2:36 PM Fri, Feb 02, 2007 | Permalink
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Holy Bull was a thoroughbred fairytale waiting to happen.
In 1994, the beautiful gray had already captured the public's imagination. They made him the favorite in the Kentucky Derby. But on a rainy May 7th Holy Bull got lost in the crowd. Go for Gin was the ultimate mudder, and the big gray came home a mud spattered 12th.
Holy Bull won multiple graded stakes and 13 of 16 races. He earned 2.4 million dollars. Yet his memory is clouded by that horrendous Derby and it has followed him into the breeding shed.
Holy Bull stands for a mere $15,000 dollars, but his influence is becoming greater every year in the one race where he failed.
I mention all of this because Gulfstream is holding the Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 3rd, a race that has become a good Derby prep. The first time I saw a horse named Funnycide, he was running wide in the Holy Bull on a cold day at Gulfstream.
This year a horse that's getting a lot of early buzz, Nobiz Like Shobiz, will kick off his season in the Holy Bull and holy cow, his trainer is Barclay Tagg. Trainers are creatures of habit.
But Holy Bull is contributing much more than his name to the Derby trail these days.
Two years ago Giacomo made up for his sire's failings in the Derby, and already this year another Holy Bull is making noise in California,
Bwana Bull won the California Derby last Sunday at Golden Gate, and while that race has not produced a lot of Derby starters, it did put another Holy Bull on the Derby trail.
Last year produced Flashy Bull and Sacred Light as Derby possibles, and it seems that more and more Holy Bull offspring can cover a mile and a quarter.
So while his Derby Day was disappointing, Holy Bull is emerging as a sire that must be considered on the first Saturday in May.
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