Team Valor Stables’ ONTHEDEANSLIST (Honor Grades) was smart enough to take
advantage of a soft early lead to score a game front-running victory under
Corey Lanerie in Sunday’s $75,000
Col. E. R. Bradley H. at the Fair Grounds at
Louisiana Downs meet. The Ralph Nicks charge held off 1-2 favorite Fort Prado (El
Prado [Ire]) by a three-quarters-of-a-length, traveling the 1 1/16 miles on a
good turf course in 1:44.
Smoothly taking charge of affairs shortly after the break, Onthedeanslist
ambled along at a leisurely pace, with the quarter going in :24 4/5 and the half in
:49 1/5. Gondolieri (Chi) (Gold Tribute), not attempting to apply any pressure,
tracked the leader at a respectful distance while Fort Prado was last of the
six-horse field, eight lengths behind the crawl up front. By the time Onthedeanslist
passed six furlongs in 1:14, it was clear that the Team
Valor standard-bearer was very much on the bridle and would prove difficult to
catch.
Rounding the far turn, Fort Prado looped the field and set his sights on the
leader as the others swept into the stretch. However, Onthedeanslist had such an easy
time of it through the early stages that he had plenty of energy in reserve. As
Fort Prado narrowed the deficit, he had too much to do to close that much
ground off such a slow pace, and Onthedeanslist kept finding enough to keep him
at bay.
Middleweight (Grand Slam) got up to finish another length back in third, with
Northern Scene (Northern Baby) fourth. Major Rhythm (Rhythm) and Gondolieri
completed the order of finish while Zetetic (Rahy) scratched.
Sent off as the nearly 7-1 fourth choice, Onthedeanslist rewarded his backers
with $15.40, $3.80 and $3.40 while spearheading the $37.60 exacta, $77.80
trifecta and $333.40 superfecta (3-1-2-6). Fort Prado returned $2.20 and $2.10,
and Middleweight paid $3.80 to show as the third choice in the betting at more
than 6-1.
Bred by Palisair Place and Hedgewood Farm in Kentucky, Onthedeanslist is out
of the winning Spend a Buck mare Kylie’s Pride, who is a half-sister to
Grade 2 winners Looie Capote (Capote) and Fast Catch (Fast Play). Looie
Capote triumphed in the 1992 Santa Ynez Breeders’ Cup S. (G2) and placed in four
Grade 1 events — the Hollywood Starlet S., Apple Blossom H., Top Flight H. and Shuvee H., while Fast Catch won the 1996 Churchill Downs Distaff H. (G2).
Col. E. R. Bradley, one of the titans of the American turf in the first half
of the 20th century, developed bloodlines that still course through the veins of
top Thoroughbreds. It is fitting, then, that Onthedeanslist is inbred to
champion Buckpasser, one of the most influential carriers of the
Bradley-cultivated strains. Buckpasser’s dam, Busanda, was the product of a
Bradley-planned mating between Triple Crown winner War Admiral and the royally
bred mare Businesslike (Blue Larkspur).
Onthedeanslist captured just the second stakes of his career, having taken
the Tri-State H. at Ellis Park in September. The six-year-old’s report card
stands at 21-9-2-1 and $297,715 in earnings.