BARGAIN BRED RACING SERIES & BREEDING CORNER

Cherokee Colony (No Longer Available as a Sire)

This week I bring you another sire whose offspring are likely to be late bloomers.  Those fans of California racing are probably well aware of Cherokee Colony. Cherokee Colony was a pretty solid horse on the racetrack. Even though his pedigree indicates a great deal of stamina, dosage index of 0.82 and a center of distribution of -.03, he never won a race past a mile and a sixteenth.

Real Life- Cherokee Colony is by Pleasant Colony. His dam sire is Nijinsky and his dam’s dam sire is Bryan G. He ran well at two finishing second in the grade I Young American at the Meadowlands. He went on to win the grade I Flamingo in the spring of his three-year-old season. At four he won the grade II San Carlos at seven furlongs. Despite racing at ages two, three, and four he only ran eleven times.

Very few of his real life runners had short careers. It is a common theme among his top runners for them to win 8-10 times between ages two to five. His runners while not graded stakes winners stay healthy and run well from young to old. He was bred to some solid dam sires such as Secretariat, Key to the Mint, and Mr. Prospector. He was bred to two Stage Door Johnny mares and both were solid runners.   

Sim Life –Cherokee Colony has eighteen current runners in the sim. His best sim runner was #27136 Cherokee Watch. He is the only decent turf runner Cherokee Colony has in the sim and the dam’s dam sire Maribeau is a son of Ribot so that breeding creates a 4x4 inbreeding to Ribot. Our own Roy’s is currently running a pretty nice three year old filly by Cherokee Colony #31832 Elfrieda. She has run some nice races at ten furlongs recently. The Halo line was used in Elfrieda as well as in the breeding of another solid runner.

I have a Cherokee Colony runner with #69892 Colony of Sin. I cannot really complain she turned out to be useful and she still should be useful for a while. I used Midyan as the dam sire so the offspring is inbred to Ribot 4X4. I bred her with the turf in mind but as most Cherokee Colony offspring she hated the stuff. I did breed her as a three-year-old and if I had it to do all over again I would have bred her as a two year old.

He only has two, two year olds this year. Neither has been very impressive.

Breeding Suggestions – From what I have found the Ribot line through Pleasant Colony produces runners that hate the turf here in the sim. Do not get me wrong they will produce a good turfer every now and then but for the most part they hate the stuff and simmers put lots of their offspring on the turf. When I researched Cherokee Colony at the time I bred Colony of Sin the Ribot inbreeding was a big player in his top offspring. This time around I have noticed the Turn-To line through Hail to Reason (Halo) seems to cross well with Cherokee Colony. Also the real life breedings show me you can breed him back to some serious stamina and still get a solid runner that does not need a mile to get going.

You can’t ever go wrong using the big boys as dam sires like Seattle Slew, Secretariat, Northern Dancer, Mr. Prospector but since Cherokee Colony is cheap and unproven in the sim using a dam sire like that is more risk than I would wan to take. A couple of sires from the Halo line seem very interesting like Devil’s Bag, Saint Ballado, Southern Halo, and Sunday Silence.  Grandsons of Ribot that are interesting are Key to the Mint and Hoist the Flag but I think using the Halo line sires in the dam sire slot makes more sense. I would then use a son of Ribot in the dam’s dam sire spot to get a 4X4 inbreedng to Ribot.  This combo should cost only cost around 250 points at weeks end.

Cherokee Colony (1094) X Devil’s Bag (1635) X Arts and Letters (337) 

Bargain Bred – Cherokee Colony is a bargain sire getting down into the thirties by the end of the week. I would use the same breeding strategy as above.

Cherokee Colony (1094) X Sunny’s Halo (6346) X Boucher (9016) or

Cherokee Colony (1094) X Grenfall (2598) X Bold Reason (729)

What to Expect – Cherokee Colony’s runners could run well at two. They should stay healthy for you and run many races over several years being very useful. Most of his offspring are going to prefer the dirt and they should relish longer distances but you should at least try them on the turf.  I think he is capable of producing stakes winners in the sim you just have to find that right combination.