Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial · Parx, 2017HnR BredMSW
Grand Prix
Bay Mare, 2014 (PA) · Tale of the Cat out of Be Envied, by Lemon Drop Kid
18
Starts
4
Wins
$225,996
Earnings
102
Top Figure
Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial · Parx, 2017Grand Prix won three of four starts in the summer of 2017, two of them stakes, and finished in the money in 13 of her 18 career starts. HnR Nothhaft Horseracing bred her and HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing raced her from her first start to her last.
She came from the best mare in the operation. Be Envied, a daughter of Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid, was bought for $37,000 at the 2011 Keeneland November sale carrying the foal who became Finest City, winner of the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and that year’s Eclipse Award champion female sprinter. Grand Prix, foaled in Pennsylvania on April 28, 2014, is her half-sister. Gary Mandella trained her through her first two seasons.
She started five times at two and broke her maiden in November at Golden Gate. Nineteen days later she went straight into the Golden Gate Debutante Stakes and was sent off the 1.70 favorite in a field of eight. She stalked the winner along the rail, tipped out for running room in the stretch, and closed through the final furlong to be beaten a nose. Her Equibase figure of 93 was the best of her juvenile season.
The following June she shipped east for the New Start Stakes at Penn National, a six-furlong dirt race for registered Pennsylvania-breds worth $100,000. Javier Castellano settled her between rivals in hand, took the lead two wide entering the turn, and edged clear. She drifted out under pressure through the stretch and had to be kept to her task, and she held the odds-on favorite Rose Tree safe by a length. She earned $60,000 and posted a figure of 102, the highest of her career.
Seven weeks later at Penn National she carried 116 pounds over a sloppy track, cleared soon after the break, saved ground on the rail, and opened five lengths by the stretch call before lasting by a neck under a hand ride.
Her second stakes came on September 2 at Parx in the Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial, another $100,000 Pennsylvania-bred fixture. She was assigned 122 pounds, four more than most of the field, having picked up the penalty for the stakes win she had earned three months earlier. She bobbled at the start and bore in, then went to the front and made every yard three paths off the rail, widening to three and a half lengths in early stretch and holding a length and a half at the wire under Jose Ferrer. She beat the favorite, Discreet Senorita. That season she made nine starts, won three, placed in three more, and earned $171,942.
At four she returned in February at Tampa Bay Downs for the Minaret Stakes, again the highweight at 122 pounds in a field of eleven. She broke on top from the ten post, cleared to an uncontested lead, and was in front by two and a half, three, and three and a half lengths at the three calls. She dug in gamely when challenged in midstretch and went to the wire fighting, second by a length and a quarter.
She retired with 18 starts, four wins, five seconds, and four thirds, and earnings of $225,996. Thirteen of her eighteen starts produced a top-three finish.
Grand Prix’s first foal, the HnR-bred Wings of a Song by Mendelssohn, became a winner. The following year, she was offered as hip 179 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, in foal to Munnings, where she sold for $600,000 to David Campbell.
Grand Prix is by Tale of the Cat, a son of Storm Cat out of the Mr. Prospector mare Yarn, and out of Be Envied, by Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid. Her second dam is While Rome Burns, by Overskate, and her third dam is Fiddlesticks, by Northern Dancer. She belongs to family 8-h.
The analysis below is Thoroughbred Intelligence’s, reproduced as written.
Tale of the Cat is by Storm Cat out of Yarn, by Mr. Prospector. His pedigree brings together two influential sources of North American speed, with Storm Cat providing the direct male line and Mr. Prospector entering through the dam.
Storm Cat is by Storm Bird out of Terlingua, by Secretariat. This places Northern Dancer, Secretariat, and Crimson Saint within the first four generations of Grand Prix’s sire line. These influences are associated with speed, juvenile development, and success in one-turn racing.
Yarn adds Mr. Prospector through her sire and Nijinsky II through her second dam, State. Her dam, Narrate, is by Honest Pleasure, adding another American speed influence to Tale of the Cat’s maternal background. The combination gives Tale of the Cat a pedigree strongly oriented toward early pace while retaining international turf elements through Northern Dancer and Nijinsky II.
Grand Prix’s racing record provides a direct expression of that structure. She won at two and placed in a juvenile stakes before becoming a multiple stakes winner at three. Her strongest performances were concentrated in sprint racing, where she could use tactical speed and maintain her position through the finish.
Her consistency also reflects the broader balance of Tale of the Cat’s pedigree. Grand Prix finished first, second, or third in 13 of 18 starts and recorded black-type form at two, three, and four. The sire line supplied early racing ability, while the lower half of her pedigree supported continued performance beyond her juvenile season.
Grand Prix is out of Be Envied, a daughter of Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid. Lemon Drop Kid is by Kingmambo, a son of Mr. Prospector out of champion Miesque. His dam, Charming Lassie, is by Seattle Slew out of Lassie Dear, bringing two established classic influences into the front of Grand Prix’s female family.
Be Envied placed in two listed stakes and developed into a notable producer. Grand Prix is a half-sister to Finest City, winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and the 2016 Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter. Finest City earned $1,266,394 and also won the Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes and Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes. She placed in Grade 1 company from seven to nine furlongs.
Grand Prix is also a half-sister to multiple Indian stakes winner Queen Envied. These runners give Be Envied multiple black-type performers across different racing jurisdictions and establish sustained production immediately behind Grand Prix.
Be Envied is a half-sister to Grade 1 Futurity Stakes winner Burning Roma and to Nero’s Pleasure, the dam of stakes winner Finest Work. The presence of Burning Roma places Grade 1 juvenile performance in the immediate family, complementing the two-year-old stakes form shown by Grand Prix and Finest City.
The second dam, While Rome Burns, is by Overskate. She is a half-sister to Grade 3 Honey Bee Handicap winner Vivano and to English Humour, the dam of Japanese stakes winner Tokai Pulsar. This branch adds further international black-type performance to the family.
The third dam, Fiddlesticks, is by Northern Dancer out of Discipline, by Princequillo. Fiddlesticks is a half-sister to Grade 1 Sorority Stakes winner Squander and Grade 2 Diana Handicap winner Duty Dance. Squander became the second dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Goodbye Halo, while Duty Dance produced graded winner Party Manners.
The female family therefore brings together championship sprint performance, Grade 1 juvenile form, classic influences, and international production. Grand Prix added her own two stakes victories to a family already represented by Finest City, Burning Roma, Goodbye Halo, and other graded performers.
Grand Prix is inbred 3 x 4 to Mr. Prospector. The sire-side occurrence comes through Yarn, the dam of Tale of the Cat, while the dam-side occurrence comes through Kingmambo, the sire of Lemon Drop Kid.
The two appearances introduce Mr. Prospector through different branches. Yarn combines him with Honest Pleasure and Nijinsky II, while Kingmambo adds Miesque and Nureyev. This creates a concentration of speed supported by established turf and mile influences.
Northern Dancer is repeated through Storm Bird on the sire side and through Nureyev and Fiddlesticks on the dam side. Secretariat appears through Terlingua, while Seattle Slew and Buckpasser enter through Charming Lassie and Lassie Dear. Nodouble, Princequillo, and Speak John provide additional balance farther into the female family.
Grand Prix’s Dosage Profile is 8-1-10-2-1, with 22 dosage points, a Dosage Index of 1.75, and a Center of Distribution of +0.59. The profile has its largest concentrations in the Brilliant and Classic categories, supported by Solid and Professional influences. These figures are consistent with her sprint-oriented racing record and capacity to remain competitive across three seasons.
