Regally Bred Arrogate Filly Wins Despite Traffic

This column highlights the performances of maidens who have made no more than five starts and who either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, have siblings that are graded/group winners, or have dams that are graded/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners, in particular, who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners.

Keeneland

There were two horses out of Alcibiades Stakes (G1) winners that won during opening weekend of the Keeneland spring meet. One was potential Kentucky Derby (G1) favorite and budding star Sierra Leone , who rolled in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) April 6, and the other was April 7 maiden special weight victress Sidamara .

SIDAMARA ($4.46), under @jose93_ortiz, weaved through traffic and drew off in @KeenelandRacing 6. She was trained by Bill Mott. The 3-year-old filly's dam, Spring in the Air, won the G1 Alcibiades here in 2012! Congrats @JuddmonteFarms!

Late Pick 3 - https://t.co/0B8c3g81GL pic.twitter.com/3Aq2qvmbg4

— TVG (@TVG) April 7, 2024

Interestingly, both Sierra Leone's dam, Heavenly Love , as well as Sidamara's dam, Spring in the Air , were campaigned by John and Debby Oxley and trained by Mark Casse. Heavenly Love captured the 2017 Alcibiades, while Spring in the Air landed the 2012 edition. If the results from last weekend were any indication, clearly their offspring inherited their mothers' flavor for the Keeneland main track.

Sidamara was bred by Juddmonte Farm, the product of a mating between the operation's late stallion Arrogate and the grade 1-winning 2-year-old Spring in the Air. Juddmonte, which tends to race its best-bred athletes, handed the training of the regally bred Sidamara over to their trusted conditioner Bill Mott. The Hall of Famer recently trained Juddmonte's Elite Power   to back-to-back Eclipse Awards for champion sprinter.

Unraced as a 2-year-old, unlike her precocious dam, Sidamara took more after her champion sire in making her debut at 3. Favored in a one-mile maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park, Sidamara raced toe-to-toe with the front-running Dazzling Move  until relinquishing the battle at the top of the stretch, failing to keep pace with that rival late in a 1 1/4-length defeat.

Stretched out to two turns in Sunday's 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight, Sidamara faced a full field of 12 in her second trip to the post. The lanky bay found herself far from the lead this time, falling several lengths behind down the backstretch. Rating kindly under Jose Ortiz, the pair began to thread their way through the field past the half-mile marker. Weaving through traffic around the final bend, Sidamara angled wide for running room and drove past her foes at the quarter pole. Under steady left-handed urging, Sidamara powered to the wire a length in front.

The 6-5 favorite stopped the clock in 1:46.28, a time that hindered her speed rating but did not take away from the visually impressive aspect of her performance. Sidamara became the third winner produced from Spring in the Air. The best foal thus far from the Spring At Last mare has been her son Find  (Frankel  ), who finished second in the 2022 Jersey Stakes (G3) at the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting.