patience, grasshopper

I was on the phone to my dad this morning, just checking in, when we got to talking about the Breeders’ Cup Classic and how his mom, Bridie, who recently passed away (after a good, good run, I’d add), had always been a fan of Hard Spun, tabbing him in the Derby and following him throughout the year. She might have missed out on a score keying him with Curlin this past weekend, but my suspicion is that we’ll have Hard Spun, and Nan’s high regard for him, to thank for our fair share of winning tickets once his offspring make it to the track. While Street Sense, Curlin and Any Given Saturday (to a lesser degree) will be the hot sires off to the breeding shed in 2008, my bet is that Hard Spun will prove the top of the lot, as well as one of the better sires, period, at stud next year. He could win at any distance, short or long, had tremendous speed and just blossomed physically over the course of the year despite a heavy workload (unlike Street Sense, who never really matured from his 2yo season, believe it or not). Oddly enough, we’ll likely never get to see him on turf, which probably would have been his best surface given his action and turf-bent pedigree. It will be a few years yet before we have a look at his offspring, but it’s something to file away. Nan was always keen for a bet, so with any luck we’ll have an opportunity to fire away at the windows when the proper opportunity arises. If we hit it big (okay, really, really big) at the races, maybe we’ll even send a mare to him, as well. Admiration from afar will have to do for now, though.