Japanese champion Hat Trick (Jpn), a Sunday Silence stallion who has already
racked up four winners abroad, broke through with his first U.S. winner on
Thursday when Hidden Ball Trick captured her debut in the
9TH
race at Laurel Park. Overlooked at 11-1 in the off-the-turf maiden special
weight, the Timothy Keefe pupil rallied to get up by a head. Sheldon Russell
guided the Kentucky-bred dark bay through 5 1/2 furlongs on the fast track in
1:05 2/5.
Hat Trick’s top performer is the French-bred star Dabirsim. A perfect
four-for-four after demolishing the August 21 Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville,
he is poised to clinch a championship in Sunday’s Group 1 Jean-Luc Lagardere
(Grand Criterium) at Longchamp.
The freshman sire is responsible for two winners in Russia: Mata Hari,
who won her first two starts at Central Moscow Hippodrome, and Hinoki, a debut scorer at Rostov-on-Don Hippodrome on May 2. Rounding
out the global assault is the Mexico-based Suspicious Jack, who captured a
five-furlong event at Hipodromo de las Americas on June 12.
Hat Trick won four of five starts as a sophomore in 2004, and opened his
championship campaign in 2005 with victories in the Grade 3 Sports Nippon Sho Kyoto
Kimpai and Grade 3 Tokyo Shimbun Hai. After swooping wide and late to
nip Daiwa Major at the post in the Group 1 Mile Championship, the Katsuhiko Sumii
charge rallied to a more emphatic decision in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile.
Honored as Japan’s champion miler in light of his late-season heroics, Hat
Trick later retired with more than $3.1 million in earnings from a 21-8-0-0
record.
Hat Trick’s importation to Kentucky was arranged by Team Valor International
principal Barry Irwin. Having learned from a U. Carrot Farm representative that
he could be purchased as a stallion prospect, Irwin seized the opportunity to
acquire him. He subsequently sold Hat Trick to Walmac Farm. Hat Trick is thus
the latest successful stallion to have been the subject of Irwin’s brokering,
following Medaglia d’Oro, Lawyer Ron and Leroidesanimaux (Brz).
Hat Trick has an American-oriented pedigree. He was produced by Grade 2 heroine Tricky Code,
by Lost Code,
and he comes from the family of Clev Er Tell, winner of the Grade 2 Arkansas and Louisiana Derbies
in 1977, and more recently Gold Trail, victor of the 2010 Group 1 Railway in New
Zealand.
The 10-year-old Hat Trick stands at Walmac near Lexington, Kentucky, and his
2011 fee was $6,000, live foal.