When one prominent trainer commented that he had three criteria for horses–speed, speed and speed, he must have had runners like TOO MUCH BLING in mind. Handsome, well-balanced and from a family of tough, hard-nosed competitors, TOO MUCH BLING is, in fact, the sort of horse that almost all trainers want in their barn, and when the gray broke his maiden by 19 ½ lengths as a two-year-old of 2005, he displayed the sort of brilliance that would be his trademark.

Cut from the same cloth as his sire, the champion sprinter and top miler Rubiano, himself a son of the Met Mile winner and important sire Fappiano, TOO MUCH BLING quickly showed what he was made of. Taking a giant step up in class after his maiden victory, TOO MUCH BLING ran a good third to First Samurai and Henny Hughes in the G1 Hopeful S. after blazing the way through a half in :44 4/5.

The following year, TOO MUCH BLING would go on to establish himself as one of the best sprinting three-year-olds in the country. He kicked off his season with a four-length tally in the six-furlong San Miguel S., won in 1:08 2/5 at Santa Anita. His next effort would be similarly dazzling. Odds-on in the G2 San Vicente S., TOO MUCH BLING was on the lead through :21 3/5, :43 4/5 and 1:08 4/5 splits, yet kept on finding more down the lane to take the seven-furlong event by daylight.

He shipped east in what was supposed to be a showdown with the highly regarded Songster in the G3 Bay Shore S. at Aqueduct, but the affair turned out to be one-sided, with TOO MUCH BLING romping home by a staggering nine-length margin.

Hindsight often adds context to races, though TOO MUCH BLING’s two-length win in the G2 Carry Back S. during Calder’s Summit of Speed hardly needed further sheen. But when the runner-up in that race, Mach Ride, went on to become a much-respected sprinter in his own right, with wins in the Smile Sprint H., etc., TOO MUCH BLING’s talent becomes even that much more evident.

Produced by Rose Colored Lady, the dam of three additional stakes winners, TOO MUCH BLING is an exciting choice for Texas breeders not only based on his speed and toughness, but also for the versatility in his pedigree. In addition to siring fast dirt horses who can generally stretch their speed, TOO MUCH BLING’s sire Rubiano has seen a number of his offspring excel over the lawn, as well. Grade 1 winner Burning Roma was a graded winner on grass, for instance, and some see versatility as a big plus in this day and age of synthetic surfaces. Moreover, TOO MUCH BLING’s pedigree features a number of top grass performers, including a pair of European highweights.

So, TOO MUCH BLING? You can never have “too much” - everyone loves “BLING!

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LEADING STUD FARM IN TEXAS

January 30, 2007 - Lane’s End Texas continued to be the dominant force in the Lone Star State’s breeding industry in 2006, with our division represented by three of the top four sires on the Texas year-end sire list. In addition, Lane’s End Texas easily topped the list of Texas farms by progeny earnings. As noted in the January 20 edition of the Thoroughbred Times, five Lane’s End Texas sires were represented at the track in 2006 by the earners of $6,306,075, nearly double the nearest competitor.

VALID EXPECTATIONS, who topped the 2005 list by a dominating margin, again had a superb year as the state’s leading sire of 2006. The son of Valid Appeal had 75 individual winners and earners of $2,122,187 last year. Among his stakes winners were Chit Chat Pam, winner of the $125,000 Two Altazano S.; Daddy Warbucks, who annexed the $125,000 My Dandy Texas Stallion S. and $50,000 Groovy S.; Lissa's Star, who took the Citgo S.; and Stage Stop, the two-year-old victress of the $100,000 La Senorita S. who also ran third in the $300,000 Delta Princess S. in December. Stage Stop has gotten off to a good start in 2007, recently running third in the $100,000 Tiffany Lass S. at the Fair Grounds, while Daddy Warbucks won the Jan. 26 Triple Sec S.

OPEN FORUM concluded 2006 in third on the list and was the sire of not one but two Texas champions: Upstream, the Champion Three-Year-Old Colt/Gelding, and Open Meadows, the Champion Three-Year-Old Filly. OPEN FORUM also had the runner-up and third-place finisher in the three-year-old male division, with Private Fight and Be a Resident, respectively. Open Meadows was a four-time stakes winner in 2006. Her biggest score came in the $125,000 Texas Stallion S. Upstream, meanwhile, won the male counterpart to that race over Private Fight. At a fee of just $5,000 for 2007, OPEN FORUM, a son of Deputy Minister, represents an outstanding value.

Checking in just behind OPEN FORUM was DOVE HUNT. The sire of graded stakes winner Gunning For and seven-time stakes winner Whenthedoveflies had progeny earnings of over $1.4 million in 2006, while Lane’s End’s PARADE GROUND, a regally bred son of KINGMAMBO, sired the winners of $714,010 from limited opportunities.

Another who has made the most of his limited opportunities is TRULUCK. While he hasn’t had the benefit of big books of mares, TRULUCK last year had four stakes horses, including Lady Be Tru, who completed the trifecta in a pair of $125,000 stakes. TRULUCK concluded 2005 as the co-leading second-crop sire in Texas by number of stakes winners.

Last year, Lane’s End welcomed an exciting addition to its Texas division. Multiple graded stakes winner MIDWAY ROAD, second to Funny Cide in the G1 Preakness S. in 2003 and runner-up to Southern Image in the following year’s G1 Pimlico Special H., offers Texas breeders an exciting combination of pedigree, performance and conformation. And, at a fee of $4,000 for 2007, he represents tremendous value. MIDWAY ROAD’s first foals arrive this year.

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