Whispers on Significant Form Prove True

From the 2-year-old sales to the backstretch at Belmont Park this summer, the word was out on Significant Form, and the juvenile filly by Creative Cause  has backed it up.

An impressive score in the Oct. 1 Miss Grillo Stakes (G3T) puts her squarely in the conversation for the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) at Del Mar.

Bred by Airdrie Stud's Brereton Jones, the striking gray/roan filly races for Stephanie Seymour Brant, the wife of Peter Brant. Peter Brant's White Birch Farm paid $575,000 for Significant Form from Eddie Woods' consignment at the Ocala Breeders' Sales April auction this year. Airdrie sold her to Bradley Thoroughbreds for $75,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale.

"It was a last-second decision (to put her in the sale), because Creative Cause was heating up," said Airdrie's Bret Jones. "He had some nice, early 2-year-olds we thought could make some noise, and as luck would have it, he had the Landaluce (Stakes) winner (Theonewewaitedfor) the weekend before the sale. We pretty much grabbed her out of the field and gave her minimal prep. We loved the way she was put together and looked like she could be a runner.

"Pete Bradley and Eddie Woods bought her from us and it was one of those sales that, when the hammer dropped, I remember thinking, 'Somebody is going to make some money off of this filly.'"

Jones' thought proved correct. He said both Bradley and Woods were high on the filly at the 2-year-old sale and there was a "big rap on her down there."

Turned over to trainer Chad Brown, she progressed quickly, making her way to a maiden special weight race on the turf Aug. 27 at Saratoga Race Course. Jones heard the chatter all the way to Kentucky.

"The reports going into her first race … they were about as high on her as you could be on a horse," he said.

Sent off at 3-1, Significant Form stumbled early and came in on some rivals going into the first turn. She eventually drew clear to win by 2 1/4 lengths, but was disqualified and placed seventh. A progression to graded stakes seemed the right path, but there was an issue.

"I talked with Chad at the September sales and he was every bit as high on her as you could expect him to be," Jones said. "The question about the Miss Grillo was whether she could get in, because she was still a maiden. Had it been a full field, she would have been excluded."

Off that effort she went to post as the even-money favorite in the grade 3 event. Closer to the pace this time, she struck the front in the stretch and won by a length over Best Performance and Orbolution. Both fillies are also pre-entered in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Significant Form is out of the unraced Harlan’s Holiday mare Church by the Sea, who has already produced another graded winner in Hay Dakota (by Haynesfield). Church by the Sea, bred by Airdrie, is out of the unraced Gone West mare Witness Post, a pick-up by the farm in 2001.

"Witness Post ... D. Wayne Lukas had trained her," Jones said. "She didn’t make it to the races. She had some issues but was really long on talent. Lukas believed she had every chance to be a successful runner. Dad was able to get her for a reasonable price ($15,500) and he’s been building the family ever since. She produced a graded stakes winner for us (and) now has a daughter that looks like she could be anything. She could be a very special mare for us."

Church by the Sea's yearling, by Airdrie stallion Cairo Prince , was sold by the farm as a weanling and RNA'd for $375,000 at this year's September sale.

As for Significant Form, she’s showed top form in her two starts. Will the third time be the charm Nov. 3?