Mississippi May Finally Jump Start its Thoroughbred Breeding Industry

[RolloTomasi]

Coolmore Buys Into Undefeated Gulfport

Coolmore announced Aug. 10 it had reached an agreement to join the partnership that owns undefeated Gulfport , the 12 1/4-length winner of the Bashford Manor Stakes, and will stand the colt at Ashford Stud upon his retirement.

When will that be exactly? When they start running the first major two-turn 2yo races or when the bone bruising comes to a head?

Probably whichever comes first...

The son of Ashford's Uncle Mo out of multiple-stakes producer Fame and Fortune, by Unbridled's Song, was bred in Kentucky by Diamond Creek Farm. Fame and Fortune is a full sister to grade 1 winner Cross Traffic.

Cross Traffic. I remember that horse. He didn’t start running until he was 4. Worth the wait though, he started about 5 times and then was injured & retired before the year was finished.

To be fair, that was twice as many starts as his sister made (you know...the dam of this horse).

With trainer Steve Asmussen, Gulfport became a first-out winner June 10 at Churchill Downs with a seven-length win going five furlongs in :56.85, which was 2/5th off the track record. He followed with his more impressive performance in the July 4 Bashford Manor. His victory was by the widest margin in the history of the six-furlong black-type event and his time of 1:09.25 was the second-fastest clocking in the race.

It was also the first time it was a “black-type” (read: non-graded) event in over 30 years.

The good news is that the Bashford Manor has produced some good stallions. Let’s see there was...uh…T V Commercial…well maybe not him so much…but there was champion Boston Harbor who sired…well no one really...but the very next year we got the HOY Favorite Trick…he was a phenom-….-enal flop at 3 & at stud…of course Summer Squall got a couple of good fillies and one good colt (Charismatic) who was almost as good as he was at stud (sired the great Sun King)...so there's that…and then you have a bunch of Bashford winners that stand or stood in places like Texas, Louisiana, and West Virginia for a couple of grand a pop.

Does Ashford have a Midwest division?

He earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure, the co-second-highest for a 2-year-old this year.

Coolmore buy that one, too? Or did Godolphin or Spendthrift get to it first?

"His performance in the Bashford Manor was very special, and we think there's a lot more to come."

Judging by the subsequent careers of several of Asmussen’s other Bashford Manor winners, there’s probably less…