Interview: SOUND OF SOULS: Next Big Turf Monster?

Deputy Flanders’ first foal, the result of a breeding with Rock Of Gibraltar, made a huge and immediate impact on Ryan’s success in the SIM.

“Creepshow was my first special horse,” said Ryan. “Early in his three year old campaign, he won three Grade 1 races in a row, including my first Equinics victory. He didn’t do much the rest of that year, but as a four year old, he won the Coffeefields Cup at 12 furlongs and the Coxless at 10 furlongs. Then as a five year old he won the Prince of Whales and the Arlington Million. He was a beast.”

And now, six years and six foals later, Deputy Flanders just might have her second big foal ready to pounce on the turf world. “This might just be her second big-time foal, and he might be the next big-time horse for Checkmate Racing,” said Ryan.

Checkmate Racing has another millionaire now residing in its house.  Sound Of Souls joins fellow millionaire residents of the stable, Outer Haven and Dissected, the latter of which ran in the Bluegrass Derby and also ran second in the Breeders‘ Bowl mile.

Indeed, Sound Of Souls, a brilliant half brother to Creepshow, might have just started his own path to greatness.

After eight starts, Sound Of Souls has already accumulated over $1.2 million in earnings, and Ryan sees big things on the horizon for the roan son of Medaglia D’Oro, a colt who could eventually end up surpassing what Creepshow did on the track in his illustrious career.

Sound Of Souls started his career last season on the dirt, with a loss, and Tony and Ryan decided to try Sound Of Souls on the turf.

“We opened him up on the dirt because, well, just in case,” Ryan trailed off. “We’ve all got derby fever with our two year olds. We weren’t thinking no dirt whatsoever for him after he didn‘t do so well there.  But when we sent Sound Of Souls to the turf and he won the first time out, we just kept him on that surface. He still could be good at ten furlongs on the dirt. If we find the right opportunity on the dirt, we might take a shot. But, right now, we’re training Sound Of Souls directly to the Derby de English  in seven weeks.”

That’s a pretty long layoff between graded races, considering last year’s Derby de English winner came out of this same Japanese 2000 Guineas race.

Ryan’s friend, Dan Silver, won last year’s Derby de English with Haifisch, but Dan squeezed in a listed stakes between Haifisch’s Japanese 2000 Guineas win and his subsequent triumphs in both the Derby de English and the Irish Derby.

Sound Of Souls won’t be squeezing in a race in the seven weeks between now and the Derby de English. “He came back a little groggy after this weekend’s race, so I think we’ll just take it easy with him,” said Ryan.

Sound Of Souls is sitting right there on the bubble, as far as the rankings go. He’s ranked 14^th in the world in the three year old long and classic turf divisions, and he’s got seven weeks to sweat it out before the Derby de English heads for the post.

Sound Of Souls’ two-year-old campaign started out with hope of a chance to run in the Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile Turf. But after he finished third in the Grade 3 Royal Dodge as a two year old, his connections felt he might not be ready for the Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile.

“Based on others out of that mare, we figured he’d like longer, maybe in the 10-12 furlong range,” said Ryan. “So we were thinking spring or maybe the summer of his three-year-old campaign would be when he’d start to shine.”

Sound Of Souls finished up his two-year-old campaign in a couple of allowance races, finishing sixth and first respectively, before he would take a well-deserved rest before beginning his three-year old season.

After the three months’ winter break, Sound of Souls opened up his 2012 campaign with three things in mind, and he accomplished them all. Ryan and Tony wanted two preps, and they got that–a win in a $17,000 allowance in Sweden at 8 furlongs, and then he finished second in a 9 furlong $36,000 allowance event in China.  Their third goal for Sound Of Souls was winning the Japanese 2000 Guineas.

“Yes, the Japanese 2000 Guineas was definitely on our radar back then at the beginning of this season,” said Ryan. “We figured the 10 furlongs there would suit him.  We wanted to give him three months rest over the winter and have two preps under his belt before that race, so it worked out well.”

Come race day in Japan this weekend in the big $2 million dollar race, Ryan admits he was a little nervous. He wasn’t exactly nervous that Sound Of Souls was 15/1 and the fourth longest shot in the Japanese 2000 Guineas.

“Yeah, it wasn’t a surprise (that he was 15/1),” said Ryan. “His last 5 races are factored into the morning line odds, and a few of his races before the winter break were slow.”

What had Ryan a little nervous was that Sound Of Souls wasn’t sharp on race day. “He was only ready to go.  I told Dan that on Thursday.  In my experience, some horses have to be sharp to run well.  I’ve had monsters that run their top efforts when they are sharp and run up the track when they are ready to go.  Then, I’ve had others, like Empire Reef, who ran at the top of their games regardless of sharp or ready to go. Empire Reed won grade 1’s in both conditions. I really think the way a horse runs, regarding the sharp or ready to go designation on race day, is horse-specific.”

Ryan was still confident that he and Tony’s horse could do well in the Japanese 2000 Guineas. After all, Sound Of Souls was coming off his first 100-plus speed figure race in that allowance win in China.

“Off that really nice 9-furlong effort in the race before the Guineas, we thought that we’d run even better at 10 furlongs in Japan,” said Ryan. “We also knew this race would draw some great talent, and it did. We knew Gift of Jewels was in great form, and Abantos ran an absolute corker the race before the Guineas. They were the two horses to beat. We felt that if our boy took to the added distance like we thought he would, we’d be there at the end with a chance.”

When the horses broke from the gate in the Japanese 2000 Guineas last weekend, the race unfolded pretty much like Ryan and Tony expected. Sound Of Souls broke slowly and settled back in eleventh place midway through the ten-furlong race. He had only three horses beaten at that point.

But Sound Of Souls gradually picked up steam, and he came on like a freight train in the stretch to pull off the $2,000,000 upset in Japan.

“We knew he likes to come from off the pace, so when he slipped off the screen we weren’t worried,” said Ryan. “When the race hit the halfway mark, he started making up ground fairly gradually and by the time they got to the stretch, he was only going to be first or second depending on if he could sneak by Gift of Jewels. Fortunately for us, he did sneak by Gift Of Jewels.”

Sound Of Souls had just run the race of his life, beating some big turf monsters. And he recorded a 108 speed figure, winning the Japanese Guineas in a time of 2:01 1/5.

That winning time was significant for several reasons.

First of all, it equaled the stakes record for the Japanese 2000 Guineas set by one of the greatest turf horses in Derbyfever history, Title Defense. Not only did Title Defense win the first running of the Japanese 2000 Guineas in 2009 with the same winning time as Sound Of Souls, Title Defense also went on to win that year’s Breeders’ Bowl Turf, and he has gone on to accumulate over $14 million in earnings in his illustrious career.

And when your three year old horse gets mentioned in the same breath as a horse like Title Defense, you know you’re breathing some pretty rarified air.

After the Japanese Guineas, Ryan felt exhilaration. He knew he and co-owner Tony had a monster on their hands in this beautiful roan son of Medaglia D’Oro, and he also knew their horse had just beaten some real monsters in equaling the stakes record for the Japanese 2000 Guineas.

“That was a great field we beat, especially Abantos and Gift Of Jewels,“ said Ryan after the big race in Japan this weekend. “We thought that Abantos had prepped perfectly.  Even though he didn’t fare well at 10.5 furlongs, the 9.5 furlong prior to this past weekened was a romp, and he was set up on a long/short/Yahtzee deal, just like we’d have done with Sound Of Souls.  Abantos might have hit a wall at 9.5 furlongs possibly.”

Ryan’s other big concern in the Japanese 2000 Guineas was his friend Dan’s horse, Gift Of Jewels, who showed a lot of early speed in the race.

“Yeah, we thought Dan’s horse was going to be a monster at 10 furlongs, and he still might,” Ryan said.  “He won easily at 8.5 furlongs, before he dropped to 8 and lost, and then he went back out to 9.5 furlongs the race before the Guineas and ran right behind Abantos in that race. The next logical thing was that more ground would be good for him. And it was.  I’m sure we’ll see Dan’s horse again at the Grade 1 Big Red in Chicago.”

Dan Silver’s Gift of Jewels tracked the pacesetter Fakmi in the Japanese 2000 Guineas last weekend, in second place the entire race, but he just didn’t have enough steam at the end to hold off the late charge of his friend Ryan’s roan monster, Sound Of Souls, losing by ½ a length.

And the morning-line favorite running on his home turf, the Japanese-bred Abantos, kept up as long as he could in fourth place before he faded to a well-beaten ninth-place finish.

Sound Of Souls had finally done it. He hit the big time, and he had Ryan talking about a big future for the colt who had just equaled the Japanese 2000 Guineas stakes record set by Title Defense.

“Well, he’s a little groggy this week, after the race, like I mentioned before,” said Ryan.  “So, we’re kind of stuck. We have decided to be cautious and train him right up to the Derby de English in 7 weeks.  That long a layoff is not our favorite practice, but since he ran so well at ready to go this week, we should be live either way.  It will allow us to find out if he can get 12 furlongs in the Derby de English, or if we need to stick to the 10-furlong races going forward.  His half-brother, Creepshow, was best at 10 furlongs, but Creepshow did win a grade 1 at 12 furlongs on the off going.”

Speaking of Creepshow, he sort of tanked after the early part of his three-year old season, and Ryan was asked if he thought Sound Of Souls might follow the same pattern.

“It’s crossed my mind,” said Ryan. “The only difference for us is that Creepshow ran in six grade 1 races in a row before May of his three-year old season, and he may have had to deal with some wear and tear issues.  Sound Of Souls hasn’t been pushed nearly as hard as I pushed Creepshow.  We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Ryan said that after Sound Of Souls runs in the Derby de English–should he draw in and do well–he would be aimed for the Irish Derby in four weeks after that. And then he might even start thinking about the Ark de Comic Dog and possibly the Breeders’ Bowl Turf in November in Kentucky–where the idea for Checkmate Racing Corporation Stables with co-owner Tony all started back in 2008.

“If today was any indication, he definitely has talent,” said Ryan. “We just hope that our plan of rest and cheap prepping will lead us to more of these types of results throughout the summer and fall.  That’s the goal.  We’ll run in the Derby de English, and if he does well there, the Irish Derby will be next four weeks later. We’ll probably give him a short break and prep for the Ark and then on to the Breeders’ Bowl Turf, God willing.”