Vacation Dance Wins at Saratoga for The Lieutenant

The ill-fated stallion The Lieutenant was represented by his first winner when Vacation Dance  scored by a head in his debut in the first race at Saratoga Race Course Sept. 4.

A half brother to Triple Crown winner Justify  , The Lieutenant was one of four stallions who were slaughtered at Boris Schwartzman’s Haras Barlovento in Peru by a group of armed criminals. Despite the farm being set back off the main road and surrounded by a wall, the men entered the stallion barn Dec. 21, 2019, and shot and wounded the night watchman before murdering the four stallions. According to a statement from Haras Barlovento posted on social media, the criminals were suspected of having killed the stallions for their meat.

The tragedy led to the closing of the farm in the weeks following the raid. Haras Barlovento closed its doors after 68 years of operating as one of the oldest stallion farms in Peru.

The Lieutenant, who was 6, was serving stud duties in South America as part of a one-year lease brokered by bloodstock agent Magette Farrell with Sequel Stallions New York.

The Lieutenant reportedly was bred to 46 mares at Sequel Stallions New York before shipping to Peru, and he sired 30 foals in his sole crop. The son of Street Sense  , an earner of more than $345,000 on the track, recorded his biggest victory in the 2018 All American Stakes (G3) at Golden Gate Fields for Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warner and trainer Michael McCarthy.

Vacation Dance, a gray or roan colt owned in partnership by Sleeping Giant Stables, America's Pastime Stables, and KimDon Racing, rated within striking range of the early leaders off splits of :21.55 and :45.14 before driving to the lead at the top of the lane. Under steady encouragement from Kendrick Carmouche, the New York-bred struck the wire in 1:03.52 for 5 1/2 furlongs on a firm turf course. He paid $18.60.

Trained by John Kimmel, Vacation Dance was purchased for $90,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds-in-Training Sale by David Doyle and Sleeping Giant Stables from the James Layden consignment after failing to meet his reserve at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company March Sale of Two-Year-Olds-in-Training.

Two-year-old Vacation Dance, bred by Harry Landry and James Hogan, is one of four winners produced by the Zensational  mare Matinee Express. Her most recent offspring are a yearling filly by Mucho Macho Man   and a filly by Heart to Heart   born this past spring.