Talented two-year-old Signalman, whose dam Trip South was sired by the now Drakenstein Stud resident Trippi, showed his class in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes run at Churchill Downs on Saturday.
Runner up previously in G1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity and third in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Signalman muscled his way into the winner’s circle Nov. 24 when he held off Plus Que Parfait by a neck beneath the Twin Spires.
Earning 10 qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, Signalman also validated his solid prior efforts against top-level company
Trained by Kenny McPeek and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr, Signalman showed plenty of heart to land the first graded victory of his career, defeating a field which included his G1 Breeders’ Futurity conqueror Knicks Go.
Hernandez was impressed with his mount’s dogged victory, and said of the win, “The horse puts a lot of confidence in us. He’s versatile. In the Breeders’ Cup we were able to come from the 14 hole and take back and circle them. Today we were able to get him in the race, and he showed what he can do. I’m fortunate to have the horse under me that just kind of put us in every spot we needed. “Even with the little quirks, he still shows a lot of promise,” Hernandez said. “He’ll be exciting down the road.”
Run over a mile and a sixteenth, the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes has been won by a host of top class performers with subsequent Kentucky Derby winners Super Saver, Cannonade, Twenty Grand, Clyde Van Dusen, and Reigh Count having all won the race.
A son of the Sky Mesa stallion General Quarters, Signalman has now won twice, from five starts, and has already banked $448 990 in stakes.
Trippi, South Africa’s Champion Sire of 2015-2016, is no stranger to featuring as broodmare sire of graded stakes winners and is also damsire of such notable US graded winners as Liam’s Map, Not This Time, Multiplier and Miss Sunset. This year Trippi, above such top stallions as Saint Ballado, Indian Ridge, Deep Impact and Darshaan on the US Broodmare Sire List, is broodmare sire of horses who have banked in excess of $3.455 million.
Trippi, whose notable G1 winners include the likes of R Heat Lightning, Inara, Deo Juvente, Real Princess and Lobo’s Legend, also made an impact at Kenilworth on Saturday where sons Chimichuri Run and Herodotus ran second and fourth in the G2 Concorde Cup.
The G1 winning son of End Sweep also made his mark at Friday’s CTS Ready To Run Sale, where a Trippi colt, Tall Cotton, was knocked down to EI Bloodstock for R900 000.