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centennial

Allegiant Pedigrees Go From Hot to Scorching

By | Allegiant, Latest News

The pedigrees behind the colts of the Allegiant, LLC just keep getting hotter. When the quintet was selected by the Centennial Farms acquisition team, we knew they were outstanding physical specimens backed by exciting families. That excitement has only skyrocketed since the Keeneland September sale. Every sire involved in Allegiant with offspring of racing age has unleashed a new star since we brought the colts home.

Leading the way is Pioneerof the Nile’s son Classic Empire, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, presumed Eclipse Award winner for Champion Two-Year-Old Male, and likely early favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Classic Empire, like our colt, is out of a mare from the Storm Cat line, a characteristic they both share with Pioneerof the Nile’s Triple Crown-winning son American Pharoah. Unlike the dams of either Classic Empire or American Pharoah, the dam of our colt is by Storm Cat himself, rather than a son, and hails from a star-studded family that includes a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner.

Freshman sire Union Rags was already responsible for one Grade 1 winner when we purchased a son of his out of Life Lesson. Not long after, he added a second Grade 1 to his resume in Alcibiades Stakes winner Dancing Rags. He is the only freshman sire to produce more than one winner at the highest level. In addition, he is the sire of G2 Remsen runner-up No Dozing, who experienced a wide trip in a race which has often proven to be a key stepping stone to bigger things.

Perhaps the two juvenile colts who have impressed the most post-Breeders’ Cup are Mastery (Candy Ride) and McCraken (Ghostzapper). Both are undefeated and generating serious Kentucky Derby discussion. Mastery, who sports Storm Cat on the bottom side just like our Candy Ride colt, was an easy winner of Del Mar’s G3 Bob Hope. McCraken drew off to victory in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs on their popular “Stars of Tomorrow II,” card.

The fifth and last sire represented in the Allegiant, LLC is Kentucky Derby winner Orb. The multiple Grade 1 winner’s first crop is comprised of yearlings, but that hasn’t stopped him from enhancing his reputation as he awaits his first runners in 2017. With the major sales of 2016 wrapped, Orb stands as the leading first crop sire by average and median.

While their relatives continue to impress, the colts themselves are progressing nicely in their early training at our Middleburg, Virginia farm with Paula Parsons. Ownership interests are still available in the Allegiant, LLC. Please contact the office for more information or a hard copy brochure.

Five Outstanding Colts Unite as Allegiant, LLC

By | Allegiant, Latest News

One is a three-quarter brother to one of the most electrifying, popular champions of the last few years. Another is by the leading freshman sire and is a half-brother to an impressive juvenile. A third is from the first crop of a Kentucky Derby winner and from the family of a leading sire. Keep going and you’ll find a colt bred on the same cross as a Triple Crown winner and a son of a Hall of Famer. They are Centennial’s Allegiant, LLC quintet and the opportunity is now available to call them your own.

Each of the five colts was put through the ringer at the Keeneland September Sale by our acquisition experts, Dr. Stephen Carr and Paula Parsons. Both bring decades of experience to the evaluation process. Using pedigree analysis, physical assessments, and veterinary exams, they have proven their ability to identify superior athletes with the potential to become coveted stallions. Their diligence allows to bring home incredible prospects from a sale whose graduates, in 2016 alone, have accounted for over 140 graded stakes wins, with better than 35 at the Grade 1 level. No other racing partnership with prolonged experience or success offers the opportunity to invest in as many colts from the country’s elite yearling sale this year.

The individuals that comprise the Allegiant, LLC group are:

  • Hip 179: Ghostzapper – Ansong, by Mizzen Mast
  • Hip 443: Pioneerof the Nile – La Maestranza, by Storm Cat
  • Hip 457: Union Rags – Life Lesson, by Unbridled’s Song
  • Hip 522: Candy Ride – Multitasker, by Bertrando
  • Hip 863: Orb – Holdontoyourdream, by Proud Citizen

All five have already settled in at our farm in Middleburg, VA and are undergoing their early lessons in becoming racehorses. We could not be more delighted with them and are thrilled to be inviting you to become partners in their exceptionally bright futures.

Learn more about Allegiant LLC or contact us for a hard copy brochure and further information on how to get involved.

Popular Juba Retired to Stud

By | Juba, Latest News

Fan favorite Juba has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Taylor Mountain Farm in Charles Town, West Virginia for the 2017 season.

The popular son of leading sire Tapit retires with three wins and earnings in excess of $175,000. After an injury derailed his sophomore season, Juba’s good looks, captivating personality, and a fan-created, Centennial-endorsed twitter account surprisingly launched him in to the public eye. He returned to the races with aplomb at four, demonstrating bristling speed and considerable grit. Juba put in his best performance at five – a tour de force victory in a stacked 7 furlong, third level allowance at Belmont Park, winning by better than six lengths.

Taylor Mountain Farm is a well known family farm operated by generations of Mid-Atlantic horsemen. Patriarch James W. Casey, who founded the farm with his late wife, Eleanor, is widely known as the trainer of Russell Road, one of the most successful West Virginia-breds of all time. Juba joins graded stakes winners Denis of Cork, Luftikus, and Windsor Castle on the Taylor Mountain Farm roster. All three, along with their late Charitable Man, rank among the top eleven leading general sires in West Virigina. Juba is the first son of Tapit to enter stud in the Mountain State.

Taylor Mountain Farm will announce a stud fee at a later date. Visitors are available by appointment only or via pre-announced area tours.

Juba

Juba Workouts

By | Juba

WORKOUTS:

Juba is back in action in the mornings following his most recent race.
08/30 – 3f:36.67 (Saratoga)

Juba

Adulator Aces Test

By | Adulator, Latest News

Adulator gave us plenty of reason to be optimistic heading in to his two-turn debut at Saratoga Race Course and every reason to celebrate afterwards! The handsome bay colt entered the race off of a brutally close loss at Belmont Park in which he produced his best speed figure to date. An impressive seven furlong move on the Saratoga main track set him up for a stiff test in both distance and competition at the Spa. Facing a tough field that included several highly regarded prospects and some who had flirted with stakes company, Adulator received a textbook perfect ride from Hall of Famer John Velazquez. The result? An impressive win on a rainy day and dreams of bigger things to come.

You catch watch the replay on NYRA.com (click the camera icon), read about the race in the Saratoga Special (page 32), and enjoy the gallery to the right!

Newest Acquisition is Scary Good

By | Hillingdon, Latest News

Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Select sale had long solidified its status as one of the nation’s premiere yearling sales long before the remarkable 2015 exploits of its graduates. Four alumni of the sale took home Eclipse Awards last year and it ranked at the top of major North American yearling sales by percentage of Grade 1 winners, Graded Stakes Winners, and Stakes Winners produced from horses sold. Centennial’s own Unified, our most recent purchase from the sale, has been a key success story for Fasig-Tipton, with his picture gracing the back of the sales catalogue and our silks displayed at the pavilion’s entrance. We returned to the sales grounds looking for the next big horse to carry the Centennial Farms colors, with Dr. Stephen Carr and Paula Parsons leading the way. Their extensive search of the sale’s colts for prospects who embodied our ideal of an elite athlete with a stallion’s pedigree led us to a truly special prospect. Hip 71, a Ghostzapper colt out of the Vindication mare Lady Hillingdon checked all the right boxes.

We are thrilled to offer the opportunity to share in the future of this outstanding individual. Learn more about him and contact us any time if you’re interesting in joining the partnership to make our dreams your dreams!

Ghostzapper - Lady Hillingdon

Swing Hard Workouts

By | Swing Hard

Workouts:

Swing Hard is back in action following his most recent race on June 5.
06/27 – 4f:50.05 (Gulfstream Park),
07/04 – 5f:1:04.12 (Gulfstream Park)

Swing Hard

Two-Turn Test Looms

By | Latest News, Unified

Undefeated Unified tackles his biggest test yet on Sunday, June 19, at Monmouth Park. The Grade 3, $150,000 Pegasus Stakes marks the dark colt’s first attempt at two-turns. Though he has already won beyond the race’s 1 1/16-mile distance, his G2 Peter Pan victory came at 1 1/8 miles, that victory came around one turn on Belmont Park’s massive 1 1/2-mile oval. This initial foray in to the different dynamics involved with a two-turn race will go a long way to decide the course of the year.

Read more: Blood-Horse, The Daily Racing Form

Unified

Winning Experience Despite Results

By | Adulator, Latest News, Preservationist, Securitiz

On-track victories aren’t the only way to win in thoroughbred racing. We sent forth a trio of horses in the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and although none won, everyone who attended had a phenomenal time.

Debuting Preservationist got the ball rolling, as his first race kicked off the Friday card at Belmont Park. The big colt finished a closing second to the more experienced Bombs Away, who was making his second career start. Preservationist’s massive gallop-out drew quite a bit of attention from those watching.

The form of highly regarded Bombs Away would go on to be further franked. Connect, another touted three-year-old who had defeated Bombs Away in their respective debuts, was an impressive allowance winner on the Belmont Stakes card.

Later on Friday, Adulator made his first start since breaking his maiden at Aqueduct Racetrack in the spring. Unfortunately, the handsome bay stumbled repeatedly exiting the starting gate. While many horses would throw in the towel after such an inauspicious beginning, Adulator demonstrated quite a bit of heart, and ability, to rejoin contention before flattening out to fourth.

Our final starter of the prestigious week’s racing was Securitiz, who made his graded stakes debut in the G2 Brooklyn. A disadvantageous draw in the far outside post meant plenty of lost ground. In fact, Trakus data shows he covered more distance than all but one other horse in the field at a whopping 57 feet more than the winner. Despite that, the big step up on class, and the fairly quick turnaround, Securitiz put up a big performance. He missed second by less than 1 3/4 lengths while finishing fifth to his champion stablemate, the runaway winner Shaman Ghost.

Three big on-track efforts left us plenty to be proud of as we enjoyed one of the year’s biggest cards of racing. Based out of the exquisite Champagne Room, which offered exclusive access to the Clubhouse apron, family, friends, and partners came together to watch a world-class day. Check out some of the scenes of the day and get in touch if you want to make sure you’re there for the next go-around!