Sassy Pants and Real Estate

When I was working in Kentucky we had a mare on the farm named Sassy Pants. Up until that point she had only delivered one foal that was unraced. Well her anonymity was soon to end.

In 2001 Sassy Pants had a filly by Hennessy who would grow up and become Madcap Escapade. She won over a million dollars while winning The Ashland S (GI), Forward Gal S. (GII), Shirley Jones S. (GII), Vinery Madison S (GIII) and The Princess Rooney H. (GII) as well as finishing 3rd in The Kentucky Oaks. In 2002 she had another filly named Dubai Escapade by Awesome Again who won The Ballerina (GI), Madison S. (GII) and The Vagrancy H. (GII).

The reason I bring this up is because in the 3rd at Belmont on Sunday a four year old colt named Real Estate out of Sassy Pants ran, and ran well! Here's the comment from the chart " Real Estate was rated under a strong hold along the rail for a half, shook loose on the turn, briefly surrendered the lead in midstretch then fought back again under strong handling to edge clear in the late stages." His PP's hint at some past problems as he missed his entire 3 year old year, but maybe they're behind him now. I always like when a horse runs strongly after apparent problems; to me it says that at least they're not afraid to still lay it out there. So he may be one to watch.

Another pleasantry on Sunday was, Parading. I just love watching how the Phipps' allow their horses time to come along and don't give up on them when they stumble. Parading, the winner of The Volponi on Sunday (8th at Belmont), is a perfect example. Of course the patience they practice explains how their horses are so often able to recover, mentally and / or physically. And they've got the perfect trainer in Shug. He does an absolutely first rate job. A racing team at it's best, doing it the way it should be done! It makes me nostalgic for the days of yore that I wasn't around to see. I hope to see Parading back in graded company soon. I'll be rooting for him and the team.