Tuesday, April 23, 2013

THE RACERS REVISITED #7: QUICK BREAD 
Given the slow pace of his training programme, Quick Bread is made up of slow-rising flour, I reckon, but as a Nijinsky cross (4Dx4D), his potential is bound to show through sooner or later. Actually, the baking process is just starting to bring results, with 15-second furlongs now a piece of cake for his huge frame - stark contrast to only a few weeks ago, when this gentle giant was referred to as 'Tready' in the house, as all he ever seemed to do from one day to the next was treadmill work! 

The Nijinsky blood comes via Dance In The Dark (just mentioned in the Mistoffelees profile) as the damsire, and by Caerleon (winner of the Prix du Jockey Club and one of Nijinsky's finest son's), who fathered the Irish-registered broodmare Welsh Muffin, who in turn gave birth to Sweet Muffin. Sweet Muffin then provided the world with Quick Bread - her first foal. 

Courtesy Carrot Club
The sire line is crowned by the legendary sprinter Sakura Bakushin O (11-2-1), who was fathered by Sakura Yutaka O (Jaguar's grandfather). Sakura Bakushin O's dam has Northern Taste blood in her, which of course means that Northern Dancer is in the mix, too.  

The people at the Konishi Stable at Miho Training Centre did a fine job bringing Quick Bread through in his early days, as his lack of maturity meant it was impossible to make fast progress. On the track, he has had two 1800m dirt outings at Nakayama so far, and both outings were disappointing - a ninth and an eighth, although the last race did show promise. I'm sure he will make a great racer, and his 0-0-0-2 record will doubtless improve if he's switched to turf.

If nothing else, I'd love this horse as a Dressage competitor, reminding me of Nijinsky every time I saw him. It would be a fascinating experiment to take a young Thoroughbred and retrain him early on in a new discipline - it would have to be easier than teaching Jaguar new tricks! 

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