Making the Grade: Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem drew clear to win the Tampa Bay Derby on March 7. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Making the Grade, which will run through the 2015 Belmont Stakes, focuses on the winners of the big races, usually from the previous weekend, who could impact the Triple Crown. We’ll be taking a close look at impressive winners and evaluating their chances to win important races based upon ability, running style, connections (owner, trainer, jockey) and pedigree.
This week we revisit our profile on Carpe Diem, a chestnut colt we first took a close look at following his victory in the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity Stakes on Oct. 4 at Keeneland Race Course. Carpe Diem made a stellar appearance in his first start of 2015 when winning the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 7, which cemented his spot in the field for the Kentucky Derby on May 2. 
Note that updated sections appear in italics and all staticstics and data also has been updated throughout.
CARPE DIEM TAKES CONTROL IN TAMPA BAY DERBY

UPDATED: Carpe Diem’s victory in the Tampa Bay Derby on March 7 in his three-year-old debut served as a reminder that this Giant’s Causeway colt deserves plenty of respect on this year’s Triple Crown trail. First profiled in October after winning the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity, Carpe Diem looked like a fresh colt who benefitted greatly from an extended break after his runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. You never know how a horse will progress from his two-year-old season to three, but it looks like Carpe Diem improved and he must be considered a very big threat in the first jewel of the Triple Crown. 

Carpe Diem
Chestnut Colt
Sire (Father): Giant's Causeway
Dam (Mother): Rebridled Dreams, by Unbridled’s Song 
Owner: WinStar Farm and Stonestreet Stables
Breeder: Coffee Pot Stable (Ky.)
Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Ability: A $1.6-million purchase at the 2014 OBS March sale of selected two-year-olds in training, Carpe Diem obviously was a colt who captured the imagination of potential buyers when he went through the auction ring. The results thus far have certainly left his owners with good reason to dream big.
He won his career debut by 2 ½ lengths on Sept. 1 at Saratoga Race Course and earned an Equibase Speed Figure of 87. His five-point jump to a 92 for the Breeders;’ Futurity was a nice improvement.
UPDATED: Despite finishing a distant second after dropping well back off of a fast early pace in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Carpe Diem registered a new career-best speed figure of 96. He subsequently received some time off for freshening.
Carpe Diem, according to reports out of Florida, trained exceptionally well leading up to his three-year-old debut, and he did not disappoint. He raced within a couple of lengths of the pace and when Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez asked his to pick up the pace, Carpe Diem spurted two lengths clear. He coasted to a five-length win and again improved his speed figure to a new top of 105 that puts him in range of the top three-year-olds in stakes races in 2015. If Carpe Diem can duplicate or improve that Tampa Bay Derby performance in his next start, he should be sitting on a big race come May 2.
Running style: After setting the pace in his career debut, Carpe Diem raced in fourth at the first point of call in the Breeders’ Futurity before moving up to press the pace set by Conquest Tsunami. He was a bit eager to run under Velazquez but not rank in the early stages, and he seemed to settle into a nice rhythm after he moved alongside the outside flank of the leader. He easily put away Conquest Tsunami at the top of the stretch and rolled to a dominant victory.
UPDATED: Carpe Diem dropped seven lengths off a hot pace in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and was taken out of his game. He closed plenty of ground late to finish second but could not match strides with victor Texas Red, a deep closer with a powerful closing kick.
Back in his comfort zone and stalking the pace in the Tampa Bay Derby, Carpe Diem was back at his best. Expect to see similar tactics out of him moving forward. That press or stalk-and-pounce style often works quite well in the Kentucky Derby.
Connections: There might not be a better collaboration of owners, trainer and jockey if a horse’s connections were the sole factor used to identify a classic contender.
Carpe Diem was purchased as a two-year-old at auction by WinStar Farm and Stonestreet Stables, the latter of which won the Preakness in 2007 with Curlin and 2009 with Rachel Alexandra, both of whom went on to win Horse of the Year. Curlin was a two-time Horse of the Year winner who also won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Stonestreet also partnered to win the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with My Miss Aurelia.
WinStar Farm, of course, is no stranger to victories on racing’s biggest stage. Homebred Super Saver prevailed in the 2010 Kentucky Derby while Drosselmeyer won the 2010 Belmont Stakes and 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic for WinStar, which also bred 2003 dual classic winner and champion Funny Cide.
WinStar homebred Bluegrass Cat took second in the 2006 Kentucky Derby and Belmont

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American Pharoah
Carpe Diem
Daredevil
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El Kabeir
Leave the Light On
Nasa
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International Star
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Ocean Knight
Far From Over
Metaboss
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Stakes, and homebred Well Armed won the 2009 Dubai World Cup.
WinStar and Stonestreet sent Carpe Diem to seven-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher, who won the Kentucky Derby with the aforementioned Super Saver. Pletcher also won the Belmont Stakes in 2007 with Rags to Riches and in 2013 with Palace Malice. Pletcher ist he dominant trainer of the last decade.
Carpe Diem’s jockey, John Velazquez, won the Kentucky Derby in 2011 with Animal Kingdom and owns a couple of Eclipse Awards. Johnny V was aboard Rags to Riches for her Belmont win and also guided Union Rags to victory in the 2012 Belmont Stakes. He is a 2012 inductee into the Racing Hall of Fame.
Pedigree: Carpe Diem is by one of the top sires in North America in Giant’s Causeway, who has proved proficient at siring top runners on all surfaces and at multiple distances. Giant’s Causeway is the sire of eight champions, inclduing 2014 champion two-year-old filly Take Charge Brandi, as well as 95 graded stakes winners and 167 stakes winners. Giant’s Causeway was the European Horse of the Year in 2000 and finished second to Tiznow in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Stamina was never an issue for Giant’s Causeway as a racehorse nor has it been as a sire. Man of Iron, by Giant’s Causeway, won the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Marathon and the average winning distance of Giant’s Causeway’s progeny is 1 1/16 miles. Given the abundance of speed in U.S. breeding, that number actually is much more impressive than it might seem.
A VICTORIOUS CARPE DIEM AT KEENELAND

Carpe Diem’s dam (mother) is Grade 2-placed stakes winner Rebridled Dreams, by Unbridled’s Song. Rebridled Dreams won a stakes race at 1 1/16 miles. Carpe Diem is a half-brother (same dam, different sire) to 2010 Breeders’ Futurity victor J. B.’s Thunder and multiple stakes winner Doncaster Rover, who placed in a half-dozen group stakes races in England.
Carpe Diem’s grandam (maternal grandmother), Key Cents, was a multiple stakes-winning sprinter who was a winner at up to a mile.
Carpe Diem is proven at the Grade 1 level going 1 1/16 miles and showed improvement in his 2015 debut. His pedigree suggests he should be able to excel as the races get longer on the Triple Crown trail, and Carpe Diem stated his case as one of the leading Kentucky Derby contenders in the Tampa Bay Derby. This colt is for real.