Making the Grade: Ocho Ocho Ocho

Ocho Ocho Ocho battles back on the inside to win the 2014 Delta Downs Jackpot and remain undefeated. (Photos by Coady Photography)
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 next 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 take a closer look at Ocho Ocho Ocho, winner of the Grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes on Nov. 22 at Delta Downs. 

Entering the $1-million Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes, Ocho Ocho Ocho had never been seriously challenged in his two previous starts and had never tested graded stakes competition. He cleared both hurdles on Nov. 22 in the Delta Jackpot when he battled Mr. Z through the stretch of the 1 1/16-mile race and outfinished that rival to win by a nose. He also earned 10 points under the Road to the Kentucky Derby scoring system, so let’s take a closer look at how he profiles as a contender for the 2015 Triple Crown races.

Ocho Ocho Ocho
Dark Bay or Brown Colt
Sire (Father): Street Sense
Dam (Mother): Winner, by Horse Chestnut 
Owner: DP Racing
Breeder: Siena Farms (Ky.)
Trainer: James M. "Jim" Cassidy

Ability: Ocho Ocho Ocho sold twice at auction, once for $50,000 at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale and then to current owner DP Racing for $200,000 at this year’s OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training. He’s turned out to be a profitable purchase, thanks in large part to the $600,000 winner’s share of the Delta Jackpot purse.
Ocho Ocho Ocho won his first two starts sprinting. He scored in his debut by a length going 5 ½ furlongs at Santa Anita Park on Oct. 11 before winning the off-the-turf Juvenile Turf Stakes at 6 ½ furlongs on the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup World Championships undercard. He earned a 99 Equibase Speed Figure for his first start and a 98 for the race on the Breeders’ Cup card.
The Delta Jackpot was Ocho Ocho Ocho’s first attempt at stretching out in distance to a race around two turns, which often separates true Kentucky Derby contenders from pretenders. He tracked about 3 ½ length off the pace for a half-mile under Hall of Famer Mike Smith, launched his winning bid on the backstretch just before entering the second turn and dug in determinedly to hold off game runner-up Mr. Z. he earned a career-best 104 Equibase Speed Figure for the win, which was a six-point jump from the Juvenile Turf Stakes.
The 104 also was just a shade off the 106 that Texas Red earned in winning the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and de facto 2-year-old male division leader American Pharoah earned twice in stakes races. The best figure earned by a 2-year-old in a stakes race in 2014 was the 110 posted by Daredevil in winning the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes on Oct. 4 on a sloppy track at Belmont Park, so Ocho Ocho Ocho is right there within striking range of the best of his division.
OCHO OCHO OCHO AND MIKE SMITH WIN THE JACKPOT

Running style: Ocho Ocho Ocho showed versatility in his first two starts, rallying from a few lengths back early in his 5 ½-furlong debut before pressing the pace through blistering early fractions to capitalize on a speed-favoring track early on the Breeders’ Cup card. The latter showed that Ocho Ocho Ocho possesses plenty of speed, but sometimes horses who have that high cruising speed when sprinting have a little trouble harnessing it when stretching out in longer races with a slower tempo.
In the Delta Jackpot, Ocho Ocho Ocho was able to utilize his speed to gain a good position early after breaking from the far outside post. He slotted in behing the top three and moved over to save ground. The pace was very strong in the Jackpot and Ocho Ocho Ocho moved up powerfully from the inside on the backstretch when the pace slowed.
Ocho Ocho Ocho looks like the type that has the cruising speed to gain an ideal stalking position in the 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby and the versatility to drop back a bit if the front-runners come blazing out of the starting gate. 

Previous Making the Grades
Competitive Edge
American Pharoah
Carpe Diem
Daredevil
Texas Red

Connections: Jim Cassidy, whose previous Kentucky Derby experience came with Jamaican Rum (6th, 2001 Derby) and Ocean Sound (17th, 2002 Derby), trains Ocho Ocho Ocho. Cassidy has trained Grade 1 winners Ticker Tape, Singhalese, Milk It Mick, The Usual Q. T. and Evening Jewel as well as current stable star and Grade 1 winner Tom’s Tribute.
California businessman Deron Pearson is the principal of DP Racing and has raced horses either alone or in partnership since 2005 under his name and DP Racing, according to Equibase statistics. Pearson, the CEO of the telecommunications firm Nexus IS Inc., raced graded stakes winner Moth Ball in partnership and currently also campaigns 2013 Miesque Stakes winner Full Ransom under his DP Racing banner.
Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, the leading rider in the history of the Breeders’ Cup with 21 wins, rode Ocho Ocho Ocho for the first time in the Delta Jackpot. Smith has victories in each of the three jewels of the Triple Crown on his résumé with the most recent coming in the 2013 Belmont Stakes aboard Palace Malice. He also won the 2010 Belmont with Drosselmeyer, the 2005 Kentucky Derby on Giacomo and the 1993 Preakness Stakes with Prairie Bayou.
OCHO OCHO OCHO'S CONNECTIONS WITH THE TROPHY

Pedigree: Ocho Ocho Ocho is from the fourth crop of Street Sense, the 2006 champion 2-year-old male and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner who went on to become the first horse to complete the Juvenile-Kentucky Derby double when he won the 2007 run for the roses.
Street Sense is by top sire Street Cry, who died in September and also sire champion Zenyatta. Street Sense is off to a solid start at stud with Grade 1 winners Sweet Reason and Aubby K and Australian Group 1 winner Hallowed Crown to his credit among 12 graded/group stakes winners.
Ocho Ocho Ocho’s pedigree also boasts some serious firepower on the bottom half. Third dam (maternal great-grandmother) Personal Ensign, an unbeaten champion who won all 13 of her races in a Hall of Fame career, anchors his female family.
Personal Ensign produced 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner My Flag, who them produced Juvenile Fillies winner and champion Storm Flag Flying. Personal Ensign also produced Grade 1 winners Miner’s Mark and Traditionally as well as Salute, the dam of 2014 Grade 1 winner Mr Speaker.
Ocho Ocho Ocho’s grandam is the winning Mr. Prospector mare Pennant Champion, a full-sister (same dame, same sire) to the aforementioned Miner’s Mark and Traditionally and the dam of graded stakes winner Animal Spirits. Pennant Champion was a winner at 1 1/16 miles. Ocho Ocho Ocho's dam, Winner, won her debut sprinting at three-quarters of a mile and finished in the top three in each of her three starts.
The combination of Street Sense with a family anchored by Personal Ensign provides Ocho Ocho Ocho with a pedigree heavy on class and with plenty of stamina influences for when the key races become longer on the Triple Crown trail.