Iqbaal is the Heart of Ward's Breed-to-Race Program

Astute handicappers scanning the pedigrees of entrants in a maiden race might not circle the sire Iqbaal among their top choices, but they should. 

The obscure stallion by Medaglia d'Oro  has been quietly turning out a steady stream of winners since trainer Wesley Ward bought him at the 2010 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale from Shadwell Farm's consignment for $70,000.

So far this year, Iqbaal has been represented by six winners that include three first-time starters. The sire's most recent winner is the Ward homebred Marva, who won in a dead heat April 11 at Gulfstream Park in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight. She hit the wire in lockstep with Reiterate, a Mark Casse-trained daughter of Competitive Edge .

Among Iqbaal's 17 winners to date, eight have won their first time out and one other became a winner in its second start. The stallion has one black-type performer and 77% winners from starters out of what can charitably be described as a modestly bred group of 32 foals of racing age.

"Every mare he has been bred to has been worth about $733," Ward said with a chuckle. "But he really throws an absolutely beautiful horse."

Ward has been standing a stallion privately and breeding horses to race for more than a decade. For five years, he had the stakes-placed son of In Excess named Bring the Heat at his farm in Florida. Because Bring the Heat was getting older, Ward began looking for a replacement.

"I have no other interests other than horse racing, so I like to do this," Ward said. "This is more of a hobby, a passion. I like to breed and raise them up and have them go through the whole process like my commercial horses do."

Iqbaal possessed all the ingredients to be a good racehorse when he was offered at the 2007 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The colt was bred in Kentucky by Dell Ridge Farm out of the unraced Storm Cat daughter Queen's Lady, whose dam is multiple graded stakes winner Jeano (by Fappiano). His good looks and pedigree enticed Shadwell to buy him for $675,000 out of the Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency consignment. 

Shadwell sent the colt to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who won two races and placed in the Pegasus Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park with him before injury derailed Iqbaal's racing career.

"He was a very talented, well-made horse. He was meant to be a very nice horse," McLaughlin recalled. "But he had a couple of issues and ended up cracking a cannon bone, and that is why he was in the sale. He seems to be doing all right (as a stallion). Every year Wesley points out his progeny to me."

Iqbaal's injury healed by the time he went through Keeneland's November sale, and Ward initially entertained the idea the colt might return to racing. 

"He was just a beautiful horse," Ward said about Iqbaal at the sale. "He had an issue and been given time off, so I started training him again, but it looked like his better days were behind him. I only worked him a couple of times and then stopped."

Ward has bred the majority of Iqbaal's runners, but the stallion also gets support from Illinois-based trainer Larry Rivelli and some of Rivelli's clients. Rivelli bred and initially raced Iqbaal's gelded son Riv, who is the sire's leading earner to date with $193,226 in purses. Still racing, Riv is now owned by Ismael Thoroughbreds and trained by Eduardo Rodriguez. Riv won a Feb. 22 starter optional-claiming race at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and has been second in two optional-claiming allowance races at Hawthorne Race Course March 16 and April 12.

"Wesley seems to have a knack for finding these kinds of horses," Rivelli said. "They are what you would hope to get from an obscure stallion. They are pretty correct with good bone. They are agile and really athletic. I've had winners from first-time starters at least 50% of the time.

"He is a good stallion, obviously, for the price," Rivelli added, noting that his cost to breed to Iqbaal is a case of good wine. Rivelli has a 2-year-old gelding by Iqbaal this year named Farmer Joe who is getting ready to run. The gelding was bred by Ward out of the winning Is It True mare Little Miss Julien.

"I think he'll win early," Rivelli said. "He is like a lot of them—very athletic, very forward horses."

Iqbaal's one black-type performer is Big City Dreamin, whom Ward bred and initially trained for Steven Michael Bell. After breaking her maiden in her first start at Keeneland, the filly was offered through the Goffs London 2-Year-Olds and Horses in Training Sale, where Sol Kumin bought her for US$285,140. She made her next start in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot but was unplaced. At 3, she was third in the Crank It Up Stakes on the turf at Monmouth Park. As of the end of last year, she had a 5-1-6 record out of 15 starts and earned $128,241. 

Ward no longer has his breeding operation outside Ocala, Fla., having relocated to 100 acres he is leasing from Brad Kelley off Bosworth Road behind Keeneland's quarantine barn. With his week split between being in Kentucky and Miami, Ward said it had been getting too difficult to get to Ocala. His broodmare band of about 25 mares and Iqbaal are on the Kentucky farm where the stallion's paddock has a good view of the racetrack.

"He is in a paddock behind the quarantine barn, and every afternoon he walks to the corner of the paddock and watches the races all day long," Ward said.

Besides Marva, Iqbaal has seven other 2-year-olds this year that were all bred by Ward. He said he expects them all to start at some point.

"This stallion is just a gorgeous horse. He is a rhinoceros of a horse, a big monster," Ward said. "If I were into the show horse circuit, he'd be the top sire. I truly believe if these foals were by any of these commercial sires, they would be sale toppers just off their looks.

"I have some 2-year-olds that are better than Marva," he continued. "They've all got good chances."