{"id":10126,"date":"2012-04-17T20:41:20","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T20:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=10126"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"oldbtb_4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=10126","title":{"rendered":"Interview: SOUND OF SOULS: Next Big Turf Monster?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sound Of Souls had just done something only one other horse had ever done before in the history of Derbyfever, and one of his two\u00a0owners, Ryan (lenny271), was over the top with excitement and ready to talk all about it. <\/P>

The three-year old roan son of Medaglia D\u2019Oro had just captured the $2 million 2012 Japanese Guineas as the fourth longest shot in the race this past weekend, but that wasn\u2019t the biggest thing he did this in one of Japan\u2018s richest three year\u00a0old turf races. <\/P>

Sound Of Souls equaled the stakes record\u00a0in that race, winning in a time of 2:01 1\/5. <\/P>

And the co-holder of that stakes record?<\/P>

None other than one of the greatest turf horses in the history of Derbyfever, a horse by the name of Title Defense.<\/P>

Ryan and Tony (afc) are co-owners of a small operation called Checkmate Racing Corporation Stables, and Ryan was talking about how this colt could be possibly\u00a0Checkmate’s\u00a0greatest horse ever and the origins of the partnership with Tony. <\/P>

It all started back in 2008, over a glass of Scotch whiskey in a place called The Galt House in Louisville, where Lenny and Ryan were staying. <\/P>

That was the same year Big Brown won the real life Kentucky Derby, and a couple of pals splintered off from the SIM group gathered in Louisville for Derby Week and headed for the bar at the Galt House.<\/P>

Those two friends, Tony\u00a0and Ryan, were throwing back a few glasses in the bar and talking about their tastes in SIM pedigrees and breeding. And they found they had a lot in common.<\/P>

\u201cCheckmate is just a small operation that Tony and I started running a few years back, because we both found that we liked similar pedigrees and styles,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cWe worked out the details for the set-up of the stables over a Mexican dinner we had with the rest of the Simsters gathered in Louisville. I think we got the name of the stables from the cab driver.\u201d <\/P>

From that Galt House bar meeting and the Mexican dinner and a yet to be identified cab Louisville cab driver, Checkmate Corporation Racing was born. And the stable group just might have its next big monster horse, according to Ryan. <\/P>

Sound Of Souls. Remember that name. You might see it running in–and maybe\u00a0winning–the Derby de English in about seven weeks or so. And if all goes according to plan, you might eventually see this roan\u00a0three year old son of Medaglia D\u2019Oro running in not only the Ark de Comic Dog in Paris but also the Breeders\u2019 Bowl Turf come November. <\/P>

Sound Of Souls had just captured the fourth running of the Japanese 2000 Guineas this weekend as a 15\/1 long shot, and Ryan wanted to talk about the latest creation of the small two-owner operation called Checkmate Racing Corporation. <\/P>

The three year old son of Medaglia D\u2019Oro out of the Deputy Minister mare Deputy Flanders had run in only one graded race before capturing the big $2 million Japanese 2000 Guineas at ten furlongs on the turf course this past weekend, and Ryan was pretty excited. It was not only the fact that he and Tony\u2019s horse won, but it was the way he won that had Ryan excited. <\/P>

Sound Of Souls came from far back in this weekend\u2019s race to shock a full field of 14 in Japan this past weekend to win the big money by \u00bd a length over his friend Dan Silver\u2018s horse, Gift Of Jewels.<\/P>

The\u00a0story really begins way back in 2004,\u00a0with a claim that Ryan made near the time he joined the game. That claim was a mare by the name of Deputy Flanders, and she only won one race for Ryan after he claimed her for $75,000. She had tried and failed in some pretty big races as a two year old and as a three year old. But he suspected her routing pedigree might come in handy someday down the road. <\/P>

It turned out someday would happen sooner than Ryan\u00a0thought.<\/P>

\u201cDeputy Flanders was a claim I made when I was first starting in the game,\u201d said Ryan, who is the sole owner of The Empire Stables. \u201cShe was decent, but her first offspring ended up being one of The Empire’s best horses ever, the eight-time grade 1 winner, Creepshow. I claimed\u00a0her for her pedigree–Deputy Minister x Seeking The Gold–and the fact that she could route.\u201d<\/P>

She didn\u2019t route very well for Ryan and The Empire Stables, winning only one race, but her real value would come in the breeding shed later, once he retired her after only one season of racing under his main stable’s colors.<\/P>

Deputy Flanders\u2019 first foal, the result of a breeding with Rock Of Gibraltar, made a huge and immediate impact on Ryan\u2019s success in the SIM.<\/P>

\u201cCreepshow was my first special horse,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cEarly 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.\u201d<\/P>

And now, six years and six\u00a0foals later, Deputy Flanders just might have her second big foal ready to pounce on the turf world. \u201cThis might just be her second big-time foal, and he might be the next big-time horse for Checkmate Racing,\u201d said Ryan.<\/P>

Checkmate Racing has another millionaire now residing\u00a0in its\u00a0house.\u00a0 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\u2018 Bowl mile. <\/P>

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

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\u2019Oro, a colt who could eventually end up surpassing what Creepshow did on the track in his illustrious career.<\/P>

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.<\/P>

\u201cWe opened him up on the dirt because, well, just in case,\u201d Ryan trailed off. \u201cWe\u2019ve all got derby fever with our two year olds. We weren’t thinking no dirt whatsoever\u00a0for him\u00a0after he didn\u2018t do so well there.\u00a0 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\u00a0 in seven weeks.\u201d<\/P>

That\u2019s a pretty long layoff between graded races, considering last year\u2019s Derby de English winner came out of this same Japanese 2000 Guineas race. <\/P>

Ryan\u2019s friend, Dan Silver, won last year\u2019s Derby de English with Haifisch, but Dan squeezed in a listed stakes between Haifisch\u2019s Japanese 2000 Guineas win and his subsequent\u00a0triumphs in both the Derby de English and the Irish Derby.<\/P>

Sound Of Souls won\u2019t be squeezing in a race in the seven weeks between now and the Derby de English. \u201cHe came back a little groggy after this weekend’s race, so I think we\u2019ll just take it easy with him,\u201d said Ryan.<\/P>

Sound Of Souls is sitting right there on the bubble, as far as the rankings go. He\u2019s ranked 14th<\/SUP> in the world in the three year old long and classic turf divisions, and he\u2019s got seven weeks to sweat it out before the Derby de English heads for the post. <\/P>

Sound Of Souls\u2019 two-year-old campaign started out with hope of a chance to run in the Breeders\u2019 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\u2019 Bowl Juvenile.<\/P>

\u201cBased on others out of that mare, we figured he’d like longer, maybe in the 10-12 furlong range,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cSo we were thinking spring or maybe the summer of his three-year-old campaign would be when he’d start to shine.\u201d<\/P>

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.<\/P>

After the three months\u2019 winter break, Sound of Souls opened up his 2012 campaign with three things in mind, and he accomplished them all. Ryan and Tony\u00a0wanted 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.\u00a0 Their third goal for Sound Of Souls\u00a0was winning the Japanese 2000 Guineas. <\/P>

\u201cYes, the Japanese 2000 Guineas was definitely on our radar back then at the beginning of this season,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cWe figured the 10 furlongs there would suit him.\u00a0 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.\u201d<\/P>

Come race day in Japan this weekend in the big $2 million dollar\u00a0race, Ryan admits he was a little nervous. He wasn\u2019t exactly nervous that Sound Of Souls was 15\/1 and the fourth longest shot in the Japanese 2000 Guineas. <\/P>

\u201cYeah, it wasn’t a surprise (that he was 15\/1),\u201d said Ryan. \u201cHis last 5 races are factored into the morning line odds, and a few of his races before the winter break were slow.\u201d<\/P>

What had Ryan a little nervous was that Sound Of Souls wasn\u2019t sharp on race day. \u201cHe was only ready to go.\u00a0 I told Dan that on Thursday. \u00a0In my experience, some horses have to be sharp to run well.\u00a0 I’ve had monsters that run their top efforts when they are sharp and run up the track when they are ready to go.\u00a0 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/P>

Ryan was still confident that he and Tony\u2019s 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. <\/P>

\u201cOff 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,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/P>

When the horses broke from the gate in the Japanese 2000 Guineas last weekend, the race unfolded pretty much like Ryan and Tony\u00a0expected. 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. <\/P>

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.<\/P>

\u201cWe knew he likes to come from off the pace, so when he slipped off the screen we weren’t worried,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cWhen 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.\u201d<\/P>

Sound Of Souls had just run the race of his life, beating some big turf\u00a0monsters. And he recorded a 108 speed figure, winning the Japanese Guineas in a time of 2:01 1\/5. <\/P>

That winning time was significant for several reasons. <\/P>

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\u2019s Breeders\u2019 Bowl Turf, and he has gone on to accumulate over $14 million in earnings in his illustrious career. <\/P>

And when your three year old horse gets mentioned in the same breath as a horse like Title Defense, you know you\u2019re breathing some pretty rarified air. <\/P>

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\u2019Oro, and he also knew their horse had just beaten some real\u00a0monsters in equaling the stakes record for the Japanese 2000 Guineas.<\/P>

\u201cThat was a great field we beat, especially Abantos and Gift Of Jewels,\u201c said Ryan after the big race in Japan this weekend. \u201cWe thought that Abantos had prepped perfectly.\u00a0 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. \u00a0Abantos might have hit\u00a0a wall at 9.5 furlongs possibly.\u201d<\/P>

Ryan\u2019s 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.<\/P>

\u201cYeah, we thought Dan\u2019s horse was going to be a monster at 10 furlongs, and he still might,” Ryan said.\u00a0 “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.\u00a0 I’m sure we’ll see Dan’s horse again at the Grade 1 Big Red in Chicago.\u201d<\/P>

Dan Silver\u2019s Gift of Jewels tracked the pacesetter Fakmi in the Japanese 2000 Guineas last weekend, in second place the entire race, but he just didn\u2019t have enough steam at the end to hold off the late charge of his friend Ryan\u2019s roan monster, Sound Of Souls, losing by \u00bd a length. <\/P>

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. <\/P>

Sound Of Souls had finally done it. He hit the big time, and he had\u00a0Ryan talking about a big future for the colt who had just equaled the Japanese 2000 Guineas stakes record set by Title Defense.<\/P>

\u201cWell, he’s a little groggy this week, after the race, like I mentioned before,\u201d said Ryan. \u00a0\u201cSo, we\u2019re kind of stuck. We have decided to be cautious and train him right up to the Derby de English\u00a0in 7 weeks.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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. \u00a0His half-brother, Creepshow, was best at 10 furlongs, but Creepshow did win a grade 1 at 12 furlongs on the off going.\u201d<\/P>

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.<\/P>

\u201cIt’s crossed my mind,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cThe 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.\u00a0 Sound Of Souls hasn’t been pushed nearly as hard as I pushed Creepshow.\u00a0 We’ll just have to wait and see.\u201d<\/P>

Ryan said that after Sound Of Souls runs in the Derby de English–should he draw in and do well–he would be\u00a0aimed 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\u2019 Bowl Turf in November in Kentucky–where the idea for Checkmate Racing Corporation Stables with co-owner Tony all started back in 2008. <\/P>

\u201cIf today was any indication, he definitely\u00a0has talent,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cWe 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.\u00a0 That’s the goal. \u00a0We’ll run in the\u00a0Derby de English, and if he does well there, the Irish Derby will be next four weeks later. We\u2019ll probably give him a short break and prep for the Ark and then on to the Breeders\u2019 Bowl Turf, God willing.\u201d<\/P><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Checkmate Co-Owner Talks About Sound Of Souls <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}