Curlin  , First Captain is indeed a million-dollar yearling and then some. Bred by iconic chef Bobby Flay, he was bought for $1.5 million at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's New York Sale of Select Yearlings, from the Stone Farm consignment. Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm, Flay, and Woodford Thoroughbreds, he has already enjoyed success in graded stakes company, winning the Dwyer Stakes (G3) for trainer Shug McGaughey.

He's earned $285,600 through four wins in five career starts and a victory in the seven-furlong Carter would push that total to about $460,000. Yet that figure represents a small share of what his value will be if he prevails Saturday. For First Captain and his connections, the Carter reflects the huge importance of a grade 1 victory for a specific type of horse.

Should First Captain win the Carter, a conservative estimate of his value as a stallion would be five times his purchase price, or about $8 million, with plenty of room for that figure to grow with additional success and lucrative financial kickers attached to other top-level wins.

"The difference with a horse like First Captain is that when they stand at stud and a stallion manager gets a call they do not have to tap dance around the pedigree," said Terry Finley, president and CEO of the West Point Thoroughbreds partnership. "You can have an uber talented horse on the racetrack but if the pedigree is not there it's something people are going to think about every time they book a mare to him. That's why you pay the big price at a sale; to take away that question in a breeder's mind."

The first foal out of the A.P. Indy mare America, First Captain surely has the pedigree to be an attractive stallion in years to come.

America on the racetrack was a grade 3 winner and grade 1-placed and earned $580,532 for Flay. On her pedigree page, she descends from the family of Better Than Honour, the dam of Belmont Stakes (G1) winners Rags to Riches and Jazil , and her two most recent foals are impeccably bred, being a yearling full sister to First Captain and a weanling Uncle Mo   colt.

She is also part of Flay's extraordinary breeding program that has produced mares such as Dame Dorothy, whose three foals (Spice Is Nice , by Curlin, $1,050,000; Principe d'Oro , by Medaglia d'Oro  , $650,000; Sgt. Pepper, by Uncle Mo, $1,600,000) have sold for a combined total of $3.3 million. Flay also bred the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) winner Pizza Bianca , who is by Fasnet Rock out of the Galileo (IRE) mare White Hot.

"Bobby breeds a good horse," said McGaughey, who has been around a bevy of well-bred horses in his Hall of Fame career working for owners such as the Phipps family. "He has some nice mares and breeds them to good stallions and it all seems to work for him."

Finley also sees the merit in Flay's quality over quantity approach.

"Bobby doesn't have the number of mares like other people, but he has quality mares that put him at the top of the breeding industry. He loves to get into families that have a chance to explode," Finley said. "First Captain comes from a top-notch family and it would be enhanced if we can get him into the winner's circle after a grade 1 race."

The Carter promises to be an intriguing test for First Captain as he will face quality rivals such as Speaker's Corner , Mind Control , and Green Light Go  off a single allowance optional claiming race in the past eight months.

"You never expect an easy grade 1," Finley said. "People don't look past them."

Unraced at 2, First Captain won his first three starts, capped by his 1 3/4-length victory in the Dwyer, a mile test for 3-year-olds. That victory put First Captain squarely in the middle of conversations about the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1), but a disappointing third in the July 30 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course changed everything. When the colt's subsequent training failed to please McGaughey, he was kept on the sidelines until he returned to the trainer's Florida barn in December and seemed as good as ever for a 4-year-old campaign.

"We've had some stops and starts with this guy," Finley said, "but a horse like First Captain is what we were thinking about six years ago when we thought about what to do to put our company in a better position. One of our thoughts was to race more as 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds. We're seeing the manifestation of the work by our bloodstock agent, David Ingordo, and all of the other people involved in it and it appears the plan is starting to come to fruition."

First Captain's return to the races in a Feb. 27 seven-furlong race at Gulfstream Park was a vintage performance for the chestnut colt as he once again appeared to be in a tough spot turning for home but then made up three lengths in the final eighth of a mile to prevail by a head in 1:22.19.

"We were not supposed to win that allowance race," Finley said. "But he has a will to win. He keeps running the same race. It looks like he's not going to win, but he takes aim and gets there. He's a really exciting horse and part of it is the pedigree and the connections, but I think it's his killer instinct that puts him over the top.

"He's a cool horse, he has moxie and charisma," he added. "When we first started out, we dreamed of having a horse like him. We don't downplay how lucky and blessed we are to be associated with him."

While McGaughey is pleased with First Captain's physical development since his last race, he still sees some room for growth in terms of the colt's maturity, which may hold the key to how far his talent takes him.

"He's a lot more mature than he was last year but he still has a ways to go," McGaughey said. "He's only run five times and has some more maturity to go. You can see the potential in him, and, except for the Curlin, he always runs his race and I don't see why he won't on Saturday."

While the Carter is a tough enough next step, what happens Saturday could create a highly exciting situation for West Point and its partners in June. 

First Captain is one of seven million-dollar-or-more horses West Point has bought into at a sale, with some mixed results. 

Chestertown , a son of Tapit   bought for $2 million from the Sequel Bloodstock consignment at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, has earned just $392,625 for West Point, breeders Chester and Mary Broman, Woodford Racing, Siena Farm, and Robert Masiello and has been gelded.

Conversely, a big success story has been Flightline , an undefeated and brilliantly fast Tapit 4-year-old bought for $1 million from the Lane's End consignment at The Saratoga Sale. A California-based grade 1 winner for trainer John Sadler and the ownership group of Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine, West Point, and Woodford Racing, he was an electrifying 11 1/2-length winner of the Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1) to notch that coveted and valuable grade 1 win. 

Unraced since that exhilarating Dec. 26 score at Santa Anita Park, he is expected to resume workouts in mid-April with a target of the June 11 Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park, the same famed mile race that could also attract First Captain and give the West Point syndicate members and some of the other ownership groups an unforgettable experience on Belmont Stakes Day.

"We're enjoying the ride with both Flightline and First Captain," Finley said. "There are separate entities owning each of them and we manage them as if there's no connection. You can't get too cute with a race like the Met Mile so running both of them, if all goes right, would be our thought. It should be a fun summer."