Trippi in the spotlight

If ever a horse was bred to be a Florida sire, Trippi was it. A product of Harry T. Mangurian's breeding program, Trippi is by End Sweep, winner of the 1994 Jersey Shore Breeders' Cup Stakes (G3). Retired to stud at his owner's Mockingbird Farm, End Sweep sired 34 juvenile winners from his first crop, foals of 1996, setting a new Northern Hemisphere record. He was sold to Japan after the 1999 breeding season but died of complications of an accidental injury in 2002. Besides Trippi, he sired Grade I winners Swept Overboard (now at stud in Japan), Nany's Appeal, and the perhaps prophetically named Dark Ending.



End Sweep was a well-bred horse, but on paper one might well have expected Classic potential from him rather than sprinting speed. He was sired by Forty Niner, a G1 winner at up to ten furlongs, out of the Alabama Stakes (G1) winner Broom Dance, by multiple G2 winner Dance Spell. Given his race record and bloodlines, he was the kind of horse that could reasonably have been expected to have success in a regional market, but the level of that success was almost certainly a surprise to everyone involved.

Valid Appeal, the broodmare sire of Trippi, could also be considered an overachiever at stud. Sired by top Florida sire In Reality out of two-time Ramona Handicap winner Desert Trial, by Moslem Chief, he was a full brother to two-time U.S. champion filly Desert Vixen and closely related to Sorority Stakes (G1) winner Stub (whose dam, 1970 Monmouth Oaks winner Kilts N Kapers, was a half sister to Desert Trial). Talented enough to win the 1975 Dwyer Stakes (G2), Valid Appeal nonetheless did not appeal to Kentucky breeders; besides having an unfashionable pedigree by commercial standards, he was a small horse with upright pasterns. He went to stud at Mockingbird Farm in 1977.

Twenty years later, the breeding world had a much different assessment of Valid Appeal, who was pensioned in 1997 and died in 2002. Although his mates were for the most part of modest stature, he begot 88 stakes winners from 789 foals, and his sons include the successful sires Valid Expectations and Successful Appeal. His daughters have shown ability as broodmares as well, and he is currently twentieth on The Blood-Horse's national broodmare sire list and eighth on the corresponding list for Thoroughbred Times. (The differences in the national rankings are due to the different standards applied by the national trade magazines as to qualifications for a stallion to appear on the list and inclusion of foreign earnings.)

A half brother to multiple stakes winner Miss Jealski (by Baldski), multiple G2 winner Appealing Skier (by Baldski), and multiple listed stakes winner Jealous Forum (by Open Forum), Trippi is out of Jealous Appeal (out of Jealous Cat, by *Cougar II-Only the Loyal), who was a solid allowance filly in her own right. She descends from the family of 1934 U.S. champion juvenile filly Nellie Flag, which was a mainstay for the famous Calumet Farm.

Both End Sweep and Jealous Appeal had stud records that suggested that the transmission of speed was their forte, and Trippi certainly lived up to that heritage. Racing for Dogwood Stable, he had his best season as a sophomore, when he won the Swale Stakes (G3), the Riva Ridge Stakes (G2), the Tom Fool Stakes (G2), and the Vosburgh Stakes (G1), the latter two at the expense of his elders. Seven furlongs appeared to be his best distance, but he also showed enough stamina to capture the nine-furlong Flamingo Stakes (G3). Despite disappointing performances in the Kentucky Derby (G1) (eleventh) and the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) (ninth), Trippi had still done more than enough to earn honors as Florida-bred champion three-year-old male and champion sprinter for 2000.

Plagued by physical problems throughout his four-year-old season, Trippi managed only one placing in four starts, a second in the Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap (G2), and was retired with seven wins and three placings from 14 starts for earnings of $666,220. He was originally slated to enter stud at Vinery near Lexington, Kentucky, but instead was purchased by a group of investors headed by Ocala Stud and made his first season at Ocala Stud in 2002.

Although Trippi led the 2005 Florida freshman sire list (nationally, he ranked sixth per Thoroughbred Times and ninth per The Blood-Horse), his first season was somewhat disappointing compared to the first-season success of his sire. Forty of the 76 first-crop foals reported to The Jockey Club got to the races as juveniles, but only seventeen won and none were stakes winners, though Cab (x Lovely Cabrini, by Cabrini Green) did run second in the Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakes (G3).

Things began turning around the following year, however. Trippi got his first stakes winner on May 12, 2006, when A Sea Trippi (2003 filly, x Best of the Sea, by Lord of the Sea) won the six and one-half furlong Harmony Lodge Stakes at Calder. A Sea Trippi has since become her sire's first multiple stakes winner by taking the U Can Do It Stakes, another six and one-half furlong sprint at Calder, over older fillies and mares.

Three more stakes winners emerged in 2006 after A Sea Trippi broke the ice. The best of them, Green Vegas (x Wa Ka Ridge, by Cox's Ridge) won the Foolish Pleasure Breeders' Cup Stakes and the restricted In Reality Stakes at Calder and is his sire's leading earner thus far with $457,200 in his bankroll. Trippi's other 2006 stakes winners were Villainage (x Pharmstar, by Adhocracy), who won the five and one-half furlong B L's Sweep Stakes at Calder on June 23 and later ran second in the restricted Affirmed Stakes, and Dream of Angels (x Burn Brightly, by American Chance), who won the six-furlong Middleground Breeders' Cup Stakes at Lone Star Park on July 23. In addition, Trippi was represented in 2006 by three stakes-placed runners in Miss Macy Sue, Trippi Street, and Ice Man Cometh, while Cab won a non-blacktype stakes at Sam Houston Park.

Trippi continues to have success in 2007, though as yet he has not sired a real headliner. Miss Macy Sue (x Yada Yada, by Great Above) became a stakes winner on March 31, 2007, by winning the Carousel Handicap, a six-furlong sprint at Oaklawn Park. Just over a week later, Try to Fly (x Try Your Best, by Kris S.) sped home first in the six-furlong San Pedro Stakes at Santa Anita. Trippi is also the sire of 2007 stakes-placed runners James Wilfred and Poschner.

As of April 23, 2007, the 143 foals from Trippi's first two crops of racing age have so far yielded 108 starters (75.5%), 73 winners (51.0%), and seven stakes winners (4.9%). These are not exceptional figures, but they do suggest that Trippi is a solid fit within the regional market. To date, most of his offspring have been sprinters - according to Equineline, the average winning distance of Trippi's progeny is only 6.27 furlongs with an average maximum winning distance of 6.56 furlongs - but in fairness to the stallion, he has not seen very many mares with the stouter backgrounds that would be needed to add some bottom to his get.

Examination of Trippi's better runners suggests that Never Bend, *Turn-to, War Relic through sources other than In Reality, and Damascus are all elements to look for in potential mates. Returns of In Reality, somewhat surprisingly, have not done very well, and inbreeding to Mr. Prospector has so far produced only Dream of Angels (whose dam also carries *Turn-to and War Relic via his grandson Olden Times) and James Wilfred as blacktype runners. Northern Dancer appears to have at best been a neutral factor with Trippi so far.

Trippi seems to lean somewhat more towards Valid Appeal than Forty Niner in physique. Like Valid Appeal, he is slightly on the fine-boned side but lacks the upright pasterns commonly associated with the In Reality line and has a strongly made body with very nice overall balance. At 16.1 hands high, he could easily be used to refine an overly coarse mare without risking too much loss of size and scope.

As a commercial sire, Trippi has been doing well within the Florida market. He sports yearling and two-year-old auction averages of $45,545 (median $30,150) and $65,348 (median $40,000), respectively, suggesting that he is a reasonable choice for the breeder who desires some flexibility as to whether to sell or race, and he recently topped the 2007 OBS spring two-year-olds in training sale with a $410,000 colt out of Unbridled Bliss. Based on results so far, he cannot be called a great stallion, but he remains quite popular, suggesting that most Florida breeders view him as offering fair value for his stud fee.